Nate
Human
ER Doctor; St. Benedict's
The curtains flew then he appeared, saying don't be afraid.
Posts: 89
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Post by Nate on Jan 31, 2006 3:47:19 GMT
Being mobbed by a rather excited, energetic Siberian Husky as soon as you walked in the door was probably what he looked forward to the most each day… which really didn’t say much for Nathaniel Wilder’s social life at all. It wasn’t as if he’d ever been much of a bar-crawler or anything anyway, and he had all the friends he really needed in his small circle, which consisted of the doctors and nurses at work, Marion Barnes — who was probably the only lawyer in the world the young doctor trusted — and the werewolves he ‘worked for’. It was an odd collection, to say the least.
And then there was Brock.
“No, n— Brock!” Despite himself, Nate laughed, grabbing his dog by the head and giving him a rough hug as he lifted his hind quarters off the floor while he crouched. “We don’t chew Nate’s backpack. Nate needs his backpack. We’ve been over this.” He took the bright-eyed canine by the sides of his face, ignoring the dog-breath billowing in his direction, and said, “Got it?” Brock simply panted in his usual giddy, puppy-like manner, tongue lolling out… and Nate laughed. “Good.”
Rising again, he looked to Sasha. For all intents and purposes, the middle-aged woman was his dog-sitter, and she was apparently quite amused by the bond between dog and master; she’d told him once that she found it rather endearing. Nate hadn’t been sure how to take that, but Brock’s attitude towards the matter was enough for him… not that Brock cared about much apart from food, drooling in Nate’s shoes, chewing his backpack in search of treats, and dreaming about chasing squirrels. Paying Sasha, he thanked her and bade her goodnight, endeavouring to get out of his work clothes and into something more casual. The Husky bounded after him with a keen bark that Nate could interpret in a heartbeat.
‘Feed me!’
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Nate
Human
ER Doctor; St. Benedict's
The curtains flew then he appeared, saying don't be afraid.
Posts: 89
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Post by Nate on Feb 13, 2006 21:05:51 GMT
Watching Brock shake the old sneaker back and forth around the room was mildly amusing at best. At least, it was more entertaining than the poor daytime television he currently heard in the background; he'd left the set on, but wasn't even watching. He was biding his time before he had to leave.
As if on some unspoken cue, his cell phone rang a few times before Nate reached over to the small table it stood on, and answered it calmly; "Hello, Cole."
"Nate," came the sound of Cole Stanton's relaxed response. "Are you still free to come over soon?"
The young doctor chuckled, watching Brock tackle the sneaker into the carpet, mauling at the tongue and laces. "Of course. Eric's agreed to cover for me, so I'm available all day, if you need me." Granted, he would now be working a double on the weekend, but the pack came first... even if he wasn't a member. When the pack paid your bills and ensured your safety, they definitely came first.
"Well let's hope it doesn't take that long. You can head over any time you're ready," Cole told him, and Nate thought he heard the sounds of the werewolf rising from a chair as he spoke. "I'm hoping we won't be at the gallery too long, but she's bound to be a little... reluctant, at first."
"I have faith in your abilities to charm her," Nate quipped youthfully with a grin, taking hold of his more or less empty mug from the table as the energetic husky roared past it at close proximity. On the other side of the connection, Cole couldn't help but laugh.
"Very funny. We'll see you soon."
"All right. See you then." Nate pulled the phone from his ear, and disconnected the call, smiling to himself. He had to admit, the idea of seeing the pack again was... comforting. They were an odd collection of friends, he knew, but acquaintances he cherished all the same. He'd come to respect them all, and was closer to some than others. Cole and Dia for example, had his utmost respect and loyalty, understandably with Heidi and Steven just under that. The younger wolves in the pack were always entertaining too.
"Brock," the doctor called, and the dog bounded up to him at once, torn sneaker hanging from his mouth as if to say 's'up?'. Nate tried not to laugh. "C'mon, we're getting out of here for a while." Ruffling his dog's ears, and tugging the shoe from his jaws, he grabbed his jacket, keys, and makeshift doctor's 'kit', and headed out, husky on his heels.
Continued at: The Hyperion; The Lobby.
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Nate
Human
ER Doctor; St. Benedict's
The curtains flew then he appeared, saying don't be afraid.
Posts: 89
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Post by Nate on Jun 23, 2006 21:32:32 GMT
“Brock…”
The feeling of four large paws padding over his mattress wasn’t a welcome one at six in the morning, and he groggily took one of his spare, haphazard pillows, and swung it around to try and dislodge the active husky… to no avail. Giving a grumble as the dog saw fit to try and fight with the swinging cushion, he let it go, hearing the husky thud into a messy sitting position on the unoccupied side of the bed, giving a low murmur of a confused noise.
Before he started to shake the pillow… which hit Nate in the back of his buried head.
“Brock!” The husky apparently found this amusing, and thwumped him again, before bounding out of the way. “Urgh…” Pulling his head up, and scowling, he looked at the clock. This was just not funny…
Resigning himself to his fate, he stumbled out of bed, and towards the kitchen. Apparently, he had a dog that needed feeding.
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Nate
Human
ER Doctor; St. Benedict's
The curtains flew then he appeared, saying don't be afraid.
Posts: 89
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Post by Nate on Jun 29, 2006 18:16:02 GMT
As it turned out, nobody called an ER doctor during the night, and thankfully so. Usually, Nate turned off the ringer on his main phone and turned down the volume on his answering machine… at least when he definitely had a chance to sleep. His pager, and cell phone — which only Cole’s pack had the number for — stayed on his nightstand while he slept, in case of emergencies. And thankfully, there hadn’t been any of those.
Giving a yawn, he brushed down the front of the scruffy t-shirt he wore in bed, and managed not to fall over Brock on the way into the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee, and make up some breakfast. “Okay, what do we have for the hungry dog…?” He crouched by the dog food cupboard, and pulled it open, smiling with a chuckle as the husky poked his head in to investigate. “How about this, huh? Huh? Yeah?” Standing, he took the can with him, ruffling Brock’s ears as the dog reared up to prop his front paws on the counter’s edge, watching eagerly, tongue lolling.
As the coffee brewed, Nate dispensed a generous amount of the canned food into the bowl, and even crushed a few treats into it, before setting it down, saying as he did so, “Don’t say I never give you anything.”
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Nate
Human
ER Doctor; St. Benedict's
The curtains flew then he appeared, saying don't be afraid.
Posts: 89
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Post by Nate on Feb 25, 2007 1:03:08 GMT
“Y… yeah, I know I said I could cover, but… no, listen.” He shut his door behind him, not intending to stay long, keys still in hand and jacket still in place. Brock bounded over to him, looking up at him, demanding an explanation, but after scratching the Husky’s ears briskly, he was off again, cell phone in hand; it wasn’t often he used it for anything other than ‘pack business’, but the number never registered on caller ID. Cole had made sure it never would.
He had headed home from the hospital to check on Brock, and give the pack another update. He didn’t mind who he spoke with after he was done with what he was currently handling; anyone who could pass the message on to Cole or another leader would suit him just fine.
“Listen, it’s a family thing, okay? Come on, Stuart said he could do— no, he’s in tomorrow.” A pause. “Really, no, he’s fine with it.” He hesitated by the couch. “What difference does… look, it’s covered okay? Stuart’s covering your shift. I can’t today. You understand, right?” He waited, listening to the man on the other end, and then he sighed. “Okay, thanks. I’ll see you when you get back.”
And then he snapped the phone shut. Sometimes, the life of a pack werewolf seemed quite appealing… no fussy co-workers to deal with, and the freedom to laze around all day.
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Nate
Human
ER Doctor; St. Benedict's
The curtains flew then he appeared, saying don't be afraid.
Posts: 89
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Post by Nate on Jul 20, 2007 19:56:35 GMT
Nate had grabbed a strawberry Pop Tart from the cabinet in the kitchen and tossed Brock a couple of dog biscuit treats, his mind made up. Staying in his apartment when the possibility of getting out and about while his energy levels were still responsive was just too appealing. If he sat down now, even if only for a second, he would pass out and possibly sleep the entire day away. And Nate didn’t want that.
So he had decided to forego calling the pack in favour of going over there in person. Maybe Marion had already been there to give them an update, but, well, to be honest, being in the company of werewolves, all of whom were at least double his age and then some… it sure beat hanging around by himself with nothing to do, or just sleeping an unhealthy amount.
Taking his keys from where he had set them down, he left his jacket over the back of the couch. The temperatures had climbed since the first light of dawn, and he had no doubt he wouldn’t need it with the sun climbing higher and higher and kicking out more heat.
With Brock in tow, the Husky licking his jowls to clear them of the last crumbs of his treat, Nate headed out of the apartment purposefully.
Continued at: The Hyperion; Parking Lot.
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Nate
Human
ER Doctor; St. Benedict's
The curtains flew then he appeared, saying don't be afraid.
Posts: 89
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Post by Nate on Jun 5, 2010 15:40:19 GMT
POST TIMESKIP.
The soft sound of paw pads followed him wherever he went, from the kitchen to the living room before he realised he'd forgotten to make the coffee he'd originally gone in for and turned around to head back the way he'd come. Brock's tongue lolled out of his mouth as he loped behind his owner, sitting down when the man was stationary long enough for the Husky to do so, but quickly up and moving again when it that stillness came to an end. Nate didn't even notice his shadow, though he knew it was there just as it always was, only ever absent when he had work to do, either at the hospital or at The Hyperion, when one of the younger wolves would take the dog off his hands and amuse Brock somehow.
Where did he keep his coffee? Somehow, he'd managed to forget, and wiping his hands over his face, he felt his shoulders slump the rest of the way. How could he have forgotten where he kept his coffee in his own apartment? It was true that he hadn't been in his own home much in the last few weeks, but still, he bought his groceries, he took them out of the bags and put them away. He had lived in this same apartment with the same layout and arrangement for years. Nate should have known where his coffee was.
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Nell
Human
Departed
And all the roads we have to walk are winding.
Posts: 25
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Post by Nell on Jun 5, 2010 17:10:31 GMT
Ornella had always been an observant kind of woman. Sharp-eyed; she had a tendency to notice things when other people sort of glossed over them. It was nice to think that was what made her a solid member of the hospital staff and, at least as far as she knew, most of the people she worked with tended to agree.
Therefore, it was only natural that Nell had started watching Dr. Wilder a bit more carefully. She noticed the strange, unsettling pallor of his skin and the way his shoulders seemed to slump more often. True, his line of work was particularly stressful, but something about his particular exhaustion told Nell it was more than just everyday strain. It hadn't taken long for the young nurse to decide what to do about it, and that was why she made sure Jared was being cared for by Mrs. Hummel down the hall before she set out to fix whatever problem had Nate so bogged down.
Nell balanced the tray of lasagna on her hand like only a mother could and carefully rapped her knuckles against the good doctor's door. Over her shoulder was a canvas bag of random grocery items, everything from cereal to a package of cookies; there was no telling when Nate had found the time to get to the store, so the very least she could do was help him out. Poor man was practically dead on his feet, after all.
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Nate
Human
ER Doctor; St. Benedict's
The curtains flew then he appeared, saying don't be afraid.
Posts: 89
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Post by Nate on Jun 5, 2010 23:37:11 GMT
When had he last made a trip to the store? Maybe that was the problem. Maybe he didn't have any coffee. Maybe he usually kept it in its bag on the counter, within easy sight and reach and he couldn't remember where he kept it because it wasn't in its usual, obvious place. Nate wanted to believe that was it, but something told him it wasn't, a nagging sense of doubt. Deep down he knew he needed to sleep, just crash out and slip into his own kind of coma in order to recharge properly instead of running on fumes so completely, but somehow he just couldn't bring himself to do that. Not just yet. There were still things to do, like feed the dog, take him for a walk, check in with the pack, make sure he had the times for his next shift right. He couldn't sleep just yet.
The knock on the door disturbed his tumbling mind from its many unsteady trains of thought and he blinked and turned his head in the direction of the doorway, as though expecting to see someone come strolling in of their own accord without being invited in. Shaking his head, he moved himself out of the kitchen properly and through the living room, Brock in tow as usual, and tugged the door open, finding Nell standing on the other side. The smell of the lasagne she balanced in one hand reminded him he was hungry. Brock seemed to come to the same conclusion, licking his jowls and sitting down. He even raised a paw, his own way of saying please.
"Hey, Nell." Nate paused, and then remembered what came next. "Oh, come on in." Stepping back out of the way of the door, he held it open for her, nudging Brock out of the way with his leg as he went.
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Nell
Human
Departed
And all the roads we have to walk are winding.
Posts: 25
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Post by Nell on Jun 10, 2010 3:08:06 GMT
Yup -- Nate was well and truly wrung out. "Hey there," she greeted him with a smile. Brock received the obligatory affectionate kissy-noises before she continued. "I brought you dinner, and groceries. You need to go sit on that couch over there while I get everything set up, because you look like you could keel over any moment and I don't want to go back to the ER until my shift on Saturday."
Nell's maternal nature blazed gloriously. She was a good nurse, but she knew she was a damned good mother, too, and not just to her own kid. There were plenty of people around the hospital who needed taking care of them, most of them being overworked doctor types like poor Nate. So many of the people who worked at St. Ben's were used to taking care of other people to the point where they forgot to take care of themselves. Nell couldn't exactly dodge the blame on that particular charge, but she had learned quickly how to keep from spreading herself too thin.
"I mean it, by the way," Nell added. "You look like you've been looking after everyone but yourself the past week or so. Let me take care of you for a bit, huh?"
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Nate
Human
ER Doctor; St. Benedict's
The curtains flew then he appeared, saying don't be afraid.
Posts: 89
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Post by Nate on Jun 13, 2010 2:03:44 GMT
Nate couldn't remember the last time he had taken a moment for himself. For several weeks now he had been running back and forth, not because it had been asked of him but because he expected it of himself. He had accepted the job offer from Cole and vowed to commit himself to the role he would be playing within the pack, a mortal man surrounded by so much power and predatory prowess. At first he hadn't understood the need, but now he knew better, could grasp the fact that werewolves couldn't heal everything, at least not instantly, and medical care and expertise were necessary in those times. Nate had given his word to play the part of physician to the pack and he took that responsibility very seriously.
He was only mortal, though, and it took its toll. It had taken its toll, and that much was obvious. Nell, for one, had clearly noticed his zombie-esque wandering around the hospital between patients. Nate was noting short of relieved that he had managed to avoid making a mistake with one of those patients. They all knew what exhaustion could do to a doctor's competence.
Seeing no room for argument, Nate looked back at the couch and then returned his gaze to Nell before he nodded, lifting a hand to push his tumbled black hair from his brow. "Yeah, okay, thanks," was his response, a touch of a self-deprecating smile on his face as he sighed, rubbed his hands up and down, and then headed off to do as he'd been told with Brock faithfully following in his wake.
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Nell
Human
Departed
And all the roads we have to walk are winding.
Posts: 25
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Post by Nell on Jun 15, 2010 16:35:20 GMT
Nell watched Nate, trying not to smile as he all but shuffled to his couch with Brock in tow. The dark-haired nurse finally moved into the kitchen and took care of what needed to be done. Groceries were put in their proper place -- including a fresh canister of coffee by the percolator -- and she divvied up two healthy slices of that lasagna, along with two glasses of red wine. The bottle found a place on Nate's kitchen counter, because there was no telling when he might need a glass later, and Nell carried the food and drink out to the den area with a skill that belayed her past days as a waitress.
"Here." Nate got his food before Nell sat beside him on the couch, smiling a little. "Plenty more where that came from," she told him, digging a fork into her own pasta. "The lasagna should last you a few days, and now you have cereal, bread, lunchmeat, milk, OJ, coffee, butter, chicken breast, some fresh vegetables and fruit, and a few extra cans of food for Brock."
So maybe she'd gone a bit overboard, but it really couldn't be helped. Given her status as a mother, it shouldn't have been surprising that those maternal tendencies managed to sneak into Nell's social life. She liked taking care of people and Nate was no exception. Besides, he was a friend and Jared liked him well enough.
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Nate
Human
ER Doctor; St. Benedict's
The curtains flew then he appeared, saying don't be afraid.
Posts: 89
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Post by Nate on Jun 18, 2010 2:01:55 GMT
Nate wouldn't have used the word overboard, honestly. He was used to other people stocking his cupboards for him, the pack had a tendency to look out for him and poke around, and if not them then Marion, but he worked for those people, alongside them in a dangerous profession -- if pack physician could be officially described as a profession; it wasn't recognised by many people, after all -- and it made some kind of sense for them to mother or shelter him like that, make sure he had food and other groceries. Nell was something else. It wasn't overboard, but it was beyond surprising. Nate was grateful, obviously, but he knew the woman had a kid that she needed to support, so that gratitude was a little tainted by guilt.
"You didn't need to go to all this trouble," he said to her, no longer able to deny the tempting smell of the lasagne as it drifted up from the plate he'd been handed. He wouldn't be touching the wine until he'd filled his stomach, that was for sure. Given how exhausted he felt, he knew the alcohol would go straight to his head and he'd probably end up falling flat on his face if he even so much as tried to move into one of the other rooms in the apartment. After finishing his firth mouthful, he went on to add, "Did you make this yourself?" The reason behind his asking was betrayed by the pleased edge to his words; wherever the lasagne had come from, it was good. It might have had something to do with the fact that he was probably starving on top of being exhausted and anything would have tasted amazing right then, but Nate knew good food when he sampled it.
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Nell
Human
Departed
And all the roads we have to walk are winding.
Posts: 25
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Post by Nell on Jun 19, 2010 6:33:15 GMT
The young mother smiled gently, nodding as she swallowed her own bite of pasta. "Yeah, I did," she told Nate. "And it's no trouble. You're good people, Nate -- you deserve to be taken care of, too."
Nell had seen first hand how much good Nate actually did. As far as ER docs went, he was one of the more pleasant ones; it was a high-stress job, after all, but from what she could tell, Nate handled that stress better than some of his colleagues. Obviously tensions could run high and people would become short-tempered -- it was only natural. Nell had never seen Nate be anything but professional, though.
"Besides," she added with one of her rare grins. "My kid likes you. That puts you up pretty high on my list." Her fork sliced through the warm lasagna, sectioning off another bite to be devoured as her grin settled back into an easy smile. "Are you doing all right, though? Exhaustion aside."
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Nate
Human
ER Doctor; St. Benedict's
The curtains flew then he appeared, saying don't be afraid.
Posts: 89
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Post by Nate on Jun 26, 2010 14:37:13 GMT
It crossed Nate's mind, very briefly, that he could possibly argue with Nell, but it also quickly occurred to him that it wouldn't get him anywhere. He had worked with the woman for a while now and he knew how stubborn she could be, that she wasn't afraid to stick to her guns, stand her ground. More than anything, he was too tired right now for that kind of battle of wills. Nell would win, hands down and without much of a fight. There was no use, and it certainly didn't make sense to expend energy that way, not when there were more important things to be dealt with, even if they were only in his mind and not anything physical and in that moment.
Nate didn't believe in taking out his frustrations on others, in venting his stress and putting others down just to release some of that pent up energy; it was rude and unprofessional, and there was just no need for it. His parents had raised him right, with manners and to treat others with respect, and regardless of who he was dealing with, whether it was an orderly or a nurse or a patient or even the mailman, it didn't hurt to extend a little courtesy and try to do right by someone else.
He smiled at what she said, not entirely sure what else he could say to what he considered such high praise. Nate liked kids, even though he didn't spend much time with them, and to hear that Nell's little boy held him in high regard was quite a compliment in his book. "I'm doing okay. I'm just really busy." He chuckled quietly. "I suppose that was obvious though, huh?" He had to be careful about what he said, and he knew that; he had to privacy of the pack to protect, a promise he had made going in, and he intended to keep his word on that front.
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