The Emergency Room: every city's personal Hell. And Perry was it's Satan. A long night at Mercy Hospital had left him drained and in dire need of coffee. His senses were dulled, so he definitely wasn't going anywhere near home until he was awake enough to drive again. His shift was supposed to have ended three hours before, but, as usual, he'd gotten stuck with a problem case. A gunshot to the head had come in just an hour before Perry was supposed to get off. The kid, only 17, had been sent into surgery, and Perry had been in charge of keeping the parents at bay until it was all over. Apparently he had a "good bedside manner." Since when? He hated people, especially stupid ones.

Either way, it was now nearing 1 AM and by the end of the kid's surgery, Perry could barely see less than double, much less be fit for driving to the other end of the city. So, Perry made his way into one of those uppity Coffee shops that was too cool for the name Coffee shop so called itself a Cafe. The kind that he usually hated. But, beggers can't be choosers.

"Large coffe." Perry said as his turn finally came around.

"I'm sorry, sir. We only have grande, alto, and supremo sizes." The teenager behind the counter said.

"Which is the largest?" Perry asked, holding his temples and rubbing them slowly.

"Supremo."

"Then I'll take one of those."

"What kind?"

"What?" Perry asked, steadily getting annoyed.

"What kind of coffee, sir? A supremo what?"

"What do you mean what? I just want a coffee."

"Do you want a cappaccino, a frappuccino, a mocha latte, a cappa-frappa-latte? Do you want that with whole milk, skim milk, two percent milk? Sugar, sweet-n-low, Splenda? Whipped cream, no whipped cream? Peppermint flavored? Java Chip? Or maybe a Java Mint Vanil--"

"Look kid!" Perry exploded quietly, hissing at the teenager and leaning over the counter with his eyes squinted. "I just want a fucking coffee. Coffee, that's all. Nice and black and straight from the fucking pot. You take the beans, you put em in the grinder. Grind em, put em in the coffee machine. Pull your fancy little levers and do that little voodoo you do and pour me my fucking coffee, God damnit. I have not been up all night with blood all over my hands to deal with the imbicilial likes of you. Now, make. Me. My. Coffee."

The kid turned three shades of red and glared at Perry as he punched in the order on his cash register. "That'll be $5.67, sir." He said, stressing the sir in annoyance.

Perry dished out the money while silently ranting in his head about how rediculous it was that a doctor was being forced to pay the price of a full meal at McD's for a single cup of coffee. Then he waited in line, got his drink and sat at a couch in the back corner of the Cafe.

Catherine had fed and was walking around. She supposed that it was her interest in mortals that kept her up and kept her going even after almost four centuries of life, if that was what you could call her life.

Her eyes lit upon a cafe. They hadn't had any in her time, when she had been mortal, but the fact that it had a French namesake drew her interest. She walked towards the door and entered almost cautiously.

She simply stared as a man almost bit the head off of a young teenager that was only doing his job. One reason perhaps why she didn't want to become a merchant like her parents. You often got grumpy customers and this seemed to be one of those kind of people.

Catherine let the aroma of the coffee wrap around her. She wished she could taste it without throwing up blood. Perhaps as she got older she would be able to drink something besides alcohol and water. She didn't quite mind it, but she would like to try some of these new drinks.

Her eyes followed the man as he sat down on a couch in a back corner. A small smile played across her face. She swished her auburn-red hair over her shoulder and smoothed out wrinkles from her knee length emerald color skirt. She then made her way over to him. "Had a bad day?"

Perry leaned his head back against the top of the couch. His head was killing him and the lights weren't making it any better. He took a sip of his piping hot coffee and leaned his head back again. They might not have been the smartest group, but at least when it really came down to it they could actually make a decent pot of coffee.

His day had been long and hard. First, he'd had a little girl whose father had gotten stupid and run over her foot with his riding lawn mower as she'd been playing in the backyard with her dolls. Perry had had to pull out pieces of her dollhouse from her foot as they rushed her up to the OR. The girl had been fine in the end, but she'd never be the same again. Perry had sent in an order for a prosthetic foot sizing later that week.

Then there had been the eighty-year-old man who had a heart attack. His wife, seventy-eight, had refused to leave his side, even while they were trying to bring him back after he'd die. The funeral was set for the following week. Perry had sent for the priest to console her, and for his housekeeper to have his funeral suit dry-cleaned.

Next had come the thirty-year-old mother of five. Two three-year-old twin boys, a four-year-old girl, and a five-year-old girl. She was feeling pain in her side and hadn't had her monthly cycle in three months. She was in for a routine pregnancy test. Perry had sent for the Oncologist to determine if her tumor was cancerous or not.

Then there was the kid who overdosed on ecstasy, the man who had tried to kill himself, the four cases of babies who had either swallowed something or stuck something else in an unusual orifice. And in the midst of all of that, there had been the usual rounds on patients from the past few days, and the one woman who had something wrong with her that they had been trying to figure out for two days and still couldn't decide what it was.

Perry groaned and took another sip. Then he noticed the woman walking toward him. She was young, kind of pretty, and dressed like a teenager, with a choker? What kind of girl her age wore a choker? Perry blinked. Why did he care? Choosing to ignore her, since she was probably just the Manager coming to bitch him out for bitching out the teenybopper behind the counter, he took another gulp of the coffee and resumed his head's reclined position.

Catherine watched him. He looked like hell. Well perhaps she could help him. People had often told her that she was good at giving massages. Perhaps a neck massage to relieve tension or a temple massage to relieve a headache he seemed to have.

Definitely the temple massage, perhaps followed by a swat on the head. How can he simply ignore people like that? She was being polite, hadn't said anything offensive. She didn't like being ignored and he was deliberately doing so. She frowned, how dare he do this to her? So perhaps Catherine thought a little highly of herself, but more often then not she was a nice and caring person. She took care of people, whether they were mortal or not. That was how she had found herself with a fledgling, one she simply adored.

Her eyes continued to watch him, for a moment longer with her hands, propped on her slender hips. She then took off her short brown leather coat and sat down right next to him. For a moment she said nothing and rearranged her skirt, something that had stuck with her from the Renaissance period she came from. She draped the coat over the back of the couch.

She gently touched his shoulder hoping to wake him up from whatever had put him in a fowl mood. "Hello? Anybody home?" It seemed that her mouth disagreed with what she should have said. Of course she had to play the smart mouth and be sarcastic with the person that she wanted to help. A soft sigh came from her parted lips. She simply hoped that she had gotten his attention, or else she would be a lot more forceful. She would probably be very annoying, she had a knack for that.

Perry's eyes twitched as he felt the couch lower beside him. Had she really been that dumb? There was a reason he hadn't reponded to her question. Yes, he'd had a bad day. And her asking about it certainly wouldn't help. Why, why, why did people have to be so damn intrusive? He scooted over to the other edge of the couch and settled himself back in, never opening his eyes the entire time.

Happy place, happy place. Remember your happy place... and all that psychobable shit. Perry thought as he tried to ignore the fact that some young twit had been stupid enough to set her sights on him that night.

However, this attempt didn't last long as she. Oh. Dear God. Was she actually touching him? Who the hell did this lady think she was, The Queen of France? Perry was not in the mood for this. Not tonight.

"Look, Skipper, unless you're hear to offer me a refill and a lap dance, I don't wanna hear it okay? So why don't you take that pretty little ass of yours and scoot it off and back onto the street where you came from." Perry said, once again not moving or even opening his eyes.

Catherine lifted an eyebrow as she simply looked at him. Anger was the last emotion that registered on her face, besides she took this as a learning experience. A little like anthropology on the modern mortal, she wanted to understand what made some strive so hard to work.

She could tell that this one had had a bad day and also he had been somewhere near blood. The smell of it permeated him, yet there was something of disinfectant as well. It then hit her, where he had been all day: the hospital. By the look of him, he was exhausted and was taking a short break before wandering back home. So far she seemed to be doing quite well with her assumption or so she thought. It reall helped to have heighten senses.

Catherine simply blinked as he spoke. "So you do have a voice. Who would have known?" Catherine used sarcasm to draw him out, it would either fail or catch his interest. "You aren't much of a social butterfly, aren't you?" There were so many things one could tell about another and she had become really good at it.

She shrugged. "If you want a lap dance. You can get off your lazy ass and walk down the street, there's a strip bar down there and I'm sure that one of them would want to give you a lap dance. After all, you do make good money being a doctor, right?" How would he react to her knowing something that specific about him. That was something she wanted to see.

Oh... Doctor Winkler wasn't going to like her none after this... She had never before met the man, but of course word always spread around the hospital. And the word of Doctor Winkler was no different. He was an insensitive, cold hearted, stick-up-the-ass that didn't particularly like anyone...

And she had been sent to find him to bring him back to the hospital for an emergency that someone had specifically requested him for. Why anyone would want him though... Jessica was still in the dark. Granted she had never met the man before so she couldn't really judge... But... Her night was just beginning on the graveyard shift and it was only going to get worse now.

"Oh thank god..." The vampiress breathed out a sigh as she spotted the doctor through a window. A nurse had given her a description and well... She didn't see anyone else that would match.

Pulling open the door she blunk several times to adjust herself to the bright light of the shop. The smell of coffee assaulted her nose at once, making her stomach clench with the memory of the last time she had tried drinking coffee. It hadn't gone to well at all, nearly killing her actually.

"Doctor Winkler?" She asked hesitantly as she approached the man, but paused as she noticed the other woman. No, not a woman. A vampire. Why was this vampire with him? He wasn't dating anyone as far as she knew... "Doctor Winkler... I'm terribly sorry to bother you, but there's an emergency at the hospital. Mrs. Heatherly asked just for you. I told her that you were off duty, but she kept insisting, and she passed out about five minutes ago..." She spoke quickly, wanting to get everything out before she was interrupted or yelled at by him. She could honestly say she was slightly afraid of this man.

Sad for a vampire to be afraid of a human, but Jessica still strove to fit in with that world. That was who she was after all, and it was hard for her to change without any proper guidance at being a vampire. She simply lived on how she knew how to. But... Why was this Vampires here... Did they have some sort of connections.

"I'm really sorry sir... But it's rather urgent. She wouldn't even let me take her tempurature or blood preasure or anything."

Perry huffed as the woman tried flirting with him in a sarcastic manner. And then she threw back the lap dance comment in the crappiest manner possible. Seriously, such a tongue but no actual wit? Sad. In fact, it was so sad, he wouldn't even honor it with a response. So, Perry simply sat there, once again ignoring her. Maybe if he did it enough she'd go away. If not, would it really be that bad? After all, the coffee was starting to wake him up so he'd been fine enough to drive home soon. Then, he could simply leave her.

And how did she know about his profession? Was it the scruffiness left over from not shaving for three days? Maybe it was the look of "I just killed people today" on his face. Or the way he wasn't putting up with anybody in general. Or maybe he knew her from the hospital? An old nurse, an old patient, family of an old patient?

"Did I kill your brother or something, cause if not, get lost." He said, deciding he was completely done with her little game.

Ah, the voice of an angel. Perry had actually never been happy to hear someone from the hospital interrupting his downtime before. Who knew?

"Well, darling, if she's out cold you could certainly take this time to do all those pesky little tests she wouldn't let you do before. And then, when you're done, maybe you could get on somehting important, like why she passed out in the first place," he growled, finally opening his eyes and actually looking up at the girl. "Well, why are you still here?" He asked impatiently as he noticed her still standing there like a deer in headlights.

Her mouth nearly fell open with his comments. Did he really think she was that inept at her job?

"I already did that Doctor Winkler. And one of the other interns is trying to diagnose her right now. I just don't know what she'll do when she wakes up is all." She said rather quietly. "I've done all I can, so they sent me after you. They said it would be best if you came." But of course he was off duty and he wasn't one of the doctors on call. It was just a patient preferance.

"I didn't mean to interupt your date or anything Doctor. I'm just doing what they told me to so don't loose your temper on me. It's not my fault I'm here." She pointed out as she stuck the pen in her hand back into the bun at the base of her head. "If anything go up and blame that intern Roberts. He told me you were coming here."

She knew she should probably leave... Just do as he said and get out of the way. Most doctors at the hospital were like that with the nurses and interns alike. She had always told herself she would never be that kind of doctor... But perhaps too many years on the job did that too you... And she would have a while to go...

But anyway, she would leave, but leave him with this vampire? That just sounded bad all together. Even if she had already fed, that wasn't any indication that she wouldn't just drain him for fun. Granted he wasn't the nicest doctors, but he knew what he was doing. And that was all that kept her words polite as she spoke to him really. Otherwise she would have just snapped back at him. Usualy she didn't mind people bossing her around, yelling at her... But she was unusually hungry herself... Which meant she wasn't in the best of moods. And being around blood all night wasn't the best thing either.

Catherine smirked. She wasn't going anywhere, not anytime soon. She was going to stay and keep pestering him, until he either got fed up and left or decided to talk to her. She actually was that stubborn, with no regard for being in a person's way. That was pretty much Catherine in a nut shell.

Her eyes watched the other woman as she spoke to the doctor. So she had been right. Everything she had said was hypothetical, it had payed off rather well. She turned back to the doctor and snorted. "My family died a long time ago and I have no grief about it." Very true, it had been a long time ago, almost four centuries.

She snorted again as the woman said something about her being a date. " Date? I'm no date, I'm simply enjoying seeing how far I can push him until he gets fed up and leaves or decides to talk to me." She smiled. "I'm doing it in the name of anthropology, because he is no social butterfly." She truly was enjoying herself and the woman was clearly a younger vampire. "He needs to lighten up."

Perry growled inwardly as the chick admitted that she was only trying to annoy him. Dear God, he was going to kill this lady.

"Look, Dearie. I'm not on call, and I'm sure as hell not on duty anymore. Mrs. Heather is a sweet lady, but there's nothing I can... wait... she fainted?" Perry thought for a moment. Then he pulled out his phone and called the hospital.

"Hey, Lois, it's Perry. Who's on Mrs. Heather? Uh huh... uh huh.... yeah let me talk to him....... Hey John. She what?.... How did the tests come back?....... Okay, good. Look, put her on a morphine drip to kill that pain, run an MRI and a CatScan and let me know when the results come in. And look into her DPV levels, and get a dihydromonoxide test.... uh huh... yeah, that should show us if she's, yeah, yeah.... Okay, call me when you've got all that. Perfect, thanks John."

Perry flipped his phone shut and looked back up at the nurse. "Sit down, newbie. Take a load off. You're looking kinda pale. Have a drink, it'll do you some good." He tossed her his wallet and pointed to the counter. Perry was an asshole, but she hadn't done anything to him, and he wasn't one to be rude to a girl who was only doing her job. Well, not when her job was saving lives, anyway. Plus, she looked like death, and he'd seen enough of it to know. "Put some fluids in your system, you look like you need it. And grab one of those deli sandwich things while you're up there, you could use some electrolytes in your system."


((OOC: Heehee, Yay for making up Doctory stuff!))

Jessica gave a nervous smile to the woman, the vampire, as she spoke of trying to irritate Doctor Winkler. He wasn't the nicest of men and she was honestly suprised that she seemed slightly able to put up with him. But she was still worried for the doctor. After all... The hospital was short staffed already and though he could be a pretencious prick sometimes... He was a good doctor. And she just didn't trust vampires. Well... With her history, why should she?

She stood silently with a small, but true, smile as he called the hospital. Yeah, he knew his stuff alright, and at least he was still trying to help out some.

She once more resumed feeling uneasy as he hung up the phone his attention now on her.

"Actually sir, I've been here almost three years now. Working on becoming a doctor, but it's slow going really with money being kinda tight and all..." It was hard to afford classes really, even though she didn't have to buy food or pay too many utilities living in a nice appartment in the city was costly and classes at the university were even more expensive. "And I've got to be getting back really."

With quicker reflexes she mannaged to catch the wallet before it fell, making her look like a fool, but she simply staired at it as he spoke. Coffee? Oh she would love a cup right now... But... "Thank you... But I don't drink coffee really." Jessica apologized. "And I alreay ate before I started my shift, so I'll be okay. It's just all these long nights recently. Kinda just sucks the life out of ya." She said with a little laugh.

Well, it wasn't too far off from the truth though. Just reverse it. Having the life literaly sucked out of her made the nights a lot longer.

Jessica's eyes flicked over to the other vampire curiously though, wanting to know the woman's intentions before she would leave. "Well... good luck trying to break his shell then... You will probably need it. I just don't want to see either of you in the ER tonight. We're busy enough as is."

Catherine watched the other woman gently and sent out a telepathic call to the woman. You should get yourself something to eat before you pass out, child. Catherine knew that the young woman obviously loved her job, yet she had to take care of herself. Clearly the young woman needed blood and she needed it soon.

Catherine watched her, yes the young woman was a vampire as much as Catherine was, yet it made it a little ironic. Even as the woman told her she would need luck to crack him, Catherine was an expert at cracking people open. So many people had gotten mad at her because of the way she annoyed people, but it was only way to learn the proper thing in this world. Seeing how far she could push until the people snapped.

She turned her head to the doctor that was sitting at her side. "There is so much you don't know and I'm sure that the young intern can take care of herself, most people can, despite how busy they are." Catherine knew much of the world, she had seen great parts of it at different time periods and never would forget the things she had seen.

Most people eyes held nothing but the true age. Catherine's eyes held a timeless quality that said she knew more of life then you could ever imagine.

Jessica looked as if a bolt of lightning struck her when the woman talked to her mind. "I don't need you telling me what to do." She said sharply at the woman, not caring if Doctor Winkler thought it was strange. She hated vampires... Everything about them really. The way some of them paraded their powers, the way the older ones looked down at her just because she hadn't been a vampire for even a year. she had never wanted thos really and she hated herself for what she now was, how she had been so stupid to trust Jason. It was quite posibly the worst mistake of her life, and one that she would have to live with for eternity.

Unless there was some sort of cure for vampirism... If there was some way she could be human again, could see the sunrise and set, could drink coffee and raise a family. Was that so much to want?

Jessica snapped out of her thoughts as the vampire spoke to Perry again, her full attention on the older vampire, her almond shaped eyes narrowed slightly.

"And... I'm not an intern. Not yet anyway. I don't pretend to know things and act all high and mighty." She said rather stuffily, more so refering to the way that the vampiress seemed to be acting with the both of them. But she was refering to the interns as well. After all, they always thought that just because she was a nurse they knew more than she did even though there were times they were just as clueless as she was. Why else had she been sent to fetch the doctor?

"I'm fine really so I'll just be heading back now if you don't mind Doctor Winkler. Is there anything you need done at the hospital or else where on my way? It would be the least I could do for you." She offered. but if anything she would hang around outside, to make sure that the doctor left alone.

Perry ignored the woman beside him. Sure, she was annoying, but no one cracked Perry Winkle. Winkler! God, thirteen years and he still had to remind himself of his new name. And the memory pissed him off even more. This woman found him amusing. Amusing. Which meant she saw him as a joke. Perry wasn't too keen on jokes. Unfortunately, he took it out on the new girl.

"Well, you could hand me back my wallet before you leave, if you don't mind. Then, you could stop talking to yourself like a lunatic before a board member or possible patient just so happens to overhear you. Then, you could..." he stopped. He couldn't think of any snide remarks. Mainly because he wasn't mad at her. He was mad at the chick next to him. But he couldn't yell at that chick, that would only be "cracking" as she put it. Giving in.

"You know what. I think I'll walk you back to the hospital. My car's there anyway." He stood up and stretched. "Besides, a young lady shouldn't walk alone at night, it's not safe." Okay, so he was a bit old fashioned, it still wasn't safe. There was a reaosn old people said things like "don't talk to strangers, it's not safe," "don't go out this late at night, it's not safe," "Don't hang upside down from that tree, it's not safe," and "Don't stick that there, it's not safe." It was cause it wasn't.... no matter how good it felt.

So, Perry grabbed his coffee, chugged the last, hot bit of it, and chucked the cup in the trash can. He gave another look at the woman on the couch and decided not to even say goodbye. Sooner or later some asshole would beat the crap out of her for her annoying ways, but Perry wasn't that asshole. Hell, he wasn't even that type of asshole.

"Ready to go, Newbie?" He said, looking back at the nurse as he headed for the door. He held the door open and waited for her to follow.

Catherine knew that he was ignoring and frankly she didn't care. She was enjoying herself. What was a woman that had lived nearly four centuries supposed to do with her time. Besides you could only spend a certain amount of time in a bed, before having to move your legs in a more regular movement.

Her eyes lit up at the young woman. Catherine wasn't arrogant, perhaps a little sure of herself, but everyone made mistakes. She was simply more keen into making them, she hadn't even been born this century it was sometimes hard for her to adapt. Though she thought that she had managed quite well.

Catherine stood up as he did. Simply because she was annoying, didn't mean she couldn't act like a lady. She had been trained as a lady and there were times that she acted like one, it simply wasn't very often anymore.

She almost snorted at the thought of her getting killed. Oh puh-lease. Her getting killed? She had many tricks up her sleeve and many mortal men would be too shocked to even try to kill her a second time. "Since I am not wanted and I'm not deemed to be a young lady, I'll walk myself home." She then smiled. "It was nice meeting and I'm sure that we will meet again." She then gave a short bow of her head and walked to the young woman that was also a vampire. She stopped right next to her. Her voice was low enough that the mortal doctor wouldn't hear what she said next. "Get something to eat or you could hurt someone. I'm sure that you are aware of that." She then smiled and left, her figure vanishing through the night.

"But I-" She fell silent though as the Doctor began to ridicule her. So this was what they meant huh? She hadn't even done anything though! But there was little she could say back that wouldn't make things worse, and Jessica was never one to fight with a superior. "Yes... Of course." She said meakly as she handed him back the wallet.

"But I'll be okay sir... Really." She said as Perry stood, offering to walk back with her. "I don't want to interupt anything you're doing here." She said as she turned. She pause dthough as the other vampire spoke to her quietly.

Jessica glared at the woman. "I said shut up didn't I?" She snapped again, but quietly. But this time the Doctor had to have seen the woman talk to her. She didn't need people telling her what to do. Especialy not a vampire. She didn't trust them anyway. The woman probably just wanted her to kill the doctor which of course she would never do.

"But I guess if your car's still there... Might as well hm?" She said with a shakey an forced smile. "I... I'm Jessica by the way. Jessica Kyung. I don't think I've ever had the... opportunity to work with you before..."

Perry had to hold his tongue as best as he could not to bite to badly at the woman as she said they'd meet again. "I certinaly hope not." was all he said as he waited for the nurse. The woman seemed to say something to the nurse that upset the girl, but Perry couldn't quite hear it. Either way, the girl seemed frazzled.

"Nice to meet you, Jessica. I'm Perry, apparently my reputation proceeds me. I don't believe we've worked together, either. I usually remember faces and names at the hospital, since there isn't enough time to reintroduce yourself everytime you see someone in the ER." He held the door for her, then walked through himself. The cold air bit at his skin, and he pulled his jacket tighter around him before stuffing his hands in its pockets.

"So, Jessica. How long have you been with the hospital?" he said, trying to make co-worker-like conversation. The hospital was only two blocks away, so he wouldn't have to pretend to be nice for too long, but he was a nice enough guy half the time, and this girl had had the guts to find him despite what she'd heard of him, then put up with that other woman, then actually stand up for herself to both Perry and the she-devil. She'd earned his respect, for the moment.