Page 1 of Ice Princess

Chapter One ~Raven

She steps back from the table and looks down at her handiwork. The cut is clean; the appendix removed before it burst the patient should make a full recovery.

“Daniel, would you like to close?” Raven asks looking at the young hungry resident on the other side of the table. She reminds her of what she was like as a resident. Dr. Daniels is dedicated, intelligent and her sutures are picture-perfect each time.

“Yes, Dr. Ballenger.” She tells her eyes lighting up and Raven can sense the smile under her surgical mask.

“Then have at it. I need to do rounds.” Raven walks out of the surgery center, snapping off her gloves and taking off her apron. She feels the eyes of the other staff on her as she leaves. She tries to pretend it doesn’t bother her.

It is hard to be one of the youngest surgeons on staff. At age 26 Raven is much younger than the others, having started college at 16, and medical school at 19. She has always fought her image. Petite with sunny blonde hair, blue eyes, and when she chooses to show them, dimples. Raven looks like she should be serving coffee at the local Starbucks, not cutting people open on an operating table.

She walks down the hall, stopping in the office to grab an iPad before seeing her first patient. The nurses don’t look her in the eye, averting their gaze as she walks past. Raven is known for expecting perfection from the staff. They call her the ice princess and believe she has a heart like a stone, but it couldn’t be farther from the truth.

Raven expects excellence from her employees as well as from herself. They are saving lives here and one screw up could kill someone. They can call her the Ice Princess if they like as long as they perform their jobs to her satisfaction, Raven couldn’t care less.

She swings into the first patient room and finds the first smile of the day.

“Mr. Ferguson, how are you feeling today?” Raven asks him as she quickly reviews the nurse’s notes that have been uploaded to his chart.

“With my fingers Doc.” He grins at her.

He is currently her favorite post-op patient in for the removal of part of his liver due to non-alcoholic cirrhosis he constantly has a joke on his lips and a sparkle in his eye.

“It says here that your incision is healing nicely. Mind if I take a look.”

“A pretty and smart young lady like you, I wouldn’t mind having your hands on me.” He winks as she comes to the side of the bed and lifts the bandages to look at his incision.”

“It’s healing nicely. You should be able to discharge tomorrow. Do you have any questions for me?”

“Nope, not unless you have considered my marriage proposal again.” He winks at her. Mr. Ferguson is in his eighties and has asked every pretty young nurse, or in Raven’s case doctor, to marry him.

“Sorry, Mr. Ferguson I am married to the job.”

“A pretty girl like you needs to get out, date some.”

“I am too busy being a doctor. I will be back to check on you in the morning and sign your discharge orders. You need anything just tell the nurse I will swing back by.”

“Thanks, Doc. You have been a real lifesaver. Pun intended.” He cackles, and she laughs a little with him before leaving the room to check on the next patient.

There is a little bounce in her step after leaving Mr. Ferguson’s room. The feeling of helping someone was one of the reasons Raven became a doctor. The human body was like a puzzle, and she loved spending her days figuring that puzzle out.

She stops at the nurse’s station to write up some notes in Mr. Ferguson’s chart, trying not to roll her eyes as one of the nurse’s hurries away.

“The Ice Princess strikes again.” Raven looks up to see her best friend striding towards her.

“Aren’t you supposed to be up on the psych floor? I didn’t know they let you out to roam the halls.”

Taylor grins at her, “They had a psych consult on this floor and when I saw the nurse scurrying away from the desk and your ponytail, I knew it couldn’t be anyone but you.”

“I don’t know why they think I am so frightening.”

Taylor taps one blood-red nail against her lips. We met in college, both young girls with big brains and blonde hair being constantly underestimated by everyone else. She was young to 17 when she entered college. They had become fast friends and now worked at the same hospital Taylor had become a psychiatrist while Raven had opted to become a surgeon.

“Do you have time for lunch? We can zip down to the cafeteria and grab a couple of salads. I can update you on all things, Jared.”

Raven consults her watch and sighs, “As much as I want to know about your latest conquest, I have another surgery in thirty minutes, and I need to finish rounds.”

“You work too hard, Raven; you need to slow down, or you are going to burn yourself out.”

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