Chapter 3
Kate was already at the beach at 8 in the morning to enjoy some waves before teaching her class. When she had rode a few good ones, she got out of the water and made her way to the cabin to drop her board. As she was drying her face with her beach towel, she saw Julie running towards her.
The little girl threw herself in her arms. The blonde was used to this type of affection: it was almost every day that patients hugged her when she was delivering news – good or bad – but she still wasn’t entirely comfortable with the idea of such proximity. She nonetheless hugged back the little girl.
“Hi Julie, how are you?” She said as she locked eyes with the little girl who was beaming.
“I’m super ready to go into the water today!” She exclaimed, full of energy.
Kate smiled at her and raised her head to see who had dropped her off, hoping it would be her date from a few nights ago. She found kind eyes looking at her.
“Not the brunette you expected?” Jane asked, an eyebrow raised.
“Not exactly but it’s a pleasure to see you.” Kate said, extending her hand to shake Jane’s. “How is Alex doing?”
“He’s in a little bit of pain but following his doctor’s advice. Thank you for asking.”
Kate put her hands on her waist and observed as Julie dropped her bag inside the cabin and put her surfing equipment on.
“Lucy wanted to come but she’s out investigating. She says hi.”
The blonde blushed. “Oh. Thank you for telling me.”
Jane gave her a smile. “I need to get back to the office, Daniel, my ex-husband will come pick Julie up at the end of the class.”
“Noted. Good luck for your case.”
Jane said goodbye to her daughter, just before going back to her car, she added: “At the end of every case I gather the team for a nice dinner. You’re welcome to join us if you’d like.”
“If I’m not at work, I’ll join you with pleasure. Thank you, Miss Tennant.”
“Oh please, call me Jane. If you’re going to be teaching or operating on my kids and kissing my Junior Agent, you need to call me by my name.”
Now, Kate was fully blushing. It seemed to be a recurring incident anytime the brunette was involved. Jane kissed her daughter goodbye and went back to her car, leaving Kate to start her surfing lesson.
This morning, the kids were really excited because they were finally going into the water. It wasn’t really far from the shore yet, but they were going to lie on their surfing boards and paddle a bit.
In order to avoid being overflown with six children in the water, Kate had thought of a rotation: four of them would practice on the sand paddling, getting up on the board, while two others were in the water doing it in real time. This way, each kid could at least ride a few waves.
At the end of the session, as they were bringing the surfboards back to the cabin Kate saw Julie run towards a man – surely her father. The blonde introduced herself and chatted with him and his daughter.
“I’ll see you next week, Julie.” She said, crotched down, a hand on the ten-year old’s shoulder.
Julie surged forward with a huge smile and hugged her. “Aunt Lucy is right. You’re really pretty.” She whispered in the doctor’s ears.
And at that instant, Kate blushed for the third time today.
The rest of Kate’s weekend was rather uneventful. She went for a jog on Sunday morning and bought a latte on her way home before being called back into work. But one thing kept her aloof and smiley all throughout the weekend: the texts she received from Lucy.
Lucy [09:23, Saturday]: Kick ass today and beware of the great bodies of water, they’re out to get us!
Lucy [13:41, Saturday]: How was surf class?
Lucy [21:14, Saturday]: I hope your day was great
Lucy [21:16, Saturday]: I can’t believe I’m missing the great british bake off for the third time this month, people should stop murdering one another
Lucy [07:09, Sunday]: Have a good run
Lucy [07:11, Sunday]: I hope my case will be done in a few days so I get to see you
*
It was already Tuesday, and the doctor was reviewing the chart of an injured patient when she recognized the Texan’s voice.
“Kai! Don’t be such a child.” She heard coming from one of the rooms adjacent. Kate circled around the nurses in the corridor and knocked at the door before popping her head through the doorframe.
“Why’d you come with me Luce? You hate hospitals!” A manly voice grumbled.
“Lucy?” She asked as she entered the room. She noticed a hulky guy laying in a hospital bed, some blood had dried up on his upper left arm. The brunette was standing near him, her hands on her hips.
“Kate, hi! How are you?” Lucy said and turned her head to face the blonde. That’s when the surf instructor noticed a cut on her left cheek and her bottom lip as well as a few bluish bruises on her arms.
Concerned, Kate took a few steps and put a hand on Lucy’s face. “What happened to you?” She asked, not minding the guy – Kai was it? – observing the scene unfolding in front of his eyes.
Lucy eyed the floor. “Oh, that’s nothing. You should see the other guy.” She deflated.
Kate crossed her arms on her chest and quirked her brows. She wasn’t having it.
Lucy sighted. “Okay. We got caught in a gun fight while chasing a suspect. Kai got grazed by a bullet and took a few hits.”
The blonde turned to Kai, finally acknowledging his presence. “Hi.”
“Nice to meet you.” He said with a wide grin, finally understanding why Lucy insisted in driving him to Tripler, not at all perturbed by the fact he was bleeding and had a few cuts all over his arms.
“I wish it’d be under better circumstances but as well.” She spoke. “Did someone come check on you yet?”
‘Yep. And Kai’s being a baby because he’s scared of needles and doesn’t want to get stitches.” Lucy rolled her eyes while Kai pouted at the revelation.
“Belenophobia is a real thing, Lucy.” Kate smiled, amused. “And we are trained to help you through it, or we can simply put closing patches.”
The doctor waiter for a nurse to come back and take care of Lucy’s colleague. When she arrived, Kate briefed the nurse about Kai’s situation and explained that she was going to assess the brunette’s injuries and treat them in the meanwhile.
“Come with me.” Kate took Lucy’s hand and led her out of the hallway into her own on call room.
Lucy sat on the bed while the blonde took out a few pieces of gauze and cleaned the junior agent’s face.
“Do I have to be mentally prepared in seeing you often at the hospital?” The blonde asked, as she was cleaning the cuts and bruises.
Lucy shrugged. “Honestly, I can’t answer you. I never know what can happen, that’s the truth. But I can assure you that I have trained for these situations, and I continue in doing so. I also have a team who has my back and, in the year, and a half I have been working, I had nothing more than a few scrapes and cuts.”
Kate was cleaning a hand wound and put the gauze down on the small bedside table her on call room had. She stroked it gently before looking in the brunette’s eyes. “And I happen to know a great doctor if anything happens to you.” She said playfully.
“Oh, really?” Lucy squinted her eyes and leaned towards the blonde. “Do you think you could introduce me to this doctor?”
“Hmm. I must think about it.” Kate’s eyes fluttered for a second on the smirk Lucy wore and caught herself staring not briefly enough to the woman’s chest. Before she could lock eyes with the brunette, she felt soft lips on hers.
After a few messy and hot seconds spent exploring each other’s mouth, they broke the kiss off.
“Do you often kiss patients to make them feel better?”
Kate passed a hand in her hair and straightened them. “Just the pretty ones.” She joked. “And you’re not a patient. If you were, I wouldn’t have crossed this very important boundary.” She added, more seriously. “But I do have to get out from here. Unfortunately, I have work to do and I know for a fact that if you kiss me one more time, I won’t be able to go back there.”
Lucy smiled at the acknowledgement. “And I should check on Kai.”
Kate got up and put a hand on the handle. “Is your case still ongoing?” She said, trying to sound as casual as possible.
“It is…” Lucy said. “I’ll text you as soon as I’m free and clear.”
The doctor’s cheeks blushed lightly. “I’m looking forward to your text.”
After having negotiated one last kiss, Lucy got back to Kai’s room. He was wearing two patches on his forearm where the bullet had grazed him and a shit-eating grin that wouldn’t fall off his face. Before he could say anything, Lucy shot him a threatening look and said: “Not a word or you’ll grab a cab to Pearl.”