Love is For Fools // Loki Laufeyson

Part 4 - Nurse

Loki sighs exasperatedly as he watches me walk away.  "You're insufferable!" he calls out after me.

"As are you!" I retort as I turn into my office and slam the door behind me.

"Well?" Angela asks nervously, sitting in the chair beside the exam table.  "Is he not going to kill me?"

I shrug.  "I mean, probably not.  I didn't really get to negotiate the terms of your working for me over the course of our exchanging threats."

She sighs as she presses her head into her hands.  "Oh my god, I'm going to die."

"Oh, don't be so dramatic," I roll my eyes.  "Almost all of his threats are empty."

"He threatened to kill my dad; then he killed my dad," she deadpans.

I quickly shush her.  "What did I tell you about not mentioning him?  Do you even remember the last name I made up for you?"

She sighs.  "Ross?  Really?  That was the best you could come up with?"

I roll my eyes as I toss her ID at her.  "It's easier to print IDs with shorter names - especially when you don't know how to work the stupid ass printer."

She picks up the ID and reads it aloud.  "Angela Ross.  Registered nurse.  I don't even know the first thing about the heart system!"

"Cardiovascular system," I mutter under my breath.  I sigh before looking back up at her.  "We have a long way to go.  Not to worry - if you make a mistake and kill a patient, I will not be upset in the slightest."

"What kind of reassurance is that?"

I shrug as I turn back to the door.  "We'll figure it out as we go.  You only have two jobs right now; do what I tell you to do, and don't get yourself killed."

I open the door and a man stumbles in.  "I've been stabbed!" he exclaims.

"Are you stupid?" I scoff.  "I have ten more minutes left of my break.  Go sit in the mess of chairs in the hallway that they call a waiting room and I'll be with you after I finish my coffee."

I slam the door and turn back to Angela.  "You don't have coffee?" she asks, obviously confused.

I shrug.  "I have ten minutes left of my break; I'm going to make some."

......

"You know, I would think that you were the shittiest doctor ever if I didn't know better," Angela remarks as she hands me retractors.

I pry open the skin of the man sitting on the table to try to find the bullet.  He yelps in pain and I roll my eyes.  "Will you shut up?" I complain, reaching over to push more anesthetic down the IV.  I turn back to Angela as I return to prying open his skin with the retractors.  "Why?"

She scoffs to herself.  "That is exactly why.  You act like you don't give a shit and treat your patients like a burden."

"And?" I ask rhetorically. 

She chuckles.  "You somehow still manage to heal every single person despite the fact that your heart's not into it and you look like you aren't even trying.  My guess is that you were one hell of a doctor."

"I still am one hell of a doctor," I retort as I close my clamp around the bullet.  "I'm quite possibly the best doctor in the country.  You see, I haven't let any of these imbeciles die that I didn't want to die.  Granted, I've been treating entirely minor injuries, but most other doctors would have slipped up by now."

She shakes her head as she holds out a pan.  "How did you get trapped in this then?"

I place the bullet in the pan and shrug.  "I stayed in New York to help injured civilians.  Loki's goons dragged me here and he forced me to work for him."

She sends the man a nervous glance as she sets the pan down.  Seeing that he is heavily drugged, she lowers her voice and decides to ask me what's on her mind.  "How do you know Nick?"

"He was forced into Loki's army and shot in action.  He came here and told me his story while he was on the table.  I felt bad for the guy, and I figured I'd do him a solid by helping you."  I finish the first suture and cut it.

"Wait, so you didn't know him before all this?"  She motions around the office.

I nod as I tie off the second suture, going fairly quickly since I don't care how bad the scar will be.  "I mean, I don't trust easily, but you know what they say; the enemy of my enemy is my friend.  Well, to be honest, I don't know if that's what they say."

"I don't know how the hell you gained Nick's trust that quickly, but it seems that he has chosen yet another perfect person to trust."

I raise a brow as I look up at her, not pausing my suturing.  "What do you mean?"

"You're perfect to help Nick with his whacked-out plan."

"I never agreed to helping Nick with a whacked-out plan; I agreed to taking you in to protect you from those pigs."

"Yes, I know, but Nick has bigger plans than that."  She lowers her voice again.  "He wants to overthrow Loki."

I scoff.  "Trust me, I hate that prick just as much as you two, but are you crazy?  He's quite literally a god; overthrowing him is suicide."

She sighs.  "I know, I know.  I don't even know what his plan is, but I can just tell that he wants to include you.  I'm guessing your combat skills would be extremely useful."

I roll my eyes as I cut the last suture and toss the scissors into the pan.  "Tell Nick I'm out."