Residency: Origins

Residency: Origins
(I intend for this to be the first chapter of many more to come, with a progressive increase in intensity as the characters explore their relationship. It would mean the world to me if you could leave a comment letting me know what you think about this story, and how you would like it to progress. Thanks)
Natasha couldn't tell what was wrong with him. He seemed so lost and confused in the OR. It was almost as though he was suffering from hyponatremia far more than any of their patients were. It had already been three weeks since they had begun their residencies -- his in Orthopaedic surgery and hers in Anaesthesiology. Still, it seemed like he hadn't found his bearings at all. He seemed to be perennially dazed, tired or afraid on the two days of the week that she saw him in the OR.
In that first month, she often found herself wondering what in the world this guy was doing in a residency programme for Orthopaedic surgery. Surgeons were known for their charisma, their infectious confidence, that calmed both the patients and their families as well as the entire healthcare team, including the junior surgeons, nurses, and OR staff. They all knew that this surgeon was the man/woman for the job -- just from the way the surgeons walked, talked and carried themselves. They knew that if they had the misfortune of encountering a complication during surgery, their captain would not panic and would in all likelihood singlehandedly steer their ship through the stormy waters and back to the safety of the shore. All great surgeons she had seen over her years as a medical student had these qualities, irrespective of their specialities. The neurosurgeons were just as calm as the cardiac surgeons, who were themselves just as innovative and talented as the plastic or the urosurgeons. But even in her med school days, she had heard all about the Orthopaedic surgeons. The tallest, sharpest, strongest and smartest men in med school almost always ended up opting for orthopaedic surgery as their speciality of choice. It was practically an exclusive club for well built, handsome, intelligent and supremely confident men. They were, as a group, the highest paid surgeons in the country. It was as though the orthopaedic surgeons were as unflinching and unyielding as the bones they primarily dealt and worked with. Which then begged the question, how did HE get here and how was he going to cope?
It was undeniable that he did fit the bill. He was 6'4", broad shouldered, and lean. His scrubs clung to his chest and biceps, as they glided past his muscled back to his trim waist. She had no difficulty imagining smooth, toned abs under those scrubs. His scores were the best in the institute -- and he had walked into his residency on a red carpet. From all the residents present at the event, the Dean had asked him to speak at the orientation programme before their residencies began, because his portfolio, scores and credentials were exemplary. He had politely declined to speak on that occasion. She wondered how a young man, so obviously gifted and talented, could be this underwhelming in every day interactions. He looked gaunt, shabby and hungry, with dark circles dominating an otherwise shapely face and jawline.
Natasha worked with him and his colleagues all the time. As an anaesthetist, she was responsible for evaluating and certifying that the patients that the surgeons needed to operate were fit for surgery and could safely tolerate the procedure. She needed every last detail about these patients, including the reports of their investigations, their medical histories, allergies, the surgical plan, the approximate duration that the surgeons expected the surgery to last, and so much more. He never seemed to know what the surgical plan was. He never knew how long it would take. He could not for his life tell her which patients had known illnesses that could potentially complicate both the surgery and anaesthesia. To make matters worse, he was so afraid of making a mistake that he would barely speak, mumbling under his breath, so much that he was effectively a liability in the ward. Even though his sheer size prevented his immediate orthopaedic colleagues from seriously scoffing at him, she could tell that his ineptitude was taking a serious toll on him. It did not help that his senior colleagues were a bunch of assholes. They were barely a few years ahead in their own residencies, and by no means accomplished surgeons themselves. However, they still took a deviant pleasure in humbling the big man and showing him his place. They were forever condescending and mocking him, reminding him of his ignorance and constantly joking about the burden he was on them.
Fortunately, her own colleagues and seniors were far more welcoming and accommodating. A few girls a year ahead of her went out of their way to make Natasha feel safe while she learnt the ropes. They all basically lived together in buildings close to the hospital, away from their friends and family, and she was glad that she wasn't going through the same hazing that Alexander was. They hung out at each other's places after work all the time. Many among kuşadası oral escort them returned from the hospital late into the night on multiple nights a week, and the people that finished work a little earlier often took it upon themselves to cook for everyone, so that they could all have a warm meal before getting ready for another day at the grind. It was on one such night, after a long day at work, when Natasha was unwinding with her batchmate Sophia and her senior Luna that the topic drifted to the guys in Orthopaedics and Alexander in particular.
"What is going to happen to the patients in the city when Alexander becomes a consultant? He looks like he will collapse and break his own bones any day now," Sophia joked.
"I wonder what's up with him sometimes," Natasha said. "He doesn't seem to be okay."
Luna didn't seem to agree with the two of them. "Give him some time. You can't possibly imagine what these guys are going through. Their residencies are a lot more intense than ours. They literally work like 20 hours every day, with barely any time to eat or sleep. All these guys that are being hard on him weren't doing any better themselves a year or two ago. The whole system for them is just a lot more difficult."
"Come on, surely no one can be this lost. Why do they show up for this if they can't take the heat? He could have picked an easier stream if this wasn't his cup of tea," Sophia said.
Natasha didn't say anything. She couldn't help but feel drawn to Alexander, but didn't want to admit it to her friends.
Luna shrugged off Sophia's scepticism. "I'm not saying he's great or anything, but just give him a little more time. It's a long road and people have different capacities to cope with stress at this level. Give him a chance, and he may soon surprise you."
The conversation soon meandered off into different directions from there on, and they soon called it a night. Natasha fell asleep that night with thoughts of Alexander and his rippling body, gently chiding herself for having a crush that was so purely physical.
In due time it became obvious that Luna was right. As the weeks turned into months, Alexander successively became stronger with almost every passing day. While he was meek and timid before, he now appeared strong and confident. His knowledge was improving with the day, the patients always waited for him to round on them and he smiled SO much more. Natasha was getting more and more drawn into him, and suddenly, she realized, with knots in her stomach, that this guy could probably get any girl he wanted. She couldn't tell if he liked her or not. He looked so great off late, and by 3 months into the programme when he spoke to her, he was so charming and funny that she got butterflies in her stomach every time she saw him. She felt so special when she was with him, but she was crestfallen when she saw that he spoke to almost all the girls that way. He always seemed to have girls around him, joking with him and whispering inside jokes into his ear, and the sight of it made her sicker than she was prepared to accept.
Damn it, Natasha. You're better than this. You don't need this guy. He could barely walk two months ago and suddenly he's a star? He's probably an asshole and full of shit anyway. You know you're a winner, and how far you've come. Don't let this bother you at all. She oscillated between thinking about what she would say to him the next time they were on a surgery together and scolding herself for wasting so much time dreaming about it. Remember where you've come from, she kept telling herself.
She had enough cause to be proud of herself. Ever since she was a child, she had felt like her parents had focused a lot more on her brother. It was like her own father didn't take her as seriously because she was a girl. It never mattered that much to them what her grades were, or what she did in her free time, but they were deeply invested in her brother's progress. In her early to late teens, she had acted out a fair bit, not knowing what was wrong. She hung out with all the wrong boys and let them take advantage of her vulnerability. She had always been beautiful, but she could never get them to stay, and she often took them back after they had cheated on her. It took a terrible toll on her mind and heart. To her frustration her parents were not too bothered about her antics either. She didn't know at what point she changed, but she woke one day with the realization that she would have to fight to prove herself. She decided that she thought she had what it took to become a doctor, and that would conclusively free her from being emotionally or financially dependant on her family, friends or boyfriends. She fought for it like a woman possessed, and 12 years and multiple scholarships later, Natasha was on her way to becoming an anaesthesiologist. She was now a passionate feminist. She still dated lots of men, and slept with the ones she liked, but she hadn't let anyone come close to her heart in over a decade. She had become the intelligent, beautiful, charming, confident woman she had kuşadası rus escort set out to be, and could not have been happier with the state of affairs in her life. Which begged the question, why was she so drawn to this guy?
Alexander went from strength to strength. He was really acing every day now. He had become the best surgical trainee, found the time to resume his passion for tennis, and somehow still managed to study up to hone and refine his orthopaedic knowledge. Natasha felt like she never saw him waste a second. He was either in surgery, in the wards or studying or training. He definitely showed up to all the parties, but he never stayed very long, and did leave every once in a while with a pretty resident. Natasha had been working in cardiac surgery during the day for over two months, and her workplace interaction with orthopaedic surgeons was negligible. One night, however, when she was on routine call through the night, her heart skipped a beat when she saw that the orthopaedics team had requested a pre op check for a 7-year-old child with an elbow fracture. They were planning on operating the same night, because the fracture was occluding the blood flow in an artery in the child's elbow. She saw that Alexander was on the team, and quickly hurried to see the child.
She found the child in the orthopaedics ward (Tom), with a plaster on his left elbow. He had fallen while playing on the roof of a shed. How he got up there and what his parents were doing was beyond her. As she asked the parents all the relevant questions and examined Tom, Alexander was right there, playing with him and keeping him distracted. She herself was continuously distracted by how cute the whole setting was, of this massive alpha surgeon playing with an injured child to keep him from getting frightened in the alien environment of the hospital. After a quick word with her consultant, she greenlit the surgery and Tom was shifted to the OR.
As she and her team readied the drugs and tubes required for general anaesthesia, the orthopaedics team waited outside with the child and his family. When they were ready, Alexander brought Tom in and was still holding his hand and playing with him as Natasha injected the drugs into his veins that would put him to sleep. She quickly secured the breathing tube, and the surgery was good to go.
"That was a really sweet thing you did there," she couldn't resist saying to him.
"Thanks. I appreciate it. But what I'm about to do next is actually the really great thing," he said with a boyish grin as he stepped of the OR to scrub up for surgery.
Alexander and his colleague quickly scrubbed up and came back to begin surgery. As they began, Natasha was steadfastly monitoring Tom's breathing and heart rate, making sure that nothing untoward happened. Before she knew it, Alexander had passed two wires into the child's elbow using a power drill and fixed the fracture. It was the moment of truth now. If Tom's pulses were restored, the surgery was a success and a child's limb would be saved. Alexander grimly felt the child's wrist, and all eyes were on him.
"Natasha, can you please check his pulse?", he suddenly said, with an expressionless face. She hastened to Tom, and her heart leapt with joy as she felt a bounding, thriving pulse in his wrist. She looked up to see Alexander beaming at her.
"Looks like we did it", he smiled. "Thank you for everything, we couldn't have done it without you.
"Please, you guys were amazing! I can't believe we're done so quickly; I was expecting this surgery to last all night!" she replied.
"Well, it seems like you don't think I'm very good at what I do then, I think I'm going to take personal offence to that."
For a second, she felt stupid she had said that to a surgeon, but was quickly relieved to see him smiling at her, dimples in both cheeks (so gorgeous!)
"Well, you weren't always very good if I remember correctly, but I can't tell you how glad I am that you are now," she teased back.
"It's great to know you were rooting for me, I would have never guessed. Some more direct support will be much appreciated next time," he smiled.
"Well, to be fair if you needed help you could have been more direct about it as well! I would have been happy to help."
"Fair enough, maybe I could have been more direct. My bad. Let me rectify the situation. Since I haven't been direct before, how's this for direct? Would you like to go out with me this Saturday evening?"
Natasha was stunned. She never predicted that one coming. She suddenly became acutely aware of the several other people in the OR listening to their banter. Even Tom had woken up by now and was gazing intently at her, waiting for her answer.
"I'd love to," she barely managed to mumble. Why couldn't I have been cooler with that? She cursed herself.
"Great!", he said, flashing his broad smile again. "I'll pick you up in the evening after work, let's go someplace nice. I'll pick you up around 6."
And with that he picked up Tom and took him from the OR to Recovery, while she kuşadası sınırsız escort was left to dispose off all the syringes and clean up the anaesthesia trolley before leaving the OR.
The rest of the week proceeded at a feverish pace. She was constantly distracted by the prospect of her date on Saturday. She could tell that Sophia was a little jealous, and Luna had the smuggest 'I told you so" look when she told them. Fortunately, she wasn't swamped on Saturday, and managed to get off work by early afternoon. She had ample time to go back and pick out what she wanted to wear.
He said we're going someplace nice, she thought to herself. But what does that even mean? Is that like a really nice restaurant, or just like a cool bar? Or something entirely different? How am I supposed to dress for this?
She decided that it would be better to be over rather than underdressed, and picked out a black tight cowl mini dress, with tall red shoes (he's 6'4" for god's sake), and a red lace bra with a matching red thong. She decided to shave her legs as well, and even though she never did it for any other guy, on a whim, she decided to shave her pussy clean as well. She didn't think she was anticipating sex, nor did she have to if she even if she was, but she just went with it. She showered and began to get dressed, just putting the finishing touches on her light make up when Alexander rang to say he was below her building. With butterflies in her stomach, she made her way down.
Alexander was waiting in his car, and the moment he saw her, he was literally blown away. He knew she was cute, but he was not prepared to see how hot she could be. Her brown hair softly rolled off her back, framing her shapely face. Her black eyes sparkled like diamonds, accentuated by her make up. Her tight dress highlighted her athletic body, with her perky breasts and tight ass almost defying gravity. Her smooth, long, toned legs went on for days, further lengthened by her shoes. A soft black jacket was wrapped around her shoulders, and he could not wait for them to reach the restaurant and see her take it off.
He was glad that they were going to one of nicer restaurants in town and he had dressed up as well. After he opened the door for her and they drove off, they were soon lost in a deep conversation about medicine, literature, sports and theatre. He barely realized when they reached, when they were seated, what they were eating and how much wine they were drinking. Eventually she began talking about her life, and he was enthralled. He listened to her story for a better part of an hour, and only then did she realise how much she had spoken and how much she had revealed. She was suddenly embarrassed, and fell quiet.
"I can't tell you how much I enjoyed that. I always knew you were cool, but I never knew how much. Seriously, respect," he said.
"Thanks", she almost giggled, suddenly relieved. She was just processing that this guy was actually into her and her story. Almost instinctively, she trusted him and could not believe that she had felt safe enough to share so much.
"Tell me more about you though? What was going on all those months at the start?", she asked.
"It's nowhere near as dramatic as your story, I feel shy even talking about it", he said. She gently coaxed and cajoled him into opening up. He told her about how he had always been much below average growing up. He had some issues in his back that didn't let him walk straight, and that made him the big guy that everyone could pick on. He struggled in middle school, and it was much later that he found the will to train and win. With a strict workout regiment, he was able to strengthen his back to point where he could walk straight. That confidence led to a domino effect and truth be told, in his late teens he was a bit of an asshole, venting out his frustrations since he finally had the chance. He eventually had his fill, and realized that he would have to find more than a straight back to fulfil himself. He was deeply fascinated by orthopaedics. The literal meaning of the word orthopaedics was making a bent and deformed child straight, and he related very deeply to that. He realized that confidence without substance was dangerous, and worked even harder on himself to try and become the person he wanted to be. He explained that it was no longer an option for him to pretend to be great -- he had to actually be great before he could channel the confidence it brought into his life. The reason he was so disoriented early on was that he was working harder, studying longer, eating and sleeping lesser and taking more responsibility than any of his colleagues. He really was struggling, and he didn't want to pretend to be cool about it, or tell himself to care less or that it didn't matter. She listened to him talk passionately about his love of surgery, his desire to protect and save his patients, the joy he felt when he was playing tennis or training, and the deep impact that classic literature had had on his psyche. She felt like she could listen to this beautiful man talk about the things he was passionate about forever. Once they had enough wine, however, the conversation became more flirtatious, and there was a new, erotic undertone to the evening. She felt so calm in his presence. She felt like she could tell him anything and not be judged. They talked about their pasts, failed relationships and broken hearts. An unknown current in her heart drew her towards suddenly asking him a question.