Out In The World • •

[Chase Logan McMahon]

Chase spent so much of his time lately studying blood slides that he was contemplating buying a boat and changing his name to Dexter. It was all the fun and games of working the longer hours and taking on more responsibilities as his residency period grew closer to an end. Still, everyone needed a break sometimes from the daily grind and Chase just so happened to have bumped into Denver when he was delivering some test results down on the ward adjacent to paediatrics. After a brief exchange and walk down the same corridor for a few moments they had plans to grab a beer or two after work and just unwind. Chase might have had other people in his life, like Penny, to help him relax, but sometimes it was pleasant to hang out with a friend who fully understood how it was.

The rest of the day was relatively repetitive. He spent a few more hours in and out of the labs with tests for specific things, did another round of his patients just to make sure they were fine before the end of the day and they went into the care of the on call doctor. There were a few complaints, but mainly they could all be fixed with pain medication or a change in whatever medication they had been on since their admittance to the hospital. He dealt with those issues, chatted with a patient who would be going in for a bone marrow transplant first thing in the morning and then updated the nurses on anything that they needed to know or should be looking out for. He had a leukaemia patient in oncology who he wanted an update on a little later in the evening, since he hadn’t been looking so well on the chart that afternoon and Chase had upped his medication slightly, just to see if it made anything better for him.

After finishing up the paperwork in the office near the lab, Chase sent a quick text to Denver to say that he’d meet him at the Hard Rock after he had finished running an errand or two and that he shouldn’t be very long. He just had to post a parcel for his sister’s birthday before the place closed for the evening. He had meant to do it during his lunch hour, but somehow that had escaped him; probably when he was making his way from one department to the next. He didn’t really have a set place to be in the hospital and often found himself travelling all over the place to find his patients. Anyone who needed to get a message to him either sent it to the blood bank lab or oncology, which were the two places he passed through most on a regular day.

After the parcel was on its way to Washington, Chase hopped back in his car and drove back in the direction of the hospital and of the Hard Rock Café. He was looking forward to having a beer and maybe getting some chicken wings too. It had been a while since they had found the time to hang out anywhere other than the staff lunch room and then one of them always seemed to have a file in their hands to look over while they ate bad lunches and drank bad coffee. Once his car was parked up, Chase made his way inside, his eyes scanning the bar area for his friend. He finally spotted the man and grinned, walking over to take the seat next to him and order both of them in a drink, since he had promised that afternoon to get the first lot in. “Hey, sorry I took a bit longer than I thought; there was a man trying to post about ten things and he had all the labels mixed up.”

[/color] Chase shook his head, pulling out his wallet to hand the notes over to the bartender who served him.
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• • •

TAGGED! Denver!
WORDS! 699
OUTFIT! Doctor’s Drink!
LYRICS! These Are My People - - Rodney Atkins
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Denver Gage Sawyer]

Denny was having a damn good week, if he did say so himself. A few of the children that were admitted to the ward were already back home and cured of their minor illnesses. There had been no changes or deaths in the group of kids with more serious and life threatening illnesses. And Lexi had spent another night curled up beside him. All in all, he really couldn’t complain. There was a slight bounce in his step all day from being in the good mood and it seemed to have transferred to the patients he had already seen. When he left a few of them, they were laughing and teasing him about his mood; which was always good for the kids. He didn’t mind in the least when they poked fun at him, it only showed him how well they were feeling that day, that they had the energy and the uplifted spirits to do as much.

He’d been on his way to check on a particular patient who was unfortunately in for a longer haul than most when he ran into Chase and chatted with him while they both walked through the white, disinfected halls of the hospital. They made plans to meet up after shift and unwind from both of their busy work schedules. The two hardly got to hang out and just relax with a couple beers since both seemed to work constantly. But when they did, it was usually a good time. Denny left Chase to his own work as they got to the hall he needed, joking that he’d be the only one at the bar without a drink still by the time the other doctor arrived. Denver stopped just outside the room door to send Lexi a quick message, just saying that he was going to be meeting up with Chase for a drink and would text her afterward to see if she was doing anything. He had stepped a foot into the room with a smile on his face when he got her reply, informing him she was with her sister and probably would be for a good portion of the evening. Denny felt bad for his girlfriend after meeting them at the gala thing for the hospital, but family duties called. And he returned hers with a promise of pizza and red wine when she was done if she needed it. With all that done, and another returned message all before he had managed to take a seat in the empty chair next to the window saying she would hold him to his word.

This patient was older and knew better so he couldn’t explain his ridiculous smile away by saying it was a joke in a text that got him. So, he told her what was going on and grinned at her response to the whole thing. This girl reminded him so much of his Sarah that it was hard not to tell ask her advice and give some of his own in return. She’d been depressed about being in the hospital and having none of her old friends visiting her. She had plenty of people from her school visit but they weren’t from the group that she had hung around with before she’d fallen ill. And as heart breaking as it had been for Denny, he could only tell her the truth in his eyes; that the people who showed up every day, every week were her real friends and the ones who couldn’t be bothered weren’t worth her time and energy anyway. He made a couple mental notes as he sat with her and joked around, leaving finally because a guest had arrived and a light blush had crept up on her pale cheeks at the sight of the young boy. Denver promised he would be back the next day to pull the details of that blush from her like only a big brother could. He was lucky that a few of his patients were around the same age as his sister and he knew how to deal with that difficult age well. Those patients also saw him as more than the man that was there to help fix them, they saw him as a friend or a brother figure and that helped him with his diagnosis.

Denver spent the rest of his time doing the paperwork he’d been setting aside and talking to the nurses about this patient and that, giving them the updated charts and medications with times. He trusted the nurses he worked with most, knowing his patients were in capable hands with them while he wasn’t at the hospital. He knew the on call was a capable doctor as well, but they never spent as much time with the kids and Denny did or the nurses. They would do their job, the on calls, but they hardly got to know the patients they took care of through the night or day. Finally, though, it was time to call it quits for another long day and as Denny was making his way down to his car in Doctor’s parking, he got the text from Chase. The other doctor rolled his eyes, knowing there would be something to delay the Hematologist. The Pediatrician sent a quick no problem text back before starting his car and heading straight over to the Hard Rock. He parked, grabbed his phone and locked up as he walked away, clicking the lock again, just in case before stepping inside and heading straight for a couple empty seats at the bar. He didn’t order a drink with the bartender stopped in front of him, but he did ask for a couple menus. He was hungry having skipped lunch, completely spacing about it. He had been too busy checking in on his patients to eat; which happened more than he’d care to admit. He’d barely finished checking out the menu when Chase occupied the empty seat next to him. “No worries. I was checking out the menu,” he said, waving it about.

Tag || Chase!
Words || 1 009
Clothes || Devilish Doctors
Music || Sunshine And Summertime --Faith Hill
Notes || <3

[Chase Logan McMahon]

Chase had always been the doctor who would spend more than enough hours at the hospital. It wasn’t uncommon for one of the nurses to find him in his office, head propped up on his hand as he napped over some forgotten paperwork. He liked to keep on top of things and sometimes it just wasn’t possible, especially not when blood work came through so regularly and out of so many of them a handful would find their way onto his desk and into his patient list. It was never really nice to see a new name on that list, but it made it worthwhile once Chase got to strike through it and declare a full recovery, or at least say to them that he didn’t want to see them again until their six month check-up. Obviously some left the list for worse reasons, but thinking about it did no one any favours and if there were questions or doubts then one trip down to the basement morgue was all it usually took to silence them. The team down there often had to deal with the aftermath of pretty much everything and they seemed to be the ones with the advice and the answers when they were needed the most.

Still, the only thing that really worked to take a doctor’s mind away from the horrors of their jobs was to get out or socialise. He knew that Denver spent a lot of time with Lexi now and Chase himself was growing closer to Penny when their schedules allowed it. In the absence of that though, the young haematologist knew a few other people in the city after living there for eight years and there was always one free for a few drinks. Chase hadn’t needed that in a while though; most of his patients had long fights ahead of them and usually he had time to prepare himself for the worst if it slowly seemed to be inevitable.

He pushed all thoughts of that kind away for the time being, reminding himself that this was supposed to be a few beers before returning home to walk Alfie and then probably a few hours of classic Doctor Who. He pushed one of the drinks Denver’s way once they arrived and took a swig from his own brown bottle. “There better be chicken wings on there. I’ve a hankering for chicken wings.”

[/color] His regular work diet of popcorn and energy drinks that looked like blood bags was so far from healthy people would probably be shocked that he was allowed to be a doctor, but it got him through his shifts and there was always the occasional apple at lunch if there was the time to spare; if not it was just more popcorn. It was probably a good thing he had no one around to yell at him aside from a few nurses who passed comments and shot him disapproving looks whenever he turned up to a ward with one or the other in his hand.
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• • •

TAGGED! Denver!
WORDS! 541
OUTFIT! Doctor’s Drink!
LYRICS! These Are My People - - Rodney Atkins
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Denver Gage Sawyer]

Denver spent most of his time at the hospital and yet he still had piles of paperwork that he needed to finish through and even more to sign off on with the file clerks. He was sure the lot working in the filing department hated him but he made his way down to those offices every once in a while to chat them up, see how a couple of them were and of course, grab some of the files he needed instead of asking a volunteer to do it for him. There were nights he never made it home when he’d first started at the hospital, despite having set hours. He wanted to get in as many hours as he could for the experience and for the simple fact that if he got in more hours here and there with oncology, he could spend his proper hours in Pediatrics. He knew he learned everything he had to with Pediatrics, but he wanted to be sure that there wasn’t a chance he would miss something in a diagnosis.

Of course, there were things that couldn’t be helped, people he couldn’t save but there were also people around to comfort when he took it harder than he should have. Really, pediatrics was probably the last place for the Canadian doctor to be. All those kids still had so much life ahead of them and fate went and threw them a curve ball. He hated that. If it were up to him, kids wouldn’t get sick at all. They could break bones since that was all part of growing up, get bruises and scars, maybe even bleed a little, but they shouldn’t get the news that there was something wrong and only tests and a stay in hospital would get them closer to figuring out how to fix it. Lexi helped quite a bit, so did Chase and a few other friends. But when he got so low, he went, like he thought most doctors did when they were feeling the weight of the world on their shoulders, to the morgue and spoke to Taylor. He met her his first day when he’d been scared, nervous and excited about being a couple steps closer to where he wanted to be. She had helped him out a lot at the beginning and even now when he couldn’t bother Lexi with his issues. He knew his girlfriend cared, but she didn’t quite get it as well as another doctor would.

Still it was nice; it was good to get away from those sterile white walls, and forget the things that went on there. Denny tried not to bring his work home with him but there were days, like any other job, where it all got to you and you just couldn’t help it. Today thankfully wasn’t one of those days. There had been no changes in a couple of his more severe patients, which was both good and bad. He wanted good improvements but those would take some time. And another group of his patients were simple illnesses, colds, an appendix and a couple kids with newly removed tonsils. He passed over the spare menu as he said, “There’s an entire list of them. They knew you were coming.” Setting down his own menu, he replaced it with the bottle in front of him and took a swig from the cold brew.

Tag || Chase!
Words || 567
Clothes || Devilish Doctors
Music || Sunshine And Summertime --Faith Hill
Notes || <3

[Chase Logan McMahon]

Sometimes Chase was convinced that some of the more experienced doctors were putting paperwork onto his desk as some sort of “new guy” joke. He had been at the hospital for a few years now, close to finishing his residency and hopefully earning a permanent position there, but he wouldn’t put it past the lab guys or the other doctors he saw often enough to play some sort of practical joke on him. Even now there were nights when Chase left the hospital feeling his eyes ready to close for the night and his body crying out for a warm, soft bed. It was one of the cons of being a doctor, he supposed, but most of the time he didn’t mind putting in the extra hours, especially if it meant he could move ahead on his next shift or put the mind of a worrying patient at ease. In the past, there had been nurses who had made it their “duty” to ensure that the young haematologist actually made it home to his apartment and didn’t just crash out at his desk or in the on call room. Luckily, Alfie took up quite the spot in Chase’s heart and the big dog needed his owner to come home at some point for walks and dinner, so that helped; he just had to make sure that he didn’t decide to return to the hospital once the dog had been tended to.

However, there were times when the quiet apartment and the loyal companionship of the St Bernard were not enough. Every doctor had to deal with losing patients, but it didn’t ever get easier and Chase had been told that by several of the veteran doctors at the hospital. When a loss did come out of the blue, or hit harder to home than they expected it to, they did have an unspoken code about heading down to the morgue to speak to someone down there. For some reason, hearing that there was nothing that could’ve saved them only sounded final and believable when it came from one of the doctors who seemed to specialise in death. Chase could never do it personally, but he had spent a few hours down there, especially during his first year as a doctor when things were hard and it was sometimes a challenge to return the following day.

The break from everything this evening was welcome. Chase’s mind was usually still busy working away when he got home and even after his typical evening jog through the park with Alfie. Meeting up for a quiet drink and something to eat with a friend was probably the only way to silent the mental voice planning to-do lists and schedules for the next day. “Ah, perfect. I knew there was a reason why I liked this place so much.”

[/color] He joked, easily picking out the spicy chicken wings to snack on while they enjoyed their beer and relaxed after another busy day at the “office”. “It’s been far too long since we did this, Denver.”[/color] With their schedules being so hectic and some of their shifts lasting longer than the other doctor’s it seemed near impossible to find the free time in which they could just hang out and catch up. Chase was spending more and more time with Penny, enjoying her company and Denver had Lexi. Chase couldn’t complain about it when things were so good in life and at least they could both understand when the other said they were busy; one of the good things about working in the same profession!
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• • •

TAGGED! Denver!
WORDS! 636
OUTFIT! Doctor’s Drink!
LYRICS! These Are My People - - Rodney Atkins
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Denver Gage Sawyer]

Sometimes it felt like Denver lived at the hospital, he was there so often. But he wanted to get his residency behind him so he could move forward with his career. There wasn’t much left of it now and then he would be free of having everything he did double and triple checked. That was the worst part of it all, having people checking over his diagnosis, choices and reasons behind his actions. He knew they were there to make sure he learned to do things right, but by now he was well aware of how the system worked. Having some friends at the hospital made it a little easier. Being able to slip away for a few minutes without a patient needing him or a nurse searching him out to sign a release form was like heaven. He could run down to Chase’s office if he had an idea to run by the other man, or he found himself in the basement and Taylor’s office when things just got to be too much and he needed to talk to someone who had already been through these things.

Sometimes Denver thought Taylor had the right idea working with the dead. Those patients couldn’t talk, and you couldn’t screw them up somehow with medication or conclusions. Still, whenever he thought about that, he remembered the small children he worked with, the teenagers with illnesses they shouldn’t have and all his thoughts went back to where they started; giving those kids more time on their clocks. He joked that he would think about home when there weren’t any sick kids on the ward. Of course, when he did get time away from the often sixteen hour days, he spent as much of that time with Lexi and his oversized lapdog. He hated having to pay a kid in his building to walk Duke when he should have been capable of doing the fun chore himself, but with his hours, it just wasn’t possible. At least he could take comfort in the fact that the kid was good with Duke and earned the money Denny gave him.

Tonight, Denver had needed a guy’s night. Lexi was great and she understood his work issues, but even she couldn’t quite understand everything; not like another doctor would. If Chase had been busy then Denver would have surprised Lexi with plans of some sort. It wouldn’t have mattered to Denny which way the night turned. But he was thankful that Chase was free, that his girlfriend or whatever Penny was to him wasn’t available. She was a great girl, and so good with the kids in his department. Whenever he went to check on a patient after she’d been with them, all he could get from them were the things Penny had taught them. It was sweet. “I’m surprised you wanted to meet up here. I figured free wings would win out,” Denver teased the other doctor before taking a swig from the long neck in his hand. “It has, indeed,” he agreed, easily. It was a miracle they had the time to catch up now!

Tag || Chase!
Words || 520
Clothes || Devilish Doctors
Music || Sunshine And Summertime --Faith Hill
Notes || <3

[Chase Logan McMahon]

Chase actually didn’t mind the long hours at the hospital or the lack of sleep, caffeine withdrawals or the dry, bloodshot eyes that came as part and parcel of his residency. He knew all about that when he chose to come to New York and study to be a doctor. He had been one of the few who hadn’t complained, had volunteered to cover shifts and who often had to be told to go home before he was caught passed out on a break room couch again. Even now, when the light at the end of his residency tunnel was right in front of him, he didn’t mind spending the extra time in his office or the wards, treating patients or giving the families the full rundown of everything that their loved one was about to undergo as part of their treatment. For the last couple of years, his social life had taken a backseat and while he had friends who often hit up the bars and nightclubs of New York, Chase was usually the guy who got the “where are you?” phone call when he was hunched over his desk far later than he had originally planned to be. At least they still dragged him out and laughed about it; Chase needed that in his life more than he seemed to realise.

The young man hadn’t always dreamt of being a haematologist. That was a late decision that came during his pre-med years when Chase found fun in reading any and all medical journals that NYU had to offer. He really had never been a big fan of the college parties and with his apartment being a safe distance from the campus and in a secure building he had too many nights when it was just him and his schoolwork. If school wasn’t in session then he had books and articles and the internet to keep his education up to date. Still, being a doctor had been his ambition since he was fourteen and had his appendix removed. The curiosity only settled into a definite path after his second admission to hospital with a pesky broken ankle that had been the result of the fire, his own fears and a terrible jump that was more of a fall when Chase thought back on it. Now, he couldn’t imagine specialising in anything else though, even if there was an arsenal of jokes from the medical staff he knew well about the amount of time he spent around “the crimson stuff”.

It was only when Chase finally slowed down that he realised how much he needed to sit back and just enjoy his life every once in a while. He was more than happy to bury himself in work at the hospital and never come up for air, but it wasn’t healthy. Penny seemed to be making those pauses more of a regular occurrence in his life, but Chase hadn’t really clued in enough to notice it yet; he was pretty oblivious for a smart guy. Still, he had these evenings with Denver when they could put their white coats on the hooks and just kick back like most guys in their twenties. “My stomach was too busy demanding a reminder of real food.”

[/color] He shrugged, smirking as he gulped back some more of his drink. Living off of popcorn in the hospital was not the most nutritious lifestyle choice, but it was one of the easiest given how unpredictable lunch could turn out to be. “We sound like old men.”[/color] Chase pulled a face and looked across at Denver before chuckling and shaking his head. “What have we become?”[/color]
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• • •

TAGGED! Denver!
WORDS! 646
OUTFIT! Doctor’s Drink!
LYRICS! These Are My People - - Rodney Atkins
NOTES! <3 <3 <3

[Denver Gage Sawyer]

With the upcoming trip, Denver was busier than ever trying to get this organized for when he went home with Lexi. There was just so much that had to be done around the hospital. And Denny hated leaving his patients in the care of others, though he had a feeling that most doctors felt that way. He was attached to those kids, much like he shouldn’t be, but he was. He wanted the very best for them, even if they were only in for a simple thing like recovering from an appendectomy. Those patients were the easy ones, they laughed and joked because they knew in a few more days they would be free to go and return to life as it was before they’d been admitted in the first place with just a new story to tell their friends. It was harder to know that there were kids in his care that wouldn’t see the end of the month, or their next birthdays unless something was done but there wasn’t enough time or money to find a cure or alternative to the worst. He trusted the doctors he was putting his patients care in, but they weren’t him, they didn’t know those kids as well as Denny did.

But for two weeks soon enough, they would have to be forcefully removed from his memory so he could enjoy his trip home. And when that happened, he wanted to know that his patients were in the best hands. There was a very likely chance that as soon as his mother saw them pull up, she would be on the porch, expecting a hug and for him to hand over his cell phone so he wouldn’t be able to contact the hospital. He wanted to show Lexi everything he felt had been important to him growing up, he wanted to take a side trip, even for a night to St. John’s and drink and dance their way down George Street.

“That’s sad, dude,” Denver said shaking his head. “All that space up under that pretty hair of yours and all you could think about was food? Maybe you should have one of those paper bracelets on, because something has to be wrong with you,” Denny teased, unable to help himself. For himself, his mind seemed to always wander to thoughts of Lexi whenever he gave himself a moment to think, clear his thoughts out so he could work out a problem. Denver lifted the bottle to his lips, chuckling. “We became doctors,” he said, stating the obvious. “And soon enough we’ll be old, probably jaded doctors with next to no care for our patients like that jackass that retired last month,” He added after the liquid had cooled a path down his throat. Denver knew of the lot doing their residency at their hospital, at least he and Chase wouldn’t turn out to be anything like that old man. Denver couldn’t do his job without knowing his patients, sitting down with them and talking to them; even the small children. Already his tiny office space was filled with colourful pictures given to him by his younger patients.

Tag || Chase!
Words || 526
Clothes || Devilish Doctors
Music || Sunshine And Summertime --Faith Hill
Notes || -.- <3

[Chase Logan McMahon]

Chase knew all about the difficulties in switching off on the days when he wasn’t needed in the hospital. Even if he had places to be or things to do he would find his mind slipping off to various patients and test results, wondering if Mrs Osman had received the increase in her heart medication or if Mr Hannon would heed his advice and take it easy for a few weeks after his surgery. He had worked so hard to earn his residency and with the final months already pushing him and testing him one more time, Chase felt guilty whenever he did curl up on his couch after a delicious meal and a lazy evening. He knew there were patients worrying about their own lives and they were relying on him and his colleagues to ensure that they could get back to them as soon as was possible. He didn’t need his mentors or his peers reminding him that he was entitled to vacation time; he knew it and he made plans immediately to make sure that there was someone to force him to follow through with them. If Chase booked a vacation week just to relax in New York then he wouldn’t last the first morning before he’d walk back through those hospital doors and pick up a file. His distractions needed to be powerful ones and usually came in the form of his adoptive family.

They had always been the people to pry him away from the textbooks and drag him from the libraries when he had needed it and, like it was their duty, they did the same when it came to New York and his job. Obviously it would be different this time since Penny was going to join him on the drive to DC, but Chase knew that other than the brief recap about the hospital and how things were going, he would be banned from “talking shop” in the McMahon home. Jokes could be thrown and teasing remarks made, but if his mom thought he was sneaking calls or letting his thoughts drifts to the wards then she would probably give him the most unpleasant of tasks to occupy himself with instead. Last time it had been helping the handyman gut the roof and Chase had practically come down from the ladder a particular shade of grey. He had disliked building heights since the fire at the summer home several years earlier.

Raising an eyebrow, Chase fixed Denver with an amused look and a smirk. “Aw, Den, you think I’m pretty? Whatever would Lexi think if she heard?”

[/color] He pretended to be horrified at the idea, though he was acquainted well enough with the young woman to know she’d probably laugh and have a quick response rolling from the tip of her tongue already. “And there must be. I’m here having a drink with you rather than some young beauty.”[/color] Dramatically, he shook his head and turned his attention to his drink as though answers could be found at the bottom of it. “I might just retire to the Bahamas now and skip that middle bit.”[/color] He joked after pretending to mull the idea over for a few long seconds. Chase didn’t have the colourful gifts from patients like Denny had, but then Chase often had older, more reluctant patients who at least shared their sweets with him. One had even clocked him arriving on the ward each day with his small popcorn box and had instructed her daughter to buy him a box, though Chase suspected she was trying to play Cupid in that situation.
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• • •

TAGGED! Denver!
WORDS! 636
OUTFIT! Doctor’s Drink!
LYRICS! These Are My People - - Rodney Atkins
NOTES! <3 <3 <3