Who: Clara Mackey, Nana Kimigawa What: Girl Talk When: January 30, morning Where: Seattle Medical Center Rating: G Status: Complete
Clara's morning was unexpectedly busy the moment she arrived at the hospital. Two c-sections and one live birth, all before her pre-scheduled morning appointments. The clock read eight in the morning, and Clara had already spent four hours in the hospital before the start of her official shift.
She stopped by her office and gathered the case files of all of her morning patients before she strode purposefully toward the nurses station. "Kimigawa, you're with me today. Gather your kit, meet me in room seven."
Nana nodded, giving Clara a bright smile before getting her things together to head to room seven. No matter what happened, work always seemed to make her feel good, even if it was a difficult day. Rarely did she not enjoy her work - Miscarriages and stillbirths were hard, but there was something great about helping people that made her happy to be at work.
"Dr. Mackey?" she said, knocking on the door to make sure she wasn't with a patient.
"Come in," Clara called as she looked up from the stack of paperwork she was looking through. If there was one thing Clara insisted on was being prepared. She wasn't one of those doctors who preferred being reminded of a patient's case history minutes before she sees them.
She pulled out two lab kits and placed them on the counter. Getting straight to business even before the other woman was standing properly in the room. "We'll be mainly dealing with prenatal consults this morning, four total, with an exception of one suspected hypothyroid and one case of male impotence."
Nana nodded, listening carefully. "All right," she said. Pretty routine...! "How have you been doing today? We've been really busy so far." Nothing to terribly bad or difficult so far. It was kind of strange being around Clara these days... Now that she was Amy's doctor, it was hard to look at her without remembering that breech of confidence.
"I'm still standing," Clara answered as she pulled open one of the kits and began checking boxes on the included lab order and placed an ID sticker on two of the sample bottles. "How are you holding up? I heard you scrubbed in on four procedures this morning."
Clara twisted the rubber band around her arm and affixed one of the vials to the collection needle. "Government mandated bloodwork," she explained as she pushed the needle into her arm. "Pain in the ass..."
"I'm doing just fine," she said. "I like working... They weren't difficult procedures, either." She watched, surprised, as Clara took her own blood vial. "For the lottery?" She asked slowly, hugging her things to her chest. She hadn't even thought about that. She knew that she and Andrew needed to get to work, but they hadn't had much chance recently, and she was silently grateful for that. She needed time to work through everything - Gil aside, she'd never even met Andrew before. She couldn't just....!
"For the lottery," Clara affirmed as she swapped one full vial for another with practiced ease, "I've been married for over two weeks, I might as well get the required once-a-month test out of the way."
She looked over at Nana, and gestured for the nurse to come over to assist in finishing the procedure. Clara could easily do so by herself, but it was better to get the woman involved instead of allow her to stand there looking lost. "Have you met your husband yet?"
Nana did as she was told, helping her with the last of the procedure. "I see..." She nodded, placing gauze over the area and a small bandage. "Yes, I've met him. We're married now and we spend time together, but not really a whole lot... I've been working nights or mornings lately, and he has a job during the day so we're not around each other very often." She frowned, a little. "He's nice enough."
"But he's not who you'd rather be with," Clara observed and leaned against the counter. Cutting straight to what was on her mind as it was her style, she had suspicions she needed to confirm, "Gil's getting married soon."
Nana might have squeaked then, very nearly dropping her supplies in her shock. "H-he is," she said, swallowing and trying to look calm. How did she know? Well, he'd probably told her why he was transferring Amy... She was blushing bright red now. Why couldn't it just disappear, so she could resign herself to a life with Andrew? He was a nice guy...!
"He's probably going to go along with it too," Clara sighed, even though she couldn't help but be amused by Nana's reaction. At least she was wise enough not to show it by smirking. "He wasn't that bad of a husband."
"Of course he is," she said, struggling to find something to occupy herself with. She nodded. "H-he's a very nice man. I imagine he'd be a good husband." She bit her lip, then smoothed over it with her tongue. "I-Is there anything else you need done?"
Clara could see why Gil would be attracted to Nana, the woman seemed to be just as non-confronational as he is. "Have you talked to him about it? He does have a bad habit of not talking."
She leveled her gaze at Nana, not dropping the subject yet. Until the first patient arrived, there was no reason to go back to business. "I would rather him be happy with someone he cares about than be with someone and be miserable. I wouldn't waste my time if I didn't think it was worth it."
Nana was quiet for a little while, then turned away. She couldn't really face her when she spoke, and she began to organize some papers lying on the desk, even though it didn't need to be done. "Sort of. My fr-... Amy asked him i-if we'd still be together but he didn't tell me what he said." She bit her lip. "He wished me luck in my marriage, and he... He doesn't act like we ever even had anything. So I imagine he's no longer interested."
Clara couldn't help but laugh at that, closing her own case file and securing the two vials to the front of it with medical tape. "I knew it, I just knew it."
She cleared her throat, "I'm sorry, I just know him. He will say and do what he thinks is expected of him, not what he really feels. Because he thinks it is easier on us. Instead of talking to you and figuring out what you want or how you feel, he decided to do what he thinks is best. It is the one thing I hate about him."
Nana looked at her, surprised. "Do you think so...?" She looked down, trying to decide what that meant. It eased her worries that he didn't actually care about her, but it also made her wonder about what it might mean for their relationship later.
"I know so, I wouldn't say anything if I didn't think it was true," Clara shrugged and glanced at her watch. "If you want to do anything about it or not is up to you, just thought I'd bring his jackassed way of thinking to your attention."
She was blushing more, now, and nodded. "Th-thank you. I don't know if... I mean, h-he seems the type to value loyalty and I would feel badly to hurt Andrew but..." She bit her lip. "And anyways we sort of talked about... About getting married before kind of," she said, hurrying the last bit. "It came up, I mean, but he said I was j-just nervous and it was panic talking and all of that." She swallowed heavily, wishing she had better social skills.
Clara crossed her arms and was rather unresponsive to the revelation that the two had apparently talked about possibly marrying, it honestly didn't surprise her. "It's your life, you need to figure out what you want to do with it. It is impossible to get through life without hurting someone, might as well get what you want out of it."
Nana was about to say something else, but she just nodded silently. Yes, that was true. She was right. She only wished she had Clara's confidence. There was a lot she wanted to say, and she opened her mouth again. "...He would never go for it. He doesn't... He would think it's wrong. A-and it's not like we were together forever, we just dated and we..." She'd almost said it! Awful! Terrible! "... A-and we work together."
"Gil and I worked together while we were married," Clara shook her head, "As long as it doesn't affect your performance in the hospital, it shouldn't matter what goes on off-duty. You're both adults, even if you both refuse to act like one. Look, it's none of my business how you two settle it, I'm just evening the playing field."
She was right, of course. Absolutely. And they'd been perfectly professional ever since the start. "Thank you," she said quietly, nodding. She felt a renewed sense of hope. Maybe. Maybe...! She bit her lip. She didn't marry Andrew out of love, after all, and Gil wasn't going to marry out of love, either. "I appreciate it."
"Don't think too much of it, I'm just the bitter ex trying to even scores," Clara grinned at her, gathering the unused kit and bundled it with the chart of the patient it was to be used with. "I'm going to drop my bloodwork to the lab, here is Ms. Stevens' file, gather her vitals and get blood and urine samples from her once she arrives."
"Of course," Nana said, nodding and taking the kit and the chart. That was simple enough. She wasn't sure how to feel about her conversation with Clara, but it made her want to talk to Gil again. They hadn't really gotten a chance to talk much since the incident with Amy.