Chapter Thirty-Five: The Cause and the Cure
Kate wiped the blood from her hands onto her gown when the artery busted. She snapped at one of the ER Technicians to hand her the sterile tweezers and the stitching. Her eyes reverted from the dying teenager on the table to the machines that were beeping wildly; the lights flashed, and Kate narrowed her eyes.
"Kate, hurry, she's going into shock!"
Kate ignored the techs around her. She handed the stitching roughly to her fellow nurse, Daisy, who took them without question. She returned the hand with a smaller and narrower stitching, to which Kate thanked her quickly.
Behind the glass, she heard the parents shrieks of hysterical fear. When Kate stitched the heart and then began stitching the chest together, her mind made up the worst images possible; the parents crying in the background only made them worse. Kate looked up at Daisy; her mask hid her nose and mouth but the meaning in her eyes was only too clear to her. The fifty-year old nurse nodded with understand and hurriedly swept pass the room, not before handing a younger tech the scalpel and useless stitching, and began comforting the parents.
Kate looked at the younger ER tech; she couldn't be more than twenty.
"What's your name?" Kate questioned through muffled mask.
"Jane."
"Okay, Jane," said Kate. She felt the flushing. She felt trapped—why would she not, there were so many people in the room.
"What do you need me to do?" asked Jane quickly. The woman's nerves were wracked; apparently, she'd never been placed in a situation where Kate was the doctor, holding the life in her hands, and now she had to somehow assist.
A doctor sped into the room and nearly bumped Kate, who only managed to take her balance as she glowered.
"Jane, I need you to get everyone out of here."
"But, Doctor—," began one of the nurses.
"I can't think when everyone is in here!" Kate snapped. "Get out! Jane, you stay."
"But I'm not qualified…" Jane began. "I'm only a surgical technician."
"And right now, you'll be my intern," Kate stated quickly. She glowered at the extra nurses and doctors around her. "Get going, you all; I can't fucking think when everyone is crowding against me!"
"But, Kate, she's just an tech—"
"Nevermind that! Do you want to fix this kid or not!" Kate snapped angrily. She felt her fainting spell begin; she was getting dizzy; her world was spinning. No, Kate, keep your head. You have to save the kid.
"I said get out of my ER!" Kate hollered.
The parents in the background only became more hysterical as the nurses and er techs ran out of the room, not wanting to bear Kate's anger any longer. All that was left was Kate, Jane the simple surgical technician, and later, Daisy, the ER nurse. Seeing no one in the room, she pondered aloud.
"What happened, Kate?" Daisy asked.
The vitals were normal now, and Kate's mind was clearing. The scalpel in her hand was shaking and Jane glanced at her curiously.
"I had to get everyone out," Kate stated.
"Claustrophobic?" suggested Jane.
Kate smiled at Jane; although her smile was unseen, it'd reached her eyes. Kate then instructed Jane to hold the chest flaps together as the doctor sewed the skin, covering the muscle and heart. Daisy watched the surgical technician; she was shaking no doubt but her hands remained still.
"I'm sorry I had to pull you in," Kate told Jane as the teenager was placed in the Intensive Care Unit for recovery.
Jane took off her gown, mask, then gloves and smiled nervously.
"It was an interesting experience," she noted shakily.
"Of course," said Kate. She cleared her throat and added, "You and I will have to fill out a form about what had proceeded in the room."
"Why?" Jane inquired.
"Because, Jane, I had instructed you to do something that was out of your jurisdiction, so in a way, we did something illegal, or at least, I have. So," Kate said gently. "Clean yourself up, and come with me. We have a few items to fill out and then you may be dismissed."
"Yes, Doctor," Jane said, giving her a small bow. Despite her calm disposition, the young woman quickly exited the ER and was bawling as the shock wore off. Daisy met her in the room, watching the doctor with some reverence but also disappointment.
"Why did you choose Jane?" asked Daisy. "She was not by standards qualified to take on a procedure as the one you performed; you realize what you did was completely unethical."
"Unethical?" Kate returned. "She did well."
"But had the tables been turned and the patient have died, you could very well have been canned."
Kate nodded. That was true.
"To answer your question, Daisy, I chose Jane rather than the other ER techs because to me she seemed inexperienced and trustworthy."
"Inexperience is never a good quality when someone is going to be assisting in a surgery," Daisy stated, as though Kate had been out of her mind.
"On a contrary," Kate replied. She smirked and said, "The inexperienced listen more than those who have done something as detailed as I have. Jane had nothing to work by except my instructions and she did them wonderfully."
Daisy shook her head disapprovingly.
"That was risky," Daisy pointed.
"It was," Kate acknowledged. "The next time a teenager caught in the heart with a shrapnel because of a drunk driver comes into my ER room, however, I don't want there to be so many people. It's unnecessary to have five nurses, three surgical technicians, two ER technicians and two doctors in one room with a patient—that room was only meant for five, not thirteen."
Daisy nodded.
Kate and Jane had signed the papers and when the board had told her she was on the first-warning, it was very lenient. When the gang asked about her day that night, Kate was on the verge of frustration when she explained to them what had happened. The group of course were disdained to hear of Kate's warning, despite the circumstances at the time.
However, although the conversation was nice, that night, Kate was under heat; her dreams of the situation had turned out differently than the reality of the outcome, and she woke up from it with a scream of fright and sweaty clothes.
The immediate response to her shrill cry was the three intermittent knocks followed by her name. It was Sheldon. Kate wore the familiar black tank top with her Batman pajama pants, but they were soaked completely from the abrasive sweat of the fear. She turned to the door, hearing the knocks.
"What, Sheldon?"
"Are you all right?"
"Yes."
"You didn't sound okay; can I come in?"
"Only if you want," Kate muttered.
Sheldon entered the room, dressed in blue plaid pajama top and bottoms. He looked at her form, the sweat on her neck, shoulders, and face gave the hint that she'd been frightened.
"Why did you scream?" Sheldon inquired; he looked panicked but now, seeing there was no intruder, he reverted to his calm and inquiring nature. He stood in the doorway, hand on the doorknob.
"I had a bad dream," Kate returned.
"They're rather bothersome, aren't they?" Sheldon remarked.
Kate was slightly surprised by the touch of concern in his voice. He looked a little uncomfortable; granted—he was standing in the doorway of his girlfriend's bedroom.
"Sheldon," Kate began.
"Yes."
"Can I ask you something?"
"Being that our conversations stimulate from the effective questions we exchange with each other, I invite you to ask as many as possible," Sheldon stated gently.
"Was I wrong to ask an inexperienced person to help me in the operation?" Kate said slowly.
Sheldon looked at her. Was there a good answer to this? He shifted the weight of his being from one foot to the other and seeing that the standing made him feel only more awkward, he countered to walk around her bed and sit on the edge of the side opposite of her. Kate looked at him, a hint of curiosity in the emerald orbs of hers.
"Kate," he said gently. "I know you almost as well as I know myself. And you know just as well that inexperienced beings, unlike us, lack the leadership needed to delve into something as detailed and operable as your job includes. From my knowledge, the ignorant are easier to lead and the inexperienced are more apt to do what must be done. It's like teaching Howard to understand physics, except whereas the surgical tech was willing to learn, Howard fails to grip the law of physics despite my earnest will to teach."
Kate looked at him earnestly. He said she was right in doing what she did? Wasn't he just the sweetest?
Kate turned to him.
"But to answer your question," Sheldon said, "I think you were right in having an unqualified person such as Jane do what an experienced would have accomplished." He added as a footnote, "Personally, your fear of being in tight, enclosed spaces would have reverted any illogical fact from being what it is. It interfered with your work, and that's more frustrating than being suspended for lack of responsibility during the circumstantial situation and even Howard and Penny agree with me."
Sheldon shrugged and said, "That, in itself, is rare."
Kate nodded, agreeing that there were many times where Penny, Howard, and Sheldon often disagreed. However, Kate saw something else in Sheldon's manner. The way he sat on her bed—she still couldn't believe that he was on her bed—made her think that there was something else he would be saying soon.
"The reason," he began slowly, "that I can understand how something as small and yet so crucial as claustrophobia would be a reasonable conjecture for lack of fortuity that the situation had rendered necessary, is that I have my own problematic cause."
Kate cocked her head to one side. Sheldon had a hard time at work?
"Well," said Kate gently, "if there's a problem at work, since you helped me with mine, maybe I can help you with yours."
Sheldon gave her a skeptical look.
"That would be both a resolution and yet it'd cause an even bigger problem," Sheldon said. He took a breath and said awkwardly, "the cause of my inability to concentrate generates from the general attraction that we have towards each other. It's a problem of neither mind nor heart."
Kate stared at him curiously.
"Are you stuck?" she suggested.
"No, Kate," Sheldon said as though this was impossible. "There have only been a few instances in which my mind could not process the greater and crucial things of the world and its problematic inferences. No, Kate. This is something…well…"
Steadily, he shifted uncomfortably on her bed.
"What?"
Kate crawled to the side of the bed he sat, and she sat on her knees. Sheldon looked at her, as though she was predicating mischief. Her eyes and his met.
"Sheldon," she murmured. "Are you thinking about me at work?"
"Kate, you're my girlfriend. From what I understand of these social conventions, my mind is technically pondering your existence as well as everyone else's. Although," Sheldon said slowly, "it's something more than that."
"What is?"
Sheldon frowned, explaining. "Kate, when I'm at work solving the confirmations that link my String Theory to the elementary connection of Physics, I find myself descending into a much deeper state of mind, a trance, if you will. The problem of it is that while I should be concentrating on the link, I'm imaging…"
Sheldon stopped himself there. Kate found his sudden silence abrasive, and she bit her lip with anxiety. Was he thinking about her in more ways than one, rather than the emotionality of their situation, or the link of intellect between them?
"Sheldon, do you think of me in more ways than just intellect and interest?" Kate said softly. Her voice was sultry, but the concern in her voice was also reflected.
Sheldon raised his chin so he reflected the arrogance, but Kate could tell that she was right. He thought of her physical-wise. Her smile tugged at the corner of her lips.
"I also," Sheldon said even quieter, "that although the contract states that neither of us should compromise the other in physical contact, there are—dare I say it—moments that I would intentionally breach the commerce held in…"
"Sheldon…" Kate interrupted.
Sheldon looked at her, as though waiting for the reason she interrupted him, although there seemed to be the lack of genuine disappointment and offense when she did so. He almost seemed relieved that she did interrupt.
"Yes?"
"Do you want to kiss me?" Kate asked softly. Her heart was emitting quick beats, as though it was undergoing massive arrhythmia.
Sheldon stared at her.
"The answers are multiple," Sheldon said in the same quiet voice. "They vary from every synonym of the word 'yes' to the very deviation of the word 'no'."
Kate stared at him. Was she really hearing this? She had to pinch herself, make sure this wasn't another dream. But lord, if it was, she wanted to keep it going. This was the most progress she had ever made with Sheldon. He wanted to kiss her.
"Perhaps your mind," said Kate slowly, "begs for something less drastic and yet it insists on the matter. Perhaps…" She sat directly beside him, "In order to cure this distraction that festers within that brilliant mind of yours, you have no other option than to confront the cause."
Sheldon looked at her.
"Are you implying that my lack of concentration strive from the very thing that can cure it?"
"I imply, now you infer. Do you agree with the theory?" she asked. She smiled and said, "Because I certainly do."
"Of course you would; it's your theory."
Kate smirked at him. Sheldon looked at her a little longer.
"I just want you to be aware that if this is going to be a reoccurrence in the near future," Sheldon said slowly, "there will be nothing demonstrated in front of an audience. The last thing I want is for my face and rear to end up on another youtube video."
Kate smiled, laughing a little.
"I'm a private person," Kate said gently. "And I don't do youtube."
"That's comforting," Sheldon stated.
They looked at each other a little longer. Sheldon sighed and said quietly, "I guess your theory is more than correct. It's practically logical. Even Spock, I suppose, had to give into certain qualms in order to think straight."
Kate grinned broadly.
"Well, Sheldon, if you have no other theory then—mm—"
Kate was muffled for the very fact that Sheldon pressed his lips against hers. It caught her in mid-sentence but shocked her even more. She felt the softness of them. Her heart was beating out of her chest, threatening to burst through with no objection. Kate then returned the kiss and for a few seconds, they didn't break. Sheldon pulled back though and looked at her.
"Kate."
"Yes?"
"We may have to divulge in another theory," Sheldon muttered.
"Why is that?"
"From my initial experience and now counting this one, I feel that it won't be enough to consummate."
"What are you saying?" asked Kate. Although, she had a feeling she already knew. He wanted more. Sheldon didn't say it, but he kissed her again, this time, it was more forced and passionate. Kate returned it; the next shock was when she felt his bare hands touch her waist, and move against her skin.
"I sure hope with great conviction that this doesn't lead to coitus," Sheldon muttered.
Kate chuckled.
"Not unless you want it to," she pointed out.
Sheldon looked at her pointedly. He stopped kissing her but his hands remained on her waist.
"That was teasing, right?" Sheldon said hopefully.
"Yes, it was. Sorry."
"Shrewd." Sheldon replied coolly. Without warning, he kissed her once more; their lips touched with more pressure and longer. Kate knew she was probably pressing boundaries but his adventurous and scientific curiosity was egging at her to try something.
She briefly opened her mouth and then as her mind begged her not to do it, she touched the tip of her tongue to Sheldon's bottom lip. His reaction was unfathomable; he pulled away, staring at her. But to her anxiety, she couldn't read him clearly. The next thing that happened was not compared to what she expected. Rather than glaring and walking out of the room, Sheldon kissed her—his mouth overtaking hers.
Kate was breathless when she parted her lips and she tasted him in her mouth. They were slow but the make-out was constant. Kate heard Sheldon ever so softly moan when she playfully bit his tongue. Kate touched his shoulders, they were broad; she felt his hands on her waist and ever so slightly, he pulled her to him.
Then there was the constant vibration on the end table; her phone was ringing. Kate broke the kiss and began to stand up to get it but Sheldon seemed to have a different opinion. He took her wrist, pulled her to him, and her back collided against the wall; he had her pinned against the surface by her hands on either side.
"Sheldon, the phone…"
"Kate," Sheldon said—the way he said her name made her stop talking altogether. He'd said it breathlessly, but what made her stomach drop in lust and her loins to burn was that he sounded helpless.
Kate glanced at the vibrating mechanism that might as well have been several miles away from her. She looked at him.
"I guess the phone can wait." Kate murmured.
As though this was the invitation, Sheldon pressed his mouth against hers, the passion felt in the way their tongues moved. His hands moved from hers and moved to her hips; under her shirt, he felt her lower back. His right hand grazed over the tattoo embedded there and knowing this, Kate was practically bursting with desire.
Kate touched her hands along the front of his pajamas, and then wrapped her arms around his neck. To her surprise, he touched the back of her knees and lifted them, equally pushing her against the wall, hoisting them around him.
Another surprise was that she now knew what made Sheldon helpless, his tone evading the sheer confidence and control when the clear evidence was digging into the inner thigh of her Batman pajama bottoms.
The knowing that he was attracted to her that way made Kate softly moan in his mouth as the kiss became more passionate, intense, and never-breaking. It was as though it would never end and then, it did.
The door was knocked on only two sharp times before it opened and there stood Leonard and Howard looking livid. The entry of the two was immediate, and so was the ending of the passionate kissing. Kate lowered her legs to the floor and Sheldon turned around. Kate expected him to be indignant, maybe throw her to the side but instead, he was angry.
"I'm sorry," said Sheldon coldly, "but I can't recollect ever giving permission to enter the premises, more to the fact," he inclined his hand to the apartment itself, "how did you even get in?"
"We used Penny's emergency key," Howard said just as coldly. "Lemme get this straight; I get a five hour lecture between Bernie and my mother, and Leonard gets a cockblock from Penny because of that stupid stunt you pulled two days ago, and you're the one getting action?"
"Action is depicted as—"
"Shut up, Sheldon," Leonard snapped. "We came to say you had no right to tell Penny what I was up to."
Kate stepped towards Leonard and returned vehemently, "He didn't say a word to Penny; I did. And FYI, what Sheldon and I do in our apartment is none of your business. You could have at least called."
"We did call—three times!" Howard said. He smirked nastily at Kate, saying, "But now it's clear why neither of you heard it."
"My phone was placed on Vibrate," Kate retorted.
"Something else was placed on Vibrate too evidently," Howard said, chuckling, looking at Sheldon.
"That's it," said Kate. "You're getting another beating." She advanced towards the little man but Sheldon placed an arm in front of her.
"No, he's not."
"But, Sheldon…"
Sheldon gave her a look and Kate bowed her head sadly.
"Fine," She said quietly.
"First off," Sheldon began, "Kate's correct; I never said a word to Penny. And I wasn't going to say anything to Kate until she revealed to me what I considered to be loss of self-esteem as she revered that I was ashamed of her company, which was assuredly a misunderstanding. Secondly,"—Sheldon crossed his arms and said to Leonard—"While it may have set off ripples in your sexual relationship with Penny, I have no qualms in having intervened in your tide pool of deception."
"Well, I—" Leonard had begun but to Kate's delight, Sheldon wasn't quite finished.
"And lastly," Sheldon said coldly. "While you two"—he pointed to Howard and Leonard—"may deem it appropriate to enter a lady's bedroom uninvited, I will say otherwise."
With that, Sheldon walked out of the room. It was curious as to where he was going, so Kate followed after him and Howard and Leonard did as well. Sheldon walked into the hallway, through the living room, opened the front door and crossed the hall. It was obvious to Kate where he was going and to whom but the engineer and experimental physicist were ignorant.
That was until Penny stormed in and said disingenuously, "They did what?" Without remorse, Penny took Leonard and Howard by the ear and marched their hinies right out of the apartment with Sheldon on-looking disdainfully and Kate was laughing.