Brookoff hospital was an imposing and hugely grotesque building amid the other structures around it. The man who had made up its blueprints had nothing but grandeur and luxury in mind, for the place looked less like a hospital and more like a hotel resort.
Rafe De' Notti squinted up, trying to see the very top of the damn skyscraper, wondering how many floors it actually had and wishing he was anywhere but here at the moment.
His boss, Daniel Brookoff, had whisked himself away once again to his island resort to, as he called it 'relax the stress away', leaving him in charge of everything. Which was confusing, considering the man never so much as lifted a pinky to do much of anything so how could he be stressed or god forbid, tired?
The way he saw it, he himself oversaw to the hospital's finances and legal obligations with far more zeal than the owner did. Why, if that man ever really decided to try and run the place, he'd probably run it straight into the ground.
He was good at what he did and Daniel knew that, which was why all of the weight of responsibility fell cripplingly onto his shoulders. He knew that and sought to use that expertise and flay him alive with practically all of the heavy brunt work.
Could the man do anything other than throw everything at him and expect him to do it all?
Why, he barely made it to bed each night before he konked out from utter depletion and exhaustion. Waking up on your neighbor's lawn to the sprinklers pounding icy water down on you is not something he would ever want a repeat of.
More often than not, he couldn't even function so well when he came in for work and ended up ruining reports and data quotas, making for a very upset him when he had to stay at the office late to transcribe and correct all of his mistakes.
He sighed and looked at the doors before him.
If he kept up at this pace, he'd be a walking zombie in no time. How many more eye bags must he acquire before the damn man noticed and took pity on his overworked self. He wouldn't though, of course, for it seemed to him that Brookoff was definitely trying to kill him.
"Ah, just fucking kill me already then, Daniel. You would be putting me out of my misery." He muttered to himself as he walked in through the revolving doors, his eyes taking in the atmosphere, the ambience.
"Not bad, for a frikkin, mountainous building." He muttered again. "But I damn sure wouldn't call this place a hospital."
He began walking, his eyes scanning the different faces passing him by. He wanted to see how it was that they acted when authority wasn't around to scrutinize their behavior and it was made all the more easy by the fact that no one here knew who he was.
Brookoff's directives had been simple enough. Go in, inspect the workers and be as inconspicuous as possible while paying extra close attention to the terminal, emergency and pediatric wards on the first and second floors.
Those were the most important, seeing as how lives were hanging by mere threads and children needed special care. He was to document everything he witnessed and fax it immediately to Daniel's assistant so he could go over the report.
This was the first time he had ever set foot in the hospital and that was a plus. Now all he had to do was keep the pretense as a mere visitor and watch the goings on through his peripheral vision or something.
"May I help you sir?"
He nearly jumped a foot off the floor at the sudden intrusion of his thoughts, the woman in white he turned to see, smiling sweetly as he tried to calm his heartbeats. "No, uh." He cleared his throat loudly. "Not...really?"
Now why the hell did that just sound like a question? Way to go, idiot!
She regarded Rafe from head to toe, slowly, lazily, her gaze lingering a bit too long on his crotch area for his liking before reluctantly moving upwards toward his face to make contact with his bewildered eyes.
"Are you that new doctor that was supposed to come down from North Carolina to look in on one of our terminal patients? You know, the cancer specialist or what not?" She looked excited about it but all he could do was stare at her stupidly.
He raised a brow in confusion. "Eh?"
She giggled at that. "Aw, you must be feeling overwhelmed by this whole arrangement and I really don't blame you one bit." she cooed. "But don't worry, you'll have gloves on the whole time you're examining him so the gay germs won't get you, I promise."
He just stared at her hard, trying to understand what in the heck she was talking about and why she would come to the conclusion that being gay was something that could be spread by simply touching someone.
Did she even know what she was saying right now? Probably not, seeing as how blondes were supposed to be, well...dumb.
"G-gay...germs?" he asked with a stutter. I mean what else could he say to that? Not only was he confused as hell, he felt anger rising up within him for some reason and right now, he didn't really trust himself to say more. He just might go off on her for how indifferent she was to be saying something so heinous.
She leaned closer after looking around to make sure no one was listening in.
"I heard it say that the man you're supposed to be here to examine is as gay as Elton John, if not gayer." she whispered conspiratorially. "I've never seen him of course because they keep him all the way at the end of ward F where no one can trespass but I've heard enough about him to know that most everyone here is afraid to go near him for fear they'll catch the gayness that practically seeps off him in waves."
Rafe reared back and stared at the small woman in horror and blatant disgust, his ears ringing with every word she spoke, his anger becoming an almost breathing, living entity with how it had escalated alarmingly and grown within him.
His hazel eyes darkened to the point of black, his fists clenched tightly at his sides of their own volition and something dark and menacing took over his usually gentle and calm nature. He was irate.
He was furious!
He leaned low and practically skewered the babbling nurse with his intense angry glare. "Show him to me." he said lowly, dangerously, his body shaking with his palpable fury.
Why he should care so much, he had no idea but mistreatment of the sick and dying would not be condoned by him in any way. The fact that they were doing so because of his preferences only added fuel to the already scorching fire inside him.
She looked away from the intensity of his stare and fidgeted nervously where she stood. "M-maybe you should sp-speak to Mr. Sheldon before you go in to see him, sir." She said shakily, her words stuttering a bit. "You know, so he can brief you on the patient and all that kind of stuff."
He grabbed hold of her wrist, tired of hearing her insufferable voice and squeezed. Hard. "I don't need a god damned briefing little lady." He growled, jerking her closer so their noses almost touched. "And I will not ask you nicely again so bring me to him now!"
His voice which had at one point been low and almost polite, had escalated in both pitch and volume, surprising even him with its almost bestial like quality. It was unnerving to say the least for he rarely ever raised his voice.
What surprised him even more though, was the fact that he had just basically manhandled the tiny woman before him not even caring whether she would have a bruise on her arm tomorrow or not. He'd never in his life put his hands on a woman in anger.
What was wrong with him?
He abruptly released his tight grip on her wrist and mentally shook his head, trying to clear it so he could think straight. He couldn't fathom why he would be so incensed about this whole matter. He didn't even know who that man was for crying out loud!
So why was he suddenly livid on his behalf?
He stepped away from the nurse, not trusting himself to remain close and bowed slightly while extending his hand with a fake flourish as if to say 'lead the way but step on it lady.'
Step on it? What was the hurry? He didn't even know and the fact that he didn't have an answer, irked him.
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