On the Monday before Thanksgiving, Melanie and Robert had been working on multiple traumas all day long. Both of them were exhausted and the day was only half over. In spite of his best efforts to stay with Melanie longer, he had been called away to a meeting that he couldn't get out of. "Just try to stay out of trouble and out of Weaver's sights," he said before leaving the floor.
Melanie was walking towards the board to look for a patient when two EMTs wheeled a man on a gurney into the ER. She ran alongside them, looking at the man. "Benny! What happened to him?"
"We found him outside a liquor store, surrounded by bottles," one of the EMTs said as Susan joined them. "We scooped and ran."
The other EMT held out a plastic bag full of empty bottles of scotch and gin. "These were found around him," he said, handing the bag to Melanie.
Melanie started to panic as she looked at all the bottles. There was no way a man could survive drinking all that at one time. She had grown close to Benny over the past few months. He'd come to see her at least once a week for a variety of reasons. Everybody in the ER seemed to have at least one "regular", and Benny was hers. She had held out hope that he'd work on his problems, and she'd tried her best to get him into programs, but he would never go. It seemed to her that he didn't want help.
When they wheeled him into a trauma room and transferred him to the bed, the EMTs left, and Susan and Melanie started running tests on Benny. "His lips are turning blue, he's not getting enough oxygen," Melanie said, putting an oxygen mask on him.
Monitors started to go off. "He's in asystole," Chuny called out.
"No!" Melanie cried while climbing up onto the bed and straddling Benny's waist. "Beginning chest compressions," she said before starting CPR. "Get me an amp of epi!" she called out between breaths.
Susan finished putting an IV into Benny's arm and gave him the shot, hoping for the best, but knowing the outcome wouldn't be good. She waited for a couple minutes while Melanie continued chest compressions. Nothing changed on the heart monitor. She set up the defibrillator even though it wouldn't work. "Melanie, come down from there," she called out while charging the machine. When the younger woman had climbed down, she held out the paddles to her. "It's charged to 250," she informed her.
Melanie set the paddles against his chest, called out "Clear!" and pressed the buttons, sending currents of electricity coursing through Benny's body. They looked at the heart monitor and saw no change. They continued this pattern for a half hour, until Melanie thought her arms were going to fall off. She'd never done chest compressions for such a long period of time before.
Finally, Susan looked at the clock and shook her head. "He's been down at least forty minutes and there's been no change," she said quietly, looking at Melanie who was catching her breath after finishing compressions. "Check his eyes."
Melanie fished her light out of her breast pocket and flicked it on. She opened each eye and flashed the light over it. "They're fixed and dilated," she murmured, climbing down from the bed and frowning.
"You want to call it?" Susan asked quietly.
Melanie bit her lip and felt tears prick her eyes. "Time of death, 16:34," she said. She slipped the gloves off her hands and looked around, feeling completely overwhelmed. This was the first time she'd been unable to save a patient. The first time she'd called a time of death. She looked down at Benny, his face still and looking peaceful, and allowed the tears to fall from her eyes. She looked over at Susan, who was frowning and looked concerned. "What am I supposed to do now?" she asked the older woman, trying unsuccessfully to stifle her crying.
"Go take a break," Susan said quietly, reaching out and patting her on the hand. As Melanie trudged towards the door, Susan grabbed the plastic bag of bottles and handed it to her. "And get rid of these while you're at it, will you?"
Melanie took the bag and slowly walked to the entrance. She didn't put on her coat as she left the building.
As Robert left the meeting he'd been in, which had dragged on forever, he wondered what Melanie was doing. He was overwhelmed with a sense of needing to see her right away. With a frown, he quickened his pace, and hurried down the stairs to the ER. Instead of walking to the suture room, he turned the other way and walked out the exit. He found Melanie outside, sitting on the edge of the dumpster in the driveway. She was taking items out of a bag and hurling them against the wall where they smashed and fell into the dumpster. She didn't have a jacket on, and he was quickly reminded that he didn't either.
"What are you doing?" he asked, looking up at her and noticing her tear-streaked face for the first time. "What happened?"
Melanie took the last item, which turned out to be a glass bottle, and looked down at it. "Benny died," she said curtly before tossing the bottle as hard as she could at the wall. A sob escaped her throat as the shards rained down into the dumpster. "I worked so hard on him! And he died!"
Robert sighed and closed his eyes. This was the first time she'd lost a patient she'd been close to. It wouldn't be easy. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and hold her closely, but that wasn't something he could do here. "Why don't you come down from there?" he asked quietly, holding his hand out to help her. "It's freezing out here, let's go back inside."
Melanie didn't move for a minute, but finally turned around, accepted Robert's hand, and jumped down from the dumpster. "How did you know where I was?" she asked, sniffling.
Robert reached out and wiped away her tears with his hand. "I always know where you are," he replied with a sad smile, echoing her words to him just a few weeks ago. He kept his hand on her shoulder as they walked back into the ER. He dreaded what he'd have to say to Melanie to help her through this. Being a comforter wasn't his strong suit, and he wasn't able to physically console her in any way while at work. He walked her to the suture room and shut the doors, so they were in a quiet environment. "Tell me what happened," he said quietly, sitting down next to her on one of the examination tables.
Melanie explained in detail what she and Susan had gone through in trying to resuscitate Benny. She talked about all the times she'd seen Benny over the months, and how he'd been her first "regular". "I've never lost a patient before," she said. "I've been around patients who died, of course, but they were never really 'mine'. He was mine, and now he's gone." She began to cry again.
"Losing a patient is never easy," Robert finally said when her crying died down again. "Unfortunately it is part of the job. Sometimes it's a large part of the job. You just have to find a way to get through it, because the other option is to let it weigh you down. You can't let it get to you like that. You just feel your sadness over it, and then you let it go, because there will always be another 'regular'. There will always be another tragic trauma rolling through the door. You will always care about the patients, Melanie. You will just learn not to let them in so much. It's the only way to get through this job." He sighed and shook his head. "I don't suppose that's too comforting," he said quietly.
Melanie shrugged her shoulders. "No, not really," she said tonelessly. "But I understand. It's true; it is a part of the job. I just have to deal with it."
Robert squeezed her hand briefly before standing up. "Why don't you come over tonight?" he asked while walking to the door. "We could talk some more there." He smiled when she nodded her head.
After their shift, at his house, he wrapped his arms around Melanie and held her while she cried. He kissed her and whispered comforting words in her ear until she calmed down again. "You're so good to me," she whispered back before wiping her eyes and standing up to walk into the kitchen.
"What do you want for dinner?" she called out while peering into the refrigerator. "There's half a moldy pizza…A jar of something I can't identify but it has green fuzz all along the rim…Oh! Here's something good—eggs with an expiration date from three months ago. We could cook all this into some sort of omelet and give ourselves food poisoning!" She slammed the door shut and shook her head. "How can you even function like this, Robert?" she shouted angrily. "There's no food in your house! God, this is ridiculous!" She opened all the cupboards and slammed each one shut again in disgust.
In the living room, Robert rolled his eyes. He'd give her a few more minutes to slam out her grief and aggression before ordering dinner. When he heard the slamming stop and the crying start up again, he pulled out a Thai food menu and took out his phone to order their dinner.
The food arrived and he paid for it, Melanie didn't take any notice. When he walked into the kitchen with the bag of food, he saw her sitting on the floor, in the corner, her head buried in her arms. He sat down next to her and started taking cartons of food out of the bag. "Melanie, dinner's ready," he said quietly, holding out a carton of tofu curry to her. "One star, just like you like it."
Melanie sat up and wiped her eyes. "I'm sorry," she sniffled while taking the carton from him. "I'm just a mess…"
Robert kissed her on the cheek. "You had a very bad day," he replied quietly. "You're entitled." He opened his carton of pad thai and reached into the bag for a plastic fork. They sat side-by-side and ate in silence.
When they were done, he put the rest of his pad thai into the fridge, and was surprised to see that Melanie had eaten all of her curry. "I eat when I'm upset," she said challengingly, waiting to see how he'd react.
Romano looked at her carefully before throwing the carton in the garbage can. "Good," he said casually, "You're getting too skinny anyway. I like a girl with a little meat on her bones."
That night, Robert went into Melanie's room to kiss her goodnight. She took his hand and tugged on it until he climbed into the bed next to her. "I don't want to be alone tonight," she whispered. "Will you stay with me?" Robert nodded his head and waited for her to curl up against him before wrapping his arm around her waist and hugging her tightly. Melanie fell asleep in minutes, and Robert not too long after her.
(SCENE)
By Wednesday, Melanie still hadn't decided what to bring to the potluck, but she was still sad from Benny's death, and didn't want to cook anything anymore. "Well, they're counting on you to bring something," Robert said as they worked in the suture room a few hours before the end of their shift. "Any either way, you have to help me with my stuffing. I can't make it all myself," he said.
Melanie sighed. "I know, and I'll help," she replied. "I just still don't know what to make…"
"I looked at the sign-up sheet," Robert said, "And nobody signed up for cranberry sauce yet."
Melanie thought about that for a while before nodding her head. "I'm sure the Joy of Cooking has a recipe for it," she said a minute later. "It can't be too complicated…"
When she walked over to the admit desk to sign up, several others were reading the list and commenting on it. "Ooh, Haleh's bringing her pecan pie again," Carter said with a grin.
"What are you bringing?" Tina asked Abby.
"My specialty: Stovetop Stuffing made in the microwave," she said with a laugh. "I'm not much of a cook."
"Dr. Romano signed up to bring sausage stuffing," Carter said, furrowing his brow. "Romano's coming? And he's bringing food? How can that be?"
"It must be a joke," Haleh quipped. "He wouldn't deign to lower himself to our level, would he?"
"Oh, but he is," Melanie replied, taking the list and adding her name to it. "He told me he wanted to set a good example for me."
"What a good mentor," Tina smirked.
"Oh, he is," Melanie said, narrowing her eyes and turning to face her. "He's the best."
Tina folded her arms and took a step towards her. "Really? Why is that? I'm sure it has nothing to do with the preferential treatment you get from him," she said. "Some of us actually have to work for our grades."
"All right, you two, get back to work," Dr. Weaver interrupted as she walked over to the board to cross names off. "I don't want to have to take disciplinary action against either of you, but I will if you can't get along enough to act like professionals. Or at least like adults."
Melanie handed the sign-up sheet to Dr. Carter, who had an amused look on his face, and grabbed a chart. She stormed off without a backward glance to the curtain area. Her patient had a case of salmonella poisoning from taste-testing uncooked turkey stuffing. By the time she was finished with him, the last thing she wanted to do was cook food. Or eat food. Ever again.
"So, what are you thinking for dinner tonight? We have to stop by the store for groceries, we could pick up something to eat too," Robert asked quietly after he found her in the suture room practicing stitches on a plastic arm. She refused to work on pig feet, finding them smelly and disgusting.
"Crackers and ginger ale," she replied with a frown. "I'm done with food. Again."
"Well we still have to make our stuff for tomorrow," Robert said, sitting down next to her. "Do you want to talk about what's going on? I heard you almost got into another fight with Ms. Smith."
Melanie shook her head and set her needle and thread down. "This has been the worst week ever," she said. "Why am I doing this to myself? Am I even in the right field? Do I really want to be a doctor? I can't even handle it when a patient dies and being around people who are smelly and sick put me right off food. I'm just the worst doctor ever!"
Robert tried not to smile as he listened to her tirade. He didn't want to upset her more. "Melanie…I understand that you're upset about losing Benny," he started, picking up the plastic arm and tapping it on the table. "I think part of the problem is that you're having to deal with failure for the first time. It isn't just that Benny died, it's that you couldn't save him." Melanie glared at him, her eyes flashing. She opened her mouth to speak but he continued on. "Now you're having a crisis of confidence, which is perfectly normal. You'll grow more confident with more experience and practice. Once you figure out a specialty to focus on, you'll see that you made the right choice. You are a good doctor; I would never have taken you on if I didn't see that in you." Melanie started to sniffle and Robert moved the plastic arm over to her face, using it to brush away her tears. "No more crying," he commanded.
Melanie tried to calm down and thought about Robert's words. Was she really more upset about failing? She'd always been good at everything she tried; it was easy to get used to. "I am sad that Benny died…" she finally replied. "But I suppose I am also upset that I failed…What a horrible person that makes me! So selfish…"
Robert patted her on the shoulder with the plastic arm again . "No, it makes you normal," he replied. "We all go through these things. You're no different. In a couple years, you'll back on this moment and see that this was just a momentary lapse in confidence. Now," he said, standing up, putting the arm down and walking towards the door, "are you ready to go?"
Melanie nodded her head and joined him at the door. "Yes, let's go," she replied, smiling sheepishly at him. "Thanks, Doctor. I think I needed to hear that."
Robert smiled and nodded his head. "I'm glad it helped," he replied. "It's good to know that I can help with the emotional stuff. I was basically bullshitting my way through it…"
Melanie looked at him sidewise, and burst out laughing. They were walking past the admit desk and all the people standing there wondered what was so funny, but they never found out. It did lead to a massive speculation about how Melanie was able to laugh at Dr. Romano without getting into any sort of trouble.
Dr. Weaver was the most curious of all. She hadn't been able to get any information about Robert out of Melanie the day she'd worked with her. He'd obviously trained Melanie well on how to keep secrets. And there was only one kind of secret the Chief of Staff could have that was important enough to keep incredibly well-hidden. She was convinced more than ever, that he was romantically involved with Melanie, though she had no actual proof. She wondered how involved they were. As they walked onto the elevator, Robert placed his hand on the small of her back and led her through the doors, a smile on his face. Kerry narrowed her eyes. It was only a matter of time before she gathered enough proof, and then, she would take great pleasure in sending him off in disgrace.
(SCENE)
Melanie stood next to the stove, with a paring knife in one hand, and an Italian sausage in the other. "This is so gross!" she exclaimed while cutting into the sausage and squeezing the filling out into a frying pan. "You have to stir it in the pan, I can't handle the smell."
Robert grabbed a spatula and started pushing the meat around in the pan. "Keep cutting, we have eight more of those," he said, pointing to the bag next to Melanie. "And then there's the garlic that has to be peeled and cut into 1/8th inch slivers precisely. And then the bread needs to be cut into perfect cubes and toasted. It's going to take some time and you still have to make your cranberry sauce, so you'd better hurry up and get this done if you don't want to stay up all night long. And I can't go to bed if you're still here cooking, so let's get going. If I'm going to stay up all night with you, it sure as hell won't be spent cooking in the kitchen…Well, at least not cooking food…" He looked over and watched Melanie stab a sausage with the knife and cringed. "I can't watch you do that…"
Melanie smiled and laughed. "Sorry…If it helps, I would never do this to you," she said lightly, "unless you did something really horrible…"
"I will definitely keep that in mind."
The two sautéed and chopped and sliced for some time until the stuffing was completed. "It does look wonderful," Melanie admitted when she'd spooned it into a disposable aluminum pan.
Robert smiled and nodded in agreement. "It's the one of the two good things I got from my father," he said. "The man was generally a bastard, but he had a much better surname than my mother's, and an amazing sausage stuffing recipe passed down from my grandmother. So, I took both of those from him, and left it at that."
Melanie wrapped her arm around his waist and put her head on his shoulder. "You've never talked about him before," she murmured before kissing him on the cheek. "Is he still…around?"
"Last I heard, yes," Robert replied. "He and my mom divorced when I was twenty five and he moved to Vegas to foster his love of gambling. My mom stayed here in town, enjoying the house and the lovely divorce settlement, as well as a new boyfriend every month. I was in medical school by that time, so I didn't have to witness the train wreck."
Melanie hugged him tightly. He'd never opened up this much about his family before. "Sounds like we both have fun family histories," she said quietly.
Robert hugged her in return. "Thanksgiving, it just makes me feel all warm and fuzzy about family," he joked. "Let's get going on your cranberry sauce, shall we?" He kissed her for a minute before pulling away and walking to the fridge. "Did you find the recipe yet?"
Melanie opened the book on the counter and looked in the index. "There isn't one," she said with a frown. "I guess I can look one up online."
Robert looked at the bag of cranberries in his hand. "There's a recipe on the package," he informed her, holding it out to her. "Just use this one."
Melanie took it and read the recipe. "Sounds easy," she replied. "Let's get to it."
Once she had everything cooking on the stove, she turned to him and pressed her lips to his. She was standing in the corner of the counters beside the stove, and jumped up to sit on the counter. She reached down and cupped his face in her hands, kissing him while he let his hand wander not so aimlessly up to her chest.
She had just wrapped her legs around his torso and Robert was contemplating how to undo her bra with one hand, when they heard strange popping noises coming from behind them. "What's that?" she asked, pulling away from him for a moment to look around. "Oh! The berries are bursting. They're supposed to do that." She unwrapped herself from Robert and walked over to the stove. "Look how pretty they are."
"They're almost the prettiest thing in this room," Robert said, glancing at them for a second before looking back at her. "All right, let's get this done and then we can move on to more important business." He stepped back and let her get to work, adding sugar and orange juice. She stirred and tasted a bit before declaring it perfect. She poured it into a plastic container and left it in the fridge to chill overnight.
"Well, that's done," she said with a smile. "What's the important business?" Robert walked over to her and wrapped his arm behind her back, trying to feel for her bra. He slid his hand under her shirt and grappled with the clasps for a few seconds with no luck. "What are you doing?" Melanie asked, taking a step back.
"It's very important that I learn how to take your bra off," Robert explained seriously. "It's the mark of a good lover, you know."
"Well I think you're a very good lover, but you don't have to do that, I'm very capable of taking off my own bra." To demonstrate, she made a few deft moves that he could hardly even see, and before he knew it, she was holding her bra in her hands. "See?" She walked up to him, threw the bra on the kitchen table, and wrapped her arms tightly around him. Robert grinned and reached his hand up to grasp one of her breasts. She grinned in return and kissed him. "A very good lover," she whispered in his ear.
"Would you like to share a room tonight?" he asked as he walked her to her room a few minutes later.
"I don't think I can trust myself around you right now," Melanie replied. "I never thought resisting temptation would be so difficult. It's one thing to read about temptations, but another altogether to experience them." She kissed him for a minute before pulling away.
"I've never been anybody's temptation before," Robert replied incredulously. "I think I like it…" He pressed her against her bedroom door and kissed her heartily. He made sure to give her a sizable hickey that night. It was only fair after all. It was her turn now.
(SCENE)
The next morning, Melanie walked into the ER with her bowl of ruby red cranberry sauce, and a mark on her neck that was nearly the same color, which she hoped nobody would notice. As she set the bowl in the fridge in the lounge, Dr. Carter walked into the room. "Wow, wild night with your boyfriend last night, huh?" he asked in greeting, pointing to her neck, a grin on his face.
"Yeah…pretty wild," Melanie said, blushing as red as the mark on her neck.
"Who was wild?" Susan asked as she walked into the room to get a cup of coffee.
"Melanie and her boyfriend last night. Apparently they had quite a torrid evening," John said before Melanie could intervene.
Susan glanced over, saw the hickey, and burst into peals of laughter. "I guess Paul couldn't control himself, huh?" she said lightly, walking over to her and taking a close look at Melanie's neck. "He got you good, didn't he?"
Susan was still examining the younger woman's neck when Robert walked into the lounge with his pan of stuffing. She looked up at him and tried not to smile. "Good morning, Dr. Romano, and how are you today?" she asked casually, walking over and taking the pan from him so he could grab a cup of coffee.
"Just fine, thanks," Robert said, warningly. "Ready for the potluck and all that jazz." He left a minute later with his coffee and went to the admit desk to check out the board. There were already ten people on the board, and it was only seven in the morning. "Ahh, holidays," he murmured. The redeeming point of the day, was the fact that Kerry Weaver had the day off.
Melanie joined him at the desk after a few minutes. "So, Doctor, what looks good today?" she asked casually.
Robert glanced around and made sure nobody was near enough to hear them. "Besides you?" he murmured. "Most of the people today will be food poisoning victims. And perhaps the occasional loser in a family fist fight. Thanksgiving always brings out the best in people. But I think there might be a valid patient we can look into," he said, walking to the rack of charts and picking one out. "This man is complaining of leg cramps. That's mildly interesting at least."
Melanie approached the patient, who was sitting in the curtain area on a bed, with a polite smile on her face. "Good morning, what seems to be the problem?" she asked, standing next to him and putting gloves on.
The man was very aggressive in explaining his leg pain and the importance of Demerol for pain management. "There are many other pain medications out there we can try to treat your pain, that aren't so problematic," Melanie said, looking at his chart.
"No, you don't understand!" the man yelled. "I'm in pain! Demerol is the only thing that works!" He reached out to grab her arm, but Robert intervened before he could touch her.
"Don't you touch my med student! If you don't lie back and behave yourself, I'll put you in restraints," Robert growled, pushing Melanie out of the way. He turned, and ushered her back to the admit desk. "He can just sit there and cool off for a while," he said to her, trying to calm down.
"Doctor, it's all right. I'm all right," Melanie said quietly, wanting to hug him, though unable to. "He's just in pain, I'm sure that's why he's acting out so badly."
Robert frowned at her, astounded at her naivety. "Melanie, he's not in pain," he explained carefully. "He's a junkie. You could see it in his eyes, and on his face, he's going through the early stages of withdrawal and needs a fix."
"But maybe his leg really is hurting," she insisted, biting her lip.
Robert sighed and shook his head. "Melanie…You can't always believe what a patient tells you," he replied quietly. "They don't always tell the truth."
"But—"
"No more buts," Robert said firmly. "I don't want you going near him again. Junkies are dangerous. I'll let him sit there for another minute to calm down, and then I'll give him some ibuprofen and discharge him. Why don't you go handle one of the food poisoning cases?"
Melanie frowned and sighed before picking up a chart and walking away. Sometimes he was too protective of her. That was soon forgotten, however, when two traumas pulled in at the same time. The morning flew by in a blur of activity, and the next thing she knew, Santa Claus was rolling down Times Square in the parade on the TV in the corner of the ER.
"I guess Christmas is just around the corner now," she said to Michael Gallant with a smile as they stood in front of the TV.
Gallant looked out the window and pointed. "Hey, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas," he quoted. It was starting to snow.
"Hope we don't get snowed in," Melanie replied. "I don't want to sleep here tonight."
"Oh, it's really starting to come down out there," A voice called out from the ER entrance.
Melanie turned to see who it was and smiled as Elizabeth walked over to them. Ella was in her arms, all bundled up for the cold weather. "Hello, Ella, what brings you here today?" she asked, taking the child out of her mother's arms and bouncing her.
"The nanny has the day off because of the holiday, and I was supposed to have the day off too, but I got called in on an emergency, so, here we are," Elizabeth said.
"Well we're having a potluck down here, why doesn't Ella join us? I'll look after her for you," Melanie said. "Ella, do you want to eat turkey today?"
"Yes!" Ella cried happily. Elizabeth kissed her daughter, thanked Melanie, and walked towards the elevator to go up to the OR. Robert joined the group by the TV. "Wobee! I miss you!" Ella said in greeting.
"I missed you too, Miss Ella," Robert said, amused. "Melanie, everybody's getting their food ready for the potluck, why don't we get ours ready too?" They walked into the lounge, but there were too many people preparing their food, so they left again with plans to come back later.
When they reached the doorway into the curtain area, they heard a man screaming and other people shouting. Melanie could see the man had a gun and clutched Ella tightly. The man was pointing it at Susan and screaming for something. She looked closely and saw it was the junkie she and Robert had taken care of earlier that morning. Robert was already in the room and without thinking, reached his hand out and grabbed Melanie's arm. He pushed her further out the door and around the corner. "Go to the elevator and get up to my office," he ordered her quietly. "Lock the door and do not open it until I come for you. And call the police."
Melanie remembered Robert's words when she'd first started off as his student, about obeying his orders without question. Her eyes were wide with fear, but she nodded her head and turned around to hurry off to the elevator, a clueless Ella in her arms, leaving him behind.
Robert's heart pounded as he saw the junkie pointing a gun at Susan's head and demand a Demerol shot. He was far enough away that the junkie couldn't see him. He hoped Melanie got through to the police quickly. Part of him wanted to run away and join her in his office. To stay there until it was all over and they were safe again. But another part of him was angry at the junkie for doing this. For putting Melanie, Ella, and his friends in danger. That part of him wanted to strangle the man. It was that part that spurred him into action.
He slowly walked across the room until he was several feet from the junkie. "So you came back," he called out, trying to distract the junkie into lowering the gun.
The junkie whipped around, saw Robert, and scowled. "You! This is all your fault!" he cried out, moving the gun and pointing it at Robert. "You should have just given me the shot earlier! You didn't believe me when I said I was in pain!"
Robert took a deep breath and looked into the junkie's eyes. "Put the gun down and I'll get you your shot," he finally said calmly. The junkie was shaking from withdrawal, and slowly lowered the gun, but didn't drop it. Robert's heart still pounded and he took another deep breath. He glanced around and saw Lily standing by the doorway. "Lily, get this man a shot of Demerol," he said quietly, glancing over at the woman, who was looking at him with wide eyes. "A nice, big dose of Demerol," he said, looking into Lily's eyes, hoping she'd understand what he meant.
"Yes, Doctor," she replied in a whisper before scurrying off to get the medicine. She returned a couple minutes later with the needle filled with medication.
"Thank you, Lily, I'll take that," Robert said. "Why don't you go to the Lounge, and take Susan with you?" Lily walked over to a visibly-shaken Susan and led her away from the scene. Malik had been standing next to Susan. Robert turned to him and asked for assistance with administering the injection. Malik swabbed the junkie's arm with an alcohol wipe and held up his sleeve before Robert jabbed the needle into his arm.
The junkie took a deep, satisfied breath, and looked at his arm. "Thanks for nothing," he sneered before turning away and walking towards the exit. Robert let him walk out of the hospital before following slowly after him. Malik joined him. They stood at the entrance while the man walked slowly out of the ambulance bay. He came to a stop about halfway through, swayed for a few seconds, and collapsed in the snow, his gun flying through the air and settling next to the wall in a small snow drift.
Robert and Malik hurried out the door over to him and reached him just as several police officers arrived on the scene. "He's going to need another doctor," Robert growled to Malik, "because I'd probably break his neck if I got the chance." Malik ran and brought out a gurney, and together they got the junkie back into the ER, along with a strong police presence.
After everybody had made their statements to the police and life slowly returned to normal, the nurses and doctors in the ER were rightfully upset about the situation. There was talk of fighting for improved security measures, but Robert waved them off with his good hand. "I will take care of this, believe me," he said, anger making his voice shake in spite of his best effort not to. "This will not be happening again." With that, he turned and walked to the elevator to go to his office.
(SCENE)
Melanie ran out of the elevator, Ella in her arms, and unlocked Robert's door as quickly as she could. She shut and locked the door behind her, and set Ella on the floor. After putting a couple of toys in front of the child, she hurried to Robert's desk and picked up the phone. She made the call to 911, only to find out several others had already called and help was on the way. She felt relieved and hung up the phone feeling slightly better.
It felt like an eternity, sitting nervously, waiting to hear Robert knock on the door. After getting Ella settled in with a picture book, Melanie walked to the window and looked down into the ambulance bay. She could see several police cars across the street and around the corner, which also helped her feel better.
She watched with bated breath as a man slowly walked out into the ambulance bay from inside the ER. He had a gun in his hand, and about halfway to the street, he collapsed to the ground, his gun flying across the bay. A second later, Robert and Malik rushed out over to him, as did several police officers. Melanie's heart stopped as Malik and Robert began treating the junkie. He was put onto a gurney and heavily escorted back into the ER.
Relief flooded her as she turned around to look at Ella. She joined her on the floor and began to read the picture book to the child. It took nearly an hour for Robert to return to his office. He knocked on the door and Melanie quickly unlocked the door for him. He'd barely closed the door before she wrapped her arms around him and began to kiss his face. "I was so scared," she whispered in his ear. "I saw you out there; you're so brave to help him after what he did."
Robert held her tightly, burying his face in her hair for a minute and breathing in the familiar apple scent. He found it extremely comforting to be in her arms after his ordeal. "I'm a doctor, that's what we do," he said nonchalantly before kissing her.
Melanie could sense that he was putting on a brave face for her, but didn't press the subject. She watched as he let go of her and bent down to say hello to Ella. Ella stood up, smiled, and hugged him. Robert wrapped his arm around her and held her tightly for a moment. Ella patted his arm. "Wobee, I'm hungry!" she declared a minute later. Robert smiled and let go of her.
"Why don't you two go back downstairs to the potluck? There's plenty of security everywhere, so you'll be safe," he said, standing up and looking at Melanie as she picked up Ella. "I need to do some number-crunching for a while. I'll join you two later, ok?"
"All right," she said, looking at him carefully for a minute before leaving the office and closing the door behind her.
Everybody in the ER was shaken up, but they all seemed determined not to let the incident ruin the holiday. They ate heartily, laughed, and told stories in between treating patients.
Melanie got a plate of food for Ella, but had to help a patient with a foot lac before she could feed her. Dr. Carter, who was on a break, volunteered to look after Ella while she was gone. "So, Ella, how was your day today?" John asked, sitting down next to her in the lounge and cutting her turkey into small pieces.
"Melly and me sitted in Wobee's office," Ella said before taking a bite of sweet potato casserole.
"Did anything interesting happen when you were there?"
Ella nodded her head and stuck an olive on her finger. "Melly and Wobee kissed," she shared.
Haleh was sitting at the table with them and nearly spat out her mashed potatoes. "I knew it!" she declared triumphantly.
"What?" John asked incredulously. "They were kissing? Are you sure?"
Ella nodded solemnly and popped the olive into her mouth.
John looked at Haleh, his eyes round. "You don't think…She had a hickey when she came in here today…" he said slowly. "And he had one a couple weeks ago…Oh God, it's true, isn't it!"
Haleh nodded her head. "All that talk of her boyfriend Paul…He's a fake. She was trying to throw us off," she declared knowingly.
John wrinkled his nose and shook his head. "I don't see what she sees in a jerk like him. Unless she enjoys being yelled at…"
"Wobee nice," Ella said with a smile.
Melanie came back into the room while John was looking at Ella skeptically. He turned to look at Melanie, shaking his head slowly. "What?" she asked curiously as she sat down next to Ella.
John smiled slyly. "Haleh and I were just discussing your boyfriend Paul," he replied. "Or should I say, Robert…"
Melanie blushed and opened her mouth to speak, but no words would come out.
Haleh reached out and patted her hand. "Don't worry, child, we won't tell anybody," she reassured her. "We will, however, giggle inappropriately whenever we see you two together."
"Med students and doctors, it's old news," John added with a shrug. "I'm hardly one to call anybody on it."
"How did you…" Melanie asked. When Haleh pointed to Ella, Melanie frowned. There was no use yelling at a two year old. It was too late now anyway.
"What I want to know is, why Romano?" John asked, shaking his head in disbelief.
Melanie blushed again, but smiled. "He's not always so horrible, you know," she said quietly.
"Good for you," Halen said with a smile. "And good for Romano too. Maybe some happiness is just what that man needs."
"Thanks," Melanie murmured. "Could you two please keep this to yourselves? If Weaver finds out…"
"She'll have his head on a platter and his job by the end of the day," Haleh said, shaking her head. "Don't worry, she won't find out from either of us. Though you may want to keep the baby away from her."
Melanie nodded in agreement. "Haleh, you are a wise woman," she said before reaching out and tousling Ella's hair. "What a day…" She wondered how Robert would take it when she informed him they'd been outed by a two year old. It probably wouldn't be very fun, but she had to tell him. She'd wait until tonight. Over the phone, preferably.
(SCENE)
Melanie's plan to tell Robert over the phone was thwarted when he asked her to go home with him that night. She couldn't say no, he looked like he needed a hug so badly that she immediately said yes.
Robert thought about the day as she drove them home that night. It was amazing what facing one's mortality did to show a person what he truly wanted in life. Problems that seemed insurmountable yesterday seemed trivial today. Goals he wanted to achieve before seemed even more important than ever now. The things and people he cared about most were vital to him now.
When he and Melanie were in the house, he was overcome with a sense of love for her. It was the feeling in the pit of his stomach that threatened to overwhelm all his good sense. The feelings he'd had for Elizabeth had been nothing compared to this. He wrapped Melanie in a tight embrace, and held her for several minutes, saying nothing and kissing her cheeks while she cried quietly. After a while, he began to whisper comforting words in her ear, reassuring her that they were safe now.
"Robert, I was so scared today," she said again, after she had managed to stop crying. "But you were such a hero…"
Robert wasn't going to tell her why he'd done what he'd done. It wasn't something he could put into words. He hadn't thought about his own safety while confronting the junkie, he'd only thought about hers. He wrapped his hand around the base of her neck, and leaned in to kiss her gently. After a minute, he broke away from her and pressed his forehead against hers, his eyes closed. "I love you," he whispered.
Melanie's heart started to pound and she felt tears fill her eyes. She threw herself against him and started crying again. She was completely overwhelmed from all the events of the day, and this was the tipping point. Robert held onto her, rocking her and kissing her forehead while she cried on his shoulder. "I'm sorry I'm crying," she wailed after a few minutes. "I'm really happy, I promise."
Finally, she stopped crying, but stayed in his arms. She remembered about what she had to tell Robert, and cringed at the thought of ruining this moment, but it had to be done. She cleared her throat and looked into his eyes for a few seconds before speaking. "Robert…something happened while you were in your office this afternoon," she said slowly.
Robert pulled away to stand in front of her, his hand on his hip in a defensive pose. "What happened?" he asked sharply.
Melanie took a deep breath to calm herself before replying. "Carter and Haleh found out about us," she said, biting her lip and looking at the floor.
Robert's hand moved from his hip to his forehead as he began to rub his temples. "How?" he asked quietly.
"Ella has a big mouth," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "For what it's worth, neither of them cares and they promised to keep it to themselves. They promised not to tell Weaver."
Robert's shoulders slumped and he rubbed the back of his neck. Did it even matter anymore? All he knew was that he was exhausted. His mind couldn't even process anything right now. He'd spent all afternoon looking at the hospital's budget to find places to get the money to pay for metal detectors and other security measures that were long overdue in the ER. He'd been surprised that Kerry had never approached him before about it, but assumed she hadn't wanted to spend her entire budget on it. But he'd decided that since the ER was a major thoroughfare to the rest of the entire hospital, that the cost should be shared by everybody. It had taken hours to manage, but in the end, nobody was going to lose their job. Sacrifices would be made, however. They'd have to drink generic coffee now, and gone were the days of two-ply toilet paper, among other things.
Perhaps the greatest sacrifice had been his own, for he had taken a ten percent pay cut to cover the rest of the costs. It was a small sacrifice in exchange for Melanie's safety and his peace of mind. The thought that she and Ella had been put in danger killed him. Knowing that Melanie would be safe at work now more than made up for the financial loss. Besides, as Chief of Staff, he was the leader. It was his duty to take the brunt, when necessary.
Finally, he sighed and embraced her. "Everything will be all right," he said quietly. And when she started to kiss him, he let all the stress of the day melt away, and all he could think about what her.
He had no idea how they ended up on the couch, or how her bra ended up in his hand, but he didn't stop to think about it. Melanie didn't seem to be restraining herself tonight, and before he knew it, she was straddling him. He smiled and slipped his hand under her shirt. She kissed him and soon they were lost in their actions.
Some time later, they pulled apart and looked at each other. Robert looked down at himself and shook his head. Melanie smiled shyly and leaned over to kiss him gently.
That night, when Robert walked Melanie to her door, they kissed for a while before pulling away. "I'm thankful for you, you know," she said with a smile.
"What?"
"In my family, we always say what we're most thankful for on Thanksgiving," she explained. "I'm thankful for you."
Robert smiled. "I'm thankful for you too," he replied. "Now, if you will excuse me, I need to go take a shower…"
"Me too," Melanie said, opening the door to her room. When he walked in after her, she gently pushed him back outside. "You go to your own shower!" she said, pointing to his room. Robert rolled his eyes and walked down the hall. He really would wear her down one of these days. He had faith in himself.