Tag: Garret and Calico

“She had a huge grin on her face.”

Calico’s heart ached as she read the latest headline about the nurse serial killer. There had been no sixth victim yet but it didn’t seem to stop the papers and the internet from talking about the case. It seemed to be the the only thing people wanted to discuss these days.

Or maybe it was just that she was a nurse, and she worked in a busy hospital, so of course people were always talking about the case.

Yawning as she headed for Garret’s room, she couldn’t wait to get home, soak in a bubble bath, then head to bed. She’d been picking up extra shifts this week because Nora had been out sick.

“Hey,” she said as she headed into Garret’s room. “I hear you’re getting out of here tomorrow.”

Almost two weeks had passed since he’d apologised and she’d accepted and things had been going well between them. She usually left going to him to the end of her shift and they’d talk a little before she clocked out for the day. She was going to miss him when he left.

“Yep, still got some rehab I’ll need to do but I’m ready to get back to work. I’m also hoping that once I’m out of here you’ll let me take you out on a real date.”

Calico felt her cheeks tint pink and she smiled somewhat shyly. They’d danced around the topic a few times but he’d never come right out and said he wanted to take her out.

“I’d love to,” she agreed.

“Perfect. Are you going to be in tomorrow? Will I see you before I’m discharged?”

“Yeah, I’ll be back in in eight hours.” Which would leave her barely time to get home, have her bath, have maybe five or six hours sleep before she had to come back.

“Go home, doll. We can talk more tomorrow, you’re exhausted.”

She was, and as much as she’d love to hang around for a while and talk he was right. She needed sleep.

“Alright,” she agreed. “I’m going to miss seeing you every day.” The admission was easier to make than she would have thought.

Garret’s smile was warm and he reached out to smooth a lock of hair off her cheek. “Me too. But if I play my cards right maybe that won’t be an issue forever.”

For the first time in almost two years a tingly sensation started between her legs. She was attracted to Garret, more and more as she got to know the real him and not the jerk he’d been at first.

Somewhat reluctantly she tore herself away from Garret’s room after telling him goodnight. If she didn’t leave she’d do something about the ache between her legs and she really did need some sleep.

As she stepped out of the hospital and started walking towards the bus she got the unpleasant sensation of eyes watching her every move.

Only when she looked around she couldn’t see anyone.

All this focus on the nurse serial killer was starting to get to her, messing with her head. It was nothing, she was sure of it, just her overactive imagination.

Killer has now been found to be stalking his victims.

When he’d read that headline, Garret had known he had to do something to make things right with Calico. Knowing he’d been deliberately nasty just because he was feeling sorry for himself had him feeling on edge, and he needed to rid himself of the feeling.

“I owe you the biggest apology. Despite what you’ve seen of me these last few weeks I swear I’m not usually this guy. Believe it or not I’m usually pretty easygoing,” he said, shooting her what he hoped was his most charming smile.

From the expression on her pretty face he knew she in fact didn’t believe him.

“You don’t know me. Or what I’ve been through in my life. I like to be positive, like to look for the good because I’ve seen enough bad to last a lifetime, but I don’t want it to darken all the color in my world,” Calico told him.

“I wish I could see the world the way you do,” he admitted. “I’ve also seen a lot of dark, and I never thought I would be the kind of guy who let misery consume me but …” he trailed off because that was exactly who he’d become. “I’m truly sorry, Calico, for hurting you and lashing out. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.”

For a long moment her green eyes studied him thoughtfully, and then finally she nodded and that bright smile he was so used to seeing on her beautiful face was back. “Life is too short for grudges, and you sound sincere, so apology accepted.”

For the first time in weeks a smile curled up his lips and he felt like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

“Thank you,” he told her. “I’ll try to figure out how to be my old self again.”

“It’s not easy,” she said seriously and he hated that she’d had her own brush with darkness. She was too good, too pure for that. “But I have faith in you. And … I’d like to meet the real you,” she added somewhat shyly.

Was she asking him out?

His smile grew bigger and wider. “I’m going to take you up on that, doll.”

As soon as he was fully recovered he was going to ask the gorgeous nurse out on a date. His mom always said everything happened for a reason, maybe the reason he’d almost died was to bring him in contact with a woman who could change his life.

Nurses need to be on alert.

Although Calico sat at the nurses desk the day after her confrontation with Garret staring at the latest newspaper update on the killer, she couldn’t think of anything but the pain his thoughtless words had caused.

He didn’t know what she’d survived.

Didn’t know that if she hadn’t managed to escape her two week long ordeal then she would still be kept prisoner locked up in her ex’s house.

Surviving his own ordeal didn’t make it okay for him to lash out at others. She’d been there, she knew the raging emotions you struggled to process, but she’d never once taken out those emotions on an innocent person let alone an innocent person who was only trying to help you.

“Hey, Cali,” Nora started in that overly sweet voice she used when she wanted a favour.

“No way, Nora. I’m not doing him today, it’s your turn,” she said without looking up. This person hunting nurses had them all on edge. Any one of them could be next.

“He’s asking for you specifically,” Nora told her.

Calico just shrugged. His words had cut deep because she did care about people, a lot, wouldn’t have chosen this job if she didn’t. Just because she tried to brighten people’s lives when they were going through a hard time didn’t mean she didn’t care deeply about her fellow nurses who had lost their lives.

“Fine, if you won’t come and see me I’ll come to you.”

The voice startled her and she looked up to find that Garret had left his room, something he hadn’t done once on his own other than for tests since he was put there after his surgery. There was an intensity in his gaze that rooted her to the spot when her brain urged her to get away from him.

He’d taken it too far.

Garret knew it the moment the words were out of his mouth.

It was just that he was stuck here in the hospital, feeling useless, instead of being out there trying to find this guy who just kept taking victim after victims.

Failure.

Thats how he felt. He’d gotten himself shot, and almost got his partner and his partner’s girlfriend killed in the process.

Now he was just lying here instead of being useful.

Still, he shouldn’t have taken it out on Calico.

“I’m sorry,” he said, it came out begrudgingly but he meant it sincerely. Just because her perky attitude irritated him didn’t mean he didn’t like her. She was a good person from what he’d seen she just got on his nerves.

Instead of replying, she simply came to the bed and touched her fingertips to his wrist. Like her touch always did he got a little jolt of electricity zinging inside him. Unwanted attraction he had no intention of doing anything about.

After jotting down her notes in his chart, she wheeled the table with his breakfast on it over to the bed and then turned to leave.

“I’m sorry,” he tried again. “Just feeling a little useless sitting here,” he added because for some reason he needed her to know he wasn’t usually a jerk. “With your job you obviously care about other people.”

Nothing.

She merely kept speaking like he hadn’t said a word. As Garret watched her go he felt a pang in his chest. Alone he had nothing to do but glance down at another newspaper on his bed and read the headline; Authorities chased and lost attacker.

Fifth nurse found alive but severely wounded.

Nurse Calico Jennings caught the headline of the paper lying open on the desk as she quickly hurried onto the ward where she worked.

A shiver raced through her as she thought of what those poor women had gone through. At least this one had survived, but even if she managed to recover from her injuries there would be scars left behind.

Deep scars.

She knew.

She’d had her own brush with near death thanks to a crazy ex boyfriend who couldn’t take no for an answer, and she knew how lucky she was to have survived the ordeal.

Unfortunately four, maybe five if this one didn’t pull through, nurses hadn’t been so lucky.

“Oh, Cali, so glad you’re here,” her friend Nora said as she hurried down the hall.

Shoving aside bad memories before they could threaten to take over and push her back into the dark place she’d been trapped in after her ordeal. It was coming up on the one year anniversary of the day she should have died and this serial killer who was targeting nurses was making it worse.

“Let me guess,” she said pasting on a smile and letting it sink in and become real. “Mr Grump-pants is being a big old pain in the butt today.”

“When is he not?” Nora groaned. “You have better luck with him than the rest of us, can you go and check his vitals? Try to get him to eat? Maybe give him a personality transplant while you’re at it?”

Calico laughed and it felt nice to brush aside the darkness and bathe herself in light. Without searching for little pockets of light she wouldn’t have survived.

“I’ll go see if I can work a little magic,” she assured her friend then headed down the hall to Garret’s room. She got that he’d been shot and almost died, but he hadn’t, and he should be more grateful for that. She’d made it her mission to try to get him to see that life was beautiful, that there was joy everywhere if you looked hard enough, but he made it hard.

Practically impossible.

“Morning, Garret,” she said brightly.

Dark eyes cracked with rage as she turned towards her from his spot on the bed. “Didn’t you read this?” he snarled as he tossed the paper at her. “Another nurse, just like you, is fighting for her life. How can you come in here with a smile on your face? Don’t you care about anyone other than yourself?”