House of Cards
Finally 2020 just got slam dunked! Let's hope its a sign of better times to come!
Chapter Eleven -
As the lights changed to red, Robert took his foot off the gas and slowly applied the brake, bringing his beloved Jaguar to a halt. He turned to admire his beautiful passenger and smiled as the morning sun hit her face just right, lighting her up. Beaming, she turned towards him and leaned in to give him a quick kiss. He had no words to describe how he felt in that instant, because smug certainly didn't come close to conveying how he felt. Then just as suddenly she withdrew her lips and pulled down the sun visor to use the vanity mirror, making some adjustments to her long, curly locks. She flicked her head to the side, sending curls bouncing just as she had earlier that morning. He couldn't stop the grin forming from ear to ear, as he remembered how she'd done exactly that same thing no more than a few hours ago while moving on top of him. Oh, yes, smug does not come close one iota right now to describe how he felt.
He closed his eyes and remembered waking up, slowly becoming aware of where he was and who he was wrapped around. Finding himself snugly spooned behind Elizabeth, his left arm and leg were draped possessively across her. He could tell from her breathing she was already awake, and tried to keep his own breaths even so as not to tip her off. However, the very proximity of her body to his meant his own had other ideas and decided to betray him. Elizabeth rolled over in his arms wearing a bemused expression. "Well now, someone's very much up and awake."
He gave her a shameless smile. "What can I say Lizzie, I'm not made of wood."
She giggled, and with a downward flick of her eyes and a wicked smile said, "No, you are most certainly not."
He brought his hand up to caress her cheek and lovingly traced it with his fingers. "Good morning," he said softly.
"Good morning yourself." She leaned in for a kiss, and he obliged her with his lips and closed his eyes, losing himself in her. Soft, light kisses had quickly deepened as their hands roamed freely and he'd felt her hand pushing against his shoulder, rolling him over onto his back. Then she'd rolled herself on top and spread herself over him. He'd gazed up at her, more than content to let her take charge as she lowered herself onto him and began to move him in exquisite ways.
The sound of a car horn hooting brought him back to reality, and he opened his eyes to see the lights had changed to green. He offered up his hand in silent apology to the driver behind and pulled the car forward, setting off again. As they rounded the corner, both of their eyes widened in disbelief at the sight before them.
"Bloody hell!" Elizabeth gasped, her nose all but pressed up against the window. "It's gone!"
He slowed the car down to a crawl so they could both rubber neck as they drove past where Doc Magoo's should have been.
"What the hell?" he muttered. The diner was completely decimated, burnt to the ground. He cast his eyes quickly towards her and smirked. "Guess chef burnt more than just the toast this time!"
She hit his arm playfully. "Don't be awful! I can't believe we were only there yesterday!"
He sped up and they carried on until he pulled the car into the garage and aimed for his parking spot. "Let's hope it's not a bad omen for the day," he said and cut the engine. Quickly scanning the garage for people, he leaned across and kissed her. It was meant to be a quick kiss, but neither seemed interested in cutting it short. Eventually they pulled apart and smiled at each other. She found his eyes with hers and brought her hands up to his tie-knot, straightening it out. "You know, as wonderful as your lips are there's something we haven't discussed."
"Which is?"
"How do you think we should play this?"
"I'm not playing anything," he said and pushed a strand of hair back behind her ear.
"Robert," she chastised. "You know what I mean."
He left his hand where it was and fixed her with his gaze. "How do you suggest we play it?"
"I asked first."
He shrugged. "I don't really see its anyone's business but ours, so I'm not going to go shouting about it, but equally I don't really want to have to hide in a closet either...I guess, really it's up to you Lizzie."
"How do you figure that?"
"You're the one who's going to get all the flak...they're gonna say you're crazy for seeing me."
She sort of half shrugged not disagreeing with him. "Well that's because they don't know you like I do."
"So what does that translate into in real terms?"
"I guess it means, we'll just be us like you said, and see how long it takes them to figure it out?"
"So, we let the mill run its course?"
"Yes," she said and kissed him to seal it. "What have you got on today?"
His smile transformed into a pained wince. "Kerry's paged me three times already, so I'll probably have to clean up whatever mess she's got herself into...and then I have a meeting with Anspaugh. After that, more paperwork delights I guess. You?"
"Relatively light I hope. I'm covering the ER and clearing my own paperwork."
"So, we may actually get to have lunch together then?"
"Yes," she smiled. "And you have your wish for a new venue. I'll come find you shall I?"
"More likely I'll come find you first," he said, pulling her into his arms and hugged her tightly to him. "I'm not waiting that long to do this again," he said, and kissed her again.
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Robert closed the door to Elizabeth's office with a little more force than necessary, and she looked up at him up from where she sat behind her desk. She leaned back cockily and smiled. "Already? I thought you'd last longer than," she glanced at her watch. "What has it been...two hours?!"
He pulled a face and smiled back at her but she noticed it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Are you okay?" she asked.
He shrugged and blew out an audible puff of air through his lips. "Seems I was right earlier."
"About what?"
"Omens," he said. "Turns out Doc Magoo's burning down really is bad ju-ju."
Elizabeth frowned and stood up, walking out from behind her desk. "Why? What's happened?" she asked and gestured towards the couch for him to sit.
He slumped down heavily and she sat down next to him.
"I'm not sure where to begin," he said, leaning forward resting his head in his hands.
"Just tell me," she said, getting concerned.
He turned his head to look at her. "Okay, bullet points…Kerry wants time off and Donald wants me to work in the ER!"
Elizabeth stared at him blankly for a minute, then shook her head. "Okay, start from the beginning.
He sighed and leaned back. "I met with Kerry first thing and she tells me she needs time off or she's going to have a breakdown…"
"Because of Keith Mitchell you think?" Elizabeth interjected.
He nodded his agreement. "I think so. She wasn't exactly chatty, but she didn't look great...so yeah, I figure she's probably being haunted by the ghost of past mistakes. So I've no choice really, but to give her the time off. Anyhow, so then I go to my meeting with Donald and tell him what she's requested, and in one breath he says, 'Oh dear' and then in the next says, 'perfect timing!'"
"Perfect timing for what?"
"I told you already...he wants me to work in the ER!"
Elizabeth's eyes registered her shock and he nodded his head ruefully. "Yep, that was pretty much my reaction too!" He threw a hand up in the air. "I blame Lewis for this! If she hadn't conned me into helping her out yesterday, Donald wouldn't even consider letting me loose on patients again! He tells me he's impressed with what he saw yesterday, and has convinced Legal and the Board to let me be a Doctor again...they want me to do some shifts in the ER, where I can wheedle out surgical cases. Basically save you actual surgeons from having to waste your precious time trekking down to the ER just for rule outs. No, I get to do all that and then call down the cavalry as required."
Elizabeth sat back and reached for his hand looking contemplative. "You know that's actually not a bad idea Robert."
"Well you would say that, wouldn't you?" he said, trying to keep the bitterness out of his voice. "Saves you time and manpower!"
"Yes, you're absolutely right, and if you were still the Chief of Surgery, you'd be championing for exactly the same thing!"
He stared hard at her.
"I'm sorry," she said. "That sounded horrible didn't it?"
He shook his head and sighed. "No, you're right."
She squeezed his hand and he turned his head towards her. "I'm okay," he reassured her. "I know it makes sense, but it just stings a little." He smiled sadly and her heart went out to him.
"So let me take the sting away," she whispered and leaned in to kiss him softly.
He closed his eyes and let out a small moan as she did.
"Better now?" she asked, pulling her mouth away a fraction.
He opened his eyes and smiled at her. "Much better, thank you."
"So, is it a fait accompli, or do you have a choice?"
"Oh, its a done deal. I mean, I'll give it to the old goat, he dressed it up nicely and sprinkled it with sparkly glitter but it's still bullshit…'I'm a talented doctor and its time to start healing people again. Time to embrace a new chapter, a new path...blah,blah, blah.' What he meant to say was the hospitals paying me a sizeable chunk of moolah and they'd like to see some value back for their money!"
"That's probably true to an extent," she nodded, agreeing with his assessment. "The Chief of Staff position has always been juggled alongside other duties. Anspaugh did it, just like you before your accident; and I don't have to tell you about county funding. Plus, you said yourself you're not happy being nothing more than an administrator."
He leaned his back against the couch and covered his face with his hands. "Lizzie, you know I hate it when you do that."
"When I do what?" she asked.
He peeked at her from behind his fingers. "Use my own words against me to make me see sense!"
"But you make it so easy for me," she chortled. "Anyhow, what you're not seeing is, he's actually giving you a massive compliment."
He snorted. "How'd you figure that?"
"It shows they have faith in you and your abilities." She pulled his hands away from his face. "Are you or are you not a doctor?"
He nodded.
"So then see this as a fresh start, and change your way of thinking."
"You mean forget I was ever a surgeon!"
"No, that's not what I mean at all! Robert, all your skill, all of your vast knowledge and experience is still in there," she said touching one hand to his chest and the other to his head. "Its time to hone it and learn new ones."
"But, it's the ER!" he whined. "What do I know about emergency medicine?"
"So then learn!" she chided. "Look Robert, it's a solution that works for all parties, and if anyone doubts you can do it, then bloody well prove them wrong! Instead of seeing it as some sort of demotion, which it most certainly is not...see it as another challenge and embrace it! You'll be out from behind the desk helping people again. You said yourself that's what you wanted. If you throw everything you have into it then I know you'll make it work...and if you're having a bad day and feel like quitting, well, I'll be here for you just like I am now."
He gave her a small resigned smile. "I don't really have a choice do I?"
She shook her head. "No, not really. How, errr, how did you leave it with Donald?" she enquired tentatively.
He grinned and pulled his head back a little to catch her eyes. "You mean did I tell him he could stick his kind offer up his a.."
Her pressed finger against his lips stopped him from finishing the sentence, and he kissed the back of it and lifted his hand up lacing his fingers with hers, squeezing reassuringly. "Don't worry, I told him I'd think about it."
"And did you tell him that nicely?"
He shrugged. "I was polite."
She smiled at him knowingly. "Hmmm...in that case, I think you should go and find him now. Tell him you've had a good think about it, and you're up for the new challenge."
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Robert stepped off the elevator and quickly scanned the ER. Unusually it appeared relatively calm and he walked over to the admit desk as casually as he could.
Jerry was occupied on the phone and everyone else seemed busy. Good he thought. He started to flip through the outstanding case files. Nope, nope, nope, no way in hell, nope...maybe. He picked out the file. Ten year old with earache? Simple, he could do that.
A panicked voice calling out loudly for a crash cart made him look up as it did Jerry. Spinning around he saw Neela over at curtains make a dash for the equipment in question and he threw the file back on the desk and hurried over.
"What's going on?!" he barked.
V-tach," a red haired doctor he didn't recognise said. "He's crashing."
Robert rolled his eyes at the lack of information and reached his hand to the man's neck to feel for a pulse. "Hey, can you hear me?!"
"Oh, thank God!" Neela said, clearly relieved to see a senior doctor as she arrived with the crash cart. "He's one of ours Doctor Romano...second year resident, Cooper. He was having a bad asthma reaction to fibre glass, and we pushed too much epi into him!"
Robert nodded.
"Charge to 300," red yelled, reaching for the charge paddles.
"What?! No!" Robert shouted, removing his hand from Coopers neck. "Are you trying to kill him, you idiot?! It's a stable v-tach, he only needs 50!" He looked down into the wide, panic stricken eyes of the patient, who was still trying to thump his own chest back into a normal rhythm. "Hey, Cooper, is it? Do you want some Valium, because this is not going to be comfortable."
Cooper's panicked eyes locked with his and he gasped out. "Just do it!"
"Okay tough guy, don't say I didn't warn you," he said, and indicated to Neela to give him the paddles.
"Charged to 50 for synch cardioversion?" she confirmed as she handed them over, and he nodded.
"Clear!" he called, and pressed the paddles against Coopers chest. As expected his body jolted and his long legs which had been dangling off the edge of the gurney, comically shot up in the air. Robert removed the pads and stood back.
"V-tach," red called out, and Robert looked up at the monitor.
"Okay, let's try 100," he said, nodding at Neela who made the necessary adjustment.
Cooper's eyes desperately tried to find Roberts. "Valium!" he managed to croak out, in a hoarse whisper.
Robert looked down at the strained voice. "Valium," he repeated and Robert half-grinned. "That boat has sailed my friend. Clear!"
"Oh my God, what's going on here?!"
Robert looked up to see Susan wearing a shocked expression.
"Apparently our residents are now trying to kill each other," he said and hit Cooper again with another charge.
Legs flailed again, and Coopers rhythm returned to normal. He looked down at him and nodded. "There you go...all fixed. Don't worry you'll be fine," he said, and handed the paddles back to Neela.
Coopers grateful eyes looked up at him and he nodded.
Red let out a relieved breath and Neela lowered her head doing the same.
Robert turned to Susan who was still shaking her head in bewilderment. She smiled at him. "Lucky for us you were passing by, huh?"
"Actually, have you got time for a quick coffee?" he said nudging his head in the direction of the doctors lounge. "I need to speak to you."
She looked a little surprised but shrugged. "Sure...it'll have to be quick though...Kerry hasn't showed up and, well you've just met my new residents…"
He grinned and shook his head. "Okay kids, I'm going to borrow your mom for a minute...try not to kill each other while we're gone," he shot out over his shoulder and walked with Susan towards the doctors lounge. "Remind me not to get sick anytime soon, if that's the calibre of doctor they're spewing out," he said.
"Tell me about it," she whinged as they entered the lounge and she set about pouring two cups of coffee. "At least you don't have to work with them everyday."
Robert grimaced. "Yeah, about that."
She passed him a cup of coffee and he nodded his thanks as they both sat down. Susan looked at him expectantly.
"Kerry's asked for some time off, and I've approved it."
She lowered the cup from her lips. "Awww, no! Please tell me you're yanking my chain! You've just seen first hand how crazy it is down here! You can't do this to me!"
He shrugged. "Actually I can. Look, I have good news and I have bad news."
"There's more bad news?!" she groaned. "Okay give it to me...good news first if you don't mind."
He smirked and took a sip of coffee. "The good news is you are now officially the Acting Chief of Emergency Medicine in her absence, and shall be paid accordingly."
Susan didn't look particularly impressed. "If you call that good news, what the hell is the bad news?"
"I'm going to be helping out down here from now on," he said quietly.
"What?!" she spluttered, snorting coffee through her nose in the process. "For real?!"
Robert raised a disgusted eyebrow. "Try and contain your excitement within your body if you don't mind."
She wiped her face with a hand, and grinned. "Hey, no I'll take the help...I just didn't think it would be up your street?"
"It's not," he admitted, leaning forward. "Look Susan, I'll level with you, I'm not really being given a choice. Thanks to you yesterday, Donald was witness to my reduced gimpiness, and so with Kerry going all sabbatical on us, he thinks its an ideal time for me to go forth and heal once again...so I'm gonna be doing a few shifts down here from now on."
Susan nodded. "Okay, well that's great...I'll take all the help I can get."
"Yeah you say that now. Look, I need a favour."
"What kind of favour?"
"The last time I did ER scut I had pimples and a full head of hair," he said, wiping his hand over his head for nostalgia's sake. "A trauma comes in I'm good, snot and diarrhoea not so much. I'm not up to date with emergency medicine, so I guess I'm asking for your help. If you could just, you know, discreetly check over prescriptions for me...make sure I don't kill anyone, until I can get myself up to speed?"
Susan nodded. "Yeah, yeah, sure, no problem, I can do that."
Robert nodded. "Appreciate that," he said and stood up. "Guess we better check they haven't tried to kill anyone else, huh?"
"Welcome to my world!" She got up and followed him out. "Hey, so now we're gonna be work buddies can I call you Robert?"
"You can call me Rocket."
After a split second, she laughed and shook her head. "Yeah, I'm gonna go with Robert if its all the same."
"What's wrong with Rocket?" he stopped and stared.
"I sounds too...intimate," she said and winked, then linked her arm through his and he registered surprise with a raised eyebrow. "This is gonna be a hoot."
They reached the admit desk and Susan started looking over the board. Robert absently picked up the file he'd thrown down on the counter earlier.
Susan turned around. "What you got there?" she said and plucked the file straight out of his hands.
"Hey," he said, and held up his hands in a 'what the hell?' gesture.
Susan quickly cast her eyes over it, then looked back up at him, shaking her head. "Okay rule number one...cherry picking is not allowed."
He snatched it straight back. "It is for me."
She reached for it again, and a tug of war ensued.
"I can do this all day," he said.
She squared up to him. "Yeah? Well so can I."
"Doctor Lewis?" Jerry interrupted. "Phone call for you."
Robert smirked and raised an eyebrow. "You're wanted."
She narrowed her eyes at him. "Look, I'm working the board today so I'll make sure you have an easy day...let you find your feet so's to speak."
"Fine," he said. "I'm still taking this though."
"Fine," she said and released her hand. "I'll let you have this one."
"Oh, you'll let me will you?" he smirked.
"Whatever. You can shout me lunch as a thank you."
Robert grinned triumphantly. "Speaking of, what the hell happened to Doc Magoo's?
"Fryer fire or something. Whole place went up last night."
Robert shrugged. "Shame. I was just beginning to warm to the place too."
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"Thank you Doctor."
Robert pulled the curtain aside and rolled his neck round, having just used his wealth of experience to remove a marble from a six year old's nose. He couldn't wait for the day to end so he could take comfort in Elizabeth's arms. He looked up and saw the red haired idiot from earlier about to tuck into a patients lunch.
"What the hell are you doing?"
The idiot pointed down at the patient. "He...he wasn't eating it?"
"That doesn't mean you get to eat it, you putz!" He strode over and pulled at the idiots ID badge, noting his name. "Okay Morris, what's his story?"
Morris suddenly resembled a dear caught in the headlights, and peered down at the clipboard. "Erm, err, Forest Herman," he stammered. "He's just snoozing off pain meds for lower back pain."
Morris looked back up at him seeking approval, and Robert rolled his eyes and mentally counted to ten, then directed his attention down to the patient. "Mister Herman," he began, "I'm Doctor..." He stopped mid sentence not liking the look of him and tried massaging the mans chest. Absolutely no movement whatsoever. "Shit," he swore, and placed his finger on the neck to check for a pulse. "Mister Herman, can you hear me?!"
"Please tell me he's just sleeping," Morris said, picking up on Robert's increasing anxiety.
Robert looked up and growled at him. "Not unless he's taking a dirt nap!"
Morris brought his hands up to his face and groaned, "Nooo!"
"Wait, I feel a pulse," Robert said. "It's weak...don't just stand there, get a crash cart!" he yelled.
Neela who was passing by jumped to it and Robert turned to Morris. "Bag him! What did you give him?"
Morris grabbed what he needed and started to bag him, his hand shaking. "Just Demerol for back pain."
"Jerry page Doctor Corday, stat!" he yelled out and grabbed an ultrasound.
Jerry nodded and reached for the phone, as Robert placed the sonar paddle on the man's chest and slowly moved it around, while watching the screen.
"Okay, what did I do? What did I miss?" Morris asked.
Robert spotted it immediately and silently swore. "While you were stealing his tuna sandwich, he was bleeding out from a tipple A you moron!"
They moved quickly into trauma two and Susan joined them. "What's going on?"
Robert looked up at her. "We have to stop meeting like this!"
She smirked and raised an eyebrow. "Triple A bleed," he answered.
"He's drifting down," Malik said. "You want more blood?"
"Yep hang it," he said. "This man needs vascular right now. If we can get his pressure up, they can do an endovascular procedure...I doubt he'll survive an open procedure. Where's Corday?"
"I'm here," Elizabeth said bursting through the doors and he looked up, unable to stop the smile forming on his face just at the sight of her.
"Lizzie! Glad you could join us!"
She returned his smile with her own and nodded. "What have you got?"
"Triple A bleed."
"Ohh, juicy," she said and rubbed her hands together.
He grinned up at her.
The connecting door opened and Susan turned around to see Cooper standing there. "Mind if I watch?" he said, dragging his IV behind him.
Robert scowled over at Morris. "Hey, tweedledum, look your buddy tweedledee's back in the land of the living! Let's see if we can save this one too, huh?!"
"You should be home in bed," Susan said to Cooper shaking her head.
"Unit six type specific is up," Abby said.
"Pressures down to 80/40. Shouldn't we start pressors?" Susan asked.
"No, he's not stable," Elizabeth said.
"Morris, grab some Betadine now and scrub it," Robert snapped. Morris jumped into action, happy to be able to do something within his comfort zone
"Ectopy," Abby called.
"Abby, kick that tray over here...ten blade to Doctor Corday now," Robert said.
"Scrubbed," Morris said.
Elizabeth looked at him surprised. "We're doing this here?"
He looked up and locked eyes with her. "You know as well as I do, he'll croak it before you get him upstairs...Midline transperitoaneal incision right here," he said pointing. "Drape this area here and here," he said to Morris.
She searched his eyes and saw in them the familiar steely, brown confidence from hours on end of procedures together. Rocket's back, she thought. She couldn't help it; her lips slowly spread beatifically until she was grinning ear to ear. Robert's own mouth mirrored hers.
Susan swallowed, and looked between the two of them. ""Err, you sure you don't wanna do this upstairs?" Susan asked worried. "Guys, my name is on the chart…"
"BP's still 50."
"Blade now," Elizabeth said, and held out her hand.
"Suction to Lewis," he called out as Abby passed the scalpel and he watched Elizabeth make the cut. Her hands moved quickly after making the incision, and spread the opening wide with her hands.
"There pull it down, Lizzie." She stretched further, making space and he reached in with his right hand. "You there?" she asked, her face close to his as they worked together, and suddenly it was as if they were back in the OR.
Without taking his eyes from her he felt around blindly, but knew exactly where he was.
"I'd feel so much better about this if you were actually looking at the patient!" Susan said, as the others in the room looked on with mouths open.
"Missed this, huh Lizzie?" he said, eyes twinkling.
"Just like old times," she replied grinning as the surgical adrenalin kicked in.
"Pressures still dropping," Abby called out.
"What are you doing?" Cooper asked, trying to get in closer for a better view.
"Either of you boys remember the law of Laplace?" he asked Morris and Cooper.
They both shook their heads and looked clueless.
"Stress on the arterial wall is pressure times radius, divided by wall thickness?" Abby ventured.
"Hah, you two just got nurse slapped!" he laughed. "Gold star goes to Miss Lockhart," Robert said impressed and smiled at her.
Abby smirked, clearly surprised at the rare compliment.
"Right angled retractor," Robert said, moving his right hand feeling around the abdomen.
Elizabeth retracted for him. "Bingo," he said. "I have the supraceliac aorta in my hand."
"Does that mean I'm not going to lose my license?" Susan asked.
"It means we have proximal control," Elizabeth said proudly. "You need a clamp or do you want to roll?"
He nodded. "We'll clamp. Don't want to give Donald a coronary on my first day down here, huh?"
"Agreed," she said and they exchanged another look. A quick procedure later and Mr Herman was stabilized for transport, and Elizabeth said, "Okay, lets go."
Robert nodded and moved to help Abby push the gurney out with Elizabeth. "That was impressive in there Abby. You should think about finishing medical school," he said.
Her eyebrows reached skyward. "Really?" she said surprised.
He grinned at her and nudged his head back indicating Morris. "Can't be any worse than.."
He was cut off as the doors closed on them and the other participants in the trauma room let out their breath.
"How wicked was that?" Cooper enthused excitedly and Morris shook his head. "What the hell was that?"
Susan grinned. "I think they call it foreplay," she muttered quietly. If today was any indicator of what working with Romano was going to be like, she was in for a hell of a ride until Kerry decided to come back to work.
TBC