The nurses' station was Louis' sanctuary for the time being. He set an alarm for ten minutes before he had to meet Harry for the procedure. Quickly opening the chart on the first pile, he started filling them out in robot mode letting his nurse instinct take over until the alarm jolted him and he glanced at the clock. Throwing the chart into the out basket, he made his way up to Jacob's room. "Hi baby boy," Louis grinned at the sleepy looking infant as he scooped him up and went for the elevator.

Gently rocking the infant in his arms, Louis headed for the OR the procedure would be done in. Laying the baby on the table, Jacob instantly started fussing and wailing. "Shhh...it's ok, Peanut. Shhh." There was nobody there yet so Louis picked the distraught little boy back up to try to calm him down.

Harry had walked around the third and second floor, talking to patients waiting for surgery and checking on recovering patients. He discharged three of his patients that were all doing amazing, then told a nurse to have OR two prepped and ready. He then went to his office and dropped off his stethoscope and lab coat, and grabbed his favorite flowered surgical cap and tied his hair up in a bun. He hated all the questions he got for his long locks, but he would endure all of them if it meant Casey, one of his patients that was twelve and has had cancer for more than half of her life, got to have her beautiful brown hair again. Nobody knew of his secret reasons, though, and nobody needed to.

He slipped on his surgical cap as he made his way to OR two. When he reached it, he put on his surgical boots and tied the mask around his neck, leaving the other end untied, before he began scrubbing his hands and arms. He was strict when it came to cleanliness, and made sure he was completely scrubbed up and clean before he shut off the water and dried his hands, followed by two nurses helping him on with his surgical gown and gloves. "Where the hell is my baby?" He asked after walking into an empty OR. He expected Jacob to already be in here and put under, but nobody was in here aside from the selected nurses and two residents. "Where's Louis?"

Closing eyes, he walked the baby around the hallway as Jacob seemed to be getting stressed. He walked back to the OR figuring he still had time, but once he looked up and saw the room with people in it. "Oops." Louis popped his mask up and headed to the door of the OR and motioned for the surgical nurse to take the baby so Louis could scrub in. Only problem is, once the baby left his arms, Jacob was jostled out of his snooze and started screaming at the top of his lungs.

Louis scrubbed himself in at record time, exchanging smiles with the scrub nurse as he rushed in the OR and over to the baby's side. The anesthesiologist was having a difficult time keeping Jake's head still long enough to keep the mask on. Louis shook his head then went to Jacob's side to rub soothing circles into his hand and keep him still long enough to get him under. Avoiding Harry's eyes, he took his place next to his favorite surgical nurse Anya.

Harry, arms still held up, waited off to the side for a good five minutes after the baby was put under before he moved to the side of the bed. Instantly, a nurse was standing behind him and tying his mask around his head, tugging it up so it slotted over his nose and brushed his eyelashes with every blink. He glanced down at the sleeping baby that looked so peaceful and calm, and sighed. He's had to go through so much and he's so young.

This surgery, pyloromyotomy, was easy enough and resulted in minor blood loss, but it was still a hard thing to witness. Glancing up at Louis, who was across the bed from him, Harry gave the nurse next to him instructions to finish preparing the child, which included covering his belly with betadine, a disinfectant soap/liquid, and putting up a small blue screen that blocked Harry's viewed the child's upper chest and face.

"Scalpel," Harry said, eyes now focused on the child as he shut off the part of his brain he didn't need right now. Everything was forgotten but the task at hand, and he let himself get lost in his performance. He's done this surgery many, many times before, so he was able to quickly make the several small incisions before he was passed the two small tools he'd use. One was a camera, so he could see what he was doing, and the other was a small tool he would use to cut through the muscle fibers of the enlarged pyloric muscle in order to widen the opening into the intestine.

Not exactly an important part in the surgery, even though he'd been the one to pick Harry as the one to perform it, Louis could bore himself paying attention or whisper to Anya. He chose the latter, the head surgical nurse was keeping the procedure on track by conversing with Harry and handing him the correct instruments when asked. Looking Anya's way he leaned in, careful not to brush against her and ruin the sterility of the room. Anya giggled softly and whispered back. The two conversed, keeping a close eye on Harry and the head nurse, just in case.

When the surgery was close to ending did Louis go quiet. He headed for the spot next to Harry, readying himself to pick up the baby and bring Jacob to the recovery room where he'd stay with the infant until he regained consciousness then Harry would be called in for a post-op check.

The two gabbing nurses annoyed Harry, and he was tempted to kick them out of his OR more than once, but he was too focused on what was going on to even care. After the surgery was done and everything was cleared off, Harry told the anesthesiologist to take the mask off so the infant could begin to wake up, though it would be at least an hour or two before the anesthesia would wear off. "Thank you all for helping this go by smoothly," Harry said, nodding at each person, except for Louis, before he walked through the glass doors and took off his gown and gloves. He leaned against the sink and sighed, needing a moment or two to collect his thoughts and regain full control of his brain.

Not like Louis cared about the closing speech the surgeon gave at the end of the operation. All he cared about was picking up the sleeping baby and taking him to recovery. He was the last to exit the OR and start peeling gloves and mask and gown off and tossing it all in the bin by the door. Humming to himself, Louis met Anya at the sinks and chattered with her more about their upcoming weekend and such. He gave her a grin and lightly nudged her with his hip before shaking the excess water from his hands and drying them off. "See ya later!"

Hurrying back into the OR, Louis carefully gathered up Jacob and the blanket he'd been allowed to come in with. The baby looked so adorable peacefully sleeping. Minding the bandages on his belly, Louis covered the baby up more with the blankie then headed out of both sets of doors and to the hallway leading to the recovery wing. Thankfully, a nurse was standing there to direct Louis to an empty crib set up for Jacob and he laid the little boy in it and covered him up with the extra blanket. "Sweet dreams, buddy."

Harry, after scrubbing his hands and arms, left the OR before he even seen Louis. He didn't want to deal with the looks and annoying questions and his usual asshole self, because he would end up up snapping and really losing his job. "I'm going out for dinner. Send all incoming patients to Dr. Sandy, unless they are an emergency and I'll have my pager on me," Harry told the woman at the front desk. He took his cap off and set it in his office, then grabbed his pager and phone from his lab coat.

Bored already even though he'd been with the baby for twenty minutes, Louis fought to keep himself awake. He needed coffee. Rising to his feet, Louis pulled the scrub top off and threw it over his shoulder as he made his way out of the NICU to the closest employee lounge to grab a cup of black coffee. What Louis loved about the hospital was how they didn't settle for anything cheap, the coffee maker was a keurig with name brand cups in it, instead of the off brand Great Value. Plunking a cup in, he pushed the machine on to wait for it to heat the water then headed out of the lounge to use the bathroom. His eyes were lowered to the side where he'd found a suspicious looking lump under his armpit two days ago and had been afraid to ask anyone about it. OK, not just anyone, he really wanted to tell Harry, he couldn't explain why.

Finishing his business, he headed for the lounge again, peeking down the hallway just in time to see Harry exit his office. He gave a soft 'oh' and hurried for the lounge, not wanting to be caught half naked in the hallways again, like it was something he did daily. It was, but Harry didn't have to know about it.

Harry fished the keys out of his pocket and just as he was about to slide the key into the hole, he looked over his shoulder, the nagging feeling someone was watching him still not going away even though the hallway he was in was vacant. Scrubbing at his eyes, and figuring he was just being paranoid due to his lack of sleep, he locked his office door and took off towards the elevators. "Hey, Linda, have you seen my bag? I dropped it this morning and haven't seen it since," Harry asked the passing nurse that was almost always on this floor. The woman looked up from the clipboard in her hand, and like clockwork, the end of the pen went into her mouth and her teeth began to work on it. Sanitary.

"Dylan picked it up. I put it under the desk in the nurses station. You can pick it up whenever," she said, biting down on the pen before she popped it out of her mouth, a line of saliva sticking to it and dragging along with the pen, and patted Harry's shoulder. "Your iPad was gonzo. We threw it away, but John had us order you a new one," she did this fake little laugh, and went to speak more, but Harry brushed her slobber covered hand away and cringed. "Go wash your hands, and keep the damn pen out of her mouth," Harry said, disgust evident in both his voice and expression.

He brushed past her and as he walked by a sanitizer bottle with a little pump, he pressed down on it three times then moved the pool of sanitizing liquid up his hands and forearms. "Jesus Christ. You work in a hospital, not a Kindergarten class," he called to the woman, not caring who heard him. Most considered him an ass and while that was partially true, he never said anything that wasn't true.

It was getting boring watching the kid. He didn't necessarily have to sit there the whole time, thank god. Standing up and flinching at the ache in his bottom, he wandered to the nurses' station just in time to hear Harry go off on the nurse there. She wasn't his favorite as she lacked any manners and obviously lived in a pig sty coming to work looking rumpled and smelling like stale tobacco smoke and something else he hadn't pinpointed. That's why Louis chose to buy his own pens and pencils, keeping them close by so nobody could get their hands on them.

Straightening his scrub top, Louis ignored Harry in favor of asking the sloppy nurse if any doctors had a free moment and if Louis could possibly steal it to ask them something. The nurse put a finger up as she finished scribbling something down on a chart then looked at the list of doctors present in the building and on call. "Sorry Louis, most are either taking an early dinner or told us not to bother them unless its an emergency, is it?" Louis shook his head and thanked her.

Harry watched the two exchange a very awkward conversation, but he didn't get to see how it ended before his elevator arrived. He stepped into the cart and pressed the button, not missing the way Louis glanced over his way before he quickly turned away. Grinning, Harry watched as the doors finally closed as he was greeted with his own reflection. Tired eyes, chewed lips, fuzzy hair. He looked like hell, but still, there was something about him that drew from his tiredness and made him sort of radiate a glow of energy. Shaking his head, he stepped off the elevator on the first floor and ignored everyone who greeted him or tried to speak with him as he left. He wanted to get out of here while he could.

He ended up choosing a deli two blocks from where he worked, and it was in walking distance so he didn't even have to fight with getting his car out of the parking lot. The sun hung high in the sky, and the birds chirped in the distance. He thought it was going to be a good day, or half day, but when you are a doctor, you are never off duty, as much as you may wish you were.

Which is why when Harry found himself standing in line to order his food, and an older gentlemen began to choke at a nearby table, he just ducked his head and pretended he didn't hear someone calling for a doctor. Five seconds. If someone didn't help him in five seconds, Harry would, but then some bloody idiot had to call him out before he even reached three seconds. Bloody scrubs gave him away. "You're a doctor! Help him!" Her high pitched, shrilly voice said, shattering the invisible glass dome he had around his head. He glared at the woman, but walked over to the man nonetheless and wrapped his arms around him, then did three forceful jerks and the man was spewing out a chunk of salami. "Chew your damn food," Harry told the man, his somewhat good mood now completely ruined.

With no luck finding a doctor, Louis retreated back to Jacob's room, ignoring the call of the nurse. Louis should have known better than to ask such a cryptic question in front of one of the hospital's gossipers. It was none of her business. He'd just try to grow some balls and get around to asking Harry. He had been hoping that curiosity would have Harry barging into the conversation asking to know why, that would have made it a whole lot easier.

Distracted by his thoughts, Louis grabbed a pen from his pocket then dug into the other for his daily planner. Brows furrowed when his search came up empty. He couldn't let anyone read that! Besides recording his tasks for the day, he made snide remarks in the margins about the staff. Thankfully, he didn't list names, but someone who had two brain cells to rub together could figure it out. He needed that book back!

"Veronica!" Flying up to the nurses' station for the second time in a span of ten minutes, he all but ran behind the desk to go digging. "Louis, what are you doing?" Instead of answering, he cussed under his breath as his search was in vain. The book was obviously not here. "Fuck me running on a pogo stick!" Louis shrieked without giving a second thought.

Harry abandoned the idea of lunch and instead just grabbed a coffee from the stand outside the hospital and a muffin he could pick apart, but not eat. He wasn't really hungry these days, anyway. "How exactly would that work?" Harry asked as he leaned against the counter, eyebrows rose and cocky grin hidden behind his paper cup as he took a sip of his straight black coffee. That'll put some hair on your chest. He had arrived here just in time to see a frantic Louis blurt out the first thing that came to mind, and if he was being completely honest, the back of his nasal passage still stung with the hot coffee that tried to shoot out of it.

His fingers twitched. Louis brought one up to nibble on the skin, not realizing that his thumb was sliding farther and farther into his mouth and he was pretty sure it looked like he was sucking on it. Jumping when Dr. Styles' voice came out of nowhere, hand falling to his side as he itched frantically at it. "Very carefully," Louis snapped. His nerves were fried. "Gotta go..time for a break!"

Bolting from the desk and to the sliding glass doors, he stepped out into the warmth of the afternoon and to his vehicle sitting in the employee parking lot. Unlocking the Honda, he slid behind the wheel and making sure nobody was nearby, pulled his green ratty blanket from the pocket behind the driver's' seat and brought it up to his face. The softness soothing him instantly.

Oh, this was too good to just ignore. He had just witnessed Tomlinson sucking his fucking thumb, and any person near by would scold him if he didn't follow after the crazy ass kid and make fun of him for it, so that's exactly what he did. He ran after Louis, coffee and brown paper bag still in his hand, and watched as Louis slid into a surprisingly nice car and pulled out some ratty blanket, that was honestly only hanging on by a few threads, and rubbed it against his face. For the first time ever, well since Harry's known him, to boy looked completely at peace with himself.

Too easy. Harry stalked over to the car and lifted up his hand to knock on the window, but just as his fingers ghosted across the cool glass, he pulled his hand back and retreated to stand in the shadows the car next to Louis' cast. This wasn't just some freak out... Louis was a fucking little, and Harry wouldn't have even realized it if he hadn't been watching him as he dug under his seat and pulled out a blue binkie before he popped it into his mouth. "Jesus fucking Christ. The kid was on his mum's tit too long," Harry said, cursing under his breath. What the fuck was wrong with the nurses in this hospital??

Relaxed now with the binky in his mouth, he happily let it bob under his nose as he leaned against the headrest. Soft music was playing in the background and his alarm was set to let him know when his twenty minute break was over. Blue eyes popped open when he heard what sounded like footsteps approaching the car. Swiping the binky from his mouth and replacing it with a piece of bubble gum, he shoved the blanket under his bum then rolled the window down to look around. The lot was empty.

"Paranoid." He mumbled to himself. Seeing the alarm was about to go off, he rolled the window back up and shoved the blanket under a coat he had laying in the passenger seat. Blowing a bubble, he re-locked the car then headed back for the hospital, not seeing Harry standing in the shadows.

Harry didn't move the entire time he had been standing there, afraid Louis would see him and their relationship would move from them hating each other, to then hating each other and having it be too awkward to look at one another, or even bicker back and forth. When Louis disappeared through the hospital doors, Harry offered his muffin to a homeless man then he walked around the hospital and took the side door, that led straight to the stairs, and took two of the steps at a time until he reached the floor with his office. "Anything?" He asked a nurse he passed, and when she shook her head, he went straight to his office and shut the door.

A closed door usually means Harry didn't want anyone to fuck with him, and he was hoping everybody would leave him the fuck alone. He only had five hours left on this shift. Five hours and he could go home. To nothing. He tried picking up a stack of papers to go through, but the coat draped over the back of his chair got the best of him and he ended up digging through the pocket for the small book. "Let's see what goes on inside your fucked up mind, kid," Harry mumbled to himself under his breath, skilled fingers flipping the book open to the first page.

Five minutes after Harry walked past the station did Louis pass by. "Oh Louis! Dr. Styles is available? You said you had a question for a doctor?" Veronica said, seeing the small nurse approach. His eyes got wide, it was the one he'd been trying to approach, but he couldn't muster up the courage. "There's nobody but Har..Dr. Styles? Shit..I'll just deal with it myself." He turned to walk away, remembering he dropped his book somewhere. "Anybody turn in a blue book? Its my planner and I feel lost without it."

Again a dead end. Louis walked away from the desk to Jacob's room. He really had to find that book before anyone did, it was sort of crucial. He could feel the urge to put his thumb in his mouth as he balled up his fists and entered the baby's room. Seeing Jacob wide awake, he cooed and proceeded to change his diaper. "Better get Dr. Styles in here for your check, then you can go back to your room."

Rushing to Harry's office, he gave a couple knocks then walked in. "Jacob is awake and ready for yo - where did you get that?" Recognising the book in Harry's hands as his planner, Louis turned a bright red and ran out of the office.

Harry flipped through the book, speechless and humored by what he found. There was numerous comments about a bunch of different residents and nurses, and even a few of the patients, but the person most wrote about in the side margarines was none other than Harry styles. Curly haired dickhead made me clean the patient's bed pans. I wonder what he'd look like if I dumped the shit on his desk. That one was his favourite out of all of them, but it was honestly hard to choose. He flipped through page after page, so engrossed in what was written he didn't hear the knocks on the door until it was too late.

He glanced up from the book just in time to see a bright red Louis running out of the room, and Harry would be lying if he said he didn't feel any pleasure in seeing how embarrassed the boy looked. Closing the book, Harry shut it in his desk drawer and locked it before he started after Louis, lab coat once again draped over his shoulders. "Call social services and let them know Jacob is awake," Harry told a man behind the desk as he passed. Jacob was a ward of the state, and social services have been putting off adopting him out until he had a clean bill of health. Now that the surgery was done with, they could have the couple that's been interested in him come and fill out the papers.

"Doctor McAsshole was just harassing one of the new doctors. I wanted to give him a piece of my mind, but he looked like he was pissed off and I didn't want to be on the receiving end of that wrath. I bet he'd be a great fuck when he's all hot and bothered like that," Harry recited a paragraph he had read from the book as he walked into Jacob's room, where Louis was curled up on a chair.

If Louis wasn't embarrassed enough, his face continued to heat up at the fact that Harry had memorized it to quote back to him, especially the part that maybe was a fantasy of his as Harry was good looking.

Ignoring the doctor, Louis perked up when a fellow nurse came in and handed a piece of paper to him. Thanking her, he glanced down at it then slid it into his pocket. "Are you a happy boy?" He looked over at the baby who was staring at Harry with a big grin on his face, obviously feeling ten times better than he did before the surgery.

Harry walked over to the bed, ignoring his curiosity over the note Louis got, and gently poked the infant's stomach, just feeling to see if there was any tenderness or bloating. When the baby only let out a little laugh, Harry picked him up and cradled him in his arm, careful of the wires and so he didn't put any pressure on his stomach. "Can I get a--" Harry let what he was asking die on his lips when he was passed a bottle. Nodding at the male nurse who left, the only male nurse he could stand, he walked past Louis and set in the chair. He needed to see if Jacob could keep his food down.

Biting down on his lip when the baby's attention was stolen by Harry, he took out the note he'd been given and quietly guffawed at what was written. It was high school-ish to send notes, but it was sometimes easier than texting, especially when certain supervisors were on duty. Using the table next to him, he scrawled out a reply and shoved it back into his pocket.

Turning to watch Harry and Jacob, he almost snickered when the infant fussed at the bottle and turned head away from it. For once, Louis didn't voice his opinion, instead choosing a different route. "So Harry, if someone had a suspicious lump under their armpit, what would you tell them to do about it?"

Harry didn't answer Louis for a few seconds. He struggled with Jacob for a little while before the infant realized what was being offered to him, then he greedily began to suck the nipple, fisted hands resting on either side of the bottle. "I would tell them to go to the doctors and have it checked out, then biopsied to see if it is cancerous or not, especially since their lymph nodes are located underneath their armpits. Which, you may know, can mean you have cancer if your lymph nodes start to swell or grow lumps," Harry said, glancing up at Louis. "Then I'd tell them they're an idiot for asking a doctor "hypothetical" questions instead of taking action and seeing if they have tumors or not," his eyebrow slowly raised in a I-know-it's-you-idiot-stop-pretending sort of way, and he smirked. "Is little Louis scared of asking Dr. McAsshole to check out his lump?"

The way Harry put it sounded so dirty. Glancing at the doctor, Louis began to squirm. "Look, I've seen it done so many times, but I'm not a huge fan of needles, so shut up." Louis grumbled. He went for the note in his pocket and uncapped a pen to scribble something else. Of course, Harry would see through Louis' question and know it was him. "At least it's not by my balls or anything." Shut UP, Louis!!!

Harry removed the empty bottle from the babys mouth and moved him to his shoulder so he could burp him. He was looking at a spot on the floor, but his attention was focused on the crinkling paper now shoved in Louis' pocket. What the fuck did it say? "Ignoring your comment about your balls, because I don't even want to think about them, I can perform an open surgery and put you under general anesthesia. The procedure will take around 45 minutes, and this way I'll be able to do the biopsy without listening to you hyperventilating or chance you passing out," he said, seeing a plus in either situation. Louis passes out, no talking. Louis is put under general anesthesia, no annoying ass thumb sucker for a few hours.

A sly grin crossed Louis' face. "Liar. I've seen the way you stare at my ass. Why do you think I'd constantly drop things in front of you?" Panic took over the grin, as he grabbed a burp rag and gently pushed Jacobs head up to lay the rag on Harry's shoulder. "Sorry buddy," Louis whispered to the baby when his eyes got wide. Leaning forward to rest elbows on his knees, "Yeah, except i'd rather avoid being put under. Im paranoid about everything. I have never had surgery or a major medical procedure done so let me mentally shit myself."

Harry gagged for show, but didn't exactly deny that he stared at Louis' ass. He did, even though most of the time they just drifted over to it unintentionally. He had the ass of a girl, who wouldn't stare at it? "Personal space, Gollum," Harry said, leaning as far back as he could in his chair when a sudden draft passed through the room and Louis' strawberry scented shampoo wafted up Harry's nose and wrapped around him like a warm blanket, reminding him of those summer days he used to go to his grandfather's farms and pick the strawberries off the vines. "I don't trust that you won't move while you are "mentally shifting yourself"," Harry said, hand rubbing the baby's back. "One twitch from you when we do this, and you'll be put under."

The gag made Louis laugh, Harry was only contradicting himself. Really? Lord of the Rings reference? "Obviously you have never dealt with a baby before as i saved your scrubs from being puked on." He made a happy face when Jacob looked at him, causing the baby to giggle then reach up to yank Harry's long locks - much like Louis ever dreamed of doing himself, thank you very much. "Do you even know how to put someone under?"

Harry glanced down at the baby, then up at Louis. Saving his scrubs? He didn't care about a little baby vomit. It wasn't like he was the idiot who left his extra pair of scrubs at home, anyway. "I'm not an idiot, Louis," he growled low in his throat and slowly uncurled the baby's fingers, then moved his hair so it was behind him and out of the baby's reach. Children and their damn need to yank on everything. "I've put more people under than weeks you've been alive," he said, scoffing. "Take the child. You need to watch him for the next hour and make sure he keeps his food down, then come to my office and report back to me," he handed the baby over to Louis, tossed the still clean burp rag into the crib, and stood up, crotch narrowly missing Louis' face.

"By the way," he began as he walked out of the room, shoes scuffing against the tiled floor. "I'm a better fuck when I'm in a good mood. When I'm pissy it ruins the mood," he grinned at Louis' reddening cheeks, winked, then walked away without another word. This was going to be fun.

Louis gladly took the baby. Jacob gave Louis a wide grin before vomiting down the front of his scrubs. Of course he would. It just wasn't Louis' day at all. Standing up, he gingerly held the baby to the side that wasn't too badly stained and headed for the locker room for his third - or was it fourth? costume change of the day. He figured Jacob was sick of lying in the bed and could use a change of scenery.