Everything In Order (Invite only)
Rowan smiled as he stood in his new office. His office. The official Meridian and Liefde doctor. From now on he would have in his care all of his Clanmates and their loved ones living here in the Towers, or in some cases in Nachton. No one told him what to do or when to do it; he was in charge here and he was thrilled about that. Yes, of course he worked for Evenhet and Meridian and as such he followed their rules but he was THE doctor and that felt great.
Rowan had had his own practices several times over the years so being the head honcho here didn't bother him at all. He knew how he liked things organized and arranged and he was still working on a schedule that suited him and his needs as well as those of the Clan and company. He had come up with several possibilities so far but a few had been shot down by his future spouse, who insisted that Rowan was supposed be working a more normal human schedule, not less. Rowan groused a little bit about that but Cris was right; part of his reason for taking this job was so he wouldn't be putting in a hundred hours a week anymore.
All things being equal, Cris wasn't supposed be doing that either. Perhaps this was a time in their lives to be slightly less workaholic and slightly more involved with each other. Starting out a marriage without being able to spend any time together was a terrible idea.
So far the best Rowan had come up with was a choice of two options. He would have a staff of very reliable nurses; because of them there would be someone physically in the clinic at all hours. Obviously Rowan could not be there twenty-four seven. He'd be on call all the time, of course, but that didn't bother him at all. On the occasions he and Cris actually wanted to leave the area for personal reasons, they would certainly have arranged for their own replacements.
So, Rowan could work a split shift as one option. He could come into the clinic say from 5 am until 10 am, return home, sleep a little, then go back from 3 pm to 8 pm. Five days of that was still a respectable 50 hour work week and he'd have a whole two days off, which hadn't happened a lot in the last twenty years or so. Alternatively he could find himself a nurse practitioner, someone who worked under him who could diagnose and prescribe and basically be a second-in-command when he wasn't there. That way they could share shifts and leave only a very few blocks of time when there wouldn't be anyone qualified to do so at the clinic.
He liked the second option best, really. It took a little pressure off of him being the only person who could diagnose and prescribe, which were the two things he was really needed for here. Yes, he had a fully equipped surgery but his surgeries probably wouldn't be very frequent.
He had yet to actually decorate his office but it was very modern and sleek like everything in the Towers and he liked it. He had a picture on his desk, of course, one that he found hilarious. It was of Cris, during their vacation, video-conferencing from the Buccaneer. He had brought himself a sunny back-drop to hang up, complete with palm trees, and had worn his usual black on black attire. Rowan had a great deal of respect for Cris's ability to maintain his poker face during that meeting, given the things Rowan had been doing do sway his attention where the camera couldn't see. As a result, he knew it might look odd to have such an apparently impersonal picture on his desk but the memories it evoked - oh, they were more than personal. They couldn't be any more intimate.
Leaning back in his chair Rowan waited. As he had suspected he had come home to discover a resume on his desk, the one he'd been waiting for. It was Becky's. He held it now; he'd called her the first chance he'd had and arranged for her to come in for an 'interview' which wouldn't, of course, be an interview. He knew how she worked. She knew how he worked. He just wanted to make the offer formal.
She was right on time, as always. Rowan like that about her. She kept him punctual... much like Cris. Rowan could get behind easily when left to his own devices, just like he could get messy and disorganized. Throw him in with people who were on time and put-together, though, and he generally rose to the occasion. He still had Henri to thank for that. He had no doubt that Cris, too, could murder him with his pinky if he got out of line, although he'd prefer to be subdued by Cris with different methods.
He pulled himself out of his speculative daze and looked up to see Becky peeking into his office.
"Welcome home," she said. "How was the trip?"
Rowan put down the resume and stood as Becky entered. He hugged her briefly, and was satisfied when she clung to him for a moment. Her history with men was not good; she trusted him though and apparently still did or her embrace would never have been so heartfelt.
He gestured to her to have a seat and, rather than sitting behind his new desk, took the other chair in the room. They were very comfortable; perfect for a doctor's office, he noted, unlike some people who had very uncomfortable chairs in their offices because of some perverse need to perform occasionally hilarious social experiments on the people sitting in them.
Yes, he was going to marry that man.
"The trip was great," he said with a grin. "I have pictures, if you want to see them."
Becky nodded, her enthusiasm unfeigned. At the hospital they had been friends even though Rowan was the superior. He thought they could still balance that relationship here. His current staff was a mix of human and vampire. Mostly human, although he did have two vampire nurses who were eager to take most of the night shifts. That left him with several humans to fill in the days and the occasional nights, so that everyone had time off.
"I wanted to make my offer official first," Rowan said. "We're still working out some scheduling details but aside from that I can offer you the salary I mentioned before and, of course, the benefits. There was one more thing I wanted to ask you though."
Becky's face had lit up at the news; Rowan had offered her much more than she was currently making. He knew she was worth it, and Cris had met Becky often enough that he had been able to add the weight of his opinion there too. For a single mom, the hours and money Meridian could offer were like a dream come true. Rowan knew Becky was suddenly seeing a future for her son Jamie that seemed much more realistic - college, time spent together, a little less stress over bills. Those were things they both deserved.
"What is that?" Becky's face was guardedly curious. Rowan knew she didn't like surprises so he hastened to reassure her.
"Nothing bad, I promise," Rowan said. "Just an offer I wanted to make, and you're free to say yes or no, mull it over if you like, it won't change this offer."
Becky relaxed although she still looked wary. Rowan suspected he knew why. Becky was fully aware of his identity and, while she didn't know a lot about their kind (that would have to change), she did know about his feeding habits and seemed to know what a familiar was. He thought she was probably worried that this was going to be an offer like that.
"I'm listening," she said slowly.
"Have you ever given some thought to your own future?" Rowan asked her frankly.
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The wary look came back and Rowan rolled his eyes at her. "I don't mean your dinner plans," he said sarcastically, and she had the grace to blush. "I mean, is this what you want to do all your life? Be a nurse?"
Becky clasped her hands in her lap, looking down at them. "I don't know," she said. "I hadn't thought about it, really. This was what I did because I needed to make a living on my own. For Jamie."
Rowan nodded. He knew why Becky had chosen to become a nurse. She was good at it, though. It didn't seem like just a job to her. She actually seemed to enjoy it. He remained quiet and let her continue.
She finally looked back up at him. "I had given some thought to going to medical school," she admitted. "I'm not sure I wanted to be a doctor though. There's so much more work to be done."
Rowan knew by looking at her resume that she didn't just have a two year degree in nursing. She had her four year. That was a great start. "Ever given any thought to being a nurse practitioner?"
She smiled at that. "Yes, actually. I think I'd enjoy that, it's just... well, life kind of gets the better of you when you have a child, you know?"
Then she bit her lip. "Or... well, I guess you don't know."
Rowan lifted a shoulder, unoffended. "I know vicariously, how about that?"
She laughed softly. "Fair enough."
Rowan linked his hands behind his head. "If it's still something you want, we'll help you with it. It would be good to have someone here when I can't be. Not another doctor, but someone who can do routine exams and things like that."
"Help me?"
"Financial aid, flexible hours. You know. And there's daycare here for Jamie as well. You know he won't be alone."
Becky's eyes were wide at the prospect of it. This was a new door opening for her, an opportunity she hadn't expected to receive. She might have been a victim once, but Rowan knew her and Becky knew a good choice when it presented itself to her.
"You mean you - and Meridian - will help put me through the rest of school, and then you'll hire me on here as a practitioner to work under your guidance?"
"That pretty much sums it up," Rowan said. "You could do a lot worse than a twelve hundred year old mentor."
Becky blinked away her deer-in-headlights look (an irony not lost on Rowan, whose age generally inspired that look - not abolished it) and arched a brow at Rowan. "Twelve hundred?"
"And change," he said. "But honestly, I've only been a doctor for a couple hundred of those."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "And before that? Let me guess. My son is addicted to pirates now because you were being slightly more than creative."
Rowan straightened in his chair. "I embellished some facts for the sake of entertainment. Disney did it."
"You were really a pirate?"
"Yes."
"On a ship and everything?"
"It even floated. Like, on water."
"Parrot, eyepatch, swab the decks and all that."
"I hate parrots, the eyepatch adds a certain rugged charm, and I had a knack for getting out of deck-swabbing duty. About that nurse practitioner thing?"
Becky rested her elbow on his desk and put her chin in her hand, closing her eyes and laughing. When she opened her eyes again she looked at him assessingly and he knew he had her.
"What about the biting?" she asked.
"I've had my rabies shot."
She kicked him in the shin. "I mean it."
He affected a wounded expression. "Not unless you wanted me to."
"And anyone else around here? I mean... you're not the only one... are you?"
Rowan shook his head. "No. I'm not the only one. But you're not a snack. For anyone. My family... we don't believe in taking by force. We live together peacefully."
Becky nodded. "Cris?"
Rowan hadn't told her anything about Cris. "He is exactly who he needs to be."
"The man you love. Yes, you said that before."
"The man I'm marrying actually," Rowan pointed out.
"Congratulations! I'm very happy for you, and that hasn't distracted me from the current line of questioning."
"You can talk to Cris about Cris," Rowan said with a smile, "but he is in charge of Security and you couldn't be in a safer place."
Becky nodded. "Okay. Fair enough. We're going to discuss this vampire thing more, right?"
"Over dinner?"
The look she shot him was acid; he threw his hands up. "Oh come on. You've seen me eat. I meant food."
Immediately Becky grinned. "I know what you meant, but it's going to be really fun making you eat your words for a while."
"Now that's just not fair."
"Consider it payback for your little Halloween stunt."
Rowan crossed his arms. "Fine. Nurse practitioner?"
Becky smiled again. "You make it hard for a girl to say no."
"That was the plan."
Becky held her hand out; Rowan shook it.
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She rarely used his first name - usually just when she was scolding him. Rowan smiled. "You're a good person. Good people deserve a break now and then. School isn't going to be easy. And it's Rue, to most of my good friends."
"I know it won't be easy but having support helps. A lot. Between you and my family... well, I'm lucky. And Rue?"
"R, U, E." He spelled it out. "My first name as a vampire was Ruan. For my red hair."
Becky furrowed her brow at him. "You were named after your hair."
"Uh-huh."
"What was wrong with your current name at the time?"
Rowan clamped his mouth shut and watched Becky for a few seconds. He hated discussing his past. He had brought it up, this time, because he thought it was important for Becky to know certain things, at least about him, if they were going to work together.
"Oh come on, Rowan. Rue. Why did you take a different name?"
Rowan let out a sigh. "Because I don't know it."
Becky opened her mouth but whatever was about to come out stopped, whether because of the look on Rowan's face or his words. "You don't know it?"
"Don't remember it," he said, forcing humor. Shrugged his shoulders. "It doesn't matter."
Becky shook her head. "Of course it matters."
"Why?"
"Because you're marrying someone whose name will be tied to yours forever. Which is a really long time for you."
"Rowan Murphy is my legal name. It's done me well for years."
A seed of doubt had formed though. Cris's name would be on their marriage certificate. It was just a piece of paper, but Cris was still Cris. There was very little difference between Christian and Crispin... and a lot of difference between Rowan and '???????'.
Becky was still shaking her head. "Why can't you remember your name? How do you forget that kind of thing?"
"I didn't mean to," Rowan pointed out. At least, he didn't think he meant to. He wasn't sure. "Sometimes with our kind, it just - happens. I don't remember anything from before."
Becky got up and crossed the distance between them, wrapping her arms around him and hugging him. "Huh?" he uttered into her shirt. "What's this?"
"That's terrible," Becky said. "You don't remember your home?"
Rowan shook his head, not particularly perturbed, but apparently unable to shake Becky off this topic.
"Family?"
Shake.
"Brothers, sisters? Parents?"
Shake, shake.
"I have a family," Rowan said. "I love them very much. Anyone I left behind is long gone, and I cannot regret who I don't remember. It doesn't bother me, Becky."
"I'm still sorry."
Rowan shrugged. "Don't be," he said with a smile. "I am who I am. Isn't that good enough?"
"You're a guardian angel," Becky said. She leaned down and kissed his forehead. "And you're taking me out for dinner to celebrate. Someplace swank and expensive. And private, because I have more questions."
"Name it."
"The Armada."
"Seafood, I love it."
"Should I go get changed?"
Rowan noted his dressed-down attire, considerably worse than Becky's. But not terrible. He stood and shook his head. "No. I'll get us in."
"Is this something I should turn a blind eye to?"
He grinned. "It's not illegal, but I have a feeling things will go our way."
"Piercings at work? Scrubs, and no suit?"
"You are entirely too perceptive sometimes."
Becky smiled. "Isn't that what you're paying me for? Blue Prius, right?"
"Did you want to drive, too?"
"Oh, no," Becky said. "I haven't been out with a man in so long, I'm just going to relax and enjoy it. Even if you don't count as a real man."
"I'm not quite sure how to take that."
"Well, you have some very strange habits..."
"Is this a diet thing, or a marrying another man thing?"
"Why does it have to be either of those?"
Rowan followed her out of the clinic. "Oh come on. Don't I at least deserve to know why my manhood is being downgraded?"
"You drive a blue Prius, Rue."
"It's good for the environment."
But Becky was actually laughing, and joking. Things she didn't always do. He dropped his shields some, let a little bit of 'her' in, ignoring the fire. Elation, hope, happiness. Such happiness. And he had helped. That was a good thing. Becky should have hope, and this chance might have been just what she needed to really blossom. He'd do everything he could for her.
((ooc: Rowan out))