First times: 05 -- Angel of mercy
As so often happens, this story was planned to go in a completely different direction, but my characters took over and this is the result.
You will see what I mean in the first story of the "Angels and Daemons" series. I used the same name for the main character, something I go to great pains to avoid, because that was my original intent for her.
Again my heartfelt thanks to Valphund for teaching me to be a better author. Any mistake is my own.
*****
The hour-long commute by city bus, then metro, was an ordeal for most of her fellow travelers, but it was a necessary period of meditation and centering for Ariel. The job of counselor in a children's hospital wasn't for the faint of heart.
So being late and forced to drive there was a mixed blessing. The transit time was cut in half, but she hadn't been able to close her eyes and bring forth the strength she would need as soon as she stepped on the oncology floor.
Ariel was sitting, head bowed on the steering wheel, catching her mental breath, when there was a rap on her window. Startled, it took her a few seconds to remember where she was. She smiled when she saw the woman standing outside.
Amelia was certainly a force of nature. Always jovial, ebullient even, she was the unofficial morale booster of the entire department.
A chubby woman in her late forties, she bucked the establishment by wearing some colorful accessory along with the customary scrubs. That day, it was a bright scarf of multi-colored daisies.
"Are you coming out, or do you intend to sleep in your car all day?" She laughed. Amelia was fully aware of Ariel's process and did her best to help her with it. As a nurse in the same department, she'd had her share of heartbreaks. She certainly didn't envy the younger woman who dealt so intimately with their young charges.
"Sleep sounds good right now. My neighbor was sick all night and I stayed at her place to help. Let's just say that her couch has seen better days."
"Mine's brand new, if you insist on avoiding your own bed. I splurged last summer after a spring sprung through the cushion and I had a surprise of the most un-erotic kind."
Amelia recounted her encounter with the offending offspring of a steel wire and industrial machinery in salacious details all the way to their floor. When the elevator doors opened, she took Ariel's hand and squeezed it.
"Take it easy, dear. If you need a lap to rest on, I suppose I could close my legs for a while." Amelia teased.
"You started exercising?" Ariel countered good-naturedly.
Despite being from different social strata, the two women had hit it off the very first day Arial started working at the hospital. They had seen each other while she interned, but rarely came in contact.
That day, an insensitive doctor with atrocious bedside manner was making a young girl cry and Ariel was in his face about it. As the tone escalated, Amelia intervened by reminding the doctor that his file already contained many reprimands and that he was on his way out if he didn't mind his manners in front of the children.
The two women and the little girl had a good laugh at his expense as he stormed away, sputtering indignantly.
By the end of the day, every child on the floor called her Wonder Woman, so, of course, she came in the next day wearing a golden tiara and bracelets, and deflected imaginary bullets all day for the amusement of patients and staff.
Since then, they were known as the A Team. They complemented each other so well, professionally and personally.
The fact that Amelia was a lesbian and Ariel wasn't had never entered their minds until some sniggering male nurse made some crude comment and took vile pleasure in spreading rumors and innuendo, which no one found funny in the least. He ended being the butt of his own meanness when a visiting doctor overheard him. As it happened, he was Ariel's father, there to visit his good friend, the Director of the oncology department. No one was sad to see him escorted out by security minutes later.
*****
That Monday morning, Amelia had been standing outside with some friends who were there for a smoke on purpose. She was waiting for the younger woman. This would be a tough shift and she wanted to see for herself how she was holding on.
She had heard how Ariel had spent the week-end working with some of their sicker patients. She wasn't surprised when she drove in. The girl probably had been pacing all night instead of sleeping.
So she wasn't terribly surprised when she found her asleep on a chair, head pillowed on her arms on a little boy's bed, most likely talking to him when she succumbed to fatigue. He was gently caressing her hair and put his finger on his lips to signal Amelia to be quiet. Nodding, she backed out, flicked the lights off, and shut the door. No one went into the room except her to check on the boy.
When Ariel came out two hours later, slightly disheveled and blushing furiously, everyone she met smiled kindly at her and no few patted her arm. Amelia had told them how the terminal patient had been beaming at this spontaneous gesture of humanity.
She put her arm around Ariel's waist and steered her to the nurses' lounge. It was more modestly appointed than the doctors', but there was a feeling of warmth to it and she often used it.
"I feel like such a wuss." Ariel said as she splashed cold water on her face. "That wasn't the most professional thing I ever did."
"I don't know about that." Her friend said, looking at her in the mirror, never stopping the soothing shoulder massage. "We all know you spent the week-end here with Jeremy and the other kids. Maybe I should get you the full Wonder Woman costume. I, for one, wouldn't mind ogling your body in those bustier and spandex bottom."
"Oh, you." Ariel leaned in the gentle neck massage. "If you continue like this, you won't have to get any cartoon costume. I'll drag you to the massage therapy room and strip bare for you."
"Promises, promises, sweetie." It was getting harder for Amelia to keep her attraction of Ariel in check. "Why don't you ask your boyfriend to do it for you instead of spending all your time at work? All work and no play, you know."
"Ah!" The derision in the snort was clear. "I almost envy you, Am. Did you know that men can't take the competition when it comes from a dying child..."
Hearing the catch in her friend's voice, Amelia turned her around and embraced her.
"They're brave little boys and girls, Ariel. You make a big difference in their lives." She held her until she felt some of the tension leave her, knowing the toll her vocation was taking on the young woman. She had seen it often enough over the years among the nurses. "Why don't we go out tonight and get drunk. Or get sloshed and find you a hunk to take your mind of this place, if only for a couple of hours."
"You're projecting again, Am. You're the party girl here. Going out every week-end and collecting skirts. As for me... I don't even remember the last time I had sex... with a man. I think my Hitachi is about to propose to me." She giggled ruefully.
