By Didi
Disclaimer: Anyone out there that still thinks that I might actually own anything in association with this story after reading the other hundred disclaimers for every story I've ever written to have their reality checked for stalls. Thanks.
Timeline: I have no idea where the hell the timeline is on this thing anymore. This started out as a ten chapter max story and kind of grew legs of its own and ran with me trying to catch up.
Rating: It's probably R for this chapter. Tell me if you disagree.
Author's Note: I'm going to do a little more cosmetic work on this story because I've just got it stuck in my head then wrap it up. By the way, did anyone see Paul Blackthorne on Fox's 24? Even as the bad guy he's hotter than just hot. (sigh) Be still my beating heart. (Damn CBS for canceling this fabulous show.)
Warning: Oh¡K and this is a transition chapter.
Summary: What would you do in the name of love? Tricks and Treats
The clock by the bed glowed 4:30 am; only half an hour have passed since he last looked at the digital clock that he had gotten to reply the analog one that had broken during one particularly foul morning several months ago. Turning his head, he watched his lover's serene face for a moment, marveling at just how lovely it was. With a silent sigh, he shifted his half asleep arm from under his darling's head and rose ever so slowly from the bed. He may no longer need rest but she certainly did.
Unable to return to her apartment to face the accumulating baby things she's been joyously purchasing of late, Jules had begged Matt to take her home¡K his home. Since saying no was the last thing he could possibly do, Dr. Slingerland had bundled Dr. Keating up and spirited her away after she had completed her notes that she so desperately needed to do. Informing Dr. Lenning upon their arrival, Matt was about to happily report to Jules that her cases would be handled since Dr. Lenning has ordered that she take some time off when he was suddenly attacked.
They hit the wall with a resounding thump. He barely had time to react when she slanted her mouth over his, demanding a response. Her small hands clawed at his shirt, fumbling with the buttons for a moment before giving up and simply jerking the shirt open, popping buttons in her haste. He tried to stop her, really did, but the heat of her mouth against the bare skin of his throat dislodged all his good intentions. Tangling his fingers in her hair, he brought his head down, locking her mouth against his once more. The kiss was deep, hard, drawing a cry from her that was both sweet and painful. The blood throbbed below his waist leaving him lightheaded and shaky. Her urgency fed his, making him reckless in the need to satisfy this waking hunger. They kissed, again and again, each time rougher, more demanding; with such force that he was forced to braced himself with his hands against the wall to keep them both standing. She pressed herself against him, showing him what she wanted, almost overwhelmed him with her intensity.
A part of him recognized what she was doing as he finally got enough control to take her upstairs. She wanted something to vent her frustration and rage, a tangible release from the pain and the anger¡K and the loss. And he was it.
She demanded; he gave. She begged; he conceded. She took; he offered. Everything she needed, everything she wanted¡K anything to ease her suffering. And in the dead of night, when she had spent herself, he drew her gently close and tenderly made love to her; showed in wordless forms how much he loved her and was willing to give to her.
And she cried. Oh how she cried. The gentler he was with her, the more he loved her; the harder she seemed to cry. She cried until there was nothing left inside of her and then allowed him to make love to her once more before oblivion came in the form of sleep, taking the pain and pleasure away.
Grabbing a robe as he left the room, he checked the thermostat and walked down stairs. The first rays of morning hadn't even made it to the horizon yet when the coffee machine began to work, enveloping the kitchen with rich aromas of South America. Matt helped himself to a cup and sat by the window. His heart felt heavier than the rock of Gibraltar.
He had waited until after Jules had fainted from exhaustion before allowing himself to examine his own uncertainties of this situation. And it was in the dead of night, with his lover in his arms but unconscious of his activities, did he allow himself to grief. Silent hot tears dampened Jules's hair as Matt gave into the loss of a child that wasn't even there to begin with. His rational side repeated the idea over and over again in his mind, an embryo was simply a cluster of reproducing cells, and there are no studies that ever linked the existence of life with an embryo. And yet¡K yet he knew that he had lost a child as surely as if it had taken its last breath in his arms. A baby. A tiny life that belonged to him and Jules. The best of their combinations of qualities.
Swallowing back the pain in his throat, Matt stared at the phone across the room. He had promised his mother that he would call about the Rademacher-Levean wedding but have never gotten around to it. He had written to Andrew and confirmed his attendance. And though he had solemnly promised his mother that he would keep her inform of his schedule, he hadn't yet. He had not wanted to go through rounds of question and answer about Jules again. It was becoming a tedious exercise that he didn't plan on enduring unless necessary. Of course he'll have to put up with¡K
An idea popped into his head.
Jules needed to get away for a while; Dr. Lenning had demanded it. Somewhere where she didn't have stress and could simply enjoy herself. And while Jenna Fraser would no doubt insist that her sister come visit her and take a breather, Matt had a much more enjoyable idea in mind.
Setting the coffee down, he took the flight of stairs to his bedroom in twos. Crawling back into bed, he kissed Jules's nose, waking her gently but not completely. "Darling?"
"Hum?" her eyes refusing to open.
"Come to a wedding with me in two weeks' time?"
"Hum?"
"A lovely wedding, my best pal's in fact, come meet them. It would be a nice get-away for the two of us as well."
She let out a sigh that was bone weary and sleepy, "Okay."
"Good," pressing a kiss to her forehead. "I'll make all the arrangements. You get some more rest, all right?"
"Okay," she replied and snuggled a little closer.
He held her a little longer, until he was sure she was asleep once more. Getting up, he grabbed the phone by the bed before leaving and headed down stairs. The kitchen afforded the best light. Flipping open his address book, uncaring of the time of night, "Hello? Virgin Airlines? I need two tickets from SFI to ¡K"
"How are you doing?" Harriet asked s she helped her friend onto the exam table.
"I'm been better," Jules admitted softly but offered a smile. "Had a good cry fest, scared the shit out of Matt, and slept like the dead for ten hours. So all is well in the world."
Offering her a sympathetic look, Harriet picked up a syringe. "I'm sorry we have to do this."
"It's necessary," Jules replied quietly. "I know that."
"I haven't disclosed patient names to the administration yet."
"Besides me, are we looking at a large number?"
"No," pulling out another vial. "Yours was the more serious one."
"Lucky me," Jules muttered dryly. "So basically you want to know whether or not I'm going to file suit against the hospital."
"I don't want to know anything," Harriet corrected with a huff. "But the administration would like to know how many lawyers they are going to have to retrain if they get hit with this."
Jules sighed and thought about it¡K really thought about it. She hadn't really had too much time to process this through all the way. Hell, she hadn't even told Jenna yet. And god only knows how her sister was going to react to this little piece of news. "Personally, I just want to forget about this whole thing."
"So no civil suit?"
"I didn't say that," Jules pointed out. "This isn't just me anymore."
"You mean Slingerland?" Harriet asked quietly, watching her friend's face. "How are things between the two of your now?"
"Good," and didn't go into any details. "It's been surprisingly good."
"Why would that be?"
"Why would what be?"
"Why would it be surprising? The boy obviously adores you," Harriet replied nonchalantly as she cleaned up. The hospital rumor mill has been working over time with all the Keating/Slingerland sightings around the hospital and outside of it. "How is he handling all this, by the way?"
Rolling her sleeve down again, "You know; I'm not all together sure." In fact, he was just a little too cheerful that morning. "He seem to be okay with things but¡K well, I really wasn't all that attentive last night."
"Normal, expected," Harriet made a note to herself. "And you'll be taking time off, right?"
She made a face. "Well, as to that¡K"
"Jules¡K" she began but was interrupted by a knock on the door. "This isn't over yet," she warned Dr. Keating. "Come in."
Matt had a feeling that he walked into a bad situation when he saw the mulish expression on Jules and the exasperated look in Dr. Lenning's face. "So sorry, am I interrupting?"
"No," Jules announced as she hopped off the bed. "You're just in time, in fact."
"Really?" not sure he liked the cheery look in her eyes. "Well, as long as you are here, I thought you might want to sign this so I don't have to come track you down again."
"What's that?" she wanted.
Dr. Lenning sighed. "Dr. Slingerland, would you be so kind as to explain to your girlfriend that she should take some time off to recover, not to mention getting away from the gossip once the rest of the hospital knows about what happened."
Both of them looked up startled. "Why would the rest of the hospital¡K"
"I have to make a report to the administration this tomorrow. You really think they're not going to be interested in knowing that we've screwed up on one of our own?" She gave them a knowing look that had both of them groaning. It was going to be hell and they all knew it.
"Well then this should help," handing over the two sheets of paper to Harriet, then quickly snatched back the second sheet.
Scanning it quickly, she raised her eyes at Slingerland for moment before signing it. Since Jules still had no idea what was going on, she grabbed it when Harriet handed it to her along with a pen. "Request for Medical Leave Form?" She turned and stared at Slingerland for a moment. "Why?"
Matt grinned at him, like a very naughty but smart cat. "Because your doctor has requests it and you need it. Besides that, you and I are going to a wedding remember?"
She thought about it, really thought about it. "No." She thought about it some more, having some vague memory of something that wasn't quite there but wasn't quite gone. "When did you ask me to attend a wedding?"
The feline grin didn't fade. "This morning."
"This morning?" she concentrated a little more. "This morning?" she couldn't recall one conversation about¡K "Was I awake?"
"You agreed," he replied.
"And was I awake when I agreed?"
He shrugged, which sent Dr. Lenning into a peal of laughter.
"Not funny," Jules told her with a huff. "Really not funny." She gave into the urge and hit Matt on the arm with her fist. "You tricked me."
"I did not," he complained with a smile. "Besides, a nice wedding would get us away from the scandalmongers that will be filling the halls once news of our little 'problem' gets out."
Jules opened her mouth to say something about not caring but stopped herself. She knew that wasn't true. The minute news of her affair with Slingerland, plus the loss of a baby, hits the airwaves, she was going to get bombarded with speculative looks and questioning stares and other assortment of uncomfortable regards. Getting away for a week or two until the excitement dies down wouldn't really be all that bed. "When is the damn wedding?" she asked tentatively.
If Matt grins any wider, he might dislocate his jaw. "Next week. We fly Friday evening," and push the pen into her hand once more. He's request for time off has already been filled and he fully planned on bullying the administration into granting him time off. "Dr. Lenning, if you can stall in telling the administration until then¡K"
"I'll see what I can do," Dr. Lenning said with a smile.
"Why are we flying?" Jules asked with a blink. She suddenly felt like Alice in Wonderland. "Where the heck is this wedding?"
"It's in Swansea," he answered as if it should have been obvious to anyone.
"Swansea?" Jules frowned. She had been great with geography in school. She could name every major city in the United States without pause. "Where is Swansea?"
"Wales," Harriet informed her with a pat on the arm. The stunned look on Jules's face did a lot to lighten her mood. "Have a nice trip. And bring me back a bottle of wine."
Two Days Later
Nick Kokoris was in a foul mood and everyone that saw him knew that. Not only was he angry, hurried, hungry and sleep deprived, he also had three new cases dumped into his lap by an irresponsible colleague that will be hearing from him very soon. He was going to take it up with the medical board if he had to.
There was a mad scrambling of the nurses to duck out of the way when the irritated surgeon appeared on the fourth floor, frown on his usually handsome face and darkness in his eyes that made him appear almost vicious. The last thing anyone wanted to be doing was get into his line of sight. "Dr. Keating!"
Jules turned and almost groaned. She was so close to leaving the office today without having to get into any kind of long winded discussion on any subject of other people's choices. She's actually gotten quite good at avoiding her fellow doctors, who were all busy speculating how and why Dr. Lenning was giving the administration fits at the moment by not disclosing the name of the patients that the hospital will have to dole out heavy amendments to. But by the look in Kokoris's face, that streak of luck was about to change. "Hi Nick. What's up?"
Putting the chart on the table, he let the name of the patient do the talking.
Frowning, Jules picked up the chart. "How did you get Claris Winthrop's chart?"
"Dr. Petrina dropped it off in my in-basket with the note that he was quitting as of today and was apportioning his cases."
"What?" the shock on Dr. Keating's face would have been comical if Nick hadn't been so incredibly aggravated and infuriated. "He can't do that!"
"He just did," Nick informed her in no uncertain term and handed her the note that had been up on top of the three charts he found. "Would you like to shoot him or should I? Of course there isn't going to be much left of them to shoot once Dr. Jordan gets through with him," holding up another chart in his hand. He hadn't had a chance to catch the cardiologist today but he could well imagine that reaction she was going to be having if Jules Keating was any indication.
"That son of a¡K" flipping through the chart quickly. "And he didn't even do the evaluation!"
"Which is where I come in," Nick informed her with a slight grimace.
"Damn it!"
"Hum¡K that's what I said." Somehow her outrage was doing wonders to sooth his. Misery loves company. "Would you like to brief me on this case quickly so I can work it into my schedule ASAP?"
"How many hours do you have?" she asked her voice heavy with sarcasm. She wanted to scream with frustration. "Okay, okay, throwing a hissy isn't going to help my patient." She took a deep breath and calmed herself then rolled her eyes. "I guess you're doing Bruce Wright's knee surgery as well?"
Nick glanced at the two other files under his arm. "No but I know that Tom and Patrick also got cases dumped on them."
Jules groaned again and wanted to smack someone. "Double damn!"
"You off now?"
"I was," she grumbled and glanced at her watch. It was nearly six. So it would probably be another hour before Matt came looking for her. His case load wasn't featherweight either. "Come on, let's go over the details."
"My office or yours?" he asked, grabbing a peppermint from the nurse's desk. He was going to need all the reserved energy he could manage to squeeze out to his body to get through the next few hectic days.
"Yours," Jules leaned over the counter and glanced around for a notepad and pen. "If I go into mine, someone is bound to find me there and I'll be stuck here for the rest of the night."
"But you'd be in good company," he pointed out half mockingly good cheer.
"Shut up!"
"Mother¡K"
"I'm merely saying darling, you are more than welcome to stay with your father and I while you are home."
"I don't think it would be a wise move on my part," Slingerland informed his mother with a sigh. "I'm too use to the independence of not answering to anyone but myself and you and father will never be able to give up trying to keep tabs on me while I'm in England." Plus he doubt Jules would be particularly fond of living under the same roof with his parents after the recent events, even for a few days.
"That is simply not true," Millicent informed her only child in a tone that didn't allow for any disagreement. "Your father and I have learned over the years that you are you own man that that we need to¡K" the burst of laughter from the other end of the phone cut her off with a sputter of disbelief.
"Oh thank you mother," Slingerland said drawing oxygen into his lungs and wiping the moisture from his eyes. "That's the best laugh I've had all week."
"I don't see how what I've said should be so amusing to you," Millicent huffed.
"Of course not, Mother," Matt rested his chin on his palm and stared out the window. He had put off making this call until he had confirmed everything, including time off from the hospital ¡V he made a mental note to thank Dr. Lenning for whatever pressure she had exerted upon his behalf to make it happen ¡V and now he wished he could have put it off some more. "Listen, Andrew would simply like for all the groomsmen to stay at the hotel until the wedding. It makes coordinating everything much simpler this way."
"Yes, I suppose," she said reluctantly. "It's just that your father and I haven't seen you in some time and¡K"
"What are you talking about Mother? You saw me last month!" And oh how much he's regretted that.
"But that was different, dearest. And you were quite preoccupied at the time."
He could already see where this conversation was veering off to. "Let's not go into that again, Mother. Listen, I shall be arriving on Saturday and will take a cab to the hotel. Why won't we arrange to have dinner Sunday and give me a chance to rest first."
"Why don't we do brunch, darling? You can come to church with us; the Bishop would simply adore to see you again."
Matt made a face for no one to see. He hated church and he disliked Bishop Foster and his pretentious ways, the only thing he could possibly dread more as a child was visiting the dentist's office. "No thank you mother though brunch would be lovely."
"Terrific," Millicent announced with a smile as her husband came through the door. She waved gaily at him. "And shall I arrange an escort for you for the wedding, darling?"
"No," Matt said with a sigh. He had hoped to get through this conversation without that subject rearing its head once more. "I'll be bringing my own, thank you."
"Oh? Who is it dear? Remember, you mustn't bring anyone inappropriate. Just think what shame the Rademachers are enduring now. That horrible Charlene was hardly up to par with¡K"
"Mother," he cut her off before she could launch into another tirade on Charlene Rademacher. "Everything will be fine."
"Who is she, dear?" she asked again expectedly as her husband looked up with interest. "And is she pretty?"
"Very pretty," he answered uncomfortably. It wasn't that he didn't want to tell his parents about his relationship with Jules it's just¡K Well, they haven't exactly been too receptive to the good doctor and Matt simply didn't want to problem at the moment. Besides which, it's too late to do anything about it now. Still¡K "Mother, I have to go, patients are waiting," he lied and hung up before his mother could answer.
Feeling slightly guilty and not quite sure why he had just lied to his mother, Matt got up and headed for the door. He'll have to face the wrath of his parents when they see Jules at the wedding anyways, though his mother would never be so unrefined as to kick up a fuss in public, so why deal with it now? It'll come when it comes.
With that thought in mind, he happily went in search of his beloved.
"What was that?" George Slingerland asked as he sat across from his wife in the morning room.
Replacing the phone on the hook, Millicent stared at her husband for a moment, her brilliant mind churning along rapidly. "I believe that was our offspring's means of telling us that he'll be bringing Dr. Keating to Andrew Rademacher's wedding."
Sighing from somewhere deep down, George leaned back in his chair and stared at the ceiling for a moment, noticing once more that the pencil mark left there by a ten year old Matthew learning to juggle with his school supplies still hadn't been washed off. "I suppose it is inevitable that he chose a partner so..." He didn't even know what the world was.
"Why don't you like her, my love?" Milli asked with concern.
"It's not that I don't like her¡K"
"Then what is it?" she asked genuinely frightened that the rift between her husband and child may be one that cannot be closed as it usually can.
"Nothing actually," he sighed and looked at his gentle wife. "I was afraid that she was simply going to break Matthew's heart. As wise and brilliant as he is, the boy has a nasty habit of being too trusting. I don't want to see him hurt."
"Do you think that Dr. Keating is really going to do such a thing? Like that insipid blonde he was so infatuated with all those years ago?"
"Hum¡K"
"George," she said in a warning tone that he knew well.
"No," he answered honestly if somewhat reluctantly. "I don't think she's a bad influence upon him either. It's just¡K" he frowned, his mind processing through all the pent up emotions upon learning that his child had provided another with a meals to carry on the family line without the family name. Though he would never admit it, he desperately wanted someone to pass his legacy down to. "I would prefer if he were to produce a child the old fashion way."
Millicent smiled, her eyes twinkling with amusement. "Convention went out the door with technology, darling."
"Not everything," George grumbled, very reminiscent of his offspring in that manner.
"Perhaps darling we'll be lucky," Milli said getting up. She still needed to find a wedding present that would be appropriate, hardly the thing to present the bride and groom with anything less than appropriate for their standing. "Perhaps they'll be over come with romantic emotions at the wedding and produce a child the usual way. Then we shalln't be concern with whether or not Matthew is liable for financial support of a child he had little to no parting creating."
George blinked at his wife. "There are times, my love, that you positively amaze me with your sense of skewed logic."
Smiling serenely because it was the only thing to do, "Thank you, dear. I do try."
To be Continued¡K.
Yes, I know it's a short one. To be honest, I'm not too sure where this story is going anymore. I had planned on ending it but now¡K
Oh hell¡K