It had been Nick’s turn to shower after the last encounter, and he let the hot water nearly scald his skin and steam up the bathroom. He shut off the water and stepped, pink and clean, from the tub onto the mat. As he toweled off he thought about the questions he had: What went on at that clinic? Why were the new nurses in the waiting room? Was it as consensual as Kara’s unconscious mind proclaimed it to be? Did he really even want to pursue this?

That last one gave him a moment of pause. Did he? He had a pretty sweet setup here. He had a hot girl who would do anything he wanted. He didn’t have to work, or even cook for himself. He would probably rotate through a few more suggestible hot girls before his time was up. Screwing all that up for curiosity was a big ask. He could tell Kara to forget about it, that she was perfectly happy with how things were. His gut bothered him, though, when he thought about going along with it all. It wasn’t his business, exactly, and Kara was into it… but he didn’t know if all of them were. He guessed likely not.

“Whoo! Steamy!” Kara exclaimed as Nick opened the bathroom door. He lifted his chin a fraction of an inch, a smile beginning to form on his face before he noticed the steam rolling out around his feet and decided he couldn’t claim the compliment after all. He sat down on the bed, still wrapped in a towel to the waist. 

“What’s the game plan?” She asked. He liked that she looked up to him as the leader of this little adventure, but it did feel like an awful lot of responsibility.

“Well, I was thinking we could go over to the clinic, and have a look around.”

“And they’re just going to let us peek at the records?” She asked, incredulous.

“I mean… obviously not,” he sputtered. “We’ll create a uh, a diversion.”

“A diversion?” She arched one eyebrow and her lips turned up slightly at the corners. “Did you get that from Scooby Doo?”. 

“It was the Lion King, if you must know. Timon and… Pumba...” He said in a small voice. She smirked, he smiled, she snorted, and they laughed until they could barely breathe.

Later, dressed and only grinning slightly they walked out of their room, headed for the clinic. They took the elevator down and walked out the front door. They weren’t prisoners there, they could leave and walk around. The world just wasn’t quite what it had been. There were plenty of adults around, but a noticeable lack of small children. It took something away from the feel of things, Nick thought. 

The day was bright and the fresh air felt nice compared to the AC of the hotel. The sunlight between the buildings warmed their faces and shoulders. The clinic was in an office building across the street from the hotel. It had been commandeered, no doubt, by the government. The hotel had been acquired the same way. Once away from the hallways and cameras of the hotel, Nick felt he could talk.

“So you’re going to fake sick. Once we’re put in a room we’ll see what we can find out.” It was a shit plan, he knew. Barely a plan at all. It got them in, but he had no idea what he was looking for. “Let’s say this is mostly recon. We’re just going to see what we can see.”

“They’re probably used to women feeling ill with all the morning sickness that must be going on,” said Kara. They crossed the street, passing into the shadow of the large office building. It was modern, with blackened brick and stainless frames around green-tinted windows. They ascended the few granite steps to the bank of green glass doors and entered. 

Walking from the warm day outside to the temperature-controlled and filtered air was like plunging into a swimming pool. The sound of magazines rustling, keyboards, and mice clicking away was underscored by the wash of “soft-rock you know and love” music from overhead. The signage was prominent and easy to follow. Maternity/Gyn to the right, Urgent Care to the left, and New Arrivals straight on ‘till morning. Nick and Kara approached the Urgent Care desk.

“My partner’s having some nausea and stomach cramps”. Nick said. Kara, hunched over, moaned a little trying to look and sound pathetic. 

“Ok! Said the cute blonde behind the desk, “Let me just get your name and participant number, hon.” Nick thought that her chirpy voice and beauty pageant smile were a little too chipper for someone working with sick people. Read the room, lady. They grabbed a seat as far away as possible from a woman with a red nose and a hacking cough. The sounds of wet mucus almost made Nick reconsider his ploy when the woman was called back.

“We’re up next,” He whispered to Kara. Are you sure you can pull this off?”

“I'm sure,” she whispered back. “I was in drama club all four years in high school. I was Anne in Anne of Green Gables!”. He couldn’t tell if she was serious or pulling his chain and was about to say so when a nurse appeared at the clinic door and called Kara’s name. The nurse was nearly 6 feet tall and looked like a Swedish model from a 1980s beer commercial. Long, straight, blond hair spilled down her back. Her clipboard did little to hide a large bust, and her white scrubs tightly hugged every curve. Her name tag identified her as Skye.

“Will your…” she looked Nick up and down quickly while deciding how to address him “...match be joining you?” 

“Yes,” Kara said

Nick knew scrubs weren’t really “sexy” clothing, but watching the nurse’s hips roll under the white fabric that appeared painted on to long athletic legs was enough to raise anyone’s blood pressure. Nick realized that there were no panty lines, which meant there was no way she was wearing underwear. He thought it fairly daring in white scrubs, but was too busy appreciating the effect to concern himself with the motivations. 

They were shortly seated in an exam room and vital signs were taken. Satisfied with those, Skye left them with a basin in case of sickness and moved along to the next duty with a “the doctor will be with you shortly” tossed over her shoulder as the door closed.

“So what’s your next move?” Kara whispered. Nick thought it was cute how things had changed from “our” to “your” so quickly.

“I’m going to see if I can get a better idea of what goes on in this place,” Nick said, pacing a hand on the door handle.

Kara’s eyes opened so wide her eyebrows threatened her hairline. “What am I supposed to do?”

“Just act sick. I’ll be fast!” Nick replied, already sliding out the door. He stood outside in the hall, looking up and down the corridor. He turned right and found a hall leading toward the back of the building. Moving past exam rooms and restrooms, he quickly found the staff area. Around the corner, he could see people charting at computers, shuffling through ring binders of EKGs and lab reports, and answering phone calls.

On his left was an unmarked door, but he could see a microwave and refrigerator through the narrow window. He quietly turned the lever handle and slid inside. This was clearly the break room. It had all the requisite kitchen appliances including a water dispenser, a coffee machine, and a toaster. There were a couple of small tables with institutional-looking metal chairs. Coats and bags were hung on a set of pegs on the wall in a small nook. To the side of those, Nick spotted a free-standing coat rack populated by white lab coats of various sizes. The coats had names embroidered on them, but several also had badges still clipped on.

People will always find shortcuts Nick thought as he shouldered into a large lab coat. Flipping through the available badges, he found one that had a clean-shaven man with brown hair. It was the best he was going to get, he figured. He clipped it to his lapel, being careful to flip it so that the back showed out. Then, in a stroke of sneaky genius, he slid the clip down the lapel until it was covering most of the embroidered name. Just as he did, the door opened and he turned away, passing back to back behind the person and out the door mumbling “thanks…” He moved quickly into the back hallways, making several turns in quick succession to throw off anyone who might have noticed him and to find a quiet minute to think. He knew he only had a little time to get back to Kara before his absence wouldn’t fit into the “ran to the restroom” alibi he’d prepared. He decided to start exploring where he was, which appeared to be a hall of individual physicians’ and administrators’ offices. He listened at one door and, hearing nothing, quietly opened the door.

The lights popped on, scaring him breathless before he realized it was just a motion sensor. Papers, blue binders, and folders lay on the desk and Nick leafed through them, careful not to disturb the order of things. One stack appeared to be patient charts. History and physical forms, medication lists, and evaluation notes populated the binders. The section behind the “psych” tab seemed to hold more paper than any other section. Leafing through these, he found progress notes. He realized that these read back to front, with the most recent on top.

“Pt presents for routine evaluation. One month post-induction. History of resistance to induction, requiring extended protocol. Patient appears healthy and well-nourished, alert and oriented to person, place, and time. No complaints at this time. Reports satisfaction with situation within repop program as employee. Response to anchor phrase level 2 is immediate and appropriate. Noted slight hesitation in response to level 1 although response was complete. Physical responses within normal limits. As patient has exceptional skill and assets, recommend refresher of level 1 protocol”.

That was a lot to think about… Nick quickly grabbed his phone and took a pic of the page. Time was not on his side, and he knew that. He replaced everything just as it had been and quietly opened the door. He was just starting down the hall when a man in a white coat and a young woman in white scrubs came around the corner. He was tall, of average build, with thinning brown hair. It was hard to guess his age. He looked old enough for retirement but moved well. His coat read “Dr. Erickson”, and the woman held his arm above the elbow with both hands like couples going out in an old movie. The man raised his hand a bit in a casual greeting. “Time for my afternoon break!” he said, chuckling. He led the woman to an office door with his name on it, ushered her inside, and closed the door.

Nick crept up to the door, standing close but refraining from pressing his ear against it in case anyone should come along. He heard the older man say to the young woman “There we are, my dear. Now… Nurse, I have some new orders for you.”

The response that came back made the hair on the back of Nick’s neck stand up. It wasn’t the words as much as the tone; distant, unconcerned, and obedient. “Yes Doctor, anything you say…”

Nick felt like he was in a movie himself as he worked his way back down the halls and corridors to the patient exam rooms. He located Kara’s and opened the door, breezing quickly inside. He let out a huge breath and then sucked in another as he saw a gorgeous nurse standing to the left of Kara. Her brown hair spilled over her shoulders touching the tops of breasts that strained the tight white scrubs. Her brown eyes registered surprise. She held a thermometer in Kara’s mouth. Her mouth opened, and she began to stammer “Doctor! I’m… I’m almost finished with vital signs. I’ve, um, I’ve taken the patient’s history and medication list, and I…”

“Nurse,” Nick said with authority “I have some new orders for you…” The girl’s eyes glazed over.

She removed the thermometer from Kara’s mouth, letting it fall to the carpeted floor. “Yes Doctor, anything you say.” She intoned. 

Kara looked from the woman to Nick and back again. “Whoa!” she exclaimed, tilting her head and peering at the woman. “Is that what I look like? She looks like a doll, like someone unplugged her brain.”

“Yeah,” replied Nick. “Pretty much.” And she did, to some degree. Kara walked around the nurse, noting her slack jaw, the vacant stare, and the high flush to her cheeks.

“What’s your name?” Nick asked the woman.

“Debbie.” She replied.

“Good. Debbie. When you wake, I want you to take your clothes off and give them to Kara.”

“Yes, Doctor.”

“Then you’ll put her clothes on and go for a long walk outside the clinic, into the city. You’ll forget all about having worked today. You’ll believe you have the day off and are just doing some window shopping.” Kara cocked her head and squinted at him. He lifted his hands and shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t know what women did on their time off!

“But first” said Kara “you’re going to feel hornier than you’ve ever been before and give the good doctor here the best fuck of his life.”

“Yes miss” said the entranced nurse.

“Good girl. Now ‘Resume’.”

The nurse refocused her gaze on Nick’s face. She gave a little grunt, as if something had hit her in the gut. She looked into Nick’s eyes and the hunger was undeniable. Her hands grasped the edge of her scrub top and she pulled it up over her head, turning it inside out and freeing a truly spectacular pair of breasts that bounced they dropped. Then she did something Nick hadn’t expected at all. She turned her head to look at Kara and said, very clearly, “Kara, I need you to do something for me.”