I walked into the hospital earlier than needed. I felt underdressed yesterday at Diosa and I was a little embarrassed to say that I took longer then usual to get ready this morning . My usual pony tail was now in soft waves showing my new haircut . I was wearing a white and black pencil skirt with a bright red blouse and matching lipstick with nude heels.
"Good morning Dr. Mathews" I turned and gave Margarete a tight smile
"Good Morning Ms. Murphy" I greeted her.
"You are here earlier than usual" She commented
"I am, I need to finish some charting and there's a couple of patients I want to check on" I said to her
"Okay" she turned and walked away
"Margarete" I said calling after her and catching up to her. I turned towards her and look at her straight in the eyes
"I respect you, and so far you and I have worked well together. I don't have an issue with you and I hope that neither do you. But what I do in my personal time is my own" I said to her. She nodded her head and I turned to walk away
"Kate" I turned back to her "I was going to take Tara as my plus one to the medical benefit at San Jose, but she can't make it, want to come?" she asked
"Tonight?" she nodded her head
"Yes, I'd like that" We agreed to meet at the hospital and take the 1-hour drive together. I walked away from her with new found respect.
"Hey" I whispered walking into Ellie's room. She was laying on the bed with her eyes closed and Opie and Lyla laying on the pull-out couch.
"Hi" I was surprised to see Ellie was up. I hadn't realized she was awake
"Hey Ellie" I greeted her with a small smile "how are you feeling?" I asked her
"I'm okay" she said looking down at her hands and twisting them together.
"Do you mind if I take a seat?" I asked her. She shrugged her shoulders but sat herself up giving me space to sit on the bed
"Have you talked to your dad?" I asked. I wasn't sure how to address Lyla with her and I didn't want her to shut down
"No, I just woke up and they been sleeping"
"Okay" I said, "Do you know why you're here?" I asked her. She shrugged her shoulders again
"You fainted in class and you were brought in. Do you know why you could have fainted?" I asked softly. She continued looking down at her hands.
"We ran some test, and it showed you had very low sugar in your blood. When we don't eat it makes the sugar drop in our blood" I said trying to explain to her
"You haven't been eating?" her head snapped to me and I could see tears forming in her eyes
"You could really hurt your body if you don't get the right nutrition" I could see the resolve not to talk melting away
"I just want to be pretty like Lyla" she said tears falling
"What? You are beautiful" I said to her wiping her tears
"No, I'm not" from the corner of my eye I could see Opie starting to wake up
"Why do you say that?" I asked gently
"I am not as skinny as Lyla or my mom"
"You are so beautiful Ellie"
"No, you and aunt Tara are skinny, and I am fat and ugly. And daddy won't love me if I am fat"
"I will always love you" said Opie leaning his elbows on the bed and taking her hands in his
"But I'm fat, and you love Mommy and Lyla"
"Honey I love you and I will never stop. There are going to be times when I am upset at you, but I love you." Said Opie wiping his own tears
"But Daddy- "
"No Buts" he said cutting her off
"Ellie you are a healthy weight and you are so young. This is not something you need to be worrying about"
"I'm not fat?" she whispered
"No, why do you think that?" asked Opie
"Gemma said…" she whispered
"What did Gemma say?" asked Opie gently
"She said that I shouldn't be eating so many pancakes because no one loves fat girls" I could not believe she said that to a little girl
"Was she talking to you?" asked Opie. She nodded her head
"Did she do something to you?" I asked her
"She took my plate when I was eating" I could see Opie taking a deep breath
"Let me go grab a plate of breakfast for the three of you and I'll be back" I said wanting to give them space. They both turned to look at Lyla who was crying quietly in the sofa. I walked out of the room and closed my eyes. I took a deep breath and counted to 10. I opened my eyes and coming straight at me were Gemma, Jax, Tara, Chibs and Happy. I walked towards them and Chibs gave me a small smile. I could feel my anger growing as I walked closer to them.
"What is wrong with you?" I seethe. Happy gave me a hard look and Gemma smirked thinking I was talking to Happy, but I turned so we were face to face thanks to my heels.
"Fucking with me is one thing but messing with an 8-year old girl" I was so angry before I realized it my hand was flying across her face. For a second all I could hear was my hand slapping her face. She was clearly not expecting it as she stumbled back
"You little tart" she yelled. Jax was right in the middle of us
"What the fuck Kate?" he asked angry and walking closer until he was right in my face
"Back off" said Happy pushing Jax away and stepping between us
"Want to tell us what that was for?" asked Chibs as he helped Gemma stand straight
"Why don't you go ask the 8-year-old and her dad what she did" I said and turned to walk away. I felt Happy's hand around my elbow
"What's going on?" he asked pulling me to the side
"Happy, I can't deal with you now" I said. He was clearly upset
"Happy I am not trying to fight with you. But I am so angry right now that I know that if we start arguing we will most likely say something we will both regret" he looked hard at me and then my cheek. My guess that Chibs told him about the bruise, but this morning I made sure to cover it up with make-up.
"I'm going to order breakfast for the three of them, I will be back in 20 minutes. Can you please make sure that they leave" he nodded his head
"Thanks" I said to him and walked away. I pulled out my phone and ordered 3 breakfast specials from the diner. The hospital food was very bland, and the warm fresh food will make Ellie feel better. I drove to the diner and waited a few minutes before the food was handed to me.
I was walking into the hospital when Margarete stopped me
"I heard you slapped Gemma" she said with a serious face. Fuck
"Yes" I wasn't going to lie
"Good" she said with a smile and walked away. I was glad not to get reprimanded. I walked to Ellie's room and was surprised to see Happy standing guard. I was prepared to just walk past him but before I could I felt his hand on my shoulder pulling me to face him
"Hey" he whispered softly at me. I shrugged his hands off
"Is everyone in there?" I asked. He shook his head and I walked into the room
"Hey" I greeted with a smile. Tara was taking Ellie's vitals and Opie and Lyla were standing right next to her holding her hands.
"I hope you're hungry" I said pulling the Styrofoam containers. Ellie shyly nodded her head. I pulled out utensils and placed the food in front of Elli. I passed the other containers to Opie and Lyla.
"Let me talk to Kate and I'll be back" Tara nodded her head towards the door and I walked out. Happy was still waiting and leaning against the wall. He looked at me and then straightforward.
"Hey Kate" Tara walked the opposite way from Happy standing a few feet from the door
"I'm sorry about this morning. Opie went ballistic when Gemma walked into the room if it hadn't been for Chibs standing between them he would have hit her. Jax was pissed at Opie until Opie told him what Gemma said and did. Jax was so angry at Gemma that he got her out of the room kicking and screaming"
"Okay" I was glad that Opie stood up for his daughter
"Kate, I'm sorry about the other day"
"Tara, you don't have to apologize. We are not in school if you don't want to be friends we won't be friends, I'm a big girl. But don't pull me to the side and to treat me like a friend. We are co-workers and that's it" I said walking away. I stopped again in Ellie's room and told them I had to go back to work but not to hesitate to call or have the nurse page me.
I was in the passenger's seat of Margarete's car driving towards San Jose for the medical benefit. I felt good in a black asymmetrical dress, runched at the side of my waist with a high neckline a nude strappy heel and a simple pair of stud earrings and matching bracelet. I tried to keep my make-up natural but a bright red lipstick. Margarete was wearing a long sleeve red dress with beading on the top and ended just below her knees. She was also wearing red lipstick but a darker shade.
We have been talking about her and her family. I couldn't believe that I had known her for months and didn't even know she was married with 2 teenagers. Apparently, they were a pain in the ass and she kept getting calls from the school because they were skipping classes. She had volunteered the oldest as an orderly for 2 hours 3 days a week and he was not happy with it. She was laughing as she remembered his face when she told him he either went or she was going to kick his ass.
"You should have seen his face. I try to always be understanding with them. It's usually Dan that's the hard one. I'm not sure who was more surprised me or him" she said with a laugh
The benefit was okay. There were little hors d'oeuvre being served that were tasty, and I was glad to meet doctors from hospitals surrounding St. Thomas
"Hello beautiful" an older guy walked towards me and picked up my hand kissing the back of it
"Hello" I said trying to smile. I discretely wiped the back of my hand in the dress. The kiss felt gross
"I am Jacob Hale" the name sounder familiar
"Hello I am Kate Mathews"
"Can we get a picture?" we were interrupted by a photographer, before I could answer Hale had his arm wrapped around my hip and dangerously close to my ass. And just as fast the photographer was gone and so was the arm.
"I am surprised to see a beautiful woman standing by herself"
"You know what they say, better alone than in bad company"
"Ha-ha very true, but I'm sure you're great company" he said Suggestively
"Hello Mr. Hale" greeted Margarete walking towards us
"Please Mayor Hale" he said with a smirk
"Of course, who could forget a big fish in a tiny pond" said Margaret
"We better circle the room Kate" she said and pulled me towards her. We spent a couple of hours circling the room meeting the head of Cardiology from the biggest metro hospital in Lodi. I was giddy talking to him. He was very well known and an excellent doctor. All the while I could feel Hale's eyes on me, but I chose to ignore it.
Margarete and I left the benefit both feeling pleased with the people we met and the networking for our careers and St. Thomas.