Everything in Order (private)

"Well it seems like we've got all your paperwork in order. Your background check, drug screen, and everything."

The stern-faced elderly woman looked up at him and her face softened into a smile. "Welcome aboard, Mr. Williams."

He shook the hand that she offered, smiling quietly as she continued talking. "I have to say, it's somewhat unusual to have a male receptionist. I hope you don't mind being surrounded by women."

Brand shrugged and tilted his head. "I don't mind. And this job suits me. I like to help people, and I enjoy detailed things like paperwork and filing. I find it relaxing."

Greta, the hiring manager, shook her head. "It gets pretty busy out there sometimes. If you still find it relaxing after a crazy night you might just be one of a kind. Why don't I introduce you to some of the staff?"

"I'd like that," Brand replied.

He smiled, shook hands, and took meticulous mental notes as he was shown around the lobby of the Nachton Hospital's emergency room. The hunter inside was quiet, waiting, satisfied that Brand was taking the necessary steps toward providing them both with a new game, a new challenge.

Greta showed him two or three other reception areas as well; the lab, where tests were run; intensive care; pediatrics; internal medicine. All were places he could expect to be rotating between on any given day or night. Brand memorized the details of each one easily; he did have quite the memory for the little things. Names, faces, position. Greta introduced him to several of the doctors and nurses as well, people he'd be interacting with on a regular basis. How kind of her.

As they were leaving the pediatrics unit to go back to the administration area and work out his training schedule Brand noticed out of the corner of his eye a tall figure in a white coat. He watched as the man came out of an exam room. He was engaged in an animated discussion with what looked like an 8-year old. Both were gesturing expansively while the boy's mother and sister looked on patiently. Brand's eyes locked on the man immediately. Red hair, cut at an angle, an assortment of piercings flashing in the light. He wore scrubs beneath his coat unlike the doctors Brand had seen who mostly had suits and ties. His sleeves fell away from his wrists as he mimed what looked like an explosion of some sort and Brand raised his eyebrows as he noticed leather wrist bands with silver studs in them.

"Who is that?"

Greta turned and her lips quirked up into a tolerant, somewhat motherly, affectionate smile. "That would be Dr. Murphy, our pediatrician. Get a good look now, I'm sure he'll disappear in a half a second or so. Pediatricians are in short supply these days so we're glad to have him but his schedule is usually pretty tight."

Brand and his inner hunter both watched as Dr. Murphy and his patient came to the reception counter. He said something to the receptionist and then turned away with a farewell to the family.

"Dr. Murphy!" Greta called before the red-headed doctor could head back into the hall he'd come from.

He turned and Brand noticed his eyes, grey and green, without a doubt the same eyes he'd stared into only a week ago. Oh, this was going to be fun. He'd known it would be easy to find the man, but this was just too much.

Greta was introducing them. "This is Brandon, he'll be starting here as a receptionist tomorrow, I'm going to rotate him through pediatrics a few nights a week."

"Is that so?"

Brand noticed the accent; he couldn't place it. It was all kinds of muddled, sort of English and Irish and French all rolled into one. He continued to smile amiably as the doctor turned to him and offered his hand. Brand shook it firmly.

"Yes sir. I'm looking forward to it."

He looked at the images over the redhead now; his needs were fairly simple. Ghostly shapes floated above and around him. Brand noted the same thing as on the rooftop although it was fainter now; a pair of hands, embracing him from behind as if a lover stood with him, watching over him. Stronger though, more solid, was a pair of ghostly wings that spread out from the doctor's shoulders, protectively covering faintly human shapes, many of them child-sized.

So. Quite the doctor. He must really believe in what he was doing here, for Brand to see images like that. He was a person who needed to care for people. And he was a man who had drawn Brand's attention because he clearly knew something about them. He looked so open and friendly it was hard to believe he might be one of them. The sun had yet to go down, how could he have gotten to work today if he were?

Yet as Brand made polite small talk with the man he noted that it would be fairly easy to get here without ever seeing the sun. All the windows had blinds pulled down; this was a hospital not a nature sanctuary. Fluorescent light was king here. It would take balls but it would be possible.

He would keep watching.

They had a short, pleasant chat. The hunter and the man who housed it had long ago learned how to operate together within the same body, each with his own train of thought, each personality doing what it needed to do to organize, arrange, plan.

"It was nice to meet you Brandon. Good luck," Dr. Murphy was turning away with a friendly little wave as he headed back into the pediatrics ward, immediately assaulted by a nurse with a clipboard.

"Let's go on back down to the office and see about getting you some scrubs," Greta was saying.

Brand obediently followed, not bothering to look behind him. He could still smell the doctor, after all. He'd be able to find that scent again wherever it went.

((ooc: Brand out))