Disclaimer: This story is a complete work of fiction…I don't own any of the ER characters…just my original one. Reviews are appreciated =)
The Time of My Life
- It's Not Your Fault -
"Time of death…9:50 AM" Dr. Archie Morris said as he frustratingly took off his blood covered gloves and threw them in the trash.
He turned off the monitors and left the other Nurses and interns alone in the trauma room to clean up the mess.
"Hey, are you ok?" Sam asked him as he started going through his patients chart.
"Yeah, I'm fine…are you?" he asked her.
"I know how much you liked him" Sam said referring to Dr. Morris's now deceased patient.
"He was a common day hero…he didn't deserve to die the way that he did" Morris said as he closed the patients chart and then tossed it aside.
Sam didn't know what else to say as she watched Morris walk away.
Part of her couldn't help but question his recent actions and words…it had only been two weeks since Dr. Greg Pratt; one of their own had died in that same Trauma Room. It was as if it was a nightmare, it still gave Sam goose bumps, thinking back to that horrid day. Poor Morris was a mess, a complete and utter mess until about a week ago when he started coming into work on time and playing by the rules instead of following his own methods.
Dr. Morris was doing fine until earlier this morning. He learned that his patient, a forty year old, male Firefighter who was just married a month prior to his accident, was now septic and had not even a week left…Morris knew it was only a matter of time he just wished he wouldn't screw it up. He had taken a strong liking to this patient, in a strange way he somewhat reminded him of Greg.
Wanting to avoid everybody, especially his patient's wife who was being comforted by a Nurse, he managed to slip right into the Doctors Lounge, undetected. He poured himself a cup of coffee and took a few sips before finally exhaling the breath he felt he had been holding in all day.
"Hey man, are you ok?" Dr. Gates asked as he made his way over to Dr. Morris.
"Yeah, I'm fine…and you?" Morris answered him.
"I'm good but you…you don't seem too hot" Gates said to him.
Morris looked up at him with weary eyes.
"What makes you say that?" he asked curiously.
"Sam told me about your patient…I'm sorry Archie" Gates said to him.
Morris just looked at Gates and shook his head.
"I've got rounds" Morris said as he went to walk away but Gates stopped him.
"Archie, I know that you still blame yourself for Greg's death" Gates said to him.
Archie stopped dead in his tracks with his back facing Gates as he continued to speak.
"It wasn't your fault…it wasn't anyone's fault…and after all these years you should know that…patients die and as long as you do everything that you possibly can to help them-" Gates was cut off by Morris.
"Do you know what Greg's last words were to me? It was don't screw this up Morris…and I did" Morris said as he thought back to that exact moment he knew he would never forget.
"You didn't screw up anything! You did everything that you possibly could but in the end it wasn't up to you, me or anyone else here and you know that" Gates said to him.
"How? How am I supposed to know that? Everyone seems ok! Everyone acts as if nothing even happened and that Dr. Greg Pratt is on some well deserved vacation in the South of France or something!" Morris snapped as he turned back around to face him.
"Archie, you know that's not true…we all loved Greg and miss him…you weren't the only one he took under his wing" Gates said.
Archie just looked at Gates and then hung his head in shame, Gates was right.
"You know Greg was the only doctor here that actually treated me like a doctor when I came here" Morris said to him.
"Same here, he had a way of seeing through people…he would've made an excellent Chief" Gates said with a smile.
"I know" Morris said.
They both smiled at the thought, Morris couldn't help but think about how much better the ER would've been with Greg in charge.
"Thanks Gates" Morris said to him.
"No problem" Gates said as they both went to walk towards the door but the door was already open as Sam stood in the doorway yelling at them.
"There you are! Didn't you get any of my pages?" Sam said to them both.
They didn't say anything as Gates took the lead, followed by Morris.
"Gates, Trauma Two needs you and Morris…behind that curtain over there is a patient with a broken leg refusing any kind of medical treatment" Sam said to them.
"I'm on it" Gates said as he made a beeline towards Trauma Two leaving behind Sam and a now confused and annoyed Morris.
"What the hell did I ever do to you? Why do I get the obvious whack job? Where are the interns?" Morris said looking around the chaotic ER for any intern he could grab.
"The interns are in Trauma One and Two, sorry" Sam said handing him the patients chart.
Morris looked through the patients chart and then stopped when he saw the main diagnosis written on the admittance paper.
"Where are the x-rays?" he asked Sam.
"The patient refused" she answered him sounding as if she knew exactly where he was going with this.
"Without an x-ray, how do we know it's a broken leg? It could be sprained or tendonitis and who writes these patient histories? Who cares that the guy enjoys reading before he goes to sleep? Get me that x-ray, I don't care how you get it…just get it" Morris said to her.
"Welcome back Archie" Sam said with a smile as she walked off leaving Morris standing there feeling pretty good about himself.