Hi, everyone! We know it's been a while since we've updated. And we also know that we promised to try to do better about that...SORRY! One of us has too many projects she's juggling at the moment. (bad Erin) We will try to do better from now on...As always, we do welcome your comments and suggestions. We love the feedback we get from all of you...So, without further boring you with drivel...Chapter seven!
Yours,
butterflyswest and Erin Allen
7
When Neela caught sight of herself and Abby in the mirror, she considered laughing. It was a fleeting urge however considering the circumstances. The two of them were sitting on a tiny settee that barely held them. Both were leaning toward the arms of the sad excuse for furniture with their chins in their hands looking as if they would rather be anywhere else but where they were.
As things stood, that was exactly the thought that was going through Neela's head.
The boutique catered to wedding attire of every nationality. It was one of those specialty shops that her mother seemed to thrive on, but Neela was ready to tear her hair out from frustration. Though Priya loved places like this, Emily didn't seem to share her interest.
Which was why they were stuck there.
"It's kind of like a train wreck isn't it?" Abby asked, sliding her hand to the side of her head as she turned to look at Neela.
"How do you mean?" Neela asked, her tone one of utter weariness.
"First you're horrified, then kind of fascinated, then absolutely hypnotized by the shock of it."
Neela gave an un-ladylike snort and turned her attention back to the dressing room curtain where her mother stood with seemingly infinite patience.
"All I know is that this whole shopping trip is starting to become tiresome."
"We passed tiresome about an hour ago," Abby said through a yawn. "Now it's just painful."
Neela couldn't agree more. She turned her head back toward the dressing room at the sound the curtain being pulled back. The hope that the girl had finally found something she liked died a horrible death at the look on her face. Neela sighed as her mother calmly nodded and shoved another bundle of silk into Emily's hands and steered her back into the dressing room. With a dramatic roll of her eyes, Emily went, holding tight to the peacock blue silk.
Neela had lost count the number of saris Emily had tried on and rejected for one reason or another. It had taken Abby a total of twenty minutes to make her choice, a beautiful deep green with gold embroidery. Emily, however, was on a mission. A mission whose sole objective seemed aimed at determining who would lose their mind first, Neela, Abby, or Priya. Neela was about to win first prize.
What she couldn't believe was her mother and the never-ending tolerance she was displaying. Neela could not comprehend how the woman could just stand there and calmly hand the teenager garment after garment without batting an eyelash. She forced a smile as Priya crossed the dressing area to take the seat beside Neela.
"I am ashamed to say this, but that girl is about to drive me mad," her mother said under her breath, shattering the illusion. Neela burst out laughing, earning a cool glare. "And you find that amusing?"
"I'm sorry, but I warned you. Emily may act like an adult most of the time, but when it comes to shopping, she's pure adolescent."
Priya sighed, leaning back in the chair.
"I don't remember ever having this much trouble with you or your sisters," she said.
"Because we were terrified of you," Neela blurted out, and bit her lip when her mother just smiled.
"And that child fears nothing," she said, gesturing toward the dressing room.
Neela knew better, but said nothing. There were few things that Emily feared, but her father was one of them. That however wasn't something that would make her move any faster during clothes shopping. Neela doubted that anything short of a nuclear attack would make Emily move faster while shopping for clothes.
"We're going to have to leave soon," Abby said, standing up and shaking her feet to restore circulation. "I'm starving." She shot Neela a stern look. "And if I'm starving, then I know you are. Ray will kill me if I let you pass out again."
"Ray is a royal pain in my arse," Neela said under her breath, but she smiled. He had done nothing in the week following her fainting spell but follow her around just to be sure she was all right. Though she complained about it, it was good-natured complaining. His behavior only showed her just how much he loved her. Now if she could just find a way to make him be that attentive to where the clothes hamper was.
The scrape of metal drew her attention as Emily stepped almost triumphantly from the dressing room. Neela scanned her face for a moment and sighed with relief. Apparently, two hundred was the magic number as she proudly displayed the peacock blue sari. Priya rose from her seat and adjusted the folds before standing back to nod with approval.
"You are beautiful," she said decisively, and Emily grinned, bouncing up and down with excitement. She turned to Neela and spun around.
"How do I look?" she asked. Neela forced a smile.
"Wonderful," she said, hoping she sounded as if she'd not spent an entire afternoon sitting on a glorified cot. Emily clapped her hands as Abby told her the same thing before retreating back to the dressing room to change back into her clothes.
"Thank God," Abby muttered as she slumped across the arm of the settee to hide her face in her arms.
"My sentiments exactly," Neela said, blowing out a relieved breath.
"I need a drink," Priya broke in, earning startled looks from her daughter and Abby. Shrugging, she smiled. "My treat," she offered as the two of them began to laugh.
000000
"Ray!" Sam called, poking her head into Exam One. "You've got a visitor."
Ray raised his head with a frown, pulling the stethoscope from his ears.
"Who is it?" he asked distractedly. He thought he heard diminished breath sounds on the right side. Pneumonia? He turned to the kid's mother who hovered over his shoulder like the angel of nervousness.
"I think it's Neela's dad," Sam hissed, as if her voice would carry into the reception area.
That caught Ray's full attention and he snapped his head around in surprise.
"What?"
"I think it's her dad," she repeated with an impish grin. "Better get out here."
She ducked out of the room, laughing at his scowl of annoyance. Ray took a deep breath and forced a smile for the kid's mother. As quickly as he could, he explained what tests they were going to run and got the hell out of there.
As he made his way to reception, he scanned the area for Neela's father. He wasn't hard to find. He was the only spot of stillness in the milling bodies that made up the ER. Sam was standing there talking to him as if she didn't have anything better to do.
"Hi," Ray said as he approached, unsure of what else to say. The last thing he'd expected was for Neela's father to show up at work to see him. To cover his unease, he turned to Sam and handed the chart to her.
"The kid in One needs a chest x-ray," he said. "If you could call up and see what the wait is…"
"Sure," she said, tucking the chart under her arm. She gave Neela's father a smile. "It was nice to meet you, Mr. Rasgotra," she said as she wove her way to the desk…leaving Ray alone with his future father-in-law.
He smiled nervously. After Emily had given the man a verbal sit-down, and the subsequent exchange with Ray in the hallway, they had come to an uneasy truce, but they were far from friendly. Ray couldn't fathom why the man would seek him out after all that had happened. He tucked his hands into the pockets of his lab coat and cleared his throat.
"Can I…Is there something wrong?" Ray asked, his mind suddenly worried. It had only been a week since Neela's fainting spell, but he was still worried about her. "Is Neela all right?" he asked sharply. If something was wrong and they hadn't brought her here…
"She and Priya are still shopping with Dr. Lockhart," Ajay said in his controlled voice. For a moment, Ray almost thought his face was carved of mahogany it was so still. Then he gave a completely male gesture of disgust. "My wife loves her shopping."
Ray burst out laughing in spite of himself.
"Lucky for me, only Emily loves to shop," he offered. "If it was both of them, we would likely be broke."
Ajay nodded.
"She knows the value of things, my Neela," he said, and Ray narrowed his eyes, sensing a double meaning there. He searched the man's face for a long moment.
"Why don't you come to the doctor's lounge for some coffee?" he said finally.
At the man's nod, he turned and led the way to the lounge. He poured the coffee into Styrofoam cups, adding enough sugar to his to choke a horse.
"Cream? Sugar?" he asked.
"Black."
He handed the cup to Neela's father and sat down on the arm of the sofa.
"It's crap, but it's all we have. Someone let our Chief Resident make it this morning," he said when the man grimaced on the first taste. There was a long silence as Ray waited for him to speak. When nothing happened, Ray raised an eyebrow.
"Was there something you needed, Mr. Rasgotra?" he asked.
Ajay sighed and paced away, staring down at his cup.
"It is very hard for me to accept all of this, Dr. Barnett. I always had a clear idea of the direction that Neela would take her life. She went to University and then to medical school as planned. From there she has become…she has not done what I believed she would do, and it has left me confused."
Ray frowned, spinning his cup in his hands, letting the heat warm his suddenly cold hands.
"Why is that?" he asked in bewilderment.
Ajay turned to look at him, and Ray suddenly saw where he was going with this. He could see the pain and fear in the man's eyes and looked away.
"She was to come to America to intern, to learn, and then she was to return to England. She did not, choosing instead to remain here. She was to go into surgery. Instead, she seems to have made emergency medicine her choice." He paused, grimacing as he took another drink of what passed for coffee in this hospital before he turned his sharp eyed gaze on Ray. "And she was not going to marry and have children for years yet."
Ray sighed, his head down as the full impact of what the man was truly feeling swept over him. He wondered for one panicked moment if this was how it would be when his children were adults. Would he try to control the direction their lives took? He shook his head imperceptibly. No. He knew damn well what happened when that parents tried to manipulate their children's lives. This scenario. Confused father, wondering what the hell happened to all the years. A scared or defiant kid who tried to prove well into adulthood that they were in charge. It wasn't going to happen.
"Neela is a grown up," he said as calmly as he could. "She makes her own choices, her own decisions. She didn't do any of it to hurt you."
Ajay sighed and looked at him with something akin to sarcasm.
"And you defied your own father in order to be happy?" he asked, and Ray smiled.
"Every step of the way," he said with complete honesty. "Though my situation is much different."
Neela's father nodded thoughtfully.
"So your sister said." He gave Ray a piercing look. "I just want her taken care of, Dr. Barnett. That is the only reason I do and say these things. I just want her to be happy in her life."
Ray smiled, breathing in relief.
"That I can do," he said firmly.
The man sighed.
"I wanted to despise you," he said tiredly. "But I cannot. You may not be the sort of man I would have chosen for her, but she has made a good choice."
Ray swallowed back the bitter retort, not certain if he'd just been complimented or insulted. Taking a deep breath, he decided to just let it go for the sake of peace, and held out his hand.
"Truce, then?"
Ajay paused a moment before taking his hand in a short handshake.
"Agreed," he said tersely.
"Well, what have we here?"
Ray turned and suppressed a groan at the sight of Brett's head poking through the slightly open door. He would have to come now and make a scene.
"What are you doing here?" Ray asked him as he sauntered into the room. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched as Neela's father assessed the newcomer, and tried to see Brett through his eyes. His dark hair was shaggy and fell over his forehead, ears and collar in uneven lengths. A streak of blond cut a swath through his bangs and was streaked throughout the rest of his hair. His clothes were what they always were; a green fatigue jacket with the patches ripped off, hooded sweatshirt underneath. His jeans had seen better days and had holes all over them. His shoes on this particular day were black canvas Converse high-tops, the laces as dirty as they could possibly get and still be considered white. He looked like normal Brett.
"Just wanted to see if you had time for a little pre-gig practice after your shift," he said. "We play tomorrow, you know."
"Yeah, I know, but…" He glanced at Neela's father who was looking Brett up and down as if he'd never seen anything like him before. Ray stiffened a little. He could think whatever he wanted about Ray, but he'd be damned if her father would look down on his friend. "This is their last night in Chicago," he said indicating the man beside him. "I think Neela wanted to do something special."
Brett glanced at Ajay and grinned. Without hesitation, he stuck out his hand.
"We didn't get a chance to meet the other day," he said. "I'm Brett."
Ajay reluctantly took his hand and shook.
"Ajay Rasgotra," he said after a short hesitation. "Are you a brother?"
Brett laughed.
"Of a sort. I'm a musician."
Suddenly, Neela's father smiled, and Ray could only stare in shock. It was the first time the man had given a spontaneous smile in the week he'd been here. Ray glanced at Brett and could only be thankful. As much as he was a pain on occasion, Brett had a way with people that defied the imagination. Ray thought that it came from Brett's absolute refusal to be anything other than what he was.
"Then I see the resemblance," Ajay said, shocking Ray further by making a joke. A bad one, but it was a joke nonetheless.
"So, did the two of you kiss and make up?" Brett asked as if nothing untoward had just happened.
"Jesus, Brett," Ray muttered under his breath.
"We came to an accord," Ajay conceded.
Brett clapped his hands together.
"This calls for a celebration then. Drinks are on me."
Ray rolled his eyes.
"I have a shift to finish, in case you didn't notice. And I doubt that Neela's father will want to go bar hopping. Especially not at the bars that we generally like."
"Come on, Barnett. You still need a bachelor party, and it wouldn't be right if your father-in-law wasn't included." He turned to Ajay and raised his eyebrows. "What do you say, Mr. Rasgotra? You wanna go have a few drinks with us? Kind of a pre-bachelor party bachelor party?"
Ray rolled his eyes.
"Brett, I can't just leave…"
Carter walked in and pulled up short at the sight of the three of them. He gave Ray a faint smile before heading toward the coffee pot.
"Something I should know about, Barnett?"
Ray scowled at Brett, who grinned as he shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket, as Ray introduced the attending to Neela's father. Carter cocked an eyebrow in amusement before shaking Ajay's hand.
"It's good to meet you, sir. Your daughter is one of the best doctors I have."
Ajay nodded, and almost imperceptibly stood a little taller. Of course, Brett took that opportunity to jump in.
"You don't mind if Ray leaves a little early today do ya, Doc? We're going to go have a few drinks with Mr. Rasgotra here."
Carter glanced at Ray for a long moment.
"How many patients are you handling right now?"
Ray sighed, wishing it were more than the two he'd caught, but the ER wasn't exactly hopping today. There were just enough patients in the waiting room to keep the doctors occupied but other than that...
"Two," he said reluctantly. "A kid with possible pneumonia and the guy that had his foot run over by a cab. I'm waiting on x-ray to open up for both of them."
"Don't worry about it then," Carter said, obviously amused by Ray's dilemma. "Go ahead and leave, I'll take care of them."
"Carter…"
"You heard the man, Ray. Get out while you can," Brett said to his friend. He turned to Carter. "Thanks, Doc. Just for that, you're invited to the bachelor party."
Carter struggled with his smile as Brett all but dragged Neela's father from the room, all the while keeping up a string of commentary on the best bars in the city. Ray looked at Carter in appeal.
"This is not a good idea," he half growled, earning laughter from Carter.
"You asked for it. Besides, how often will you have a chance to get to know her father like this? Not to mention, it'll give him a chance to see that, as bad as you may seem, you aren't Brett."
Ray stared at him incredulously for a moment before he burst out laughing.
"Very true," he laughed. Brett was like a brother to him, but he had the annoying habit of getting him into trouble. He usually found a way to get him out of the same trouble, but that was beside the point. "Thanks, Carter."
John took a sip of his coffee with a grimace.
"No problem. But go easy on the man, ok? Someday you might be in the same situation."
Ray cringed inwardly as he left the lounge and headed for the locker room.
"Please, please, let us have a boy," he muttered under his breath as he retrieved his things and went to save Neela's father from his best friend.
