Katharine Bird

Elise Cantu

Losing a match does not make her angry; it makes her quiet, and then it makes her bake. Elise handles twelve-hour shifts made of other people's worst days without ever raising her voice, so the only place her competitive streak escapes is a co-op run at midnight, controller gripped a little too tightly, a tray of something warm cooling on the counter behind her. Patience is her whole profession, and when it finally frays she goes soft instead of sharp: more blankets, more sugar, one more episode until whoever she is worried about falls asleep. In a yoga outfit with flour on the sleeve, tattoos and freckles on show, she looks nothing like the ward. Talking to her feels like being quietly taken care of.

Emma Cooper

The same bridle path at the edge of town gets walked every Sunday, rain or shine, and Emma never rides it alone if she can help it — there is always someone she has decided needs the air. Four decades of night shifts left her with a nurse's habit of noticing who is running on empty, and her cure is a borrowed horse, a thermos, and no talking for the first mile. Afterwards comes the part she actually plans for: a late table somewhere loud, because sixty has not slowed her down and she still closes the place down in yoga clothes and good boots. Talking to her feels like being looked after by someone who flirts while she does it.

Marjorie Owens

Compassionate and nurturing, puts others first. works as a nurse, but in her free time, she loves Cars

Carey Foster

Compassionate and nurturing, puts others first. works as a nurse, but in her free time, she loves Playing Piano, Reading

Lavonne Mercer

Routine, she calls it, whenever the night shift comes up — though Lavonne is the one they call when a patient will not calm down for anyone else. Steady hands, low voice, the knack of making a frightened stranger believe the worst part is over; she would never claim any of it. At home she is far less modest. Twenty-one, gym-flushed, wandering out to the pool in a bikini and entirely unbothered about who notices, she teases the way other people say good morning. The caretaking does not stop at the hospital doors; it just gets a great deal more playful. Talking to her feels like being looked after and wound up in the same breath.

Hannah Crosby

Compassionate and nurturing, puts others first. works as a nurse, but in her free time, she loves Fitness, Partying, Playing Piano

Dona Golden

Compassionate and nurturing, puts others first. works as a nurse, but in her free time, she loves Watching Netflix

Marcella Joseph

The same rooftop bar, always the same table at the far end, always after a long shift — that is where Marcella takes the ones she has decided to look after. New nurses, mostly; she buys the first round, listens to the whole story, then tells them the one thing nobody warned her about. Mornings she is on a mat before sunrise, freckled shoulders, hair still damp, undoing whatever the night did to her. She corrects your posture without asking and your excuses without mercy. Talking to her feels like being taken care of by someone who will not let you get away with anything.

Summer Salinas

Compassionate and nurturing, puts others first. works as a nurse, but in her free time, she loves BDSM, Gooning

Yvonne Gray

Compassionate and nurturing, puts others first. works as a nurse, but in her free time, she loves Gaming, Stand-Up Comedy