FLYBOY » sam wilson

three.

03 x where's my invite?

-----

Tia blearily stared ahead as she tidied a recent outpatient's bed and tied the pillows to the bed-frame. Retrieving the MAR chart from the front, she casually glanced through and decided to drop it off at the nurse's station. Might as well grab herself a cup of coffee when at it. 

Her face softened with a smile when she came across her favourite recent addition one of the children's ward, waving at him in a gentle gesture. The little boy, Tom, was down with kidney stones and he was commissioned in here for a week. Three days down and he was nothing but the kindest kid his age. He beckoned her into the semi-private ward with a wave.

'Tia, can you get me chocolate pudding this time around?' Tom asked her silently, cupping his IV-fed palm around his mouth as if conveying a secret. 'I tried vanilla but it makes me sick.'

'I like the vanilla better,' she muttered back, biting her lips to control her laughter. 'But sure, I'll save one for you. Are you still hurting?'

It was her immediate instinct to retrieve the pen-end light from her breast-pocket to check the dilation in his eyes. She examined his pulse, timing it with her wristwatch and sighed when she saw that his vitals were in check. 

'My side hurt a little bit in the morning but now it's fine,' he replied when she let go of his wrist. He rubbed the bandage that sealed the IV to his arm. Tia traversed her hand to his head stroking it warmly and wanting to deliver a reassurance. Before she could, she heard a wild commotion in the corridor. Tom himself straightened to catch a glimpse through the rectangular peephole.

'Scuse me,' the voice loudly announced. 'We need help—he needs a doctor!'

Tia would know that voice anywhere. Her footsteps were rushed as she ushered herself out of the ward, clamping onto the door as she peered out the hallway. Her eyes widened with surprise.

'Sam, what—'

'Tia,' he breathed out and she continued to watch as two nurses hurried a young, teenage boy onto the emergency carrier and wheeled him into the emergency room adjacent to the nurse's station. She walked past him in concern and saw the shades of his uniform, a suit almost and took that he was indeed a superhero. 

'Oh my god,' she murmured, mortified.

He must be no older than fifteen, his face smeared with cuts and his blue-and-white suit's buttons undid to reveal a long, impaling wound near his right lung. Looked like tough shrapnel had been wedged in and separated, hence the undue bleeding. She saw the boy's eyes clamped shut, unconscious already. They had to start a lifeline.

Tia cast Sam a careful glance as she pulled out a new set of gloves from the station counter. Sam was in his new uniform, the wings of his suit still clipped to his back and the shield clamped behind him. Between his hand was another shield, only this one differed in the shape and colour scheme.

'Sit down,' she ordered him softly. 'Get yourself something to drink.'

'Save him,' he whispered flippantly, grappling her arm and his voice not meant to come out tough. She could understand his anxiety, obviously, this boy meant a great deal to him. 'Please.'

Tia could only smile warily, her job prevented her from making promises, patting the side of his face with her gloved hands and running after the departing crowd of nurses with her visor in hand. The boy was definitely in need of surgery, stitches at the least, and caught up with them quickly.