For the First Time

How to Make it Work

Derek stood up and offered me a quick smile. I turned on a dime and began walking in the opposite direction. I was trying to make it to the attending's lounge before Derek caught up with me on the catwalk and began walking with me.

"This hospital is pretty big," he said in awe. "So there's probably a lot of people here."

"And somehow I have to give you a tour around the hospital," I shot back. This wasn't the way I wanted to spend my morning. "I don't see why a resident couldn't do it. I'm in the middle of an important fellowship and..."

"I requested you as my tour guide," he cut in. I stopped in my tracks and shot a look back in his direction. He was standing there in the middle of the catwalk with his arms crossed giving me the classic McDreamy smile.

"And why the hell would you do that?" I asked. I was furious at the fact that I was doing work that a resident could do.

"Well you kept turning down my date offers, so I figured this would be the perfect opportunity. And besides your schedule was clear so I didn't think it would be anything major," he said. I was at a loss for words.

"Let's go to the attending's lounge and get you a pair of scrubs," I responded. We made our way to the lounge making small talk about what good nurses were at which nurse's stations and where CT and X-ray were. Derek was nothing less than charming. "Here you go," I said handing him a fresh pair of scrubs. He made his way to the bathroom to change and I took a seat on the couch. Derek came out of the bathroom and hung his clothes up in the closet. In the mean time my eyes were immediately drawn to his ass, the scrubs just fit him so well.

"Enjoying the view?" he asked while laughing. My face turned a bright shade of red as I quickly looked away. He was good at picking things out.

"Uhm, how about I show you where the OR's are and then we can head down to the ER, although I assume you already know where that is," I answered. On the way down to the OR's we stopped passed the coffee cart, where Derek bought me my own coffee. He drank it like I did, straight black with a little bit of sugar. He watched me sip my coffee as we headed to the elevator.

"This elevator will take you just about anywhere in the hospital," I said while the doors were closing. A smile appeared on Derek's face. "What's so funny?" I asked.

"Oh nothing. Just reminiscing about the last time we were in an elevator together, and me bruising my hand, which is fine by the way," he said in a sarcastic tone.

"Glad to hear that," I responded. The elevator doors opened to an unusually quiet OR level. Normally patients were being rushed in and out of surgery like no other. We made our way to the OR board to find that all the OR's were taken up already. "This is the OR board. Nurses normally write the schedule up there, but it's also on the iPad's at each nurse's station," I explained. Derek stood there studying the board with a puzzled look on his face.

"There's only one neurosurgery today?" he asked.

"Yeah, we only have one neurosurgeon and he only comes a few days a week. I was the last person ever interested in neuro but you know, things change and people change," I said.

"You used to be interested in neuro? Why did you stop?" he questioned.

"I don't know, I mean I loved operating on the brain, it was something that relaxed me. But the longer I was studying in neuro I was being told I was wasting my talent and should follow my mother's footsteps and switch to general. So I picked up my bags and left neuro in the middle of my fifth year, and here I am," I explained.

"That's a shame," he said. "I think if you were still in it we would be a pretty good team." I blushed at the fact that he was acknowledging my talent. He looked at the OR board and we made our way down to the ER, which was exceptionally busy. An ambulance was just pulling in.