Kayla fished on her key ring for the one that would open the deadbolt and was rewarded on the first try. The antiseptic smell hit them in the face, and memories just flooded both of them. Even though they’d both just been there on the previous jump, it wasn’t quite the same. The shock of a new location that was familiar to them and held part of their history was strong.
“Wow,” Kayla said.
“Yeah,” Steve replied. “Huh. Man, this feels weird.”
“But it’s a good weird. It’s a really, really good weird.” She was so glad he’d convinced her to do this. It felt right.
Kayla stowed her purse in the filing cabinet, and Steve strutted around the small waiting room. “Well,” she said, “I guess I’ll get the exam rooms ready for patients.” Steve replied ok, and they stared at each other. Kayla didn’t move.
“You ok to do this, Sweetness?”
“I think so.”
“You can do it.”
Kayla nodded. “Ok.” Then she turned and headed to the back rooms. Suddenly, Steve felt a surge of panic.
“Wait!”
Kayla whipped her head back around, her skirt rustling a shushing sound as she did. “What’s wrong?!”
Steve went to his wife and held her tight. Then he kissed her and held her again. “I talk a good game, but now that it comes down to letting you actually go back there without me, I’m … I just need another kiss.”
She brushed her lips onto his, and she tasted so sweet. Kayla melted into his embrace and inhaled his Steve scent. “Come with me.”
It was so easy, of course, just go with her.
“No,” he heard himself say. “We’ve got to do this, Sweetness. We both have to be able to do this.”
Kayla looked up at him. “You’re right.” She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and then pulled out of his embrace. “Ok, then … here we go.” Steve winked at her. “I’ll be … right back there.” She then turned on her heel, looked back at him and saw the smile he was forcing, and disappeared behind the curtain to the back exam rooms.
Kayla entered the first room and tried not to panic. Just calm down. She stood with her back purposely to the doorway and forced herself to relax. Frontal bone, parietal bone, temporal bone, occipital … bone. “That’s not helping.”
“Kayla!” Steve yelled.
Startled, she gasped and ran back to him. “Yes?!”
Steve smiled. “Just checking.”
Kayla smiled back and was somehow calmer. Without saying anything, she turned and went back to the room. She immediately set to the task of making sure it was stocked with whatever might be needed. First aid, supplies, paper rolls for the exam tables, sheets, drapes, gowns, sutures, antiseptic. Before she knew it, she was ready to check the next room. She fought the urge to call out to him only because she heard him doing his own thing out there. He was right, she fell right back into this without much confusion. She then headed to the drug cabinet to take stock.
For his part, Steve was a nervous wreck. He really didn’t like her not being in eyeshot, but at the same time, he’d known for a while now that they were getting on each others’ nerves. He hated it, and he didn’t want to think it, but it was the truth, and it was why they had that spat this morning. The fact was that they’d been in each others’ hair 24/7 for he didn’t know how long but his guess was weeks. Without a break. Without another real source of proactive social interaction. Not a moment of alone time unless you counted the panicked moments jumping apart. They needed this. For their own goods, they really did. That didn’t mean Steve was having an easy time of it.
He heard her in the exam rooms opening drawers and fumbling with cabinets, so he set about the task of checking out the front desk. He found intake forms, clipboards, paper, pens, pencils, a rolodex, an analog touchtone phone that made him happy just looking at it, and to his surprise, a schedule. Sure enough, Kayla was on it as the nurse on duty not just today but tomorrow and the day after that, as well. He didn’t recognize the doctor listed, but he did notice the time, 9:45am, and the doctor was 45 minutes late.
He spotted the lab coats on the hook to the right and decided to put one on. As fate would have it, the first one he grabbed had a name sewn onto the breast pocket. Kayla Brady, R.N. “It’s your lab coat, baby.” As if on autopilot, he brought it to his nose and inhaled; the déjà vu was overwhelming. It smelled just like the woman he’d harassed like a schoolboy with a crush all those years ago. Visions of her came flooding to him, and he almost couldn’t take it. He had to see her in the coat.
He found her at the drug cabinet, and she gasped in surprise. “Steve! You scared me.”
“Sorry, Sweetness. Baby, look what I found. It’s your lab coat.” He held it up to her so she could see her name etched into the fabric, and her eyes went wide.
“R.N. Wow, R.N.” She put it on and asked, “how do I look?”
She was the very picture of the Kayla Brady he’d fallen in love with all those years ago. “Beautiful, Kayla. You look … “
Just then they heard the door open. Kayla started for the front, but Steve stopped her. “No. I’ll go. You go back to what you were doin’.”
Steve came back up front to see that a middle-aged woman had walked in that was now gingerly holding her left hand up in front of her. “Excuse me,” she said to Steve, “are you the doctor?”
Steve had his first customer! “No, my wi—uh, no, the doctor’s not in yet, but the nurse is.”
“Well, I just slammed my finger in a door, see?” She held her hand out to him, with her middle finger appearing to flip him the bird. “And it’s killing me! Can she help me?”
“Baby, are you tryin’ to tell me something with that finger of yours?”
“Yeah, that my finger hurts!”
“Ok, keep your pants on, baby, Nurse Kayla’s gonna fix you right up.”
By now Kayla had run out of patience and come to the front to see who’d arrived and was pleased to see that she was about to treat her first patient of the day.
“Hello!” she said. “I see we’ve got a patient, Steve.”
“Yep, went and got herself a booboo.”
“Ok, well what seems to be the problem?”
“I hurt my finger!”
“Now, just hold on, this nice lady needs to fill out an intake form,” Steve said. “Gotta do things right, now.”
“But I’m a lefty, I can’t fill that out.”
“Well, this is your lucky day, because we have a two for one special going on right now, people with two eyes get to have their intake forms filled out by people with just one.” The lady smiled.
“He thinks he’s a comedian,” she said, momentarily forgetting the throb in her finger.
“Only for you, baby. Now, let’s start with your name, and by the time we’re done, that finger will be all patched up. Get it?” he said tapping his patch with the pen. “I’m the right guy for this job, aren’t I?”
The woman laughed, and Steve started processing her so that Kayla could treat her. Kayla loved how he always knew how to work with people, appease them, and make them laugh.
The doctor finally walked in at 10:15, by which time six more patients had taken up residence in the exam rooms and spilled over into the tiny waiting room. Steve didn’t notice because he was too busy holding down the considerably crowded fort, so the doctor cleared his throat and said, “are you the new reception volunteer? I thought that was a woman.”
Steve looked at him and realized right away that this was the doctor. “Yeah, I’m the new volunteer. Name’s Steve Johnson. Thanks for checking in, as you can see you’ve got lots of customers.”
“Sorry, rounds ran long,” he said dismissively. Where’s the nurse.”
“She’s in back setting a broken arm.”
“By herself?” asked the freshly minted resident. “Witout a doctor present?”
Steve thought about saying that she was a doctor in a parallel universe but figured that wouldn’t go over well. “Well, as you can see, Dr. Rounds Ran Late, we’ve got a bit of a full house goin’ here, and someone had to start treating people.”
“That’s Dr. Windsor,” he said irritatedly.
“Well, cherrio, then, my fine chap!” he retorted in an English accent. You’ve got an ear infection in 2, some kind of nasty sh*t crusting up an eye in 4, and someone who just ‘hurts all over’ in 3. Like I said, my wife is in curtain 1 with the broken arm. Then you’ve got these fine folks—“
“Your wife?”
Steve didn’t even realize he’d said that. “My what?”
“Your wife is the nurse?”
“Girlfriend. Sorry, I meant my girlfriend.” Dr. Windsor just stared. “Wife’s back at the mansion. Shh, don’t tell her.” The annoyed doctor frowned at him and grabbed the intake list. “So,” Steve continued, “what’s it gonna be, the ear infection or the crusty sh*t?”
Dr. Windsor decided to rise to the occasion, leaned in to Steve behind the desk and said, “Tell ya what, smartass, I’ll take the crusty sh*t, you go back and tell Nurse Brady to stop treating that arm till I get there, then go babysit ‘Hurts All Over’ till the nurse gets there. How’s that?”
Steve was impressed. A man willing to go toe to toe with him. He smiled and let out a hearty laugh, then headed back to curtain 1.
Kayla had just gotten done putting the temporary splint on the dock worker’s arm when Steve appeared. “Well, hi there,” she said with a smile, “How’s it going out there?”
“Well, we’ve got a Dr. Windsor who’s shown up. Seems rounds ran late.”
“Mmm,” she grunted. “Likely story.”
“Yeah, well, you’re not gonna like what else he said, either.” He proceeded to tell her the doctor’s instructions, and as he suspected, she didn’t take that well. She left the patient telling him that the doctor would be right in, and whispered with Steve in the waiting room corner as the patients watched them.
“What was I supposed to do, let them sit here? I’m a doctor for Pete’s sake!”
“No, baby, not here you’re not. Not as far as they know. You’ve gotta be Nurse Brady here, not Dr. Johnson.” She hrmphed and crossed her arms. “I know it’s hard, baby, but look at it like a vacation. Someone else gets to do the heavy lifting.”
“Ya know what, I did the heavy lifting then, too, half the time. Neil and Mike always trusted me to do what needed to be done. I don’t know who this Windsor guy is.”
“Yeah, well, I’m supposed to be in with ‘Hurts All Over’ till you get there. You goin’ in there or you want me to babysit while you blow off steam?”
“No, I’m going.”
“Hey.” Kayla looked back at him. “I slipped up, too. Called you my wife.”
She smiled and said, “I am your wife.”
“Damn straight.”
Kayla went in to see what ‘Hurts All Over’ was all about and got a song and dance about the woman’s good for nothing father-in-law who layed around all day. She vaguely remembered that this was a regular hypochondriac when Dr. Windsor walked in.
“Kayla,” he said. “What were you doing with that splint I just sent off to University Hospital for an x-ray?” He looked familiar, and she knew she knew him, but for the life of her she didn’t remember his name.
“Ah … Well, there was quite a backup, and I saw that it was a classic ulnar fracture, so I just figured I’d set it and get him an order for the x-ray.”
“Ok, well, good diagnosis, you were right. But next time remember who the doctor is, ok?”
Kayla bit her tongue and looked away. “Sure,” she clipped. “Right. Who should I see next, Dr. Windsor?”
“’Dr. Windsor?’ Aren’t we formal. Sorry I f I offended you, but can we go back to Brad?”
“Brad! Right. No problem.”
Steve heard this exchange and mocked “Brad,” in a high pitched voice to the woman sitting in the lobby chair, which made her giggle.
Before they knew it, it was nearly 2pm, and they hadn’t broken for lunch. Truth be told, they were each having a hell of a good time. Kayla really loved her work, and Steve enjoyed entertaining the patients, giving them the business, making them laugh, and playing silly songs on his harmonica. Dr. Windsor wasn’t that thrilled about the harmonica part, but he did appreciate the jovial attitudes the patients ended up with by the time they got through their wait and in to be treated. He hoped to see the smartass volunteer with the patch in the future.
When the last patient left in an ambulance with chest pains that the EKG had shown was just this side of a full blown heart attack and the Emergency Center was empty, the doctor announced that he was going to lunch and that he’d be back after his afternoon rounds.
Steve immediately headed for the back exam room where he found Kayla resetting the exam table. “Hey Nurse Brady, you exhausted yet?”
“Yes!” she said as she crawled onto the table and collapsed there. “I really am.” Then she sat up. “But ya know what? I’m having a great time. And I think you are, too.”
“I am, baby. I’m having a hell of a time out there, watching you, helping them, and giving Dr. Brad a hard time.”
“Yeah, well, he was giving it back to you, I think.”
“That he was,” he laughed. “Good for him. Nice to have a challenge.”
Kayla raised her arms up above her head and stretched deeply. Steve watched her breasts raise up as she did so, and her voice saying “tits” sounded in his head. In no time flat, the look in his eye became hungry.
“Uh … You put that thing away, Steve, we’ve got patients out there.”
“No we don’t, Sweetness. Place is empty.”
“Really. Oh. Hmm.”
“Yeah, we didn’t get any lunch.”
“No, we didn’t.”
“I think it’s time I had my break now.”
“Oh do you?”
Steve sat on the physician’s stool and rolled himself over to her. He placed his palms on her thighs and rubbed them up and down. “Yeah, I need to eat something.”
Kayla nervously looked to the curtain opening, hoping there really wasn’t an audience out there. “Mr. Johnson, what do you think you’re doing?”
“Eating lunch, baby. Starting with those tits you announced were mine at breakfast this morning.”
He stood up quickly and crushed his lips to hers. She opened her mouth and her thighs to him immediately. They kissed hotly and greedily while he fondled her breasts.
Kayla moaned into his kisses, and he quickly released her mouth, pushed up the yellow sweater, and sucked at her breast through her thin bra. Her nipples were already hard when his mouth found them, and he grunted pleasure that he could make her this way before he’d barely touched her. Then Steve sat back down, pushed her long skirt up her thighs until he revealed the blue bikini underwear, and leaned down to kiss her inner thigh
Kayla’s eyes went wide. “Steve … I think—“
Don’t think, baby. Just let me taste you. Feel my tongue inside you, baby. He pulled her underwear down and threw her legs over his shoulders. She was wet, and he thrilled at knowing he was about to make her come. He kissed the other thigh much closer to her center.
Kayla smothered a moan in an effort to stay quiet and whispered, “what if someone comes in?”
“They won’t, baby. Trust me. I know.” Then without another word, Steve parted her labia with his thumbs to reveal her clitoris and gave it a slow, rough lick.
Kayla exhaled silently, trying desperately not to moan. Steve loved the anxious pleasure he felt in her. He loved that he was giving it to her. He licked her again, and Kayla gathered up a fistful of exam table paper. More wetness appeared at her opening, and he knew he was driving her wild. She just slightly raised her hips toward his face in encouragement, and in answer he plunged his tongue deep within her wet walls.
Now Kayla did allow herself a moan as she felt her climax begin to peak. “I can’t believe we’re doing this in here,” Kayla panted. “Oh, God, Steve, so good. You feel so good.”
Steve shoved his tongue into her over and over, then he flicked it hard and fast over her clit. “Yes! Yes, oh God,” she whispered, then smacked the table hard with her palm to stop herself from screaming. Steve held on to her hips and reveled in the taste of her. One last lick of his velvet tongue sent her climax through her hard as she jerked her body into him and released orgasmic wetness. Steve continued to lick it up, knowing it would drive her mad. He plundered and licked and sucked until Kayla begged him to stop.
“No, baby, I want you to come again.”
“I don-don-don’t think I ca-can.”
“Oh, you can, Sweetness. You’ve got another one in there.”
He put two fingers inside of her and she began moaning anew. “Don’t stop, Steve, don’t stop,” she panted, “don’t stop!”
“I’m not gonna stop, baby, but I am still hungry. Better feed me some more.” With that his tongue plundered her again, and she whimpered softly, the risk of someone finding them like this seeming to drive her horniness into an even higher gear. Steve made “mmm” sounds, and the sight of her husband’s head bobbing between her legs sent her over the edge into another powerful orgasm that sent jolts of intense pleasure through her entire body. Her eyes were closed with her lips slightly parted. Steve watched her enjoy the ecstasy hum through her.
Finally, Kayla opened her eyes. “That was hot, Steve,” she panted. “That was … I can’t believe you just went down on me in an exam room.”
“Yeah, I’m full now.”
Kayla laughed. “You are a naughty, naughty man, Steve.”
“And if you’re a very good girl, I’ll be naughty tonight, too.”
“Well, then I’m going to be extra good,” she cooed. Steve pulled her underwear up and straightened her sweater and skirt into a less intimate position. Then she put her arms around his neck and said, “You are very good to me.”
“You’re easy to be good to, Sweetness.”
“How did you know no one would walk in?”
The sexuality radiating out of Steve’s expression was so strong she could feel it in her afterglow. “I didn’t. I just hoped real hard.” Kayla’s mouth hung agape. Then she smiled.
Kayla hopped off the exam table and began resetting it again when the doctor walked back in. This startled them, and they both stifled horrified laughs that they were thisclose to being caught in a very embarrassing position.
“What’s going on back here?” Dr. Windsor asked with suspicion in his voice.
“Nothing!” they said in unison. “I thought you had rounds,” Kayla said a little too quickly.
“Got Patel to cover. it was kind of busy here. So, what are you doing?”
I was just resetting the exam room, Doctor—Brad.”
“Steve headed out and said, “Yeah, she was just getting done in there, Dr. Brad.”
“I see. And you had to help her do it?”
Steve wanted to bust out laughing at the joke the doctor didn’t even know he was making. “Don’t you worry your pretty little face, Dr. Brad, I was just making sure Nurse Brady, here, got everything she needed.”
“Yes, well the room looks all set, you can let your girlfriend just do her job now.”
“No argument from me, dude, she looks all set.”
Kayla had to look away from them, she was silently laughing so hard that her shoulders were shaking.
“Right, so how about you just man the desk now, m’kay?.”
“M’kay,” Steve mocked. Dr. Windsor shot him a look. “What?” The look of warning on the doctor’s face was intended genuinely, but even he knew that Steve saw him as all bark and no bite.
A smile spread across the doctor’s face despite the irritating way Steve was goading him. “Shut up, smartass. Man the desk.”
“You love me. You know you do.”
He kind of did, but instead of admitting it, the doctor smiled and said, “Up yours.” He walked back to the coat rack and hung it up. “Did you guys get any lunch?”
“I ate,” Steve deadpanned.
“I didn’t eat anything,” Kayla added.
“Yeah, well it’s too late now, ‘cause we’ve got a bloody nose on its way in here.” Sure enough, the door opened, and ‘Bloody Nose’ became the next resident of the room Steve had just eaten lunch in. “Steve, go help Kayla with the intake.”
Kayla couldn’t look her husband in the eye, she’d laughed so hard before she nearly peed in her pants and didn’t want to court further disaster by actually looking him in the eye. Steve started the teenager’s intake form while Kayla did her best to focus on the boy’s bloody nose and not the memory of her husband’s tongue as he stood so close to her.
Both of them continued to laugh, trade banter, treat patients, answer phones, and do regular Emergency Center things. They were so busy enjoying it all that for a few moments here and there both of them forgot about the stress of jumping and existed solely in the moments that were right now, right here, in this place, in 1987.