'Daniel Price'
After Lexa left in a rush Clarke finished up her breakfast before grabbing both plates and cups and heading to the sink. Making quick work of the dirty dishes she did a once over of the kitchen before heading into her room to grab her keys and purse. As she made her way to the front door Clarke checked to make sure all the lights were off before walking out into the hallway while locking the door behind her.
The ride to the hospital seemed to take longer than normal even though the traffic was pretty light considering it was a Wednesday morning. Parking in the staff area of the parking lot Clarke got out of her car and made her way towards the ER entrance of the hospital. Throwing a quick good morning to Maya, who sat typing away at her computer, Clarke made her way towards the direction of her office.
Pushing into the decent sized room Clarke walked over to her desk and sat down before placing her purse on the floor next to her feet. Taking the unusual quiet morning she opened up her computer to check on the medical records of a few patients from the night before that she knew were still in the hospital. Clarke was finalizing some reading on her last patient when a soft knock came from her open office door. A woman, mid forties, with light brown hair and a slim figure stood in her doorway wearing a pair of light blue surgical scrubs.
“Hey, mom. I didn’t think you were here still,” Clarke said as she stood from her chair.
“I got called in for a seven hour surgery. I was just about to leave when Maya told me you had arrived.”
Clarke made her way over to her mother and gave her a swift hug before pulling back and smiling up at her. Abigail Griffin started working at the UCLA Medical Center about twenty years ago and had become the lead surgeon shortly after working there for eight years. Clarke loved being able to work alongside her mother and equally loved how much they were able to see each other.
“Must have been some surgery. Tell me about it,” Clarke walked back to her chair as her mother took residence in one of the two chairs situated in front of her desk.
“We can talk about that later. I actually came here because I heard from someone, who shall not be named, that you were finally seeing someone.”
Clarke rolled her eyes at her mother’s words,“I should have known Raven would tell you. We aren’t even officially seeing each other yet. We’re still working that out. How much did Raven tell you?”
“She only told me that I should ask about the, and I quote, ‘insanely hot person’ you were seeing, So, tell me about this person,” Abby said as she gave her daughter a pointed look.
“Well, for starters her name is Lexa. She’s a detective for the LAPD,” Clarke watched as her mother’s eyebrows rose slightly,“She actually lives below me and we met when I was worked up on a painting and did my whole pacing thing, which I never realized was pretty loud,” Clarke rambled.
“That poor girl. I remember those nights back when you were in high school. Kept me up all hours of the night. I could hear it from my room,” Abby laughed as she shook her head.
“Why didn’t anyone ever tell me I was so loud?”
“I honestly thought you knew. You’re pacing sounds like an elephant walking, Clarke,” Clarke let a feigned horrified gasp out at her mother’s teasing words.
“Okay. Enough about your pacing. Raven told me that you also invited Lexa along to the beach house, and I know you don’t just invite anyone over there. You must like this woman quite a lot.”
“She’s different, mom. I don’t know how to explain it but there’s just something there that I’ve never felt before,” Clarke explained as she looked at her mother.
“I understand, sweetie. I felt the same way about your dad.”
Clarke’s gaze dropped down to her lap as the memories of her mother and father being completely and utterly happy, before the accident, filled her head. They had always had a special relationship that made Clarke hope to find someone to share the same type of relationship with. Clarke blinked back tears as she looked back over to her mother who gave her a small smile.
“He’d want you to be happy, Clarke. To live out your days with someone who makes you feel the way you say Lexa makes you feel. That’s what we both want for you.”
Clarke nodded meekly to her mother who slowly stood up from her seat,“Well, I guess I’ll be off. I don’t have work for the next two days unless an emergency comes up, so maybe dinner one night?”
“I’d like that. It’s been a while since we’ve had dinner together.”
“Maybe you can even bring Lexa along and I can see if she’s right for you or not,” Abby winked at Clarke.
“Oh, no. I’m not letting you scare her off like you almost did to Wells,” Clarke said as she pointed an accusing finger at her mother.
“Just to point out though, I was completely right about Wells. I just knew he wasn’t right for you. Just invite her out and I promise not to be too harsh.” Before Clarke could further argue with her Abby placed a quick kiss to the top of her head and made her way out of Clarke’s office.
Once her mother was gone Clarke put her computer to sleep before grabbing her name badge and stepping out of her office while closing and locking the door behind her. As she made her way back towards the ER to get a head start on the day Clarke was stopped by Maya who was holding out a patient folder for her to grab.
“We just had someone come in with a pretty nasty cut on the right lower forearm. Dr. Sinclair has already checked over the last few patients in the ER before he left so you’ve got a little time on your hands before the next round of check ups,” Maya said as Clarke took a look inside the folder.
“Thank you, Maya.”
Clarke read through the file as she made her way over to the examination room the patient was currently in. The male, Daniel Price, was apparently making breakfast with his cousin when he turned around and accidentally got caught by the large kitchen knife that his cousin was wielding. After closing the folder Clarke knocked on the sleek wooden door of the patient’s room before entering.
Walking in Clarke saw Daniel Price sitting casually on the bed in the middle of the room. Daniel was a picture of calm for a man in his current situation. Dark brown hair reached his chin and a smooth, square jawline gave way to a flawless face. Brown eyes glanced towards the door as Clarke made her way inside.
Clare gave the man a smile before walking up to the bed,“Hi, Mr. Price. I’m Dr. Clarke Griffin. I hear you got quite the cut making breakfast.”
“Nice to meet you, Dr. Griffin. And yes, my idiot cousin doesn’t know how to not point a knife towards someone turning around to face him. And please, just Daniel is fine,” He said as he gave her a dazzling smile.
“Well, lets go ahead and take a look at what we’re dealing with and see if we can’t get you all fixed up.”
Clarke walked over towards the cabinets in the far left corner of the room and made quick work of washing her hands before donning a pair of gloves. After grabbing some gauze from one of the supply cabinets she grabbed the rolling stool and pulled it over to the edge of the bed before sitting down. Clarke unwrapped the dressings that a nurse more than likely put on before he was checked in and took a look at the wound.
As Clarke further examined his arm she measured the wound to be about five inches long and about half an inch deep,“Well, you’re defiantly going to need some stitches. Give me just a few minutes to get some numbing and some supplies and we’ll get you all done before getting you a tetanus shot and letting you get out of here.”
Clarke jumped up from her stool and made her way out the room to go grab the necessary medical equipment before heading back. She placed all the supplies on the metal tray stand next to the bed before grabbing a syringe filled with numbing medication.
“Okay, I’m going to put some numbing medication around the cut and we’ll give it a few minutes before we start the stitches.”
As Clarke began to administer the medicine Daniel tried to make small talk,“So Dr. Griffin, if you don’t mind me asking, how long have you been a doctor?”
“It’s coming close to three years now.”
“Three years? That’s impressive. You look to beautiful to be older than 25, am I right?”
Clarke glanced up at the proud smirk that flew across Daniel’s face,“You know, it’s impolite to ask a woman her age.”
“Of course. My apologies. I was just hoping to fill the silence with some small talk.”
“That’s more than fine. You can continue your questions,” Clarke said as she poked a finger delicately near his cut,“Can you feel that?”
“Nope, not a thing.”
Clarke nodded as she turned to the tray to grab the needle and thread to start the stitches,“Ok, here we go. If you’re squeamish just look away and keep talking to me.”
“Ok, let’s see. How long have you lived in California?”
“I was born and raised here. Never had any thoughts of moving. I love this place too much,” Clarke finished off the first stitch before moving to the next.
“Same here, really love the night life LA offers. Any boyfriends?” Daniel said nonchalantly.
Clarke stopped mid stitch to look up at him with a small smirk before continuing,“I’m actually batting for the other team.”
“Damn, finally my chance to ask out a doctor and she has a girlfriend. What are the odds?” Daniel huffed out.
“She’s not necessarily my girlfriend, yet. We’re still working that out,” Clarke said as she bluntly ignored his thoughts of asking her out.
“We’ll if she decides you’re not girlfriend material then she’s crazy. What does she do for work?”
Clarke hesitated in her answer before thinking no harm could come to it,“She’s a detective for LAPD.”
“Oh, then I guess I better back off before I get shot next,” Clarke let out a forced laugh, feeling a little uneasy at his choice of words.
Clarke sniped off the excess thread before placing down the needle and grabbing a roll of gauze to wrap around the wound,“Okay, you’re all set. For the next two weeks I want you to keep this area clean and keep the bandages dry. I’ll prescribe an antibiotic ointment to help prevent any kind of infection that could occur, but we’re going to give you a tetanus shot as well just to be safe. After those two weeks are up if everything looks all nice and healed we’ll get you back in here to remove the stitches.”
“Sounds like a plan. Thank you, Dr. Griffin,” Daniel said as he leaned back fully against the bed.
“No problem. A nurse will be in here shortly to administer the shot and get your discharge paperwork ready. Have a good day, Daniel.”
“You as well, Clarke.”
Clarke felt a sudden chill go down her spine at the way her name rolled off the man’s tongue as she made her way out the door. She brushed it off before writing down some information for his paperwork before walking back to Maya’s desk and handing back the patient’s file.
“Done already? That was fast,” Maya said with mild shock.
“Just a few stitches. Nothing majorly serious.”
Maya eyed Clarke suspiciously,“Are you okay, Clarke? You seem out of sorts.”
“I’m fine. Just a strange feeling, that’s all,” Clarke brushed away Maya’s concern.
“Okay. Well we’ve got a few more patients who have just checked in. We’re still waiting for vitals to be finished and they’ll be all yours.” Clarke nodded before walking around the desk and checking the new patient folders.
As she walked back towards the patient examination rooms, still reading the files, Clarke didn’t notice the steely brown eyed gaze that followed she every step until she disappeared through one of the many thresholds.
Shift in POV
‘Daniel Price’ made his way out of the ER doors and worked his way to the side of the hospital parking lot where a black SUV sat in waiting. Upon getting closer to the SUV the driver door opened to reveal the blonde haired Caleb who quickly turned to open the back door to allow ‘Daniel’ to slide onto the smooth leather seats before entering the SUV once more.
“How did it go, Sir?” Caleb asked as he drove through the parking lot.
“Not as well as I expected. She was hesitant to give up too much about her personal life. She’s pretty good with her hands and was done before I could ask any other questions, but I was able to get a little bit of the information I was looking for.”
Caleb nodded his head before focusing once more on the road ahead of him. ‘Daniel’ turned his head slightly to look over to the passenger seat which housed a well built man with shaggy black hair.
‘Daniel’ reached up and clasped the man on the shoulder,“Glad to see you were able to get yourself out of jail, Aaron.”
“Good to be out, Sir. It not as hard to escape jail as everyone says it is,” Aaron stated with a nod in thanks.
“Don’t believe everything you hear,” ‘Daniel’ replied with a curt chuckle,“Now, lets get back to the warehouse to continue to go over the big plans we have in store for the woman who put you in jail and ruined a part of my business.”
Both men in gave a clipped ‘yes sir’ before the SUV fell silent again as they merged onto the highway and disappeared from the hospital parking lot.