✦✦✦

THAT MORNING, WANDA AWOKE TO THE TV PLAYING AND HER PHONE ringing besides her. The night before, she had remembered driving home and collapsing on her couch, coat on and all. Her neck ached like hell, and she assumed she had slept on it weirdly.

She bit back a pained cry of pain as she attempted to turn her head, and she instinctively lifted a hand to guide it slowly around.

A frustrated groan erupted from her throat as her hand shot around to grip at her phone which was ringing to the point where she was ready to launch it out the window. Instead, she lifted it to her eyes, instantly shooting up as she read the name and her sense seemed to come flooding back.

My Nat 🖤 was the name illuminated, a piercing light through the darkness as Wanda remembered she had a shift that morning which began in twenty minutes. It took her that long to drive to the hospital.

Her hand swiped to the green button on her phone, dropping her phone on the bed as she stripped out of her coat and the rest of her clothes, pulling on her shirt which had the words "Wanda Maximoff" slapped in the centre of her chest.

"Wanda? Where the hell are you, you're literally always early?"

"I'm coming, just- shit," she cursed, cutting herself off as she began searching for her lab coat, only to remember she had packed it, along with her other stuff, in the bag she had failed to empty out the night before. She picked it up, throwing it over her shoulder as she grabbed her phone, swiping her keys off the glass table.

"Wanda," the voice whispered through her phone, and the redhead couldn't help but detect the softness in her friends tone. "Are you okay?"

She slammed her car door shut, turning her engine on as she lifted her phone to her ear, whispering, "I'm fine, Nat. Just.. a long day. Crashed on the couch and all. Anyway, I'll see you in a little bit."

"Okay, see you then, Maxi."

Dropping her phone into the passenger's seat, she began to drive to the hospital, attempting not to speed, a ticket was quite literally the last thing she needed.

✦✦✦

"Respectfully, you look like crap."

"Shut up, Barnes." She groaned, exasperated as she landed a playful punch to his shoulder. "I woke up late, almost clocked out completely."

"Mm I'm sure Sharon would've loved that," he scoffed, taking a swig from his coffee cup, a scowl painting over his face as he realised it was empty, making Wanda stifle a snicker.

"Shut up, Barnes," she repeated, a smile on her face as she walked away.

She had patients to check up on, a girl had come in with her friend that day who had a swollen knee and seemed to be severly intoxicated and claimed that she had only had two drinks the night before. But by the looks at her barely standing straight, Wanda didn't buy it.

Wanda walked in the room later to check up on the girl, only to find her with her friend, giggling.

"Uh, sorry to interrupt-" She began, knocking awkwardly at the glass as she let herself in, silencing the girls almost immediately. "I just need to ask you a few questions about last night."

"I told you, I had two glasses of red wine, and a shit ton of water because I didn't want hangover. I planned to do work for my Enviormental Studies final on fieldwork, which clearly didn't go well," she said, muttering the last part under her breath, causing both girls to erupt into another episode of giggles.

Wanda looked away, opening her mouth to ask more questions and interrupt the girls once again. Its not that she didn't get wasted as a teenager, God knew she had her far share of bad nights, but she had never wound up in hospital. But it would have been so much easier if this girl had been completely honest with her.

And then, almost as if to break Wanda out of her trance, the girl started shaking, vigorously, body going limp as it convulsed and her eyes fell shut.

"She seizing," Wanda said calmly, not to panic the other girl as she averted her attention to the nurse who had walked by, Maria.

"Get one of Ativan, I'll get her airway," the woman said, pulling out a tube as she watched her stats which were currently plummeting.

As soon as the nurse returned, Wanda assisted her in injecting the Ativan into the girl, pushing the tube into her airway gently to assist her breathing to return to normal as her body relaxed from its vicious convulsions.

"She should be okay for now, let me know when she's up I'll have some questions for her," she said, sending a nod to Maria as the two left the room together.

"All this from a night of drinking? I don't buy it."

"Probably just doesn't wanna get caught, we can try and talk to her without the friend?" she suggested, and Wanda simply hummed in agreement.

"You ever get wasted like this?" The ravenette questioned, and Wanda couldn't help a surpised yelp of laughter in response.

"Me? Not once," she assured, but at her friends unbelieving gaze, she corrected herself, "Okay maybe once."

"Mhm, Miss teachers pet, straight A student Wanda Maximoff got black out wasted in her youth," the nurse laughed, placing a hand on the redheads shoulder as she shook her jokingly.

"And what about you, Miss Hill? Any crazy nights?"

"Certainly more than you," she chuckled, drawing one out of Wanda. "But that, is a story for another night, anyway, Tony paged me, I've gotta go. Apparently Strange's sister is here?"

To be completely honest, Wanda had forgotten about his existence that day, and she was content with that. Incredibly content with not being roped into his life, or his patients, or apparently him. She shook her head, playing the whole sitaution off as if she wasn't thinking about the fucking hug which she was pretty sure she had dreamed.

"Oh? Do they know what's wrong with her?" She was met by a shake of the girls head as she walked away, and Wanda just watched as she left.

The redhead picked up a pen, she had a pile of files and discharge papers to get through still, so she sat and decided she would begin to work on it, in an attempt to distract her mind from circling what the nurse had just told her.

Safe to say, she was not succeeding.

✦✦✦

"Maximoff, I got results for the tests you ordered," a voice called out to the woman as she stepped out of a patients room. "You know for the drunk girl?"

"Don't call her that, it's unprofessional," Wanda scolded lightly to Sam, who shrugged.

"Just saying it how it is," he defended, passing the file into her hands as he felt the full force of her glare. He fought off a smirk on his face, she'd probably kill him if he did anything snarkier. With a fond shake of her head, she inspected the file, a frown falling over her face.

"Her UTOX is negative, no drugs. I really have no idea whats going on here," she groaned, a hand running over her face as Sam just watched her sympathetically.

"Fuck," he swore under his breath, a hand going to rub at his forearm as Wanda raised a quizzical brow at the movement, urging him to explain. He shook his head, a grim smile on his face. "You know that date I went on with the blonde chick from Tinder? Yeah, it turned out shit, I got bit by a spider."

He cringed as the material of his jacket brushed against the wound as he pulled the sleeve up to show her the damage. It was an ugly red wound, the skin surrounding it scarlet. Wanda, however, wasn't paying attention as she stared at it, before whipping her head around to the room of her patient.

"Yeahh, itches like a bitc- Wanda?" He interrupted himself as he watched a smile grow on her face, and a puzzled look on his own. Why Wanda looked so happy that he had got bitten by a spider was beyond him.

"Okayy.. Wanda, can you explain?" He urged, and she let out a relieved laugh as she shook her head. She turned back to her patient, casting the girl a last glance through the glass before turning back to Sam.

"Environmental studies, the puffy knee, dehydration. Maybe I do know the reason," she smirked, "We have one last test to run."

He nodded obediently, confusion still evident across his features as he silently wondered how him talking about his horrid date gave her answers to a patient mystery. But by the look of victory on her face, he supposed it wasn't a bad thing. With a shake of his head and a fond scoff, he trailed behind the redhead.

Later on in the day, Wanda was met by one of the Pathology residents passing her a file with results for the last test she ran, and she barely fought off the victorious smile playing at her lips. With a skim of the file, finding her theories to be correct, she thanked the nurse before pulling on a pair of gloves and retreating to the girls room.

She landed two knocks on the door before it swung open and was met by the girls friend looking desperate.

"Do you know what's wrong with her?" She asked, worry painted across her creased features as her friend called out from behind her that she was fine. Wanda smiled softly, they had a sweet friendship, and it made the redhead miss her girls from highschool. But now, she had her coworkers from the hospital, and she wouldn't trade them for the world.

"We do. How are you feeling there, Nancy?"

"As good as you can for someone who almost died," she deadpanned, earning a scowl from her friend. She simply layed a hand on the girls arm, assuring her that it was just a joke and she felt fine.

"Well thats good. Anyway, your results are in and it turns out you have Lyme disease."

"Lyme disease?" She asked, slightly shocked.

"Yeah, probably from one of your field trips for environmental studies. Possibly a tick bite, but we are going to put you on an Antibiotic course. Its likely we caught this early enough to avoid any long-term consequences." Wanda assured, a soft smile on her face as she watched the two girls visibly relax at the news.

"Thank you, doctor," she thanked, and Wanda nodded, her smile growing ever so slightly.

"My pleasure," she whispered, before ducking out of the room, the smile plastered on her face not budging as she continued back to her desk.

On the way, she spotted Maria speaking to a patient before walking away, and she decided she would go attempt to catch up to the woman.

"Hey, Ria. Do you know what was up with Strange's sister?" She asked, her mouth forming the words before her brain could catch up with them. In all honesty, she didn't know why she cared, but the thought kept nipping at her, and she felt complied to ask.

Surprisingly, Maria frowned, sighing, "She just got diagnosed with Leukemia. No one's told her brother yet, she doesn't want him to know."

Wanda couldn't help the own frown which fell on her face, completely killing her good mood from mere minutes ago, "Aren't you required to tell him?"

Maria nodded grimly, "She's seventeen, still underage, so yeah, we have to, can't figure out who's gonna do it though, because she utterely refuses even though we told her we have to."

Wanda couldn't stop the words as they spilled out from her, coming from a place in her heart she was unaware even existed. She shouldn't have cared as much as she did, she barely even knew this girl. The sister of a doctor who didn't even like her, it was in her natural instinct to have sympathy, but this was beyond that.

And so, without a trace of hesitancy in her voice, Wanda surprised even herself as she agreed.

"I'll do it."

a/n: sorry for the late upload, icl my motivation for this book is going down, and this was the last of my pre-written chapters lmao. but its ok bc ill probs still post, just slower. hope you enjoyed this one <3