I grew up in a rural suburb of a major city on the east coast. Ours was a normal family by most accounts. We lived in a small rambler at the edge of our development. Our family was friendly with all of our neighbors. My sister and I were the only children of a loving couple. We are fraternal twins, but unlike many twins, we weren't very close. All through our childhood, my sister and I were indifferent to each other. We didn't fight or hate. We just got along. Like I said, normal.
Our lives with our parents were quite busy as we both excelled in school and participated in sports. Mom was regularly shuttling one or the other of us to someplace or another. My sister was interested in medicine and soccer. I, on the other hand, was into business and baseball. Neither of us was much more than average in our respective athletics. But we did maintain 4.0 grade-point averages all through school. We both went to college and kept our grades up through graduation.
Jamie, my sister, went into nursing because she always loved helping people. She felt that she could make a more significant impact as a nurse than as a doctor. After college, she moved closer to the city, where she could find more work.
Ironically, I ended up moving toward the city also, just ten blocks away from Jamie. I started my first job at an accomplished advertising agency. I found my niche doing presentations and was their go-to guy in just over a year. One of my colleagues described me as being able to sell ice to an Eskimo.
We both excelled in our respective fields and moved up the ladder quickly. Jamie finished her RN training and was the head ER nurse within two years.
One of the few things that we did have in common is our lack of personal relationships. We were both so driven throughout our lives that we never took the time to get close to anyone. We dated from time to time, but it never stuck. The only exception to that was with our parents. We both spoke to them at least once a week, even if we didn't talk to each other.
The sad truth is that we only saw or spoke to each other when we crossed paths at our parents' home. We were always friendly, but not the huggy-kissy sort that you'd expect from twin siblings. It was more like a co-worker type of relationship. Someone that you would talk to about general things but never any in-depth or real-life stuff. And that's the way it continued until last Saturday.
Unlike Jamie, I kept playing my sport, baseball, after graduation. It was just a local club league, and quite frankly, our team sucked. But it was a fun distraction from the rigors of the twelve-hour workdays. It was on this particular Saturday that our team was actually close in score to our competitor. We were all giving it our best in hopes of actually winning a game. I had hit a grounder between first and second, which secured me a spot on first base.
The next batter, Jim, was one of the few good hitters on the team, so I was leading-off big-time. He cracked the ball hard, and I took off without even looking. I rounded second and was headed toward third at full speed when the coach gave me the signal to stop there. I dropped into a slide and dug in hard. The resulting force kicked up the hard plastic base, and it ended up digging a nice hole in the back of my right thigh. Fortunately, it wasn't too deep, and it didn't hit any main arteries. But they insisted on taking me to the hospital via ambulance.
In the ambulance, they cleaned the wound as best as they could and bandaged it up just as we arrived. The best part of riding in an ambulance is that they take you back immediately. They rolled me down the hallway to an exam room with a nurse following close behind. The nurse, Melinda, had me roll onto my belly on their table as the EMT's headed back to their ambulance. Once I was settled, she removed their bandage to look closely at the wound. After a little poking around, Melinda said, "It doesn't look too bad, Jared, but we do need to clean the wound thoroughly before we stitch you up. I need you to remove your clothes and slip on this hospital gown. I'll be back in a few minutes with the supplies to fix you up."
I eased off of the table and pulled off my t-shirt. After pulling on the gown, I slipped off my shorts and underwear. I placed my clothes at the end of the table before lying on my side. I laid there for another fifteen minutes before Melinda reappeared. Pushing a cart through the door, she began apologizing, "I'm so sorry about the wait, but it's getting busy out there."
I replied, "I understand. My sister works here, and we hear about the craziness from time to time."
"Wait, Simpson, is your last name? Are you Jamie's brother?"
"Yes, I am."
"Oh shit, she's going to kill me for making you wait. Please don't say anything to her, or I'll be working double shifts for a month."
"Wow. Is she that much of a hard-ass?"
"Hard-ass is a bit much. Let's just say that she is a tough boss and wants everything done just so."
Melinda was visibly shaking as she organized her supplies for cleaning my gash. I took her hand and offered, "Don't worry about a thing, Melinda. You're doing a great job, and you have nothing to worry about. Besides, Jamie and I aren't that close anyway."
As Melinda calmed down, she pulled her hand away to finish her prep. When she was ready, she said, "Can you please roll back onto your belly. I'm going to give you a local anesthetic for the cleaning. That way, I can get in their good without causing you too much pain."
I rolled into place and fell her brush the gown away from my legs and ass. Melinda had already slipped a pad underneath me to soak up the fluids that she used to clean the wound. After a few quick sticks from the needle, she started her work. I couldn't feel anything that she was doing and quickly got comfortable. It was but a minute or two into her work that Melinda asked, "So you said earlier that you and Jamie aren't very close. If it's not too personal, may I ask why? Because my brother and I are very close."
I indulged Melinda, "Well, it's no reason, really. We just always did our own thing. We were both quite dedicated to school and maintained excellent grades. I guess we just kept our eyes on the future and didn't have time for trivialities."
"That sounds like Jamie. She keeps her nose to the grindstone. Did you know that she is the youngest head nurse that they've ever had here? And, she has improved the ER's survival rate by nearly ten percent in the last year. She is amazing but seriously tough. Now that I know that you're her brother, I'm obligated to tell her that you're here."
"There's no need for that, Melinda. She'll probably just give me shit for getting hurt for no reason."
"I'm sorry about that, Jared, but it's kind of a nurse code. We always tell each other when a relative is in the hospital. And I definitely can't break that, especially with Jamie. She'd find a way to have me fired."
"Okay, don't sweat it. I'll deal with her. I don't want to get you in trouble. Are you close to being finished? I can't feel a thing back there."
"Actually, I'm putting the finishing touches on your stitches right now. I'm going to leave them uncovered while I write up everything and return the cart. Just make yourself comfortable, and I'll be back in fifteen."
I did as she said and actually started to doze off when I heard, "Jared, is that you?"
I opened my eyes to see Jamie coming toward me. "Oh, hi sis," I managed as she eyed the repairs to my leg.
"What did you do to yourself? Who did this work, it's actually pretty good? Why isn't there anyone with you, and why didn't they call me?"
"If you're done grilling me, I'll tell you."
"Okay, I just don't like seeing my family in here and not knowing about it."
"Alright. First of all, I did it playing baseball. Melinda helped me out and just left to do her report and let you know that I am here. She didn't know who I was until we got talking, and by then, she was too far into her work to stop. Happy?"
"Hey! Can't a sister be concerned about her brother? By the way, nice ass," she added as she covered me up with the gown.
"Thanks," I offered as she sat down. She gave me the mom stare for a minute before I caved. "I was sliding into third base and kicked it up with my cleat. It stabbed me in the leg, and now I'm here, telling my story."
Jamie smiled at her little victory in getting me to tell on myself. Melinda walked in at that moment and unwelcomely surprised said, "Oh, Hi Nurse Simpson. I just sent you a page to let you know that your brother is here. I'm sorry that I couldn't notify you earlier, but... "
Jamie cut her off there, saying, "It's okay, Melinda. Jared told me you were busy taking excellent care of him. And I'm sure that he tried to bribe you to keep from telling me anyway. Now, did it look like there was any nerve damage?"
Melinda promptly replied, "It's a good possibility. I spoke with Dr. Ruben, and he prescribed pain medication if it's needed. We should know soon since the local should be wearing off."
"Hey guys, do you have anything for pain? This thing is starting to hurt," I said, as if on cue.
Jamie replied, "How much pain are we talking about? Just soreness from the cleaning and cut, or is it more?"
"Let's just start with something like Advil and see how it goes."
"You didn't answer my question. What's your pain level from one to ten?"
"It's about six."
"Is it still increasing?"
"Yes. But I think that some Advil will take care of most of it."
Jamie turned to Melinda and said, "Go get me a few of what the Doctor prescribed, please." As Melinda left, Jamie turned back to me and explained, "Just take these for the first dose or two. Believe me when I say that you definitely want to keep ahead of the pain."
"Okay, Nurse Jamie. I'll follow your commands, but I'm not staying in the hospital overnight."
"Alright, but you need someone to watch over you tonight and tomorrow. Why don't you stay at my place and then you can go home tomorrow night and be ready for work on Monday?"
"I don't want to be a burden. I'll just go home. I'll be fine."
"Oh, sure, and when something happens to you after you've been to my hospital, who do you think Mom and Dad will blame?"
Just then, Melinda appeared with the meds and gave me the first pill with a glass of water. Then she gave the rest to Jamie and handed her my paperwork. "He's all checked out and ready to go. Do you want me to call him a cab?"
"No," Jamie replied, "He's coming home with me tonight so that I can keep an eye on him while he's on these pills."
"Alright, I'll bring you a wheelchair. Are you leaving early?" Melinda asked.
"Yes, but I've got to take care of a few things first. Can you stay with him until I get back, please? I'll grab the wheelchair on my way back."
It was another twenty minutes, or so when Jamie finally reappeared, I think. The pain pill was starting to affect me, and I was feeling a little loopy. Jamie relieved Melinda, "Thanks for your help Melinda, but you better get back out there; they really need you. I've got him from here."
As Melinda left, she said, "Take care of that leg, Jared." I waved to her in that girly way with just your fingers.
The funny thing was, I wasn't a bit tired and started to get out of bed when Jamie pulled up the wheelchair. As I started to slide out of bed, Jamie grabbed me and held me down, saying, "Jared, just stay still for a minute. I can see that meds are affecting you, so we need to take it slow."
"Okay, sis. That feels really good, by the way."
"What?" she asked, before looking down to see her left hand was on my shoulder, but her right was gripping my left ass cheek. She pushed me back on the bed before removing her hands completely.
Jamie stared for another few seconds before saying, "Turn onto your side, facing me so that I can help you sit up." I did as she asked, and once I was ready, she started to pull me upright. In the process, the gown pulled up, leaving my genitalia exposed. Once I was up, Jamie grabbed my clothes with her right hand while keeping me steady with her left. With my t-shirt in hand, she moved toward me until our chests were touching. She looked over my shoulder and wrapped her arms around me to untie the gown.
While her face was next to mine, I said, "You know that I've always loved you."
"Of course, silly."
"Did you know that I've always wanted you?" while placing a kiss on her exposed neck.
