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"Look, Heather! It's snowing!"
Noel was practically bouncing up and down in the bed. It was great to see her with so much energy, but it was making it pretty difficult to position the syringe.
Heather laughed. "Looks like we're gonna get a white Christmas this year after all. Now stay still, I need to give you this shot."
The girl sighed and stuck out her arm obediently. Noel had a heart condition that had landed her in the hospital many times throughout Heather's nursing career. And finally, after years of waiting, she had finally been given the heart replacement she desperately needed.
"Got any plans for Christmas?" Noel asked
She was supposed to go to her aunt's after she got off work, but if this snow storm was half as bad as the weather reporters were predicting, she was probably going to have to spend Christmas Eve night at the hospital.
The preteen continued without waiting for a response. "My parents are supposed to come since I'm finally cleared for visitors. We're gonna watch movies, and they're gonna decorate my room and…"
As Noel continued excitedly rambling about her holiday plans, Heather let her mind wander. It had been such a long time since Noel had had a reason to be excited, it was so nice to see her like this.
After checking on Zara in room 18, little Hazel in room 16, and Resh in room 15 (who had stubbornly refused to acknowledge her when she called him Suresh, insisting that he would only respond to his nickname), she heard a voice coming from Noel’s room:
“I can already feel myself getting fed up with boys and I haven't had anything to do with them yet.”
Heather propped herself up against the doorframe, crossing her arms and glaring at the stranger at Noel’s bedside.
“Really? Agnus, Thongs, and Perfect Snogging?”
The stranger smiled. “What’s wrong with that? It says right here: for ages 12-17.”
“Come on, Heather! All my friends have read it and Bobby told me that he’d read it to me while I was recovering and…”
Heather took a moment to survey this stranger. The color of his scrubs indicated that he worked here in a non-medical capacity: maybe admin? Janitorial? One look at Noel and it was clear that she was absolutely smitten. Heather could see why; Bobby was pretty cute. The smile he gave her set off butterflies in her chest, his amber eyes looking into her as if they already shared some inside joke.
“Sorry Noel, looks like we’ll have to continue this later. Jonno will have my head if I’m late again.”
Ah, so he worked in the kitchens.
Bobby pulled her aside as he left the room. “Listen, Heather, right? Noel was crying when I walked by and I just couldn’t leave her like that. I guess she got a call from her parents and they won’t be able to make it tonight.”
Heather’s heart sank. Noel had been looking forward to this visit all week. Peering around Bobby, she could already see the sad look that had crept onto Noel’s face as soon as Bobby left. And that look stayed there all day.
Noel was glumly flipping through a magazine when Heather wheeled Bill by, and not even Bruno Kaminski, Noel’s all-time favorite comedian, could make her laugh today.
“Hey, I’ve got an idea.”
Heather started. She hadn’t even realized that Bobby was standing next to her.
“About Noel,” he continued. “She’s been so down all day and she was really excited about the snow, so I thought…”
“Oh my god, the roof terrace! Why didn’t I think of that?”
Bobby grinned. “Because you were waiting for a devilishly handsome and smart caterer to invite you along?”
“You wish,” Heather said with an eye roll, although she couldn’t quite hide her smile. Nevertheless, she grabbed her coat and followed him to the girl’s room. “Hey, Noel…”
“We thought we’d take you outside to see the snow!”
Bobby was like a little kid on Christmas morning, his excitement contagious as he shifted his weight from foot to foot. The fact that Noel lit up and started mimicking his fidgeting just added to the comparison. The pair of them never stopped moving as Heather helped Noel into her wheelchair, wrapping her up in a truly insane amount of blankets to make sure she didn’t get too cold.
Somehow, Bobby managed to find an extra wheelchair and was doing wheelies in the corridor as he watched Heather fuss over her patient.
“Come onnnn,” he whined. “I’ll race ya!”
Noel giggled, but fell silent at the stern look on Heather’s face.
"Bobby, she can't push herself.” Heather scolded. “Tell him why, Noel."
The girl giggled. "Sternal precautions. No pushing, pulling, or lifting."
Bobby looked at her in surprise. "EVER?"
"Until my sutures heal!"
For a split second, Bobby looked dejected. Then he shot Heather a challenging look. “ Noel might not be able to push herself, but you can push her.”
With that, he took off down the hall, not even giving Heather the option to say no. And that’s how Heather found herself doing something she never thought she’d do: sprinting through the halls of the hospital, pushing a cheering Noel in front of her as she chased an almost annoyingly cute kitchen boy to the elevator.
“We won!” Noel cheered as the elevator doors closed behind them.
Apparently, she had missed the way Bobby intentionally got ‘stuck’. But Heather hadn’t missed it. The gesture was sweet, sure, but it had her practically melting on the spot. Not many of the people in dietary even got to know the patient’s names, let alone cared about their mental state.
Noel’s jaw dropped as they wheeled her outside. The ‘rooftop terrace’ really was more like a small patio, but every single surface was covered in snow. The white powder completely transformed the small space.
“Wow…”
Heather had never seen Noel look so awestruck. Although being outside for the first time in over a month would have that effect on anyone.
“It’s so pretty…”
A mischievous smile crossed Bobby’s face. “Noel, duck!”
The snowball sailed through the air, smashing against Heather’s chest before she even had time to process what was happening.
“Oh, you asked for it!”
In no time at all, the two of them were in the midst of an all-out war., pelting each other with snowballs and ducking behind cover. Noel was participating where she could, but the little traitor had taken to building up Bobby’s ammunition pile.
Finally, Heather had to surrender. “Alright! I give up! I can’t beat both of you!”
“You hear that, Noel? We’re the dream team!” Bobby said, rustling the girl’s hair lightly as she beamed up at him.
Heather was going to walk over and tease them some more. Instead, she found herself slipping on the slick ground and promptly landing flat on her butt. It must have been quite the sight, because both Bobby and Noel started giggling immediately.
“Are you okay?” Noel asked between peals of laughter.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
Bobby chuckled to himself and offered her a hand up. She took it gratefully, noting as she did that he had an odd look in his eyes. He was looking at her as if he could never get enough, as if staring at her could warm him.
“What?” she asked.
“Nothing, you just look adorable like this.”
“Like what? A little sweaty and cold?”
He laughed. “No. I meant with the snow in your hair and your cheeks a little pink from the cold and…”
“And what?”
Bobby lowered his voice so that Noel couldn’t hear him. “And I kinda really want to kiss you right now.”
Heather’s breath caught in anticipation. She kinda really wanted that too.
“Can we go back inside now?” Noel asked, oblivious to the charged tension between Heather and Bobby. “I’m starting to get pretty cold.”
“Oh, yeah, of course,” was Heather’s flustered response.
Noel didn’t stop smiling as they got her back into her bed. The stark difference to the moody teen they’d seen earlier was astounding.
Bobby sighed as they watched her through the glass door. “I wish we could do something like this for everyone; being stuck in the hospital on Christmas Eve can’t be fun.”
“Me too, these kids deserve something nice after all the shit they’ve been through.”
He got a twinkle in his eye, one that Heather was quickly learning that he had something up his sleeve. “Well, why don’t we do something?”
“Bobby, we’re at work. I’ll already get in trouble if they find out how long we were on the terrace.”
“Guess it’ll just have to be a surprise for you too.”
Heather couldn’t get Bobby out of her mind as she continued her shift. She’d seen him running into the meeting room every now and then, arm laden with an assortment of random hospital equipment, her heart skipping a beat whenever he shot her one of those easy smiles. A part of her wondered what he was doing, but most of her was wondering what would have happened if Noel hadn’t interrupted them earlier. Would he really have kissed her? Would she have kissed him back?
“Do you think the kids can eat dinner in the conference room?” Bobby asked, full of faux innocence. “ Please… ”
It took some time, but eventually, he got his way, convincing every nurse on the floor that any patient allowed outside of their room should join in the group meal.
Heather gasped in surprise as she helped Resh walk into the room. Every single inch of the area had been covered in paper snowflakes, garlands made from medical tubing, and more. Bobby had even managed to make a semi-convincing elf out of hospital gowns and different colored socks.
And her reaction was nothing compared to the patients. Every single kid squealed in delight as they looked around, nudging each other as they discovered some new, abstract Christmas decoration. Bobby had analyzed every kid's dietary restrictions (or at least Heather was praying that he had) and had smuggled up extra pudding cups, jello, and fruit. You would’ve thought he was Santa Clause himself the way the children were acting.
It was enough to make anyone melt. There was nothing traditional about this Christmas feast, but it meant more to Heather than any she’d ever experienced. These kids had been dealt the worst hands in life, and here they were, smiling and laughing while trapped in a hospital on Christmas Eve. And it was all because of Bobby.
“Here,” Heather stated, slipping him a piece of paper.
He looked down at it and grinned, seeing her number scrawled across it. “What’s this for?”
She lowered her voice to a whisper. “You owe me a kiss. But I think I’d prefer it if dinner came first.”
“I think that can be arranged.”
“Thank you. For this, all of this. But aren’t you going to get in trouble?”
“For what? Lass, my shift ended three hours ago!” he said with a chuckle.
And that was what solidified it. Despite the snow, and the fact that she’d probably end up sleeping on a cot tonight. Despite the lack of any real Christmas decorations or extravagant feasts. This was her favorite Christmas yet. Because it brought him into her life.