Levi

She was in the middle of winning yet another Candy Crush level when she heard her name being called, ruining the mood and her streak. “Wonderful”, she mumbled as she got up from her seat and noticed the doctor, she should have asked for a woman, she never forgot but her mind was elsewhere. She felt the fear creep on her back and she took a deep breath, “he’s a doctor, he’s going to help. It’s his job”, she shook her arms to get rid of the nerves, making her wounds sting and some blood drops fall on the floor, “oops’. 

She walked towards him, as slow as she could. “It’s not damage, it’s a minor thing”, she shrugged, unable to keep her thoughts to herself. She took off the sunglasses and squinted at how bright everything was, she hated hospital lightning. Her lips let out a hiss, the light made her eyes hurt and if she moved her fingers, her knuckles screamed in pain. He just had to fix her up and send her home, no small talks, no questions, she could get through this. 

“We’ll see if it’s minor,” he quipped back. He could already tell that she was a self-proclaimed “expert” when it came to her own medical injuries, which were some of his least favorite types of patients. If they didn’t want an expert opinion or treatment, they might as well just put some duct tape on their injury and call it a day without wasting anybody’s time.

As they stepped into the private room, Levi noticed the poor attempt at a bandage wrap around her knuckles as the blood soaked through the tissue. “Seems like you won,” he remarked. He didn’t know her or her story, but whoever or whatever she fought to earn such bloodied knuckles, there’s no way her opponent could have beat her.

“Do you mind?” he asked as he reached out to take a look at her hands. As he carefully unwrapped the bandages, he said, “I won’t ask how you got these, but as a professional, my opinion would be to not do it again. You could cause some permanent damage.” Once the wrappings were gone, he assessed the damage to her knuckles. There were a lot of superficial cuts, but nothing appeared deep enough to require stitches.

“You lucked out today. I don’t need to stitch you up, but the wounds could still get infected if you’re not careful.” Levi put on a pair of latex gloves before dipping a cotton swab in some disinfectant solution. He began to swab away at the clotted blood surrounded her knuckles and dabbing at any fresh blood with a clean cloth.

“Shit, shit, shit”, Mikey groaned as her body hit the ice bath Cecil, her coach had drawn for her. Her muscles were sore, he knew how to push her to the limit but she always made sure to go further, this time her knuckles were the victims, along with her left eye that was beginning to sting. “You should get that checked up, Missy”, the older man appeared behind her with a box of peas, ‘always carry peas, they’re so much better than ice packs, they mold against your face’, he always said. “It’s nothing, they just need some ointment”, she closed her eyes and felt the cold on her face, “you’re dripping on the floor, Mikey. Honestly, can you, for once, not go overboard? Your next fight is in two weeks, I can’t have you like this”, he shook his head, “if you don’t go get patched up, you’re not fighting”. 

Hours later, she sat inside her car, glaring at the hospital behind her dark sunglasses. “You’re not fighting”, she mimicked Cecil’s voice and huffed, “what does he think I am? twelve?”. She grumbled as she exited her car and walked to the entrance, her knuckles were wrapped with kleenex and loose bandages, her eye was purple and green and probably needed more ice. “Good afternoon, I need to g…”, her eyes looked at the nurse and a smile formed on her face, “why, Louisa, have I told you how good you look today?”. The nurse sighed, ready to bite the brunette’s head when she noticed who it was, “Mikey Sloan, how long has it been? A week? I think you might have broken a record…”, the boxer just shrugged and lowered her hoodie, “anybody in? it’s the usual”, she raised her hands, showing the bloody mess. “Yeah, just sit down, we’ll tell you when we’re ready”. Mikey nodded and plopped down on one of the chairs, trying to find a pose that didn’t make her head hurt. 

It was a slow day for Levi. The most gruesome thing he’s seen since his shift started six hours earlier was a broken wrist on a six year old, along with some minor wounds that only needed a few stitches. It sounded a bit sick, but Levi liked the gruesome injuries. It was why he became a trauma surgeon in the first place, so he could be faced with a challenge that required speed and precision that most surgeons lacked. But today was reminding him how boring the job could really be when there was no one in severe physical pain.

He meandered up to the ER desk and took the clipboard sitting in its designated slot. He skimmed over the basics and sighed when it was just another surface injury. He wanted something deep, something gory, but instead he was stuck with some bloodied knuckles.

“Sloan?” he called out without looking up from the clipboard. It seemed as if she was a regular at the ER, given that her last visit was only last week. What is she up to? he thought to himself.

Levi glanced up at the patient now standing in front of him, a dip forming between his brows as he noticed the sunglasses on her face. Strange. “Let’s go assess the damage, shall we?” he asked before turning and leading her into a private room.