Danger Zone

-Chapter 1-

Courtney's Point of View

One fun fact you may not know about the Naval Air Station is that the closest hospital  is only 9 minutes away called the Naval Medical Center San Diego. Which just so happens to be where I currently have a job. Let me just say that this hospital has seen it's fair share of emergencies/injuries when it comes to the Naval Station. I have been working at the Medical Center for 4 years now and I have loved every single second of it; I work in the Emergency Room department and it is always so chaotic and interesting. Some nurses tend to switch and change departments, but I haven't just because I like the excitement of whatever comes through the doors of the ER.

As I was sitting at the nurse's station some of the Naval Aviators came in. The men were carrying in one of their own. I immediately got up and ran over to them. The older gentleman that was with them introduced himself as Captain Pete "Maverick" Mitchell. Maverick explained that he and some of the guys were playing a game of football on the beach when Lieutenant Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw was injured. He said from what he saw of the accident it looked to him like "Rooster" had a sprained ankle and a slight concussion. Since concussions can be very scary and dangerous if not treated properly I knew that we needed to get "Rooster" into a room quickly.

Once we got a room for him the Naval Aviators said that they would go and wait in the waiting room because and I quote "never ever leave your wingman." I nodded at them and said "okay" before heading back into Rooster's room, while the other doctors were in the room tending to his ankle. Once I stepped back into the room I noticed that Rooster was already changed into one of the gowns and was sitting in the hospital bed with his right foot wrapped in a tight bandage. I went over to the dry erase board on the wall to write my name down and to look over Rooster's medical chart. I saw on the chart that he indeed did have a sprained ankle and a concussion.

I then walked over to where Rooster was to go and check his vitals and fluid levels. He looked over at me groggily before asking "are you my girlfriend?" I giggled quietly and shook my head before saying "no I'm not, but I am the nurse that will be taking care of you. My name is Courtney."He smirked at me before saying "well it'll happen eventually. Nurse Courtney." I silently just shook my head at him. I then said "okay Mr. Bradshaw I'm going to ask you a few questions. This is just protocol for your concussion." He nodded before saying "hold on pretty girl you definitely don't have to call me Mr. Bradshaw, you can call me Bradley or Rooster if you want." He then proceeded to wink at me. I thought to myself this is truly one of those moments that I am never going to forget.

I am going to start with some simple questions first to test your memory. This will determine what is the seriousness level of your concussion. He just nodded letting me know I could start my questioning. Okay the first question is "do you know what city and state that you are in right now?" He simply answered with "yes, we are in San Diego, California." I nodded and said "good job, next question. Who brought you to the hospital?" He scrunched his nose for a second while he was thinking before replying back with "I think it was Maverick and Hangman." I looked at him more seriously and said "you think it was those 2, but you aren't sure?" The more he thought about it he said "no I know it's Maverick and Hangman." Of course before I started doing these questions I went and asked Maverick who was with him when he brought Rooster in, it was in fact himself and Jake "Hangman" Seresin Rooster looked at me before finally asking "well was I right or not?" I said "well okay mister bossy pants. You were right, it was both Maverick and Hangman." As soon as I said that he started laughing then goes "what other hard questions do you have for me?" I said "well it looks like you have just a slight concussion then. Since you seem to know everything." After I said that he rolled his eyes at me.

—Time Jump—
I looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was now 9 o'clock at night which means that the visitor's hours are over. I grabbed my pager from the nurse's station and then headed to the waiting room where Maverick and Hangman were. I have to admit it is cool how these Naval Aviators have different nicknames or should I say call signs. Once I made it to the room both men stood up and came over to me. They wanted to know how Rooster was doing, so I explained that we were keeping him overnight just to make sure that his concussion was okay and not serious. I told them that his concussion wasn't severe but we wanted to make sure that he wasn't going to fall into a coma. Both of the men nodded their heads and then asked "when do you think he will be released?" I answered them and said "the doctor and I are thinking he should be released within the next few days, a minimum of 3 days." They nodded and said "okay. We are going to go report back to the station. We will be back in the morning to check on him. Thank you for taking care of him." I smiled and said "it's not a problem at all. It's my job to take care of others. I'll let Rooster know you are leaving and that you will see him in the morning." They both smiled at me before turning on their heels and leaving the waiting room.

Once I got back to Rooster's room I could tell he was starting to get sleepy by the way he was slouching in his bed. I went over to him and explained that Maverick and Hangman were leaving but they would be back in the morning. He just nodded and said "okay." I then told him that I was going to change his bandages real quick and get a new ice pack for him. Once that was done I made sure he was comfortable before saying he could go ahead and sleep, but I would be coming to check on him and to wake him up every 2-3 hours as a precaution. He nodded and said okay "sweet thang."

I giggled before asking "sweet thang?" He smirked before saying to me "well I gotta have a call sign for you to."

When he said this I could immediately feel my cheeks start to heat up. I smiled at him before helping him straighten his blankets on the bed. I then told him goodnight and that I would be back in a couple of hours. He simply nodded and didn't say anything. Once I made it to the door of the room I thought I heard a whisper of "goodnight sweet thang."