The next few days would go down in the hospitals history as their quietest in years. Despite the weather conditions changing, the roads remained safe. No one had decided to assault anyone and none of the city's more colourful characters were doing anything stupid.

The staff, although pleased, was getting restless. Initially they'd been spending as much time conversing with their colleagues as possible; capitalizing on the respite they'd been given. Unfortunately, they'd run out of things to say to each other, and now the doctors remained in their offices, the nurses remained at their station and Charlie and Summer found themselves sitting in the waiting room as if they were patients themselves. If boredom was an ailment then they would definitely be considered patients.

"Did you think this would be our learning experience? Sitting here like this?" Asked Charlie.

"Definitely not" Sighed Summer. Although, as predicted, she'd started wearing less make up, the nonexistent stress at work had seen her start to look as if she was on a night out once more. Thankfully for her, Charlie had told her that it was just the right amount so that she didn't look like a clown. "I swear I've read this same magazine like eight times and I still don't care who Taylor Swift is breaking up with this week" She sighed again, slamming the catalogue down on one of the dull, beige, leather chairs.

"I can't believe they force people to read that stuff here" Said Charlie, "It's a form of torture. They might as well water board people here while they're at it"

"Maybe that's what Doctor Hunter does in his office all day. I haven't seen him in days"

"No I reckon that whatever he does in there is far more sinister than that" Charlie shivered. "Oh great" He sighed upon seeing Lee approaching them.

"Hey guys" He smiled through gritted teeth as he sat down between the two junior doctors.

"Hi Doctor Dawson. Is there something we can help you with?" Summer asked politely.

"Actually, I was wondering if I could talk to Doctor Dolan. I've been looking for you for days" He said.

"Yes. And I've been avoiding you like Ebola" Charlie told him.

"Charlie!" Hissed Summer. "Don't say that word in a hospital!"

"It's fine" Lee told her. He was used to people talking to him like this.

Just then, the front doors burst open and a gurney was hurriedly wheeled in by a group of paramedics.

"We need some help here, stat!" Cried one of the EMT's.

"What's going on?" Lee asked, leaping to his feet and over to the rushing stretcher in the blink of an eye.

"There was a huge house fire downtown. No fatalities but a couple with minor burns and smoke inhalation. They need checked out straight away" Explained the paramedic.

"I'll do it!" Summer cried, springing up straight away.

"I'll help you!" Charlie followed but was cut off by Lee.

"We need that chat" The senior doctor told him.

"But we have crispy people!" Pleaded Charlie.

"I've got it" Mark called, alerting everyone to his sudden appearance. It seemed that word had spread as fast as the fire apparently had and now everyone was coming out, looking for some action.

"And so does Summer" Lee said, for both her benefit and Charlie's.

"Let's get them straight to the burns unit, people. Doctor Harrington, are you ready?" Mark asked, all traces of the fun dinner host gone. This was the most professional she had seen him.

"Absolutely, this is the kind of thing I've been waiting for! I'm so excited!" She gleamed, but quickly recovered herself and followed Mark down the hall.

"You're turning into me!" Charlie called to her bitterly before turning his attention back to Lee, who asked why Summer was so happy that a couple of people were almost burned to death. "Oh, she doesn't mean it like that. Her dream is to be a paramedic. I guess this is as close to field training as she's going to get right now" He explained.

"I didn't know that" Lee mused.

"You never asked" Charlie shrugged, forcing Lee to laugh. It certainly wasn't the first time he'd been told that.

"So look, Charlie, I want to apologise for biting your head of the other day" Lee sighed. He had never been good at apologising.

"What about the time before that?"

"That too"

"And the time before that?"

"Then too"

"What about the time before that?"

"Ok, I get it! I've been a little unfair to you. But it's only because I believe in you. You have great potential, that's why you've made it this far. I just want you to keep focussed. That's all" Lee explained.

"Well can't you do that without being such a Nazi?"

"I'll try" Lee laughed. "In the meantime, Carly gave me a pretty good idea the other day that I think will help you. And seeing as Doctor Harrington now has a pretty serious task with the burn victims, how about the next patient to walk through that door is all yours?"

"For real?" Asked Charlie, brightening up as his attitude vanished.

"Absolutely"

"Alright then. Hell yeah!" Charlie cried with excitement.

The two of them waited for almost twenty minutes without any luck. Finally, their fortunes changed when they heard the female receptionist gasping.

"Is everything ok?" Lee asked wearily.

"I was just watching the security monitor" She explained. "There's a man charging towards the door"

"Finally! Time to go save some lives!" Charlie grinned.

"But he's-" The woman tried to explain before being cut off by Doctor Dawson.

"Sharon, it's fine. We've got this" He smirked confidently.

"Holy shit, you've got to be kidding" Charlie cried, his sentence sounding as though it was just one word.

"What is it? Oh my Christ" Lee whispered as he spun round to see what had stunned Charlie so much. Now he fully understood what the receptionist had been trying to tell them.

Before them now stood a bald old man, wearing nothing but his wide rimmed glasses. Everything else was on show. Everything.

"How can we help you sir?" Charlie nervously asked the naked man.

"The bandits are coming! The bandits are coming!" Cried the man, who then began running around the reception as if he was possessed.

"The bandits?" Charlie cried in confusion.

"Who are the bandits, sir?" Lee called, trying to grab the man's attention. It clearly worked because the man stopped all of a sudden, walked over to the wary doctors and squared up to Lee, sneering.

"I know your kind, partner" He spat.

"There's a naked guy in front of you" Charlie pointed out the obvious.

"Sir, how about we get you some clothes and then get you settled down a bit huh?" Lee suggested, trying to guide the man away from the prying eyes of the crowd that had now gathered to watch the naked man on the rampage.

"Get your hands off me!" The man cried, throwing his arms in the air and almost catching Lee in the face.

"Winston!" Cried a woman's voice, dragging everyone's attention back to the front door. "There you are, you crazy fool!" She cried, marching up to the man.

"Ma'am, do you know this guy?" Asked Charlie.

"Yes, this is my husband. Winston Banks. We live just down the road and I swear I turned my back for five seconds and he goes off on some naked run!" The woman explained to the young doctor.

"And your name is?" Charlie asked again.

"Betsy. Betsy Banks"

"He seems a little . . . agitated" Lee struggled to find the best way to approach Winston's ravings.

"He has dementia. And MS. And right now he thinks this is the old west. I'm amazed he made it here at all" She answered the doctor.

"And you two live alone?" Charlie asked her. His surprise evident in his voice.

The woman confirmed that they did and that they were completely fine that way.

"Alright, well Doctor Dolan here will get you both settled into a room, and get your husband some clothes, wont you Doctor?" Lee grinned at Charlie.

"Me?" Gulped the youngster.

"Well we did say that the next patient was all yours" Lee reminded him. Charlie sighed heavily but complied nonetheless.

"Come on then Mr. Banks, let's find you something to cover up that sexy body of yours" He spoke to the man as if he was a child.

Normally, Lee would scold him for that too, but he saw that it was actually working on naked Winston. He barely managed to contain a fit of laughter as he watched Charlie and Betsy walking the old man down the corridors, his pale backside staring at him like a watchful guard.

*

Having heard about what had happened at reception, Carly went about the rest of her shift with a permanent smile on her face. She wished that she could have seen the reactions on both doctors' faces as the streaker entered the hospital.

She didn't have too much to do, so she just kept going round checking on each of her patients over and over again, her route resembling that of one of the hands on a clock.

After what felt like the millionth check of everyone, she decided to go for her break and was now sitting in the cafeteria, not quite enjoying a sandwich. She was almost halfway through it when she felt her table shifting ever so slightly, indicating that someone was now sitting next to her. She craned her head round slowly to look at her new companion and was surprised to find Dr. Hunter smiling at her.

"Hello Carly" He whispered.

"Uh . . . hi?" She said with her mouth still full.

"I'm not interrupting am I?" He asked. Carly shook her head. "Excellent. I just wanted to apologise for any confusion that may have occurred between us last week"

"What do you mean?" Carly asked, after finally swallowing her food.

"Well when I asked if you wanted to go for dinner, you preceded to tell me about your marriage to Doctor Dawson"

"And?"

"Well I just want you to know that I wasn't trying to make it a date or anything of that sort, simply a meeting of work colleagues"

"Right" Carly muttered, unsure why if this was the case, Jack hadn't told her in the first place. She decided that she'd take a bit of a risk now that she had Jack one on one. "I guess your wife would be relieved with that?"

"My wife?" Jack visibly stiffened.

"Yeah, I heard you talking about her with one of your patients. Mrs. Perkins" She lied, using the information she'd received from Charlie.

"I see" Jack muttered before continuing. "Well want to know a little secret, Nurse Dawson? I'm not married" He showed her his un-banded finger. "I just say things like that because I feel rather uncomfortable when patients try and get a little too intimate with their conversations. I'm here to cure them, not get to know them"

"Well, thank you for enlightening me" She smiled, not really sure why he was telling her this, or if she should even believe him.

"You obviously have a different view" He mused.

"What?"

"Well you married the doctor. Forgive me if it sounds rude, but I wouldn't have been happy if any of my staff were as intimate as that while I was in charge. I guess they do things differently in Pittsburgh" Jack spoke sounding more arrogant than Carly had ever heard him before.

"We never let it interfere with our work" She told him, although she knew she didn't have to justify herself.

"Oh, of course not. You're both very professional, I wouldn't suggest anything else" He assured her. "He's a strange one though, isn't he? Doctor Dawson? A very closed off individual. I'm surprised he let you get close to him at all"

"It did take some time" Admitted Carly.

"I'm sure, I'm sure. You don't strike me as the type of person who would fall for someone like that. I see a sense of adventure in you. I don't get that with him"

If Carly had been confused before, she was even more so now. What exactly was Dr. Hunter trying to say?

"Well, it works for us" She shrugged.

Undeterred, Jack continued. "I'm glad. Really I am. It'd be a shame if it didn't. Someone like you really deserves all that life can offer. You deserve to travel the world, go to some fun shows and concerts, have kids even. Have you spoke about kids? Doctor Dawson doesn't seem too fond of these young upstarts that he's been paired up with"

"Well, quite honestly I don't think that's any of your business" Carly said, trying to sound as friendly as possible, although she was beginning to feel her skin crawl.

"Of course, of course. I hear you went to Germany for your honeymoon. That must have been fantastic"

"It was. It's an amazing place, have you been?" The nurse asked, glad the subject seemed to be changing.

"I don't think it's my kind of place" Jack told her despondently. "I much prefer something like having lunch on the river Seine in Paris, watching the cruises go by. Have you ever been to Paris, Carly?"

"No I haven't, I'm afraid. I would love to though" She said, her mind drifting away to thoughts of the Eiffel Tower and Louvre museum.

"It doesn't really strike me as Lee's kind of place though" Jack stated and then stared at her, waiting for her reaction.

Carly sat, silently stewing over the fact that she found her relationship under the microscope once more. Luckily, the situation appeared to be rescued then, as Doctor Dolan sat down opposite the two of them. He seemed to come straight out of the air. Carly wondered if it was possible to have wished him here so much that it had actually happened.

"Hey guys" He sighed. "What a day I am having"

"Doctor Dolan" Jack greeted him, clearly annoyed at the interruption. "Shouldn't you be tending to your new patient?"

"He's asleep, thank god" Charlie rolled his eyes. "I swear he had more meat than that sandwich you've got there"

Carly made a show of pushing her plate as far away from her as possible.

"I'm actually here for Carly" Charlie turned his attention to the no longer hungry nurse. Carly smiled, thanking her lucky stars that she might finally be getting away from the interrogation of Jack Hunter. Her smile didn't last long though.

"They just brought somebody in and Doctor Dawson told me to go and find you straight away. You'll want to be here for this" He explained.

"Why? What's going on?" Carly asked, a hint of panic creeping into her voice. What Charlie said to her next sent a shiver straight down her spine and lead her to get up and run to where the newest patient was being held.

"It's Chris Taylor. He's back in"

________________________________________________________________________________________

Poor Chris! Do we think he'll be ok?

And what about Dr. Hunter and his plan? What do you think he's playing at?

On a brighter note, I tried to make this chapter the funniest one yet so please let me know how I did!

As always, any votes, comments and reads are very much appreciated so THANK YOU ALL!