It was 0500 at the Navy hospital near the main gate of the Yard. The nurse, achingly tired from repeated overtime shifts, sat trying to make some sense out of the stack of charts before her. She was careful not to confuse data from the several patients, but it was beginning to be a losing battle. Hearing the squeak of shoes coming down the passageway, she looked up, bleary-eyed, to see a doctor approach. It was the new orthopedist, just transferred there this week from duty as an instructor at the Naval Medical Officers' Basic School. She stood wearily, certainly not to attention – this was, after all, a hospital – but as a sign of respect for a senior officer. A slight smile crept across his face as he said, "Carry on, Lieutenant" then paused to look more closely at her, noting her beleaguered appearance, and frowned. "Are you OK? You look worn out!"
"I'm sorry, Commander, it's just all this extra duty, what with Commander Kratzler and Lieutenant Bouvier out on leave...."
"Well," said the doctor, "you're no good to the Navy, your patients, or to me in your present state. I'm going to call Corpsman Benson up here from below decks to man your station, and I'll take you home. Dedication to duty only helps when you're able to carry it out! This will, of course, be between you and me...." He reached past her, punched up a number, and spoke curtly into the telephone.
The nurse smiled wanly, thinking about something stiff between him and her that would be SO nice, but her eyes rolled in independent orbits as she did so. "Well... OK...." She murmured. Gathering up her cape and purse, she followed him onto the elevator and leaned tiredly against the rail. "Just keep it together for a few minutes more and you'll be fine." he said.
Crossing the lot to where his car was parked, he found it needful to take her elbow with one hand and wrap the other arm around her shoulders to guide her unsteady steps. After helping her in, he lowered the convertible top, hoping to keep her at least nominally awake until she got home. But it was not to be. Frowning at the trace of a smirk beneath the Marine gate-keeper's salute, he looked over and found her sound asleep.