Lee took in the man before him and was completely blown away. Doctor Jack Hunter was one of his idols and he was now finally getting to see the face behind the name. He was surprised with what he saw but he didn't know why. Jack was a short man with receding dark hair and vampire-like brown eyes; his pale skin only enhancing that aspect of his appearance. He was also dressed in a suit that looked strangely familiar to the ones that Lee had seen at Robert's funeral. He'd taught himself long ago how important a wardrobe choice could be in a hospital but he wasn't going to say anything to this man, at least not yet anyway.

Dr. Hunter had called all available personnel to one of the bigger meeting rooms in the hospital and had introduced himself as their temporary boss whilst Dr. Kent was away.

"Now, I don't know how long I'm going to be here but it doesn't matter. Everywhere that I work I implement the same high standards and the same rules everywhere. If anyone, and I mean anyone, doesn't meet these standards and abide by my laws then there will not be a place for them at this hospital under my control. Is that understood?" Jack asked the packed room. Taking their silence as a "Yes", he continued. "Excellent. Now I'm going to be holding sit down interviews with everyone over the course of this week so that I can get to know you all better. I need a team that I can trust and this is my way of doing so. No one will be getting fired, unless they are totally incompetent, but I will only give major duties to those I believe can actually handle them. The vibe I've gotten from this hospital so far is a very relaxed one, and quite frankly I find that unacceptable"

Lee spotted Charlie and Summer sharing a worried glance. Carly wasn't in the room as she was busy taking blood samples from some patients when the immediate meeting had been called.

"This is a hospital. Not an office block on a Friday afternoon where everyone discusses their personal lives and eats cakes. People are depending on us to be on our toes and be one-hundred-per-cent focussed at all times. If you feel any differently to that then you know exactly where the door is"

Along with all of his other colleagues, Lee looked towards the door but no one used it.

"Excellent. You may be excused. Back to what you were doing. I'll collect you all when I decide to interview you so please, don't be too hard to find"

The air seemed to return to the room as it was slowly evacuated. Being near the front of the makeshift lecture hall, Lee was at the end of the queue to leave.

"Doctor Dawson. May I speak with you a moment?" Jack asked, halting Lee even more.

Lee wouldn't admit it to anyone, but he was a little nervous. Clearly Dr. Hunter was a perfectionist and although he was completely confident in his ability, he wondered if perhaps his own standards had slipped since taking on a lighter work schedule.

"How can I help you sir?" Lee asked once the room was empty except for him and Jack.

"From the notes that Doctor Kent has left me, I gather that you're the most respected doctor here. Is that correct?"

"I certainly hope so. I do my best" Lee shrugged.

"Glad to hear it. Although I do have to ask. What is someone as capable as you doing in a place like this?" Jack asked.

"I'm not sure I follow?" Lee replied, wondering if he was being tested already. Was this his interview?

"Well I myself am used to the big city. Not this backwater hole of a city. Surely you're the same? I mean, just two weeks ago I was fixing Brandon Lane's broken wrist and now I'm preparing a urine sample for a sixty-two year old man"

"Who's Brandon Lane?" Lee asked. Jack sighed and changed the subject.

"Never mind. How about you introduce me to some of your patients, Doctor Dawson"

As they briskly walked the halls, Lee decided to try making some more small talk with his new boss.

"So you're from Baltimore huh?"

"That's right" Jack answered, keeping his stare fixed forwards.

"Are you a football fan? Ravens?"

"Also right"

"I'm a Steelers fan myself. I guess nobody's perfect huh?" Lee joked. The Steelers and Ravens football teams shared one of the biggest rivalries in the NFL.

"Clearly" Jack mused.

"We should go out and watch the game in a few weeks. Get a few beers on the go"

"We'll see" Jack replied, still looking like an uninterested zombie. Lee's face dropped, unsure if this was just Jack's demeanour or if he was being given the cold shoulder already. It was this last thought that propelled him to say what he did next.

"Doctor Hunter, I just want to say that I'm a big fan of yours. I always have been. You actually inspired me quite a lot when I was in medical school"

"Do we have much further to go Mr. Dawson? I don't have all day here to roam the halls like a lost mental patient" Jack asked. Definitely the cold shoulder, Lee thought.

It took almost forty-five minutes to get through all of Lee's patients, and whilst Doctor Hunter checked everything on their medical charts and took many notes, he barely said two words to any of them. Now came the final patient, Chris.

"Hey Chris, how are you doing?" Lee asked.

"Much better thanks" Chris smiled at his visitors. "Seeing my parents helped, so thank you"

"Don't mention it" Lee nodded before turning to his companion. "This is Doctor Hunter; he's going to be taking charge of the ward for a while"

Chris sniggered at the introduction, confusing both doctors.

"Is something funny?" Jack asked.

"It's nothing, it just sounded funny in my head" Chris explained. "Doctor Hunter. It sounds like you hunt doctors down, you know "The Doctor Hunter" could be like a TV show or something" He laughed, but promptly stopped when he saw that Hunter wasn't amused.

"Why is Mr. Taylor here, Doctor Dawson?" Jack asked Lee, who explained the situation.

"So I suggested we keep him in for observation until we can determine what's wrong, or at least what's causing the problems" He finished.

"I see. And tell me, Doctor Dawson. What happens when we have an emergency and we can't find a bed for a patient because all of our spares are taken up by people who seem to be in perfectly good health?" Jack asked, his face expectant.

"Well I doubt that would be a problem. We have plenty of spare beds. It's highly unlikely that we're going to need them all at the same time" Lee argued.

"And you can predict this, can you? Because in my experience as a doctor, things can happen at any time and we have to be prepared for absolutely every eventuality, no matter how likely or not it is"

"Sir, I wouldn't feel comfortable sending Mr. Taylor out of here without diagnosing his condition. There's clearly something going on if this keeps happening"

"And yet all the tests and scans are coming back with nothing. Is this correct or are you just making things up on this chart that I'm reading?" Jack challenged.

For the first time in recent memory, Lee found himself speechless. He couldn't believe this was happening.

"You know the policy Doctor Dawson; if this man is healthy then he doesn't belong here in this hospital"

"You can't just kick him out" Lee cried.

"I can do whatever I want because I am in charge now. Doctor Kent might let you away with keeping people in because you like their company but I will not. I'm sorry Mr. Taylor but I'm going to discharge you this afternoon. I suggest you gather your things and call someone to come and pick you up" Jack said before storming out of the room.

Lee called after him a number of times but didn't get a response. He stared at the open door in disbelief before turning back to Chris.

"Hey, look, don't worry about it ok?" Chris shrugged. "Maybe he's right. Nothing's happened to me since I've been here so maybe whatever it was, it's gone?"

"I'm sorry, Chris" Was all Lee managed to say.

"Hey, don't worry about it. You did everything you could. I can't thank you enough"

Despite Chris' positive words of encouragement, Lee found it hard to believe them.

After work, Lee was telling Carly (who still hadn't met Dr. Hunter) about the incident with Chris.

"You should have seen his parents' face, Carly. Chris tried to get me off the hook with them but I know it didn't work. If looks could kill"

"Then we'd have an even harder job" Carly added. "Maybe you just caught him on a bad day? I thought this guy was supposed to be some sort of super doctor?"

"He is. I just didn't realise he was such an asshole too. God, I hope Chris is going to be ok"

"So do I but there's nothing you can do right now. And from what you've told me, Jack doesn't seem as bad as you'd think" Carly said as she finished loading the dishwasher.

"Have you been listening to a word I've said? He practically threw Chris out of the hospital and basically admitted that he's a tyrant"

"He sounds just like someone else I know when I first met him. First impressions can be a little misleading" Carly raised her eyebrows at Lee.

"I was nothing like that" Her husband argued when he realised who she meant.

"Says you! Now you know what it was like working with you all that time!"

"That's offensive!" Lee said pointing at her. "You're lucky I'm going for drinks with the guys tonight"

"Please, Lee. I wasn't scared of you then and I sure as hell am not scared of you now" Carly laughed. Lee simply sulked at her words before getting out and meeting Mark and Shinsuke at the bar where he told them the story about Chris as well.

"This guy sounds like a grade-A douche. I'm just going to try stay out of his way" Mark muttered before taking a large swig of beer. He could drink faster than anyone Lee had ever met.

"I think I'll do the same if I can" Lee nodded, "They say you should never meet your heroes and boy, are they right".

"Back in Tokyo I knew a man called Hiro. And he was also an asshole" Shinsuke informed them. Both Lee and Mark stared at him, wondering what the relevance of his story was to the current topic of conversation. He'd already confused them enough by buying a large cocktail drink, which looked to have more fruit in it than liquid, instead of a beer.

"Anyway" Lee shook his head and got back on topic, "I just hope Angela isn't gone for too long. It seems like this Hunter guy really wants me to help him out here and I am not good at pretending I want to be somewhere"

"Speaking of Angela, I heard she asked you to mentor some of the junior doctors. How is that going?" Mark asked.

"Ugh" was all Lee gave as a response.

"Doctor Dawson hates children" Shinsuke told Mark.

"It's not that" Lee started, but changed his mind, "Ok, it's a bit of that. I haven't had much interaction with the girl but the boy, Charlie. I'm sure he's a decent doctor but I just get the impression that he's treating this like it's just a job. He needs to realise that it's more than that"

"You should feed him to Doctor Hunter. He will not enjoy that" Suggested Shinsuke.

"I wouldn't even wish that on him" Laughed Lee.

"You should have invited him out here tonight" Said Mark. "We could have given him some extracurricular advice or whatever"

"And end up with him going on a huge bender? No thanks"

"Is that what you did when you were his age?" Asked Mark.

"Well no but-".

"Well how do you know he will do that?" Shinsuke asked.

"It's what kids do these days isn't it? I've seen the news" Lee said defensively.

"And I've seen Godzilla. It doesn't mean it's true" Dr. Nagatomo told him.

"You're Japanese, that's different" Mark joked.

"Hey! That's racist" Shinsuke warned. "And just remember that in the nineties movie, he attacked New York"

"So what?" Mark shrugged, "They always attack New York in the movies. It's like the hipster thing for monsters to do"

"You guys are idiots" Lee told them, without joking even slightly.

"This is pop culture talk, Lee. This doesn't concern you, you. You wouldn't understand" Mark pointed towards Lee, just like Dr. Dawson had done to Carly earlier on.

"I'm getting another round" Lee sighed as he stood up and left his colleagues to whatever the hell they were about to debate next.

Because he was working again the next morning, that next drink was Lee's last before he started to walk home. His pace was quicker than usual due to the coming winter but that didn't concern him too much. It wasn't far to his house from the bar so he didn't mind walking. The stroll gave him some time to think about everything that had happened that day.

He was completely sure that he hadn't done anything wrong with Chris. Sure, technically they should have discharged him when they didn't find anything but Lee felt it was his duty to find out the cause of Chris' problems. He was amazed that Dr. Hunter didn't seem to agree at all. Even if he'd admitted to understanding Lee's decision and still kicked Chris out, he'd have been a bit happier but as it stood, he just felt as though he was being undermined. Perhaps his new boss was just trying to make an example of him as he was apparently the most senior member of staff behind the departed Dr. Kent.

His frustration at Hunter's attitude then led Lee to think of something else. Had he done exactly the same thing to Charlie? He still felt that he had to tell young Dr. Dolan what he did but maybe he could have done it better? Lee had never been good at teaching people anything, a trait which came mostly from being an only child. It also happened because he hadn't really had any friends growing up. From an early age, Lee Dawson was on his own.

Despite what Carly had said, people did used to fear him before he met her and he was now toned down somewhat. He was only just used to working as part of a cohesive team and now it seemed like Jack was determined to tear that team apart. He hoped that Carly was right and it was just an off day for the experienced doctor. Maybe he just wanted to make a grand impression on his first day. That was a feeling that Lee knew well.

He thought back to his first day at The University of Vermont Medical Centre. After Carly had given him the grand tour, he'd been thrust straight into the deep end with a bad car accident on the outskirts of the city. The victims had been brought in and were given little to no chance of survival. Lee however, was determined to not make his first day be marred by death. He did everything he could to rush one of them into theatre and to resuscitate the other. In typical Doctor Dawson fashion, both survived and left without a scratch on them.

Everyone applauded his efforts and he proudly soaked it in, only to collapse in a heap the second he was alone. He hadn't even noticed he was scared until he realised they'd be ok and that he had succeeded.

He knew all about first day nerves, and recounting his own feelings when faced with that situation, he found himself a little more understanding of Dr. Hunter's apparent disdain for him and everyone around him. Was Carly right? Maybe he was more like him than he thought?

In a way he hoped that it was the case, because if the past had taught Lee anything, it was that even the most stubborn and angry people can be changed when given the right help.

As he arrived home and got undressed and ready for bed, he made a promise to himself to try and start afresh with his new boss in the morning.

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So what do we think of chapter 6? Is Dr. Hunter evil? Or is he just a modern day Dawson?

What do you guys think will happen next!?

If you're enjoying the story then please don't forget to vote and comment on your thoughts so I know how you're liking the story! :)