curiously_cora | (no subject)

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There were fourteen patients; three in critical condition, nine stable and two ready to be discharged. There were ten bunches of flowers; four mixed rose bouquets, one tulip bouquet, three lily bouquets and two wild flower bouquets. There were four nurses on shift, one orderly and a tea lady named April who did in fact know how to make a proper cup of tea and of course there were the Other Doctors who Coraline mostly seemed to ignore especially the handsy one. Some of the Other Doctors were idiots, the nursing staff on the other hand were quite good and April, April was a saint. Especially when she bought her a cup of tea in the middle of an eighteen hour shift.

"Hello Miss Spink," Coraline asked, brushing her hand on the shoulder of one of the new nurses before leaning across the desk to take the mug from her. Taking a mouthful Coraline let out a low happy moan, her hand tightened on the shoulder before she let go and smiledbrightly at the tea lady. "Miss Spink you are a lifesaver. How's your knee?"

"Oh, you know can't complain. It's Miriam's hip that are the problem, when we used to tread the boards we never had any troubles but now everything aches and creaks." Coraline smiled, turning before hopping up onto the desk swinging her long legs back and forth as she drank the tea. Looking down startled at the handsome man staring up at her, Coraline flushed as he stared intently at her. No one really looked at her like that before not like they wanted to... um, eat her. It was kind of creepy and a little bit hot. "Here Aidan dear, I made you a nice cup of coffee."

Coraline swallowed her tea as he reached over to take the coffee, his intense stare lightening as he smiled at Miss Spink.

"Have you met Aidan yet Caroline? Aidan is one of our nurses, he's taking over some of Rebecca's shifts. Aidan this is Doctor Jones."

"It's Coraline actually, Coraline Jones. Hello," Coraline said offering her hand.

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Aidan had seen the attractive doctor around before, it was hard not to with those long legs and... well, the entire rest of her. Had Aidan believed in that sort of thing, he would have prayed for ugly doctors, the attractive ones making him a bit more... hungry than the others. And Doctor Jones definitely looked good enough to eat.

"Nice to meet you," he said, smiling as he shook her hand. She felt warm, a sign of good circulation, and had a good grip. He had to struggle not to take a deep breath and inhale her scent. That would come across more than a little creepy.

"If there's anything I can do to help, just let me know. That includes running interference with Dr. Talos, I know he can be rather... fond of the newer doctors."

Coraline inhaled at the contact, looking at Aidan curiously at the little shiver of something. It wasn't just that he was attractive, there was something else there too; something different, something darker, something... Realising she was still holding his hand Coraline blushed, her cheeks flushing with colour, before finally letting go.

"That's certainly one way to put it," Coraline said taking another mouthful of tea, pressing one of her hands to her warm cheek. Glancing over her shoulder, her leg brushed against Aidan's as she smiled gratefully at April. Honestly without April and her miraculous tea, Coraline didn't know how she'd get through the day. "No, that's okay I can mostly look after myself. Besides to be honest I don't think I could do that to you, he's an equal opportunity handsy kind of guy after all and you're-" Hot. "-probably more his type than me. I could do with a little help though."

Coraline smiled, reaching over Aidan for one of the charts from an awaiting nurse. Brushing her hair back from her face, she brought it up off her neck and tied it up into a ponytail before reading through the chart. Signing off the chart, Coraline leaned back over Aidan placing her hand on his shoulder and squeezing before offering it back to the nurse. Nina? No, something beginning with N... Nora!

"Not with Dr McHandsy but you know the area right? Only I'm still trying to find my feet; you know places to go out and eat, nice little pubs or you know bars or something." Coraline said smiling hopefully at him.

For a moment, he got lost in the sound of her pulse, of her neck being so close to his face and how nearly impossible the desire to sink his teeth into her was. He was definitely going to need to get a bag of blood to settle his nerves before his shift was over.

It took him a moment to snap out of his haze and realize that she was talking to him, asking about places to hang out in the area. He wasn't sure if she was hitting on him or just honestly wondering. Either way, it probably wasn't a good idea, which meant he was probably going to go along with it.

"There's a bar not too far from here that I think is pretty good. You can usually find one of the staff there at any given time. There's also a good sandwich place just around the corner. And I know a decent tea shop within walking distance."

"Now is that decent tea by American standards or British ones?" Coraline asked, glancing at Aidan. Her lips parted for a moment as she stared at him, too close and too something. Definitely something. Curiouser and curiouser, wasn't that what Alice always said? Coraline shook her head before leaning back, sitting a little straighter on the desk. "Only Miss Spink is one of the few people here in America I know that knows how to make a decent cup of tea. And that's because she's not so secretly British too."

Coraline smiled, her attention diverted for a moment by one of the patients out of bed and wandering aimlessly. One of her very elderly patients, one of her very elderly patients who had died last week. Coraline tried not to stare, turning her head and focusing on Aidan instead. She could do this, she could ignore them.

"You don't think you could show me do you? I'm usually quite good at finding places but I also tend to get a little-"

"Excuse me? Excuse me Doctor can you see me?"

Coraline was not going to look. Nuh uh, looking led to trouble. Trouble led to bad things. Bad things led to Coraline looking like a crazy person and an idiot and dippy. So, she wasn't going to look.

"A little sidetracked. I mean, if you don't mind that is." Coraline said pointedly trying not to look at the old man, the ghost trying to get her attention. "I tried asking one of the orderlies but he got all doe eyed on me and then started babbling. Apparently it was the wrong time of the month or something because he really wasn't making-" And now the ghost was waving his hands at her. Ignore Coraline Jones, Ignore. "-any sense."

"I spent a few years overseas, so I think I'm a pretty decent judge of tea."

Never mind that those years were during World War I and II and that his tastes didn't exactly run the same as a humans, he thought it was good enough to recommend a decent place. Plus, she seemed to be pretty eager for his company and tea between two colleagues wasn't a big deal, right?

"Yeah, you probably asked Josh, my roommate. He's a bit excitable."

He was also due to turn into a werewolf tonight, and that was probably not one of the new and exciting activities that Dr. Jones was hoping to be introduced to.

Now, if only the annoying ghost that was trying to get the doctor's attention would leave. Usually Aidan could do a decent job of ignoring them, but this one was pretty persistent. Pushing away from the counter, Aidan casually grabbed a handful of magnets off of the nearby clipboard, waving them through the ghost and hoping that the iron in them would be enough to dispel the ghost temporarily.

"And I don't mind. When do you finish your shift?"

"Nah, you see you're American so you're idea of a pretty good might be pretty terrible. We'll have to see, see how good you are." Coraline said with a smile. Her eyes flashed to the corner where her former patient was looking so... lonely, isolated at her. Coraline bit her lip, doing her best to concentrate on Aidan. "A bit? I don't think I've seen anyone that excitable ever. It was kind of sweet... kind of."

Coraline turned her head watching as Aidan sort of casually waving magnets through the man. Coraline parted her lips, hands reaching for Aidan's to stop him before she hesitated hands on his. He was gone for now but he'd be back, they always came back. Coraline glanced at her hands covering Aidan's before she flushed and pretended to look at his watch pointedly.

"In about oh eight hours? Long shift, I should feel tired at the end of these shifts but I always feel like I could keep going for hours... working I mean." Coraline replied. "You sure you don't mind showing me around?"

Aidan arched an eyebrow at the innuendos she was throwing around, whether they were accidental or on purpose he wasn't entirely sure. It would be pretty hard for her to not realize what she was saying though.

When she put her hands on his, he could feel the warmth of her blood in her touch and he licked his lips unconsciously. He really, really needed to top off after work before he went out with this girl. Even if she wasn't flirting with him, it would be hard to resist taking a nibble just based on his attraction to her alone.

"Josh is... very sweet in his own way. And I get off in four hours, so why don't I swing by after your shift and show you the tea shop? Unless you'd rather go to the pub."

"Okay, it's a date." Coraline said with a bright cheery smile, reaching for her stethoscope and folding it into her coat pocket. Pulling the crisp, white coat over her shoulders, Coraline bounced off the nurses desk before turning to look at Aidan. "We'll see how I feel in another eight hours, alcohol might be the perfect remedy to dealing with-" Coraline jerked her head towards Dr. Talos wandering past. "I'll see you later then. Oh, and don't let Mister Bobo in bed eight bully you around. He apparently dislikes the nurses but he's a big softie really."

Coraline finished her cup of tea, handing it back to April ignoring her tuts about her tea leaves before following the Other Doctors for rounds.

After eight hours, a very, very long shower and a change of clothes, Coraline was actually kind of looking forward to going out with Aidan. He seemed... nice and besides it would be heaven to talk to someone outside of work who wasn't a Doctor or her Cat. Which seemed a bit mad but honestly sometimes her Cat was a better conversationalist than some of the Doctors she had met at the hospital.

Going down the stairs, Coraline swore as she realised she was late and began to run... straight into someone. Throwing her hands against the oh wow chest to steady herself, Coraline looked up ready to apologise before she recognised who it was she had almost run over.

"Hey, sorry! Sorry, I'm late kind of forgot about the time in the shower. You look ho-mmm nice," Coraline said with a smile, her hands still pressed against his chest.

Aidan had spent the remained of his shift keeping an eye out for an appropriate time to sneak a few bags of blood into his bag so that he'd be ready for tonight, just in case things went... well, went any direction, really.

Sally had been far too interested in where he had been going and had needled him with questions until he had finally caved and given in and answered her. Josh would have been cautious (and rightly so) about Aidan going out but Sally was rather enthusiastic. Maybe it was the whole living vicariously thing.

Heading out of the apartment just as she would have been getting off, Aidan made it to the hospital around the time he figured she would be done. He had opted for his standard wardrobe of jeans, t-shirt, and leather jacket for the night, keeping it casual for wherever they went.

Just as he headed up the steps to the entrance, he bumped into Dr. Jones as she was leaving. Literally.

"Hey," he said, flashing her a smile. "And don't worry about it, I know how refreshing those showers can feel after you put in several hours of hard work."

"You have no idea how satisfying it was, on a scale of one to ten that was definitely in the Oh God levels." Coraline said with an honest smile, dropping her hands away from his chest before she blushed at the implications her mouth was making. If it wasn't asking questions and getting her in trouble, it was usually saying things like that or worse. "So... I was thinking pub? I just had one of those shifts, you know?"

Aidan would probably think he knew but he really, really didn't. Aidan was nice, cute, normal and Coraline hadn't been normal in a very long time. It wasn't the work that bothered her, it was the other stuff. It always started the same; one ghost noticed her noticing them, then one became two and two became three and so on and so forth. It was exhausting. All Coraline wanted to do was sit in a nice pub with a nice guy and be normal, just for a few hours.

"I mean, if you don't mind. What do you prefer? Beer or tea? No, wait you're not one of those girly drinks people?" Coraline asked, the smile faltering as one of the ghosts lingered at the edge of the hospital entrance. Coraline turned her back on the hospital, grabbing Aidan's hand before tugging him onward with her and away from the hospital. "You know the ones with the silly brollies in them, sorry umbrellas."

"My drinks only have umbrellas when it's raining," he joked, giving her a half smile. Maybe it would have been a better joke on someone who knew he was a vampire. Of course, jokes about drinking from humans maybe weren't the best kind of jokes to be throwing around right now.

Before he had time to think about it too much though, she grabbed his hand and pulled him after her, apparently rather eager to get tot he pub. The enthusiasm was adorable and kind of endearing. He could see why Josh would have been flustered by her though.

"But I'm mostly a bear drinker," he said.

"Liar, liar, pants of fire," a voice called out from behind him. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw a grinning Sally behind him.

"And wow, Aidan, you were right, she IS hot. Check out those legs. Damn, I am totally jealous of those legs. You think she works out? You'll have to let me know because you are totally tapping that tonight, aren't you?"

The one problem with being friends with a ghost, besides not being able to hug them, was that you couldn't talk back to them in the company of people who couldn't see them.

"Does it often rain in the pub? Should I have brought my wellies?" Coraline asked with a smile, tugging Aidan along with her and urging him to keep up. Nudging him with her hip, she was about to ask him a question when she was interrupted by wow, someone was very honest. Glancing down as Aidan's friend spilled her guts, Coraline blushed and ducked her head.

Hot and wow, okay that was a lot of information.

"Oh, I didn't realise you were bringing a friend. A really, really honest friend." Coraline said, turning around to face the woman. Looking at her with a smile, Coraline dropped Aidan's hand and offered hers to the other woman staring straight at her. "Hi, I'm Coraline."

Both Aidan and Sally completely froze. There was absolutely no way Coraline should have been able to hear what Sally said. As far as Aidan knew, only supernatural creatures could really see ghosts, and Aidan would have known if she was a vampire or a werewolf.

"You... can see her?" Aidan asked, glancing back and forth between Sally and Coraline. That could not have been a more awkward introduction.

"Oh my god!" Sally gasped. "Oh my god, you can see me!"

"Of course I can see-" Coraline said, her nose wrinkling as she looked at Aidan with a confused smile. Her voice trailed off only when she turned her head back towards the woman, her hand gesturing to where the woman stood. Coraline looked at her curiously, really looked at her. "Oh, oh I'm so-. Okay, no. No, I don't see anyone at all. Nope!"

Coraline tried to smile, trying to figure out a way to talk herself out of the crazy room because here she was talking to someone who wasn't there and wait- Aidan could see her. Aidan could see her!

"You can see her? How can you see her?" Coraline said looking at Aidan confused.

"We're more interested in how you can see her," Aidan said, eyes narrowing just a bit. You didn't live for 250 years by being overly trusting, especially when things were really weird.

"Aidan, shut up, she can see me!" Sally said, obviously much more pleased about the situation than he was. Aidan supposed when you could only talk to a very limited number of people, finding a new one could be thrilling.

"My name is Sally and, wow, totally awkward. I had no idea you could hear or see me."

"I don't know? I've always been able to see people like you, ghosts, ever since I was a kid." Coraline said simply shrugging. There were things that Coraline understood; how the human body worked, that Ross and Rachel were definitely not on a break, that her mother would get quite cross with her if she didn't check in at least once a week. And there were things she didn't understand like how she could see them when others couldn't. "My parents thought I just had a lot of imaginary friends."

Coraline smiled at Sally as she gushed, she was sweet. Excitable but nice but Coraline knew what was going to happen... One become two... two now, more later. It was always the same.

"It's really nice to meet you and yes, very awkward." Coraline said. "And yes, I do yoga in answer to your question. And I play football."

"I'm so sorry, I just- Aidan said you were really gorgeous and he doesn't date like... at all, so I had to see who this girl was that actually got him out of the house," Sally explained.

Aidan sighed and scrubbed his hands over his face. That was... not information that Aidan had really wanted Coraline to know. He wasn't one to really fawn over people like that and Coraline seemed like the type of person who would tease him about that.

"So, that's my roommate Sally," Aidan said, giving a tight smile. "The doe-eyed orderly you saw earlier was Josh, our other roommate."

"Date?" Coraline asked, turning her head to raise an eyebrow at Aidan curiously. Cheeks tinged with a soft pink flush, Coraline licked her lips before smiling a teasing smile at Aidan. "Oh, I don't know about it being a date. See, if this were a date then there would probably be a fancy meal, a nice bouquet of flowers and it would definitely involve... some very tiny knickers. Just so you know." Coraline paused before adding. "Well, I suppose one out of three isn't so bad."

Laughing, Coraline nudged Aidan in the arm with her hand. Fingers curling around his arm before sliding down to take his hand before tugging him on again.

"Come on you two before someone sees. And how can you see Sally? You never said... wait does Josh know you live with a ghost? I always thought I was the only one." Coraline said.

Aidan was stunned for a brief moment by the comment about her knickers, but she moved on from it too quickly for him to really comment on it, which was fine. It was probably best if he moved on from thoughts of those nature.

"Josh and I's... ability to see the supernatural is what brought us together in the first place," Aidan said, glancing over at Sally. It was probably best if they kept the vampire and werewolf stuff under wraps for the moment. That probably wouldn't go over as well as the ghost thing.

"You have no idea how glad I was that someone who could see me moved in," Sally gushed.

"Your face, I'm only teasing." Coraline replied grinning at Aidan's stunned look. Laughing a little as she smiled, Coraline nudged Aidan in the side. Coraline wondered a little about what he meant by that and she looked at him curious but managed to keep quiet for now. She could question him at length later. "I've never met anyone like me before, most people tend to think I'm nuts or that I'm making a joke about that stupid, dumb movie."

Coraline smiled at Sally, letting go of Aidan's hand to press her hand in his lower back pushing him on a little. Fingertips brushing his ass, Coraline looked over at Sally curiously as she gushed and talked clearly pleased.

"I think I have a little, everyone always seems so pleased that I can see them or angry. Sometimes they're really angry."

"I... highly suggest you don't go into the decommissioned wing of the hospital," Aidan said. There were the crazy ghosts, the ones that were completely out of it and past any hope. He was fairly sure Coraline would not enjoy being around them at all.

"Yeah, that is definitely a no-no place," Sally said, wincing at the memory. "But look, I've taken up enough of your time. Coraline, it was nice to meet you. Please come visit. Like, anytime, I don't go out much except to harass the boys."

"I can see ghosts, I'm not crazy." Coraline replied with a grin. Coraline used to explore old ruins, old abandoned places, old hospitals and schools and junkyards and graveyards, she quickly realised what went with most of those and had stopped for a reason. Coraline wasn't going to go into the decommissioned wing even if it was killing her with curiosity as to what was there. "That's- I think I'd like that. I mean, if you don't mind?"

Coraline pressed her fingertips against Aidan's ass as she turned to look at him curiously. "I'm sure you don't want your... girlfriend to think that I'm coming over all the time and that. She'd probably get the wrong idea."

Subtlety had never been Coraline's forte. Not ever.

Aidan raised an eyebrow when Coraline's fingertips brushed against his ass. That was definitely forward, but definitely not unwelcome, and he leaned back just a bit to press her hand more firmly against his ass to let her know.

"I'm single," he told her, giving her a small smile. His love life was more than a tiny mess, but he was definitely single.

"Okay, definitely time for me to catch you all later," Sally said. Before she disappeared though, she mouthed "marry her" to Aidan before transporting herself somewhere else.

"So no one is going to mind if you come over."

The touch had been vaguely accidental, vaguely, but Aidan didn't seem to mind. Biting her lip, Coraline glanced at Aidan as he leaned back into her hand. Turning to face him, Coraline dropped her hand away about to wave bye to Sally before she poofed. She would never get used to that ever but Sally seemed okay, she seemed nice.

"Well, that's good. That no one would mind. Not that this is a date or anything but just so you know, I'm also single." Coraline said brushing her hair behind her ear as she matched Aidan's small smile with a bigger, brighter one. Coraline leaned forward, looking up at Aidan curiously almost as if she was going to kiss him before... "So, are you going to show me this pub or not?"

"Not that this is a date or anything," he said with a nod. Either way, Coraline seemed like a lot of fun. Flirty fun, but also intelligent fun, so this was going to be a good time either way.

"And the pub is this way," he said, nodding his head as he continued to walk. "So what brought you to be a doctor in the States?"