Disclaimer: Not mine. Just having fun.

Author's Notes: Just fluff on what it's like to be a nurse in Murdock's wing.

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On Being a Nurse at the VA...
Author: Partly

The young nurse slowly walked into the Staff Lounge, bewildered and more than slightly flustered. She was going to be fired. She just knew it. She crossed the room at sat in the only empty chair at a table with three other nurses.

"Nancy? Are you all right?" The blonde to her right laid a hand on her arm.

"I don't know, Julie. I just don't know." By now, the entire room watched her.

"Is something wrong? Did you get hurt?"

"It was Mr. Murdock."

"Murdock did something to you?" asked Loraine, another young nurse who was sitting across the table.

"No." Nancy shifted uneasily under the scrutiny of so many people. But she had to tell. She didn't have a choice. "There was this man, a Mr. Jack Handley." The more she thought about it the more absurd it sounded; yet it had made so much sense when it was happening. "He said he was from the Department of Energy and that Mr. Murdock was a subject of study to find some sort of alternative energy." She tried to remember exactly what he had said, but he had talked so fast and he had been so... so... believable. "He said he had papers -- that it was all approved. But he took Mr. Murdock and... and I can't find anything that says he should have." Nancy stifled a sob. She was going to be fired. She'd lost a patient. She'd only been here for two weeks. She'd never get another job. At least her friends would be sympathetic.

She didn't expect the laughter that came from around the table. She looked up into the smiling face of the nurse across the table. "What?" She couldn't keep the tears from coming.

"Oh, Nancy," Loraine said. "You don't understand."

"Please don't cry, Nancy." Julie handed her a Kleenex. "We should have warned you. Murdock will be fine. This happens all the time."

Nancy dabbed the tears from her eyes. "It does?"

They nodded.

"The guy who got him out, was he blond, beautiful eyes, a better body and about this tall?" Kelley, a short, dark haired nurse that Nancy had only met once, held her hand in the air about a foot above her head.

Nancy nodded.

"I can't believe I missed him. Was he wearing blue? He looks so fine in blue."

"That is unprofessional behavior, Nurse Pearlson." Mrs. Dodd, the supervising nurse, broke in on their conversation. "The situation with Patient Murdock is unprofessional, if you ask me."

Kelley rolled her eyes. "But Dr. Richter's instructions are clear."

Mrs. Dodd snorted. "Just because he says that's it's to be allowed doesn't mean that I have to like it." She looked around the room. "And I don't want to see any of you encouraging that... that conman in anyway." She stood and stalked out of the room.

Kelley almost laughed. "Don't mine old sour-puss there. She's just mad because she let some creeps take Murdock on her watch. She even helped them."

"Now that's not true, Kelley," Loraine said. "They said they worked for the government. She couldn't have known." Loraine looked across at Nancy. "I think she feels guilty about it, that's why she acts the way she does. But honestly, so many strange things happen around Murdock that it's hard to tell when they're the bad guys. Well, unless they come in using shotguns."

Nancy couldn't take it any more. "Shotguns? Kidnapped? Conman? Just what is going on with Captain Murdock?"

They all seemed to shrug at the same time.

"No one really knows," Julie finally answered. "Dr. Richter just tells us to be as thorough as we can but that if Murdock is willing to go, not to push it too hard. We are to let him go."

"You can usually tell that something is going if he starts acting up in the morning," Kelley said. "Acting like he has rabies, flooding his room, claiming invisibility..."

"One time he said that his hand had a mind of its own," Loraine added.

"Better that than blacking out the whole wing," Julie said. "He's done that more than once."

Nancy laughed. "You're kidding, right?" She looked around the room. "Right?" she asked Julie.

"No."

"But don't worry, honey," Loraine said. "You'll get used to it in time. Being a nurse on Murdock's wing is an adventure."

"Oh, wait," Julie exclaimed. "You do have to document this, though. And leave a message for Dr. Richter." She stood and walked to a bookcase next to the door. She pulled out a large black binder and crossed back, handing it to Nancy. "Just fill out as much as you can remember. Then call Dr. Richter's service and tell him that Murdock's gone and when he may be back. They did say when he'd be back, didn't they?"

Nancy nodded. "Three weeks."

"Good." Julie sighed. "Well, we've been in here long enough. Dodd'll have our heads."

"I can't believe I missed him," Kelley said, standing and following Julie to the door. "He is just too cute. Those eyes. That hair. And when he walks away from you..."

"We know, we know," Loraine muttered under her breath. "The way that girl goes on, you would think that she never saw a man before." She patted Nancy on the hand again. "Just flip to the back and fill out what you can. It'll get easier after a couple of more times." She stood and left.

Nancy sighed in the suddenly empty room and looked at the book. H.M. Murdock, Unapproved Outings, Book Three. "Book three?"

She flipped to a page and skimmed through it. "Discovered missing at morning bed check. Returned two days later."

Another one ten pages further on. "Taken out for study on delayed stress disorder. Returned in two weeks. Evidence of gunshot?" She wished the records were more detailed.

One from the middle of the book: "Ran from game room and fled in waiting car. Hmm... gone only a day that time."

She skipped to the first blank page and began to write. It didn't seem that bad after all. And next time she'd be ready. Maybe Loraine was right. Working here could be an adventure.