forum Hospital RP (Closed)

Started December 04, 2022 by @emilyevewrites group

tune

Nokhal’rok slowly woke to a pounding headache and a tender nose. He was also lying down, but on something cushioned. Was he in a bed? Where was he? And where was Edmund?

He groggily opened his eyes, looking around. White walls, dull paintings, medical machinery, and roaming people with white coats. He was in a hospital. What had happened? Had he passed out?

He groaned, looking around for Edmund. Edmund would know. After a moment of searching with no success, Nokhal’rok sighed and massaged his temples a bit to try and ease the headache. He avoided touching his nose, since, by the way it felt, it had been broken. What had hit him?

O'Hara was standing by the nurses' station, checking on some old records from one of her patients. Her lips were pursed, a sign that she was deep in thought about something.

Jackie calling out her name went over her head about three times before the blonde-haired nurse finally got through.

"O'Hara!"

The doctor looked up and frowned. "Jacks, dear Lord. Is someone dying?"

"Somewhere, probably yes," Jackie replied. "But as for here and now, the man in Bed Four is awake. Thought you might want to go and check on him. Broken nose and blood transfusion."

"I'm aware of my patients' injuries, thank you," O'Hara countered, setting her file down in the wire basket before heading over to the bed.

It took about twenty seconds for the clicking of expensive heels to reach Nokhal’rok’s ears. The sounds grew closer and closer until the curtain around his bed was pulled back enough for O’Hara to enter. She stepped in, closing it behind her.

"Hello," she greeted, looking at the vital signs before down at Nok’s face. "You slept for quite a bit.”

Nokhal’rok did his best to remember what had happened to him, but his mind was still fuzzy from both disorientation and just waking up. Though, the moment he heard approaching heels, he couldn’t help chuckling a bit. He knew the sound of expensive shoes anywhere.

A gorgeous doctor pulled aside the curtain, stepping in. Nokhal’rok immediately noticed the subtle signs of her expensive clothes, and he started listing off the possible fashion brands in his head. Her words distracted him though, bringing him back to reality.

“How long? And, where’s Edmund?”he asked quietly, groaning a bit as his head momentarily hurt worse.

“Not sure exactly,” O’Hara replied while checking his IV line. Her accent laced her words. “But it was several hours at least. Your MRI didn’t reveal any brain damage. You’re lucky. Honestly, I’m surprised you woke as fast as you did.”

She swapped the fluid bag with diligent fingers, then pursed her lips in thought for a moment. “Edmund? Oh yes, him. He’s in the waiting room. He’s rather dedicated to you, isn’t he? Most people wouldn’t drive to the hospital themselves. And he was rather insistent on making sure you were alright.”

She frowned. “Try not to move an awful lot. Though there’s no permanent damage, it’s still going to hurt like hell for a while.”

Nokhal’rok stared blankly at her for a moment. Several hours? MRI? What was going on?

“What hit me?”he couldn’t help asking.

A rush of other questions came to mind, including questions about his blood transfusion appointment. Was it already done? Or did he still need it? Would there be any complications?

Nokhal’rok took a deep breath, or, at least, as deep as he could manage without causing his head to pound. He then took a moment to clear his mind before listening to the doctor’s words.

“I’ve known Edmund since I was a child. He’s like family,”he answered breifly. He wanted to say more, but it hurt to talk a lot.

“I noticed,”he commented, closing his eyes momentarily to try and ease the pain.

The woman arched her eyebrows, an amused smirk lighting on her lips at his question, more specifically the slightly bewildered tone of it. “A bat.”

She nodded while she listened. “Well, now I understand his motives a bit more.” It was true. The man had shown loyalty that now made much more sense to O’Hara than it had when Edmund first came into the ER carrying Nokhal’rok’s body. He was clearly more than just the hired limo driver.

A quiet scoff escaped her as his response.

“Did you think it wouldn’t? Your nose is very broken. And, by the way, Edmund made it very clear that you were also scheduled for a blood transplant with Doctor Cruz later today. I took the liberty of overseeing it myself, if you don’t mind, since Doctor Cruz was busy with several other patients when you arrived.” And also is an ignorant, rude, arrogant ass.

“Seriously?”

Nokhal’rok wasn’t amused by her reaction to his questions, but he was stunned that a simple bat could cause so much damage.

“Yeah,”he replied, a simple response to confirm her statement and obvious thoughts. Edmund was indeed devoted to Nokhal’rok.

He sighed in annoyance at her scoff and words.

“I’ve never had a broken nose, so no,”he replied.

At the rest of her explanation, he sighed with immense relief. The blood transfusion had been taken care of. Good, very good.

“Thank you,”he said, truly grateful.

O’Hara gave a small smile. She could hear the gratitude in his voice, something she’d been better at picking up the longer she worked in the medical field. “You’re welcome,” she said just as the curtain flew back to reveal another doctor.

This one was a man with slicked-back dark hair, brown eyes, and a slight five-o’clock shadow. “Nokhal’rok,” he greeted for a moment before looking at O’Hara with a firm gaze. “Can I speak with you?”

The woman pursed her lips, set down the papers she was writing on, and reluctantly obliged him with a curt, “Of course.”

They stepped out behind the curtain, and before O’Hara had even pulled the fabric shut behind her, the other man was already talking, still well within earshot of Nokhal’rok.

“So, quick update. You’re going to be doing stitches in room three, and I’m taking over here. Good? Okay.” He started to walk away, but O’Hara was not one to be pushed around.

“No, absolutely not,” she replied shortly, causing the man to turn back around and narrow his eyes. “Excuse me? You’re not in charge here.”

Her Manolos made sharp, aggressive clicks on the tile floor as she strode over to confront him. Around them, the other emergency room staff who were waiting around the nurses' station stopped what they were doing to listen. It became oddly quiet except for the background noises of wheeling gurneys, beeping machines, and shuffling papers. Everyone was watching the showdown unfold in front of them.

“Mike Cruz,” O’Hara quipped. “Short for Michael, is it?”

“Actually, it’s Miguel,” Cruz replied easily.

“Yeah, well, whoever you are, you’re no fun,” O’Hara retorted, her accented voice gaining a hard, sharp edge. “What you just did was rude.”

“No, it was business. Rude would have been to publicly question why a physician whose primary job is trauma center patients thinks it’s appropriate to be going through with a blood transfusion procedure.”

O’Hara scoffed. This one wasn’t like the quiet, borderline teasing one she had given Nokhal’rok. This one was much more hostile. “Oh, my God. You’re a caveman!”

“I made my name in pathology, Doctor O’Hara,” Cruz replied. Everything about him – his demeanor, his responses, his expressions – was so casual to the point it was infuriating.

But O’Hara wasn’t done yet either. “I’m not accustomed to being bullied.”

“Oh, sorry I hurt your feelings,” Cruz retorted, faking empathy in his voice before turning serious again. “It’s an emergency room.”

“I am a doctor,” O’Hara cut in quickly, taking another step toward him before he finished speaking, “and I will do my job to help my patients as I see fit.”

“Um… I understand.”

O’Hara’s anger was slowly continuing to rise. She was 5’10”, but taller in her heels, and she glared evenly at the 6’2” man in front of her. “You have no right to dismiss me simply because of a routine procedure.”

Cruz, to his credit, looked slightly confused. “That’s not why I’m doing this.”

“It most certainly is!” the woman retorted. Her narrowed gaze sharpened.

“Eleanor—” Cruz began. O’Hara’s eyes widened in rage. Cruz took one look at O’Hara’s expression and corrected his mistake. “Doctor O’Hara, blood transfusions are one of my main fields. I’m better at it than you are. I just am. Look, I think that our patients deserve the best we have to offer. Do you disagree?”

O’Hara did respond. She only continued to glare.

“Just one powerful man’s opinion,” Cruz stated before brushing by her and going behind the curtain. “We can talk again when you finish stitching up the hand in three.”

He was lucky he was out of her sight when he spoke because O’Hara was livid. The retreating sound of her Manolos could be heard as she stormed over to room three.

(Sorry, this is fucking long, but… character building! I thought it would be entertaining for you to read a substantial back-and-forth dialogue between Cruz and O’Hara to get an idea of their dynamic and more of O'Hara's personality XD)

(You’re fine, lol. I don’t mind long posts. And, like I said before, I have watched Nurse Jackie, it’s just been a while, so I do appreciate the insight, grin)

---

Nokhal’rok gave a small smile of his own when O’Hara spoke. He then watched as someone else came in, and listened closely to the entire incident.

O’Hara was definitely a fiesty woman. She wasn’t afraid to stand her ground or defend herself. And, the passion in her hostility… Nokhal’rok liked that. A woman without passion was like jewelry without a matching outfit.

When Dr. Cruz came in, Nokhal’rok almost snorted. He avoided doing that, though, as it would’ve hurt his already pained nose.

“That could’ve been handled a lot better, Dr. Cruz,”Nokhal’rok commented with a chuckle.

(Follows up a page-length response with a paragraph asdfdkjkh)

Cruz shook his head slightly with a smirk. “She needs to be put in her place. Doctor O’Hara likes to cross boundaries. That's something I’m not a big fan of being the new director of the ER. Now, how are you feeling since your transfusion?”

(Lol, you’re still good)

---

“Being forceful to a forceful woman will get you nowhere, no matter who you are,”Nokhal’rok replied.

He hummed, considering how he felt. His head still pounded, but, besides that, he was fine. Hell, better than fine. It was the first time in a little while that he had actually felt energized.

“Well, currently, I feel better than I have all week, if you exclude my nose,”he answered.

Cruz shook his head, but he surprisingly didn’t counter the remark. Instead, he checked the IV fluids, even though O’Hara had just changed them, and Nokhal’rok’s vital signs. “Well, things look good on my end too. Though I assure you that another doctor taking over the transfusion won’t happen again.”

Nokhal’rok chuckled, then just watched Cruz. He wondered if the doctor even realized that O’Hara had just changed the fluids. Or was Cruz trying to act big? If he was, he was certainly failing. Particularly around Nokhal’rok, who was already such a spoiled rich kid that he didn’t even need a job to live a very long life of extreme luxury.

“Dr. Cruz, I understand Dr. O’Hara had stepped out of bounds, but give her a little credit. She didn’t botch the transfusion, which, I believe, is far more important than mere hierarchical issues,”Nokhal’rok said slowly, so he wouldn’t hurt his head too much.

Cruz scoffed under his breath and shook his head. “This entire staff is a mess to deal with. They all think they can cross lines and overrule people higher than them. At some point, they need to learn a lesson. The discussion I had was to make an example out of O’Hara in case any of her friends decide to do something similar.”

It was, again, the authoritative clicking of her heels that gave away her approach. O’Hara slung back the curtain and eyed Cruz narrowly. On her hands were blue surgical gloves, and her fingertips were covered in blood.

“Excuse me, Doctor Cruz,” she stated bluntly while she removed the gloves and disposed of them in the trashcan beside Nokhal’rok’s bed. “While blood transfusions are your area of expertise, trauma center patients are mine. And I have a broken nose to deal with here.” She threw his own words back at him so casually that there was nothing the man could do.

With a scowl, Cruz left, zinging the curtain shut behind him.

That sounds like someone in power that can’t handle their responsibilities, or people, properly, and thus has no true power.

Nokhal’rok didn’t actually reply to Cruz, instead just keeping an amused smile on his face. Then, when he heard clicking heels, that smile grew a bit.

He listened to O’Hara’s words, snickering at how casual and smooth she was. When Cruz left, he almost burst into laughter, but his nose kept him from doing that.

“Nice choice in words,”he commented.

(Basically an excuse to get O’Hara back because I loathe writing Cruz 😂)

O’Hara glanced over and noted the smile on Nokhal’rok’s face. She’d also heard his quiet snicker during her brief tirade.

“Thank you, I try,” she murmured, slipping another pair of gloves on her hands to cover up her lithe fingers and painted nails. “Now, has there been anything that has felt different over the past few minutes you’ve been awake? More or less pain? Has the location of the pain changed at all?”

(Lmao!)

---

Nokhal’rok chuckled. Then, he watched her put on fresh gloves, his eyes momentarily hooked on her gorgeous fingers and nails. He wondered how many different nail polishes she had. There had to be a variety, and he’d love to see all of it. Particularly if she wore it.

It took him a second before he realized she’d asked him something.

“Huh? Oh. No, not really. Unless I talk a lot, then my head pounds harder. Besides that, it’s just steady head pounding, and otherwise feeling marvelous,”he answered.

His mind was still stuck on her nails, and he was so tempted of asking her what fashion brands she bought her clothes from. But, he also wondered if that would be too forward of a question for someone he basically just met.

O’Hara nodded. “Since you came directly here, and it hasn’t been long since the incident occurred, I believe I can manually fix it…”

She glanced over her shoulder back at the nurses’ station. “Jackie!” she yelled.

The nurse in question hurried over. “Yeah?”

“Go back to Eddie and see if he has any lidocaine,” O’Hara instructed. As Jackie headed off, the doctor turned back to Nokhal’rok. “It’s a numbing agent that dulls your pain receptors and makes it easier for me to work,” she explained. “Depending on how you feel after, I may call for a CT scan. And has there been any ringing in your ears, blurry vision, or feelings of nausea or fatigue?”

“Alright,”he replied, hoping it would be a simple fix.

He listened to the exchange, then to O’Hara’s words. He nodded slightly at her explanation of lidocaine, though he’d already had a basic idea of what it was prior to her words. Then, he thought about if he’d felt anything like O’Hara was asking.

“Not necessarily. I can’t really breathe through my nose, but I think that’s inevitable. Otherwise, I believe it’s just this incessant headache,”he answered.

O’Hara nodded, jotting a few notes down on the paper beside his bed before looking back at him. “Well, the good news is that I don’t think you have a concussion. How in the world you escaped a severe blow to the head without one, I have no idea. But if it’s only your nose, and I can fix that when Jacks gets back with the lidocaine, your release should be within the next few hours.”

She sighed and tapped her heeled-foot impatiently. “Where is that damn woman? I would do it without the numbing agent, but it would hurt like hell for you.” She pursed her lips and frowned. “Dammit Jackie…”

“Luck, I suppose?”Nokhal’rok said with a chuckle.

“Alright.”

He appreciated O’Hara’s decision to wait on the lidocaine, but after a minute, he started to ponder what was going on. This ‘Jackie’ was clearly taking longer than she was supposed to, and O’Hara obviously didn’t approve.

He was tempted of asking about it, but he didn’t want to intrude on any drama going on. Not yet, at least.

O’Hara looked ready to go hunt her down when Jackie finally reappeared with a small container.

“Here,” she said, extending it towards O’Hara. The doctor took it and gave the nurse a brief up-and-down look.

“Thank you,” was all she said before letting the matter drop. It seemed strange that was all she said considering how long Jackie had taken and how irritated O’Hara had been only moments ago.

But the doctor was already moving on, applying the lidocaine generously around Nokhal’rok’s nasal area. “It should only take about a minute or so to start working,” she explained. “Let me know when you can’t feel it anymore.”

Nokhal’rok continued to wait patiently, then watched the interaction. It was quite odd how O’Hara didn’t chew Jackie out. Though, he wondered if they could be friends. That would make sense. Otherwise, he had no idea why the incident had been so… anticlimactic.

He winced a few times when O’Hara put the lidocaine on, simply because of how tender his poor nose was. He then waited until the pain subsided to basically nothing. A humorous thought came to him that, maybe, O’Hara had rubbed his nose off, but he knew that wasn’t true.

“It’s a disconcerting feeling, having a, mostly, painless broken nose. A pity the headache is still throbbing away,”he commented lightly when the lidocaine had kicked in.

O’Hara nodded as he essentially told her that the lidocaine was kicking in. “Yes, so I’ve been told before,” she remarked, pursing her lips a bit at the fact that his headache was still lingering. If there was no concussion, it should be fading away soon, if not now.

“Alright, don’t move,” she murmured. She placed her thumbs in each side of his nose, bracing her pressure with her fingers on his cheeks, and pushed quickly. A loud crack meant she had done her job well. “There we are,” she sighed easily, lifting her hands and moving to throw away her gloves. “Good as new.”

Since it would be easier for Nokhal’rok to smell, it was possible that he might still catch a scent of O’Hara’s perfume that she wore on her wrists.

Nokhal’rok obeyed her, staying as still as possible. It was strange having her fingers basically all over his face, but he just continued to hold still. Then, there was a loud crack, and like a wave of pressure being released, his headache subsided considerably. He could also, somewhat, breathe through his nose now, managing to just catch a whiff of lovely perfume before O’Hara moved away. He’d have to ask about it eventually, particularly when his sense of smell was closer to normal.

“Goodness! I guess my head was just complaining about my nose, because now I only have a dull ache. I can actually think now!”he said in relief, snickering cheerily.

O’Hara obliged his comments with a laugh. “That’s a relief. I’m nearly positive you don’t have a concussion. Though, to make sure, I’m going to have you stay for another few hours. It’s a basic procedure just to monitor and make sure no immediate problems occur before your release. And gives enough time for the numbness to wear off. In the meantime, are there any family members you'd like us to contact to let them know that you’re here? Friends? A spouse or romantic partner?"

Nokhal’rok smiled as she laughed, savoring the sound of it for a moment. He then gave a nonchalant shrug.

“That’s fine. I get it,”he replied.

He hesitated at the question about any contacts he might have. He wasn’t in a relationship, and his friends were more business partners than friends. Then, his family… He was the black sheep, the outcast, the strange one. Even though his family, particularly his parents, not so much with his brother, might appreciate the call, there would definitely be drama if they came. If they came.

“Um… not really. I do have family, but… bringing them here probably wouldn’t be the best idea,”he said quietly.

O’Hara quickly noticed the change in his demeanor when he spoke of his family. She hesitated a moment before placing her manicured hand on top of Nokhal’rok’s and meeting his gaze evenly. "I understand," she murmured. "If I was in your situation right now, I wouldn't have anyone either. My mother still lives in England, and my sister lives in Paris. And I would resent anyone who would call my wicked stepfather if there was an emergency.”

She took an even breath before continuing. “What I’m trying to say is that I understand, and I'll be here if you need anything, and if you can't find me, have Jackie or somebody page me."