This day was already off to a crappy
start for Jonathan Becker. He finally
finished working twenty hours of his shift at the children’s hospital. Not that he didn’t love kids, he absolutely
adored them, but sometimes they had way
too much energy for the 30 year old man.
All he wanted to do was go back home and go to sleep for the next 20
years. He managed to get out of his car,
only to find out that the elevators had decided to break earlier that day, and
he was being forced to walk up to the 6th floor of his apartment building.
“Fan-fucking-tastic,”
he muttered to himself, as he braced himself for the hike up the stairs of his
Washington D.C. apartment.
He
was so relieved when he finally made it up to his floor. As quick as he could in his exhausted state,
he began to walk to Apartment 623, which was around the corner from the
stairway and at the very end of the long hallway. As he approached his door, he dug into his
pocket, producing two small keys, hanging on a keychain with NYU, New York
University, printed on it. He slipped
the key into the lock of his apartment door, and gently pushed the door
open. He walked into the room and
listened intently to see if his roommate was home or not. He breathed a sigh of relief when he didn’t
hear the usual sound of rock music coming from the second bedroom. He dragged his drained body across the
apartment to the bedroom closest to the bathroom.
After
he opened the door, he took a quick glance inside, to make sure that everything
was still in his place. Jonathan was
very untrusting of his roommate, considering that their first week living
together, most of his clothes went missing, only to find them about two weeks
later in the closet of the second bedroom.
Once
he made sure that all of his clothes were still in their rightful place, he
dropped his suitcase in front of his closet, took his tie off, and proceeded to
flop onto his bed. He put his phone to charge
on his night side table and in the process, he checked the time. 2:06 in the morning. Goddammit. They have been working me to the bone lately. Jonathan wanted to nothing but sleep. And
that’s exactly what he did.
Exactly 6 hours and 24 minutes later,
Jonathan was jostled awake by his ringtone, the chorus of I Hate Everything
about You by Three Days Grace. “Ah,
fuck…” Jonathan muttered to himself as he grabbed his phone. He knew exactly who was calling him at 8:30
in the fucking morning.
“Damn
it Beckett, what do you want?”
“Is
that any way to talk to your boss, Becker?”
God, she sounds annoyed. Who pissed her off this early in the morning? “Seriously, I’ve only had like 5 hours of
sleep. What do you need?”
“I
need you to come into work in like the next hour, hour and a half.”
“What? Why?”
“Please,
I don’t have time to explain right now.
Please just come in as soon as you can.”
The line went dead.
Jonathan
groaned as he sat up in his bed. He
rubbed his eyes, which were burning from fatigue that he was suffering. As he tried to stand up from his bed, he
realized how stiff his limbs really were.
He stretched his limbs until he heard them crack loudly. That’s
much better.
The doctor walked out of
his bedroom and went to the small closet right outside of the bathroom and quickly
grabbed one of the towels from the second shelf and he walked into the
bathroom. He quickly stripped out of his
work clothes from the day before and turned on the shower. Setting it to scalding hot water, Jonathan
steps into the shower, in an attempt to de-stress himself from the previous
work day. The two blondes might act like
they absolutely hate each other, but only their closest, most intimate friends
would know that they are actually best friends out of work. Ever since, he came out of the closet shortly
after high school, while they were in the same undergraduate school, Alexandra
has attempted to help him every step of the way. She was his confidant, his personal diary,
the only person he would even begin to trust with his problems.
When he finished his
shower, Jonathan stepped out of the tub, and he heard his roommate coming home
from the night before. The man wraps the
towel around his waist, opens the bathroom door, and steps out into the cold
air of his apartment. He noticed his 27
year old roommate, with shoulder length curly black hair and chocolate brown
eyes, walking towards the couch in the small living room. Right as the young man plopped onto the
couch, Jonathan asked, “Nick, have you been gone all night?”
“Yeah, after I got off of
work, my girl came to pick me up. We
went back to her place and we ended up asleep on her couch while we were watching
a movie together.”
“Cool, well I’m going to
get changed, and head out myself.”
“Now? But didn’t you say you were going to get back
from the hospital way after midnight?
It’s only 8:50.”
“I know, but boss lady
called me in. She said she couldn’t explain
over the phone, so I have to go in.”
Nick stared at the man
with wide eyes. He shook his head in
disbelief. “Man I seriously think that
they work you like a dog? Have you asked
them for vacation time?”
Jonathan shook his head. “I’m saving them up for when my little brother
decides to come visit. And I know that
Alex would give me as much time as she could if I asked. So I’m not worried about that. Besides, when she called earlier, she sounded
distressed.”
“Alright, man. Well as long as you don’t overwork yourself
into an early grave.”
Jonathan nodded and
turned around to walk into his room. Once
inside, he allowed for the towel to drop to the floor and made his way to his
dresser. Pulling open the top drawer, a
pair of black boxer briefs were produced.
As he slipped them on over his long, muscular, but slender legs,
Jonathan tried to imagine what could’ve happened at the hospital that would
piss Alex off so much. An annoying
patient that thought he knew more than the doctors? Another doctor ignoring hospital
protocols? An ex-boyfriend trying to
ruin the life she’s created with her two twin 8 year olds? Well whatever it was, he would find out soon
enough. As soon as his boxers were on,
he walked over to the closet and pulled out a light blue button-up shirt, and a
pair of khaki pants.
Suddenly the smell of
pancakes and French toast began to fill the apartment. It must
be Nick’s turn to cook today.
Jonathan wasn’t complaining. After
graduating from undergrad school nearly 4 years ago, he had realized the only
reason that he went into chemistry was because his father subtly “encouraged”
him, and he was trying to please his old man.
Nick was intelligent, he was valedictorian of his graduating class of
over 2,000 students, and one could almost consider him a genius. But he was a very lazy prodigy. Nick realized at that moment that he felt
lost on what he truly wanted for his future.
Three months after moving in with Jonathan, Nick realized that his real
passion was for the art of cooking. He
loved how the possibilities were endless; an act that melded his two favorite
subjects, science and art, a testament that one didn’t have to choose one over
the other.
As the young doctor closed
his door, he heard from the kitchen, “Hey Jon, do you want me to wrap up some
pancakes and toast for you? So you have
something to eat?”
“That sounds great,
Nick.”
“Well I can’t have you
withering away on me. There’s no way I
could afford the rent of this apartment by myself, while having a girlfriend,”
he answered jokingly, “Actually while we’re on that subject, when are you going to get a girlfriend?”
Jonathan stiffened for a
minute. He might’ve come out of the
closet about his sexuality, but he really only came out to Alex. He didn’t feel like it was anyone else’s
business, unless they ask…don’t ask,
don’t tell, is the motto that the young man lived by. “I’m just not looking to have someone in my
life at the moment.”
“Oh…well if you change
your mind, Tamera has a girl that is looking for someone, and I think that she
would be perfect for you.”
“Don’t worry about
me. I’ll find someone, when I’m ready.”
The younger man nods as
he hands him a container with breakfast foods inside. “Well then, have a good day. Don’t forget to not overwork yourself. I know you want to help the kids, but
sometimes it’s good to think of yourself once in a while.”
“Thank you Nick.”
The blonde arrived at the hospital
nearly an hour after his call from the dean.
Walking into the large lobby, he noticed his boss, standing by the nurse’s
station. With her arms crossed in front
of her and her brows creased down, the stress was forcing her to look twice her
age. She spotted the young doctor as he
walked up to the center desk.
“Jonathan, thank
god. Come with me, I need to talk to you
about two of your patients.” She led him
towards the elevators that were located near the clinic.
“Which ones? What’s wrong?” He felt himself starting to panic.
“It’s the twin brother
and sister, the ones on the 5th floor…”
Dr. Becker knew immediately
about which twins she was talking about.
“Nikki and Levi? What’s wrong
with them? They were responding well to
their treatment the last time that I checked on them last night…” Nikki and Levi were Jonathan’s favorite
patients. Both came into the hospital
about 4 years ago, the girl with lung problems and her brother with a heart
defect. Their parents insisted that
their twins be treated by the same doctor, and since all of their friends
recommended Dr. Becker because he was the kindest doctor in the entire
hospital, they chose him to be their primary physician. Jonathan knew Nikki and Levi like the back of
his hand. He knows their deepest
secrets, the ones that they didn’t tell their parents, their fears and their
dreams, Jonathan knows it all. Nikki was
full of energy, even with his lung condition, and she constantly told the blonde
that she wanted to be an Olympic athlete because she wanted to inspire people
by showing them that even people with a chronic lung can overcome their
problems and follow their dreams. Levi was
much quieter than his sister, but he was always found with his nose in a
book. Jonathan once asked Levi what he
wanted to do in the future, and his answer still brought a smile to the doctor’s
face to this day, “I just want to read books, and learn as much as someone can.”
“No. They’re fine.
Well, physically they’re fine. What
I’m saying is that, late last night, both of their parents were taken to Mercy
Hospital an hour away, as a result of a head on collision with another
car. How they survived until they made
it to the hospital, nobody understands, but they were both pronounced dead just
a few hours ago…”
Alex continued to explain
in greater detail about what happened to the twins’ parents, but Jonathan felt
himself check out shortly after hearing that they were pronounced dead. “Wait a minute, what’s going to happen to the
twins? Technically we can’t keep them in
the hospital if their parents aren’t able to…”
“I know Jonathan. I don’t want to send those kids away. They’re absolutely precious. But rules are rules, and I can’t just ignore…”
“Bullshit! Where are you going to send those kids?! Every other hospital is going to turn them
away! No one understands them like we
do!” Jonathan wouldn’t let anything happen
to those kids. They have been his
patients for four years. Most doctors would’ve just seen them as
patients, but the blonde saw them as more than that. They were people, full of feelings, hopes,
and dreams. Jonathan didn’t understand where
people picked up the stupid idea that kids weren’t developed enough to be considered
as people, but it was an ignorant thought.
“Dr. Becker!” Shit. She doesn’t call me Dr. Becker unless she’s
really pissed at me. “I will not have
you talk to me in that manner…” Her
pager suddenly went off. She looked down
and went straight for the phone. “Yeah…”
Jonathan heard her mutter into the phone, but he couldn’t bring himself to pay
attention to her conversation. He couldn’t
get his mind off of what would happen to those kids. Jonathan has been their primary physician for
nearly four years, to him they were as good as family.
“Take him to my office,
and tell him that I’m having an issue with one of the doctors. I will be with him shortly,” he heard Alex
saying into the phone right before she put it back in its place.
“So I’m giving you an
issue now? What the hell, Alex?”
“Listen,
can we talk about this later? I have to
go meet with someone right now.”
“No,
we have to talk about this now.”
“I
don’t have time right now. I’ll come up
to your office around noon and we’ll talk about it then.” She whipped her body
around, and started to head towards the elevators. Jonathan hadn’t even noticed that they walked
all the way to his office on the 7th floor.
Shaking it off, Jonathan attempted to
do his job after the dean left him in his office. He made his usual rounds going around to
check on his patients. His first was a
girl that was only five years old, Michelle.
She was admitted into the hospital after breaking her leg after falling off
the jungle gym at the park.
“Hi,
Doctor!! How are you today?!” she screamed,
clearly excited to see the good doctor.
“Hello
Michelle? How have you been since I saw
you yesterday?”
“I’m
great! I heard that I’m going to be
allowed to leave soon! I’m happy, but I’m
really sad too…”
“Why
are you sad? Haven’t you wanted to go
home since you came here?”
“Yeah…but
then I won’t be able to see you anymore!” she said, a pouting look starting to
take shape on her face.
“Well…let
me say this…if your parents allow it, why don’t they just bring you here to
visit me on their days off?”
“Really?”
she asked, her eyes growing wide.
“It’s
alright with me, you would just have to ask your parents.”
“Yes!!
Dr. Jonathan is definitely my favorite
doctor ever!”
“Alright
Michelle. I have to go check on the
other kids. I want to behave when you
get out of here.”
Michelle
stood up on her bed and brought her right hand up to her forehead, resembling a
military salute. “Understood, sir!”
Jonathan
laughed. This is why I love kids, he thought, walking out of the 5-year-old’s
room
As
he walked out of Michelle’s room, he glanced down at his clipboard and took a
look at who his next patient was. Jonathan
gulped and his eyes widened when he saw the name. He quietly made his way down the hallway and
found himself standing in front of a large wooden door. The blonde’s eyes wandered to right above the
doorknob to the names printed on two pieces of paper. Nikki
Walker, age 9, and Levi Walker, age 9.
Jonathan didn’t know that he was going to be seeing the twins so quickly
after his discussion with Alex, and while he loved the twins he wasn’t ready to
see them so soon.
Nonetheless,
the doctor took a deep breath, turned the knob, and walked into the shared
hospital room.
He
noticed the twins huddled together in one bed; Nikki with her back to the door,
Levi reading Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling out loud to his older sister of 2 minutes. “…had everything they wanted, but they also
had a secret, and their greatest fear was that somebody would discover it.” Suddenly the reading stopped. Jonathan saw how a pair of almond shaped,
black eyes that were focused on the book at hand start to move up until they
were looking into his blue eyes. At the
same time, his sister, Nikki, noticed that Levi wasn’t paying attention to book
anymore, and she shifted her body so she could see what her younger brother was
looking at.
“Dr.
Becker!” she screamed, excitement laced in her voice.
Jonathan
strolled from the door all the way to the bed where they were both occupying,
and he sat down on the edge. “Nikki,
your pigtails are adorable. Who did them
for you?”
“I
did them myself!” she exclaimed, proudly.
“No…you? But only big girls can do pigtails by
themselves.”
“Doctor! I’m not four anymore. I’m a big girl now.”
“I
see.” He shifted his attention to the
male twin, “And how are you doing today, Levi?”
He shrugged and answered,
“Fine…” He never was one for small talk.
I still remember when they were brought in 4 years ago, Levi didn’t even
want to talk to me for nearly 6 months.
Jonathan stood up, and
went to the foot of the bed so he could check the charts of the two
children. They seem to be doing alright for now.
I wonder if anyone has broken the news to them about their parents. I doubt it, or else they wouldn’t be looking
as happy as they are now. What’s going
to happen to them? I mean, according to
the law, they won’t be able to stay here, unless the next of kin comes to claim
them. I understand it has only been a
few hours, but someone should’ve come by now and said something.
“Dr. Becker?” The question pulled Jonathan out of his
reverie. He looked up and saw Levi
looking at him. “Is there something
wrong?”
The concerned blonde
looked surprised. “No…both of you are
responding well to treatment. Maybe we’ll
be able to get you two troublemakers out of here soon.”
“Yay!” exclaimed the
oldest twin. She turned to look at Levi,
“Maybe when Mommy and Daddy come, we can tell them the good news!”
For once in months, the
young boy had a glimmer in his eyes. “Yeah…maybe
when they come in and see us today. You think
they’re going to be excited? I mean, we
haven’t been back home in a long time. What
if they don’t really want us to go home with…?”
Jonathan didn’t want to
hear anymore. “What?! How could you think that Levi? Your parents love you very much. I know for a fact that they have wanted to go
home with you, with both of you, since
you were admitted to the hospital.”
“Really?”
“Yes, they have told me
nonstop since you two arrived here that they can’t wait to take you two home
and shower you guys with love and presents.
“Presents?!” yelled
Nikki.
“Yes, presents. Don’t tell them I told you though. They said it was supposed to be a surprise.” Shit. What am I doing? I know that their parents aren’t going to
come. Why am I lying to them? This is only going to hurt them more when
they find out that both of their parents are dead.
The twins nodded in
union, promising to keep the secret.
He couldn’t help it anymore. He had to talk with the dean one more time,
hoping…praying…that she would have a solution
to the issue with the twins. Swiftly, he
dropped off his clipboard with the names of patients on his desk and he quickly
ran to his best friend.
Ideas bounced around in
Jonathan’s mind as he walked down the corridor to the office. Maybe they could continue treating them until
the next of kin came. Jonathan would be
happy to pay for their treatment. It’s
not as if he was doing anything important with his money. He had more than enough to spare. Anything would make him happy right now, just
as long as Social Services didn’t take them from under his supervision until
they were healthy again.
The idea that someone was
going to take these children away was making the good doctor angrier and angrier
with each step he took. When he finally
reached the door to the large office, he opened it, more forceful than he had
anticipated, and said, “Beckett, we have to talk.”
Alex looked surprised,
but answered, “Dr. Becker, I thought we already talked earlier today.”
“I told you that I will
not stand for that decision.” We have to find some way to help those
twins.
“And I have told you,
that it is not your decision to make!
Now, this discussion is over, or I will be forced to fire you, and have
security escort you from my office. Now I
will not tell you again, get back to work.”
Shit. I forgot that Alex always had a temper when
people decided to challenge her in anything. But Jonathan couldn’t stop himself from feeling
angry with the decision his best friend made.
Before he could say anything that he would regret, he turned to leave
the office, but he was determined to come back later and talk to her about the
problem.
At that moment, he noticed
that they hadn’t been alone. There was a
man standing behind the door. He was chubby,
but nothing too extreme, wearing a jet-black business suit, a spring green
shirt, with the matching tie. He had
extraordinary, brown eyes that held an innocent look deep inside of them. With a bit of little facial hair framing his
mouth, he looked like a young kid from high school. But Jonathan’s anger at Alex was beginning to
get the better of him, and he blurted out, “What are you looking at fat ass?”
For a split second, those
eyes that the blonde held as beautiful because of their innocence hidden inside
were suddenly overcome with pain. Jonathan’s
insides began to twist realizing what he had just said.
“Jonathan, don’t you dare
talk to him like that, now apologize, and get out of my office!”
Crap, I have to get out of here before I say anything else that’s
stupid. He muttered a pathetic apology and
quietly left the office.
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