Page 20 of Rival Hearts

It was a few days before Jett found herself in the Emergency Room of the Phoenix Ridge Hospital. When she did find herself there, she was wheeling in a patient with the help of another paramedic, Sarah, and walking into the hospital, where they were directed by a nurse to trauma bay two.

When they put the patient in the bay, Riley was already waiting for them in green scrubs and a white doctor’s coat, a stoic expression on her face as Jett looked at her. Jett couldn’t tell if the look was directed at her, or the situation, but it unnerved her nonetheless.

“Thank you,” Riley said to Jett and Sarah, “we got it from here.” A nurse came in, carrying some pain medication, and Jett left while Riley started speaking to the patient.

“You ready to go?” Sarah asked.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Jett said, thinking about Riley in the trauma bay. She didn’t even smile at Jett. Jett didn’t know what was going on, but she did know that she was definitely going to get to the bottom of it.

Jett wished that she could talk to Riley right then, but she decided that probably wasn’t the best time. She was with a patient and Jett had a job to do. However, right when Jett was about to leave the Emergency Room, she saw Lucinda Everett walking to the nurses’ station.

“Actually,” Jett said to Sarah, “give me just one minute.” And Jett rushed to Lucinda.

“Lucinda,” Jett called, and Dr. Everett looked up with a confused expression on her face before she saw who it was, and then she smiled.

“Hello, love, is everything alright?” Lucinda asked.

“I was actually wondering if you could do me a favor,” Jett said. “Do you know when Dr. Parker gets off work?”

Lucinda smiled, a smirk almost, but Jett was so focused on Riley that she missed it.

“Of course,” Lucinda said. “She gets off at eight tonight.”

Perfect; Jett was getting off at six. That gave her plenty of time to go home, get ready, and come back to the hospital before Riley left.

“Perfect, Lucinda, thank you,” Jett said.

“Of course,” Lucinda said.

* * *

When Jett got back to the hospital after her shift, she felt a little awkward. Many of the doctors and nurses knew her face, but she was a little unrecognizable when she wasn’t in her usual uniform.

She managed to make it back to the Emergency Room without incident, however. When she got there, she looked around until she saw Riley. It was a few minutes past seven thirty, and when Jett saw Riley walking toward the nurses station, Jett marched toward her until she faced directly in front of her.

Riley stopped and looked at Jett in shock, looking her up and down and noticing her casual clothes, ripped jeans and a t-shirt.

“Is something wrong?” Riley asked.

“We need to talk,” Jett said.

Jett heard a snicker, and the two turned to see Lucinda at the nurse's station.

“Follow me,” Riley said, and she led Jett to the on-call room that they had gone to the other day. “What’s up?”

“What’s going on between us?” Jett asked.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, that night on the roof, and the other day in this room?” Jett asked. “What are we doing?”

“I don’t know,” Riley said. “I thought the night on the roof was just a one-time thing?” But Riley sounded uncertain. She had a questioning lilt to her voice; she sounded slightly like she was rehearsing a speech that had become off-topic.

“And the other night in this room?” Jett asked. “Having two encounters doesn’t really scream ‘one-time thing,’ does it?”

Riley looked at Jett in complete uncertainty, and Jett realized that she had never seen Riley this vulnerable before. She was looking at Jett as if she expected her to have the answers, and she didn’t, but she wanted to.

Jett leaned closer to Riley, so close that she could feel her breath, and Jett whispered to her, lips an inch apart. “Tell me, Riley, do you want this to be a one-time thing?”

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