DISCLAIMER: This is a work of fiction for which we will receive no compensation, especially since all characters belong to a different Stephenie. But this story helped save the babies, which we are all for.
A/N: Thank you to May. Also, thank the Lord ffnet, who has been down almost a week, fixed their crap. Sorry for the delay but that is why.
Chapter 32
"Cold-cocking a visitor in full view of the entire hospital?" Chief Carlisle fumed as he stormed back and forth in the conference room, glaring at Edward. "Potentially damaging a hand worth three million dollars a year?"
"Chief..." Edward said.
"Shut it," Crowley hissed at him. "You've done enough."
"And on the same day when we've got a high-profile client under our care and need to demonstrate that we can handle such an important yet delicate situation?"
"Chief..."
"And the person you knock out is the cardiothoracic surgeon specifically requested to consult on the senator's case!" Chief Carlisle leaned against the desk. "What the hell is the matter with you, Edward?"
Edward looked up. "You invited him here?"
"That's your question? That's your question?!" The Chief threw up his hands. "Do you have any idea what a disaster you've created?"
"Chief?"
He whirled around. "What?"
Administrator Cope stood at the door, unfazed by his rage. "The senator's family is here."
"Of course they are," he muttered.
"Go," Crowley said. "I'll get to the bottom of this."
"See that you do," Chief Carlisle seethed as he straightened his coat and headed to the door. "Get him an x-ray and make sure it's not broken."
"Yes, sir," Crowley said.
"Then get him the hell out of my sight for the rest of the day."
"Yes, sir."
Chief Carlisle pointed at Edward. "And get that goddamn ice on your hand!"
Chief Carlisle slammed the door behind him, but Edward didn't flinch. Crowley studied the composed calm in his eyes and tossed an ice pack across the table. Edward grabbed the ice pack and placed it across his knuckles, wincing at the contact. He spread his fingers, satisfied that his hand wasn't broken, and smirked.
"You are unbelievable," Crowley said.
Edward looked over at him. "Excuse me?"
"Do you even care about the damage you've done?"
Edward snorted. "I barely made a dent."
"What the hell is going on? You're arrogant, obnoxious, and self-absorbed, but you've never been reckless and you're not stupid. What's the story?"
"It's personal."
"Under normal circumstances, that would be my cue to leave. But the chief wants answers, and that one will not suffice."
Edward ran his healthy hand across the surface of the conference table in random patterns. He seemed disinclined to answer, but Crowley had orders. If he were honest, the longer Cullen sat in silence, the more Crowley wanted to hear the story for his own reasons. Namely that whatever could make Cullen snap had to be good.
"That... person," Edward said at length, his voice hard yet hollow, "is Emmett McCarty."
"Okay."
"He was a doctor at the practice where I worked in Chicago and my best friend."
"Okay."
"The last time I saw him, he was balls deep inside my wife in my bed on our eleventh anniversary." Edward glanced up then dropped his gaze back to the table. "My ex-wife, I should say."
Crowley's mouth dropped open, and he promptly shut it, not wanting Cullen to see his reaction. So much about Cullen – and the current situation – made sudden sense, and he leaned across the table.
"Did you put your weight behind that punch?" he asked.
Cullen looked up, surprise quickly yielding to blankness. "Yes."
Crowley nodded and came to his feet, heading to the door. "Well, all right then."
Edward cleared his throat. "Tyler?"
He paused in his tracks, struck by Cullen's tone and use of his first name. "Yeah?"
"No one but Swan knows," he said. "About Emmett. I understand you'll have to tell the chief, but..."
"Your body, your business."
Edward sagged in relief. "Thank you."
Crowley nodded. "Let's get you to x-ray."
***STYB***
Alice scurried to the second floor, finding Jake and Jasper leaning against the info desk across from the occupied triage room. "Got caught up with a patient. What happened?"
"Don't know," Jake said. "We just got here."
"Why?" Alice asked. "I paged you ages ago."
"Because someone had to stop off for the funkiest snack on the planet," Jasper said. "Dude, that's foul."
"I take it you don't want any?" Jake waved the bag of beef jerky in front of him, shrugging at Jasper's scowl. "More for me."
"Focus, people!" Alice clapped in their faces. "Dr. Cullen punched a stranger in front of Bella, and now she's in there stitching up said stranger."
They looked through the open blinds of the exam room, squinting to get a better view. Bella's back was to them, and they couldn't see the patient.
"Have you talked to Bella?" Alice asked.
Jake shook his head. "She was in there when we got here."
"And she was there when Cullen punched this guy?" Alice asked.
"According to Jessica who heard it from Angela who heard it from Zafrina who was working at the info desk..." Jasper rolled his eyes at the lengthy trail. "Bella was talking to the guy when Cullen punched him."
"What did he say to her?" Alice asked.
"Zafrina was on the phone," Jasper said. "But she said Bella didn't seem bothered by his attention."
Alice shook her head. "This is big. And bad."
"How?" Jasper asked.
As a nurse walked by, Alice lowered her voice. "Bella spent a whole week with Cullen without ruining her reputation. Nineteen days after their return, he decks some dude just for talking to her? That's gonna get the grapevine started all over again."
"And this time, there are witnesses," Jake said, polishing off his snack.
"Fucking Cullen," Jasper muttered.
The three interns fell silent, back to worrying about their friend.
"What do you think they're talking about?" Jake asked.
"I don't know," Alice said. "But I'd kill to be a fly on that wall."
Inside the room, Emmett sat still as Bella cleaned the wound on his cheek. It wasn't deep, but he'd need stitches to prevent scarring. She kept her face neutral, focusing on the work, but her mind raced. She never thought she'd meet Emmett McCarty, let alone talk to him.
Let alone nurse him to health after Edward slugged him right in front of her.
"You're quiet," Emmett said.
"Excuse me?"
"You're quiet." He popped an eye open. "After everything you saw and heard, I would think you'd have a lot of questions."
"Nope, no questions."
She carefully washed his wound, and he smiled. "You're also a bad liar."
"Well, you're mean."
"I've been accused of that before," he muttered.
"I didn't mean it like that."
"I know."
Bella continued her work in silence, pressing her lips together to keep it that way. She felt Emmett's gaze on her face, but she channeled the spirit of Esme Platt and schooled her features into neutrality.
"You know who I am," he said after a while.
"Yes."
"Then you know what I did."
She dabbed on some antiseptic gel with a cotton swab. "Also yes."
He turned to face her. "Then why are you being nice to me?"
"Because..." She turned his face away to access his cheek. "I took an oath."
"To care for the bastard who betrayed the man who's in love with you?"
Bella dropped the swab. "What?"
Emmett bent to pick it up, tossing it in the trash. He took his time settling back onto the bed, aware of her watching him.
"Well?" she asked.
"You know who I am, which means Edward must have told you. What I did..." He shook his head, his blue eyes clouding over. "It's not something one shares with just anyone."
"So?"
Emmett picked up a clean swab and the antiseptic gel, taking care of his face while Bella looked on. "You know, when Edward found me in bed with Tanya, he turned around and walked out, left the house and our side of the country without a word to anyone. He saw me talking to you - just talking - and split my face open."
Bella's heart raced, but she kept her voice even to say, "Feelings are complicated and don't always kick in when we expect or how we'd..."
"Bad liar, remember?" He tossed the blood-stained swab in the trash and grabbed another. "Besides, I saw the way he looked at you while you were looking at me, and he never looked at Tanya that way."
"Is that why you fucked her?" she snapped, instantly coloring and covering her mouth. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said—"
"Don't be sorry," he murmured. "I deserve your judgment and worse."
"It's really none of my business."
"It is, if Edward is your business." He studied her. "I suspect he is."
Bella looked down, her composed mask beginning to crack. "I'm, uh... I need to check on another patient, so..." She glanced out the window, grateful to see familiar faces. "I'm going to send in one of my colleagues to finish up."
"I hope I didn't offend..."
"Nope. Nope. I just need to go."
"Dr. Swan, I..."
Bella closed the door on his words, gripping the knob to steady herself. She spotted her friends at the info desk and ran over to them. They were on their feet and in her face, talking at all at once.
"Are you okay?"
"What happened?"
"Did he try to grab your boob?"
Everyone looked at Jake who shrugged. "What? If someone had pulled that shit on Swan in front of me, I'd've punched them too."
"No time for any of that," Bella said, waving off their questions. "Can one of you finish up with him?"
"Why? What's wrong?" Jasper asked.
"Yeah, B," Alice said. "You looked a little rattled."
"I just... I'm dreading the coming investigation about all this. It's going to take forever, and I want to get back to the senator."
"I'll take care of him," Alice said, her eyes widening as Emmett finally came close enough to the window for her to get a good look. "By the way, did you see a wedding ring on those big, beautiful hands?"
"Oh, please," Jasper muttered.
Alice whirled on him. "Excuse me?"
"I can count on one hand the doctors you haven't thrown yourself at," Jasper said. "Not to mention the staff at Seattle Pres and the patrons at Sam's bar..."
"And every hot guy in our building," Alice finished for him. "Your point?"
"Maybe you should lead with your brain instead of your body for once."
Alice gasped, gaping at him. "What kind of sexist, misogynistic bullshit are you on, Whitlock?"
"Don't know, don't care," Jake said, turning to Bella. "I'll take care of the patient while Harry and Sally do what they do best."
Bella laid a grateful hand on his arm. "Thank you, Jake."
He angled his head toward the exam room. "What's his deal?"
"His name is Dr. Emmett McCarty and..." She forced a small smile. "He can tell you what else you need to know. I have to go."
Bella fled down the hall and out of sight, leaving her friends staring after her. She should check on the senator and find Chief Carlisle before he found her.
But she had to do something else first.
***STYB***
Crowley waited just inside the x-ray room, his arms folded across his chest. He prided himself on many things – his intellect, reputation with his patients, and generosity in the bedroom, among them. But his most useful skill was knowing his interns, understanding them better than he let on.
Brandon would flirt with anyone that stood still long enough, which would piss off Whitlock, so Crowley never put her with attractive patients or put them on the same case. Hale would do anything for OR time, so she'd endure scut in the AM to cut in the PM. She and Black worked surprisingly well together, not that they realized it, and despite his crass conversation, Black's belief in patients' rights rivaled the Chief's.
Swan surprised him. Crowley knew she was smarter than she let on and could handle any specialty she chose. He'd guessed she harbored painful secrets, none of which were anyone's business, and admired her for smiling despite her sadness.
That she would be the one who caught Cullen's eye was a given – the arrogant asshole seemed to like a challenge, and Swan was that and more. But Swan accepting his advances was a shock that made Crowley wonder if there were more to the neurosurgeon than Crowley thought.
Today's revelation certainly suggested as much.
Whatever happened between Swan and Cullen in Connecticut was far from over and not just because Edward had channeled in his inner Mike Tyson and laid out a visiting physician in the middle of the hospital. Not even because their lack of interaction since their return suggested they were keeping their distance on purpose. But because Crowley knew people, knew how they felt before they did, and he knew Cullen and Swan were in deep with each other.
They just refused to admit it.
Which is why Crowley had Hale checking on his patients and was waiting here for a particular visitor. Not from the board or the legal team, but someone who held Cullen's future in their hands just the same.
So Crowley wasn't surprised when he peeked through the window and saw Swan rounding the corner at the end of the hall. She flipped through her patient's file then pretended to check something on a computer, her gaze trailing to the x-ray room.
When the hall cleared of medical personnel, Swan dropped the pretense and rushed toward the x-ray room, concern and confusion etched in her face. She reached the doorway and jumped back, nearly dropping her chart when she saw someone standing just inside the room.
"Dr. Crowley!" she cried, gripping her chart with wide eyes.
"Dr. Swan," he said evenly. "How are you?"
"I'm, uh... I'm okay." She looked over his shoulder, trying and failing to see inside the x-ray room. "How... how are you?"
"Quite well, thank you." He looked at her meaningfully. "Is there something I can do for you?"
"For me?"
"For you..." Crowley turned slightly to the side, his body angled toward the door behind which Cullen was getting his hand looked at. "... and whatever may concern you."
Bella followed his gaze, nibbling her bottom lip as he looked back at her. "Well, I..." She lowered her voice. "I do have concerns."
"I'm sure."
"But I don't know what to do about them."
"I've seen cases like that," he said sagely. "Cases where the issue is complex, and clear answers are hard to come by."
"So, uh... what is your advice?" She cleared her throat. "About cases like that?"
Crowley watched her, noting the feelings she couldn't hide. He wasn't one for sharing cheesy platitudes or extending sympathy, but neither was he heartless.
"I advise you to focus on your own case and let this one work itself out, Dr. Swan."
She looked down. "Right."
"This case may not be hopeless, but neither is it your responsibility. When you've done all you can do, you have to give the treatment a chance to work."
"Do you think it will? Work, I mean?"
"Only time will tell. Either way, the outcome is no longer on you."
Crowley didn't halfway know what he was talking about anymore, but Swan's face cleared and her shoulders relaxed.
"Thank you, Dr. Crowley," she said. "Appreciate the consult."
She strode down the hall with a different attitude, and Crowley sighed, relieved and exhausted. He'd planned on heading home tonight, but after the morning he'd had, he'd be phoning a friend with benefits for sure.
Hopefully Nahuel was in town.
Crowley went back inside the room where the technician was finishing up with a cranky Cullen. He had no idea Swan had stopped by, and Crowley would make sure it stayed that way.
"Am I done now?" Cullen groused.
"Hardly." Crowley glanced at his watch. "You have to meet with the disciplinary committee then our lawyers and..."
"Disciplinary committee?" Cullen snapped. "Don't tell me that sonofabtich is pressing charges?"
"I've heard nothing about that, but you were involved in a public altercation, and we have rules."
He shook his head. "This is bullshit."
Crowley wanted to say, "You should have thought of that before you threw that punch," but he thought better of it. Cullen hadn't been thinking of anything except the sight of the man who stole his wife talking to the young intern who had stolen his heart.
Fuck, did I just say that? Crowley thought to himself. I gotta get away from these two before I turn into a Nicholas Sparks book.
"On second thought, that can wait until tomorrow," Crowley said.
"What?"
"You're done for the day. Just don't let anyone see you. The Chief will have my ass if he finds out and not in the fun way I fantasize about."
"You're sending me home?"
Crowley shrugged. "You don't have to go home, but you can't stay here."
"I'm fine to operate! And I have a carotid endarterectomy scheduled this afternoon—"
"Which has been reassigned to Dr. Mallory, along with the rest of your patients today and tomorrow."
"What?"
Crowley pinched the bridge of his nose, and the x-ray technician fled the room. It was a well-known fact that nothing good ever followed a Crowley nose pinch, and she wanted no part of the coming carnage.
"I'm trying to help you," Crowley ground out. "The Chief is out for blood, the gossips are foaming at the mouth, and don't even get me started on how this clusterfuck you instigated has ruined my carefully scheduled day.
"With all that in mind..." Crowley smiled slowly, batting his long lashes. "Please get the hell out of my sight before I stick my foot in your ass."
Cullen blanched at the fury on Crowley's face, tossing a "See you tomorrow" behind him as he fled the room cradling his hand. Crowley rubbed his tired eyes, hoping to slip off to an on-call room for a brief nap.
"Dr. Crowley," came the monotone page over the loudspeaker. "Please dial extension 24433. Extension 24433, please."
There was no extension 24433. That was code for "The Chief wants to see you in his secondary office in the basement right the fuck now."
"Time for more good news," Crowley groaned.
We're gonna survive this, y'all, and we're gonna do it together. Take good care of yourselves and each other, and we'll see you in two weeks... FFN permitting. XOXO