The sweat on Rob’s face was dripping down his face, just like an ice-cream melting in the summer’s heat. But in this case, it wasn’t summer, it was winter and Rob was outside the hospital playing basketball with Chester, Brad, and Jonathon. It was Rob and Chester against Brad and Jonathon, in which didn’t sit too well seeing that Brad was the man to beat if you wanted to get anywhere in the hospital’s basketball ladder.
No one was a real big hardcore player like Rob and Brad were, they were always in competition in the basketball ladder, despite the fact that hardly anyone played in the ladder. It was a thing that the guys of the hospital thought was a better thing to concentrate their minds on other their paid work, and to distract themselves from checking out their female work colleagues.
Chester was being lazy today, which was annoying Rob a lot. Rob had heard from one of the new interns that Chester and Sarah were history, so Rob guessed that would be occupying Chester’s mind more than anything right now.
Rob managed to get the ball off Jonathon.
He dribbled it until he reached a couple of metres from the hoops and scored, with a simple throw. He didn’t get changed or anything, he simply played in his work pants, a singlet that he was wearing underneath and bare feet. He had been told at the last minute that there was a game on; so he had stashed his clothes that he wasn’t wearing in his locker, ran to grab the ball off Brad and ran straight to the hoops only to miss a goal.
Rob was a mixture of being cold on the outside and being dead hot in the inside. He hated when it got to times of such confusing temperatures.
“Come on Bourdon, you’re not at your full potential today,” noticed Jonathon, trying to catch his breath, as the game was paused. “What’s happening to our Bourdon, troubles in paradise?”
“As if!” Rob laughed off as he turned to Chester. “What about you, trouble in paradise Bennington?”
“Don’t act like you don’t know, it’s all around the hospital thanks to her big mouth,” answered Chester, wiping his sweat on his towel that he had dumped on the sidelines. “And don’t you dare ask me what it was over. So many people have either asked me what it was over or how they were deeply sorry that I had to put up with her for that long.”
“Sorry to ask man,” apologised Rob.
“Come on Bennington, she’s not that bad, she’s a decent woman in her nature,” defended Brad, as their conversation caught Mike’s ears as he was passing by. He had actually come back from two lectures from Meg over what not to do around the guys that she liked from around the place. Mike walked over and stopped next to Chester, as Chester hadn’t finished getting rid of the sweat that was building up like the pyramids in Egypt. Chester stopped and looked up to see whose huge feet he could see. “Yo, Shinoda Bear, come play ball.”
“Don’t you even dare,” snarled Chester. “Not in the mood that I am with and what I’ve been hearing about you and my woman.”
“She ain’t your woman Bennington no more,” corrected Mike. “You guys did break up a couple of days ago, remember?”
“I don’t care what you have to say for yourself Shinoda, I am so sick of your preppy ways,” replied Chester, as he got to his feet.
By now, everyone could detect Chester’s hostility towards Mike and everybody had chosen to react to Chester’s hostility. Rob and Brad and raced over and Jonathon was on standby.
“And do you think that I should care about what you think about me Bennington?” asked Mike. “After all, you were the one looking for a break up with Sarah when you decided to pull various stunts that you knew would make her angry.”
“So that gives you the right to go and hit on her behind my back?” asked Chester. “Just stay away from her Shinoda, or I don’t want to show you my bitter side.”
“Come on, bring it Bennington, if you think you’re that hardcore,” urged Mike, shoving Chester. Chester shoved Mike back. “Oh so now you’re going to fight back.”
“Shinoda, Bennington,” snapped Rob, angrily, separating the two men who looked like they were going to beat the living daylights out of each other. “There will be no fighting. If you want to prove yourselves worthy of having Sarah, or whatever the **** that has to mean, play it out in a game of ball. Other than that, take it outside the hospital grounds. Or maybe you guys should just drop it completely.”
“Yeah, we could do that, only if Bennington here is able to agree with me,” agreed Mike. “What do you say Bennington? Should I just beat your midget *** up or should I beat your reputation in ball?”
“You could never do neither, so I don’t see what your point is,” answered Chester. He deterred his focus from looking into Mike’s eyes with fury with looking at Sarah who was standing a couple of yards away, clad in a heavy brown coat and with a black shoulder bag obviously stuffed with her uniform, as it was hanging out the side of it. His expression changed completely, as Mike noticed Chester change of gaze. Mike looked as well, only to see Sarah and Chester deep in conjectural conversation.
Rob nudged Mike in the ribs, as Mike’s attention was back on Rob.
“Don’t man, just don’t,” advised Rob, as he looked from Mike to Sarah. He soon noticed Ravyn coming to Sarah and saying something to her.
“He’s not worth any moment of your time so I don’t see what the big melodrama is between you two, I mean, it’s Bennington, he’s not worth anybody’s time,” explained Ravyn, but Rob was lip syncing their conversation to understand what Ravyn was telling Sarah. He didn’t want another argument to break out on either side, despite the fact that he rather liked being the peace talker. It was mainly due to how his parents taught him as a child and it did get him through his teenage years, quite slowly though. “Now, are you going to stand there gawking like he’s worth anybody’s time?”
Sarah turned to Ravyn. Ravyn was dressed differently to Sarah. She had a black and grey striped scarf around her neck and had a black coat that looked like it could almost fit a goat if it was stretched long enough.
“You don’t know anything about how we were like together,” answered Sarah smoothly. “And who are you to tell me that he’s wasting my time?”
“Ah, someone who’s been here longer than both you and he have been and someone that proudly holds the title of Chester’s ex girlfriend,” answered Ravyn. Sarah’s expression changed. “And no I am not kidding so stop giving me that look.”
“So, should I make a move on her or what Bennington?” mocked Mike, back in the hostile environment. Chester’s attention was now on Mike. Mike took two steps backward, smirking, knowing that his actions would cause a civil war within the hospital. “Would you have something against me asking out your ex?”
“I would actually now that you mention it,” answered Chester, sarcastically. “If you’ve failed to walk past the whole I-am-still-in-love-with-Sarah thing, you know the thing that’s provoked me to this stage of aggression; I am letting you know that you do ask her out, it’ll be not my funeral.”
By now Ravyn had wanted to talk to Rob but was torn between being afraid of being the instigator of a civil war breaking out because Sarah would be stupid enough to follow Ravyn over to where the two apes and Rob were standing, and that she did want to be the instigator of a civil war breaking out, knowing that either Mike or Chester would lose their jobs. So Ravyn overturned her anxieties, just by doing it, she started to walk. But knowing Sarah, she would follow anybody, even a person that would eventually lead her to walk off a cliff. Ravyn turned around.
“What are you doing?” asked Ravyn. “Unless you have the brain of a colonial peasant, in which I don’t doubt it for one second to be quite honest, there doesn’t need to be another American civil war. That’s for me to start and for some intelligent ******* to end it.”
“I am not a colonial peasant and nor do I have the mental capacity of one,” defended Sarah.
“My ***,” gasped Ravyn sarcastically. “It can’t be true.”
“Excuse me, but remember, I had to get into med school and I had to pass exams,” explained Sarah. “They don’t let colonial peasants be employed in hospitals.”
“Yes they do,” replied Ravyn. “Haven’t you taken a close look at the nursing department?” Oh snap, thought Ravyn. “Look, colonial peasant, walking Neanderthal, or what ever you may be, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out what love makes you do. Now, don’t try to be Helen of Sparta, no one liked her because she was an attention seeking ***** and I can tell you now, I just don’t like you in general. So quit while you’re ahead of yourself kid, it’ll spare you some harm.”
“I’m not trying to play the hero, if that’s what you’re assuming,” replied Sarah, getting a bit angry and frustrated with Ravyn’s tongue.
“Okay, in that case then, stop acting like you want to,” retorted Ravyn as Ravyn walked away from that conversation without another word said or done, because she knew it herself, she was starting to run out of fuel, and Ravyn found it hard to maintain her bitchiness when she wasn’t being fuelled by something or someone.
Rob saw Ravyn walking his way and had a good feeling that either Ravyn was going to have a go at home for walking around in low temperatures without anything on his feet or anything in else just in general. Rob threw the ball to Brad, who eventually threw it to Chester.
“Come on, man, play ball, you’ve got better things to do with your time rather than to pick fights with people,” urged Brad, as Chester shook off Mike and Mike openly invited himself to a game of ball against Chester.
Rob and Ravyn met halfway, as Rob embraced her in a hug. Ravyn wasn’t too impressed when she looked down to see his bare feet. Rob let her go, knowing that something had just dramatically changed the romantic situation.
“What are you looking at?” Rob asked, knowing dead well what the answer would be.
“Your feet,” answered Ravyn, crossing her arms in disgust. “Your feet are as blue as the faces of patients that I have treated for sceptic shock.” She looked back at his feet. “Why aren’t you wearing any shoes? You’re going to get frostbite out in this weather. What are you, a caveman?”
“Who are you, my mother?” asked Rob, in an automatic reaction like he usually did when people told him what to do and they weren’t related to him.
“I hope for *** not or there’s something very wrong with this relationship,” answered Ravyn, bluntly.
That’s when Rob instantly noticed there wasn’t something right about Ravyn’s attitude. He knew she had wanted to go further with the insults, and usually nothing stopped her either, not even their relationship, but there was something just not right about her. It was as like, it was still Ravyn but a different version of her that had dramatically changed since the last time that they saw each other. In which, the last time that they saw each other was at lunch time.
“What’s wrong with you?” queried Rob. “Something’s not right. I could feel it in your hug.”
“I don’t know what the **** you’re on about,” replied Ravyn, somewhat defensively. In a long story cut short, she wasn’t ready to tell him. “I haven’t changed since our last meeting. Do I look any different to you?”
“I worry about you sometimes,” said Rob, quietly.
“Here’s a suggestion to spare you some time, don’t worry about me, I am a grown woman I can take care of myself,” replied Ravyn.
“How about dinner tonight?” asked Rob. “Say, your place at eight.”
“So in other words, you want to crash at my place tonight because you don’t want to drive all the way back to the other side of Chicago to your place at two in the morning knowing that you have to get up three hours later to do *** knows what until twelve, when you’re actual shift starts,” corrected Ravyn, blankly. Rob nodded. “*** **** you’re as easy to read as the fine print on my mother’s lottery tickets.”
“Hmm…I’ve never heard that metaphor being used before, but yet again, we’ve only been going out for a short while,” commented Rob.
“It’s called being the only child, in which, I know by now you’ve had to share your bedroom as a kid with another sibling,” replied Ravyn.
It was a well known fact amongst the hospital staff that Chester was one to never give up on something so easily, and giving up on trying to get Sarah back was no exception. It was more of a case, which he was afraid that she had already moved on from him and now was after Mike, or vice versa. He wanted Sarah still, but Sarah felt otherwise. This was demonstrated by the action taken by Sarah, when Ravyn and Rob got distracted with each other that Chester seized the opportunity to occupy a bored Sarah who was currently waiting for Ravyn to tell her something about an alteration to tomorrow’s lesson.
“Why are you even attempting Chester?” asked Sarah, when Chester had approached her, and already he didn’t have to say anything to make her angry and fed up with his behaviour. “We are history. Why can’t you just accept that and move on?”
“Because I can’t Sarah, and, you know I am sorry for my actions,” answered Chester, apologetic. “One of the reasons that I want you back is that, I don’t want to see you with another man and that would just stab me deeply.”
“And let me guess, you’ve already assumed that Mike and I have something going on?” asked Sarah, shaking her head. “You’ve got it all wrong. We’re just friends, and it’ll remain that way for quite some time. I’m sorry Chester, but you need to let go of me. I was the one that wanted out of what felt like a web of lies to me at the time, knowing that you and Matt had met each other while behind bars and that you guys were leaders of opposing gangs at wars kinda does hurt me a lot.”
“What about not knowing until the last minute about Ava?” asked Chester.
“What’s that got to do with anything?” asked Sarah. “I did that for a very good reason and you know that.”
“That girl needs to learn how to avoid stepping in trash,” commented Ravyn, as she saw Chester and Sarah obviously arguing.
“I didn’t know about Ava until the last minute, so who was I to pop out of the bush and say, ‘I have a criminal record while we’re at the point of revealing hidden secrets’?” asked Chester.
“Wait, didn’t you date Bennington once upon a time?” asked Rob to Ravyn.
“You could’ve at least be the one who told me, and not my ex boyfriend!” defended Sarah.
“Yeah, but that’s beside the point really when you think about it,” answered Ravyn. “We all have something we’re not proud of and that’s my blemish of my life, going out with Bennington for two whole months. By the end of those months, I was starting to wonder where the noose was in the hospital so either of us could’ve gone first.”
“Sarah, please, I’ll do anything to get you back into my arms,” begged Chester, as Sarah crossed her arms and looked away into the distant frost covered atmosphere.
“Is, Bennington actually begging?” asked Rob, somewhat amazed by Chester’s extremeness. Rob and Ravyn had resorted to commentating the fighting couple’s actions as a mean to talk to each other for longer and for Ravyn to deter Rob’s attention off the thing she wasn’t going to tell him right now.
“Do I look like I want to see you or even have a conversation with you right now?” asked Sarah, looking back at Chester angrily. “Do you really think that I have the patience anymore to put up with you?”
“Nah, Chester and begging, he’s more like scavenging the only emotion left in the girl, that’s like saying Jo has the IQ of Einstein, we all know it’s not true,” answered Ravyn, as they saw Chester resort to the last part of the last plan that he had left that wasn’t winning either way with the whole getting back Sarah thing. He actually got down on one knee and looked like he was actually in love with the girl. “Wow, talk about foul smelling and looking trash trying to go for the Miss Universe title.”
“Stop it Chester, you’re making a bigger fool of yourself,” ordered Sarah, pulling Chester up from his knees and standing back up but Chester resisted all of Sarah’s attempts. “Do yourself a favour, stop it. Get back on your feet and walk away like a normal person would do.”
“Please,” begged Chester. “Just please give me a second chance.”
“It’s not like we were married or anything, so stop acting like we were,” snapped Sarah. “Go make a fool of yourself with Delson, just anywhere but right here with me.”
“Is he going to get up?” asked Rob. “He better get up, she looks like she’s about to do something excruciatingly painful to him.” Brad came over for a split second and dumped a pair of shoes beside him as Brad and the couple exchanged looks. Rob’s exchange was a thankful smile while Ravyn’s exchange looked like Brad had severely annoyed her. “Thanks, man.” Rob slipped his bare feet into the shoes that we just handed to him. Ravyn was a bit annoyed and she let him know that she was annoyed by giving him a sharp look and then turning back around to see the other couple fighting. “What?”
“So you take advice from your friends and not your own girlfriend is that it?” asked Ravyn, a bit angry as she turned back around to face Rob. “When I asked you to put something on your feet you shook me off like I am a parasite.”
“You are a parasite at times now that you mention it,” muttered Rob to himself, hoping for his own safety that his mutter had just gone unnoticed.
“Just get out of my sight if you knew what was best for yourself, just go, far away from here and stop causing a scene, it’s really unnecessary,” ordered Sarah, pointing towards the car park, but Chester hadn’t budged. “Okay, here’s a proposition for you to swallow. If you’re so in love with me, as you put it, why don’t you just leave me alone?”
“Because if I leave you alone, that’ll just mean you’ll get over me –”
“I am over you already,” interrupted Sarah. “How can you miss that important factor in which I’ve been telling you for the past twenty-four hours?”
“Do not chuck a full-forced pointless episode at me again, I have done nothing wrong to deserve such immaturity,” ordered Rob strongly. “I don’t know what the **** went wrong in your day so much that you’ve had to do this to me again, but don’t even start, I am not in the mood to be told what to do.”
“You’re sounding like the job of the janitor is a hard one, try being head of ICU for a day and how much it mentally and physically ***** you up,” retorted Ravyn, angrily.
“Well I can tell you now, playing the role of your boyfriend ***** your brain up to a certain extent, and that extent is fairly substantial it might even be considered worse than shell shock,” replied Rob, trying to keep his cool, but his quest for personal calmness was greatly failing him greatly.
“And let me guess, when you leave here today, you’re going to go straight into another man’s arms when you get back,” assumed Chester. “Because you need a father role model for Ava, but overall, you need someone who’ll back you up and will run after Ava when you can’t. Is that it? Is that why we never worked out? Cos in the end, I wanted to do my job properly, rather than to run after you or Ava, when I had been told about her as well, but it was mainly because you couldn’t have had the energy to be a decent mother to Ava because you’re too swept up trying to pay the house bills.”
“That is not true,” defended Sarah. “I do not expect anyone but my mother to run around after Ava, because like you had just said, yes, I need to pay the house bills. Do you know how many jobs that I work Chester? I work two, and that’s barely keeping on top of the debts I have and the incoming bills.”
“And tell me Rob, how many patients do you see die everyday?” asked Ravyn. “I got cursed today big time and I bore witness to three deaths in my ICU department. So don’t tell me that being the janitor or even being my boyfriend are demanding jobs, because you don’t see people die while they’re in your care, do you? So don’t say I’m demanding, when it’s mostly your bullshit I have to put up with at the end of the day.”
“What?” spat Rob. “My bullshit…what the **** are you on about woman? I’m the one that’s been getting the undeserving bullshit for the past week, day in and day out. Not to mention your attitude could go into the mechanics to get it oiled back up again. Look, yes, I don’t deal with people’s lives, and I am so glad that I don’t. Two things I cannot handle in life, death, and putting up with people’s bullshit. I swear if we have one more pointless argument, we’re going to be as ancient as Hercules.”
“Fine,” snapped Ravyn. “I’m going home so I’ll be as ancient as we were as a couple. And don’t bother to call me either tonight. Now I’m thankful I’m going to my parents place for dinner tonight.”
Ravyn turned around and walked towards Chester and Sarah who were still managing to be in a deep argument about *** knows what and frankly, Ravyn was thankful that her shift had ended but for what she was thankful for, had repercussions as found out by her just then with that little argument with Rob. She stopped in between Chester and Sarah who were looking like they were about to physically attack each other.
“Why must you be a pain in the *** Harris?” snapped Chester. “Don’t you have something else better to do, like go drown yourself in the frozen lake or something?”
Ravyn turned around so that she faced Chester and gave him a sharp look.
“Why don’t you stop being the pain in the *** in my intern’s personal life Bennington and disappear from the face of the planet like I’ve been hoping you’ll do ever since we broke up?” asked Ravyn. “Now, stop making yourself out to be the victim Bennington, you’ve used that stunt with other hospital staff too many times, and far as I am concerned, I could say sweet FA to you right now.” Ravyn turned back to see Sarah somewhat stunned that Ravyn was defending her. “Okay, don’t stand there gawking like it’s a world changing thing. Now, it’s time to learn to step over trash, it’s so simple.”
Sarah was going to say something but decided not to get Ravyn angrier as she had already looked like she wanted to pull a sword out of nowhere and go on a mass massacre. Ravyn started to walk away, knowing that she wouldn’t have to see such stupidity for a couple of days and that she was somewhat glad of it now. As before, it was the other way around. Sarah shot Chester one more nasty look as she followed Ravyn away.
“What the **** is wrong with women, Delson?” asked Rob, as he saw Ravyn walk away into the distance. He turned to Brad, who threw him the ball, and Rob started to aim for the hoop, as Mike came up and started to defend. Mike was defending pathetically, in Rob’s own opinion, but Rob couldn’t have been bothered saying anything. He didn’t want to cause more stress. “It’s like; they suck the living daylights out of your wallet and give nothing back. Well, my one keeps on giving me **** back that I in the first place, don’t deserve.”
“I told you when you guys first went out, that it was your own personal choice and it was your personal risk, not mine,” reminded Brad, as Rob shot a perfect hoop and stood still, facing Brad with his arms on his hips and looking a bit confused. “Man, you really need to find yourself a better Vanessa-replacement. Cos this one is biting real bad, and it’s getting to you. Remember, you don’t take the effect and make it the cause.”
“What the **** is that supposed to mean?” asked Rob, a bit confused of what Brad just said to him. You don’t take the effect and make it the cause, still lost, thought Rob. Just as Chester came over but nowhere near where Mike was, but Chester made sure he kept his distance to restrain himself from inflicting maximum damage on Mike.
“I dunno, something I read on a napkin in a bar the other night,” answered Brad.
“It means this is what I’ve figured out,” Chester started to explain, as he crossed his arms and stood next to Rob. Rob looked to Chester, wondering if Chester was going to say something intelligent for once. “Her effect on you is a negative one, and it’s making you all moody because she’s the one that’s being moody towards you for no particular reason. Now, you don’t take Harris’s effect on you and make it the cause for your moods.”
“Why not Bennington?” asked Rob.
“Because the last person you want to turn out like is Harris,” answered Chester. “And ****, I ain’t gonna be best mates with my ex who says I am as worthy as the vomit that comes out of morning sickness.”
“Where was this intelligence when you decided to set the science labs on fire in grade school?” asked Brad, as Chester looked over to him. The ball came his way and he caught it. He saw Mike in the corner of his eyes and decided to peg it at him. But Mike caught it just in time. Chester was saddened by Mike’s actions of catching the ball instead of it hitting fair smack in the face like Mike apparently deserved.
“Nah, I lost my intelligence in grade school in the detention room, where I sat in at least three times a week,” answered Chester, smiling, as though it was something to be proud of it. “Man, I’m glad out of those holes that I had to attend to get where I am now.”
“I would rather think the professors and lecturers were practically sick of your **** from day one,” commented Jonathon, as Rob reminded himself that Jonathon was still around. Jonathon was actually trying to get the ball off Mike, who was trying to dribble the ball to the half court mark but was failing greatly because Brad kept taking the ball off him. “Maybe the person, who you should be complaining to, Bourdon, is Andrea. I mean, fair enough, she cops a lot more **** than you expect over business concerning Ravyn. But if you ever want to get through to Ravyn and you don’t want to be set on a wild goose chase, go to Andrea. Andrea tends to twist Ravyn around the way that she wants, only, sometimes, though. I mean, Ravyn’s attitude doesn’t stop at Andrea, it just eases off a little bit.”
“Why would I want to be set on a wild goose chase Jonathon?” asked Rob.
“Because Jo does that to your head, and there’s basically nothing to stop her from doing it in the future,” answered Jonathon.
“And if you tell Ravyn that her attitude is somewhat, deterring you from seeing her, don’t do it in the first place,” advised Chester. “Or you get this huge Mussolini-styled speech about feminism or some **** like that. I tried not to pay much attention to such aspects of that horrendous relationship with, that beast.”
“Why don’t you just break up with her if you hate her that much?” asked Brad.
“I don’t hate her she’s, just, she just likes testing my patience,” answered Rob, stumbling to find the words. “Like for an example, I didn’t deserve the remark just then that I’ve practically chosen my friends over her, or something like that, I was trying to keep my cool. I understand she’s probably had a hard day, but what right does she have to take it on me?”
“No right really,” answered Chester. “If she tests your patience so much, why don’t you return to norm and just dump her or something? From what I’m hearing, you’re going to snap and when you snap, it’s going to be major and it’s going to be directly associated and pointed at Harris.”
“I’m kinda with Bennington on this Bourdon,” added Mike, as he stopped playing ball. “I’m going to put all difference of opinion aside to say this to you. But you cannot go living like this; it’s been barely a week and already you look like you’re going to fully snap at her and it looks to me, that it’s going to be a somewhat physical outburst. But there’s also another side in which you guys probably haven’t gotten word of, which would explain today’s little argument between boyfriend and girlfriend.”
“Shut up Shinoda,” ordered Chester, looking to Mike who was standing in the cold, hot, and sweating cold sweat. “You’ve said what you’ve needed to say, why can’t you just leave it at that and ****** off out of my sight?”
“Shut up Bennington no one wants to hear your voice, let Shinoda speak,” ordered Brad, who had stopped playing ball and left Jonathon standing with the ball. Jonathon had also stopped to hear what Mike had to say for himself.
“Look, don’t worry about it guys, it’s just when Harris tells you that she’s had a hard day, in which isn’t that frequent that she tells us that, it’s been a hard day for her,” explained Mike. The real case was that Mike didn’t want to tell the boys the real cause for Ravyn’s hard day and the cause for her frantic outbursts at anybody who treads in her way.
That left Rob with no questions answered but it resulted in more questions being formed. Yes, Ravyn had told Rob that three of her patients in the ICU ward had died on her, but, it’s not like it’s the first time that someone has died on her and that she was in a tough position at the hospital. Why did she take it so seriously? Why did she have to be in the mood that she was when she was still on the hospital grounds? Was it something that Rob did?
Rob wasn’t sure. But he was **** certain he was going to find out either way.
“Did she tell you that three of her patients died today? Was that it, her hard day?” enquired Rob.
“She’s head of ICU to start with, that in itself is a stressful position, and no, I didn’t know about the deaths,” answered Mike, getting down to his serious tone as Rob approached him. Everyone else started to scatter away, as they soon realised that what Mike was going to say was something important. Chester grabbed Brad’s wallet out of Brad’s back pocket and he started a game of ‘Get Chester’ which was Brad’s favourite past time. Jonathon joined Brad with running after Chester. “I’ve heard that one of her patient’s, the one she likes having sixty minute conversations with just so that she doesn’t have to go and talk to Jo, ah, Mr Williams, or something like that, is on death’s door. I think she’s starting to feel responsible for his actions. But I don’t want to go into detail about what I heard, I don’t even know if it’s true or not, I just heard Andrea talking about it to Gradon. And boy, Andrea looked like she was going to hurt him.”
“Is Ravyn in some sort of danger Shinoda?” asked Rob, as Mike shook his head is a negative response. “Do I have to play twenty questions to get it out of you?”
“It’s just better if she tells you, because I’ve only heard a version and I’m not ready to be the one responsible for starting the rumour mill up for this,” answered Mike. “Sure if it was something else that Gradon had said, it’ll be no problem, it’s just this, it caught me off by surprise really. I mean, there are so many questions that have to be asked even about this claim.”
“Okay, so I’m trying piece together what the **** you just said to me, because it’s like you’re a scattered particle and I’m trying to catch you with one attempt,” replied Rob. “So what I’ve pieced together is that you’re the one that’s usually responsible for the rumour mill fuelling, and that, Ravyn’s been accused of something, is that right?”
“I’m not going to say anything, it is better if she tells you,” repeated Mike.
“No, you’ve just said something about my woman being accused of something, she’s just taken out her ‘hard day’ out on me, again, and now you can’t take it back Shinoda,” retorted Rob, as quickly as ever before. He was keen on getting it out of Mike, no matter if it meant inflicting pain on Mike. “I will hurt you to get it out of you Shinoda. You should know this about me. Now, tell me in plain English or I’m going have to get Tarja to translate, what happened to Ravyn?” Mike wasn’t ready to budge, but he was having a difficult time trying to keep it in at the same time. “Just spit it out Shinoda, you know you want to.”
“Alright, but this is the version that I heard, and I don’t even know if it’s the correct version, well, it ought to be if I heard it from Gradon, or else he’s also leading Andrea on as well,” babbled Mike.
“Just cut to the chase Shinoda boy,” ordered Rob.
“Okay, you’re the one that wanted to hear it from me and not your own woman,” mumbled Mike.
“Tell me,” growled Rob, losing his patience quicker than expected.
“She’s under a federal investigation and there’s a possible threat that her right to practice medicine maybe stripped from her,” explained Mike. “Something concerning Sarah’s ex husband and a wrong diagnosis which landed him more freedom time cos apparently he was on the run ages ago and she treated him for a car accident while she was working triage. Like I said before, I don’t know the whole story. I’m sorry mate.”
Ravyn, stripped of her right to practice medicine? Was this some sort of cruel joke that either Grant or Gradon had pulled on the hospital? Rob really couldn’t see Ravyn working in any other profession. She didn’t like to cook, but had to cook to save her life from starvation, and she didn’t like serving people downtown in the nearest Hungry Jacks. She hated lawyers or any legal profession. There had to be something wrong, indeed, because what Rob had just been told, it didn’t make sense any way that it was looked upon. Who would take over as the head of ICU then if Ravyn’s departure had to occur from Sacred Heart?
