2019-05-26 - Hospital Run-in

Chloe didn't plan on committing to anything with the hospital just yet ,but if she was going to be living at Bayside it was probably safer to be on rotation with the hospital sooner rather than later. After all, there was no telling if her house call/private clinic idea was actually going to take off. She had gotten a special sort of visitor pass that let her wander in most places unaccompanied. Wanting a better idea of the layout. Though the woman was starting to second guess coming here. One of the reasons she had left her former hospital was the emotions. So. Many. Emotions. On everything, from everyone. It was stressful and this place was no different. Chloe shook the feeling off, making her way towards the cafeteria area. Coffee fixed everything. Right?

In her school days, Chloe had always been a little awkward. Too tall, a little clumsy. She seems to have grown out of the awkward and clumsy stage though. Her attire is professional because, hey, she wanted to make a good impression. A pair of black dress slacks and a pale pink button down with a pair of black dress shoes. Her hair was pulled back in a neat ponytail. Coffee aquired, she wandered over towards one of the large windows - taking an opportunity to look out over the town.

Hospitals are sometimes crazy places. Even in a small city such as Gray Harbor, where they get plenty of cases brought in by ambulance from the outlying areas. The flashing lights of a rig come into view through the window, red and white as it races under the awning of the emergency room entrance. Moments later, those ER doors burst open and two EMTs in red windbreakers are wheeling a stretcher in, a bag of plasma hung. To the first doctor attending, the dark-haired paramedic is saying quickly but calmly, "Michael Robinson, 35-year-old male, with severe lacerations to the head after being thrown from his car accident, no seatbelt. He is sedated, he tried to punch us as we were strapping him onto the stretcher." Pushing toward one of the trauma-exam rooms, they pull the gurney up next to the table, preparing to unstrap the liquor-soaked patient and lift him onto the exam table. Sadly, a common sight in the run-down economy of the area - excessive drinking to console anguish and heartache. Drunk driving is an epidemic and ready source of work for the paramedics on almost any night shift.

Chloe could never be an ER Doctor, for a simple reason. She would want to use her powers to fix everyone. It was far too tempting and dangerous. Still - when the page came overhead for a 'Doctor Marcus' to report to the ER and Chloe spied a man quickly getting up from his table and hurrying towards an elevator - well curiosity was piqued. She took another elevator down to the ER and lingered on the fringes of the excitement. Not going inside the trauma room that the 'Doctor Marcus' has entered, but close enough to try and get an idea of what was happening. It was Friday night, so she was sure this event was only the beginning. Every now and then her gaze with flit towards other rooms, listening to the buzz of conversation around her. Standing in such a way that she was in no one's way at all - an attempt to blend in perhaps so she could remain an outside observer.

It's true that the mortality rate at Addington Memorial had been surprisingly low over the years, it usually is never a pattern that has been inspected or investigated... or even questioned. People are grateful when loved ones are spared an untimely passing, and few attribute it to the people on duty at the Gray Harbor hospital... or know why this phenomenon might be. There are several of the Glimmered working here, quietly, saving lives in the worst of situations.

Stepping back from the table, his initial work done, Nicholas Granholm watches as yet another father and husband is tended to on the table. The occurance is a regular one, and it is one of the reasons that he works so many damned hours. Children need their fathers, and while he cannot help the rampant alcoholism, he does what he can to ensure that Gray Harbor doesn't become a community of single-parent tragedies.

It was a tragedy, surely. People throwing their lives away without giving thought to the others it effects. She caught a glimpse if Nicholas when he stepped back back from the table - just barely into her line of sight. Her gaze lingering on him, perhaps trying to place where she'd seen him before. Her attention was diverted briefly as someone screamed in another room. An anguished sort of sound - likely not a patient but a relative of the patient. A frown creased her features. If she was going to work here some time in the near future, she had to toughen up a little. Her gaze settled back on Nicholas, shifting a few steps to get a better look at him. A thoughtful noise escaping as he was studied. Vaguely starting to remember where she knew him from - school. Which felt like a lifetime ago.

Nicholas, for the most part, appeared pretty normal. Well, to those that aren't Glimmer-sensitive. It can be sensed in him, caught just out of the corner of the eye now and again, for while he doesn't actively try to conceal it... he doesn't show it off, either. Yes, she did remember him from school. It would be hard to forget a guy with his eyes, even if he was a few classes behind her. He was a quiet type back then (though nothing has changed today, but she doesn't know that quiet yet), skirting the fringes of the social circles with a gentle but distant smile. Even now, that can be seen as he steps back from the doctors and nurses working on the crash victim, taking a deep breath as his lifesaving is done. Mr. Robinson was stabilized from a bad cut just below his jaw, dangerously close to the jugular, courtesy of the Spiritualist in the rig with him. Turning to gather their gurney and leave, Nicholas' eyes happen to catch a new-old face staring at him from across the ER, and it stops him for a moment.

It always the eyes. They're usually the first real thing Chloe noticed about a person, because a person's eyes could convey a lot of untold stories and tid bits. The gaze is held for a moment longer and then Chloe exhaled softly and finished off her coffee before walking towards him. So many faces from the past. It reminded her of Byron's words from last night. Everyone seemed to be trickling back. Birds of a feather flock together?

The empty coffee cup is tossed into a trash can before she stops by Nicholas. Plenty of room to not be invading any personal space of course. "Long time no see." A light smile on her lips. It had been a long time. At least a decade. "Nicholas, right?"

With a murmur to his partner of, "I'll just be a few minutes, meet you in the rig," Nicholas met Chloe's advance across the floor, not surprised that yet another wayward child of Gray Harbor had found her way back 'home'. To the epicenter of the strangeness in her life. Sticking his hand out, he offered a warm (if tired) smile, "Hi. Yes, Nicholas Granholm... Chloe, right? I remember you. Ninth grade art class, you made that purple dinosaur that won first prize in the art show, am I remembering that right?"

The handshake is quick but confident, "Yep. Chloe Rose." She confirmed and then thought it over for a moment. The note about the dinosaur. "I remember trying to make a dinosaur. I don't think it won first place though. My art skills haven't improved too much." Chloe laughed. "Seems like so long ago." She sighed and shook her head again before putting on another smile. "How've you been? I don't know why I'm always surprised to see people I recognize."

He gives a chuckle, "I hear that a lot when people return, and yeah, I dunno. Maybe it is the shock of seeing people all grown up and productive citizens of society?" A wink and a smile, as he looks around the ER, "So.. you work here, now?" Nicholas waves a hand at the white coat and nametag, "Doctor? Wow, look at you! You made it out, got smart, and actually thought about this place again. I'm impressed. Must mean that you have one of those -good- hearts that everyone talks about needing more of around here!"

Chloe couldn't help but laugh again. "Not yet. I'm opening up a private sort of practice. But I want to get on rotation so they let me spend the day." She explained. "This is a good place to slow it down a little...and if I recall correctly it was never boring. So maybe a bit of selfish reasoning for coming back." She mused. "You're probably right. Seeing everyone all grown up - hard to fathom sometimes. But you! An EMT. Honestly not a job I thought I'd see you in. More of a teacher type or something was my thinking. Just goes to show how people change." A bit of a grin.

He gives a laugh, surprised at the career options envisioned, "Teacher? Me? No. I do well enough dealing with the public in this job, being responsible for children's well-being and behavior would be a huge stretch for this introvert." Turning toward the counter off to the side, out of the way, he realizes that he is making his partner do all of the clean-up and restock from the run, but hey, he deserves a break now and then, too. "Private practice, hmm? I think we could use a few more of those, seems people don't have a whole lot to do around here but get sick and dream up ailments that need one drug or another. Oh, and be careful about that. Addiction around here is pretty rampant."

"And I figured it would be less stressful than constantly working this place." A little wave of her hand, indicating the hospital as a whole as she leaned against the counter. "I mean, people can surprise you. But I agree, I wouldn't want to be responsible for kids behavior or well being either. Hence why I'm not a pediatrician." She grinned. "Thanks for the heads up." On the drug use. "Though it doesn't surprise me. This town doesn't have a whole lot to do in it after all. That's one thing that didn't change."

"Whaaaat?" he asks in a light, halfway-surprised voice, "You don't like to bowl? And, I suppose you're going to tell me that two movies every two weeks is not enough to make a night-life for this quiet little burg." Giving a scoff, he grins, "You city folk, always having to 'do things' and 'have fun'? Can't you just sit around and rot like the rest of us?" It may not be clear that he is being darkly sarcastic, even with the grin, so he holds up his hands. "Fine," he sighs dramatically, if only for effect, to further stress the teasing attempt, "Netflix is not a replacement for paintball, I get it. But who has the money to set up a paintball arena?"

Chloe is trying very hard to keep a straight face as Nicholas speaks. "Don't forget to mention karaoke nights. You can't pass those up." The amusement sparkling in her eyes. "Pft, with our luck, the paintball arena would end up being built on some sacred ground and paintballs would start flying everywhere with no help." Laughing again. "Netflix and a good book are all I need, but it's nice to have the option of going and doing something exciting." Giving him a light little nudge. Glancing over at one of the clocks on the wall, then back to him. "I should probably start heading back home. But I'm glad I ran into you Nick. I'm sure I'll see you around."

He looks horrified and sad at the same time, "Everyone /always/ brings up karaoke! What an abomination!" The banter is a fun way to loosen up a new acquaintance, get a smile out of people to lighten awkward moments, "Fine. FINE!" A little mock temper-tantrum, "Netflix and a book it is, but don't say I didn't warn you!" Of what, he doesn't clarify as she gets ready to go, Nicholas taking the initiative to back away toward the exit himself. Pointing a finger, he threatens, "Good to see you back, Doc. Wow, never thought I'd ever call you -Doc-. Strange world, huh?" Adding a wave, he turns for the door.