diane guerrero | she/her | cis female | Have you met gabriella ramos yet? They’re the 36 year old nurses that lives around west point homes. I think they’ve lived in Seattle for 30 years. From what I’ve heard, they’re uplifting but they can also be insecure if you get on their bad side. When I think of them, I usually think of Slide - the goo goo dolls
name: gabriella ramos
nicknames: gabs, gabi,
age: 36
occupation: nurse
length of time in seattle: thirty years
gender: cis female
sexual orientation: bisexual
Gabriella was born and raised by her father until she was seven and he married the woman who would become her step-mother. For the most part, her childhood was filled with love and affection until her father collapsed at work and was rushed to the emergency room.
illness tw/death tw: The news they received was devastating and the family had to prepared for a long battle that eventually came to an end in their home. Her step-mother who was a nurse took care of him and did his hospice. It was a situation that was traumatic for the little girl but without professional help, she internalized a lot of that trauma and never felt like she could speak about it without upsetting or needing to care for her step-mom.
The few years that followed were pretty dark in comparison to before, both herself and her step-mother going through the motions until the news came that her step-mother fell ill. While in her first few years of her nursing career, she was the one to care for her at home. The situation had brought up a lot of the emotions she'd shoved deep down and sent her on a spiral.
addiction tw: Her drinking whenever she had time off grew to excess and she would miss shifts to the point where she got written up a few times. Despite people trying to help her, she shook them off and continued to work but the bad decisions continued to follow.
affair tw: Eventually while caring for a patient, she got closer to the patients husband who would come to the hospital to care for his wife. She began having an affair with him and despite cutting it off before it was brought up to supervisors, news travelled to their offices and she got suspected for a few weeks without pay.
At this point, after returning to work, she is still left a little confused about whether or not nursing is truly the job that she wants to be doing.
"It is now. You won't find it in the fine print though." He couldn't expect anyone to be at every game, even if the perk of playing local meant that there would never be an away game where one needed to travel. He'd miss that though. "Better download the app or something. Do they even show rec games on TV?" Locally, maybe, but he wasn't sure that those teams were important enough to broadcast out. "Just because some bar owners would rather have the money doesn't make me a saint. I've done plenty of bad things, but I won't let someone ruin their life because they think hitting the bottle is the answer." He'd been there, had failed to recognize that, and had paid the price for it too. "Maybe, but you sign a waiver and that seems to be enough."
"Really?" She wonders why that is but maybe it's an attempt to keep the seats looking full. "How expensive are the tickets?" If they were more than she would pay, maybe she would go for the fun of it. Hockey players were good to look at though she didn't know one from the other while they were on the ice. "I don't know, I'm just talking to talk." Sports were not her thing so despite sounding sure of herself, she was far from it. She paused at the mention of bad things, intrigued and in need of some validation. Maybe she wasn't the only shitty person in the room. "What have you done? And I'll tell you one of mine."
The Dog House was packed, and Thadd could only cut limes so fast. He'd already cut himself twice, and the bandaids wrapped around his knuckles were doing very little to hide from the sting of the lime juice from seeping through, and fuck, he'd just wiped that spot down, those fucking animals--
His smile is tight at he meets the smiling face of the woman before him, a nod given in the direction of the guy next to her that seemed to be waving? At him. Did Thadd know that guy? Shit, maybe he was a fan. He grins with the thought, almost worth the fruit related injuries, but it snapped out of it by the sudden face in his direct line of sight, the woman from before.
"Oh, uh, I'm not--" a nervous glance is sent further down the bar, but the bartender there was getting slammed from all directions. "...you'd pay for that?" Shit, it'd be the easiest money he ever made. Anyone who worked at the Dog House would know his actual bartender skills were lacking--his barback skills, not that much greater, but how hard could a surprise drink be? He literally couldn't fuck it up...which had never stopped him before. "Something surprising and strong, coming right up."
It was obvious upon sitting and taking a two second look around that it was pure chaos. Bartenders were pouring two drinks at once and failing, the guy in front of her looked like a deer in headlight. The need to have things in order almost had her jumping up on the bar and being the referee.
But she wasn't in an hospital trying to triage an injury or groups of people coming in at once.
So she stays quiet and then shrugs her shoulder. "I wouldn't not pay for it, depends on how much I'd be judged and the amount of money." She would toss a five dollars across the table and maybe go up to a twenty, but she couldn't make it acceptable for a fifty.
"Wait — do you know what you're gonna make?" maybe if he verbalized his idea for her, he wouldn't accidentally mix something up and scar her taste buds. "I can also go for like, a beer or even a shot of something." All to make his life easier.
melody held on to the hug longer than she anticipated to, letting a small tear linger as she wiped it off before the other could pull back. she let out a deep breath as she played with her friend's hand. "you know what we do need? something that wine and cheesecake can't really fix."
"you've read my mind." gabi said as she pulled back from the girl, enough to wipe the tears from her eyes. "Wine and one of those cheesecake platers where it's all different kinds of cheese cake. We can even order it on an app." The ones that came to their door with food and wine for a ridiculous fee.
Rocky slipped into the room carefully, closing the door behind him and shutting the blinds too. Gabriella might be able to get away with kicking it in a patients room if they were caught, she wasn't fresh meat like Rocky, but he was expendable as his Chief Resident had so kindly put it during orientation.
There was a reason the interns all called him The Tyrant.
"I hope Robert knows how to keep a secret because I've got a juicy one." He whispers, as if the walls had ears. "It wasn't Elaine or Helen who swiped the last slice of oreo cheesecake." Rocky could barely contain the impish grin that tugged at his lips, unwrapping a slightly softened piece of cheesecake. "Tada!"
Gabi had went from folded legs to rising one after one up on the patient's bed. He didn't seem to mind and that was because he hadn't been able to say anything for the last year and a half. So really, he probably didn't mind.
"Robert is the best secret keeper and I'm the second." She leans forward, smiling wickedly at the idea of some new gossip. The excitement zips through her so quickly that her legs fall from the bed and she spills a little bit of her soup on her scrubs, grabbing the little corner of Robert's bedding to dab it away. "I might have to kiss you. I'm just picturing their faces as they fight and if they would know you took it. Priceless. It makes the cake even more delicious."
He should have went with a protein bar and called it a morning.
That was Baz's first childish thought as he clocked who was the first person in his eyeline as he entered the establishment. The reaction was nothing short of silly given both his age and the amount of time that had passed since they parted ways, yet his desire to do a one-eighty and make his way right back out was still there.
"Is that how you talk now? In over-used cliches?" He asks, mirroring her wave as he stepped further into the diner rather than out of it and seating himself at the counter beside her.
"I'm just trying to catch the bacon. What are you eating?"
Gabriella watches him for a beat too long and then shrugs. "Over-used, no. Cliches, perhaps." Her material wasn't even original which was the saddest part, often times bits and pieces of conversations she got with patients that she stole. This particular one was from the doctor she hated because he looked down at her cleavage more often than at her eyes.
The wave makes her internally cringe because she knows it's a mirror of herself, outside of the dimpled smile that reflected her unease.
"The pancakes with whipped cream and sprinkles." She pauses and looks at him. "I'm the only one who gets sprinkles because I helped the waitress' kid one time when he came to the hospital so..." she trails off and sighs.
"Are you going to share your bacon with me?" She asks, figuring that maybe she won't have to order the side that she normally does. The forwardness might even cut through the awkwardness.
The ferry ride to and from the island was the only amount of peace he ever found. It was the combination of crashing waves into the side of the metal and the warmth of the sun's rays beaming down on him that made the combative cool breeze worth it. "You just come to sit? You know, there's plenty of shoreside without the ferry ride over." Maybe one day he'd actually get off the ferry to explore the beauty everyone buzzed about. "I think I could sit here all day. Just go back and forth until they kicked me off."
She nods her head. "There's a lot of that but it's always the same view and there's too many people." People were going places when they took the ferry and normally weren't the ones to take it to sit by the water so she found herself alone most of the time and that was cherished. Especially since she lived in a complex with paper thin walls where she could hear her neighbours cough, and then in a chaotic hospital otherwise. "The ride is a bonus. I find that too many people want to have conversations." Then she smiled. "This is fine, but sometimes you're just not in the mood, you know."
"Catch is that you can't miss a single game," he countered with a cocked brow and boyish grin. He wasn't going to hold her to it, but all jokes aside, he did't see himself braving the front of any recreational league. Not until the ache of retirement wore off and truth was, he wasn't sure how long that was going to take. "Protective asshole is acceptable. I'd like to think that's where I am most of the time." His friends didn't like it when he cut them off at the bar, but between losing some money and preventing them from making a mistake, he'd go with the latter every single time. "I don't know how possible that is. I mean, you just throw it?" Though, anything was possible if one tried hard enough to make it happen. Not that anyone would ever want to lose a toe at their clumsy hand. "I don't think so, but I'm sure if you asked, someone would help you out."
"Is that a requirement?" She wonders because she knows people do buy season tickets but she didn't know about sports to know if a game was missed, the tickets were revoked. "If that's the case, then I might have to catch it on the TV because I can't make that promise." Not with the unpredictability of her work. "Better than walking around with a guilty conscience because someone got hurt, I suppose." She didn't like it even though she understood it, mainly because she was often the one he cut off. "No one shows you how to throw it? Sounds like a mess." The good news was that if something were to happen, she could be of help given that she was a nurse.
It had been quite some time since Tom had been down to the market, he'd only been back in town a few months and he was still trying to get situated, but slowly, he was coming back to life, exploring places he'd always loved, and getting reacquainted with the city. He'd been wandering around the marketplace for a few hours, his dog on a lease, pulling him along as she happily continued with all the energy that a puppy - who was almost full grown now - always seemed to be full of. He'd been looking for something, or rather a someone who he'd always enjoyed visiting with - a vendor who seemed to be absent from the marketplace now and he had to stop, scratching his head as he questioned the patron nearby. "Hey...I'm looking for a vendor...she was an older lady who sold little handmade trinkets? Her name was...Mabel? Or maybe, Eunice....Susan? Hmm... she told great stories, talked about her pet bird a lot ...any idea where I might find her? Or..if she even has a booth around here anymore?" He asked, realizing that with so many vendors at the market - and growing every year - he was asking about a needle in a haystack, but he was determined if nothing else, "I'm not describing her very well...it's just been so long since I was last here..."
Gabriella's brow furrows for a moment because she remembers an older lady but she isn't sure if she's seen her recently. "This does ring a bell but I'm bad with names." She had a trick at the hospital when it came to her patients and remembering descriptions of them in association with their names but she hadn't known the elder lady enough to do that. "I believe I saw her around the corner last time. I'm heading in that direction if you want to follow me." There was a vendor who sold hot sauce that was strong enough to make her feel something so she continuously came back to buy from them whenever she would run out of the stock that she had in her apartment. "Do you buy a lot of her trinkets? I can't say that I have before."
Gabriella needed some peace and quiet and where better to find that then on the floor that held people who were on extended stays at the hospital. She knew which people didn't get a lot of visitors and she felt it was almost a good deed to give them a bit of company and hospital gossip in return. She texted the room number to Rocky and smiles when he comes in. "Just about time, I was telling Robert here the latest on the two nurses who are at each other's throat over a piece of oreo cake."
Gabi smiles at him from the bar, hoping that he'll notice she just sat down and then he'll serve her without her having to flag him down. But if another guy leaned over her and waved their hands to get his attention, she might hit someone. Her frustration was visible but she manages to nudge the nearby guy and lean forward to catch Thadd's gaze. "Can you surprise me and give me something strong? But also, if you spit in this guy's drink, that would be great." Her expression was serious until she broke into a small smile. "I'm kidding, but if there's a way to pay for that, I might reconsider."
"I'll tell you what. If I change my mind, you'll get season tickets to whatever recreational league will let me in their doors." He could play for fun, but there was something about the goal of winning that drove him to his competitive best. It wouldn't anything even remotely close to performing in a packed arena of people where every goal was sounded off with a loud horn and bursts of cheers, but maybe it wouldn't be so bad either. Henry managed to channel a small grin as he offered a shrug towards her. "I don't know if you've got it in you to be an asshole. Honestly, I'd like to see it." She was too kind for her good, at least from what he knew. Then again, it wasn't as if he'd ever really seen her outside of the bar except for the few times he'd helped her home after a long night out. "Wasn't even on my top five," he countered in a hum of reassurance. For a man who spent most of his time at the bar or volunteering elsewhere, he wasn't even sure what normal people did for fun. "Have you ever been axe throwing? I've heard it's fun, plus it's a good way to blow off some steam."
"Season tickets? Deal." Gabi said with a smile since that sounded like it made her important and maybe there would be a section for VIP's like in a basket ball game that she could sit down in with some of her best fake knock offs. Sounded like a fun time to her. She looks up at him and then laughs because it isn't the first time someone as made that assumption before, not that it's even wrong to begin with. "I'm never an asshole for the sake of it but I'm more of a protective asshole." Whenever someone was mean to her or a patient then another part of her ignited. "I haven't because I haven't had a reason to and part of me wonders if I'll take one of my toes off." It just felt dangerous but she was intrigued by it. "Is there someone there teaching you how to do it?"
Delilah laughed. "Be careful what you wish for, Gabi. I might add you to the guest list." There was something charming about the idea, she supposed; an attempt to put a positive spin on something that many would deem as not exactly something to celebrate.
Everyone's divorce was different. A party had been the last thing she'd wanted all those years ago, after her split with Rafa. A celebration of a love not lost, but one that'd simply not been enough to make things last? No funnily designed cake or tiny ring coffins (both things she'd looked into for Baz's soiree) would take the sting, the hurt, out of that.
But everyone's divorce was different.
"It's work. If everything is running smoothly and my client is happy, then I'm enjoying it." Not as much as a regular attendee, but so was the job. A job that she was good at, that she genuinely enjoyed, and most importantly, supported her family, the way she always promised herself she would.
At the mention of Rafa, Delilah couldn't help but groan, covering her face with her hands. "God, please do not remind me. I don't know what I was thinking." For charity, she'd told herself, and him, when she'd been the highest bidder. And to save him from the clutches of the grandmother who'd been trying like hell to outbid her and everyone else, of course.
Letting her hands fall, Delilah sighed, embarrassed smile on her lips. "It was surprisingly easy."
"Can you? I really would need a night to celebrate someone entering the world of dating because it isn't easy and it's about time that we normalize not being with someone. It would be uplifting for me." Especially after how many times she had to sit and watch two people devote themselves to each other. Always a bridesmaid but never a bride.
"Is she excited to be divorce? Did he cheat on her?" She assumes it's for a woman because it feels like it would be and the celebration of leaving a toxic relationship with some type of narcissistic man. It was probably too many marriages right now.
Or maybe she just watched too much tv.
"You don't wish for a bit of a mess up in the middle of the night to get some action going? Though I imagine that it starts on its own when the drinks start to flow. How many times have you seen the bride end up sleeping with someone else or the groom? I feel like that must happen a lot."
"It was kind of amazing. It felt like watching an high intensity game of tennis. The back and forth between you and the grandma. I loved every second of it." Even if it had gotten her blood pressure through the roof.
"You probably have a few hot singles in your clientele. I'm jealous. Maybe I should change career paths."
"I'm so sorry." her hands wrapped around gabi bringing her in for a hug. "sometimes those are really hard, you start thinking about them and their family. I can't imagine." She had to admire what gabi did for a living, to do it every day and keep coming back.
"I know. Sometimes I can't think of anything else." She tried for hours to distract herself but she'd end up crying or having to sleep in the hope of feeling better when she woke up. "Thank you, you're so sweet." She smiled at her while her arms wrapped around her figure.
"Muted? Ha. You're so right that I wish I thought of it sooner, because I just totally wore this orange sweater to a play audition and did not get the part for Sophie in the next stage run of Mamma Mia in the city. They probably thought I would do poorly with a bottle of St. Tropez." The mention of a candle almost has her sputtering in her drink. "I have wanted to buy it for years. For science. Obviously. And -- damn, you chose a better one. Living the life of Beyonce? Way better than Gooptopia."
Then she spins on her bar stool, checking out the rest of the venue. "If we had to get anyone's number in here, who would we go for? Hypothetically. New truth."
"I don't know how to do the whole winter, summer, pallet thing but somehow I'm never wrong." She points to her and then shakes her head as if the mere idea of her in orange is enough to bring a migraine forward. "That was a wrong choice. Blue or even green would have been better." The idea of a damn candle was so dumb it was almost amazing. "I feel like I'd be crucified if I chose something else. I think she's just insane. Not beyonce but Miss Gwen."
"Anyone's number? I feel like you've got to go with either bartender or bouncer to get the more bang out of your buck. But then there's the drummer and you know what they say about them. So, I guess I'll go with the bad choice and do the musician."
Nothing was as calming as the sound of the waves crashing into the side of the ferry, sloshing with all their glory before fading back into calm waters. He'd had no intention of actually enjoying the island itself as he watched every local mixed with tourists pour out of the exit, only for those who'd already been there to fill the empty spaces. "Did you enjoy it?" The vague question was tossed near a woman who'd taken a seat near him, his curiosity genuinely piqued. "The island? Did you enjoy it? I've road this ferry a hundred times before, but I don't think I've actually gotten off at the island." @gabriellaramos
Gabi looks over at him and then smiles slightly. "I did enjoy it. There's a bit of sight seeing but you just sit by the water. At least that's what I like the most about it." She brought some snacks and a book. There wasn't any service so that was nice as well. "I do enjoy the boat ride there as much as I do getting of and walking the island but you might want to give it a try." She looks out at the water and smiles when the wind brushes past her. "It's a beautiful day to be on the water so you didn't go wrong either way."
Sure, he liked the thought of making money, but it wasn't worth the risk of losing it all because some jerk couldn't hold his liquor. If they wanted more, they'd have to go to another bar and in Seattle, that wouldn't be too hard to find. Hazel hues rolled in her direction, though a small smile coated his mouth. "While I appreciate the boost of confidence, and I mean really, I appreciate it, I don't know." He gave a lazy shrug, the topic making feel as if he wanted to crawl out of his own skin. "I'll touch the ice again. It just might not be competitive." And if it wasn't, he'd have to be okay with that. Of course, nothing would compare tot he road to the Stanley Cup, but in the end, he'd find his happiness somewhere. Right? "Most people come to the bar because they want to stop caring for a little bit. Takes away the fun when you're worried about me having fun too," he countered with a nod. A lot of ice, a little gin, splash of tonic; simple as that. He carefully pushed the glass towards the other and lowered to rest his elbows atop the bar. "Trust me, I'm good."
Gabriella wasn't going to spend the rest of the night reminding him that because his career ended that he didn't have to play anymore. People wouldn't be helped if they didn't accept it so she just nodded her head. "Well if you change your mind, I better have a reserved spot right at the middle." She never went to a game before but it could be fun to cheer for someone that she knew. But about worrying about him having fun, he may have had a point with that. She needed to let her hair down and stop worrying about everyone else. Kind of a hard shift to do after working twelve hours in an hospital where her job required her to help others. "I gotta shake it off. It almost sounds like you want me to be an asshole or do anything I want for my own fun, even if it's at your expense." Not that she would do that because she wasn't cruel and didn't have a reason to make his life more hellish than it probably was while dealing with drunken personalities. "Any ideas of how I should have fun? Anything but the karaoke."
