Her initial thought was why did she need to learn how to take off a tie?  Then, she thought she might if she had a patient come in the ER being strangled by a tie, so she filed it under “Things she’ll probably never need to know, but now does, and mayhap will one day be handy in the future.”

Sadly, given her current track record, that would be the only occasion where she would be taking off a tie.  Martha Jones, medical student extraordinaire, no social life.  She didn’t have time, really, not with exams and a family who thought she was the communal dumping ground for emotional problems.  Whenever she got off work, she collapsed into bed for a few hours of “me-time”.

Even her dreams were extraordinarily dry, usually of the day and getting an answer right that she had missed earlier, or a diagnosis gone wrong, or her mother/father/brother/sister calling with an “emergency” as she sat during her exams, always managing to get through even though her mobile was off.

She shuddered, and not only because a leather-clad biker had run smack-dab into her.  After giving him a quick lesson on manners (that no doubt went unheeded), she went to the locker room to change and get ready for rounds.

How sad it was, then, that her show-and-tell stranger would be the highlight of her day?

Well, at least he was cute.  Hopefully, he’d make an appearance later that night and she could show him just how excellent a student she could be.