Erika's POV:

Mini new year celebrations; that was what Mondays resembled for me. Instead of hating on the damn day, I had found a way to turn things around for me. It was a chance at a microscopic new beginning, with new goals, wishes, wants. A way to start fresh and forget about anything that made me unhappy. 

My mini new year seemed to be like the past couple of Mondays, nerve wracking, with a lot of work, patients to see, tasks to fulfill and a pinch of being watched, that didn't seem to leave me these past couple of weeks. Ever since that night at the hospital, the night I was scared to death for mine and my patient's life, I had this feeling of being watched, being followed. 

I was being paranoid this Monday morning as I tried to keep up with the task of the day; hopefully nothing a little caffeine couldn't fix.

We reached the main conference room to find the doctors and interns sitting around the big table. This morning we were greeted not only by the surgical, but the internal medicine crew as well. It was rare to find them on our floor, but completely necessary, seeing as medicine is a science of teamwork and interconnected knowledge. This week already seemed promising.

Stella was by my side, two coffee cups in her hands. I silently thanked her as she handed me one of the paper cups, the bitter flavor as well as the sweet scent of caramel waking up my senses. We were leaning on the wall as all chairs were occupied, when Markus stepped inside with Jaxon on his side. I straightened up my back as they approached us, an unfamiliar feeling making me feel uneasy. We were merely acquaintances, small talk being the only thing exchanged between us. Even though he seemed pretty interesting, my gut feeling warned me to stay away from him; the complete opposite of his and my brother's growing friendship. 

"What do you think we're doing this week?" Markus asked as he pulled Stella's cup to his lips, taking a few sips before returning her beverage with a playful smile on his face.

He didn't receive a reply, as silence followed the moment Dr. Marshall walked into the room with Savi on his tail and a stack of files in her hands. It always surprised me how this man demanded respect with his mere presence.

"Good morning everyone. As you have already noticed, the internal medicine team has joined us this week. It is important to be able to work together, especially in times of emergency. That being said, things will proceed differently this week. Teams of three or four doctors aim to solve and correctly diagnose their patients of the week. The only difference, the patient doesn't necessarily need surgical attention, therefore you'll need to work with the internal medicine doctors on making that decision." He turned towards the nurse next to him and with a nod she began giving each intern a file with a patient. "Among deciding your teams you'll have to diagnose the patients gathered among you. You have the next eight hours. We expect you back here with possible diagnosis and treatment plan for your patients. You're dismissed."

I turned to Stella, who was already looking at me with a knowing smirk on her lips. "We're doing this together, right?" I asked her.

"Definitely, chica. I'm obviously pairing up with my nerd!" It was a known fact how competitive I was as a person; I hated losing.

At that, both Markus and Jaxon came closer to the two of us. 

"You girls are doing this together, right?" Markus eyed Stella with a knowing glimpse of his eyes, almost as if they were having a silent conversation among themselves.

"You know it, Markus Ricci." She winked, and I turned to Jaxon that was playfully rolling his eyes. 

'I know how you feel, buddy, trust me.' I thought to myself.

"Well, we can either wait for someone from the internal medicine to join us, or we can do this the four of us. What do you say, angel?" He asked me, shivers running down my spine when I realized the word came out of Jaxon's lips; I felt my gut constrict in both disappointment and surprise.

"Please don't call me that!" I almost couldn't recognize how stern my own voice sounded, the words left my mouth with no filter whatsoever. "It's just... It's reserved for someone else." The last part was just a whisper.

Markus' jaw dropped and Jaxon furrowed his eyebrows, a questioning look on both of their faces. I could feel my blush taking over my face in such high speeds. Did I really say that?

"Oh, I'm sorry... I didn't realize that you-"

"It's not that... It's just-- Never mind, I think the four of us could work together. Seeing as the internal medicine interns formed teams of their own already."

I sighed; the exercise didn't even begin like it was supposed to.

I turned to Jaxon again, his ashy brown hair and sky blue eyes only accentuated the cold vibe that seemed to always surround him as he stared me down. We've never worked together and I was getting nervous as uneasiness spread throughout my body.

We opened the folders gathered among the four of us, two teens and two adults, each one with a different medical history and reason of admission. In that moment both mine and Jaxon's pager started beeping, the deafening sound worsened the uneasiness I was feeling in my stomach.

"It's the emergency ward." My voice cracked at the end as I met Stella's eyes.

"Go, we can take care of these 'til you come back." We both nodded and took to the stairs. 

We were both running towards the emergency wing, avoiding the medical stuff that told us to slow down. We couldn't; if medical interns were paged from the emergency wing it meant no doctor was on sight for whatever reason and all available hands were needed on deck.

We arrived at the scene to find a teenage boy unconscious on the bed. The nurse told us everything she gathered about the sixteen year old comatose boy. They used scissors to free him of his clothing when we were met with puncture wounds on his hips and inner elbows. I furrowed my eyebrows as I looked at the scene around us. There was another boy in the corner of the room, tears running down his red cheeks. Jaxon started asking the nurses for information, while I neared the teen.

"What's your name?" I asked the anxious kid.

"Carter." He said, wiping his runny nose on his sleeve.

"Carter, I am Erika. I need you to tell me everything that happened. That's the only way to help save your friend."

"Nate."

"Wha-"

"His name... Nate... He was fine this morning at school. Then he said his head was hurting. He didn't want to go to the school nurse, so I thought he was fine. He was sweating a lot and looked paler the more time passed. We were on our way home, when h-he started vomiting and his eyes were glassy, as if he couldn't concentrate on anything I was telling him. His body had collapsed on the pavement and I called 911. They said he was cr-crushing and now-... Now he is... Is he going to be okay?"

I turned to the unconscious kid, Jaxon glaring at Carter next to me as he heard everything. His usual cold glare was nowhere close to how his eyes looked at me in that moment; the room appeared to be frozen just from his glare. He looked scary, but so was the situation at hand. 

"I know what this is." He cursed under his breath. "We need Naloxone 400 micrograms and fluids. He's having an overdose."

My eyes widened, and I searched for the kid's backpack. I found what I was looking for, and pushed Jaxon away from the kid before he could administer the opioid antidote.

"Idiot..." I said under my breath. I ordered a glucose solution and nasal glucagon powder to be administered, as well as fluids. "He's in a diabetic coma, he's hypoglycemic, not a junkie. There are insulin injections in his back pack." I explained, a certain calm in my voice that didn't mirror the inner turmoil inside me.

"Fuck." I could hear Jaxon curse behind me, as he allowed me to help stabilize our patient. 

The moment his heart rhythm was stabilized, he grabbed my wrist and pulled me out of the room, towards the stairwell. My back was harshly met with the wall behind me as I was caged by my colleague. A very tall colleague, that mostly scared me to death.

He sighed, relief washed over him as he took a couple of deep breaths.

"Fuck, Erika, I almost killed him." The cold façade I was accustomed to 'til now melted away, leaving behind a pretty shaken up, scared Jaxon. "I- Fuck!" He frantically rubbed his face, taking a few more breaths before he leaned on the wall beside me. "You saved both our asses today, you know, not just the kid's."

Relieved, I released a breath of my own in that moment, realizing I was in fact just as nervous as he was. 

"Fuck... Type 1 Diabetes, but I thought he--"

"Don't worry about it. I got your back." I smiled at him and he chuckled, once again shaking his head at what could have almost happened if I didn't stop him. 

It was quiet for a few moments, a silent deal between us; one could tell this was almost the beginning of a new friendship. 

We walked towards the main surgical wing, Jaxon dragging his feet behind me. Stella and Markus were already done with two out of the four cases and so we helped solving the other two. Before we knew it, we were in front of Dr. Marshall, presenting our diagnosis as well as treatment plans for the four patients. He didn't look happy, seeing as we didn't work with the internal medicine interns like we were told to, but our conclusions were correct and we found ourselves scrubbing in with him.

It was a long day, a long Monday to say the least. The minute we were out of surgery and into clean scrubs, the four of us dragged our feet towards the hospitals cafeteria for some long awaited lunch and coffee.

"Oh, don't forget... I prefer my cappuccino with caramel on top, Markus Ricci." Stella pinched Markus' side as we sat together.

"And an espresso for me, please. With a pinch of milk." I said, knowing it was a weird combination for an Italian, but the American way influenced me; it was inevitable. I turned around towards the other two, and my eyes met Jaxon's. He had a warm smile on his face that took me by surprise, but I smiled back at him nonetheless. Today proved that we were allies and I wasn't going to screw things up by being untrusting. 

Without even realizing, I was carried away by my thoughts, goosebumps rushing down my spine at the thought of Brandon. My mood changed in a second and I began wondering about what he was doing, how was his recovery...

Was he still thinking about me, like I was?

Truth be told, I had no idea who Brandon Anthony King really was. From the little time we've spent together, I knew he was a very mysterious, attractive man, with a smile that melted my heart and eyes that made me lose myself in them. If only things had a different outcome and he didn't push me away. If I didn't push him.

I was wondering if he was visiting this hospital for his physiotherapy. I could check their program later, but I wanted to spare myself the embarrassment. This was so confusing. I needed to focus.

"You look lost in thought... Everything alright?" Markus brought me back to reality.

"It's nothing really. I was just thinking about... the surgery. It was nice scrubbing in together, but I'm already looking forward to the next operation tomorrow." I said with a cheeky voice; that should have saved me for a while.

"Chica, it's going to be amazing, trust me. No need to stress out, really. We will prep together tonight and be ready," Stella winked at me, sipping her coffee; she knew me so well. "So, Jaxon... Who is Jaxon Inkles, really." There it was; she couldn't control herself any longer. She wanted to know the person that worked with us these past couple of weeks.

"Well... I am 25, I went to Stanford Medical School and graduated a year ago. I backpack traveled through Europe for a couple of months before deciding it was time to come back here."

"Europe, huh? Did you visit Italy as well?" I asked, wanting to hear about his adventures in Europe.

"Pisa, the Colloseum, then Venice, Milan... I loved it. People think Paris is the city of love, but they've never been to Italy. I loved it there."

"So, did you find a great love in Italy?" Stella cheekily pushed his elbow.

"Huh..." he smirked, staring at his hands on his lap. "Let's just say things like that don't always work out for me. Something about a family curse or something like that..."

He chuckled... but it didn't sound genuine.

He caught my eyes once more, staring intently and I gulped. His blue eyes sent chills down my spine and the uneasy feeling returned to the pit of my stomach. I turned away from his glare, sipping some coffee from my cup. It wasn't our place and I didn't want to intrude in his private life.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Stella, on the other hand, was not one to stop asking questions when something felt juicy enough to stir her attention.

"It has something to do with my grandfather... he was 'selling love' so his family isn't one to receive it in return, or something like that. It's honestly nothing, just a stupid family joke." He said, seeming uneasy.

"So do you have any siblings?" It was my turn to ask a question and change the subject.

"Yeah, I do, actually. I have an older brother, James. He's twenty eight."

"Small age gap... you should be very close, right?" Markus asked and smiled at me.

"You could say that, although our interests were never mutual. We're closer now, but still... I guess it could've been worse."

"It's always like that, believe me." Markus winked at Jaxon and pushed my elbow while I was sipping on my coffee, risking my poor scrubs in the process; thankfully my coffee wasn't spilled.

"Idiot. You did that on purpose didn't you?" They all laughed. Idiots.

I sighed in frustration and got up to throw my garbage away. We were almost done and I wanted to check on the diabetic teen before we clocked out, so I got a head's start and exited the cafeteria. 

Once in the main building, I turned right down the hall towards the emergency wing, when I bumped onto a wall of muscle. I didn't have a chance to fall on my ass, because strong arms circled my waist and brought me closer to the body in front of me. I placed my hands on the stranger's strong biceps before I looked up for the first time.

And I was breathless.

He was breathless.

His green eyes burned with a hidden desire I knew was there. I opened my mouth to thank him for saving me once again, but nothing came out. I was a hot mess. And I just shamelessly stared.

I couldn't believe he was there, holding me close to his body. I've missed this. I've never even had him, but I missed him. All previous thoughts disappeared into thin air, and I knew, that whatever happened, just a look from him could make me jelly in his hands. How messed up was that? 

But I didn't care.

I just shamelessly stared.

______________

Let me start by saying a big thank you for your patience this week. I wanted to update sooner, but I actually had my first ever job interview and was so stressed, I couldn't bring myself to edit this chapter before posting. Plus, my few brain cells were all over the place, and it wouldn't be fair for any of you if I delivered a half assed chapter.

With that being said, I got the job. (Disclaimer: It's a side job, as I am still a student, but it was an amazing opportunity, so I couldn't say no ^_^)

This side of Erika is one I wanted to present for the past couple of months. It was about fucking time to see her winning. I hope you liked this side of her as much as I loved writing it.

Another thank you to all of you commenting and voting for my story. Each small milestone is a great one for me, and I am truly grateful.

Take care of yourself. Drink water. Get some sleep.

xo J