Earnest Ben cont.

Lucy was a nurse, though she wanted to be a doctor some day. She told herself she would be different from other doctors, she would set a new standard of care. To prove to herself how different she would be Lucy spent every spare dollar she had making herself look different.

As far as the world could tell, Lucy was a normal nurse. Clean, well kept, carefully dressed with work in mind. Beneath her uniform, where the world could never see, Lucy kept her differences. Carefully depicted scenes and symbols were tattooed on her back and in places unlikely to be seen by the public. A handful of piercings in intimate locations lent their weight to Lucy's resolve.

She told herself that the exquisite pain of the needles was a reminder of her desire to improve the lives of patients and change the world of patient care, but she hardly needed the pain to remind her. Every day when she reported to work, every time she helped to feed or clean or restrain a patient, Lucy was reminded.

No, the pain was her penance. She put herself through the pain and discomfort because there was no way, not yet, that she could ease the pain and discomfort of her patients. And then she met Ben.