Any and all comments gratefully received at northernlight1@hotmail.com. Many thanks to those of you who took the time to pass along encouragement upon reading "The Shallow End" in gay/athletics.
BEDSIDE MANNER
Scott blinked back the sharp glow of the fluorescent lights and looked slowly down his prostrate body, covered only in a blue hospital gown.
He didn't fully remember what had put him in the emergency room, but surely it had to do with the dull ache in his chest and the snowstorm that had dumped the mountain of snow in his driveway. Next year, he thought, I pay for a damn service.
Scott must have been in an almost secluded corner of the ER, considering the muted sounds of shuffling feet and humming machines, the soft voices of hospital staff tending to this patient and that.
All Scott knew was the stretcher was bloody cold beneath his bare ass, the typically inadequate gown certainly not fully closed beneath him. He was was studying the hospital bracelet on his wrist when the white cloak stepped through the curtain, pulled completely around him.
"A little young to be in here, aren't you, Mr. Cole?" he asked lightly. "I'm Dr. Collins."
Scott nodded, shaking the doctor's hand.
"Call me Scott, please, and tell me about it," he replied. "One minute I'm up to my knees in snow, the next I'm dizzy as hell and I've got paramedics hauling me here."
"Our business always picks up this time of the year," Collins said. "But I'm happy to report you won't be with us too long. You seem to check out pretty nicely."
"Glad to hear it, doc. so what gives?"
"Overexertion, it seems. Your EKG is fine. All vital signs are fine. The dizziness was your heart's way of telling you to slow down, and you've got a good neighbor to call 911 when he saw you in distress.
"Not everyone's so lucky. We get a lot of cardiac arrest coming through here with snow on their boots. But I'm going to give you a quick look-see before I send you on your way and give your space to someone who really needs it."
The doctor's sense of humor allayed any of Scott's lingering fears, a bedside manner that inspired confidence, and now a little more. Collins's long fingers bore no rings, and his eyes nearly burned through Scott to the stretcher. Funny how he was feeling lightheaded again.
Collins took Scott's wrist and studied his watch, recording a strong pulse.
"Seventy-two. Not bad for someone who's lying in a hospital."
He pumped the blood-pressure sleeve full and listened to the hiss as it slowly deflated.
"One-twelve over sixty-eight. No problem there. Now, open wide."
Collins slipped the thermometer beneath Scott's tongue with one hand and wrestled his stethoscope into place with the other.
"Normal," he said, withdrawing the instrument, his eyes still firmly locked with Scott's. "A listen to your heart, a half-hour's rest and I think you'll be on your way."
"Sorry to waste your time," Scott replied, his cheeks flushing as he recognized a distinct, unmistakable stirring beneath his gown.
"That's why I'm paid minimum wage," Collins joked, slipping the cold stethoscope beneath the gown at the side opening. "Now... inhale deeply, and exhale."
The doctor pressed the stainless steel to Scott's left pectoral and paused, listening to the hammering organ that was racing again. He moved to the right, then to beneath the ribs and back across to the left.
Scott felt embarrassment and arousal in equal portions, and he prayed that Collins was unaware he was swelling by the second. No chance of that in the hopelessly inadequate coverage of a hospital gown.
"Nice to see your blood flow hasn't been restricted," Collins said, eliminating all doubt, his stethoscope creeping lower still. "Deep breath... in and out."
Deep breath? Scott could barely get the oxygen past his lips, and he shuddered when he felt the steel instrument dip lower into his brush of hair and almost imperceptibly graze his cock, which now was laying engorged and impatient on his belly, pointing due north.
And with that Collins withdrew the stethoscope and slipped his hands beneath the gown on each side, pressing gently into Scott's abdomen.
"Does that hurt?" he asked, his voice not betraying his own arousal.
"No," Scott sighed. "It's fine."
"How about this?" Collins asked, his hands lower, thumbs pressing into the crease where Scott's legs met his hips.
"No..." he said, wriggling on the stretcher, practically begging for more.
The cool ER air washed over him in a rush when Collins lifted Scott's gown up from his thighs to his navel, exposing him fully to the doctor's view.
"You ARE a healthy specimen," Collins said, looking up to the wide-eyed wonder he saw in his patient.
It occured to Scott that nothing being said could be misconstrued beyond the privacy of this curtained room, the sound of nurses coming and going mere feet away.
"Let's check your reflexes."
Collins's large, warm hand reached to Scott's cock and lifted it from his stomach, encircling its humid thickness.
Scott was wondering how they'd get his fingernails out of the ER ceiling.
"Good. Excellent response. Now, any pain when I do this?"
Collins took one agonizingly long stroke of Scott's full erection.
"No," he managed in reply. "It feels... fine."
The doctor's palm slipped between Scott's thighs and took a handful of balls, heavy in fullness.
"No discomfort?"
"No." It was all Scott could do to utter a single coherent syllable.
"Even when I squeeze, like this?"
Scott swallowed a gasp.
"No."
"Good... good."
By now Collins's hand was moving skilfully up and down Scott's fully distended shaft, a generous pearl of fluid milked from the tip, providing a better lubricant than anything on a hospital shelf.
"Slow breaths," Collins said. "Relax."
Scott's head was slumped back onto the pillow. He was lost in the sensation when it all changed dramatically, a warm hand replaced by a hot, wet heat. He tucked his chin to his chest and saw Collins in glorious profile, his doctor's cheek bulging as he slowly devoured Scott's cock, pushing down to nearly digest the entire length.
Collins pulled back, flashing his tongue over the tip.
"You're doing great," he said, grinning as he paused briefly in his feast.
"Concentrate on your breathing, Scott. Deep breaths. In and out."
Collins returned to his oral massage, inhaling and exhaling Scott's throbbing cock -- in and out -- with fantastic suction, lifting free for just an instant.
He passed his patient a small handtowel, which Scott promptly clamped in his teeth.
"That's it... in and out. In and out."
The words were ringing in Scott's ears when he felt a bolt of lightning energize him from his hair follicles to his toenails. Collins felt it too, and his hand reached to Scott's balls, pulled tight to his groin in support of what was to happen next.
The first creamy spurt pulsed from him to the depths of his doctor's throat, as did the second, the third and a weakening fourth. Collins was relentless, sucking with magnificent force, his mouth pulling back just to the ridge of Scott's sharply cut cockhead before it plunged down once more.
The doctor brought him back to earth slowly, still savoring the thick, salty fluid, licking him clean with expert care.
"Excellent, Scott," he said finally, tracing his tongue over his lower lip. "I'd say that everything's in perfect working order."
Scott returned only a weak smile. He was drained, but his heart never felt better.
"Thanks, doc," he managed. "Thanks for the good news."
"My pleasure. Just take it easy the rest of the day, OK? Nothing... hard."
He patted Scott's thigh and pulled the blue gown back in place, straightening himself at stretcher-side as he smoothed his white cloak and adjusted his stethoscope around his neck.
"The nurse will give you my number. Make an appointment to see me at my office in a week if you like. Now, rest for a bit.
"I'd say you're ready for discharge."
Even Collins was surprised by his choice of words.
"But I guess I should have said that a while ago," he said through a broad smile, and he disappeared through the curtain.
END