Enter A Stranger
Part 6: Crossing the Bar
Disclaimer: I do not own ER or any of the characters that are mentioned in this story, except for Maria and Mykalla which are purely fictional. If you do not like this story please be a responsible reader and review it otherwise I will not know what you have to say. WARNING: Spoilers for season seven episodes up to "The Crossing"
Note: This is my first fanfic so bear with me, I am still trying to figure everything out. Thank you to Jeannine, Pami, and Clare who read this and helped me out with the wording, dialogue, editing, and everything else.
Summary: Mark and Elizabeth meet their new house mate and are forced to incorporate her into their lives.
"Lizzie; give her .5 of lidocain and get a saline drip going," said Romano. "We need to get her blood pressure under control. Stopped breathing, Peter how is the trachea tube coming?"
"It's already in. It isn't working," said Peter frustrated. "She's seizing!"
"What the hell is going on here? Lizzie grab the chart." Elizabeth tossed Romano the chart. "She never woke up after the surgery!??!! How come you didn't call me? Shit, V-tach. Crash cart NOW!" One of the nurses wheeled the crash cart over and got it ready. Romano grabbed the paddles. "Charge to 100... CLEAR." Again charge to 150... CLEAR. Again, 200... CLEAR." After shocking her another ten minutes the heart monitor showed asystole. "I'm going to call it. Time of death 16:32. Unplug the monitors, Lizzie." Elizabeth stood there in shock, not hearing anything going on around her. "Lizzie!!" yelled Romano.
She snapped out of her daze. "What?"
"Unplug the monitors We're done here. Somebody call transport, let's free this room." Romano pulled off his gloves and threw them into the medical waste bin. HE left the room, leaving Elizabeth and Peter in there with Maria.
Elizabeth was back into her quite mode of shock, Peter was removing the wires for the machines from Maria's body. "Go down to the ER," he said to her.
"Huh... I'm sorry, I must have spaced out. What?"
"I said, go down to the ER. Talk to Mykalla. I'll finish up here."
"Thanks Pe-tah. See you tomorrow." She left the room and pushed the call button for the elevator.
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Chleo walked into Exam 1 to check on a patient. She saw Mark talking to the other patient in the room. "Mark, when you get a chance..."
"Sure thing Chleo." Five minutes later he went around the curtain divider. "What's up?" he asked.
"There's someone looking for you. I told her to wait in chairs because you were with a patient but she totally blew up at me. Malucci took her to the lounge. You should go talk to her."
"Thanks Chleo." Mark left the room and walked towards to lounge. He pushed open the door and entered the room. Mykalla was sitting on the windowsill hugging her knees to her chest. She didn't seem to hear him come in. He crossed the room and approached Mykalla. "Mike; what's going on? Why aren't you upstairs with Elizabeth?"
Mykalla stared out the window trying to avoid the conversation. Mark sat down on the sill across form her. "Mykalla, talk to me, what's wrong?" She turned away from he window to face him.
"I was in there and I just... I... I couldn't stand to see her like that you know; with all the wir4s and machines and everything. I don't know why but I ran out of there and just rode the elevator for awhile to calm down. When I built up enough courage to go back, there were all these people around her-Elizabeth, Romano, Benton. They yelled at me to leave, and Elizabeth told me to find you. Then this one Doctor told me to wait in chairs, and I just blew up at her. I didn't mean to. Dave let me come in here till you were free."
"It's ok. If you want I'll call up and try to talk to someone and see what's going on." Mykalla nodded. Mark picked up the phone and dialed the extension for surgery. He was still on the phone when Elizabeth came into the room. Mykalla sat up expecting good news. Elizabeth shook her head slightly at Mark and went over to Mykalla. She looked at Elizabeth, but before anything could be said Abby burst into the room. "Dr. Greene, Dr. Corday there's a huge train wreck and we need you two out there now."
"Abby, Elizabeth's not on, go get Benton, and I have an appointment in a half hour. Tell Kerry to talk to me if there is a problem." Abby left the room.
"Mark, I'll go. Just explain everything to Mykalla." She left, and went to find Kerry.
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Mykalla was sitting in the lounge watching everything that was going on in the ER. From her seat she could see the TV in chairs, the entrance tot two of the trauma rooms, and most of the curtain area. She was sitting in silence trying to block out the painful events that had transpired that day. She watched as Chleo Malucci and Weaver each ran with a stretcher down the hall to the trauma rooms, as patients with less serious injuries mulled around, and as the nurses continuously ran from the trauma rooms to the supply room and back again. They all seemed to be in such a rush that Mykalla found it ironic that she was sitting there with nothing to do. She kept looking for Elizabeth, but wasn't surprised when she couldn't be found. Elizabeth had gone with Kovac and Carter in the Medivac to the crash site. Mykalla could hear Benton at the desk still trying to talk Carter through a double amputation. "Where's Elizabeth," she thought, "She should be doing that." Abby and Chleo ran past the lounge towards the elevators. Chleo came back with yet another stretcher followed by Abby with wheelchair. Mykalla did a double take; it was Elizabeth in the wheelchair. "Oh my God! What happened?" she thought. She got up from her spot in the lounge and tried too follow Abby, to no avail. She was in the middle of the hallway of exam rooms not knowing which one to go to. She saw Abby push an empty wheelchair out of Exam 6 and she ran down to the door.
"I'm sorry you can't go in there," Abby said stopping her. "You have to go back to the waiting area."
Mykalla tried to push past her. "But my sister is in there. She was at the train wreck. I need to see her."
"That patient is one of our doctors. She wasn't in the train wreck. Your sister is in a different room. If you go to the waiting area I can go look for her," Abby responded trying to lead her away.
Mykalla held her ground. " I said she was *at* the train wreck, not *in* the train wreck. And I know who's in there- Dr. Corday. Now can you please let me go see my sister?" Abby paused long enough to let Mykalla squeeze past her into the Exam Room.
Abby walked towards the admit desk. She saw Kerry standing by the elevators talking to Carter and Romano. She waited for them to finish their conversation and approached Kerry. "Dr. Corday is in Exam 6 with pre-term labor. I think you should go talk to her."
"Dr. Corday is an experienced doctor. I think she can handle the patient," replied Kerry.
"Ummm, Dr. Weaver, she is the patient," Abby corrected her. "She asked for you." Weaver nodded and started down the hall towards Exam 6.
"Call Mar," she called over her shoulder.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elizabeth winced in pain as another contraction hit. Between the emense pain and the hospital garb, she was quite uncomfortable. She heard the door open and looked up, hoping that it was either Mark or Kerry. Mykalla cautiously pushed the door open and entered the room. "Elizabeth, are you ok? I saw Abby bring you in here in a wheelchair." Mykalla could see the look of pain and fear on her sister's face. She crossed the room and sat down next to Elizabeth's bed.
Elizabeth was grateful for her company but wished she didn't have to be in the room. "After all she's gone throughout today, she doesn't need to add worry on top of it," she thought. Her thoughts were interrupted by yet another contraction.
Kerry pushed the door open. "Elizabeth? What happened?" she asked grabbing the chart.
Still in pain, Elizabeth started to explain what had happened. "I slipped at the crash site and I thought it was just back pain..." Mykalla listened as Elizabeth described what happened at the train wreck. She felt bad for her sister because of everything she might have done in the past few days that would add to her stress. Elizabeth finished her description.
"Ok Elizabeth. Just stay clam. I'll give you some Terbutaline to stop the contractions. Abby called Mark so he should be here soon. Is there anything else you need?" asked Kerry.
"No, Kerry. I'm fine, or as fine as I can be. I'm just a little scared."
"Don't worry Elizabeth we won't let anything happen to you or your baby. Mark would kill me if we did." Elizabeth laughed slightly but quickly winced in pain. "I'm going to go get the Terbutaline. Mykalla, can I talk to you outside for a minute?"
Mykalla followed Mykalla into the hallway. "How are you holding up?" Kerry asked her.
Mykalla paused for a moment. She had been telling herself that she was fine since about 5:00 that afternoon. "I don't know Dr. Weaver, I really don't."
"Please, call me Kerry. You've had a rough day, and it's not going to get any easier. We are taking care of Elizabeth, why don't you go to Exam 5 and get some sleep."
"Thanks for the offer Kerry, but I want to stay with Elizabeth, at least until Mark gets here."
"Ok. I'll keep the room open as long as I can just in case you change your mind. But when Mark gets here I suggest you get some sleep. Go back to Elizabeth, I'll be in with the Terbutaline in a minute."
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Mykalla awoke and looked around the dark room. She opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. The ER had slowed down, all of the patients form the rain wreck had either been treated, discharged, or moved. She looked into Exam 6 and found it empty. She went to the admit desk to try to find out where Elizabeth had gone. Unfortunately for Mykalla, the only one who she could ask was Dr. Finch. "Excuse me, Dr. Finch," she said cautiously.
Chleo looked up from the chart she was reading. "Did you find Dr. Greene?" she asked, still a little annoyed about their earlier confrontation.
"Yes I did, thank you. I am really sorry about blowing up at you like that. Lizbet told me to find him and stay here. I didn't mean to explode or anything, I was just really frustrated."
"It's ok. Do you need anything?" asked Chleo, trying to be nice to her.
"Yes I do, actually. Do you know where they moved my sister?"
"Not off the top of my head. What's your sister's name, I can check the records."
"Elizabeth Corday," she replied. Chleo suddenly remembered where she had seen the girl before; Friday night when she cam in with Elizabeth.
"She was moved up to the OB wing. I'm on break right now, I'll take you up if you want."
"Yeah thanks." The two headed towards the elevators and up to the sixth floor.
TO BE CONTINUED
Part 6: Crossing the Bar
Disclaimer: I do not own ER or any of the characters that are mentioned in this story, except for Maria and Mykalla which are purely fictional. If you do not like this story please be a responsible reader and review it otherwise I will not know what you have to say. WARNING: Spoilers for season seven episodes up to "The Crossing"
Note: This is my first fanfic so bear with me, I am still trying to figure everything out. Thank you to Jeannine, Pami, and Clare who read this and helped me out with the wording, dialogue, editing, and everything else.
Summary: Mark and Elizabeth meet their new house mate and are forced to incorporate her into their lives.
"Lizzie; give her .5 of lidocain and get a saline drip going," said Romano. "We need to get her blood pressure under control. Stopped breathing, Peter how is the trachea tube coming?"
"It's already in. It isn't working," said Peter frustrated. "She's seizing!"
"What the hell is going on here? Lizzie grab the chart." Elizabeth tossed Romano the chart. "She never woke up after the surgery!??!! How come you didn't call me? Shit, V-tach. Crash cart NOW!" One of the nurses wheeled the crash cart over and got it ready. Romano grabbed the paddles. "Charge to 100... CLEAR." Again charge to 150... CLEAR. Again, 200... CLEAR." After shocking her another ten minutes the heart monitor showed asystole. "I'm going to call it. Time of death 16:32. Unplug the monitors, Lizzie." Elizabeth stood there in shock, not hearing anything going on around her. "Lizzie!!" yelled Romano.
She snapped out of her daze. "What?"
"Unplug the monitors We're done here. Somebody call transport, let's free this room." Romano pulled off his gloves and threw them into the medical waste bin. HE left the room, leaving Elizabeth and Peter in there with Maria.
Elizabeth was back into her quite mode of shock, Peter was removing the wires for the machines from Maria's body. "Go down to the ER," he said to her.
"Huh... I'm sorry, I must have spaced out. What?"
"I said, go down to the ER. Talk to Mykalla. I'll finish up here."
"Thanks Pe-tah. See you tomorrow." She left the room and pushed the call button for the elevator.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chleo walked into Exam 1 to check on a patient. She saw Mark talking to the other patient in the room. "Mark, when you get a chance..."
"Sure thing Chleo." Five minutes later he went around the curtain divider. "What's up?" he asked.
"There's someone looking for you. I told her to wait in chairs because you were with a patient but she totally blew up at me. Malucci took her to the lounge. You should go talk to her."
"Thanks Chleo." Mark left the room and walked towards to lounge. He pushed open the door and entered the room. Mykalla was sitting on the windowsill hugging her knees to her chest. She didn't seem to hear him come in. He crossed the room and approached Mykalla. "Mike; what's going on? Why aren't you upstairs with Elizabeth?"
Mykalla stared out the window trying to avoid the conversation. Mark sat down on the sill across form her. "Mykalla, talk to me, what's wrong?" She turned away from he window to face him.
"I was in there and I just... I... I couldn't stand to see her like that you know; with all the wir4s and machines and everything. I don't know why but I ran out of there and just rode the elevator for awhile to calm down. When I built up enough courage to go back, there were all these people around her-Elizabeth, Romano, Benton. They yelled at me to leave, and Elizabeth told me to find you. Then this one Doctor told me to wait in chairs, and I just blew up at her. I didn't mean to. Dave let me come in here till you were free."
"It's ok. If you want I'll call up and try to talk to someone and see what's going on." Mykalla nodded. Mark picked up the phone and dialed the extension for surgery. He was still on the phone when Elizabeth came into the room. Mykalla sat up expecting good news. Elizabeth shook her head slightly at Mark and went over to Mykalla. She looked at Elizabeth, but before anything could be said Abby burst into the room. "Dr. Greene, Dr. Corday there's a huge train wreck and we need you two out there now."
"Abby, Elizabeth's not on, go get Benton, and I have an appointment in a half hour. Tell Kerry to talk to me if there is a problem." Abby left the room.
"Mark, I'll go. Just explain everything to Mykalla." She left, and went to find Kerry.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mykalla was sitting in the lounge watching everything that was going on in the ER. From her seat she could see the TV in chairs, the entrance tot two of the trauma rooms, and most of the curtain area. She was sitting in silence trying to block out the painful events that had transpired that day. She watched as Chleo Malucci and Weaver each ran with a stretcher down the hall to the trauma rooms, as patients with less serious injuries mulled around, and as the nurses continuously ran from the trauma rooms to the supply room and back again. They all seemed to be in such a rush that Mykalla found it ironic that she was sitting there with nothing to do. She kept looking for Elizabeth, but wasn't surprised when she couldn't be found. Elizabeth had gone with Kovac and Carter in the Medivac to the crash site. Mykalla could hear Benton at the desk still trying to talk Carter through a double amputation. "Where's Elizabeth," she thought, "She should be doing that." Abby and Chleo ran past the lounge towards the elevators. Chleo came back with yet another stretcher followed by Abby with wheelchair. Mykalla did a double take; it was Elizabeth in the wheelchair. "Oh my God! What happened?" she thought. She got up from her spot in the lounge and tried too follow Abby, to no avail. She was in the middle of the hallway of exam rooms not knowing which one to go to. She saw Abby push an empty wheelchair out of Exam 6 and she ran down to the door.
"I'm sorry you can't go in there," Abby said stopping her. "You have to go back to the waiting area."
Mykalla tried to push past her. "But my sister is in there. She was at the train wreck. I need to see her."
"That patient is one of our doctors. She wasn't in the train wreck. Your sister is in a different room. If you go to the waiting area I can go look for her," Abby responded trying to lead her away.
Mykalla held her ground. " I said she was *at* the train wreck, not *in* the train wreck. And I know who's in there- Dr. Corday. Now can you please let me go see my sister?" Abby paused long enough to let Mykalla squeeze past her into the Exam Room.
Abby walked towards the admit desk. She saw Kerry standing by the elevators talking to Carter and Romano. She waited for them to finish their conversation and approached Kerry. "Dr. Corday is in Exam 6 with pre-term labor. I think you should go talk to her."
"Dr. Corday is an experienced doctor. I think she can handle the patient," replied Kerry.
"Ummm, Dr. Weaver, she is the patient," Abby corrected her. "She asked for you." Weaver nodded and started down the hall towards Exam 6.
"Call Mar," she called over her shoulder.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Elizabeth winced in pain as another contraction hit. Between the emense pain and the hospital garb, she was quite uncomfortable. She heard the door open and looked up, hoping that it was either Mark or Kerry. Mykalla cautiously pushed the door open and entered the room. "Elizabeth, are you ok? I saw Abby bring you in here in a wheelchair." Mykalla could see the look of pain and fear on her sister's face. She crossed the room and sat down next to Elizabeth's bed.
Elizabeth was grateful for her company but wished she didn't have to be in the room. "After all she's gone throughout today, she doesn't need to add worry on top of it," she thought. Her thoughts were interrupted by yet another contraction.
Kerry pushed the door open. "Elizabeth? What happened?" she asked grabbing the chart.
Still in pain, Elizabeth started to explain what had happened. "I slipped at the crash site and I thought it was just back pain..." Mykalla listened as Elizabeth described what happened at the train wreck. She felt bad for her sister because of everything she might have done in the past few days that would add to her stress. Elizabeth finished her description.
"Ok Elizabeth. Just stay clam. I'll give you some Terbutaline to stop the contractions. Abby called Mark so he should be here soon. Is there anything else you need?" asked Kerry.
"No, Kerry. I'm fine, or as fine as I can be. I'm just a little scared."
"Don't worry Elizabeth we won't let anything happen to you or your baby. Mark would kill me if we did." Elizabeth laughed slightly but quickly winced in pain. "I'm going to go get the Terbutaline. Mykalla, can I talk to you outside for a minute?"
Mykalla followed Mykalla into the hallway. "How are you holding up?" Kerry asked her.
Mykalla paused for a moment. She had been telling herself that she was fine since about 5:00 that afternoon. "I don't know Dr. Weaver, I really don't."
"Please, call me Kerry. You've had a rough day, and it's not going to get any easier. We are taking care of Elizabeth, why don't you go to Exam 5 and get some sleep."
"Thanks for the offer Kerry, but I want to stay with Elizabeth, at least until Mark gets here."
"Ok. I'll keep the room open as long as I can just in case you change your mind. But when Mark gets here I suggest you get some sleep. Go back to Elizabeth, I'll be in with the Terbutaline in a minute."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mykalla awoke and looked around the dark room. She opened the door and stepped out into the hallway. The ER had slowed down, all of the patients form the rain wreck had either been treated, discharged, or moved. She looked into Exam 6 and found it empty. She went to the admit desk to try to find out where Elizabeth had gone. Unfortunately for Mykalla, the only one who she could ask was Dr. Finch. "Excuse me, Dr. Finch," she said cautiously.
Chleo looked up from the chart she was reading. "Did you find Dr. Greene?" she asked, still a little annoyed about their earlier confrontation.
"Yes I did, thank you. I am really sorry about blowing up at you like that. Lizbet told me to find him and stay here. I didn't mean to explode or anything, I was just really frustrated."
"It's ok. Do you need anything?" asked Chleo, trying to be nice to her.
"Yes I do, actually. Do you know where they moved my sister?"
"Not off the top of my head. What's your sister's name, I can check the records."
"Elizabeth Corday," she replied. Chleo suddenly remembered where she had seen the girl before; Friday night when she cam in with Elizabeth.
"She was moved up to the OB wing. I'm on break right now, I'll take you up if you want."
"Yeah thanks." The two headed towards the elevators and up to the sixth floor.
TO BE CONTINUED