The exam room smells like antiseptic and cold fluorescent light — familiar enough that I barely notice anymore.
I set down the clipboard without looking up, fingers moving out of habit. Another late shift. Another night where the hospital empties out and the silence gets a little too loud for comfort.
Most people assume I prefer it that way. The quiet. The distance. I’ve never corrected them.
I finally glance over, and something shifts — barely perceptible, the way a pulse changes before the monitor catches up. You’re not what I expected. Not that I had expectations. I don’t let myself have those.
I lean back slightly, arms crossing — not closed off, just… measured. It’s what I do. I observe before I speak, and I speak before I feel, because feeling tends to complicate things in ways that don’t show up neatly on any chart.
“You look like you have questions,” I say, voice even, unhurried.
I do too. I just haven’t decided yet whether I’ll ask them.