Outer space | klance au |

29: blue slurpee

To say he was tired was an understatement. Lance thought that he could feel the exhaustion down to his bones. He leaned against the nurses station with his head resting in his hand. The doctor to be drummed his fingers on his cheek in no particular beat. "I can barely keep my eyes open." He complained and the nurse giggled at him. He peeked up at the sound and she motioned beside him. Romelle had fallen asleep standing up. Her head was close to slipping off her hand and smacking onto the counter. He nudged her and she woke with a start.

"I'm awake!" She explained before closing her eyes again. Romelle groaned. "What time is it?"
She could just glance down but seemed to just want Lance to tell her. He looked at her Spider-Man watch but before he could tell her how early in the morning it was, nurse Luxia interrupted him.

"Hon, it's close to three." Romelle groaned at her words. "You should just go home." The woman said softly. Queenie Luxia was a beautiful and caring woman. She had a fierce temper and fought for her patients and doctors alike. She was Lance's favorite nurse. She was easy to work with and so incredibly nice to everyone around her. Queenie smiled at the pair kindly and Lance wanted so badly to just do as she said. There was something mesmerizing about her. He was sure anyone would follow what she said. Nurse Luxia's eyes held vast oceans and her voice seem to drip with honey.

"We can't. Lance and I promised our patient that we'd be there for her when she woke up." Romelle whined tiredly and a slight frown took over her features. He wanted nothing more than too to be in his pajamas but there he stood in his scrubs and lab coat. Lance sighed and rested his head back in his hand. He was almost tempted to help Queenie with her rounds. She took out the pack of gum from her scrubs pockets and offered him a piece. Lance shook his head with a smile. She shrugged and took a piece for herself, crumbling the wrapper and throwing it in the garbage near the computer.

Someone cleared their throat. "What are my students doing here after their shift?" The sound of Kaltenecker's voice made the pair jump. They quickly turned to greet him. He rose an eyebrow at them and Romelle laughed awkwardly.

Lance decided to speak up so Romelle wouldn't have to. "Well we promised Narti we'd be there when she woke up from her surgery and she hasn't woken up yet." Lance had a sneaking suspicion that was also why the older doctor was there despite their shifts ending hours ago. Kaltenecker promised Narti"s daughter, Kova, that he'd look after her mom. Narti was still unconscious so the doctors hadn't left. Lance knew that Kaltenecker had a soft spot for his patients, that despite him claiming to be uncaring he had a good heart.

"You have a shift later today." He tried to reason with them. His monotone voice betraying the concern present in his grey eyes. That was when Lance then realized Kaltenecker not only cared for his patients but for his students and residents. He suddenly remembered how kind Kaltenecker was to him after he cried in the stairwell. "If you're not going to go home the least you can do is sleep in the on-call room." He grumbled and Queenie made a sound of agreement from behind the computer screen. His wrinkled scrubs suggested that he had just woken up. Kaltenecker had slept at the hospital waiting to be sure his patient was okay. Lance wondered if Romelle and him would do the same.

"Thank you, sir." Romelle smiled kindly at him and Kaltenecker seemed embarrassed that he had been caught having such a moment with his students. He was supposedly cold and distant. Romelle looked down at her watch despite being the told the time a few minutes prior. She settled on something before she glanced up at him. "Lance and I were going to hit up a 7-eleven for a slurpee would you like anything?" Her sweet voice sounded nonchalant but Lance knew she was worried about the older man. As much as they complained about him they did care about him

"We were?" Lance looked at her incredulously and she elbowed him in the side. "We were!" He smiled at Dr. Kaltenecker and discreetly held his ribs.