Royals: A Different Beginning

Chapter 3

  "Alright, I just put pain medicine in your IV, so you should start feeling better really soon. Do you need anything else?" Jackie asked, tucking a blanket around the shoulders of an old woman who had fractured her hip. 

"No, dear, I'm fine. Thank you again," the woman said with a weak smile.

Jackie flipped the lights off in the woman's room and closed the curtain behind her. She was in the middle of her shift at Royal London's Accident and Emergency Department, where she worked as a nurse. Jackie absolutely loved her job. She rarely got recognized there, as most people she treated in the emergency department were either unconscious or in too much excruciating pain to realize they were speaking to Prince Harry's old love. 

"Hey, Jackie!" came a familiar voice. Jackie turned to see her good friend and coworker, Emily, pulling off her raincoat and hanging it over the back of a chair in the nurse's station.

"Hey!" 

Emily and Jackie met soon after they started working at Royal London. Beside's Kate, Emily was Jackie's best friend. 

"I saw Kate on the news yesterday," Emily said as she wrapped her stethoscope around her neck. 

Jackie nodded. "She was really nervous, but I think it went well."

"I couldn't even tell," Emily said. "She looked really beautiful. I can't imagine wearing Diana's ring!"

"I tried it on," said Jackie. "It was amazing, I can remember seeing her wearing it at engagements on TV when I was little."

"Will you be the maid of honor?" Emily asked, her eyes curious.

Jackie nodded. "Pippa doesn't want all the press attention, and since I'm used to it I don't mind."

Emily's voice was cautious. "And the best man?"

Jackie pursed her lips. "Take a guess."

"It'll be alright," Emily insisted. "You'll only have to talk about wedding details, nothing more."

Jackie sighed. "No, I'm going to have to be around him all the time until the wedding's over. But I'm an adult, I'll be fine."

"Do they have a da-" Emily's eyes widened and focused on something behind Jackie. "Freak alert."

Jackie didn't have time to dart into a patient's room for cover. She cringed as two hands rested on her shoulders. 

"Hello, ladies," came a eerily smooth male's voice. 

"Hi, Dr. Ted," Jackie and Emily said in unison, their voices equally disdainful. Dr. Ted Marshall, one of Royal London's radiologists, had asked Jackie out on a date about a year ago. Jackie, finally feeling ready to date again after her and Harry had broken up, had agreed. One date was enough for her to realize Dr. Ted was totally not her type, but he still hadn't figured out that she wasn't interested.

"I saw your friends on TV this morning," Dr. Ted said, immediately turning all his attention on Jackie. 

"So did I," Jackie said, shooting Emily a help me look. 

"That Kate is going to make a wonderful Queen some day," Dr. Ted continued, totally oblivious to Jackie's short, disinterested tone. "I assume you'll be a guest at the wedding?"

"Well, Kate hasn't really made any final decisions on the guest list yet, but I definitely have a spot on the clean-up crew. I've got an in at the Sanitation Department." 

Dr. Ted didn't pick up on her sarcasm. "Nice, nice. Well, if you do get invited, I'm totally free. I just bought a really great tuxedo when I went shopping with my mom last month, I'd love to break it in." 

Jackie raised a brow. "Well, I would love to see your mom's tuxedo, but the royal wedding invitations usually don't come with plus-ones." 

"No- not my mom's tuxedo, I bought it with-" Dr. Ted looked flustered. "Never mind. Keep me updated, alright Jackie?"

"Sure thing, Dr. Ted." 

Dr. Ted gave Jackie his best smile. "See you around, Jackie, Evelyn." 

"It's Emily-" Emily let out a huff. "Why don't you just tell him to get lost?"

Jackie shrugged. "I don't want to hurt his feelings, he'll get bored eventually." 

Emily pursed her lips. "His 'mother's tuxedo'?" 

Jackie giggled. "That didn't hurt his feelings, I'm just making him sweat."