Chapter 11

Chris and Eve walked out of the Emergency Room together exhausted and shedding their blood stained operating sheath that they had on over the scrubs. "Good work in there doctor," Eve said to Chris as they stood at the desk to finish the paperwork.

"Me? If you wouldn't have found that bleeder, that man would be dead right now," Chris said returning the compliment.

"It was a miracle that I even saw it. All of the damage seemed to be in the entrance area, that bullet must have just nicked that artery on exit."

"Well, in any case, it was a good call. So, are you going with us, tonight?" he asked after he finished the chart and handed it to Eve to sign.

"Are you kidding? After a day like today, I can't wait to get out of here and unwind a little. What about Jack? Is he going?"

"Yeah," Chris answered, "He said he would meet us there. He was working until 8:00 so he said he would meet us around 9 or so."

"Good, I think he needs to get out just as much as we do..." she began but was interrupted by the elevator door opening and Karen and Serena coming in arguing with each other.

"Serena, how many times do I have to tell you that I don't know what time Dad is picking you up?" Karen said shaking her head and walking toward the desk. "Hey, guys?" she greeted to Chris and Eve.

"Hey, Karen..." Eve returned. "What's going on?"

"You mean, other than me wondering why I ever wanted a little sister?" Karen answered shooting a glare at Serena.

Chris and Eve both let out a small chuckle. "Everyone needs a younger sibling..." Chris started but stopped suddenly noticing the evil glare that Karen was now giving him.

"I don't even know why I have to do this today..." Serena grumbled.

Karen sighed at the comment the suddenly turned toward Serena. "Serena, ask Dad. He's the one that told me to pick you up and bring you here. He said he would pick you when your volunteer shift was over. Now if you want to know when that is, then go up to the pediatric AIDs wing and look at the schedule."

"Geez, why are you so crabby today?" Serena asked then looking to Chris and Eve. "What did you guys do to her today?"

"Serena, don't you have something to do?" Karen started as Gail approached the two of them.

"Wow, and I thought I needed a night out," Eve commented as she walked away letting the two sisters bicker.

"Karen, Serena, is everything okay here?" Gail asked when she noticed them arguing.

Karen crossed her arms and gave a Serena smirk. Serena squinted her eyes as she looked at Karen and shook her head. "Yeah, Grandma, everything is fine."

"Well, good," Gail said giving Serena a skeptical look. "Your father called, he said he would pick you up after his hearing. So why don't you quit pushing your sister's buttons and go upstairs and check in with Bobbie..." she suggested turning to Karen. "You want to talk about what's bothering you?"

Karen quickly looked up at Gail with a questioning look before looking over at Chris who was on the phone. "I'm fine, it was just a rough day…" Although Gail accepted Karen's answer, she knew better. "Stop by my office later…" Gail whispered into Karen's ear as she gave her granddaughter a hug.

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"You know, I have to admit, I actually had fun today," Kayla said to Jagger as they walked through the park carrying fishing gear, "I used to despise fishing."

"Well, it's even better when you actually catch something. But it was definitely a nice day off. I just wish I didn't have to go back to work tomorrow..."

"Come on, you're job isn't that bad. Beside, you love your job..."

"Yeah, I do, but I don't love seeing my ex-father-in-law everyday. And tomorrow is just going to be worse, after the other night at the Recovery Room."

"He isn't much of a person if he's going to hold that against you."

"You don't know my father-in-law..."

"Ex-father-in-law," Kayla reminded him.

'Yeah, right..." He said, "He won't hold it against me, but he sure as hell won't let the day go by without some kind of comment."

"By the way you talk about your ex-wife's family, it's no wonder your marriage didn't last; especially if she's anything like him."

"No, I can't blame him for our breakup, although I'll admit that I've tried. But my wife didn't really know her father when we were married. They've just recently become close. I guess he's making up for lost time," Jagger explained.

"Sounds like you still love her."

"Nah," he shrugged "it's more along the lines of, I'm letting the 'what ifs" bother me."

"What ifs can eat you alive..." she said turning to Jagger whose attention was diverted to crowd of people standing on the bridge. "What's going on?" she asked him.

Jagger took her hand and led her toward the crowd, "Come, on...it's the rubber ducky race."

"The what?"

"The rubber ducky race. Every year the chamber of commerce sponsors a rubber ducky race to raise money for the food bank. My parents used to bring me, my brother, and my sister every year," he explained with a smile as the sat down on the bank of the lake. "When my brother was about five, his only goal was to win the rubber ducky race."

"Did he obtain his goal?" She asked noticing the glint in his eye.

Suddenly he hung his head in sadness as he answered the question, "No. No he didn't."

"I'm sorry, did I say something wrong? I seem to have a habit of that these days."

"No. I was just thinking about my brother. He passed away a couple of years ago."

"Oh...I'm so sorry," she replied not knowing what else to say. "Were you two very close?" she finally asked.

Jagger sat in silence for a minute as he watched some of the rubber ducks float past before he finally answered, "No, not really. When my parents died, he and my sister were taken to a different foster home than I was. I couldn't stand where they placed me so I took off. I tried like hell to find them. It wasn't until I met my wife and a good friend of mine that things finally started to change. My wife talked me into to going back to school and my friend helped me find my brother. When we finally found him, it was too late."

"Why was it too, late?"

"Unknowingly, he had followed in my footsteps and took off from his foster family and was living on the streets for about a year. When I found him, he was working for Sonny Corinthos."

"The mob boss?" she asked.

"That's him. Anyway, while living on the street, he got mixed with this girl who was heavily into drugs. Although he wasn't doing drugs, he did contract HIV from her. By the time he finally got tested, it was already AIDS."

"Oh, John, I'm so sorry."

"We had a couple good years, there, at the end. I just wish that it could've been more, you know?"

Kayla nodded her head, as she looped her arm with his. Just as she laid her head on his shoulder, her pager began to beep. She let out a deep sigh as she looked at the number, "It's the hospital, I have to go."

"Come on, I'll drive you." Jagger offered.

"Okay thank you doctor, I will do that…" Karen stood by the nurse's desk patiently waiting for Chris to finish his call.

Chris waved his index finger in the air to indicating to Karen that he was almost finished…"sure…555-2865…I'll be waiting for it, Thank you." Chris cradled the phone and jotted down a few notes before turning to Karen. "I'm sorry, honey, that was Shelby Campbell's pediatrician."

"No, no, I understand…are we still on for tonight?" She asked.

"Of course, Eve and Jack are going to meet us there. I just have to finish my shift and check on a few things once I receive this fax."

"Okay, I'm going to stop by my grandmother's office for a minute, and then I'm going to run to the store. I'll meet you at home?"

"Ah…no…Just meet me at The Outback…" Chris replied as the studied the Shelby's chart a little more.

"Okay, you better be there…" she said with a playful grin and gave him a quick kiss before retreating down the hallway. Just as she disappeared from site Kayla stepped off of the elevator.

"Dr. Ramsey, I'm glad I caught you…"

Chris hesitated to turn around, "Dr. Preston, I wish I could say the same…"

"Dr. Ramsey, I just received some lab results and I could use a second opinion. Do you mind?" she asked.

"You know, Kayla, I'd love to but I have a patient that I need to see. Why don't you have Monica take a look. After all you are here to work with her…"

"Monica is out of town this weekend with her daughter, and I really do not want to keep this patient hanging until Monday. Please Chris, as a colleague?"

"Fine," he said accepting the file "I catch up with you in about an hour," he said as he walked away forgetting the fax that was just coming through.

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Gail didn't say a word to Karen as she handed her a bottle of water and sat down next to her on the sofa. Karen's posture was that of silence. She was slouched forward with her elbow resting on her knee and her fingers curled in front of her lips.

"It's been a while since we have sat down to catch up with each other," Gail started. "How have you been lately?"

She briefly shifted her eyes toward Gail to try to read her expression. Was this Dr. Baldwin or Grandma Gail that she was about to talk to? Karen let out a sigh and turned her head toward Gail without moving her hand from in front of her mouth. "I'm fine," she said as if finally relaxing a little bit, "I've just been very stressed lately."

"Care to tell me what has you all up in arms?"

"I don't need a therapy session if that's what you're thinking…" Karen interjected quickly.

"To be honest, I wasn't looking for anything more than girl talk with my granddaughter. But if there is something that you would like to talk about, you know I'm here for you."

"Like what?" Karen asked not sure what Gail was eluding too.

"Well for starters, you can tell me what was going on between you and Serena earlier."

"What about it, we were arguing. Sisters argue…" Karen replied defensively. "She was being a brat and I wasn't in the mood to deal with it."

"Don't you think that maybe she was just being a 13 year old?"

"No," Karen began to snap at her grandmother as Scott walk through the door. "I think this family caters to her too much. It won't kill her to spend a little time volunteering at the hospital and it certainly won't hurt her to see how people live in the real world."

"Karen," Scott cut in, "there is no reason for you to be speaking to your grandmother like that…"

Karen shot Scott a glare as she walked toward the door, "It's about time she realizes that not everyone is lucky enough to grow up with a loving father who happens to have a billion dollars in the bank."

"Karen Marie," Scott yelled as he began to run after her…

"Let her go, Scott," Gail said stopping him. "She's just blowing off some steam on someone that she knows will not hold it against her."

"Blowing off steam? Gail, that's more that just blowing off steam. I don't care how old she is, she has no right to talk to you like that."

Gail gave Scott an astounded look. "I have learned to dismiss it. After all she gets it honestly from her father," Gail retorted.

"What was all of this about anyway?" He asked regaining his composure.

"I don't know, really. She has been on edge for a couple of weeks. I was hoping that I could get her to open up to me a little," Gail explained. "I guess today was just bad timing."

"Well I'm going to get to the bottom of this," Scott said as he left Gail's office, "I'll call you later."