𝐌𝐘 𝐄𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐏𝐄 // 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘶𝘳𝘱𝘩𝘺

𝕔𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝕟𝕚𝕟𝕖

"Nurse Marina!" I stop in my tracks, turning to that soft voice I adored dearly. My long-term patient, Maria. I mean, Maria and Marina, those names enough were reasons for us to get closer than just a nurse and patient and in Maria's mind (and words), I was her 'best friend'.

"Oh, Maria, hi baby" I take my seat beside her bed, the same thing I always did whenever I had any free time in between my rounds. Maria was a long-term cancer patient and had been in and out of this hospital practically since birth from what I read in her records.

She hardly had any relationship with any of the other patients here, and whenever she did it never lasted long as they were just here for a day or so, and her parents started to find driving the five minutes it took to get to this hospital 'tiring', so, for now, it was just me who came to see her.

"You feeling any better? Is the cold still bothering you?" Even if I was a friend to Maria, I was still a nurse nonetheless and it was my top priority to make sure Maria was staying healthy. Her vitals hadn't changed any bit which wasn't the best-case scenario right now given how bad this cold was affecting her physically.

"Mm, just a little. I'm not coughing as much now, so that's good at least" Maria shrugged, trying her best to fight the sleep which wanted to engulf her as it had the past few days since I was first assigned to work with her.

It had only been a little bit over a week since beginning my shifts at this hospital and I was already loving my time here. The children were everything I needed to remind me why I chose this career path, the staff was amazing in every way, and getting to gossip with Mia every chance I got definitely helped the stressful aspects of the job.

"Yeah. Well, how about this? I'll give you some more medicine to help you with the pain and try to get some rest, baby. Don't try and overwork yourself" I run my fingers through Maria's hair, humming softly each time my fingers found their way back through her thin, damaged hair. Even though I loved being able to take care of children and helping them work their way out of their sickness, it always pained me to see those cases which I knew were already too far down the road to ever turn back and find recovery. I was just praying Maria wouldn't be one of those cases.

Soon enough, the only noise in the room was Maria's soft snores mixed with the steady sound of her monitor. I guess it was time for me to head out for my break, only now it wasn't such a pain leaving Maria here given who I was meeting up with. Steve was coming for a visit to take me out for lunch.

"Hey, Marina!" Mias' arm suddenly wrapped around my shoulders, causing me to stumble slightly in my tracks. "We heading out for a walk to go gossip?"

"I can't today...Steves taking me out for lunch"

"No way! Oh my God, I totally have to meet him right now! Is he meeting you inside?!" Mia was practically jumping off the walls with excitement, the thought of meeting the man who I couldn't stop telling her about brought stars to her eyes. I knew Steve was planning on meeting me downstairs in the cafeteria where we could leave and head to a small diner or market, but I couldn't introduce him to Mia just yet. I knew she would tell some kind of embarrassing story about me.

"Uh, we're meeting at the market to get some tacos. You guys will meet soon though, I swear-"

"Marina?" Our hospital wing secretary rushed over to me, a smile on her face. "Someone just called for you. A Steve Murphy? He said he was here to pick you up" Damn it. What the hell was I supposed to tell Mia now?

"Oh, meeting you at the market huh?" Mia smirked and I could practically see the wheels turning in her mind.

"Okay, maybe he's picking me up but I want you guys to meet formally not right before we go out for lunch-"