Page 11 of Fighting For You

Jen's patient in bay fourteen discharged. The man had come in for a reaction to a new medication, and before they'd gotten it under control, he'd thrown up across the bed, the floor, and most of the side rail. He was fine now. The bay was not.

Lori was walking past when she saw it. "Do you need a hand with that?"

"Oh my God, would you?" Jen said. "I have to finish charting on fifteen. You're a lifesaver."

Lori put on gloves and went in. I would have stayed to help, but bay eight's labs were back and Sullivan wasn't going to wait. I went back to my patients.

Every time I passed the station, I checked. Lori was still in fourteen. Stripping the bed, wiping down the rails, mopping the floor. The smell carried into the hallway. And every time I looked over at Jen, she was at the nurses' station with her coffee, scrolling through her phone.

By the time Lori came out, she'd restocked the bay by herself. Jen hadn't gone back once. Not to check, not to help with the last of it, not even to say thank you.

I didn't say anything in front of Jen. I waited until Lori passed my bays and pulled her aside.

"Hey. That was nice of you to help. But don't let them do that to you."

Lori looked at me. "She said she had to chart."

"She didn't come back, Lori. She let you clean her bay by yourself. And she'll keep doing it if you let her."

Lori was quiet for a second. Then she nodded.

Two months on this floor had taught me how it worked. There were nurses who helped you and nurses who used you. Liz and Jen were the second kind. They'd done the same thing to me when I started, and after a while, I'd stopped offering.

"Thanks for looking out for me."

"Of course."

Kip came around the corner with two coffees and handed one to Lori without breaking stride. "You look like you need this more than I do."

Lori took it. "How did you know?"

"I know everything that happens on this floor." He winked and kept walking.

The shift ended at seven thirty. I finished my charting, gave bedside report to the night nurse taking my bays, and went to the locker room.

Lori was already there, changing out of her scrub top. She looked up when I came in.

"Longest shift of my life."

"They're all the longest shift of your life when Sullivan's on." I opened my locker and pulled out my bag. "What are you doing with your days off?"

"Sleeping. Then maybe sleeping some more." She pulled her jacket on. "You?"

"Same. Ian has school, so it's just me and the house for most of the day. I'll probably do laundry and pretend that counts as productivity."

"That absolutely counts."

The door opened. Liz and Jen came in mid-conversation, laughing about something.

"I'll see you Wednesday, Nora."

"See you Wednesday."

Lori picked up her bag and walked out. She didn't look at Liz or Jen. She didn't say goodbye. The door closed behind her.

Liz watched her go. "What's her problem?"

I didn't answer. I opened my locker and took my time. I always did at the end of a shift. Changed out of my scrub top, pulled on my T-shirt, swapped my work shoes for my sneakers. Ran a brush through my hair, checked my face in the small mirror on the inside of the locker door. Twelve hours under fluorescent lights did something to a person. I was just going home, but I wasn't going to walk out looking like the shift had beaten me. I tried to tune Liz and Jen out, but they were too loud to ignore.