CHAPTER ONE
"Are you nuts!" Cat shouted at an intern as she walked into the NICU.
"I - I don't -"
"I'm sorry, Mrs. Taylor, but Hannah is too little to be out of her incubator, she's too fragile to be held, the slightest chance of infection is a death sentence," Cat said.
"I - but, this doctor said it would be okay," Mrs. Taylor said.
"This doctor was wrong and I'm sorry, but I really have to put her back in the incubator."
"I... okay... um... okay."
Cat carefully took the baby from her mother and placed her in the incubator, hurriedly placing a breathing mask on the baby and closed the incubator before giving Mrs. Taylor a sad smile. "I'm sorry. I really am. I - I know how it feels. My son was premature and I couldn't hold him for two months."
"I didn't make her sick did I?"
"I'll have my resident do some tests on her and keep checking on her more often just in case anything changes, okay? You can stay in here with her, just... please, don't pick her up."
"I won't."
Cat let out a small breath and turned to the intern with a glare. "Thompson. Follow me."
"Wh -"
"Don't talk, just follow me," she said, walking out of the NICU. She led him down a hallway to an on call room and pushed him in, closing the door behind them. "What the fuck is wrong with you!" she shouted.
"I -"
"I'll tell you what's wrong with you! You're an idiot! Do you realize that baby could die now!"
"Her vitals were perfect, Dr. Shapiro."
"For a micro preemie! Her vitals are perfect for a baby of her size! But they are not perfect for a baby! If that baby dies, it's your ass!"
"Dr. Shapiro, you told me to keep the parents happy."
"Not at the expense of their dying child!"
"Hey!" Jade's voice said.
Cat looked around for a few seconds before her eyes landed on her best friend on the top bunk of a bed. And then Beck directly above her. "Uh..."
"As serious as this situation is, I was in the middle of a mind blowing orgasm when you two decided to start fighting, so either make up and fuck each other or get out."
"He let a parent hold a micro preemie!"
"Are you a fucking idiot?"
"Exactly!"
"Cat, if you don't get out I'm gonna throw something at you."
"Follow me, Thompson." Cat sighed and walked out of the room, down the hall to the nurse's station, tapping on Robbie's shoulder. "Hey. Do me a massive favor."
"What favor?" Robbie asked.
"Take this idiot out of peds," she said, pointing her thumb at Thompson.
"What?!" Thompson asked.
"Why?" Robbie asked.
Cat sighed and ran her hand through her hair. "He let a parent hold a micro preemie. This could compromise her health, Robbie. She can die now."
"She could have died at any time, Cat."
"But now she's been compromised!"
"Look, I'll -"
"You'll get rid of him."
"Or what?"
Cat raised an eyebrow and pulled him to her so her mouth was at his ear. "Or this pussy is out of service," she whispered before letting him stand up straight. "And you'll have diaper duty. Trust me, you don't want that. Booker's been exploding her diapers for days and I've given up on washing her clothes, I've just been throwing them away. That's how bad it is right now. And Parker? Parker, she's just being an asshole because she wants her tooth to fall out even though it's not loose because someone talked about the tooth fairy in front of her instead of making it a private conversation with Holly like I told you to do, because I know Parker would get jealous, because why? Because Momma knows her kids, and her kids are turning into demons, so if you don't wanna deal with that, Chief... then, get him off my fucking service," she said before walking away.
Robbie sighed, running his hand over his hair. "Damn..."
"Is she... always like this?" Thompson asked.
"Just when she's pregnant."
"I didn't know she was pregnant."
"Neither did I."
"What are they trying to do, kill us?" Jade asked as she poked at her food with a fork.
"Are you a child? Stop playing with your food," Tori said.
"Shut up, Dermatology."
"What's your issue?"
"I am," Cat said as she sat at the table. "I interrupted her and Beck's really hot sex to yell at an intern this morning."
"You have sex in the morning?"
"You can tell when it's morning and night?" Jade asked. "Cause honestly, I've lost track of time. I hardly ever see the outside of this hospital."
"That's a personal problem," Cat said, popping a piece of bread into her mouth and immediately spitting it out. "That's the most disgusting thing I've ever tasted, who the fuck..."
"They're sweet rolls. You don't like sweet rolls."
"Yeah, I know."
"Dr. Shapiro?" a younger girl asked as she walked up to the table.
"Yes, Dr. Harvey."
"Uh..."
"Spit it out, Harvey. I don't have all day."
"Right! Uh, the kid in 1541 was throwing up blood."
"Has he eaten any solids or just jello?"
"Just jello, Dr. Shapiro."
"Has he been drinking water?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
"How many times has he thrown up?"
"Just once."
"How thick is his vomit?"
"It's... um... I guess watery? So, thin?"
"How dark is it?"
"It's... it's a pinkish color."
"Dr. Harvey."
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Declan has had nothing but water and jello. Red. Jello. He's vomiting because he's still having aftermath of anesthesia. He's not throwing up blood, he's throwing up water and jello."
"Oh..."
"I'll be up to check on him within the hour."
"Okay."
"Go update charts. Check on patients."
As Dr. Harvey left, Jade and Tori laughed.
"That was mean," Jade said as Cat stood up. "Hey, where are you going?"
"I need to pee, I need to go get my blood drawn, I need -"
"Why? Are you sick?"
"I'm late."
"Are you kidding me?" Tori asked. "You're thirty with six kids already, do you two ever slow down?"
"Um, excuse you but Booker is fifteen months old, it is perfectly acceptable to have a baby."
"Yeah, but uh... Caleb and Caden are six weeks old, so."
"And we don't know that I'm pregnant, so shut up. I'll let you guys know if I am later today."
"You're definitely knocked up."
"You have too much sex too fast, you're definitely pregnant," Jade said.
"You'll find out later," Cat said as she wheeled away from them in her Heelies.
"What are you staring at?" Cat asked with a sigh as she laid a baby in an incubator.
"I'm sorry, I just... didn't you just have a baby?" Dr. Harvey asked. "And you're already back at work?"
"Twins, actually. And yes. I only took enough time off to heal. My kids attend the daycare. There's no reason for me to not be at work when childcare is taken care of and I'm capable of doing my job."
"I just... they're newborns. Wouldn't you rather stay at home with them during these first few weeks?"
"They see me plenty throughout the day, Dr. Harvey. I go down to the daycare every four hours to breastfeed - and to get away from questionable interns - and I check on them in between that if I'm near the daycare. I also have a fixed schedule so I'm off work by four every evening and have the night to spend with my kids. My children see me plenty, Dr. Harvey, and I don't know if I appreciate the interrogation."
"I'm sorry, I don't mean to be intrusive, it's just... You're around these kids more often than your own."
Cat closed the incubator and motioned for Dr. Harvey to follow her. She led her to the daycare and opened the door, three older kids immediately running over to her and hugging her.
"Mommy! I made a flower with Miss Carly!" Parker said.
"You did? You'll have to show me when it's time to go home later, okay?"
"Okay."
"I helped feed some of the babies today," Holly said.
"Did you make them more of a mess than you fed them?" Cat asked.
"No!"
"She did a great job, Dr. Shapiro," a nurse said.
"How bout you, missy miss?" Cat asked, running her hand through her oldest daughter's hair. "What did miss Calista do today? You been good?"
Callie nodded and let out a small breath, leaning against Cat. "When can we go home?"
"When my shift is over, honey. What's the matter?"
"I just don't feel good."
Cat looked at her for a few seconds. "Is it your heart? Is that wasn't giving you problems?"
"A little, but it's mostly my stomach. It hurts."
"Alright. Nicole, can we get Callie's temp taken please? She's feeling a little icky. In the meantime, I'm gonna check on the babies, okay? Go with Nicole, you others go play. Spencer," she said, grabbing her son's overalls strap as he ran by her. "Stop running, there are babies in here."
"Kay, love you, bye," Spencer said before walking away.
Cat let out a small laugh. "That's my oldest boy," she said to Dr. Harvey. "Booker, come here baby girl," she said as she crouched down to Booker's level.
"Mama," Booker said as she toddled to her mother.
"Hi, booger butt," she said as she stood up and kissed her cheek. "This is Dr. Harvey, can you say 'hi'?"
"Hi."
"I love you."
"I yub you."
"Wow, she can already talk?" Dr. Harvey asked.
"She's... fifteen months old. Of course she can talk."
"Babies don't tend to speak until about eighteen months to two years, and even then it's only two to four-worded sentences."
"I love you is a three word sentence and she's only three months away from eighteen months. She also lives in a house full of kids that already speak, so she's more advanced because of her surroundings."
"It's still impressive."
Cat put Booker down and she walked over to the nursery, slowly stepping in and motioning for Dr. Harvey to follow her. She walked over to a crib and smiled, bending down to pick up one of the twins. "Hi my baby," she whispered, kissing Caleb's head as he continued to sleep. "This is Caleb. He's the fat one."
"Oh, I wouldn't call him fat, just... plump."
"He's fat," she said, putting him back down in the crib before picking up Caden, who was awake. "Hi, stinker. You're awake, you wanna eat?"
As the baby started to fuss, Cat stepped out of the nursery and walked to a desk. "I'm gonna take him with me for a while and feed him. I'll have him back in a little bit."
"Okay, no problem," the nurse said. "Caden or Caleb?"
"Caden. Caleb is sleeping, but if he wakes up hungry just page me and I'll come feed him."
"Will do. Enjoy your freedom, little man."
Cat let out a small giggle as she walked out of the daycare, heading down the hall.
"You have... a lot of kids," Dr. Harvey said.
"I'm aware, they all came out of me," Cat said as she lifted her scrubs shirt and bra, letting Caden latch onto her breast.
"How old are they?"
"Calista's twelve, Spencer's eight, Holly's seven, Parker's four, Booker's one, and Caden and Caleb are six weeks as of yesterday."
"Twelve? She's twelve?"
"Yes, Dr. Harvey. Is that a problem?"
"It's just that, you're so young... aren't you?"
"I'm thirty. I had her when I was eighteen."
"Wow... and you - you still went through with med school?"
"I'm here, aren't I?"
"That couldn't have been easy."
"I was determined. I had a great support system."
"So... you must have still been in high school when you got pregnant, that must have been... terrifying."
"It was my senior year. And... no. Not really. Babies aren't terrifying. I knew what to do, how to handle it. I have a little sister that's not much older than Callie, so I already went through everything with her."
"Cat!" Cat's sister April's voice shouted.
"Oh, jeez..."
"Catey, guess what, guess what," she said with a giggle as she ran to catch up with them.
"What?"
"I'm doing a cholecystectomy."
"...Okay, and?"
"I... really? Not even a little 'yay, April!'?"
"It's not an impressive surgery, hon."
April scrunched her nose. "Shut up. Hi, buddy," she said, kissing Caden's cheek.
"Okay, your cheek is literally on my boob."
"Robbie's mouth has been wrapped around your nipple, shut up."
"Oh, jeez..." Dr. Harvey whispered.
"I have seven kids and you're surprised that my husband is into nipple play?" Cat asked.
"I - I..."
"Who the hell is this?" April asked.
"An intern," Cat said. "Be nice to her. She stutters and she's probably a crier too, so... No tears on my service or I'll have to switched to Dr. Oliver's service."
"Which one?"
"There's two Dr. Oliver's?" Dr. Harvey asked.
"They're married. Just like there are two Dr. Shapiro's."
"Two?"
"You know the Chief?"
"Yeah."
"Chief Shapiro. My husband."
"Oh... I'd assumed you were brother and sister."
April laughed. "That would be one hell of a story."
