She took his temperature, then proceeded to take his pulse with her fingers on the inside of his wrist.  Her chest tightened, noting the familiar feel of his roughed hands.

“Please breathe into this.”  She instructed, holding up an oxygen machine to his face.

He obediently leaned into the mouth piece, his dark gaze never leaving hers.  The back of  her neck prickled as she pointedly ignored returning the piercing gaze.

She wasn’t confident her expression may give away her turbulent thoughts.

With a flourish of the pen to sign off on the tablet in her hand, she turned away from him to put away the equipment on the small cart.

“You may put your shirt back on.”  She called over her shoulder, zipping up the last of the equipment and disposing the gloves into a waste bin.  She could hear the rustle of clothing and the creaking of the bed as he stood up.

Bracing herself for a moment, she took a deep breath then turned around.  She saw his chest, now covered with a simple white t-shirt.  Her gaze made their way up his neck, his jawline, and finally that heartbreakingly familiar green eyes.

With a small purse of her lips, she nodded briskly.  “You can return to your quarters.  It will take some time to analyze the data and I have some errands to run. The lab assistant will call for you if further checks need to be taken.”  She cut herself off, realizing she was babbling.

She nodded again, reassured that she was able to speak normally.  Her gaze darted to the side to break the gaze, and was about to pick up the tablet when she realized he still remained in his spot and hadn’t spoken the entire time.

“Is there a problem?”  She stiffly asked, refusing to look at him.

There was a pause before he spoke, as if carefully deciding how he wanted to respond.

“What kind of errands?  May I come with you?”

Her eyes widened at the unexpected response.  Gripping the tablet close to her chest, she shook her head.

“Just some housekeeping items on another floor.  I would prefer if you focus on rebuilding your strength.  You haven’t been awake very long.”  She busily bent down to adjust an item on the cart.

He paused before reaching over her.  Her breath caught in her throat, as she watched the muscles in his arm ripple with ease as he lifted a heavy equipment bag to one side to make room for the item she was uselessly fiddling with.

He remained leaned over and her pulse quickened at his nearness.

“I feel 100% at my strength.  It would do me good however, to stretch my legs.  If you’ll allow me.”

She shrugged as nonchalantly as possible, even as she craved to lean into him, breathing in the familiar scent of him.  He always reminded her of pine cones and fresh air.  Like the forest mirrored in his eyes.

“Suit yourself.  Just le the get my things and I’ll meet you at the end of the hallway in 15 minutes.”

Moment later, she was inwardly kicking herself and regretting giving into him. She had removed her lab coat and tried not to fidget with her unruly hair.

“Lena.”  She glanced up at the sound of the voice and tried not to grimace at the sight of her colleague.

“Where are you heading?  You should have been done by now.  I can drop you off.”  He offered, a helmet in one arm and knapsack slung over his shoulder. 

She shook her head.  “I’ll be sticking around for the next little while.”

Joon frowned, settling his weight on one foot as he propped the helmet against his hip.

“That’s going to be a long night.  I can take part of the shift if you need.”  He offered, already removing his bag and looking towards the locker room.

She firmly shook her head.  “It’s fine, thank you, appreciate the offer.  I should be okay.  Night shifts are usually pretty easygoing.”

He opened his mouth to protest but a familiar voice spoke up.

“I will keep Lena company.  Rest assured she’s safe with me.”