Chapter 4 – Cold Comfort

A few hours later…

Dr. Katie Giordano walked out of the front doors of New York Hospital and pulled her coat tighter around herself to guard against the chilly weather. The winter evening was cloudy and cold. The temperatures were already below the norm and still falling. Reaching into her pockets, she retrieved her favorite gloves and covered her freezing hands with them as she turned toward home.

She hadn't even taken two steps when she heard someone calling after her. She didn't bother to turn around because all of a sudden Officer Jamie Reagan was walking in step next her.

"Hi," he said, trying to pretend that he was not out of breath from running to catch up to her.

"If this is about your father, my shift ended 20 minutes ago." Katie told him, rolling her eyes, "Which means I am no longer professionally obligated to be a part of this conversation..."

"He's not really as bad as he seems," Jamie told her, completely ignoring her statements about no longer being on duty. "He's just not good at being…helpless."

"Who is?" she asked with a sneer, pulling up the collar of her coat as she walked. Finally turning to look at him, she said, "Look, you seem like a nice guy and a good son. And I know your family has been under a lot of stress lately, but honestly…it's been a long, crappy day and I'm going home now to soak in a hot tub. Can we pick this up tomorrow?"

Jamie was busy shaking the sudden image of her in a bubble bath out of his head as he mumbled, "Um…yeah. Sure. Whatever."

"Thank you."

Without saying another word, she turned and continued walking. "It's snowing out here, you know!" he called after her retreating form.

"Thanks for the update." The petite doctor called back over her shoulder. "It's February…in New York. It's been known to do that from time to time."

"You'll freeze to death." He warned, still watching her as she walked away into the night.

"I'll risk it." In spite of herself, she turned and smiled at him as she said, "I love this weather!"

Jamie thought she looked like a child at that moment, grinning from ear to ear at the thought of walking through a winter wonderland. And for reasons he couldn't quite understand, he decided to join her. Without thinking, Jamie ran to catch up with her for the second time in less than five minutes and Katie was more than a little surprised when Jamie fell into step again beside her as he offered, "Would you like a police escort?"

"Are you going to give me a lecture about being a single woman walking alone at night?" she asked, not missing a step as they walked.

"No."

Katie turned and looked at him for a moment and then shrugged, "Sure, why not?" And then mocking his earlier statement, she added, "But it's snowing out here, you know."

Jamie grinned at her teasing and shoved his hands into his pockets as they walked. Finally, he said, "Thank you."

"For what?"

"For saving my father's life." he reminded her seriously, looking up at the clear night sky.

"He did most of the heavy lifting," she told him, looking up to see what it was that was so fascinating to him. "All I did was remove the bullet."

"You did more than that."

"Your dad was lucky, Jamie." Katie said quietly, taking a second to study his handsome face. "He had a lot going for him before he even landed on my table…he was strong and healthy." She paused and he finally looked back at her before she smiled and said, "And he had a lot to live for. It makes a difference."

"Yeah," Jamie agreed and then said, "It's just that…we got that phone call once before. And it didn't turn out so well that time."

"Your brother Joe?" She asked quietly, not turning to look at him this time. He nodded and she added softly, "Families are like puzzles. They fit together in a certain way, and when one of the pieces are missing it throws everything off. I guess I became a doctor to keep it from happening to too many families."

"Did you always want to be a doctor?" he asked suddenly.

"Well," she said, taking a deep breath and drawing the cold night air into her lungs, "until I was seven I wanted to be a princess. And then for awhile there I wanted to be Mrs. Jon Bon Jovi and then I went through the wanting to be Brittany Spears phase…my parents loved that one."

"I bet." Jamie laughed and then asked, "Jon Bon Jovi?"

"Hey, he was hot!" she protested and then said, "But I settled on doctor when I was about 15 and stayed the course."

"What happened when you were 15?"

Katie sighed and admitted, "I fell in love with a paramedic."

"Isn't that a little bit illegal?" Jamie asked, raising his eyebrow at her reasoning.

"Oh, it was a completely one sided relationship," she assured him, "I loved him and he tolerated the geeky neighborhood girl."

"I can't imagine you as geeky…"

"Oh, I was." She assured him with a nod of her head, "Acne, braces, glasses, spiral perm, 90's fashions…gotta love the teenage years. I burned all of my yearbooks a few years ago…"

Jamie broke out in laughter as she continued, "Anyway, this golden god paramedic was studying to go to medical school and so I studied too so that I could impress him with my knowledge. I even helped him study for his entrance exams and then do you know what he did to my tender teenage heart?" She didn't wait for him to answer as she told him, "He flung me aside for some waitress in Jersey."

"Jerk."

"Big jerk." Katie agreed with a grin. "So I got the best revenge imaginable…I beat him at his own game. I became a surgeon."

"And did he ever get into medical school?" he asked with interest.

"He's still a paramedic." She informed him with a wicked smile. "I will never forget the look on his face the day he brought an accident victim into my ER and had to call me 'Dr. Giordano'. I loved it."

"Revenge is a dish best served cold," Jamie concluded, smiling at her.

"Sounds like you've got a bit of Italian in you, Irish boy." She kidded him and nudged his arm with her shoulder. "I guess you've always wanted to be a cop…considering the family business and everything."

"Actually, up until a few years ago I wanted to be a lawyer." He told her, "Went to Harvard law and everything."

"Impressive," she said with a nod of her head, "What happened a few years ago?"

"Someone killed my brother," Jamie told her quietly, changing the entire mood of their conversation.

"Yeah," Katie replied quietly, "I heard about that. I'm sorry."

"You know about my brother, huh? Does that mean you checked up on me?" he asked, taking the opportunity to turn the serious moment into a joke.

Katie chuckled and told him, "I wouldn't call it that."

"What would you call it?"

"Uh…", she stumbled over her words with a smile, but recovered quickly and said, "homework. Homework on my patient. I had to know…"

"You checked up on me." Jamie concluded with a grin.

"Don't get so full of yourself there," the pretty red head joked, "It's pretty easy to be anonymous in a city this size, unless your name happens to be Reagan."

"Tell me about it." He agreed, but then said, "In the spirit of full disclosure though, I have to tell you that we checked up on you, too. With Linda."

"And what did Linda tell you about me?"

"Basically that you are a fantastic surgeon, a dedicated professional," the cop said, "and that you speak four different languages."

Katie looked up at him in surprise and then admitted, "Actually, I speak five languages."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Linda said that you speak French, Spanish, German, and Italian." he told her, trying to remember all of the languages his sister in law had mentioned.

The young doctor laughed and said, "I also dabble a little in English."

Quickly realizing his mistake, Jamie joined in her laughter and couldn't believe how natural it felt to laugh with her. They'd just met, but he was beginning to feel like he'd known her forever. In a more serious tone, he mentioned, "She also told us about that kid in the ER today."

Katie stopped short and stared at him for a moment before she continued walking. Shrugging her shoulders in nonchalance, she informed him, "It comes with the territory. Patients die."

But she couldn't contain the emotion in her voice and Jamie couldn't ignore the tears that were suddenly rolling down her cheeks. When she noticed him looking at her, she quickly wiped them away and stated, "That's the problem, see? That's exactly how you lose your mind with jobs like ours. There's so much tragedy. Feeling is the first thing that goes. After that losing the rest is easy. Compassion, empathy, sympathy…It's funny, you can become a much better doctor by becoming less of a human being."

Jamie knew that there was nothing he could say to make her feel better at that moment because she was absolutely correct. So, they continued walking in silence and Katie took the opportunity to look at the world around her. They were at the edge of Central Park and the scene was positively beautiful. She stopped to gaze around with wonder at the frost-covered trees, and the branches that sparkled like diamonds. It was positively beau-

Thwack!

The red headed doctor felt the cold, wet snow hit the side of her face and slide down her cheek. When she whirled around to face Jamie, he was laughing like a little kid.

"That was uncalled for!" she said in a haughty voice, causing him to laugh harder.

His boyish smile continued to lighten his features, and his pale eyes crinkled in mirth. "From my perspective, it was a perfectly reasonable opportunity. Things were getting entirely too serious."

Katie stared at him for a moment, then finally smiled sweetly. It only took him a few seconds to realize that he shouldn't trust that smile. A wicked grin curved at her lips as she bent down to scoop up a handful of snow. She started to pack it into a ball as he began backing away from her.

"Well, two can play at that game!" she cried, darting after him and hitting him square in the back with her snowball.

Katie batted at a couple stray snowflakes, blinking as the cool wind gave them the push they needed to fall in to her eyes. Another gust blew strands of her red hair into her face, distracting her long enough to realize that Jamie had disappeared into the winter scenery.

Jamie waited a few moments before risking a peep around the edge of the tree he was hiding behind, then frowned as he realized that his companion was nowhere in sight. Then a movement out of the corner of his eye made him whirl around, just in time to catch a large amount of snow right in his face at close range. Spluttering in a most unsophisticated manner as he clawed the snow out of his eyes, he looked up to find Katie standing a few feet away, cackling with laughter.

Blowing a strand of hair out of her face, she decided from the look on his face that she had better make a run for it. She took a deep breath and raced across the open ground towards a tree of her own to hide behind. The barrage of snowballs he sent flying in her direction caused the doctor to scream in shock and laughter before diving for the tree.

The snowball fight continued as neither one was going to give in easily. Katie squatted down and began to pack snowballs as fast as she could, not quite sure what Jamie's next move would be. She soon found out as he snuck up behind her, grabbed one of her snowballs and lobbed it at her. It landed on her head and she laughed.

They began to wrestle, both trying to get the upper hand, trying to snatch snow and trying not to be hit at the same time. Jamie ducked back behind the tree to retrieve some more snowballs just as Katie decided to tackle him. He managed to catch her as she tried to jump on his back, but her momentum knocked both of them to the ground. She landed on him, her breath puffing out around his face as it was knocked out of her.

Neither of them moved. The wind and snow seemed to stop. Everything around them was quiet; they couldn't even hear the traffic from the nearby street as they had during their snow war. Katie risked looking into his eyes and that was when the world shifted. The deep flush in his cheeks from the cold, the way his chest moved with his shallow breaths and Katie knew she was lost. Her stomach twisted inside her, and her heart began to play a jumping game.

"Hi" she said softly after finally getting her breath back.. Katie pushed herself up on her hands, which were on either side of his head, so that she was looking down on him. A loose strand of hair fell forward to tickle his cheek.

"Hi there." he answered, savoring the sensation of her warmth covering him. All he could focus on was the beautiful woman, whose face was inches from his own. She could feel his warm breath on her face as he whispered, "Dr. Giordano..."

She looked down at him with large, luminous eyes, laced with desire. After a heartbeat, he brushed her cold cheek with his thumb and let it travel down to trace over her full lips. But she refused to meet his gaze, as she tried to slow her breathing. Then she pulled away from him and stood up.

"Thanks for the escort," she told him, brushing snow off of her coat. "I think I can make it from here."

And then Katie Giordano did what she did best…she walked away from him.