Chapter 2 - New Admission

Looking out the window of the patient room, Cat could see downtown Sacramento in the not-too-far distance, lit up in the dark night. She was beyond exhausted, but she knew she would have trouble sleeping even if she could lie down. The nightmares never let her sleep for long.

Cat sighed, thinking about her mother. She had died over eighteen years ago, but the pain inside still made her feel raw. That was the last time she felt alive. Her life since her death had been nothing but pain and heartache. Would it ever change?

Cat felt like she could disappear, and no one would miss her other than the nurses who would have to care for her patients. The sadness came down on her like a curtain, and she knew she needed to shake it off. She refused to be vulnerable or show any emotions while at work. It would make others think she was weak. The one thing Cat didn't want people to think about her was that she couldn't take care of herself. If they only knew. She had been taking care of herself for a long time.

"Cat, the ED wants you to call down to get report." Amanda's voice came over her vocera, sounding wide awake, causing Cat to roll her eyes. She would never understand how someone could be so upbeat at two in the morning.

She briefly wondered why she was getting her third admission of the night when some of the other nurses had only received one. Cat thought some of the charge nurses assigned her extra on purpose because they were trying to get a rise out of her. What they didn't realize was that she didn't care. Their pettiness had no effect on her.

One of the nurses once said that Cat could have a mouth full of shit, and she still wouldn't open it to spit it out. The nurse only said that once because Cat made it clear that she would speak up when she had something to say.

She had the uncanny ability to make people cry without saying much. It was easy when you watched people and learned about their weaknesses. People didn't like it when you exposed the part of themselves they thought they'd been able to hide. Most of her co-workers stayed away from Cat rather than try to make small talk, which is the way she preferred it.

She glanced at herself in the mirror of the patient room that she had been prepping. Cat figured she could be described as average at five feet with pale skin, light blue eyes, and long black hair. She was petite, but she didn't think there was anything remarkable about her features.

She took a deep breath straightening her navy scrub top before heading out of the room. Cat hoped this new admission was an easy one. She didn't have the energy for anything too complicated.

As she walked down the quiet hallway, Cat started considering a career change. She needed to do something where she felt she was making a difference. She wanted to use her past to help others with the pain that she understood too well. That is the reason she became a nurse, after all. She needed a purpose.

As she approached the nurse's station, Amanda came skipping around to the front, smiling. She was 5'8" with long blonde hair, bright blue eyes, and curves everywhere. She never let Cats' apparent bad mood bring her down. While Cat tried not to let Amanda's constant, irritating chatter get on her nerves.

"How can you possibly have so much energy this time of night?" Amanda's smile grew, and Cat let her annoyance show as she scowled at her.

"Oh, calm down. I'm smiling because Millie said your new patient is really hot. He's young and only being admitted for a 24-hour observation due to an allergic reaction. Call her so you can get report." Amanda was practically bouncing on the balls of her feet, making her blonde ponytail swing back and forth. Cat didn't like when the other nurses acted so unprofessional. This man was a patient, not someone for them to flirt with.

"Are you sure you don't want to do the admission? You seem rather eager. Why am I getting him, anyway?" Amanda looked at Cat with a pout.

"I would love to take him, but I'm charge nurse, so I can't. You're getting him because they're requesting a private room, and you're the only one with a private room available."

Cat wanted to say that she didn't know they took requests for private rooms, but instead, she bit her tongue. As annoying as Amanda could be, she didn't mind working with her because she respected Cat's boundaries and was fair as a charge nurse. She thought to herself that it was probably better for the patient to have a private room anyway. There was no need to wake a sleeping patient while she was trying to do the admission.

Cat called Millie in the ED to get report. The patient's name was Trey Galloway. He had an allergic reaction to kiwi from eating a fruit salad that he didn't realize had kiwi in it. His friend brought him in, where he was given epinephrine upon arrival. He was having trouble breathing, but that had gotten better. He was being admitted for a 24-hour observation because his oxygen saturation had dropped several times. He was 28, 6' 8", and 245 pounds. He was currently receiving an IV drip of normal saline, and he was on two liters of oxygen. Besides the epinephrine, he was also given Benadryl and prednisone in the ED. Mille said they would bring him up in about thirty minutes.

Cat went back to the patient room to finish setting it up, making sure the in-room oxygen was working and that she had an IV pole available. She grabbed the machine to check his vital signs and the supplies she would need to complete his assessment. After she was done getting everything ready, she stepped out into the hall.

She saw Millie, who was a little taller than Cat with light brown hair and rail-thin features; she was with another nurse who Cat didn't recognize. They were pushing Trey in a wheelchair down the hall toward his room. Amanda followed close behind, and Cat shook her head as she watched them because they looked ridiculous.

As they approached, Trey appeared to be sleeping. Something about the way he was breathing and the tightness of his eyes made Cat think he was faking. She found this odd but didn't say anything.

Even sleeping, Cat could tell that he was handsome. He had short wavy blonde hair and a light tan complexion. Millie pushed the wheelchair next to the bed, locking the wheels before tapping Trey on the shoulder to wake him so he could transfer.

As Trey slowly opened his eyes, Cat almost gasped out loud. His eyes were the most beautiful shade of hazel she'd ever seen. He stared straight into her eyes with so much intensity that she felt like he could see right through her. She wanted to run out of the room to escape his piercing gaze.

Cat swallowed a few times to try and calm her racing heart. When Trey stood up to get into the bed, he was a giant of a man and made her feel like a child. She almost laughed at how ridiculous they must look standing beside each other.

Trey's gaze never left Cat's face, but she couldn't bring herself to look him in the eyes again. There was something there calling to her, but it scared her too much to listen to it. As Trey kept watching her, Cat felt herself getting warm all over. The way he stared at her felt intimate. No patient had ever caused that type of reaction in her, and it terrified her.

Cat hooked up Trey's oxygen and took his IV pump off the wheelchair, attaching it to the pole. She almost forgot the other nurses were in the room until she glanced at them. They looked like they were trying to find a reason to stay. Cat glared at them, and they all three reluctantly walked out without saying a word.

She kept her eyes focused on the door as she was still trying to calm her nerves. She refused to embarrass herself by looking like a fool while trying to do her job. Cat convinced herself she just needed to get this admission over with quickly and get out of the room.