Eeeeek. It's been a hot minute, huh? Well hey, I said I was back. (Not that you're waiting for this by any means). But I am happy to be continuing. Again, this one means a lot to me. Please let me know what you think. X

Chapter 2

This red hair was actually popping off of the scrubs this woman was wearing. It was fiery. It was wavy. It was seemingly falling perfect along the woman's shoulders. While this was something Beca seemed incredibly fixated on, next was the blast of a smile. The nurse was practically beaming, shining the damn sun from her face. Her wide smile put Beca off a bit. It seemed Stepford-ish, or even, manic. Beca realized that she was being cynical. However, how could someone who works with people getting their skull cut out and brain cut into be so happy? How could this woman be so seemingly THRILLED to see a morbid patient approaching? Shouldn't she have shown remorse? Concern? Apathy—hell, SYMPATHY? Why was Beca getting so worked up—she enjoyed that the desk worker gave her a pet name. Was it because this nurse was practically the same age as Beca? Why would this nurse—

"Hi! I'm Nurse Beale!"

Woah. Okay. Listening!

"Good morning, err…can I take a look at that?"

Beca stood in silence, taken aback.

"Pretty please? You know, my friends just call me Chloe. What's your name?"

"Uhh…"

Suddenly the spunky nurse startled Beca even further by grabbing her right hand. Beca's posture moved back quickly, but she allowed the woman, or, Chloe—Nurse Beale—to raise her hand up to her face. It was strange. Chloe brought Beca's hand so close to her face it seemed as if this girl was going to place a kiss on top!

What? Did she see this on the Titanic and always want to do it?

Beca's eyes bugged out and she took a sharp breath in. Chloe didn't seem phased at all. Chloe shot a look at Beca, and winked. Seriously what is this chick doing?!

Chloe looked back down at Beca's tight little fist (now), and let out a smile laugh. She brought her other hand up in order to push Beca's black sleeve up a bit, revealing the bracelet that was placed on her just a moment ago. Chloe began to read the contents on her bracelet, making self-validating noises.

"Aw, that's a cute name Beca. Glad to see you this morning!" Chloe looked back up at her and winked again. "You know I actually had this boy in my class, named Mitchell, how crazy. He would literally, never leave me alone. One day he ate my paste off of my glitter picture—I didn't think that was a real thing. But he totally did it! My mom thinks he liked me. But if you like someone…well I guess you DO do a lot of silly stuff, huh. I wonder what he's doing now. I wonder if that paste was even any good. I don't know, I've never tried it before."

Nope…not even on drugs yet.

Chloe somewhat giggled to herself and stared at Beca, expectantly.

"I mean you lose touch with people after so long. I wonder if he's still a paste-eater. Maybe I'll have to take care of him here one day."

Beca stared at her. Chloe shrugged. Chloe was still however, holding on to Beca's hand.

"Glitter poop." Beca mumbled.

OH what the fuck was that?

"Excuse me?" Chloe said, not in a negative way, but rather curious—as if she truly didn't hear what Beca said.

This could go one of two ways. Shit fuck.

"G-glitter. Glitter poop. Like. Glittery poop."

Nailed it, Bec.

"I bet that would at least be fun…you know if you had to deal with him here at the hospital. That would be interesting, you know."

Silence.

Beca looked down at the floor as if she needed to check…what…the floor…was doing?

Suddenly Beca felt her hand being squeezed as Chloe began to laugh hard. Chloe was shaking her head laughing, still holding on to the smaller girl. Chloe's laughing allowed Beca to relax a little and she even laughed a bit herself.

"Yep, that would definitely be a conversation piece after my shift. Wow!" Chloe said, laughter easing a bit. She let Beca's hand go gently and looked back at her clip board—smiling.

Beca took her hand back and crossed her arms slowly. She wanted to die, but other than that, she was cool again. She meant to talk about poop. She totally, totally did. She began to guess that this Nurse Chloe Beale was somewhat of a master at getting patients to think about other things. Although she wasn't sure that poop was the intent. That was all Beca, in all her glory. Regardless, Beca decided to try and humor this perky girl and not shut down. Well—she would try her best. Dread was beginning to creep in again.

"Okay Beca, we are going to go through these doors here, and turn to the left. Just follow me, okay?"

"Okay."

Chloe turned around promptly and began leading the way. Beca looked back at her parents and smiled weakly, giving them a subtle head nod as they waved at her. She turned around and Chloe was gone.

Homegirl moves fast—shit!

Beca awkwardly stumbled forward and moved through the doorway, looking both ways.

Turn left, dingbat.

Beca moved left into the hallway and saw Chloe floating on up ahead. Beca didn't want to run as she could see it was a busy place, but she didn't want to lose this nurse either. She developed a walk that can only be described as…well…maybe an ostrich (not a tall one?) that had some of the tourist's beer? Yeah. That does it.

When Beca was finally behind Chloe—she had to hit the brakes as Chloe stopped abruptly.

"We are going to go through this curtain here, into the waiting area." Chloe smiled.

"B-but. We just…we just left from the waiting…area…right?" A breathless Beca said, trying not to kneel.

"No silly, your waiting area. For patients!" Chloe beamed.

"Oh…right. Okay. Where?"

"Just through these curtains, come on. I'm taking you to bed."

"Y-you're what?!"

"I'm taking you to your bed, where we will get you situated for your surgeon. What did you think I said?" Chloe blushed and laughed quietly.

Beca was now the red head. (See what I did there?)

"Right! Right, sorry. Just a little out of it this morning. You know, lots going on."

"It'll be okay, come on." Chloe smiled. She opened the curtain and moved into the parallel hallway.

From this point, Beca saw a long row of beds, some separated by curtains, some wide open. There were women and men of all ages and ethnicities. They were all laying down, in gowns and thick green socks. The areas closed by curtains—she could see the shuffling of feet. She assumed they were changing into their "gear." Beca was in a daze. She couldn't help but wonder what each person was there for, and why. This wasn't the emergency room, so they all must have known about their future procedures. Were they nervous? Were they concerned something would go wrong? Is there anything she could do for them? Was there anything that they could do for her? Beca's nausea came back, but she held it at bay.

"Right here, my dear. This is our fort." Chloe said, patting the small twin-sized bed on wheels—covered in that same faded green color as her scrubs. Beca looked at her spot. She was beside an elderly black woman, and a young white boy with his mom sitting bedside. This was it.

"Strip."

"WHAT?" Beca whipped around to Chloe.

Chloe laughed again, and began to close the curtains around their "fort."

"Take off your clothes."

"W-what? What am I putting on?"

"Here." Chloe pulled out a flat green sheet and a ball of dark green socks. She placed them at the end of the bed, while closing the last bit of the three-wall curtain fort. Beca looked down at her new wardrobe and looked back at Chloe.

Chloe was standing inside of the curtain—seemingly unaware. She wasn't picking up on this hint. Or blatant obviousness.

"Well hurry up, Mitchell, you're on a schedule." Chloe winked.

"Oh. Okay. So you're going to stay?"

"Show me what you got!" Chloe smiled.

"Y-yeah are you really allowed…to…"

"You're in a hospital, Becs."

Becs?!

"But I totally understand. No worries! Just shout for me when you're done, okay? OH! You can put your belongings in this bag here. We will take it out to whoever is waiting for you today!" Chloe pulled out a large zip-lock bag with the hospital's logo on it.

"Okay, thanks…" Beca said quietly.

Chloe stepped outside and closed the curtain behind her. Beca could see her bright neon running shoes underneath, standing close by.

This was the first moment that Beca was, somewhat, alone. She took in a slow and steady breath. As she did this, she could feel the sting of tears beginning to develop. Her nose had that annoying burn.

"Okay, Mitchell. Just change. It's all good, man. That's all you have to do right now." She whispered to herself.

As she awkwardly changed into the gown within the small space she was given, her mind wandered to her "neighbors" and wondered what their stories were. Maybe small things. Maybe big things. Did they have to have neurosurgery too? Could they make friends and compare? Beca shut her eyes tight.

She was draped in her wrinkled gown and had her big socks on. She rolled up her clothes at the foot of the bed, taking out her cell one last time. She looked at the screen that merely read the time and date.

No messages.

She sighed and turned it off promptly. She put her phone in the middle of the bundle.

"Nurse Beale?" She said aimlessly yet right in Chloe's direction. Suddenly she was very aware that her gown was wide open in the back. BUT SHE ALREADY CALLED FOR NURSE BEALE!

Beca began to scramble at the ties behind her, turning in circles. She dropped the ties, and then snagged more than one accidently. It was a mess.

"Don't worry; I've got your back, Beca." Chloe said warmly. She was straight-faced this time. Seemingly calm, and focused. Beca put her hands up to her face and buried it.

"Let's see here. Okay." Chloe said behind her, calmly.

Before Beca even processed that this Beale girl was able to see her ass, the gown was tied on. It was snug. She no longer felt a draft back there. She then felt the small, comforting pat on her shoulders.

"All done…" the nurse whispered. Though Beca wished she was talking about her surgery instead. Beca felt goosebumps nonetheless.

Things moved a little quicker now. Aside from awkward conversation and pauses, the two began to fall into the prep procedure. Chloe asked her to lie down, and Beca did. From there, Chloe began turning on machines, pulling out carts and items on trays. It almost seemed like Beca was in the operating room! Beca was lying flat on her back, agreeing to things like a zombie. Nurses and doctors were passing by in front of her bed, moving towards the patients they possibly needed to attend to.

Beca closed her eyes, and then turned her head. She opened her eyes to locate a clock, but couldn't seem to see one.

"Happen to have the time?" Beca asked quietly.

"Not much longer, Beca. They should be relieving the surgeons soon. This is a teaching hospital so it is kind of a thing. But they will be by shortly to introduce themselves and all that. You okay?" Chloe asked.

"Never been better." Beca frowned.

"Well. Before they get here then, I need to tell you something."

Beca furrowed her eyebrows, and turned her head slowly in the direction of Nurse Beale.

"I have a secret." Chloe smirked.