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Kya stood at the employee services desk, a stack of forms spread out over the counter in front of her. She was slowly working her way through a list of requested medical supplies. Gloves, gauze, syringes, sutures, more gloves.
“And somehow,” Kya continued as she scribbled down her signature and flipped to the next page, “he was absolutely convinced he was fine.”
Her colleague pulled off her gloves and leaned against the side of the service desk. “And he was not?”
“His arm was at a forty-five-degree angle, Mei. It was a miracle it was still attached.”
Mei had been one of her favorite people to work with for years. There were nurses Kya trusted with her patients’ lives, and then there were nurses she trusted with her sanity. Mei belonged firmly in the second category. Days were simply better when their shifts overlapped.
Mei snorted, shaking her head. “Shock is one hell of a drug.”
Kya raised her eyebrows. She had to agree. It still surprised her, what it could do to a person. The human body was an extraordinary thing. Terrifyingly so, sometimes.
“Honestly,” Kya said, “I think the worst part was that he kept insisting he could drive himself home.”
“With the arm?”
“With the arm.”
Mei laughed, shaking her head. “Remember that guy that had accidentally impaled his own leg and driven himself to the hospital?” she recalled as she lifted her leg to indicate roughly where the man had shoved a metal pole through his own thigh. “When we were showing around those students.”
Kya groan-laughed at the memory, dropping her forehead into one hand. “They were first year students, too. The looks on their faces.”
“Poor kids,” Mei said, still laughing.
“I’m sure we scared a few of them off that day.”
“I’m sure,” Mei agreed, her smile lingering. “Though, honestly, you handled it really well. And by the end of the day they were all happy, and excited for their clinical years.” She leaned forward and gave Kya’s shoulder a squeeze. “It was impressive.”
Kya huffed a laugh. “Careful. We wouldn’t want a compliment like that to get to my head.”
Mei gasped dramatically. “Just imagine how insufferable you’d become.”
Kya gave Mei a fond look. Mei mirrored it, winked at her, and then got back to her feet, grabbing the clipboard from the desk and heading off towards the examination room.
Kya shook her head, turning back to her documents with a smile. Mei was friendly like that, complimentary, and she wasn't exactly shy about touching people, either. For the longest time, Kya had wondered if Mei was flirting with her whenever she said things like that, or whenever she touched her. A hand on her shoulder, the occasional nudge, a hug here and there. Eventually, though, Kya had learned that Mei was simply like that with most people. Which, admittedly, had been relieving. Kya wasn’t one to date the people she worked with, and she valued having a friend at work to simply laugh with.
As Kya put down her pen, someone cleared their throat, and she looked up.
Lin stood a few feet away, hands clasped behind her back. She looked oddly out of place among the hospital’s white walls and blue signage in her dark grey metal uniform.
A smile formed on Kya’s face. She had not expected Lin of all people, though seeing her was never a bad surprise. She promptly ignored the flutter making its way through her chest and turned towards her.
“Chief,” she said in greeting, tilting her head.
“Doctor,” Lin returned with a nod.
It was their usual exchange whenever their paths crossed because of work. Kya adored the playfulness behind it, especially considering how serious both their jobs were, and how serious Lin could be. Though today, there seemed to be less playfulness behind Lin’s doctor than usual.
“When did you get here?” Kya asked as she gathered the papers, reshuffling them before sliding the folder across the counter to the person behind the desk.
“Few minutes ago.” Lin shrugged. “I didn’t want to interrupt. You seemed… occupied.”
Lin’s eyes briefly flicked towards the hallway, her jaw working. Kya followed her line of sight, looking towards the examination rooms where Mei had disappeared moments earlier.
Oh. Maybe Lin had been standing there longer than Kya realized.
“You’re close?” Lin asked.
Kya looked back at her, a little confused if she were honest, and asked, “Mei and I? I suppose we are. Why?”
Lin gave a small nod, saying, a little too neutrally, “I see.”
Kya paused, considering Lin for a moment. There was a faint tension around her mouth, and her shoulders seemed just a fraction more rigid than usual. But Kya couldn't quite place it.
“Is there something wrong?”
“No.”
The answer came so quickly that Kya's eyebrows rose. Lin seemed to realize it too, her expression tightening. Then, she held up the RCPD folder she’d been carrying, as though the paperwork had only just occurred to her and had not been waiting in her hand throughout the entire conversation, and changed topics so fast it nearly gave Kya whiplash.
“I need your signature,” she said.
“Hold on, hold on,” Kya said, raising a hand, because she wasn't just going to let that go like that. She considered Lin for another good moment, the corner of her mouth twitching. “Are you jealous?”
Lin’s eyes widened. “What?”
Kya let out a laugh. “You were jealous, just now.”
“Wha– wh– Don’t be absurd, Kya,” Lin shot back, cheeks tinting an uncharacteristic light pink. “Why would I be jealous?”
“You tell me,” Kya said, folding her arms across her chest. “You seemed awfully interested in my relationship with my colleague just now. Who is lovely, by the way.”
Lin's expression immediately soured, and Kya had to keep herself from laughing. For a high-grade detective, Lin was incredibly easy to bait, and read.
“Oh, wow, you are jealous.”
“Kya–”
“You know, you're cute when you’re like this.”
Having turned beet red at this point, Lin all but shoved the folder into Kya’s hands. “Would you just sign the damn document?”
Kya’s smirk only widened as she finally took it, and in the sweetest voice she said, “But of course, my dear.”
Lin rolled her eyes so hard Kya was surprised they didn’t get stuck.
Kya rested the folder on the counter and picked up a pen as Lin pretended to be interested in anything else but her. As Kya quickly went over the folder's contents, her brows drew together in confusion.
“Medical clearance?” she asked, looking up at Lin with a raised eyebrow. This was not something the Chief of Police was needed for. At all. “You came all the way here for a signature on routine medical clearance?”
Lin cleared her throat and shrugged, still not quite meeting Kya’s eyes. “This was faster.”
Kya stared at her for a moment, the amused smirk slowly returning.
The Chief of Police, whose days were ten times busier than her own, had apparently decided that personally delivering a routine medical clearance form was the most efficient use of her time. And faster than just sending an officer to do it for her, as was standard procedure? Kya didn’t believe it for a second.
And the more she thought about it, the more something warm spread through her chest.
Lin had come all the way to the hospital. For a signature, allegedly. But Kya had a strong suspicion that the signature was only part of the reason. Maybe she had wanted to see her. The thought was unexpectedly touching.
Kya looked down at the document again, trying not to let her smile become too obvious.
“Right,” she said, drawing the word out just enough to make it clear that she believed absolutely none of it.
Kya scribbled down her signature and closed the folder, handing it back to Lin. Lin impatiently snatched it from her hands, the faint blush still evident across her cheeks, and turned to leave.
Oh, how Kya never got tired of teasing her.
“See you around, dear,” Kya said overly-sweetly, throwing in a wink for good measure.
“Whatever,” Lin growled, before she turned on her heel and stomped out.