A Patient's Request

I'm a nurse in my 30s, married for five years now. It was on a particularly hectic night shift when one of the patients, a woman I'll call Elena who is in her early 40s and admitted for severe anxiety, approached me after hours were over and the place began to clear out. She whispered that she had this thing where being around hospital gowns and sterile environments turned her on. She asked if I would mind letting her see my scrubs and stethoscope while I checked vitals, just for a moment of fantasy fulfillment before heading home. I hesitated but then agreed, feeling oddly flattered and aroused myself. It felt wrong, thrilling even as it did, knowing this was happening in such a place we expected to be all about healing and not desire. We both kept our professionalism up outside the room, no one ever finding out that between the sheets of my office bed for a few moments, a new kind of care had been administered.