Secrets and Bonding
Jo curled up with Katie on the couch in the living room of their small one bedroom apartment. She studied her daughter while the little girl watched Beauty and the Beast, her "very favoritist", movie. There was never enough time at home with the girl between her shifts at the hospital, so Jo was savoring the time they had together, as stressful as it was at the moment. Katie was just getting over a fever, a fever that Jo had no idea the cause of. And since the daycare wouldn't take a child with a fever Jo had to trade shifts with one of her fellow interns to stay home with her sick baby. She had had two days off in a row, but on the third day Katie still woke up with a fever, so there they were. It was all worth it though, Jo thought as she watched the little girl smile around the thumb in her mouth when Belle started singing. Jo brushed the hair off of the little girl's face and kissed her forehead noting with relief that it was finally cool.
When the movie had ended and Katie had fallen into a restful sleep, Jo got up, careful not to disturb the napping child, to prepare dinner for herself and her daughter. She moved about quietly in the tiny kitchen mixing up a chicken casserole that Katie loved.
Katie ate more at supper that night than she had the past couple of nights. Jo was happy to see her appetite was returning and the girl seemed to be feeling better. After they ate, the pair played with Katie's 'My Little Ponies' and read two books before Jo bathed her and tucked her into the bed they shared with yet another bedtime story.
Jo returned to the kitchen to wash the dishes before taking a shower herself and turning in for the night. She gingerly slipped into bed beside her slumbering daughter. She tossed and turned restlessly trying unsuccessfully to shut her mind off. Thoughts about her job and her daughter and how she would juggle it all ran through her mind. She felt like they had been settling into a routine right up until it was all derailed by Katie getting sick. She had to find a solution for the future if Katie couldn't go to daycare. Jo had to work.
The next day the interns were working a night shift, so Jo and Katie slept in. Jo also took advantage of Katie's naps by laying down and sleeping herself. By the time she went into work she was well rested and ready for a busy night.
What she got, however, was not a busy night at all. In fact, it was the slowest and quietest shift of her so far short internship. That's how the young doctors found themselves alone in the barren pit. It was just after midnight, the post-op patients had all been rounded on and were all stable and improving, and the last remaining patient had just been discharged from the emergency room.
Jo yawned and stretched as she plopped down in a chair behind the nurses station. Heather Brooks and Leah Murphy were leaning on the counter across from her and Shane and Stephanie were just returning from a coffee run. Stephanie handed out the drinks and looked around with a shake of her head, "How can it be so quiet around here? I've never seen it like this."
"Steph!" Jo chided, "You never say the 'q' word in a hospital."
Shane stifled a yawn, "I don't know, I would welcome some action about now."
Another half hour passed with no pages, no patients, and no emergencies. The interns were still hanging around the ER, but were now lounging on the empty gurneys. "You know," Jo started breaking the sleepy silence among them, "we really don't know each other very well. I mean, I know nothing about you guys.."
"So?" Shane interrupted.
"So.." Jo rolled her eyes in his direction, "we should do that; get to know each other, I mean," she explained.
"We do need to kill time," Steph shrugged getting on board.
"Yeah, I like it," Leah agreed and Heather nodded along.
"So we go around and tell something, some big secret, none of us knows about you," Jo finished. The other three girls shared eager smiles and nods and then all four pairs of eyes turned on Shane.
"Okay.. Okay, fine," he piped up feigning indifference. "I'll go first," he offered sitting up and turning towards the others, "I kinda have a little crush on Dr. Yang."
Jo snickered, "It's supposed to be something none of us already know about you."
"Yeah," Stephanie chimed in, "and this isn't high school, nobody cares about your crushes."
"Fine," he pouted, "You go then," he pointed at Stephanie.
"Okay," she nodded slowly a self-conscious smile on her lips, "I went to college on a cheerleading scholarship."
"No way," Jo's eyes widened, "show me. Do a cheer." After encouragement from the others she finally obliged and performed one of her old college cheers.
"As funny as that is… And it is funny," Shane criticized, "it's no deep dark secret."
Stephanie glared at him and huffed, "It just had to be something no one knew," she emphasized, "nobody said anything about a secret," her eyes flashed.
"Actually, Jo did say a secret," Heather corrected meekly.
"Oh yeah? Well let's hear yours then," Steph challenged. Jo sat back shaking her head. It was supposed to be lighthearted learning about each other not bickering and competing.
"Okay... I still, at almost thirty years old, make up illnesses and emergencies to get my parents together. They divorced when I was ten and I'm still trying to get them back together."
"Now we're getting somewhere," Shane cracked a smile.
Jo glared at him, "Heather I'm sorry about your parents. That must have been hard on you," she sympathized with the other doctor placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"It's okay, it was a long time ago. I just need to accept it and get over it," she shrugged.
"Maybe so, but it still hurts you, so I'm sorry you have to go through it," they shared an understanding smile.
An uncomfortable silence fell over the group until Leah cleared her throat, "I can top that."
"Shoot," Heather said glad to have the attention off of her.
"My mom knew Mark Sloan.."
"Dr. Mark Sloan, plastics wizard? That Mark Sloan?" Stephanie asked intrigued.
"Yeah, that Mark Sloan," Leah confirmed, "Anyway, he and my mom were kind of a thing a long time ago and he pulled some strings and helped me get into the program here."
"What?!" Heather and Jo asked at the same time while Shane just sat back and snickered.
"I knew it.. I knew you didn't get here all on your own," Stephanie gasped.
"Hey," Leah retorted back angrily narrowing her eyes at the other woman.
"Steph!" Jo chastised trying to defuse the situation. Leah and Stephanie continued to glare at each other. "I've got you all beat," Jo jumped in again, "I've got a kid." All eyes turned towards her shock written on each face.
"What?" Leah asked sure she didn't hear right.
"I have a two year old daughter," Jo elaborated digging her phone out of her pocket and finding a picture to show them.
"That explains so much," Stephanie said slowly.
"Yeah it does… Wait, it does?" Heather asked confused.
"Yeah, like where Jo disappears to all the time," Steph explained.
"And why she doesn't ever go out to grab a drink with us," Leah added. Jo nodded along with their examples.
"Yesterday when I covered your shift?" Stephanie questioned.
"Katie had a fever and I couldn't leave her in daycare," Jo answered one shoulder rising and falling casually. She held her phone with Katie's picture pulled up out to the others.
They all voiced how cute the little girl was. "She looks just like you," Heather commented.
Jo smiled proudly at her observation, but in reality she knew the girl was a perfect mix of her mother and father. She had Jo's dark hair but highlighted with the red of her dad's Irish roots making it a mess of dark auburn curls. Her face shape, nose, and mouth were Jo's, but she had Levi's clear bright blue eyes. And when she was concentrating or angry her expression looked so much like him, but when she smiled, when she smiled it was all Jo.
"What about her dad?" Stephanie asked hesitantly, "Are you married? divorced?"
"No," Jo stated simply, "He's not in the picture." The group fell quiet again taking in all that they had learned about each other.
"Well, this has been fun," Shane finally said, "and I feel oh so connected to you all now, but I'm going to go find an empty on-call room and try to get a little sleep before this unusually slow night gets crazy."
They all agreed that was a good idea and moved off in separate directions. Jo made her way to the daycare to check in on Katie before finding a bed. She snuck in quietly and watched Katie's even breathing. She bent down and brushed a feather-light kiss to her baby girl's cheek and then left as quietly as she had entered. She found a bed and settled in waiting for sleep to claim her or for her pager to announce that she was needed somewhere in the hospital.
Jo was pulled from her sleep in the wee hours of the morning. She treated several patients in the ER and rounded again on her post-ops. By the time the attendings arrived the next morning she had everything in order and was ready to present their cases. She gave thorough but concise reports on each patient and handed over care.
She met up with the other tired interns in the locker room and quickly changed into her street clothes. She bid goodbye to her friends and went to grab Katie from daycare so they could go home. When she entered the room she found Katie standing by a woman holding a baby girl. Katie was rubbing the girl's silky black hair and talking quietly to her. Jo approached and cleared her throat softly so as not to startle anyone, "Oh, Dr. Torres, good morning," she said upon realizing it was the orthopedic surgeon with her own daughter sleeping peacefully in her lap. Callie returned her smile. "Katie, what are you doing?" Jo questioned looking down at her daughter with raised eyebrows.
"Pitty baby," Katie said still running her fingers through Sofia's hair. Jo held back a chuckle Dr. Torres's daughter looked to be only a year or so younger than Katie, hardly a baby in comparison.
"She is pretty, Katie. I'm sorry, Dr. Torres, is she bothering you?"
"No, not at all," Callie reassured with a warm smile. "She's yours?"
Jo placed a hand on Katie's back, "My daughter, yeah."
"Well, she is a pretty little girl and so sweet."
"Thanks, I think so," Jo replied. "Come on Katie, we need to get home. We'll stop for breakfast on the way." She gathered Katie's stuff and lifted the little girl up into her arms.
"Yeah, I've really got to get to work too," Callie said on a sigh. "It's so hard to leave them isn't it?"
"It really is," the intern agreed taking pleasure in the way Katie nuzzled her head in the crook of her neck popping her thumb in her mouth.
Callie smiled at the picture the young doctor made with her daughter, "Maybe you'll be on my service soon," she said as she waved goodbye.
"Maybe so," Jo whispered watching the attending leave feeling like she may have just made an ally. She shook herself out of her reverie and headed for the door. "You want pancakes, sweet girl?"
