"So, what brings you here today?" asked the doctor as she sat down next to her patient in the small exam room. "What brings you here today?" the patient asked in return, looking at her doctor with happy curiosity on her face.

"I came by car," the doctor said, looking down at the paperwork she had on the patient. "Though really, these days, it's the paycheck." She sighed. "It's not as much as people think, you know?" She looked in her patient's eyes for support. "Everyone thinks doctors are making tons of money, but I work for a living just like anyone else.

"It's weird." The doctor looked down. "I went to med school because, I dunno, just like everyone else, I had this sense of, oh, helping people. Or maybe I just thought everyone else had it, too, because ever since rotations it's been all about money and budgets. I mean, this clinic is. It's all bottom line and nothing else."

She turned her pained eyes to her patient. "I really don't know what brings me here anymore." She left the room, shoulders slumped in defeat.

The patient waited, then went to look for someone to discuss her nosebleeds.