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Eve Baird sighed as she stepped through the Backdoor and into the Annex. Of course she had to get injured on a solo mission while everyone else was out. Normally she’d be fine patching herself up, but she couldn’t do stitches on the back of her right arm unassisted. To make things even worse, the wound had been caused by a magical artifact so she also couldn’t use Bathsheba’s Oil of Healing. She could wait for Jenkins or the junior librarians and guardian to come back, but she had no idea when that would be and she’d rather not bleed out while she waited.
That left one option.
Eve grabbed a towel to hold against her arm and moved over to the Backdoor’s controls. It was a little tricky to program her destination with only one hand, but she managed eventually. Once the connection was ready she opened the door and walked out of the quiet Annex and into the busy hub of Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Center’s Emergency Room.
“Woah, there,” a woman with dirty blonde hair said in surprise. “How did you get here? I don’t remember seeing you come back from triage.”
“Hello. I’m Eve. I’m with the Librarian,” Eve replied with the confidence and touch of magic that the line required. “I’m looking for Robby.”
The woman blinked. “Well, Hun, we don't have a library in the hospital, but Robby has mentioned you before and that arm seems pretty bad so let’s get you looked at.” She placed a hand on the shoulder of Eve’s good arm and started guiding her towards a room. “I’m Dana, by the way. Charge nurse.”
Eve hid a laugh behind a smile. She wondered if Flynn knew that the ‘I’m the Librarian’ line didn’t work on his charge nurse. She could tell this woman was a powerhouse. “It’s very nice to meet you, Dana.”
“Yo, Jack. Got a VIP for you,” Dana called as she walked.
Eve sat down on the bed in the exam room and watched as a man with curly grey-brown hair made his way over. He was wearing a black scrub top with camo print cargo pants and Eve liked him already.
“Hey there,” the man said with a polite smile as he stepped into the room. “I’m Dr. Jack Abbot. And who might you be?”
“Name’s Eve. She’s a friend of Robby’s,” Dana replied before Eve had a chance.
“Ah. Well it’s nice to meet you Eve,” Jack said with a glint in his eyes.
Dana turned back to Eve. “Robby’s in the middle of a big trauma so I don’t want to pull him, but that towel of yours looks more red than white so I don’t want you sitting around waiting for long, either,” she explained. “Would you be okay having Jack here take a look at you and patch you up instead?”
“Sure, that’s fine,” Eve agreed easily. She didn’t know a lot about the people Robby worked with, but she knew he trusted Dr. Abbot immensely.
Dana smiled. “I have to get back to the desk, but as soon as Robby’s done I’ll let him know you’re here, alright?”
“That sounds perfect. Thank you, Dana,” Eve said with a smile.
Dana nodded. “Hollar if you need anything. That goes for both of yous,” she instructed as she left the room.
Jack pulled a pair of gloves out of a box on the wall. “Alright. Let’s see what we’re dealing with.” He guided Eve to pull the towel away and his eyes widened slightly when he finally saw the wound. Across Eve’s right tricep was a gash about four inches long, still steadily bleeding, but with the edges of the cut looking like they had been burned. “How did this happen?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Eve answered with a chuckle.
“Try me,” Jack encouraged. He moved around the room and started to gather the things he would need to care for the injury.
Eve raised a challenging eyebrow. “I got caught in a fight with someone using a flaming sword.”
Jack paused, blinked a few times, and then shrugged. “You know what, not the weirdest story I’ve heard.”
“Really?” Eve asked in disbelief.
Jack laughed and nodded. “Yup. I normally work the night shift and we get some real crazies in the early hours.” He finished setting up a tray of supplies and then cast an assessing gaze over Eve. “Can you lay on your stomach? That would probably be the most comfortable position. That way you don’t have to hold your arm up the whole time I’ll be doing the stitches.”
Eve moved as instructed and got settled on the bed on her stomach with her arms down at her sides.
“Do you want an anesthetic?” Jack asked. “Personally I’d recommend it since this gash will need quite a few stitches, but it’s up to you.”
“You can numb the area, but I want to stay awake,” Eve responded.
“I won’t knock you out,” Jack promised. “If I did that I wouldn’t be able to get you to tell me embarrassing stories about Robby,” he joked.
Eve laughed at that. “Only if you tell me some in return. I know a little about his life here but he likes to leave hospital talk at work so I haven’t heard too much.”
“Sounds like a fair trade to me,” Jack agreed with a smile. He pulled on a pair of gloves and got to work.
“So are the pants because you’re military or just because you like camo?” Eve asked once Jack had started stitching. She couldn’t feel anything he was doing but she could see him working in her peripheral vision.
Jack chucked. “You caught me. I’m a full-time Army Vet and some-time SWAT medic,” he answered.
Eve whistled. “So you get shot at by day and treat ‘crazies’ by night?” she questioned.
“You sound like Robby. He’s always giving me grief about the SWAT missions,” Jack griped.
It was Eve’s turn to laugh, though she tried not to move too much when she did it. “I don’t have much room to judge since I went from the Army to the NATO counter terrorism unit.”
“Hell yeah,” Jack crowed, lips spreading in a wide grin. “I knew I liked you.”
Eve smiled as well. “Glad I pass muster.”
Jack finished the stitch he was on and then paused to stretch. “Are you still with NATO?”
“No, I left a few years ago,” Eve answered. “Now I work on a special team at the Metropolitan Public Library.” It wasn’t even a lie.
“What type of library job includes sword fights?” Jack asked pointedly.
“The Library collects artifacts as well as books,” Eve replied simply. Once again, not a lie. Although maybe not the whole truth either.
Jack hummed as he got back to work. “I may have to come see this library of yours next time I’m in New York. Seems like an interesting place,” he teased.
“It really is,” Eve commented with a heartfelt smile.
Jack opened his mouth to say something else but was interrupted by frantic footsteps and the exam room door being thrown open.
“Eve!” Robby shouted. “Are you okay? Dana told me you were here.”
“I also told you that she was absolutely fine and you didn’t need to freak out, but of course you ignored that part,” Dana said flatly as she walked calmly past the room.
Eve rolled her eyes fondly, well accustomed to her partner’s tendency to overreact when she got hurt. “I’m fine, Robby,” she assured. “I just need some stitches.”
Robby stepped into the room and closed the door much more quietly than he had opened it. “Sorry,” he said to Eve after taking a deep breath. He turned to his fellow doctor. “What’s the prognosis, Jack?”
“She’s looking at around twenty-five stitches,” Jack replied. “The wound isn’t deep, though, so I didn’t need to consult surgery. It’ll scar but it won’t be too bad.”
“Won’t be my first battle wound,” Eve joked.
Robby sat down on Eve’s left side and took her hand in both of his.
Eve turned her head to look at Robby. “I’m okay, Librarian. Promise,” she said quietly.
Jack raised his eyebrows at the nickname but didn’t comment on it.
“Okay.” Robby nodded and took another deep breath. “Okay,” he repeated. “I just . . . Dana said you were here and I just got so scared that I couldn’t even process anything else she was saying. You’ve never had to come here before so I thought that if you were here it must be really bad.”
“I get it,” Eve assured him. “It’s not really bad though. Just some stitches and a local anesthetic. I would have done it myself if it wasn’t in such a bad spot.”
Jack sat back and pulled off his gloves. “All set. Twenty-two stitches,” he said. “Do you want to bandage and go over care instructions, Robby?” he asked, figuring his friend was probably waiting for an opening to be alone with Eve. Jack had never met Eve before but it was already clear to him that she and Robby were very close.
“Yeah, I can do it,” Robby answered immediately. “Thanks, Brother.”
“You got it. I didn’t start a chart yet so let me know if you need any info,” Jack said as he stood up. “It was very nice to meet you, Eve. Maybe we can get a drink sometime. We didn’t get a chance to swap embarrassing stories about this guy,” he added with a teasing smirk.
Robby groaned. “And this is why I haven’t had you two meet before now.”
“That sounds like fun,” Eve replied with a smile as if Robby hadn’t spoken. “I’ll make sure we swap phone numbers before I leave.”
Jack chuckled as he moved and turned his attention back to Robby. “Take your time, Brother. I’ll hold down the fort.” With that he left the room and went to check on what he’d missed.
Robby swapped from the visitor’s chair to the stool Jack had vacated and pulled on his own pair of gloves. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here when you came in,” he said quietly. “You needed me and I let you down.”
Eve huffed. “Flynn,” she said firmly, finally using the man’s real name now that they were alone. “You didn’t let me down. You were dealing with another patient who needed you more than I did. Dana said it was a serious trauma.”
“But you’re always my top priority, no matter who else needs me,” Robby insisted as he taped down a bandage and began to wrap some gauze around Eve’s arm.
“I know that,” Eve promised. As soon as Robby finished working and took his gloves off, Eve sat up and pulled the man into a tender kiss. “If you ignored someone who was dying in order to care for my minor injury that someone else was available to help with then you wouldn’t be the man I loved.”
Robby cupped Eve’s face in his hand and stoked her cheek with his thumb. “I just don’t like seeing you hurt. Or hearing that you got hurt. Especially when I’m not there.”
“I feel the same way about you, Librarian,” Eve said. She leaned forward and kissed Robby again. “Are you sure you want to have a beard for this job?” she asked to change the subject, bringing up a common debate between the two of them.
Robby laughed. “Why are you so against the beard?”
Eve scrunched her nose. “It’s so scratchy,” she complained. “I like you better clean shaven.”
“Really?” Robby ran a thoughtful hand over his beard. “I thought it made me look distinguished.” He cleaned up the supplies he and Jack had used and then held out a hand to help Eve stand. “Come on, Guardian. Let me introduce you to everyone. I’m sure Jack already told them that you’re here so it’s too late for me to sneak you out the back door.” The words were harsh, but his smile and the glint in his eye made it clear he was kidding.
Eve laced her fingers with Robby’s and smiled back at him. “Lead the way, Librarian.”