The Best Of Me
Carter rolled over and slammed his palm onto the digital alarm clock. No sooner than the music had shut off, his pager emitted a loud, incessant, bleep. He squinted at the luminous display and recognized the number of Anna's apartment. Grabbing the phone, he dialed her number and, as soon as he heard a click in his ear, growled down the mouthpiece,
'Anna, it is five-thirty in the morning, what do you want?'
'Just making sure you got up. I'm on at six, I'll see you at work.' She hung up, and he shook his head, trying to defog it. Twenty-five minutes later, he stuck a candle in a cinnamon roll and lit it with his lighter, carrying the tray through to his daughter's room.
'Happy birthday, sweetie.' He flicked on the light and Kat spontaneously closed her eyes again before re-opening them gingerly.
'Dad. What time is it?'
'Almost six.' He indicated the candle and she leaned up on her elbows and blew it out, then surveyed the breakfast, making a dive for the coffee.
'You need your caffeine fix, huh?'
'Yeah. I think I inherited that from you. Mom didn't drink coffee,' she added casually, starting on the cinnamon rolls.
'There's eggs too, if you want them.'
'Eggs would be perfect. Hey,' she called after him as he started back to the kitchen. 'Special occasion or something?'
He laughed, returning fifteen minutes later with scrambled eggs. Kat dug in, but as she did so, said with a certain degree of concern in her voice, 'Dad, you're being very nice to me. The rolls, the eggs. Is this a sorry but Dave called and I have to cover the ER tonight?'
'No, this is a it's my daughter's eighteenth birthday. Am I not allowed to be nice to you?'
'Of course you are.'
'I'll leave you to finish your eggs. Anna and I will meet you in the hospital lobby at six-thirty.'
She nodded and refocused on the food and caffeine, while Carter grabbed his car keys and went out to the Jeep. He had barely slid the key into the ignition when he got the feeling that he was about to be overwhelmed. Kat had been living with him for three and a half months, and he and Anna had been dating for a little less than that, yet he had now reached the point where he couldn't imagine his life without either of them. Did eighteenth birthdays make people unusually emotional, or was it just him? He didn't know. What he did know for sure was that it was now six thirty-five and he was about to be late for his 7am shift. He eventually raced in the emergency doors with about three seconds to spare, and was immediately attacked by Anna.
'Good morning to you too.' The kiss stopped halfway to her lips when the crackling of the radio interrupted them. He snagged it. 'This is County base, go ahead.'
'County, this is Unit 57, incoming with an MVA…'
'… ETA four minutes,' Carter shouted, ditching his coat and bookbag behind the admit desk. 'Prep trauma one, grab Chen, and notify the OR.' He pulled on a trauma gown and a pair of gloves and went outside to wait for the rig, armed with a cup of coffee. In his excitement at preparing Kat's breakfast, he had kind of forgotten to have any himself. Exactly three and a half minutes later, unit 57 pulled up, almost flattening Haleh.
'How many traumas?' Carter bellowed. Doris had been in such a hurry that she had hung up before he ever had a chance to get that information.
'One major, one minor.' The door opened in his face and he saw immediately that the minor was a little girl of about six or seven. He nodded to Chuny.
'Take her and get Dr Del Amico. Okay,' he turned his attention back to the major. 'What've we got?'
'Robert Maguire, 37 years old, driver. Hit the windshield on impact. Intubated in the field, crashed in the rig. Down time ten minutes. GCS is 3, BP 70 over 50, pulse and respirations absent.'
'Nice and easy, on my count, one, two, three.' He allowed himself a backward glance to the paeds ER. 'Is that his daughter?'
'Katie.'
'Let's get a CBC, chem 7, BA, lytes, UA, four units of o-neg, type and crossmatch for six.'
As Deb finished her recitation, Carter cut in, forcing thoughts of Kat out of his mind. 'We need a portable c-spine, chest and pelvis. Call CT and page the surgical resident.'
'He's in v-fib.'
'Charge the paddles to three hundred, push an amp of epi. Clear.'
'Did someone call for a surgical resident?'
Carter turned his head as he pounded on the guy's chest. He looked more like a third-year med student than a surgical resident, but he didn't comment, just said shortly, 'Right. You are?'
'Dr Ron Martin. I'm a surgical intern.'
An intern? Carter almost groaned out loud. He had been a surgical intern and probably done more thoracotomies than this kid could count. 'Charge to three-sixty - clear.' Almost an hour later, the monitor flatlined and he spoke again. 'Wait there, hold CPR.'
'Asystole'
'How long since the last epi?'
'Three minutes.'
'Can't you do something?' It was the intern.
'You can't shock a flatline.' His ears turned defensively and interestingly bright pink. 'I mean, can't we try pacing him or something?'
'Full arrest from blunt trauma, he's been down for over an hour counting transport time. That's pretty sucky odds.'
'Time of death, 8:03.' Carter shut off the monitor. 'I'll talk to the daughter.'
'I'll call DCFS,' Deb added. 'Haleh, would you please make sure that she is cleaned up?'
Carter hesitated outside the paeds ER. Anna saw him and came out.
'Is she okay?'
'She's pretty shaken up. Fractured collarbone, cuts and scrapes, nothing that won't heal. Her dad?'
'He's dead.' Carter had also managed to extract from Doris that the girl's mother was dead, but Anna had already been told this by Katie herself.
'I'll tell her,' he offered.
'Have you called DCFS?'
'Deb's doing it…' It had taken Anna a while to cotton on to the fact that 'Deb' and 'Jing-Mei' were precisely the same person. He continued. 'So, you know, she should get off the phone in two hours or so.'
He headed into the paeds ER. Chuny was putting a Band-Aid on the little girl's finger and he sat down as she finished up. 'Katie, I'm your daddy's doctor.' He faltered for a second and sent Chuny a look that clearly stated, "some days I really hate my job." Swallowing, he kept going. 'Your daddy was hurt really badly, and his heart stopped beating. We beat on his chest and sent shocks to his heart for over an hour, but he was hurt too much, and he couldn't get better. Katie, your daddy died. I'm sorry.'
A single, solitary tear slid down her nose, but that soon turned into a flood, and Carter found himself hugging the shaking form. After about ten minutes, the sobs subsided and she pulled away from him.
'Is he with my mommy?'
'In heaven?' Carter asked. He received a small, barely perceptible nod in reply. 'Yes, he is.'
'Then I guess he's happy now.'
'I guess so.' Carter sat with her for a while, and the rest of his shift passed by in kind of a blur. He took a couple of traumas, but they both at least made it up to surgery. At six, he signed off and was on his way into the lounge when he crashed into Anna, who was wearing a black cocktail dress and looking stunning.
'Did DCFS show on my kid?'
'Adele Newman came in about an hour ago, just after you went off.'
'Thanks, John.'
'No problem. Hey, where are you going?'
'I'm looking for Elizabeth. I'll meet you and Kat down here in twenty-five minutes.'
'Okay. Elizabeth was headed for her office the last time I saw her. And Anna?' He opened the door. 'You look beautiful.'
She nodded and disappeared, and Carter went into the lounge to change. He emerged with about two minutes to spare, after a vicious argument with his tie…
'Whoo.'
… and the first person he ran into just had to be Dave Malucci.
'Hot date tonight?'
'Maybe.' He pulled his tux straight. Glancing round the lobby, he almost didn't recognize Kat, and did a double take. His daughter was wearing a green dress, and, from a girl who practically lived in jeans, the effect was quite startling. She was standing next to Anna, overtopping her by a couple of inches. In the height aspect, she certainly took after her six foot something father. Julia had been tiny.
'Do I know you two gorgeous ladies?'
'Dad,' Kat said as they began to walk out to the bay. 'Where are we going?'
'You'll see.' Twenty minutes later the Jeep pulled up on West Van Buren Street and he led them into a tall building, where they took the elevator to the fortieth floor.
'What is this place?' Anna hissed in his ear.
'A French restaurant.' Her face was a picture when she saw the view of the river, but that was nothing compared to his when both she and Kat addressed the waiter in perfect French. At the end of the meal, Carter raised his champagne glass.
'To Kat.'
'To Kat,' Anna repeated, as they clinked glasses. She knew about the surprise Carter had lined up, but Kat had no idea until they pulled up outside his condo back at Lincoln Park and he handed her a wrapped box. She opened it and found a perfectly ordinary set of keys.
'Dad, these are car keys.'
'Oh. Yeah. Walk down the street and push the alarm button.'
'Okay.' She got out of the car and pushed it, lighting up the brake lights on a shiny Porsche. 'Dad?! Oh, my God.'
'Happy birthday, Kat.'
~~~~~~
'Thank you,' she said, when they got inside. 'And not just for the car. For everything.'
'I love you,' he replied. 'Don't wake me up in the morning, okay?'
Anna wrapped her arms around Carter's neck as he watched the retreating figure. When her door shut, he kissed her hard. When the kiss had lasted for a long time - much longer than any of their other kisses - he suddenly knew what was going to happen. He and Anna had been together for almost three months now, but had not yet consummated their relationship. His feelings were confirmed when a voice said in his ear,
'Maybe we should move this into the bedroom.'
'You sure you want this?'
'Mmm.' She nodded deeply. 'Make love to me, John.'
No one will ever touch me more
And I only hope that in return
I might have saved the best of me
For you.
So many years gone
With love that was so wrong
I can't forget the way it used to be
And how you changed the taste of love for me
You were my one more chance
I never thought I'd find
You were the one moment
I'll always have in my mind
No-one will ever touch me more
And I only hope that in return
I might have saved the best of me for you
And we'll have no ending
If we can hold on
And I think I've come this far because of you
Could be no other love but ours will do
You were my one more chance
I never thought I'd find
You were the one moment
I'll always have in my mind
No-one will ever touch me more
And I only hope that in return
I might have saved the best of me for you
No-one will ever touch me more
And I only hope that in return
No matter how much we have to learn
I might have saved the best of me for you
I saved the best of me
For you
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Okay, this was just a tad longer than I expected it to be, but hey, never mind. Hoping to do a double post sometime next weekend, so I'll see you then. Uh, yeah, I don't own the song The Best of Me, nor do I own the recording artist Barry Manilow. Go review!
Carter rolled over and slammed his palm onto the digital alarm clock. No sooner than the music had shut off, his pager emitted a loud, incessant, bleep. He squinted at the luminous display and recognized the number of Anna's apartment. Grabbing the phone, he dialed her number and, as soon as he heard a click in his ear, growled down the mouthpiece,
'Anna, it is five-thirty in the morning, what do you want?'
'Just making sure you got up. I'm on at six, I'll see you at work.' She hung up, and he shook his head, trying to defog it. Twenty-five minutes later, he stuck a candle in a cinnamon roll and lit it with his lighter, carrying the tray through to his daughter's room.
'Happy birthday, sweetie.' He flicked on the light and Kat spontaneously closed her eyes again before re-opening them gingerly.
'Dad. What time is it?'
'Almost six.' He indicated the candle and she leaned up on her elbows and blew it out, then surveyed the breakfast, making a dive for the coffee.
'You need your caffeine fix, huh?'
'Yeah. I think I inherited that from you. Mom didn't drink coffee,' she added casually, starting on the cinnamon rolls.
'There's eggs too, if you want them.'
'Eggs would be perfect. Hey,' she called after him as he started back to the kitchen. 'Special occasion or something?'
He laughed, returning fifteen minutes later with scrambled eggs. Kat dug in, but as she did so, said with a certain degree of concern in her voice, 'Dad, you're being very nice to me. The rolls, the eggs. Is this a sorry but Dave called and I have to cover the ER tonight?'
'No, this is a it's my daughter's eighteenth birthday. Am I not allowed to be nice to you?'
'Of course you are.'
'I'll leave you to finish your eggs. Anna and I will meet you in the hospital lobby at six-thirty.'
She nodded and refocused on the food and caffeine, while Carter grabbed his car keys and went out to the Jeep. He had barely slid the key into the ignition when he got the feeling that he was about to be overwhelmed. Kat had been living with him for three and a half months, and he and Anna had been dating for a little less than that, yet he had now reached the point where he couldn't imagine his life without either of them. Did eighteenth birthdays make people unusually emotional, or was it just him? He didn't know. What he did know for sure was that it was now six thirty-five and he was about to be late for his 7am shift. He eventually raced in the emergency doors with about three seconds to spare, and was immediately attacked by Anna.
'Good morning to you too.' The kiss stopped halfway to her lips when the crackling of the radio interrupted them. He snagged it. 'This is County base, go ahead.'
'County, this is Unit 57, incoming with an MVA…'
'… ETA four minutes,' Carter shouted, ditching his coat and bookbag behind the admit desk. 'Prep trauma one, grab Chen, and notify the OR.' He pulled on a trauma gown and a pair of gloves and went outside to wait for the rig, armed with a cup of coffee. In his excitement at preparing Kat's breakfast, he had kind of forgotten to have any himself. Exactly three and a half minutes later, unit 57 pulled up, almost flattening Haleh.
'How many traumas?' Carter bellowed. Doris had been in such a hurry that she had hung up before he ever had a chance to get that information.
'One major, one minor.' The door opened in his face and he saw immediately that the minor was a little girl of about six or seven. He nodded to Chuny.
'Take her and get Dr Del Amico. Okay,' he turned his attention back to the major. 'What've we got?'
'Robert Maguire, 37 years old, driver. Hit the windshield on impact. Intubated in the field, crashed in the rig. Down time ten minutes. GCS is 3, BP 70 over 50, pulse and respirations absent.'
'Nice and easy, on my count, one, two, three.' He allowed himself a backward glance to the paeds ER. 'Is that his daughter?'
'Katie.'
'Let's get a CBC, chem 7, BA, lytes, UA, four units of o-neg, type and crossmatch for six.'
As Deb finished her recitation, Carter cut in, forcing thoughts of Kat out of his mind. 'We need a portable c-spine, chest and pelvis. Call CT and page the surgical resident.'
'He's in v-fib.'
'Charge the paddles to three hundred, push an amp of epi. Clear.'
'Did someone call for a surgical resident?'
Carter turned his head as he pounded on the guy's chest. He looked more like a third-year med student than a surgical resident, but he didn't comment, just said shortly, 'Right. You are?'
'Dr Ron Martin. I'm a surgical intern.'
An intern? Carter almost groaned out loud. He had been a surgical intern and probably done more thoracotomies than this kid could count. 'Charge to three-sixty - clear.' Almost an hour later, the monitor flatlined and he spoke again. 'Wait there, hold CPR.'
'Asystole'
'How long since the last epi?'
'Three minutes.'
'Can't you do something?' It was the intern.
'You can't shock a flatline.' His ears turned defensively and interestingly bright pink. 'I mean, can't we try pacing him or something?'
'Full arrest from blunt trauma, he's been down for over an hour counting transport time. That's pretty sucky odds.'
'Time of death, 8:03.' Carter shut off the monitor. 'I'll talk to the daughter.'
'I'll call DCFS,' Deb added. 'Haleh, would you please make sure that she is cleaned up?'
Carter hesitated outside the paeds ER. Anna saw him and came out.
'Is she okay?'
'She's pretty shaken up. Fractured collarbone, cuts and scrapes, nothing that won't heal. Her dad?'
'He's dead.' Carter had also managed to extract from Doris that the girl's mother was dead, but Anna had already been told this by Katie herself.
'I'll tell her,' he offered.
'Have you called DCFS?'
'Deb's doing it…' It had taken Anna a while to cotton on to the fact that 'Deb' and 'Jing-Mei' were precisely the same person. He continued. 'So, you know, she should get off the phone in two hours or so.'
He headed into the paeds ER. Chuny was putting a Band-Aid on the little girl's finger and he sat down as she finished up. 'Katie, I'm your daddy's doctor.' He faltered for a second and sent Chuny a look that clearly stated, "some days I really hate my job." Swallowing, he kept going. 'Your daddy was hurt really badly, and his heart stopped beating. We beat on his chest and sent shocks to his heart for over an hour, but he was hurt too much, and he couldn't get better. Katie, your daddy died. I'm sorry.'
A single, solitary tear slid down her nose, but that soon turned into a flood, and Carter found himself hugging the shaking form. After about ten minutes, the sobs subsided and she pulled away from him.
'Is he with my mommy?'
'In heaven?' Carter asked. He received a small, barely perceptible nod in reply. 'Yes, he is.'
'Then I guess he's happy now.'
'I guess so.' Carter sat with her for a while, and the rest of his shift passed by in kind of a blur. He took a couple of traumas, but they both at least made it up to surgery. At six, he signed off and was on his way into the lounge when he crashed into Anna, who was wearing a black cocktail dress and looking stunning.
'Did DCFS show on my kid?'
'Adele Newman came in about an hour ago, just after you went off.'
'Thanks, John.'
'No problem. Hey, where are you going?'
'I'm looking for Elizabeth. I'll meet you and Kat down here in twenty-five minutes.'
'Okay. Elizabeth was headed for her office the last time I saw her. And Anna?' He opened the door. 'You look beautiful.'
She nodded and disappeared, and Carter went into the lounge to change. He emerged with about two minutes to spare, after a vicious argument with his tie…
'Whoo.'
… and the first person he ran into just had to be Dave Malucci.
'Hot date tonight?'
'Maybe.' He pulled his tux straight. Glancing round the lobby, he almost didn't recognize Kat, and did a double take. His daughter was wearing a green dress, and, from a girl who practically lived in jeans, the effect was quite startling. She was standing next to Anna, overtopping her by a couple of inches. In the height aspect, she certainly took after her six foot something father. Julia had been tiny.
'Do I know you two gorgeous ladies?'
'Dad,' Kat said as they began to walk out to the bay. 'Where are we going?'
'You'll see.' Twenty minutes later the Jeep pulled up on West Van Buren Street and he led them into a tall building, where they took the elevator to the fortieth floor.
'What is this place?' Anna hissed in his ear.
'A French restaurant.' Her face was a picture when she saw the view of the river, but that was nothing compared to his when both she and Kat addressed the waiter in perfect French. At the end of the meal, Carter raised his champagne glass.
'To Kat.'
'To Kat,' Anna repeated, as they clinked glasses. She knew about the surprise Carter had lined up, but Kat had no idea until they pulled up outside his condo back at Lincoln Park and he handed her a wrapped box. She opened it and found a perfectly ordinary set of keys.
'Dad, these are car keys.'
'Oh. Yeah. Walk down the street and push the alarm button.'
'Okay.' She got out of the car and pushed it, lighting up the brake lights on a shiny Porsche. 'Dad?! Oh, my God.'
'Happy birthday, Kat.'
~~~~~~
'Thank you,' she said, when they got inside. 'And not just for the car. For everything.'
'I love you,' he replied. 'Don't wake me up in the morning, okay?'
Anna wrapped her arms around Carter's neck as he watched the retreating figure. When her door shut, he kissed her hard. When the kiss had lasted for a long time - much longer than any of their other kisses - he suddenly knew what was going to happen. He and Anna had been together for almost three months now, but had not yet consummated their relationship. His feelings were confirmed when a voice said in his ear,
'Maybe we should move this into the bedroom.'
'You sure you want this?'
'Mmm.' She nodded deeply. 'Make love to me, John.'
No one will ever touch me more
And I only hope that in return
I might have saved the best of me
For you.
So many years gone
With love that was so wrong
I can't forget the way it used to be
And how you changed the taste of love for me
You were my one more chance
I never thought I'd find
You were the one moment
I'll always have in my mind
No-one will ever touch me more
And I only hope that in return
I might have saved the best of me for you
And we'll have no ending
If we can hold on
And I think I've come this far because of you
Could be no other love but ours will do
You were my one more chance
I never thought I'd find
You were the one moment
I'll always have in my mind
No-one will ever touch me more
And I only hope that in return
I might have saved the best of me for you
No-one will ever touch me more
And I only hope that in return
No matter how much we have to learn
I might have saved the best of me for you
I saved the best of me
For you
_______________________________________________________________________________________________
Okay, this was just a tad longer than I expected it to be, but hey, never mind. Hoping to do a double post sometime next weekend, so I'll see you then. Uh, yeah, I don't own the song The Best of Me, nor do I own the recording artist Barry Manilow. Go review!