Carlisle's Diary

Off Kilter

“Well ladies, I’d love for you to get to know each other more but Esme and I really have to get home. We have a family to feed; besides there will be plenty of time at the ski party,” I said smoothly.

“Oh . . . you’re coming.” It wasn’t a question but more of a statement. Realizing that we were looking at her with startled expressions, Ashley shook her head and continued. “That’s wonderful! It’ll be great to spend more time with you and your family.” She flashed a bright smile.

“Well only my wife, niece and her boyfriend are coming. Everyone else has other plans for that day,” I said. Esme nodded in agreement, gathering the rest of her groceries.

          We said our goodbyes to Ashley and walked to the register to pay and leave. Using the self-payment counter, we got what we wanted and left without incident. After loading everything into the back of Esme’s Mercedes SUV, we drove away, but not before glancing at the rear view mirror to see Ashley watching us. It felt weird. Maybe this is what Alice meant when she said we’ll hire a weird new nurse. She was definitely not acting normal. Who knew what her deal was? At least now I could ask Esme what the hell happened in that store.

“Honey, what happened in the grocery store, with Ashley?” I asked her cautiously.

“Oh that. Yes, when we shook hands she all but tried to rearrange my knuckles. I knew people had firm handshakes but this was a little more than that. Of course when she tried that I put in just a tad of my own strength so she would understand; I’m not the type to back off.”

“Back off from what?” I asked puzzled.

“It’s a way to show dominance. I know men have that but some women do it too. Don’t be surprised if this one has a huge crush on you and will try to get you to leave me for her. The way she looked me up and down—she was measuring what I had that she didn’t or vice-versa. Some women are just like that.” She spoke matter-of-factly.

“What? That’s absurd! I would never even look at another woman that way! Has she lost her mind?” I said aghast.

        Esme smiled, a soft but confident smile. “I know sweetheart. I know. I’m just telling you what happens between women sometimes, especially when both are interested in the same man. Or human women and men I suppose. Vampires seem to find mates and settle for eternity. I’m not a shrink but that’s how it happens.”

          We sat silently in the car after that as I digested everything she said. This was not going to happen. I don’t care if the human woman looked like Marilyn Monroe and is a goddess incarnate; there is no one for me other than Esme!

And that’s where that subject ended.

        I intended to sit down and have a little talk with Ashley when I got into the hospital, though I had no idea what to say really. As it turned out, I didn’t have to. As soon as I came in to work the following day, she was waiting for me. Her eyes were wide and pleading.

“Good morning Dr. Cullen. I wanted to apologize for my behavior at the store yesterday. It was inexcusable. I was incredibly rude to your wife and I’m so very sorry. I have no idea what came over me. I never act like that. Never! Please relay my sincerest apologies to your wife.” When she finished speaking, she looked at me wide-eyed.

        I had to pause a second to gather my thoughts before speaking. “Thank you for coming to talk with me Ashley. I will relay your apology to Esme when I get home. I do not want an awkward working environment no matter what,” I assured her, and she quickly shook her head.

“Oh me neither. I was appalled at myself when I got home! I was tempted to call you and apologize, then I realized I didn’t have your number and didn’t want to make it seem weird.” She fidgeted with her scrubs as she spoke.

“All right Ashley. Apology accepted; I’m sure Esme will say the same. Clean slate,” I said with a smile. She sounded sincere and neither of us wanted the tension at work.

“Oh thank you. Thank you very much Dr. Cullen!” she said as a huge relieved smile broke out on her face.

        After our talk we went about our rounds. She had some questions and Betsy was out with food poisoning, so she followed me on my rounds. Charlotte also joined to see how I did things. Charlotte usually seemed so much more cheerful than Ashley but today they matched each other with cheerfulness. They made even the sickest patients laugh. I felt like everything was back to normal; that Alice’s vision had come and gone and we handled it without a big incident.

        After lunch, the two of them had their own charts and patients to see. We had one patient go into cardiac arrest suddenly, who didn’t seem to have issues with his heart and would have died if Ashley hadn’t been around the corner when his alarm went off. She got in there and resuscitated him. We all congratulated her. She was glowing. The patient was even smiling by the time I got there. When I asked what had happened he said he was sleeping when all of a sudden he felt a sharp pain in his chest and that’s the last thing he remembered until Ashley brought him back. She got there just in the nick of time. That’s pretty standard in a hospital, though; you never know what can happen to any patient and I was proud my team was so hands-on and didn’t freeze in an emergency. Which once again brought home that we had, indeed, hired a good crew.

        A similar emergency happened in the NIC.U a few hours later and our trio of new nurses not only brought that baby from the brink of death but also had him walking around that same night!

        When I got off work that night, I was looking forward to going home to my wonderful wife as well as the ski party the following evening. We had decided it would be much better to ski in the evening, as the snow was beautiful, glittery. Maybe I could even talk Rose into taking photos of us while we were skiing.  In any case it was going to be a fun night. As I drove home, I was glad things worked out.

             Unfortunately for me and everyone around me, this was just the opening salvo . . . the tip of the iceberg from hell.

~Carlisle Cullen