"I can't believe you talked her into putting Rachel on a plane by herself," Mark said, managing a smile, "Malucci, you shoulda been a politician. If you can talk Jen into doing that, you can talk the country into strip mining Yellowstone." "Nah," Dave said, "I couldn't stand government class in college. I don't think that I would live through one campaign if I were to become a politician," "Well," Cleo said, trying to keep Mark's mind distracted, "You certainly have the personality for the job." Dave thought about that comment, trying to figure out weather it was a compliment or not. Finally he just said, "What's that supposed to mean?" Cleo normally wouldn't bother to answer a question of that sort, but something on Dave's face said that he wasn't really in the mood to be asking them. He was just doing it for Mark's sake. So Cleo decided to go along with it, "Nothing. I just think you have a fitting personality for a politician. A Republican," She said, knowing very well that Dave was Democrat, but never bothered to vote. "Hey! I do not have a personality of a Republican. A Republican is someone like George Bush. I do NOT sound like him," Dave protested. Cleo smiled, "Oh, so Al Gore is better?" Dave didn't have an answer for that. Cleo had gotten him there. Luka didn't have a good understanding of American politics. He just sat there, listening to Cleo and Dave have what was clearly a fake argument, and watch Mark with Ella. Mark was holding Ella close, like he was afraid that he would lose her too. Mark was staring at his daughter, but wasn't really looking at her. He just locked his eyes on her, not really processing any thing he saw. Luka knew that feeling all too well. He remembered being afraid to lose someone close to you, being afraid for your child, for your wife. Luka stopped thinking about it before the image of his dead family came back to him. He preferred to remember them from the times when they were happy. The clock hands moved slowly. For the most part, Cleo, Dave, and Luka stayed in the exam room with Mark. Sometimes they would leave to see if they could get any news on Elizabeth. Each time, they got the same answer, "Still in the OR," Mark didn't leave at all. It was bad enough having the people in the same room with him feel sorry for him, but he didn't want to see the faces of his other colleagues. Not yet, any way. He knew he'd have to leave at one point or another. Cleo and Dave kept trying to keep a conversation going, which was hard, because they were running out of topics. Dave somehow kept coming up with one. Every now and then Luka would say something. Mark even said something once. Cleo and Dave talked about everything from grade school to Dave's old girlfriends. On the latter subject, Dave did all the talking. Normally someone would have stopped him, but today, they just let him jabber on. Dave wasn't really in the talking mood. He was just doing it for Mark's sake. He wished that Cleo would talk a little more, or at least bring up a new subject. He didn't have much more to say on mechanics. He had already gone through every girlfriend he had had from when he was in eighth grade on, to how he thought the president should be running the country. Dave stalled a little bit, hoping Cleo or Luka would jump in with something to say. No luck. There was an awkward silence, in which Dave thought that he would probably die from it. Luka and Cleo exchanged uneasy glances. They didn't know what to do. Mark certainly wasn't going to be depended on to break the silence. Just when Luka looked like he was going to say something, the shrill sound of a pager filled the room. Luka, Cleo, and Dave all reached for their pagers. It was discovered the pager was Dave's. Dave looked at the number. It was vaguely familiar as Jen's number. Dave turned the pager off and took the phone out of it's cradle. He dialed the number that showed up on the pager. "Hello?" Jen asked as soon as she picked up the phone, "Uhh. Hi. This is Dr.Malucci again. I think you were the one I talked to about Rachel coming to Chicago." "Yeah. This is Jennifer, otherwise known to you as Mark's ex. I got Rachel on a flight that leaves in an hour. Do you have a pen and paper?" She asked. Dave looked around. Not seeing any paper, he mouthed, "paper" to Cleo, who ran to the desk. Meanwhile, Dave was trying to explain what had happened to Elizabeth.

"You mean Rachel could be in danger if she goes?" Jen asked. Dave thought quickly, "Oh no. Mark, the baby, and Rachel will be staying somewhere else, most likely somewhere in the hospital," Dave knew he had lied, but something told him that until Elizabeth got better, that was probably going to be true. Mark wouldn't leave her side. "Okay. I'm not to sure. They will have a police guard, right?" "Most likely, yes," Dave guessed. He knew he was most likely right on that also. Jen sighed, "Okay, as long as there is a police guard, I guess she'll be all right," By that time, Cleo had come back with a pad of paper. Dave grabbed Luka's pen and said, "Okay go ahead with the flight information," "Okay," Jen said, "She'll get into O'Hare at 11:00pm Chicago time at gate C17." She paused for a minute, and was murmuring to herself, as if reading something. Finally she said, "Okay, who should I tell them to allow to pick up Rachel?" Dave thought for a minute. He knew that none of the doctors could leave, with this madman still shooting up Chicago. One of the nurses possibly. Dave wasn't sure so he said, "I'll call you back in five, okay?" "Right. Bye." "Bye." Dave hung the phone back up. Cleo, Luka and Mark were looking at Dave expectantly. He said, "We need someone to pick her up. We have to notify the airport ahead of time. Mark, I don't think you should go." Dave motioned for Luka and Cleo to come closer, so Mark wouldn't hear, "Okay, none of the doctors can go, with this whole. thing still going on. Maybe one of the nurses. Look, I'll go see who can pick her up." He said quietly. "Fine." Cleo said. Luka just nodded. Dave went out into the busy hall. Another gunshot victim had come in. He could hear Kerry and Peter yelling directions in the trauma room. At this point, Dave didn't even bother asking what had happened. He just went in search of a nurse. He spotted a cluster of them over by the admit desk. Dave walked over and headed for the closest nurse, who happened to be Lydia, "Lydia, did you know Dr.Greene's daughter, Rachel?" Dave asked. It took a minute for the name to register with Lydia's mind, but when it did, she said, "Oh yeah, Rach. Yeah. I knew her when she was little, why?" "She's coming out to be with Mark tonight. We need someone to pick her up at the airport. We need to notify the airlines ahead of time who's gonna be there for her. None of the doctors can go until this guy is caught and all these gunshots are taken care of. So, it's gonna have to be a nurse. You up for it?" Dave asked. Lydia didn't hesitate to say, "Yes." She wanted to get away from all the chaos. Usually it didn't bother her, but today it did. Dave quickly gave Lydia the piece of paper with all the flight information on it and went back to Exam Two to call Jen back again. "Dr.Malucci?" Jen asked as soon as she picked the phone up. "Yeah. A nurse named Lydia Write is going to pick Rachel up. Is there any thing else we need to know?" "Yeah. Lydia is going to need a source of identification like a passport or driver's license or something like that," Jen responded. "Okay. I'll tell her," Dave said, "Is there any thing else that we need to know?" "No, nothing comes to mind. I'll page you if there is something, okay?" Jen asked. "Right. Bye." Dave said. He hung the phone back up and went in search of Lydia. As soon as he stepped into the hallway, Dave could tell that a trauma was coming in. The nurses and doctors were running about moving patients, trying to make room for the people that were about to come in. Dave went up to Abby, and asked, "Please don't tell me that asshole didn't shoot some more people," "If I told you that, I would be lying," Abby responded, as she tried to move an uncooperative patient out of Curtain Area Three. Dave grabbed a nearby clean gurney and rolled in replacement of the old one that Abby was rolling away. Dave caught up with Abby and asked, "How many this time?" Abby looked over her shoulder at him and said, "We gave the EMTs Two major, ten minor. They're giving us six major, nine minor," she stopped the gurney just in time to stop it from bumping into the wall. After she had straightened it out, she said, "We need everyone, especially with two doctors down. Weaver's having Randi call in whoever's off and the other departments to get them to send down anyone they can, which of course is none. The good news is, though that Dr.Chen's going to be here any minute and Carter is coming right now. That's about it." Dave turned around and went back to Exam Two. As soon as he entered, he said, "Kovac, Dr.Finch, big trauma coming in. They need us out there," All eyes went towards Mark. Seeing this, he said, "Don't worry, we'll be fine," This didn't comfort Luka, Cleo, and Dave much, since they knew that he was lying. They had no choice though. They walked out the door, leaving Mark alone with Ella- and his thoughts.