Just A Little Nap...[Heracles Karpusi & Toris Laurinaitis]

Heracles yawned, slumping over the table in the breakroom and staring at his half empty cup. He hadn't been able to sleep last night, worried over one of his many young patients, and he'd been working without a break since he had stepped in the hospital this morning. Not even his usual tea was working to keep him awake during his break.

He yawned again and buried his head in his arms, frowning slightly. He really shouldn't go to sleep - he had been told not to many times - but god he was so tired! And he didn't have to do anything but routine check ups for the rest of the day unless something went wrong. Which, knowing this place, was likely.

He sighed and closed his eyes, snuggling into his arms. He could nap just a little bit and then...before he could even finsh his thought he was out like a light, relaxing his muscles in his sleep.

"Just gotta....grab some coffee and.....yeah, take a nap......-yawn-" Toris walked down the hallways, stumbling occasionally, or running into a wall. He had taken another 3 days with little sleep adventure, and he was just...so....tired. He had decided earlier that maybe he could take a 15 minute retreat to the Staff Room- just a quick rest and some coffee would surely raise his spirits, and his alertness. He walked in slowly to find one of the Pediatric Nurses- Heracles - taking a nap himself. Toris blinked at the man, before dragging himself over to the coffee machine. He poured himself a steaming cup, and shuddered after the first bitter sip as it brought him back to reality. Yes, he hated his coffee black, but it would definitely wake him.

He glanced at the Nurse as he slowly sipped the bitter concoction. Before he left the Staff Room, he'd be sure to wake him up.

Heracles shifted as the smell of bitter black coffee filled his nose, peeking out over his arms to see Dr. Laurinaitis standing there looking half asleep himself. He sat up a little and smiled, opening his mouth to greet the doctor and yawning instead. Shaking his head, he gave the doctor an apologetic look. "Sorry." He eyed the doctor and gestured at a chair. "You should sit down; you look like you're about to collapse."

Toris chuckled, as he took another sip "I suppose so, I've been working quite a bit..." He walked towards the chair, and sat in it, giving a small sigh as his muscles relaxed "It's been busy, hasn't it?" It certainly had for him, at least. Checking up on patients, doing paperwork, yes, it was busy as always. "Do you need something stronger?" Toris said, glancing at the half empty cup of tea Heracles possessed "Though I wouldn't recommend black coffee" He took another sip, and shuddered as his mind jolted with caffeine.

Heracles nodded, pulling his cup towards him and taking a sip. "Yes, it has been rather busy." Child after child after child, with parents after parents after parents. Amazingly enough, the parents were the worst part of the day. They whined and complained like three year olds, while the actual three year olds were almost perfectly behaved.

"Hm? No, this is fine. Coffee actually makes me sleepier." He said, taking another sip of his tea and frowning when the liquid hit his tongue. Cold tea...was not the greatest tasting thing in the world. He lauaghed at little bit at Toris's reaction to the coffee, shaking his head. "Whatever helps you stay awake." He ran his fingers through his hair and rubbed the skin benath his eyes, trying to stop himself from continuing his nap. But he had been so close....No, he had to stay awake. He shifted in his chair a little.

"Well, flu season is coming up, I believe. Soon we'll have a new flu vaccine" Toris commented. There was a new one almost every time Flu season occurred due to the virus changing itself. "And that is when we'll really be busy" Toris sighed. Tons of people would then flock to the hospital to get their vaccine, most people at the hospital dreaded the event. There was so much noise, and so much to do. Last year, Toris felt he was almost going to go deaf from the noise of people waiting in line.

"Really? It always seemed to do the opposite to me" Toris said with a smile. "Anyway..."He yawned "Think this will keep us up long enough to finish the day?" He referred to their terrible tasting drinks "I'm a bit afraid I might fall asleep while walking"

He nodded, surpressing a shudder. He hadn't been here last year for the flu season, but it was always a mad rush at every hospital he had worked at during that time. He had hoped that here things would be a bit easier but given Toris's reaction that was...highly unlikely.

He gave Toris a sympathetic look, leaning back in his chair. "Probably; just can't sit down anywhere or we'll be tempted to sleep." He chuckled, shaking his head. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that. Suppose I'll have to walk behind you to make sure you don't fall over hm?" He smiled to show he was joking and quickly finished off his tea, making a face at the taste of it. Note to self; don't let your tea get cold, unless you want to deal with a disgusting taste.

"Ugh, with how I'm feeling, that isn't too unlikely" Toris took a swallow of coffee with that sentence "Anyway, anything new on your end? I haven't seen you in a while, you know." Toris paused "Recently, the higher ups have been putting me on Emergency Room shifts, which is terribly annoying, since I have next to no knowledge about treating people over 18, prescribing medicine, etcetra and etcetera" Sighing, he finished his cup of coffee, and stood to get another "Have they been doing that to you?"

Heracles thought over it, looking up at the ceiling. "Hm...no, not really. It's been pretty much the same since I last spoke with you." He raised an eyebrow, frowning. That the hospital was so understaffed as to put pediatricians in the Emergency Room was horrible and yet "You have next to no knowledge on prescribing medicine Toris? But you do it with the children all the time." Yes, he was poking fun at the poor guy; no, he didn't particularly care. "Thankfully they haven't; I would probably have passed off by now if they had." Thankfully he was needed more in the Children's Ward; otherwise he would be right there with Toris.

"You know what I mean" Toris said, letting the teasing slide by unnoticed. He sighed and took another swallow of coffee. He felt like a drunken man sobering up, but he didn't drink. Torus nodded at Heracles's words. They needed nurses in the Wings rather than the ER, since they could not diagnose (or at least not as well as doctors. "You're pretty lucky" He commented "I'm not one to be rushed, but I have no choice in the ER. Though I can pick out medicine must better than most ER doctors / nurses."

Heracles smiled, nodding. He put his cup down, stretching his arms over his head to get more energy flowing through his body. "You really don't like ER doctors huh?" Toris never really had anything nice to say about the ER doctors, when he ever talked about them at all.

"No" Toris said stiffly "Everything about them is so rushed, and so messy, it just makes life harder for the people who check who they've treated" He shook his head "It's ridiculous..." He took another sip of his coffee "And especially if the person is possibly related to a crime...it's bad for even more people" He knew the hospital had it's fair share of victims and criminals, just like any other. On more than one occasion, someone would have to call the police to report a possible crime, and often times, the mistakes of other people would be revealed in the evidence that could never be used because of them.

Heracles hummed, frowning. "But...they haved to be rushed Toris. They have a limited window of opportunity to save their patients and yes, because of that they do make mistakes. But without them there would many more people dead." Heracles said, bit the inside of his lip, not wanting to comment on how selfish the second part of Toris' statement sounded. Yes, it made things difficult the regular doctors, but the ER doctors were just trying to save peoples lives; they really didn't get many chances with that.

Toris yawned, then nodded "You have an excellent point there" He relented "Now, what time is it..." Toris looked at the wall clock, and blinked a few times before the numbers finally became clear. "Darn..." He cursed "I have to make a few rounds around the ward soon before my shift is done" He looked at Hera "You On Call tonight?"

Heracles groaned, dropping his head onto the table. "Yes...why'd you have to remind me Toris?" He asked, his shoulder's slumping. It was a good thing his couch was comfy, otherwise he would hurt like hell all the time. He couldn't remember the last time he managed to sleep in his bed...

Toris smiled apologetically "Well, it was a question out of interest, but at least now you won't miss your shift." He sighed into the smell of coffee "I need sleep...as soon as I get home maybe I can snatch a few hours...we all need sleep..." Toris felt like a mess, who knows, he probably was.

Heracles raised his head to stare at Toris before letting it fall back onto the table, wincing as pain shot through his head. That was a sure fire way to make a headache appear, which was not something he wanted to deal with. "I would have remembered it before it happened..." He muttered into the wood of the table, before sighing and slumping. "Of course we all need sleep, but that's what the side room is for." He said, gesturing over towards it. "You're suppose to use the beds in there to get a nap in here and there. But still, going to sleep when you get home is a smart idea..." He turned his head to look at him, raising an eyebrow. "Maybe?"