Steeling himself in front of the infirmary door, Ellis fixed his hair in the small round mirror that hung on the bit of wall that curved around into the lounge. He was nervous. Though he knew Lisle had shown him where the intimidating doctor would be, his mind went fully blank the moment he realized he needed to find him. It was 2:02pm, he was afraid of what would happen when he knocked on the door.

As his fist lifted to rap on the panel, it slid open. The dark haired doctor cocked a well groomed eyebrow up.

“You’re late,” Grant noted.

Ellis felt tears swell in his eyes, “I–”

“I should have come and retrieved you, apologies. We’ll just have to move quicker than I’d planned. Water?”

Ellis shook his head. Grant looked down at him. He towered over the young man by well over a foot, the newcomer seemed easily fluster, and flushed. His eyelids were a dark color that was atypical of simple sleep deprivation and his skin seemed a bit sallow.

“I’m a bit thirsty,” Ellis admitted gently after a beat of awkward silence.

“Come inside,” Grant replied as he moved into his office.

Ellis looked into the room. The silvery tones of the equipment and artwork seemed bright compared to the rest of the hotel. The abundance of decor items that lined the walls and shelves showcased a sense of longevity, one that left Ellis feeling as if the doctor spent excessive time here. He was shown to an armchair and sat down with rigidity in his motions. He noticed a fluffy white cat curled up in an armchair in the corner, one with a large pink bow.

“I assume Professor Whitmore didn’t give you enough notice to have a physical done as requested?” Grant asked as he took a seat at his desk. He opened a small fridge under his desk and grabbed a water bottle for the new arrival.

“No?” Ellis replied with a bit of confusion as he took the bottle.

Grant scoffed, “Figures. Alright, Mr. Hughes, I need your full name and date of birth, as well as your height and approximate weight.”

“Ellis Leawood Hughes, the 17th of October. I’m 162 centimeters tall… I don’t know how much I weigh.”

“How old are you?”

“Nineteen.”

Grant input the information into his work computer, “Do you have any pre-existing conditions?”

“Pardon?”

“Pre-existing health conditions? Asthma, allergies—other than shellfish—or diseases?”

“Shellfish, nothing else… that I know of.”

Grant cut his dark eyes toward the young man. Ellis was fidgety, nervous, and obviously omitting something. His nail beds were purple and he seemed to be shivering, but whether or not it was from the cold or nerves, he could not determine. The doctor stood and grabbed his stethoscope. Ellis tensed.

“I’m not going to hurt you,” Grant assured as he set the device against Ellis’ back.

“I’m nervous,” Ellis admitted.

“I know. You needn’t be, you only need to be truthful. Breathe deeply, please.”

Ellis tried to take a deep breath. His lungs rattled a bit, his nose sniffled. Grant set the back of his hand against the young man’s head.

“You feel a bit feverish, I want to give you some antibiotics to curb this before it settles in too deeply. The plane ride, the cold, and insane travel schedule tends to wear everyone down so make sure you rest and stay hydrated today. Are you fully vaccinated?” Grant inquired.

“N-no…”

“Why?”

“Strict upbringing.”

The low way in which he said it made Grant suspicious, but he didn’t need to pry any further. A stern warning would be enough.

“I can do that for you or, if you refuse, you need to be fully masked up whenever you interact with guests and take a strong supplement regime. Any sign of fever or illness you’ll be quarantined to your quarters. Is that understood?” Grant said sternly.

“Can you?” Ellis asked.

“Can I, what?”

“Vaccinate me?”

Ellis’ eyes seemed to light up. What a peculiar young man.

“Yes, I’d be happy to, tomorrow. They’re safe but loading you up with all of them when you’ve never been given any may make you lethargic and we need you to help managing the things tomorrow for the guests’ arrivals. We’ll start with the most vital ones and work our way up until we have the basics covered. You can sleep it off in the afternoon. Any other issues I need to know about?” Grant asked as he pulled his stethoscope from his ears.

“No, sir.”

“If that changes, you let me know. I’m going to run you through a physical now, nothing major, just a few range of motion tests and the like. Don’t do anything that feels strenuous or harmful, it’s not a pass/fail, it’s simply so I can have a baseline for your health. I’ll also need to do some panels, so please tell me if you feel faint. I’d rather not have you pass out on day one.”     

At four in the afternoon, Lisle opened the infirmary door. He stopped when Grant pointed to the wall beside him, not removing his eyes from his computer screen in the process. Lisle grabbed one of the disposable masks from the box hanging by the door and slid the loops over his ears. His eyes turned into the medical suite across the way, and he saw the outline of legs covered by a thick quilt atop the bed.

“Is that Ellis?” Lisle asked.

“He passed out,” Grant replied nonchalantly.

“What did you?”

Grant shot him a glance, “I needed to take his panels but he didn’t eat much for lunch. The good professor sent him here without a full physical, and Mr. Hughes is not in peak condition, medically speaking.”

“In what manner?”

“He’s malnourished, sleep deprived, covered in bruises and deficient in several vitamins and iron. He’s not vaccin—,” Grant stopped himself, “Goddammit, Lisle, I’m not supposed to tell you those things.”

Lisle grinned, “You can’t keep any secrets from me, my dear. You should know that by now,” he replied playfully.

Grant rolled his shoulders to loosen the tension from sitting in his chair, “He’s running a bit of a fever, I got him a saline drip IV and some antibiotics. Let him sleep.”

“Poor thing.”

“He’s trouble, Lisle.”

“So was I, mind you.”

Grant smiled, “Was?”

“Shush. Are you ready for tomorrow?”

“I don’t know, Lisle. You neglected to get me the guest list.”

“We have an author named Dean who suffered a bit of a mental break due to his deadlines coming to recoup, he did ask special permission to bring a writing device so he could continue his manuscript if he feels inclined. I approved it so long as he made sure to check in with you regularly. Sydney and James are coming back, they wanted me to tell you hello, by the way, and Doctor Prescott’s daughter who was in a recent accident and has become a bit despondent.”

Grant rubbed the bridge of his nose and pulled his square glasses from his face. He leaned back in his chair and looked around his office for a moment. Lisle slid up onto the desk and looked at the doctor with a quizzical lift of his eyebrow. He could feel a lecture coming.

“Promise me you’ll take it easy, alright?” Grant requested.

“It’s going to be an easy season, Grant,” Lisle replied.

“This was an easy season, Lisle, and you fainted six times. You have a new hire, the first one in years, who is a ticking time bomb of nerves, and a couple you feel responsible for probably coming with bad news. This is a medically heavy group of people and you always fret when it comes to seasons like this. It’s also the start of a new year and you always get frantic, you don’t keep your health in check. I need you to promise me you’ll be mindful.”

“Alright. I will. What would you like for dinner?”

“Are we doing our annual end-of-season steak night?”

“Yes, but I know you aren’t a fan. Janine asked me to see if you wanted chicken, you didn’t eat much, either.”

Grant rolled his head, “Don’t make her do more work than she needs. I’ll manage. Are you ready for tomorrow?”

“Yes, the rooms are cleaned, our stock has been accounted for and put away, and Janine and I have finalized the menu options for the next two weeks. I think I may take dinner in my office to make sure my paperwork is in order. The morning will come so early.”

“It always does. Go on, I’ll keep an eye on our troublemaker.”

Lisle nodded. He excused himself from the office and made his way back out into the hall. Grant watched him go before he stood from his desk. He slid his hands into his lab coat pockets and walked into the medical suite.

Ellis was out cold, hand draped over his head with the IV tubing tangled around his wrist. He carefully unraveled the tube and checked the bag before he pet Biscuit’s back as she stretched herself over Ellis’ legs. The newcomer was in desperate need of rest, not much seemed to bother him. Grant could only assume that the young man’s living arrangements before he came to The Planet were less than optimal, it appeared as though he had not seen restful sleep in some time.

With a heavy sigh, he replaced his glasses and went back to his office to pull the files of the returning guests for the morning. This season was already proving itself a complicated one.