Streets vs. Sheets (A Tom Hiddleston FanFic)

And... Action!

Chapter 5:

My alarm clock bellowed and I climbed out of bed and began my morning ritual. Breakfast, shower, tea, get dressed, and either school or work depending on the day. Today I have my last clinical at 6:30 A.M. and then immediately after class, I go to the set and start my internship. I grab all my books and papers and everything that I’ll need for my day and rush out the door.

For clinicals, we have to wear the all-white nursing uniforms. Today my job is to check charts for the patients at the children’s hospital and then finish up the new charts for the rest of the day nurses. I walk into one of my assigned rooms and see a little girl crying in her bed. I walk over and grab her chart to see that she’s just been diagnosed with cancer. Most of the time when I check charts, the children are sleeping and so I never actually get to interact with them. This girl looked as if she hadn’t slept in weeks. I crouch down next to her bed and place my hand on hers.

“Hey, sweetie,” I whisper softly as to not startle her. She wipes her eyes and looks over at me. “My name is Alice, what’s yours?” I already knew from her chart, it was Melody, but I asked anyway.

“Melody.” She sniffled and continued to wipe her eyes of tears. I reached in my pocket and gave her a pack of tissues and rubbed her back to soothe her. She silently cried some more and just as I was about to leave, she grabbed my hand and through her tears said “Thank you.” I smiled and felt tears welling up in my eyes and gave her a hug. After we parted, I walked outside and cried while finishing the rest of my charts.

My co-workers knew what had happened and would periodically walk over and give me a soft pat on the back for comfort. They didn’t say anything; they know by now that words are meaningless without action. I finished my charts for the day and checked out with my clinical advisor. She gave me a hug and a small smile as I was leaving.

I wiped away more tears and took the stairs to get to my car. While walking to the parking garage, I made a call to the hospital florist and ordered a dozen white tulips and a white and red teddy bear to be sent to Melody’s room. No eight-year-old should have to suffer through cancer and no family should know the pain that cancer causes. These flowers and the bear is only a small thing that I can do for Melody and her family.

I arrive on set with tear and makeup stained cheeks and still wearing my uniform. I wore clothes under my uniform but forgot to take the white smock off. I walked in and everyone turned their faces in my direction. All conversation stopped as I walked over to Josh’s station.

“Alice, what’s wrong?” Josh looked at me like I’m an abused puppy about to die. I hate sympathy. I shake him away and simply say “rough morning.”

I can still feel the eyes on me when I take off my smock and wipe my face with a wipe that one of the other assistants gave to me. I grab the water bottle from my purse and take a pill for my oncoming headache. I feel a hand tough my back and jump.

“Oh, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you, Alice.” It’s Tom. He’s in his Loki costume, complete with his helmet.

“No, you’re fine. Nice helmet.” I smile and give a light laugh.

“Thank you! It weighs about as much as you do.” We both laugh and he pours two cups of tea and hands one over to me. “So, tell me, dear… what on earth has made you so upset?” He gives me a look of such genuine concern that I motion for him to follow me as we walk off somewhere less crowded.

“This morning I had my last nursing clinical and so I was doing my usual job, you know, just going through bed charts for the patients on my floor and…” I trail off and take a sip of tea. It’s warm and has hints of lemon and honey in it. It soothes my tight throat from all the crying I’ve done and makes talking much easier. “I walked into this one room and there was this little girl sitting on her bed, crying.” I feel tears well up and cover my face with my left hand so Tom doesn’t see my horridly hideous crying face. He reaches his arm out and pulls me into an embrace.