Hawaii, The Aloha State, The Ultimate Paradise. Fun, Sun and gorgeous blue waters. On the beach or in the waters of the ocean, anything can happen here.
Flight 349 – Seattle to Hawaii.
Dressed in a casual set of cargo shorts and matching T, Jason Lumbard otherwise known as Doctor Lumbard from Seattle Base Hospital was finally taking his long deserved vacation time in Hawaii. It must have been a good two years before he had the chance to take time off, and after arranging with his staff to have all necessary calls diverted to his cell, he hoped that anything serious he could handle via conference call on skype if need be. Coming down off the plane, he bent his head forward as he was given a floral lae by one of the welcoming officials in those daring grass skirts.
“Aloha.” Jason said with a smile to the young girl, as he straightened the straps on his back pack and made his way to the terminal. Wearing aviation sunglasses and a baseball cap, it was hard to recognize the doctor. He had also grown a small beard and mustache. Perhaps it was just the freedom to let everything go and relax for a good three weeks.
Passing through the glass doors and into the welcome respite of the air conditioning, Jason took off his glasses and kept an eye out for his driver. He had arranged someone to pick him up from the air port, and drive him to his hotel. Jason got up on one of the lounge chairs and placed his hand up to his forehead like a visor, trying to spot a large man holding his name on a plaque.
Soon he did spot a large fellow in a very colourful floral shirt and a broad smile looking for Jason. Grinning, he jumped down off the chair and pushed his way through the crowd to meet his driver.
“Aloha. Ben, right?”
“Aloha Doctor Lumbard. Welcome to Hawaii. This way please.”
The driver took the Doctor’s back pack and computer bag and headed to the car. Jason peeled off his shirt and followed on after him.
<3>
Stepping into the lobby of the hotel, Pandora took a moment to look around the splendor and beauty of the place, awestruck. This had been the first time she had been anywhere outside of California and Seattle and she simply breathed in, feeling herself slowly begin to relax for the first time.
There were no demands of her, no worries…and definitely no men and backstabbing girlfriends to ruin what she was sure to be a pleasant time.
She put the anger away. She didn’t need it here.
She made her way to the reception desk.
“Aloha and welcome to The Kahala Hotel & Resort, Ms LaRue.” the woman greeted. That stunned her for a moment before she remembered that the flight attendant had taken care of the hotel arrangements when they were on the plane.
“Aloha.” Pandora nodded.
“We have you in a first floor suite and we had a selection of clothing from the stores brought to your room, if that’s okay.” the woman, Melanie (Pandora read her name badge), stated in a low voice so that other guests could not hear them. Pandora appreciated her discretion.
“That’s perfectly fine.” Pandora nodded. “Um…how much did the airline pay for? I do have my own money and would hate to think I was taking advantage of their hospitality.” Melanie checked the information in the computer before looking at her.
“They paid for your first week’s stay and the clothing, Ms LaRue. Please don’t worry about it, it isn’t the first time they and we have done anything like this. Gino will escort you to your room.” An exotic looking man stepped to the desk with a welcoming smile on his face. Pandora’s breath hitched, she was dangerously close to tears once again as the generosity of perfect strangers began to affect her. She quickly got herself under control.
“I’m expecting a delivery from one of your pharmacies…”
“We’ll have it brought to your room when it arrives.” Melanie nodded. Pandora gave her a small smile before she looked at Gino.
“Lead the way, good sir.”
“Right this way.” He waved a hand out and indicated which direction to go.
Suite 104
Gino opened the door and allowed her to go in ahead of her. The windows were open, letting in fresh ocean air and she stood in the center of the room, just breathing in.
“Beautiful.” she whispered, opening her eyes and looking out at the ocean.
“I’m glad you like it. The clothes are all packed in the dressers there and a bath has been drawn for you, although with your leg as it is…”
“It’s waterproof.” she told him.
“Ah, very good. There’s an activities pamphlet and a room service menu next to the phone. Just dial “0″ if you need the front desk. The kitchens are open 24 hours in case you have the urge for a midnight snack. We just want you to enjoy your stay and relax.”
“I feel better already, thank you, Gino.”
“You’re welcome, Ms LaRue. Here’s your keycard.” He set it on the coffee table and turned to leave.
“Wait!” she called to him, pulling a couple of $20 bills from her pocket. With a small smile, she pressed them into his hand. “Aloha, Gino.”
“Aloha, Ms LaRue. Have a pleasant evening.” Gino smiled before leaving her alone.
Once she was alone, she took another deep breath and let it out slowly.
“I’m free.” she whispered. After checking to make sure the “Do Not Disturb” sign was out and the door was locked, she made her way to the bedroom. Too tired to admire the deep mahogany woods that made up her room, she crawled onto the bed, still fully dressed and in moments was sound asleep.
-.-
Riding from the airport to the Kahala Hotel, Jason had his camera out and was already playing tourist – taking happy snaps out the open window as the car cruised through the palm lined streets. An upbeat song was playing on the radio, a local band Jason guessed, and the heady smell of salt water from the beach just made Jason smile lazily. Placing his camera back in his backpack, he felt the vibration of his phone and pulled it out to check his messages. Most of them were from his friends back home wishing him a great trip but one was from the hospital It was in regards to Miss LaRue’s medication. He thought for a moment through the countless patients he had, then remembered that she was the one that checked out after the motorcycle accident. He wasn’t too fussed with her doing that, but when a patient decides that they want out there was very little that he could do to stop them. Now she needed her script filled cause she was on vacation. Then his eyes widened. Hawaii? Was this a joke? He scrolled down the details and sure enough she was staying at the same hotel. Fate seemed to be playing a hand in this and he gave a lighthearted shrug as he took the details and pocketed his cell back in his backpack.
It would appear that he was going to do a house call while on vacation.
Pulling up at the hotel driveway near the lobby entrance, Jason let himself out of the courtesy car and reached back in to grab his backpack and computer bag before giving the driver a salute.
“Thanks for the ride.” A tip and he was then off up the stairs and into the grand foyer of the Kahala hotel. Approaching the front desk, he took out his wallet and presented his visa card to the guest manager, who wished him Aloha and checked him in.
“Your suite is ready, Doctor. First floor suite, room number 105.”
Taking the key to his room and the brochures, he then asked the guest manager.
“I’m sorry, but has a Miss LaRue checked in yet?”
“Why yes, Doctor Lumbard. Room 104.”
“Ha…right. I’ll pay her a visit. Thanks again.
With this information and having a laugh that she was in the room next to his, Jason got his gear and strode over to the lift and took the next available one up to the first floor. It was a plush hotel by the decor – comfortable and luxurious. Walking past Pandora’s room, he paused a moment. Should he knock? Chuckling to himself, he did…..and waited.
<3>
Pandora was simply exhausted. Between leaving her apartment building and then flying over an ocean to an island paradise, her mind and body simply shut down.
There was knock on her hotel door, that she barely even heard. Struggling up from sleep, she sat up slowly, taking in her surroundings with a bit of confusion before she remembered where she was. She was shocked to see that she’d only slept 2 hours.
The knock came again and she frowned. Who would be coming to see her?
She then recalled that she had asked to be notified when her medications arrived.
“That must be them. Thank goodness.” she murmured. She struggled to her feet and hobbled into the next room. She walked past a mirror and saw that her hair was a jumbled, sleepy mess and quickly ran her fingers through her locks to straighten them out. She made a face at her pale appearance, vowing to get outside and into the sun in the morning after breakfast.
Not bothering to look through the peephole, she unlocked the door and pulled it open, a greeting on her lips.
It died a swift death in the face of surprise at who was standing on her threshhold.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, seeing Doctor Lumbard. He looked so different without his hospital gear on. He had a lean, but muscular look about him and she blushed fiercely when she realized she was staring at his naked chest. “Do you always walk around in public half-dressed?” she asked, annoyed at her reaction. She did not need this complication in her life right now. The wound was still fresh.
Seeing the state Pandora was in when she opened the door, Jason realized that he must have woken her up. She looked like she had just risen from the crypt. He was taken aback and when he asked what he was doing there, he chuckled and said.
“House calls? No, seriously, I am on vacation and just got the message through on my phone about your script. Found out you were here and thought I would do the neighborly thing and pop by to check on you.” Jason also happened to notice how she was staring at his bare chest and asking if he liked to walk around half dressed.
“I don’t know if you have noticed but…this is Hawaii. People tend to take their shirts off.” He was playful in his banter and retained that bedside manner that had attracted so many to him at the hospital.
Winking, he backed up saying. “I’ll make sure your scripts are signed for and delivered to your room, Miss LaRue. Oh…and enjoy your stay. Maybe I will see you around.”
That said, he left her there and went to go find his own room.
<3>
Hawaii…and the same hotel she was in…was the absolute last place Pandora expected to see anyone she knew. Surprised that it was the doctor who had taken care of her when she was in Seattle was just icing on the cake.
That he was on his own vacation threw her for a moment before she thought about it fully. He was a full-time doctor. Even he deserved time off now and again.
“I don’t know if you have noticed but…this is Hawaii. People tend to take their shirts off.”
“Well I wasn’t implying anything by it. Don’t think so highly of yourself, Doc.” Pandora chuckled, a teasing glint in her eye. “Excuse me for being frank. I’m just surprised to see you here, that’s all.” she shrugged lamely. He grinned at her and turned to walk away.
“I’ll make sure your scripts are signed for and delivered to your room, Miss LaRue. Oh…and enjoy your stay. Maybe I will see you around.”
“Yeah. You too.” she stated, watching him walk down the hall. He had a nice butt.
Making a face, more than disgusted with herself for those thoughts, she went back into her room, slamming the door.
Hearing the door slam behind him, Jason glanced over his shoulder and let out a bit of a laugh. Boy, she was still feisty as ever. Damn the man that ever tames that girl, he thought to himself as he pushed his key card into the slot and the light turned green. Smiling he pushed the door open and then saw the wonderful room that had been prepared for him. How he loved the time off from the hospital, where he had been putting in shifts of up to 48 hours at a time, often falling asleep in the store room, just to get a few extra winks before another exhausting set of rounds. But that was all behind him for the next three weeks. He set down his back pack and computer bag and then wandered over to the curtain covered window, pulling the drapes back and seeing the beauty of the view that was laid out before him. The resort had everything that a tourist could crave, but Jason had plans to go hiking and perhaps tour some of the volcanic islands in the area. Perhaps some sailing and diving. Clapping his hands together, he went over to the bed and undid his shirt that he had tied around his waist, laying it on the bed. He took his cell phone, wallet and watch and placed them on the bedside table, along with a small frame that he packed very carefully into his backpack. The small picture frame was set next to the alarm clock and he smiled at it thoughtfully.
“Happy anniversary, love.”
It was a picture of his late wife, who had died just three months after their wedding. They never got to have the honeymoon due to the aggressive stages of her cancer, but everywhere he went he took her picture so that she was always with him.
Jason got on the hotel phone and rang the pharmacy to make sure that Miss LaRue’s prescription would be delivered to her room, and that he would sign for it when he was down there next. The attendant was most helpful, and he hung up. Reaching into his backpack for his book, he strolled out to the balcony to enjoy the warmth of the sun, and the sea breezes.
<3>
It was too late in the day to take in the sites so she decided to keep to her room.
Ordering something from room service, she decided to take a quick shower and wash her hair, just so she could feel somewhat human again. Wiping the fog off the mirror, she took in her wan features. There were dark circles under her eyes and her face was beginning to thin. She was losing weight, and not in a healthy way.
“That all changes tomorrow. Pandora LaRue is coming back and she’s coming back hard.” she stated.
Wrapping a towel around her body, she left the bathroom, only to startle with fright when she saw a maid standing in her room.
“Jesus! You scared me!” she snapped.
“I apologize, Ms LaRue. I knocked but no one answered. I didn’t see your DND sign so I thought it was safe to come in.” the poor woman stammered. “I brought your dinner.” She pointed to the open balcony door and the small meal sitting on the table there.
“No…it’s okay. I’m sorry I snapped at you. Thank you.” Pandora gave the woman a smile, letting her know it was cool. The woman nodded and left her.
After running a second towel through her still-damp hair, she went out on the balcony, not bothering to dress. Still wrapped in a towel, she took in the ocean as the sun was just kissing the horizon, making the sky a painting of pink and orange hues.
“So lovely.” she murmured, unaware that Jason was out on his balcony as well. She hobbled to her seat, glaring at the cast on her leg. “I can’t wait till that’s gone. So annoying.” she grumbled before lifting the trays off her meal.
Jason enjoyed the solitude that the resort room gave him, enjoying the afternoon just reading a book that had been on his nightstand for six months. It was one of those adventure sci fi novels, that you can really escape into and before the Doctor realized the sun had already started to go down. Stretching, and placing an arm up over his head, he scratched his wayward blond locks and gave some thought to dinner. He really wasn’t up to getting all dressed up for a meal in the restaurant, so he padded inside and took out the room service menu from the media unit drawer. Thumbing through it Jason settled on the garlic prawns on a bed of jasmine rice, roast pork Hawaiian style with fresh fruits and vegetables, and then for desert he was going to treat himself to a large sunshine fruit and ice cream parfait. The girl on the other end of the phone took down the details and said the meal would be about twenty five minutes. This gave him enough time to go and have a shower, to get rid of the travel grime and also cool him down a touch from being out in the sun.
Coming out of the shower onto the small bedroom patio, which was adjacent the living room one, he was wearing just a towel and a smile as he took in the sights. it wasn’t till he heard an odd murmur about something being lovely, as he stared out at the view.
“Why yes, it is lovely. I quite agree Miss LaRue.” He had no idea she was complaining about her cast.
<3>
“Why yes, it is lovely. I quite agree Miss LaRue.” came a voice to her right.
Okay, people jumping up out of nowhere and scaring the shit out of her was starting to get old fast. She turned her head and glared, quite fiercely, at Doctor Lumbard, whom she noticed was in nothing but a towel.
“Oh for fuck’s sake!” she groaned, slapping a hand over her face. “Do you get off on sneaking up on me?” She turned back to her own dinner, trying to ignore that little voice in the back of her head that was telling that she was being deliberately rude. She smothered that voice with a pillow.
She awaited his reply before she looked at him again, keeping her eyes trained on his face and not going lower then that. “I wanted to ask…when can I get this damn cast off my leg? I feel like Gumby the Gimpy Giraffe trying to walk around with this thing. Can’t actually get a tan with that on my leg, you know. And do I really need this arm sling? I mean, seriously. I feel like an invalid.” she complained. She knew she was being ridiculous about it, but in reality, she just wanted to feel human again.
Poor Miss LaRue. She wasn’t very neighborly. Perhaps it was the lack of pain medication, perhaps it was the fact she discharged herself too early or…perhaps it was the fact she was all by herself on a holiday with no one to care for her. Why, it was a miracle she was able to cut up her own food with her arm in a sling and leg in a cast.
When she went off on a barrage of verbal abuse, cussing and those epic face palming gestures, Doctor Lumbard couldn’t help but smile as she turned her back on him, like some mean old biddie from Walmart buying liquor at five to closing. He had to admit, the scene she was painting was rather pitiful, and he always felt sorry for stray abandoned animals, so why not Miss LaRue.
When she turned back around, the Doctor had vanished inside. So her questions fell on deaf ears. That was…until there was a knock at Pandora’s door. If she was to go get it, there would be a large…very large and brute-ful looking nurse ready to tend to Miss LaRue’s every waking need. The Doctor by now was bringing out his own dinner trays and placing them on the outdoor table, wearing….speedos. Green ones.
“I hope you enjoy my gift, Miss LaRue. That is Nurse Mamu. She is a part time wrestler, so I wouldn’t go saying mean things, if she is to cut off your cast and cut up your meat.”
That said, he sat down and started to take the lid domes off his own meal.
“So lovely.”
<3>
When she had turned back around, the doctor had disappeared and so her rant had fallen on deaf ears.
“Typical.” she snorted. There was a knock on her suite door and she didn’t even bother trying to get up. “It’s open!” she called out. The door open and her eyes widened when the largest woman she’d ever seen waltz into the room as if she owned the place.
“Who the hell are you?” she demanded.
“I hope you enjoy my gift, Miss LaRue. That is Nurse Mamu. She is a part time wrestler, so I wouldn’t go saying mean things, if she is to cut off your cast and cut up your meat.” came the doc’s voice behind her. She turned her head to look at him.
“What lovely bedside manner you have, Doc.” she snorted. “Going to have her torture me as well?”
God, what was wrong with her this evening? She was beginning to sound like a right bitch. But she couldn’t help herself. She was tired of men trying to dictate her every waking moment. “You can keep your ‘gift’. I don’t want it, not do I need it.” She moved to get to her feet, struggling with her cane awkwardly for the moment before she managed to right herself. She looked at the nurse. “Leave. Now. Or I will not be responsible for my actions.” Despite the heat of her current location, the temperature in the suite began to rise, and Mamu broke out into an unnatural sweat. She made the sign of the evil eye and quickly left the room. Smirking to herself, Pandora made her way to her bed. It had been too soon to try and use her abilities and she was drained.
“My life sucks.” she muttered, throwing her cane across the room in a fit of anger. It made a loud noise that echoed out into the night air, sure to bring the doctor running if he thought she’d fallen down and injured herself further. Pulling a long t-shirt from the clothing the hotel and brought her, she pulled it on over her head, discarding the towel and crawled into bed. In a moment, she was sound asleep, not realizing she had left her suite door unlocked once more.
Things were heating up over at Pandora’s apartment, with Jason’s gift of a little help around the place being rejected outright by the fiesty Miss LaRue. She was acting like a rabid dog in need of a bullet. Seeing her face flushed with anger and her retort that he planned her to be tortured, Jason held up a fork full of garlic prawn and looked surprised.
“No pain no gain?”
Course, Pandora refused the hired help and sent the poor woman packing after inflating the room’s temperature with her ability to channel heat. The lovely Nurse Mamu only left after placing something of a curse on Pandora, and then quiet again descended in Pandora’s apartment. The Doctor leaned over in his chair and strained to hear her mutterings. Something about how her life sucks. Well, it seemed she was bringing a lot of unnecessary ill on herself, in her refusal for genuine help.
Shrugging, the Doctor continued to enjoy his meal as he felt there was really little that he could do to help Pandora at this stage. He did hear the clatter and loud bang of her cane hitting the wall, and he wondered if she had hurt herself in the mad tirade.
Finishing his meal, Jason patted his lips with a napkin and rubbed his belly. Letting out a loud belch, he was all smiles again, before covering all the plates with their trays again, and then heading with the large tray to the door, to park it outside for the help to come collect. He happened to notice that Pandora’s door was ajar and there was no sound coming from it. Had she taken another fall? Going to get his medical bag inside his backpack, he wandered on over, not bothering to knock for fear she would throw something.
He padded through her apartment, till finally spying her on the bed wearing a T’shirt. Quietly, he made his way to the bed, and took out what he needed to remove the cast from her leg. This was done quickly and painlessly, barely stirring her since he had such expert hands. When it was done, he tossed the spent cast in the trash, and silently made his way out, to leave her to her devices.
<3>
