“Brian, this is John Duncan,” Mo said, interrupting what soon would have been an entertaining tirade by Sage. “He’s a patient who comes in here frequently after overdosing on narcotics.”
“Looks pretty harmless,” Brian said as he looked disdainfully at the guy on the table who was in a narcotic-induced slumber.
“Sage, I was thinking we needed to reverse his overdose with Narcan.”
It took a moment for Sage to realize what was going on, and then it took everything inside her not to give away what she knew what was about to happen.
“Yes, I agree,” she said with a straight face. Any of the staff who had been at the hospital for even a month knew John well as a frequent patient to the ER. It was also well known that he was very sensitive to Narcan, and when it was administered he would wake up suddenly and start swinging at whoever was closest to him.
Although Sage’s disdain for Brian was growing by the second, she felt guilty about throwing him to the wolves, so the least she could do was give him a bit of a warning.
“Brian, John is very sensitive to Narcan, and when it’s given too quickly it will reverse his sleeping state immediately and you may get hurt if you’re standing too close.” As she was warning Brian she saw Mo leaning up against the wall sipping coffee to hide her smile. Mo always did enjoy a good show, especially on a slow night as this one had been.
“Listen, I may be new, but I’m not stupid.” Sage had to control her own temper as he looked down his nose at her before he took the syringe full of medication, walked confidently to John’s bedside, and injected it into his IV hard and fast. Then he turned to smirk at Mo and send another leer to Sage.
That was his first mistake.
His second mistake was swiveling his head just in time to catch John Duncan’s fist with his face. The sudden punch landed him hard on the ground and knocked him out cold.
Mo’s laughter rendered her useless as she was doubled over, spilling her coffee. Sage simply looked at the entire scene in disbelief and then took the next few moments to reassure John that everything would be okay before she decided she’d better check on Brian.
“Mo, that was mean,” she said as she kneeled next to the unconscious nurse.
“He was asking for it. The pompous little twerp won’t let me teach him and acts like he knows everything. Besides, you did give him fair warning. He ignored you,” Mo said between fits of laughter.
“You know, one of these days, you’re going to get in trouble,” Sage warned, but her own lips were twitching as Brian slowly began to come to on the floor.
“Ah, girlie, I don’t do it to the good ones,” Mo said, not at all remorseful.
“Wait a minute. Did you do anything to me?” Sage asked as she tried to recollect any mishaps while with Mo in the very beginning.
“That’s something you’ll never know,” Mo said with a wink as Brian awoke fully and sat up, still in a daze.
“You’re a terrible woman,” Sage said, her words carrying no bite.
“It’s what keeps me young and beautiful,” Mo said with another wink.
“What in the hell happened?” Brian yelled, making John stir in his bed.
“You didn’t listen, that’s what happened,” Mo said, directing the young nurse’s attention to her.
“What the hell? Did that guy punch me?”
“He sure did. And I thought you said he was harmless,” Mo said, not even trying to hide her mirth.
“I could sue you,” Brian said, hatred flying from his eyes.
“Go ahead and try it, sonny,” Mo said, her lips no longer twitching.
Sage almost, not quite, but almost felt sorry for the nurse because she knew he wouldn’t be working at the hospital too much longer, probably not beyond the night.
“Why don’t we take you to one of the on-call rooms so you can lie down?” Sage said, not wanting to touch the man, but trying to help him stand.
“I don’t need you to doctor me. You’re just a freaking resident,” Brian snapped, no longer flirty.
“That’s fine with me,” Sage said as she stood upright and backed away from the spluttering kid.
Spence and two other nurses arrived just then to see what all of the commotion was about. It only took a few moments for them to assess the scene, and all three of them covered their mouths as they tried to hide their amusement.
“This woman messed with my training and put me in a situation to be harmed,” Brian gushed as he looked up at Spence.
Spence stuck out a hand and helped the nurse up before turning to Mo. “What happened, Mo?” Even though he was asking, it was already pretty obvious.
“John came in again and we woke him up. Sage warned the new nurse what happens when John wakes up, but he refused to listen,” Mo said, a twinkle back in her eyes.
Turning to Brian, Spence got a stern look on his face. “I’ve had several complaints that you refuse to listen. This time, it landed you on the floor.” There was no arguing with Spence when he used that tone.
“I’m so through with this Podunk town and this crappy teaching hospital,” Brian snapped as he glared at each of them and then stomped from the room.
Spence turned and looked at Mo with a brow raised.
Mo held her hands up in mock defense. “Hey, I was only trying to show the kid the ropes. It’s not my fault if he doesn’t listen.”
“Well then. It looks like you’re going to have a new nurse to train tomorrow, Mo,” Spence said as he turned and walked from the room.