Snippet 3d

5:00 am

McCoy growled under his breath as the alarm went of near his ear. With a slam he shut it off and threw back the covers, standing as he put his feet in his slippers. Robe over the shoulders, and beeline for the closet.

~*~

5:15 am

"...forty nine...fifty."

McCoy lowered the weights to the ground, wiping his face with a towel as he looked out the window. The sun was still down, but he could see the traffic building from his apartment. He threw his towel down and lay down on his back, starting a set of sit-ups.

~*~

6:00 am

The shower water began to run and McCoy returned his toothpaste to the cabinet. 30 seconds up...30 seconds down...switch sides...spit. McCoy wiped his mouth and took off his robe. He tested the water and shook the drops off his hand. Scorching - best part of the morning.

~*~

6:15 am

McCoy glared at the three flakes and two dried fruit pieces that had made their way out of the now empty box of cereal. Muttering under his breath he threw the box in the garbage and opened the fridge to grab the eggs.

~*~

6:45

Click. The door locked and McCoy jogged down the stairs and over to the sidewalk where his car was parked. Beepbeep. The car unlocked and he ducked down inside. The car roared to life, and he stepped on the gas to zoom down the quiet street.

~*~

6:59 am

"Good morning, Doctor McCoy."

"Morning, Doc."

"Hey Doc, how are ya?"

"Good morning, Doctor."

"Doctor McCoy you have three patients in the waiting room insisting they see you, you go into surgery at 10:00 and have a staff meeting at 8:30."

"Any calls?" McCoy asked, continuing to walk as he looked over a folder the nurse had given him.

"Laura wants to meet with you over lunch." The nurse replied, looking over her notes. "St. Lucia called as well about one of your patients. Apparently one of them landed themselves in the ER last night from overdose."

"Wouldn't be a Monday without that now would it?" McCoy asked, looking back at her as he closed the folder and put it at his side. He opened the office door they had arrived at. "Tell Tom I'll be late for staff if all goes well."

The nurse watched him disappear into the office with a deadpan look. After a minute she rolled her eyes and turned to go back the way she came.

~*~

8:32 am

"You're late."

McCoy looked at the hospital director as the older man sat down, giving him a baleful but sarcastic look as he did so. "My apologies." The director said, humor in his smile as he opened the folder in front of him. "What have we got today?"

"An intern almost killed a patient yesterday." The doctor next to McCoy said with a forced smile on her face. "I don't know what they're teaching kids these days, but-"

"Were you their supervisor?" The director asked.

"Yes, but I-"

"Yes I know." He interrupted her. "But you should know better."

The woman clenched her jaw.

"McCoy you're the reporter this week," The director continued, looking over at him. "You have something prepared?"

McCoy nodded, standing from his seat and walking over to the projector screen. As he did so the door opened again and the director stood from his seat. "Why Matthew, I...wasn't expecting you."

"Hello Tom." The man said, and everyone knew immediately who he was. He was the CEO of their insurance partner who they had been fighting with for months. He gave them all a political smile and nodded to McCoy. "Leonard asked me to sit in so I thought I'd say hello."

Everyone turned too McCoy in slight shock, but he was smiling at the man and offering him a chair. "And we're so glad you did," he said, shaking his hand and leading him to a chair. "I'll try to make this brief."

"No promises," Matthew said, loud enough so only the two of them could hear it as he sat down. McCoy nodded, smile still in place as he went back up to present.

~*~

10:00 am

"You're late."

"I know." McCoy said hands held up as a nurse put on his gloves. "Staff ran long."

"Did you get it?" She asked, putting on the second one. "I saw you brought Matt in."

McCoy half rolled his eyes. "The insurance rate is too high. If we don't bump it down patients are going to have to ruin their life savings for even a small procedure. They already pay their premiums they shouldn't have to do more."

The nurse smiled as she finished. "There." She said, smiling at him. "Let the good doctor do his thing."

McCoy gave her a look as he put his mask on and entered the operation room.

~*~

12:30pm

"Hello Doctor." Laura said smoothly as McCoy sat down on the other side of the table. "How did the operation go?"

"We weren't able to complete it." McCoy replied, sitting down with a huff of the cushion and looking up at her. "Apparently she doesn't care that lying about not being pregnant before an operation is against the law."

Laura's expression changed. "Is the baby alright?"

McCoy shook his head, starting to peel his orange unusually aggressively. "Didn't have a damn chance. We tried, but it wasn't far enough along and the anesthesia was too strong. Killed the oxygen and its brain seconds into it."

Laura dropped her gaze, taking a moment. "That's awful. And she wasn't tested beforehand?"

McCoy shook his head again, throwing the peel on his tray. "They took her at her word. We'll see how that pays when insurance calls."

Laura bit her lip, taking a breath as she opened her soup. "Speaking of which..." she said slowly, looking up at him. "Matt called. He's offering 13%."

McCoy shook his head. "I told him 10."

"You know they're not going to do that, right?"

"They don't want to lose us. They'll go further."

Laura stared at him as he unwrapped his sandwich. "That's not how it works."

McCoy looked down at his pager, muttering something under his breath as he stood up. "I gotta go."

"But what about your-" Laura stopped, sitting back in her seat with a sigh. She shook her head at the tray full of food and once again picked up her spoon.

~*~

McCoy slowly stirred his coffee, staring into the depths of the small whirlpool. The chatter around him was drowned out by his thoughts about the day, which apparently had warranted a free refill from the barista. That afternoon he had seen seven patients, and two of them he had found out were dying. Cancer had upped its number of victims in the past year, and still no research had been conducted to explain it. That was the damn thing about his field - money was always the excuse. Whenever he complained about about it though, he was sent on coffee break.

Needless to say, he was becoming a regular.

Free refill or no though, he still had to look through his files. He would have to think about those things later. There was nothing more he could do today, and his break was nearing its end.

Opening the first folder, he took a long draw from his coffee cup and began to look over the notes on his patients.

A part of the chatter around him grew particularly loud a few seconds later, as someone from the thither end of the coffee shop seemed to have emerged from either the restroom or some other room from farther back inside. However it was, though, was talking loud enough for McCoy to hear it above everyone else.

"...yeah, I told him that already. Jeez, get a life. No - Jess isn't going in 'til later. I'll bring her in when I feel like it."

McCoy heard a thump when the talker planted himself on the stool next to him.

"Yeah, sure.....right. Whatever you say." Fingers began drumming on the counter. "...yeah. Fine. Just be careful with her, I've only had her lubed once."

Beep. The cell phone turned off. The young man sitting next to McCoy let out a gruff sigh before waving down the shop owner, ordering a cappuccino, and then falling silent again. Several seconds passed, and McCoy had just begun to resume reading his files, before he heard a chuckle beside him.

"Guess that must've sounded pretty bad, huh?" The young man's voice suddenly spoke again, swiveling slightly on his stool. There was no one else sitting around them, so McCoy could only assume that the voice was being directed at him. "Don't worry, though. Jess is my bike - not a girlfriend or anything." The stool squeaked again. A blonde head and a pair of blue eyes lowered themselves slightly to catch McCoy's eye. "...you a doctor?"

McCoy double-glanced at him, deciding whether he should respond enough before returning to his files. "Yeah."

"I can tell. You look like a doctor. Well-dressed, reading paperwork at places of relaxation, and totally stressed," the young man said simply, nodding to the shop owner when he came with his coffee, and shifted on his barstool to more fully face McCoy. He leaned on his elbow, stirring his cappuccino and watching McCoy look over the files. "Where do you work? St. John's?"

"Well that's pretty damn smart of you considering it's on my sleeve." McCoy replied, still focused on his work. Don't get him wrong - he liked kids well enough. Punks that were model-like and cocky, however, were not his cup of tea. This kid was obviously all of the above, but with a deadly addition: a brain.

"Actually, I just figured it because it's just across the street," a grin was now obvious in the voice that continued speaking to him. "And you're still in your doctor's coat, which means you must be on a break of some kind, and it would make sense that you'd go somewhere within walking distance to get some coffee. Just logic, really." He sipped his cappuccino, swiveling lazily on his stool again. A beat of silence passed before McCoy saw a hand appear in his peripheral vision. "Jim Kirk."

McCoy glanced over at him, looking at his hand before grudgingly shaking it briefly. "McCoy. Leonard McCoy."

"Nice to meet you, Doc," Jim Kirk replied, the grin present in his voice again as he returned the handshake firmly before withdrawing. He tilted his head again to look into McCoy's face. "You look like you've had a rough day. Bad insurance agents or somethin'?"

"And how would you know anything about that?" McCoy asked gruffly, putting another sheet of paper down.

"Everyone's got to deal with bad insurance agents - but hospitals in particular usually have it bad. I watch a lot of House," Kirk chuckled, taking another swig of his cappuccino as he watched McCoy work. "Bet you could outsmart any of 'em though. You're a cynical kind of guy, aren't you?"

"And what are you? A psychoanalyst?" McCoy asked, closing the folder with an irritated look at the boy. "How old are you, kid?"

"21. So I'm not a kid," Kirk said, lifting his mug briefly to McCoy before sipping it again. "'Sides, you don't look that much older than me. You'd probably look my age if you didn't frown so much. How old are you?"

"26." McCoy said, giving him a look. "That makes you a kid."

"It does not. You've got five years on me. Big whoop." Kirk shook his blonde head again before lifting his mug to his lips - but paused before drinking and frowned over at McCoy. "Wait...how long have you been a doctor? You know - working as one?"

"Long enough to know that 21 year olds are the most likely to get themselves killed than any other age group. Why?" McCoy asked himself, packing up his folders. "Because they leave their brains on stand-by."

"Ooooh, harsh," Kirk said, grimacing as he watched him. He began to smile soon after, though. "But - no, seriously, how long have you been practicing? Because if you're 26, and you've been practicing for a couple years already, you zipped through med school like a maniac. You've gotta be an intern, right?"

"Barely." He replied, putting his bag over his shoulder and reaching for his wallet. "Another few months and it'll be over."

"Good for you," Kirk said, still swiveling lazily on his stool as he watched him. "You gotta work on taking it easy, though. You've got to be the saddest looking guy I've ever seen. Kick back and smile once in a while, doc. It's good for you."

McCoy shook his head as he got up, now even more irritated. "When you understand what a day as a doctor looks like, you let me know."

"Hey, I have crappy days, too, but I know how to end 'em right," Kirk said, sitting up slightly as he watched him. "You should come have a beer with me or somethin' after you get off. You go to the bar once in a while, don't you?"

"Bars are for people that care to socialize," McCoy replied, throwing down a five on the counter and pocketing his wallet. "I'd rather sit at home and relax."

"Oh, I get it. You married?"

"Yeah." McCoy said, turning to head toward the door. "That too. Take care, kid."

"Yeah. Seeya." Kirk waved him off, smiling to himself and turning around on his stool when McCoy left the coffee shop. He picked up his mug, intending to finish off the rest of his cappuccino - before he paused, noticing a small black object that was sitting on the counter, partially hidden by the money that the doctor had put down.

"Uh-oh," he picked it up, quickly recognizing it as a PDA. That wasn't good for a doctor to do without. Getting up quickly, he threw down two dollars onto the counter before he ran out the door of the shop, hoping to catch McCoy before he was out of sight.

Once he reached the sidewalk, though, he knew that wasn't going to happen. With the traffic that was speeding around in all directions, the doctor was already gone.

Kirk glanced down at the PDA again, noting the initials on it to make sure it really belonged to McCoy. And - yes, it seemed so. L.H.M. was etched into the side. He'd have to return it soon. Too bad he had to go to work that night - it'd be fun to drop in the hospital and see that doctor one more time.

Tomorrow, then, for sure.

*

"Done for the day, Dr. McCoy?" Christine Chapel greeted McCoy warmly when he stepped out of his last meeting, handing him another stack of folders. "You did well today, doctor. I heard all about the director's meeting. That was very impressive!"

"Yeah well it didn't turn out the wanted," McCoy said, taking the folders and looking through them. "Any calls?"