Chapter Text
Carina edits the chart in her hand. She sighs, annoyed at the unnecessary consult, and signs it off quickly. Even though there’s really no need, she reads on, meandering through the patient history, delaying. She’s in no rush to head back upstairs just yet, down here is more interesting anyway. More patients, more drama. More fun for a people watcher.
Not far from her, while Carina is tracking medication, a confident, authoritative voice begins berating people for not moving out of her way fast enough. Lifting her head Carina tracks the sound, locates the person near yelling and smiles, such a loud commanding voice from such an attractive, compact creature.
The bright red jacket makes her easy to track. And Carina does, finding herself drawn to the commotion that follows her.
The blond strides quickly, determined, through the throngs of people, pirouetting around one and throwing her arm out, clearly prepared to elbow someone out of the way. Carina smirks at her persistence and the look of annoyance that paints her face. The mystery woman is obviously on a mission and pissed about something. Her whole body blazes with fury.
It’s oddly enticing.
Whenever she moves, more people turn to watch, take in the chaos she brings with her.
Carina’s eyes sweep, giving the stranger a quick once over and she finds herself admiring the shapely lines of her form. Toned and perfectly in proportion, good legs, strong looking arms and a great ass. Someone who obviously works out. She’s a bit disheveled from whatever incident has thrown her here, long hair crazy wild and her face pink and sweaty.
None of it a turn off.
It's been a while since anyone randomly drew Carina’s attention like this.
Carina wonders what the blond would say if she knew someone was staring at her like this across a hospital littered with patients and injuries. The thought makes Carina feel a sense of guilt so brief that it’s gone almost as soon as she registers it.
It’s not as if they will ever meet and discuss it, she won't act on it, so where's the harm?
Carina hears the word 'nose' and sees a plastic bag being handed across the desk, she grimaces inwardly wondering what the hell happened if part of someone’s face has landed in such an unusual and frankly ridiculous receptacle. It also draws out a level of morbid curiosity that seems to go hand in hand with being in the medical profession. Reattaching that is going to be a work of art.
The blond gestures again, hands off the bag and slumps with relief. Clearly the task meant a lot to her given the way her body seems to deflate in on itself now her mission is accomplished. But in a second, as though it never happened, the rigid posture returns.
Watching the movement, Carina finds it hard to look away.
She’s tense, unyielding, and upright in a way that makes Carina wonder what it would take to loosen her up. A few drinks maybe, a good night out. Carina can't remember when she had one of those herself.
Wine is calling her name. Good sex with a stranger she doesn't work with would be an added bonus. Not this one obviously, she’s clearly busy. Yet, Carina finds her eyes lingering over the woman's legs, her calf muscles tense beneath her jeans. They travel lasciviously up her thighs to her ass again and -
The woman in question turns on the spot, as if she knows she’s being watched, so quickly Carina doesn't get a chance to look away.
It's an instant connection in one heated gaze.
Caught out in her perusal Carina feels her mouth go dry and wets her lips unconsciously. Fire lances her cheeks, ricochets down her neck with such intensity that she raises a hand to her throat to touch the blush and feels the thudding of her own pulse.
Carina almost smiles at the feeling, at the stare being leveled her way.
Oddly thrilling to be caught.
Her eyes are amazing. Blazing blue, sad and ferocious all at once.
The blond blinks surprised to find Carina staring and her brow furrows when Carina doesn't look away. It holds no longer than a few seconds - then she turns again as though it never happened.
Heat blooms through the entirety of Carina’s body. Awakening something that’s been missing for a while now.
Possibility.
___________
When the nose is handed off Maya feels as though the rod through her spine that had kept her running, moving, dancing around idiots in her way, failing, has finally been removed. There's nothing left to hold her up and she leans limply on the desk.
The last few days have been shit! Surrounded by people who hate her more by the minute and thrown into the middle of a trauma, right after a very stilted nights sleep, only to find herself facing a bear, sprinting through woodland and racing to a hospital? Not at all how she imagined her ‘team bonding’ weekend would go.
None of it seems real.
After allowing herself a moment's respite to compartmentalize, Maya stands straight again, turns on the spot and finds herself caught in the gaze of a very attractive stranger.
Across the room a tall brunette in a lab coat is staring with such intensity that it catches Maya off guard. She almost turns to see what’s happening behind her that would draw such focus only the woman’s skin flushes a delicate pink and she lifts her lips in a smile, clearly caught out.
Oh!
It dawns on Maya slowly that the look is laced through with appreciation. It’s alarming only in that the intensity of it takes her by surprise. The woman watching her doesn't turn away when caught out, if anything she seems emboldened.
It's Maya who turns away slowly, catching the woman smile before dropping her head and turning back to her patient. It’s such a brief encounter that Maya immediately dismisses it. Yet she’s warmed through for a moment.
And it feels nice.
For the first time in a while Maya smiles to herself, allowing the feeling to lift her, giving her just enough strength to go back and face her team.