Author's Notes: Wow, I am really grateful for all of the new people who were willing to follow this story not to mention all my old friends. Remember it's a ride and I never know when the dips will come but at least lets' enjoy the ride together.
Disclaimer: I do not own Glee or any of its characters.
The Beholder's Eyes
Chapter 2
Sheila Garrett had only two days left to show Mercedes the ropes and with Heather only working part time now; Mercedes had to pretty much dive in with both feet. Sheila had Mercedes start by making appointment reminder calls, which then moved up to making appointments, then setting up surgical pre-testing and finally getting operating rooms scheduled for Dr. Evans procedures.
Mercedes really enjoyed the job, for the most part; it was really forcing her to learn to be organized and to make sure that she was good at following up on things. It was still a little uncomfortable though when so many women walked into the office for appointments to have plastic surgical procedures and she was the first person that they saw; especially the new patients. She knows that they wondered if this doctor was so good at what he did; then why is it that he didn't bother to help his own receptionist out! She tried not to let their petty minds and attitudes distract her from her duties.
It was hard though not to let those thoughts and their whispers affect her especially because, at first, her interaction with Dr. Evans was minimal at best; which she could say honestly that she preferred after the whole spinach in the teeth incident; as she now referred to it. They would pass by each other in the corridor and she would do the quick nod and don't look into my eyes thing; as she sped up her pace. She had also resorted to always walking with folders in her hands so that she could pretend to be looking in them intently when he walked by. "If I seem like I am so interested in the files then maybe he will not feel obligated to speak to me every time he sees me" She thought to herself.
But on this day she could not be more wrong; as she walked down the corridor heading toward the ladies room folders in hand; Dr. Evans still spoke while passing her by. "I have noticed…. (He said as he slowed down to a stop and turned around to face her) you tend to take quite a bit of files into the ladies room with you; do you find them to have a calming effect on you?" He stared at her as if she were a new type of medical mystery that he needed to solve. Mercedes lowered her head and eyelids in the longest and slowest blink known to man. "Yeah, I've got nothing" She thought to herself. "This is so stupid!" "How do I set myself up to get into these crazy predicaments?" "Just disappear Mercy." "Just disappear!" She thought, then she opened her eyes again; no, she was still there; and now required to actually speak. "The truth is…. (She started) I was so embarrassed by the spinach in the teeth thing that I have been trying to hide from you until the awkwardness died down; which of course, has totally resurrected itself in this very moment (she said under her breath while rolling her eyes); so I started walking around with these folders to keep us distracted from each other." She sighed heavily as if a great weight had just lifted off of her shoulders.
Dr. Evans looked into her eyes and then folded his arms across his chest and lifted one eyebrow. "Are you uncomfortable around me? He said. "Oh, good God! This conversation just got worse didn't it?" She said out loud. "Not at all! Well, not really! Well, not all the time! She vacillated until he held up his hand to prevent her from continuing. Mercedes was desperate she was losing ground fast and all she could do was shout out. "DR. EVANS I REALLY NEED THIS JOB!"
Dr. Evans burst into laughter; while Mercedes stood there dumbstruck! "How dare he laugh at me?" She thought. "I don't think this is very funny doctor, not at all!" She exclaimed. Dr. Evans was no longer laughing; he was howling, and tears were streaming down his face; as his left hand grabbed onto his left side and he doubled over with laughter; he then attempted to speak. "Your…., your….. job is not in jeopardy Ms. Jones. He said as he finally started to pull himself together from the sudden outburst. "I believe somehow we must have started off on the wrong foot." He said, his laughter finally subsiding. "Why don't we start over again"? He said; and to make things a little more comfortable for you; why don't you just call me Sam." He then reached out his hand to shake hers "May I call you Mercedes?" He asked. She wanted to be mad at him but at that moment she really could not be. Although she had never seen it before he had a smile that would melt anyone's heart. She quickly remembered that he was her boss and decided to drop that line of thinking. "Yes you may." She told him and they shook hands in agreement.
Now,… (Sam said) no more carrying folders back and forth if you have no real need for them agreed? He said as he took the stack of folders from her hands. "Agreed" she said lowering her eyes and realizing how silly she had been. As he took the folders he began to walk down the hall, all the while speaking, "Remember Mercedes no more awkwardness, I'll be watching you!" he said. All Mercedes could think at that moment was "Oh, don't you worry Sam I will be watching you too!"
XXXXX
Two weeks had gone by since Heather started working part time and Sheila was gone for good. She will admit that she liked the rapport that had developed between Sam and herself. She would find herself coming in early so that she could prepare his charts for today's patients. She would also start a pot of coffee for him and have it ready in the break room for when he arrived. She would have his mail sorted and placed on his desk; and she had all of his messages placed there too. He was also very good at following her suggestions as well. When she suggested that he should change the time on his specimen pick-ups to twice a day rather than once a day; so that pathology could have at least half of the work accomplished. "This would be a good precautionary measure; (She said) so that even if there was another snag on that company's end, and they needed to push back their workload; it would not pushback all of his clients as well." He saw the logic in it and willingly agreed. She started to think that they worked well together and really complimented each other.
Today though was a different day.
When Sam appeared in the office today, he was late by about 40 minutes. He had not called in and he looked out of sorts; Mercedes noticed. The office was filled today too which did not help the matter. Some of the patients started complaining about the longer wait times and some blamed the new receptionist who obviously got the doctor's schedule mixed up and overbooked appointments.
Mercedes tried not to let the talk in the office waiting room get her down. Instead she walked down the corridor to Sam's office to ask him if he were ready to see some of his patients. She knocked on the door and he said nothing; she opened the door slightly and caught him putting away a small picture frame in his desk and locked it. "Sam" She said. "I am sorry to disturb you but are you ready to see your first patient?" "No" He said. "I am not ready to see any of them!" He spoke sternly. Mercedes had never experienced this side of Sam even when he did make her nervous. "Do you know how long you are going to be? She asked. "Tell them we have to reschedule them all." He said while speaking in a tone which clearly displayed that he was lost in thought elsewhere. "Sam?" "There are fifteen people in the waiting room; they are already here and have seen you come in." He looked at her with one of the coldest looks that she had ever experienced from anyone. "Is this job too much for you to handle?" He said. "I TOLD YOU TO TELL THEM TO GET OUT!" Mercedes flinched; she did not know what got into him but this she was not going to take. She slammed the door and walked sternly into the waiting room requesting that the patients get in line to reschedule their appointments. She told them that the doctor was experiencing and emergency and he had to cancel. After grumbles and complaints Mercedes finally had the last patient leave the office. She spent another twenty minutes calling the ones who were supposed to show up in the afternoon; and told them not to bother to come at all.
Once she completed her tasks she locked the door to the office and decided to give Dr. Sam Evans a piece of her mind. She knew that she needed this job, but she was not going to be disrespected by anyone. She was about to enter his office when she heard Sam speaking on the telephone. She knocked on the door and opened it; it was at the same time Sam hung up the phone. Sam looked surprised to see her enter without being welcomed but he spoke first. "Mercedes go home and pack we have a flight that will be leaving in three hours" "What?" She said. "I have to get out of this place and you are coming with me so go home and pack." "Sam, I need to talk to you about the way you spoke to me today." She said. "I'm sorry about that." He said. "It won't happen again. Forgive me." "Now, go home and pack and meet me back here in one hour and a half." "Sam, I forgive you but we need to have a longer discussion about this. I am not disrespectful to you and I would appreciate it very much…. (Sam interrupted) "Yes, yes I understand." He said as he jumped up from his chair and then ushered her out of his office he reached for her purse which was hanging on the back of her chair at the reception desk and put it in her hand and started to push her out the door. "Sam! Wait a minute! "What are you doing?" "Where are we even going?" She asked. He spoke again as he pushed her out of the door. "Paris!" He said.
Author's note: Thanks for reading and please review.