Marriage
Daze
Chapter
15: ER
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Notes: From Cecilia’s point of view.
“This sucks,” Cecilia complained. “I hate hospitals. I hate doctors. I hate...”
“You hate the sight of blood,” Charlie interrupted. “Just admit it already!”
Cecilia gave him an insulted gaze. “You don’t trust me on my word?”
“Nope,” Charlie said determined. “I don’t trust you, no matter whose word you’re using.”
They were both standing in the emergency room at the hospital and were now waiting for someone to tell them where to go. Cecilia sat down on one of the chairs.
“I won’t do it.”
“Of course you are,” Charlie smirked. “Because what’s there to be afraid of? Besides from the occasional bad grade you’re gonna get.”
Cecilia sank deeper into the chair and began biting her nails. How did she end up in a situation like this? What had she done that was so terrible that God felt that he had to punish her for it? What?!
One of the nurses came up to them and introduced her. She told them that they weren’t going to be anywhere close to the OR’s, and Cecilia couldn’t have been more relieved by that. No blood, no throwing up.
Charlie followed her to the locker-room. They had to get change, and then they were going to be shown around the hospital. It sounded fairly easy.
“You know, if you really don’t wanna do this, you don’t have to. I bet Ms. Adams can spare you the agony if you tell her why you don’t wanna do this,” Charlie said.
“Go and drown somewhere, Conway.”
“You know, you really have to work on those so-called insults you’re throwing around at people,” Charlie smiled. “I know you’re a foreigner and all, but please!”
“Well, bite me, how ‘bout that?” Cecilia asked and went by him.
“I guess that’s an improvement,” Charlie mumbled when he followed her. She could just barely hear his comment.
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Notes: From Charlie’s point of view.
It was kind of amusing to see a person try so hard to pretend like nothing was bothering her. It was obvious from the start that Cecilia disliked hospitals for one simple reason. And she couldn’t even admit it when it was only the two of them.
The situation didn’t improve when one of the doctors invited them to watch an operation take place. Charlie had been sure that Cecilia would faint just because of that statement, because she got all pale, and he got the impression that she stopped breathing for several minutes.
“Have some sense, Cecilia. Just tell them that you don’t wanna do it,” he told her when they were walking from the cafeteria. Cecilia had refused to eat anything at all, so Charlie ate her food too.
“Forget it, it’s not that big of a deal,” she assured him. Her ‘insults’ had vanished into nothing after a couple of hours at the emergency room. Charlie guessed that they disappeared when Cecilia’s fear of blood grew stronger then her sarcasm. That usually didn’t happen very often, to say at all.
“C’mon, I won’t tell anyone that you didn’t do it. No one will ever know. Just me, and I don’t even care. I just wanna get home in time to see ‘Letterman’, so can you please pick up the pace?”
Cecilia just nodded and pushed the door open to the room. “I guess your ambition to make me look like a fool isn’t as strong as my ambition to show you that you’re wrong.”
“No, my ambition is to teach you have to not babble about irrelevant things. Like you’re doing right now.”
Charlie heard her mumble ‘bite me’ under her breath, but he decided to not comment about it. She was probably having other troubles to think about. Hopefully she wouldn’t break down until they got home.
It was a small room, right above the operation room, and they could look down through huge windows in the wall. It was actually kind of cool, well; it would’ve been if Cecilia hadn’t been so worked up about it.
Charlie grabbed her arm. “Don’t you go dying on me, Cecilia. I don’t feel like giving you mouth-to-mouth.”
“Trust me, I’ll try my very best to avoid that very situation as much as possible,” Cecilia mumbled.
Charlie rolled his eyes. He was beginning to feel bad for her right about now. Well, his feelings were mixed with delight and amusement also. It was going to be an interesting hour.
“You think they show everybody this on the tour?” Cecilia asked.
“Depends on the tour, I guess. I don’t think they show this on the tour right after lunch.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have eaten that tenth candy-bar, Conway,” Cecilia snickered.
“They were free!” Charlie objected. “Never say no to free food, that’s the way I’ve been brought up.”
“Please, don’t make it sound like you were Oliver Twist.”
“Look, they’re cutting the soon-to-be corpse,” Charlie said to change the subject. “I bet it’s going to be really bloody.”
Cecilia threw an eye out the window and then quickly turned away again. “Of course, it is an operation and they intend to get sort of... bloody...”
Charlie smiled at her. “You’re not feeling nauseated now, are ya? I can buy you a muffin if you want,” he teased. “You know, something really sticky and...”
“Okay, enough!” she shouted. “You win, I admit! I hate the sight of blood, and if you finish that sentence, I’m forced to throw up on you. I’ve been feeling sick all morning, so it won’t be too hard. Could you please just shut up!”
The silence after her outburst was the most relieving silence Charlie had ever heard. Or not heard, however you’d like to put it.
“Are ya done?” he asked when they’d been quiet for a while. “Or maybe you’d like to scream some more?”
Cecilia gave him an angry stare, but her eyes suddenly got stuck on something behind him. “When you said bloody, you were kidding, right?”
“Why?” Charlie asked. “Is it too much for you to handle?”
Cecilia took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Charlie tilted his head to the side and tried to catch her gaze. “Look, I was just kidding. Are you feeling okay?”
The most surprising thing hadn’t been that Cecilia had admitted her flaw. It was that she passed out and fell to the floor just because of the blood that was barely visible.
Charlie sighed and kneeled next to her. Why did he always have to get stuck with her during assignments?
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