My Fake Lieutenant Boyfriend

Chapter 3: Katie

What the f**k is his problem? What did he do to that inmate? Hell, what did he say to that inmate?

I just shake my head and step further into the health care unit. I need to find my director of nursing and let her know I’ve arrived. I look around the unit and head to a desk that is in the middle of the room. I see an older woman in her forties sitting behind the desk with glasses perched on the end of her nose.

“Excuse me,” I say to her.

She pops her head up with a stern look and I smile politely at her as she gives me a one over. “Oh… You must be the new nurse. Mrs. Smith is in the office with Mrs. Murray. They have been waiting on you.”

I nod my head and start walking to where she pointed. “Thank you,” I say over my shoulder as I walk to the first door I find. I see both ladies sitting behind desks talking to one another about the schedule and payroll as I give a quick knock to the open door. “Excuse me. I was told I could find Mrs. Smith here?”

Both ladies pop their heads up and look at me with some confusion until Mrs. Smith claps her hands excitedly. “Oh! Miss Parks, I am so happy to see you. First off, we love your brother. He is so good to us and treats us all so nicely.”

I smile and nod my head as she talks about my brother. I know he is a good guy, but I didn’t come here to live in his shadow. I came here to make a name for myself.

“Anyway, you are going to be working with our sick call nurse tonight. She is going to go over how to do the NET Tools and put in orders with you. Just sit back and watch and just take today to relax and get used to the new environment.”

I smile and nod my head to her. “Of course… Is there anything else I need to know before I go?”

She smiles and shakes her head. “I don’t think so. If you have any questions don’t be afraid to ask. If you need help, let us know as well.”

I nod my head and leave the office as I make my way to the sick call nurse. Well, who I assumed was the sick call nurse. I stop in front of a white haired nurse with stern eyes and wrinkles from how much frowning she has done over the years. I smile and nod my head to her as I come closer. “Hi, are you the sick call nurse?”

She sighs and nods her head. “Today I am. You must be the new kid. So, how much nursing experience do you have?”

I bite my lip and shake my head. “None. I just graduated from nursing school about two weeks ago.”

The older woman snorts and shakes her head. “Do you even have your nursing license yet?”

I blush and shake my head slowly. “Not yet. I have a temporary license, but I will take my boards in less than a week.”

The older woman sighs and rolls her eyes as she sits me down next to her. “Alright, well, there is no point in arguing over this now. So, this is how we do this. We pull the sick calls out of the sick call box. It is over there on the wall and the inmates can slide the papers into the slot but only we can take them out. We read the sick call slips and pull their charts. Once we pull their charts, we pull the NET Tool that correlates with what they say their issue is. After that, we wait for an officer before we can really do the NET Tool. You can pre-fill it out, but only the things we know like his name, his state I.D, and his date of birth. Knowing his current medications will also be helpful so we don’t give him something he already has on his chart.”

I nod my head at her as she continues to explain everything to me before we even truly get started with the workload for the day. I watch her carefully as she starts to show me the computer and all of the stuff we have to do on it and I stop her quickly. “So, this guy, he just got something for pain like a day ago. Do we still give him the same thing when he is complaining of pain?”

She shakes her head. “No… They like to hoard these over the counter drugs and sell them to other inmates. It is part of how they do their bartering system here inside of the camp.”

I c**k my head to the side and look at her confused. “Bartering system? What do you mean? Why would anybody want something like Ibuprofen or Tylenol that bad? What would they get in return for that stuff?”

The older nurse scoffs and shakes her head slowly. “You really are new… Yes, there is an internal bartering system within the walls of the prison. They use common things like sodas, snacks, over the counter medications, and other commonplace things to barter with other inmates for things they want. Things like oral s*x, anal s*x, drugs to get them high, and even things like bunk placement. These guys don’t care how they get what they want just as long as they get it.” She sighs and shakes her head slowly. “The sad part is these guys are actively seeking these drugs when really and truly they should just be focussing on religion and trying to stay alive in here.”

I look at her confused and shake my head. “What do you mean by staying alive?”

As if on cue from the heavens above, the radio in the health care unit went off with someone screaming the phrase man down.

The older nurse sighs and shakes her head as she stands up and walks over to the radio and pulls it to her face. “Go ahead with the location.”

“We are ten-seventeen to medical.” The voice is male but it is unclear as to who it belongs to. He says a name and a six digit number over the radio before the charge nurse nods her head.

“Ten-four,” the older nurse repeats as she turns around to face the others. “Alright ladies, you all heard the man. We have a man down on its way to medical, right now. Someone go pull the crash cart to the open stretcher, someone else needs to go and grab the NET Tool from the shelves, I need one person to grab the vital signs equipment, and I need another person to grab his chart out of the filing room. You all have your assignments, now get to moving. We only have about two minutes before all hell breaks loose in here.”

All of the other nurses jump into action. There is one running for the charts to find the name of the inmate that was announced over the radio, another one is rushing to the back to grab the crash cart with all of the stuff we are going to need to run this code, and I watch as another one runs over to the shelves and pulls out a pack of forms and moves it towards the open stretcher that has now been moved into the middle of the unit for easy access.

I step forward and tap the charge nurse on the shoulder. “What would you like me to do?”

She sighs and shakes her head slowly. “I need you to just stand back and watch how we run these codes. If we need help, we will let you know.”

I swallow hard and nod my head firmly as I back out of the way and move so that when the officers get here with the man, I won’t get trampled. I continued to watch intently as the door burst open in a rush of people exactly two minutes from the time we started this situation. I watch as my brother and Nick drag a limp body into the unit on their shoulders. They both throw the body on the stretcher and then the other nurses get to work.

I watch as one pops open the crash cart and pulls out everything to start an intravenous line. She passes it to someone else as she starts pulling out the medications to run the code. Someone else throws the AED pads on the man after someone ripped the man’s shirt off of his chest.

I keep watching intently as the charge nurse steps towards Nick and looks at him. “Have you guys already given Narcan?”

Nick nods his head firmly. “Yes, ma’am. We gave him two doses already.”

Nick starts to look around the unit until his eyes land on me. Those smug green eyes show humor but they also seem to show concern. I just don’t know who the concern is for.

I am focussing on the code in front of me when Nick walks over to me and stands directly in front of the view. “I don’t think you should be watching this.”

I c**k my head to the side and look at Nick like he is crazy. “Why not? This is what I signed up for. I need to know what I have gotten myself into for the next six months at the very least. That is how long my sign-on bonus is for.”

Nick sighs and shakes his head slowly. “Whatever, Miss Parks. Just know that I am trying to do you a favor.”

I roll my eyes and side step him so I can continue to watch as the controlled chaos unfolds in front of me. The closer I look, the more I realize that this is more like a well oiled machine that is working through the motions of what it is designed to do. They continue their code when something else happens.