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She was scheduled to end her shift at 9am. It didn’t turn out that way at all.
Sometime in the hour before she was meant to leave there had been an accident in a nearby warehouse building. Rumors began to fly even before the first victim of the tragedy reached the hospital. Local teens had been messing around in the alley between buildings and flicked a cigarette butt into something that caught fire. A homeless man had tried to build a fire to keep warm but it quickly got out of control. Disgruntled former employees intended to make a statement and things got out of hand. As of yet, nobody knew the truth aside from the fact that the entire building went up in a blaze of flames, that firefighters were struggling to contain them and rescue victims, and that the emergency department at the hospital needed every available staff member to help.
It had been absolute pandemonium at the hospital. For a long while it seemed as if they’d fall behind, as if the rush of victims would never end. Yet there finally came a point when, at last, things began to slow.
“Claire! Over here!” called her friend Joe. “Now do you see why I think it’d be great if you’d just buckle down and become a doctor? We need you!” He gestured to the young man on the gurney in front of him and indicated that she should start the IV with the supplies that were prepared.
“Of course,” she smirked at him. “I’ll certainly get right on that. Being a doctor. It’s not as if I have anything else demanding of my time. Med school ought to be a breeze!”
He laughed uproariously at her sarcasm and the sound of it seeming completely out of place. Tragedy had struck their community, but they had to do something to keep the mood upbeat. They couldn’t falter in the care and attention they were giving the patients so they always attempted to keep things light-hearted. She appreciated that Joe was both consistent in his care and fun-loving in his humor.
“Once you’ve started that IV, you should go home LJ. At the very least, go sit down for a few minutes and rest. You’ve been on longer than the rest of us have.” He looked her in the eye, demanding her full attention. “You do a damn good job of taking care of other folks. Don’t forget yourself.”
“I won’t forget, Joe.” She finished with her patient, stood straight, and rubbed the sore spot on the back of her neck. “I’ll just rest in the on-call room for a little bit then be back to help you all again.”
“Go on, LJ,” he nudged her toward her destination. “This will, unfortunately, still be here when you get back.”
“Sassenach.”
She heard her name being hissed at her from somewhere nearby. She didn’t remember being at home but it was most definitely her husband’s voice that she heard.
“Sassenach? Will ye come home wi’ me?” Jamie queried, poking his head in the door of the on-call room and smiling sweetly at his disheveled wife. Curls sprung every which way from what likely used to be a bun, her scrubs were wrinkled and had stains on them, and there were dark circles under her eyes. But she was smiling. At him.
“For a moment I thought we already were at home, together,” she murmured, reaching a long, slender arm out to him as she sat up. “How are you even here now? I’ve been thinking of you all day knowing that you’d be working!”
“The lads have things under control, mo nighean donn. They dinna need me for now and my shift is done as well.” He smiled as she looked at the clock on the wall in incredulity. “Aye. ‘Tis later than ye thought. Come.” He gently tugged her to her feet, but instead of standing on her own, she continued to move until her head was against his chest.
“But Jamie, you know what happened. They might need me to stay. So much work remains!”
She was a determined, headstrong woman so he’d anticipated this reaction and was prepared. “I already talked wi’ Joe. He said that they dinna have reason to keep ye any longer and that you should go home and rest.”
“You smell like smoke,” she mumbled into him and he chuckled.
“Aye, most firefighters do after a big one like that! Come, let’s grab yer things and do as Joe said.” He disentangled her from himself, wrapping his arm possessively over her shoulders instead and leading her toward the locker in which she stored her personal belongings while she worked.
“Did he say anything else?” Claire asked, perking up slightly. “Like how our patients are doing? Whether there are many more or if things seemed to have slowed for good?”
“He only said that ye really should become a doctor, Sassenach. And I canna say that I disagree wi’ the man,” he smiled down at her, beaming with pride.
She snorted. “Are the two of you conspiring? I doubt that that I realistically could achieve that.”
“Aye, ye could.” His eyes widened in seriousness. “Claire,” he turned her toward him and gently cupped her cheeks in his large, strong hands. “Mo Sorcha, if ye ever choose to become a doctor, know that I would be there alongside for all of it. If ye wish it.”
“All I wish is to have you by my side for whatever comes,” she pulled his arm back around her as they left for home and the life they’d built together.