Chapter Text
It's never a dull moment working at a busy Los Angeles ER/Urgent Care. Always someone coming in and out every day, all day and all night. It's a good thing the doors are actually revolving because they are constantly in motion. Sitting at the Admissions desk Julie was constantly amazed at how many people were seen and treated each day at this crazy place she called a day job. Even though she was trained for both being a nurse's assistant and working the admissions and billing, she found herself being scheduled in admissions most often. She loved her job and her coworkers, but she couldn't wait to finish school and be an actual RN working side by side with the doctors saving patient's lives and helping them in their time of need.
Julie grabbed the handful of clipboards with admissions papers attached to them so she could start the rounds going in and talking to the patients who were brought in either by ambulance or who were taken back to rooms immediately. Had to get the proper paperwork, insurance information and billing information quickly. As Julie rounded the corner to the first room she ran into her best friend and roommate Amanda who of course was the best RN the hospital could have. She is smart, sweet, beautiful and all around amazing inside and out and always puts a smile on everyone's face. She's also very hard to miss with her gorgeous purple hair. People always wondered how the two of them could be best friends as they seemed polar opposites on the outside, but on the inside they were more alike than anyone even imagined.
"Hey Panda," Julie said. Panda was Julie's nickname for her bestie. There weren't very many times she referred to her as Amanda anymore. "Ready for this crazy night? Been here 10 minutes and already running to 5 different rooms for admissions. Must be a full moon and you know what that means."
"Hey JJ," said Amanda. JJ was Amanda's nickname for Julie, her initials. It wasn't very hard to come up with. "Thrilled we may need to go out for drinks in the morning."
"Yeah, sure just what I wanna do at 7 am when our shifts over." Julie laughed. "I don't know why I just haven't become famous yet."
"Someday JJ, Someday." Amanda said as she walked the opposite direction to her first patient.
Julie went through the first four admissions and triage with ease; and when walking to the last one on this round, she kept getting a feeling she recognized the name on the paperwork. She slowly mulled it over when it hit her. She called to the nurse sitting at the nurse's station. "Hey Jane, could you make sure Amanda comes and helps me with the admissions and triage with this patient? Consider it a huge favor. I will owe you!"
Jane nodded. "Of course JJ, will do."
They didn't ask for favors much of each other, but when asked, most everyone tried to honor each as easily as possible.
Julie walked up and knocked gently on the door. "Excuse me, I apologize for bothering you, I'm Julie, from admissions. May I come in to get your paperwork started?"
A big gentleman stood up from a chair next to the bed of the patient. "Yes, of course, Niall, are you ok with that?"
Niall, Niall Horan, One/Fifth of the Mega successful boy band One Direction was lying in the hospital bed in front of her. Julie could hardly believe it. If Julie could hardly believe it, wait until Amanda saw what Julie was seeing. Wow! Julie shook her head and smiled slightly at herself, "get yourself together and be professional," she told herself.
Niall nodded. "Sure I think I can handle some paperwork."
Julie managed to smile, and even though she was nervous, she forced herself to be as normal as possible. "Thank you." She said as she walked across the room towards Niall. "This part will be mostly painless, I promise. I just need some basic information, and if I could make a copy of your insurance card please."
Niall nodded and handed Julie his insurance card. "Ok, painless sounds good."
Julie smiled at him and asked the basic questions required on every admissions form she'd ever taken, but for some reason getting all these personal answers from Niall Horan seemed unreal. "Ok, I'm going to run and make a copy of the insurance card, print a pretty bracelet for you to wear while you're a guest with us here and I will be back for a few autographs, and we should be done." Even though she generally uses the word autographs when she got the patients' signatures, as soon as she said it, she wasn't sure if she should have said it to Niall.. It was too late though, and she didn't want to make it seem like she had lost her confidence, so she just left the room rolling her eyes to herself.
On her way back to Niall's room Julie asked Jane if Amanda would be able to come soon, because she wanted to see her reaction to having Niall as a patient. She learned that Niall should be Amanda's next stop and was overjoyed. Amanda loved One Direction, and Niall happened to be at the top of the members' list for Amanda. Julie was excited to be able to see her friend meet one of her favorite singers.
"Ok Niall," Julie said as she walked back into the room, "I need your right wrist please. I need to outfit you with this gorgeous white plastic bracelet you may not remove the entire time you are in our building."
Niall laughed and put out his wrist. At least this admissions girl had a good sense of humor and so far didn't seem to recognize him, or if she did, didn't seem phased by it. It was a nice change. She did mention autographs, but he was unsure if she actually meant autographs or something else. He watched as she gently put the bracelet on his wrist. "You were right, pretty painless so far."
"Yes, but I butter you up for the ones that get to have all the fun. That I can't promise will be painless." Julie joked. "I'm just kidding of course; we have the best staff around, and our best nurse should be here shortly. I just need you to sign a few places on these forms and I will be out of your hair." As she flipped through the forms, she noticed some extra papers stuck in between the forms that did not normally belong there with the simple "Sign Here" on them and nothing else. "Oh for crying out loud," she mumbled to herself as she tried to pull them out nonchalantly, while glancing over her shoulder at a couple of other staff members peering into the room.
Niall looked up. "Is there a problem?"
"Oh, no, sorry" Julie stammered. Then she just laughed. "Ok well apparently some additional forms need to be signed tonight. But only by those patients named Niall Horan. I'm so sorry." Julie handed him the clipboard with the proper paperwork. "Please just sign the 3 forms we filled out earlier."
Niall laughed again. "So you do know who I am."
Julie nodded. "Of course, but I apologize; my friends tried to be a little sneaky."
Niall handed the signed paperwork and clipboard back. "Oh it's not a problem really. Thanks for trying to head them off. I can sign them if you'd like."
"No, that's not necessary. You are a guest here, and you deserve your privacy." Julie thought for a moment. "However, if you want, you could help me get back at them." She raised her eyebrows at him.
Niall nodded slowly as Julie explained her plan, and then he burst out laughing. "Of course." He took the papers from Julie and proceeded to write on them.
As he handed the papers back to Julie, Amanda walked in to the room. "Hello, I'm Amanda and I will....." her words trailed off as she looked up and realized who was there in front of her. "Holy crap! It's Niall Horan! OMG! In the bed right in front of me! Holy shit! Wow!" She screamed in her head.
Julie smiled and walked over to Amanda, "Remember that awesome nurse I was telling you about? This is her, Amanda. She's the best one we got." Julie elbowed Amanda gently in her ribs to get her out of her silence. "He's all yours Amanda. Niall, you call for me if she gets out of hand. I got your back. I will see you again at discharge. Thank you for your time. It was a pleasure meeting you." Julie gave Amanda another quick nudge before she walked out the door. "If you need help, remember I am an assistant too." She whispered and tried not to giggle on her way out.
"Nice meeting you too Julie. Thank you." Niall said as Julie walked away. "Hi Amanda, I'm Niall, nice to meet you."
Amanda, still stunned, shook her head. "Get it together Amanda!" she said to herself. "Hi Niall," she said as she stepped forward, "let's get started." She started the routine check up to make sure his vitals were normal and to get the reason for his visit. Even though she was very nervous inside, she was super proud of herself as to how she remained calm and professional. She felt like she was going to burst. How could Julie request her to come in for this patient and not give her a warning! Damn her! But then again at least she did ask for her to come in. Niall should have gone to a different nurse so guess it's a good thing. What a night!
Julie stood outside the room for a moment watching Amanda in her element with Niall. "She's sure good at what she does," Julie thought to herself. "Hope someday I can be that great and that passionate about something." Sure Julie was good at many things, especially when it came to her jobs, but she just couldn't find that love that Amanda had for it or that she knew Niall had to have for what he did. She sighed as she turned away knowing if she didn't get moving she would fall far behind very quickly. Amanda's words came back to her at that time, "Someday JJ, Someday." Yeah someday, maybe, but what? As she turned, she handed the three pieces of paper to her sneaky friends and tried not to laugh; but as soon as she saw their reactions, she couldn't help it. "Sorry but you guys deserve it. Good luck convincing people that's Niall's autograph." Julie said laughing as she walked away leaving them staring at the giant X's scrolled across the pieces of paper they thought they could get away with slipping onto the clipboard. Try to trick her, they get what they deserve.
Crazy night did not even begin to describe the rest of the shift. Julie sat down in her chair and looked at the clock. Her twelve hour shift was just about over, and she couldn't even remember if she had gone to the bathroom or ate anything; and she'd no time to talk to Amanda about her interaction with Niall. "Ugh, what a freaking night," she thought, and she rubbed the back of her neck. As if they knew she'd finally gotten two seconds to sit down to rest, she heard herself paged over the loud speaker for a discharge. "I swear they have cameras sitting around watching, and every time I sit down, they then come up with something for me to do," Julie said to no one in particular. It took her a minute, but then she realized the discharge was for Niall. Great end of a 12-hour shift. She probably looked as lousy as she felt, and now she had to go charm Niall through this discharge. Sometimes life wasn't exactly fair.
Niall looked up as he heard the quiet knock on his door. "Julie right? Come in, good to see you."
"Ah, they told you I was the only one that could let you escape huh? That's why everyone likes to see me." Julie laughed as she handed Niall the final paperwork. "How's the knee?"
Niall signed the final paperwork and handed it back. "It's sore, but I'm told I will live. That I can keep it and continue to walk on it. So could be worse. You were right, your staff is amazing. Your favorite nurse is great."
Julie looked up at him from finalizing the paperwork and smiled. "I tell the truth. Amanda is our best. Everything you could ask for. I will go through your discharge instructions with you, and then she will come in to see if you have any questions regarding them." Julie read through Niall's restrictions and directions. "So in other words, no dancing on the ceiling or dancing all night even to the best song ever, and I don't want to hear the excuse that it's the story of your life, so you have too."
Niall laughed. "Well I've never had it put quite like that before."
Julie shrugged. "It's been a very long 12 hours; and as soon as I kick your butt outta here, I'm out myself, so sorry if my jokes fall a little flat this morning." Julie laughed. "I may be borderline delirious at this point."
Niall didn't know why but he couldn't stop laughing. "Corny or not, that was funny."
Julie could listen to him talk all day and night, that accent. Wow. She knew some about him and One Direction, and she loved their music, but most everything she'd learned from Amanda. She couldn't wait to talk to Amanda. Where was she anyway? "Not very professional of me, but technically my shift ended about two minutes ago, so I guess I'm safe." She took Niall's copies off the clipboard and handed them to him. "I hope you enjoyed your stay at our 5 star accommodations, sir. I hope you will recommend it to your friends and family. If they are ever in need, they are welcome to visit our quaint facility, and I hope you heal quickly, so you can avoid being run over by your legions of fans and crazy paparazzi."
This girl was crazy. She was great; even though she seemed like she knew who he was, and obviously she knew his songs, she was cool with him and joked around with him, treating him like a normal guy off the street. Just like that nurse, Amanda, did. It was great to have that happen as it happened less and less these days. "I hope I don't ever have to come back here as a patient or see any of my friends or family here, but if by some chance they do need a place, I do know who to send them too."
Julie laughed. "Can't imagine why you wouldn't want to come stay more often. We aren't that bad, I bet it wasn't even that painful. Mostly. Ok fine....maybe a brief visit once you're healed, so we can see the outcome of our handy work." She smiled as Amanda walked into the room. "And here is your friendly nurse now, and my ride home, so if you could limit your questions I would appreciate it greatly." She winked at Niall and reached out to shake his hand. "Nice meeting you and good luck with your healing and everything."
Niall shook her hand and found himself smiling and laughing again. "I will try to keep it short for your sake. Thanks again, and it was nice meeting you too."
Julie put her hand briefly on Amanda's shoulder as she walked out. "See you in the locker room when you're done."
Amanda nodded at Julie and then turned and smiled back at Niall. "So I'm sure my friend, who is always more than prepared, covered every detail of your discharge instructions, but do you have questions before we let you go?"
"Yeah," Niall said as he sat up to put his shoes on. "You're her ride home? Are you guys more than just coworkers?" He asked as he bent down to tie his shoes.
Amanda laughed. "Um I meant about your discharge instructions, but yes, we're best friends and also roommates."
Niall sat back up. "Oh, no she covered the discharge instructions thoroughly. So you guys do everything together? Have a lot in common?"
Amanda was confused as to why Niall had such an interest in the two of them, but what would it hurt to answer. "Yeah we do a lot together, not everything, but always if the other needs someone to go with, we would always be there. Similar tastes in most things."
"That's awesome. Kinda like the guys and me in the band. Always have someone around if needed." Niall smiled. He wanted to do something special for Amanda and Julie too; he just needed to figure out what that was.
"The band, holy goodness," Amanda thought to herself. She was doing very well at trying to separate Niall the patient from Niall the superstar member of One Direction, but when he brought up the guys and the band, the butterflies and the fast heart beat came back full force. She tried to say something, but it just wouldn't come out. "OMG how can I even stand this right now. If he has no questions, I should have been out of the room by now," she thought to herself, but she couldn't speak, and she couldn't move, and she was sure she looked just like a dork standing there silently.
Niall stood up slowly and adjusted the brace on his knee. "Well, not that I ever recommend anyone get injured or ill, but if they do, I know where to send them. Thanks again for being so great through the whole night. Julie said it was a 5 star establishment, and as far as hospitals go, I'd have to say she's right, especially the staff!"
Amanda shook her head and laughed. "She would say that. Would you believe outside this crazy job she's actually very quiet and shy?"
Niall looked at her shocked. "Julie? Really? She seemed so easy going and outgoing."
Amanda nodded. "Yes, JJ, er, Julie. She puts a lot of work into making people feel comfortable in her job, but outside of it, she's the quiet one. Always has the best timing on what to say, but she doesn't always have a lot to say. Until you get to know her, then all bets are off." Amanda couldn't help but smile talking about her friend. They hadn't known each other for all that long; but they became great friends very quickly, and she would do anything for her at any time, and she knew JJ would do the same for her. Like making sure she got to take care of Niall tonight. That was something JJ wouldn't have thought twice about. She was glad they both got an opportunity to meet Niall, but in her heart she knew JJ would have given it up if needed so Amanda could meet him. What a great night. Even though Amanda should feel exhausted, she was floating on cloud nine. There was no way she was going to be able to go home to bed. She hoped she could convince JJ they needed to do something out if the ordinary today.
Niall shrugged. "Huh, I wouldn't have guessed. Maybe will have to see that for myself someday." He got into the wheelchair when the orderly came to wheel him to his car.
Now what could he have meant by that Amanda wondered, but before she could ask, he was already being pushed out the door and down the hall.
"Thanks again Amanda. If we meet again I hope it's not under these circumstances." Niall called out as he disappeared down the hallway.
Amanda walked into the locker room to find JJ, still wondering what Niall meant by his last few comments. By the time she found JJ, she had convinced herself it wasn't anything but a nice friendly conversation. She found JJ lying on the bench on her back in front of the lockers. "Oh my god! Thank you so much! Niall Horan seriously!?"
JJ didn't even move the arm she had over her eyes. "Right? And of course ain't no one else I'd want to take care of him besides you. Besides I would've been frightened if you had found out I knew he was here and didn't tell you. I would have had to go into hiding."
Amanda pushed on JJ's legs. "Shut up. Why do you gotta be such a smart ass."
"I'd rather be a smart ass then a dumb bitch." JJ said tiredly.
Amanda couldn't help but laugh. She was in such a good mood. "You are such a dork. Come on. Let's go do something fun and crazy. It feels like that kind of day!"
Julie still hadn't removed her arm from her eyes. "If you mean fun and crazy by sleep and more sleep then I'm in. Between school all day and work all night I'm seriously done. You may have to scrape my body from this bench Panda."
Amanda forgot JJ spent the whole day yesterday at clinicals for her nursing degree and then worked a 12 hour shift; and she had worked a 12 hour shift the night before too. She often wondered how JJ was able to do it half the time. "But how am I supposed to sleep after that night."
"You can cuddle me and I will let you call me Niall." Julie said, and both girls burst out laughing.
Niall walked into the studio on his crutches, grateful that they were on a break from touring at the moment, so they could write and record their new album. He looked around and didn't see anyone else yet. He figured he would be the first one there since it was still early; he had come straight from the hospital to the studio. The hospital ̶ what a night. He'd had his share of injuries and spent his share of time in hospitals but never before did he have an experience like that. From the admissions girl treating him like he was a guest at a 5 star hotel to that amazing nurse. That admissions girl, what was her name, Julie or JJ, had told him he would have the best nurse, and he did. She was amazing throughout the whole night. And cute too. Whoa, where did that come from? Ok, he knew where that came from, but what was he thinking? Ok, he knew that too. He wanted to get to know them better. Both of them really. They were both one of a kind, and yet they seemed very close. Probably couldn't get one out without the other anyway, at least not at first. Besides JJ made him laugh, and he really didn't believe Amanda when she told him that JJ was quiet either. But Amanda, that's the one he wanted to see again for sure. So he knew he had to come up with a way to make it happen.
"Earth to Niall," Niall heard and he looked up to see Harry, Liam, and Louis all standing there looking at him. "What kind of drugs did they give you at that hospital last night lad?" Louis finished.
"It's not the drugs." Niall said. "You guys should have come and visited me. I had a great room with a awesome view and a superb staff." Niall laughed quite hard. "Yeah, I guess I am pretty glad."
"So which of their phone numbers did you get?" Harry asked.
"None." Niall said. "Didn't think it was appropriate at the time, especially since they both took such care as to not ask me for an autograph or a pic or anything."
Harry groaned. "Really Niall?"
"Yes Harry, but I do know where they work, and I am going to figure out a way to see them again." Niall said matter of factly.
"Both of them?" Harry, Liam, and Louis all said together.
"Yes," Niall laughed. "But especially Amanda." Yes, especially Amanda he thought to himself there was just something about her he couldn't let go of. Now to figure out a way to do it, in the most uncreepy, clever and fun way possible.
"Does anyone know where Zayn is?" Julian, the producer, asked the guys. Niall, Harry, Liam, and Louis all shrugged and went about their conversation.