dangerously ↝ a. hotchner

f o u r

A month later, Ana had a pep in her step as she walked towards the building from where she'd parked her car in the parking lot. After weeks of waiting, she found out she'd gotten a job at one of the local hospitals in her area. Today was her first day.

She breathed in and out deeply, then she quickly walked inside, going straight to where she had already known her offices to be. She'd come in the week before and gotten everything sorted so she could practice as soon as her first official day started.

"Good morning Dr Pierce." Charlotte, he receptionist smiled brightly up at her from behind the desk she was seated at.

Ana smiled warmly back at her, "Morning Charlotte. What time did you get in?"

Charlotte waved her hand away from her, as if to dismiss the question. "About ten minutes ago. Ready for your first day?"

"I am now." Ana grinned, walking inside her office.

Charlotte rushed after her, holding a file and clipboard in her hands. "Great, because you have two psychological consults today and you're being requested for one in half an hour in the B ward, room 16." Charlotte's face fell as she went over the file of the person her new boss was being requested to speak to. She handed it over to her dejectedly. "Mr Ashford is having his leg amputated."

Ana gulped, not the way she wanted to start her morning. But it was the start of her day all the same.

—

Charlotte greeted Ana jovially as she got back from her second consult of the day. One was a terminally ill patient who just recently found out that they had stage IV Colorectal cancer and the other was Mr Ashford, who wasn't taking the loss of his leg well at all. Ana knew she'd have to see him again after the surgery and she wasn't prepared to look into his eyes and see the same pain and regret she'd seen earlier in the day. He was her first official patient after all.

She heard a knock at her door and a young doctor around her age swooped in, smiling animatedly at her.

"Heard we got a new shrink. How's it going, I'm Dr James Maguire." He grinned as he stuck out his hand for her to shake.

Ana smiled back at the cheerful man before her, taking his hand in hers. "Not a shrink. Dr Anastasia Pierce. Nice to meet you."

"And you." Dr Maguire took a seat in one of the chairs opposite her desk.

Ana leaned backwards in her chair, folding her arms together as she surveyed the man before her. "So Dr Maguire, what brings you to my office?"

James laughed, shaking his head. "Please, call me James. I'm a surgical resident, I'm on Mr Ashford's case. I uh, know it's in the file but could you maybe just catch me up on how he's doing?"

"Well in that case, call me Ana or Anastasia. Whatever to you're comfortable with." She told him. And then she went about filling him in on Mr Ashford and his mental state. James listened intently taking in everything she was saying. He truly felt for his patient — he was a fifty year old healthy man in his prime who developed gangrene in one of his legs which set in very fast.

"Thank you Ana. I really hope he gets better after the surgery. I've seen what a patient's mental state can do to them if not treated." James said sadly as he stood up. "I'll uh, I'll see you around."

"You too." Ana nodded, returning to some cases she was looking over.

As soon as James was gone, Charlotte walked inside Ana's office, a huge grin on her face. "I cannot believe that just happened." She squealed.