Devil’s in the Details (30 page)

I half followed her towards the front, the blue envelope still clutched in my hands. I was agitated like normal, but not because of Dani's abrasive nature, but because of what she just said. Her words sinking in deep, settling around my heart and my gut. I couldn't deny that she was right in what she saw in my eyes. I was happy and I knew it would be a problem down the road.

As Dani opened the door she looked back at me, her eyes settling on mine for a moment before she spoke, "Victoria, I will always have your back. And if nurse blue eyes is the one, I’ll have her back as well." The last few words came out softly, but in a way that felt heavy and ominous.

Then again, nothing about the job Dani and I had was lighthearted and easy.

I nodded once, looking down at the floor before I half whispered out a thank you. I kept my eyes on the floor as I heard the front door close behind Dani, heard her car start up and drive down the same street, take the same right turn Alex had to head back into the city. Creating a morbid mirror image of how my two lives were starting on the slow path to an inevitable collision.

I practically skipped into the hospital, carrying my large brown paper lunch bag. Grinning and saying hello to everyone I passed. Security guards, orderlies, nurses and even the occasional comatose patient sitting in a wheelchair. The grin had appeared when I opened the bag to pick out another muffin to eat and saw the single purple tulip laying on top of the perfectly packaged lunch. A small note taped to the stem folded over, my name written in Victoria's precise handwriting.

I resisted the temptation to open the note right away, knowing that I would need the boost when lunch time came around in another eight or nine hours.

Yes, I was back at work and would not see the light of day outside of this hospital for another seventy two hours at least, but for once, I didn't care. I wanted to stay busy. The busier I stayed the faster time went, the faster I would be back with Victoria and we could pick up where we left off. Continuing the slow exploration of this new chapter we had started.

It didn't help that I was already starting to miss her and could not refrain from sending her a short message as I dropped my bag off in my locker before heading out to the nurse’s station.

My grin only growing wider as she replied just as fast with cute message and a smiley face.

I tucked the phone in my front pocket and headed out to the nurse’s station. Coming around the corner to come face to face with Stacy who was frowning as she flipped through the endless stacks of charts set before her.

Moving past her, I dropped the small bag of two muffins Victoria had packed especially for Stacy, on the pile she was staring at. "How many do we have today?" I bent over to sign in and look over the patient board behind the desk Stacy sat at.

Stacy held up the plastic bag, "You bake?" She eyed the muffins like they were an untrusted science project grown in my kitchen.

I laughed, leaning over the opposite edge of the nurse’s station from Stacy, "Nope. Victoria made them." I flicked the bag with my finger, "She packed those just for you this morning."

Stacy's mouth hung open in mid-bite, her eyes squinting at me critically. "The Victoria?! The hot Navy teacher best friend who is not a possible girlfriend, but should be your girlfriend forever, Victoria? The Victoria that was slowly disappearing out of your life because of the gratuitous friend zone issue that has been hovering over your heads for the last year? "

I shook my head, moving to write my name up on the whiteboard, "Yes, that Victoria." I dropped the marker on the ledge and turned back to Stacy. "So how many patients do we have today?"

Stacy shook her head, taking a huge bite out of the muffin now that she knew it was made from a trusted source. A moan of delicious happiness, quickly escaped before she spoke, "Thirteen, but Deb is expecting more as the night carries on. It's going to storm later and there's a cherry blossom beer festival starting tonight and going on for the rest of the week."

I went to pick up a chart when Stacy's hand slammed down, "But first! Tell me everything." She looked me over, "You're still wearing the same scrubs and shirt you bolted out of here on Friday with. You never do that. You have at least a month’s supply of scrubs before you recycle back to the first sets." She then waved her hand over my face, "And this. This whole grinning like an idiot and glow you have. Means one thing."

Shaking my head, "What is that one thing, oh wise Nurse Cavanaugh?"

"You broke through the friend zone and slept with the good Navy officer. I thought Doctor Dean looked like someone shit in his Audi when I saw him in the hallway." Stacy grabbed my wrist to still my fluttering of patient notes. "So?"

Rolling my eyes, I sighed heavily, "We didn't sleep together. Yes, I stayed at her house for the last two nights, and that's why I am in the same scrubs. Yes, we are out of the friend zone and I am no longer seeing Doctor Dean." I looked up at Stacy unable to hide the grin from forming, "She was the one who broke the friend zone walls down. Sent me tulips and a note to come have dinner with her at her house Friday night."

"Halle-fucking-lujah! About damn time one of you got off the pot or got hemorrhoids." Stacy raised her arms up in the air like a deep south snake charmer. "Deb had been prattling on about some romantic gesture dropped off for you, but I tuned it out, thinking it was from greasy Doctor Dean." She scooped up the charts, "Walk with me and tell me everything as we change out IV's in room eight and nine."

She looked back, “Oh by the way, that one weird DCFD EMS chick keeps asking where you’ve been. I think her name was Diablo? I think she’s got a crush on you, I mean she’s got a hot latin vibe about her, but she creeps me out.”

I frowned, “She’s just weird I guess. You know how some paramedics are when they reach job burnout.” I sighed and looked at Stacy, “Just tell her I’m taken or married, anything to keep her away.”

Stacy threw me a salute, “Will do nurse! But I did overhear her asking a few people about the night you had your attack. Keeps asking who the lady was that brought you in.” She nudged me, “I took care of it, I threatened the security boys I’d tell administration what they really do at night instead of watching cameras.” She waved her hand in the air. “Anyway, tell me everything about the great nonsexual sleepover you had.”

I laughed hard, shaking my head at Stacy as she peppered me with questions. I answered them as we changed IV's, checked meds and finished out the first set of rounds. I told her the way Victoria asked me to her house and what her house looked like. How sweet her old neighbors were, and the other thousand and one things Victoria and I had talked about over the last two nights. Stacy grinned at me like a sucker, often whispering she wished her boyfriend was as cute or half the romantic Victoria was.

I continued to ramble, telling Stacy about the first kiss and how it literally was better than anything I could have imagined or seen in any movie. That I felt my brain short out and rebuild in the few seconds I kissed the beautiful blonde woman.

By the time we had finished checking the floor, Stacy was caught up on my new relationship. She flopped down in the rolling chair by the whiteboard and threw her feet up on the edge of the desk, "You're in love aren't you?"

My head nodded yes even before I could decide if I wanted to answer truthfully or play the vagueness game. "I am. Have been for a while now, but never knew if she felt anything for me or could." I looked up at Stacy. The gnawing gut feeling I had looking at Victoria's medals in her den returned, but it wasn’t enough to distract me from sharing with my only friend the incredible shift in Victoria and I’s relationship. "I want to tell her, but I know it's not the right time, yet. Everything is so new and tentative. There's so much we need to learn about each other."

Stacy spun in her chair, "There is, even I can tell that woman is a walking mystery novel. The kind where you never know who the murder is until the last chapter and then when you do find out, it's the sweet old next door neighbor. I can see it in her eyes, there's something more to her and I can’t quite place my finger on it. Like it's the same look we see in the vets that come in after a bar brawl. The empty stares of having seen too much, but with Victoria there’s a whole new level to that look."

She stopped spinning and looked up at me with a smile, "Don't get me wrong, I adore her and I think she is the best thing to ever happen to you and she would never do a thing to hurt you, but there's mystery there."

I sighed, signing off on the last few charts, "I know." I looked at Stacy, "I found a display in her den the first morning. A bunch of war medals filling a frame the same size I keep my college degree in. Full of ribbons and shiny medals, I could only recognize one or two. Mainly the purple heart with an oak leaf on the ribbon. The there was a silver star and one really weird one that looked like it came from the VFW. That one I couldn't tell what it was, I’d never see one like it before." I leaned on the edge of the stations high counter, "Whenever I bring up the war or her service, Victoria gets this look in her eyes and changes the subject. I hate to push, and I won't until much later, if at all."

Stacy scooted over to the computer, clicking and bringing up a search engine page. "Tell me what that one weird medal looked like, maybe we can look it up."

I moved to stand behind her, "It was a gold star with five points, a blue center with a gold star burst in the middle. The ribbon was white with black trim and a red and blue striped center."

Stacy's hands moved quickly and soon pulled up an exact image of the medal I had seen. She moved closer to the monitor and began reading off the dull description. "The National Intelligence Medal of Valor. An honor given to recognize heroism and courage in service to the intelligence community or to overall national security. Second only to the National Intelligence Cross and Intelligence star among the intelligence community's awards for bravery."

She clicked a few times on other images until another one caught my eye. "Wait, click on that one that looks like a silver coin. Victoria had one of those in the bottom of the frame, I think it's a challenge coin. Like the one that nice Marine we stitched up last week, showed us."

Stacy nodded with a smirk, "I remember him, he was a cutie and wanted my phone number." She clicked on the silver coin and read off that description, "The Distinguished Intelligence Cross. The highest decoration awarded by the United States Central Intelligence Agency. Awarded for voluntary act or acts of extraordinary heroism involving the acceptance of existing dangers with conspicuous fortitude and exemplary courage. " Stacy paused and turned to look right into my eyes as I stared at the screen wide eyed. My stomach starting to get the kind of butterflies that came from discovering a secret that was better left alone.

I whispered, "Close the window. I don't want to read anymore." As I looked, I saw the list of recipients on the page. At the bottom of the short list was one name that stuck out, "Lieutenant Victoria C. Bancroft, USN." I folded my arms across my chest and stared at the whiteboard, my gut was right. There was something more about Victoria. Something like the mystery novel character Stacy had compared her to. Something that involved the CIA and military intelligence community. A set of words that was a far cry from the words Professor of Military History and Tactics I had seen on her office door.

The more I thought about it, all of the tiny details I had noticed over the last year about Victoria were gradually falling out of my memory like the lost pieces to a puzzle found under the couch. Revealing themselves to me and offering up a chance to fill in the big blank spots I had about the woman I was falling for. Had fallen for.

"Hey Alex, you okay?" Stacy's voice was soft as she came up from behind me.

I turned to her with a tight smile on, "Yeah, totally. I think I’m just absorbing the fact that Victoria was in the war and my mind is running wild with ideas of how she got her purple heart and what she went through." I shrugged, "You know the stories we hear from the vets we take care of, old and young, they never end up to be happy stories."

Stacy patted my shoulder, "It'll be okay. I bet she got a paper cut filing some secret letter to a General about issuing more chocolate rations. She’s an officer, and we have heard all of the vets complain about the officers only getting calluses on their asses from sitting in the back" She smiled, trying to break up the tension, "Come on, let's go start on the second half of the floor, and then you can buy me coffee in the cafeteria."