Chapter 1
It was supposed to be a quick run-in. She’d brought Stella at the emergency room reception desk her favourite iced coffee and hoped that she could call in a favour, see a doctor, and hopefully confirm that she’d only tweaked a muscle in her right shoulder blade and not done something worse.
The Parker household could not afford for this to be anything other than that.
Seeing as Parker luck was a real thing, even if by marriage, it only made sense that moments after Stella gave May a conspiratorial wink and nod and directed her toward the not too full waiting area for ‘just a sec,’ the first ambulance arrived.
May sat back with a sigh, and then winced. This was not how she’d planned to spend her day. She had been looking forward to a sip n’ bitch session with Pepper while Peter and Tony messed around in the lab that evening, and had a blissfully plan free day otherwise. Yes, it hurt to move certain ways, and yes, the pain was a little much when she inhaled too deeply, but still. She was convinced that she only needed to do the whole heat-rest repeat thing and would everything would eventually sort itself out.
But then Peter saw her breath catch as she tried to pull her coffee mug from the cupboard earlier that morning and the muscle had hurt just right.
It was over for her once he’d pulled out those big brown eyes and then May was grabbing her insurance card and purse and heading out the door toward Mount Sinai- Queens.
What else could she have done? Those eyes should be registered with the FBI or something.
So with nothing to fill her time with but her phone or people watching, May made what she hoped to be the smart choice. It would serve no one for her to screw up her neck by staring at her phone for who knows how long, so staring out the windows to the sidewalk and patient entrance it was. Besides, she spent half her workday looking at screens so the appeal had been lost a long time ago. At least it seemed to be an average sort of day, thank goodness. Patient traffic didn’t seem too excessive, people were coming in, and people were leaving, which meant things were moving well, and nothing May could see from her seat screamed imminent ‘code blue’... even with the ambulance that just pulled into the emergency vehicle bay—
—Which meant that May had just jinxed herself, as demonstrated by the yellow cab screeching to a halt in front of the building to drop someone off for care. The sliding doors to the ER opened wide, and a pale, middle-aged woman clutching a sandwich baggy full of ice with one hand while pressing her other dishtowel-wrapped hand to her stomach rushed in—or maybe staggered in was a better way to put it?
Oof. Either way, May was getting the impression that she shouldn’t be here.
Then May saw it, way sooner than any of the other staffers did, and so she stood, then called out, “Clive!” to the veteran security guard manning the security desk just beyond the entrance. Clive had been at Mount Sinai Queens for as long as May had for a reason. She yelled, “Chair! Quick!”And pointed to the line of wheelchairs set alongside his desk and then the woman in need using her left arm. She watched as Clive put the pieces together in a split second and rushed to help the woman into a wheelchair before her legs gave out completely and her visit became something even more expensive.
With a hasty nod of thanks to May for the save, Clive turned his attention to the Lisa, the triage nurse who had finally come out from behind her own desk to help them. May didn’t think too much of Lisa on the best of days—no one needed the bathroom that much or to be on the phone for ‘emergencies’— and she guessed that Clive felt the same as he brushed Lisa’s ‘helping’ hands away from the wheelchair, and took over pushing the poor woman and her mystery body part back through the security doors to the treatment area.
If she’d have been on shift, May would’ve bet real money that Lisa had been on her phone again, but at least there was Clive, and he would forever remain a rock star in May’s eyes.
May sat back down then, adjusted the purse at her side, and prepared to resume her *fingers crossed* short wait when the relatively well dressed woman seated across from her cleared her throat.
“Shit.” May swore to herself under her breath as the sound made her realize her oversight. She fumbled through her purse and pulled out a fresh mask then smiled politely to the woman opposite as she put it on.
The woman rolled her eyes but moved past what she obviously felt was a personal slight, and broke the silence with an inquiry, “The security guard. He knows you?”
And while May wanted more than anything to roll her eyes and tell her to mind her own damned business, this was May’s place of employment and as such, she was a representative- blah- blah- blah, and she braced herself instead. She knew exactly where this was headed, so she simply answered, “He does.”
The woman’s gaze sharpened, seeming to assess May as she sat before her, “I’m trying to figure out if you’re office staff, a nurse, or something else. I hoped I could tell by looking at your hands but that’s only made it all the more unclear.”
May couldn’t help but look down at them before cringing inwardly. Her fingernails were clean, trimmed and filed short and, yes, the Sally Hansen nail polish was starting to chip, but only a bit, and she’d have gotten that dealt with today if she hadn’t done whatever she’d done to her stupid shoulder.
May sighed and folded her hands together into her lap, then tamped down a bit of a cough.
Maybe she’d have to take Pepper up on that offer of mani/pedis one of these days, after all.
“Wonderful! You see my point, then—you could be custodial staff for all I know, and wouldn’t that be embarrassing for me?”
May’s jaw dropped in disbelief at the gall of this woman. She glanced toward the still empty desk where Clive had been sat, but she could only assume things had taken a turn once they’d gone to the back and she was on her own. She exhaled slowly to calm herself, then replied, “At this exact moment, I’m just a woman waiting to see a doctor, ma’am, so if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to, um... yeah.” May got up, collected her purse, and moved over to a row of chairs closer to the triage desk.
Notification of another incoming ambulance carrying two gunshot victims was easier to hear from where she was sitting now, and so May closed her eyes, and sighed small enough to not aggravate her damned shoulder blade again. She was definitely feeling the weight of the day already and could only try to mentally prepare herself for what she should have known was going to be a long wait.
She ignored the rustling sound across from her.
“That wasn’t very polite, you know?” The woman had moved seats, determined to continue her unwanted conversation. “I was simply asking because I’ve already been waiting for three hours and only hoped you could help me instead. That’s what you do, right? Help people?”
May’s eyes snapped open and tried moving her neck from side to side, wondering if she just did some stretches, would things improve enough that she could justify leaving without being seen? –And wondering if this woman would ever take the hint.
“Well?” The woman pushed for a reply.
It hadn’t even been fifteen minutes, and she was so close to calling it done—except she knew that Peter would never forgive her.
And so May endured. “I’m sure that everyone else here feels like they’ve waited too long, too. I’m afraid it wouldn’t be fair to—”
“It’s not even a big deal!” The woman cut May off. “I’m certain I’ve got some wax build up in one of my ears and it’s driving me mad. It would only take a minute for you to do that flushing thing that you nurses do, right?”
May simply blinked as she tried to process the ridiculousness of this woman behaviour. Really? “I’m sure your primary care provider could get you in and have that taken care of without you needing to waste—” What May wanted to say was ‘precious medical resources and man hours with something so NOT urgent, but instead she continued, “your time.”
“But if you help me, I don’t have to waste anymore of my time, see?” Was this woman really so clueless?
Another one of May’s coworkers came into the waiting room from the back with a chart in hand. “Claire Westerfield,” she called out to the room at large. May hoped, but knew there was no way this woman was going to be called in to be seen any time in the next six to eight hours with the variety of actual injuries and illnesses present in the ER.
An older woman got up from her seat with the help of a dishevelled young man—maybe her son? It was a slow trek, but eventually they made their way to the treatment area and disappeared through the doors.
Lucky.
The woman huffed in annoyance. “I bet they don’t even have insurance.”
“And I bet that’s none of your business.” May snapped back. The ER was an harassment-free zone. There were even notices on the wall—and May’s patience was running thin.
“You say that like someone who cares... and yet, here we still sit.”
May crossed her arms, grunted in pain as the muscle pulled, and breathed through it—but said nothing.
Sometimes silence made the most impact.
The main entrance doors slid open again, a rush of people came in from the street, and still, Clive and Lisa were missing in action. Stella, who had long since finished her iced coffee, stepped out from behind her desk and took over.
The woman huffed even louder, “At this rate, I’m never going to get seen.”
May wished she could take a deeper breath. This woman was getting her heart rate up.
A crackle sounded from nearby.
Shit.
Another ambulance was incoming.
Oblivious, the woman went on. “Nurses don’t get paid that much, do they?” She contemplated her next words then rifled through her purse. “I think I have a few hundred dollars in my wallet. Is that what it will take for this to get done?” She pulled the wallet from her purse before May could protest, not that it stopped her.
“Ma’am!” May hissed. “I’m being as polite as I can be. Please put that away—and stop it! This is enough.” May hissed. “If you can’t leave me alone, I’ll report you to security and have someone escort you out.”
“You can’t deny me medical care!”
“Then behave like you’re here for it and not getting your car from the valet! Now, if you’ve developed new symptoms that could impact your potential treatment, or if your existing symptoms have worsened, you are more than welcome to head back over to the triage desk.” She cast a quick glance toward the desk and Stella doing her best to do her job quickly and efficiently. “Then wait for the nurse to get to you, and tell her all about it. She’s more than capable of assisting you.”
May, once again, grabbed her purse and moved to sit a few rows away—or at least intended to—
—Except that the woman hissed out a barely audible, “Bitch,” and her leg shot out, tangling into May’s legs before obviously correcting her positioning in her seat. She called out a faux-shocked, “Oh!” and made no effort to hide her malicious grin.
May knew there was no way she could catch herself, not that she had the time to try. She’s only tried to make herself small to mitigate the damage. She cried out in pain as her right side slammed into the floor, knocking the wind out of her. Her desperate gasps turned to coughs as she tried to catch her breath.
Thank goodness there were still good people in the world. If she’d had the ability to focus on more than getting oxygen into her lungs, she’d have seen the cluster of other waiting room occupants standing up and calling for help... and security.
It felt like forever for May, but within moments, Clive was at her side, along with another newer security guard, though he disappeared from her sight almost immediately.
And all May could think was that she was making a scene.
May tried to get up, still trying to get her breathing under control, but Clive placed a restraining hand on her shoulder to keep her on the floor. “You know the protocol, May,” He explained calmly, even though she knew this. “Stay still till we can get someone come out to assess you. I know it sucks, but...” Clive glanced up and smiled. “I guess your coffee bribe worked after all,” he chuckled. “Lucky you! Personalized service!”
Stella’s face popped into view across from his. “You know,” she crouched down low, placing herself in front of May and blocking her view of some sort of scuffle going on towards her feet. “The coffee was more than enough to do the trick, hun. You didn’t need to do all of this—” Stella winked teasingly.
May smiled as she coughed, finally feeling like she could manage to speak. “Points for effort,” she grunted out and shifted slowly to position herself to stand.
“Hey! You know better than to do that!” Stella chastised as she tried to stop her.
But May glared. “And you know I’m not an idiot. Now let me get up.”
Stella raised her hands in surrender. “Fine, but will you at least let me get you a wheelchair for now? Thanks to Manhattan Barbie over there, you’ve just been bumped to the front of the line.”
“Wha-?” May looked twisted a little to see what was going on.
And what a sight it was. Clive’s co-worker, who was obviously newer and less adept at the art of zip tie wrangling, was struggling to get Madam Earwax under control while Clive looked on from his place beside May with amusement.
May looked up at Stella, confused. “What happened?”
Stella snapped right into nurse mode with May’s inquiry. “Did you hit your head, May? Does it feel tender anywhere?” Stella started palpating May’s scalp.
May swatted her hands away, getting more than a little frustrated by her prone position on the floor. “No! Stop it! I didn’t hit anything! I’m—” May stopped speaking for a moment as her lungs spasmed again. “I’m fine,” she finally reiterated. “I just don’t know what happened?”
“What happened is the woman who had apparently been hassling you?” Stella formed the beginning of her statement as a question, then waited for May to confirm with a quick head nod before continuing, “Well, she decided that you weren’t getting away with whatever you did to her, and intentionally put out a leg to trip you.”
May’s eyes widened in shock, “Are you serious? That cow tripped me?”
Stella nodded, “Yup, so Harry is restraining her—or trying, I guess? – until the police get here, so you don’t need to worry about her bothering you again.”
Another crackle sounded, and all May could think was that the hospital really needed to invest in some clearer sounding technology... and damn, another ambulance.
Stella recognized the face, “You don’t need to concern yourself with that, love. If you can believe it, Lisa’s finally gotten off her phone and decided to do her job, so we’re going to get you up into the wheelchair she’s bringing over here and we’re going to get you into the back. I’m pretty sure you’re going to be dealing with one of the interns for now, but if you promise to bring me another coffee the next time we’re both in, I’ll make sure it’s that really good looking one with the accent, deal?”
May choked out a quiet laugh, “Deal.”