Part 13

No one felt like going home that night so they agreed to meet at Doc Magoos after their shifts were over. Around about 9:00 pm, most of the ER staff was getting off and headed for the lounge to grab their coats. They all just stood mesmerized and silent in the lounge when they saw Dave's bicycle sitting there. Kerry said ," If I told Malucci once I told him a thousand times not to bring his bike into the lounge. He knows it's against hospital rules. He never listens. Malucci knows he's suppose to park it outside and lock it to the bike rack." She became extremely hysterical and Mark tried to calm her down but she kept screaming," Malucci knows better, why does he keep doing things like this!!! Then he wonders why I get so upset with him! OH GOD! He's gone. He's gone. My Malucci's gone! My Malucci's gone. OH GOD!!" ,she started crying and grabbed Mark into a hug. The staff tried to comfort her despite their own grief. This was the first time they realized that Kerry had a soft spot in her heart for Malucci. Jerry asked her if she wanted him to take the bike out to the rack outside. She said, "No, it can stay. I'll make an exception, at least for tonight."

Doc Magoo's started filling up with hospital staff. They still remarked on how different Malucci was outside of the hospital. Cleo said that it goes to prove it, that you can work with someone for 2 years and not really know them. They still had a hard time believing that Malucci was into classical music. He never seemed like the cultured type. Jing- Mei said she never realized that Dave was indeed intelligent, but he had to have some genius qualities if he was able to teach himself to play the guitar and piano and read music just by reading some books especially in the atmosphere he was raised in. Cheryl said when he learned about Allison and insisted on being part of her life he made sure she would grow up learning some of the same skills and had an appreciation for the arts. For one hour a day he would teach her the piano and she must have inherited her dad's talent because she learned fast and it gave them a common interest and time to spend together bonding. Now those moments were reduced to only memories. She also mentioned that Maria once told her that Dave not only had to overcome his abuse but because of that abuse and the number of times Dave was hit upside his head by whatever his Dad laid his hands on to use, whether it was a baseball bat, a hockey stick or a crowbar, Dave had suffered some permanent brain damage that left him with learning complications similar to those of dyslexia and aphasia. Maria told me that --Lucci use to read to her all the time and then he started mixing up and skipping words. He would squint and hold the book real close to his face. Then he told her fewer and fewer stories til they stopped altogether. Maria had thought he'd only needed glasses, but then when his speech started imitating his reading skills and he couldn't get through one sentence without stuttering or mixing up words ,she knew his eyesight was fine and that something else was wrong. About the same time he developed a seizure disorder. That's when Maria had realized his problems were caused by the relentless abuse inflicted on him by their father and that's why his handwriting was worse than any doctor's ever and his charts were mess. Kerry wondered why he didn't tell her about his brain damage. If she knew the circumstances, she never would have been so hard on him. Cheryl's answer, " That was --Lucci. He never talked about his past. He never asked for, needed or wanted anyone's pity. I think he was also embarrassed by it. Until the other night at the party, she never even heard him mention it , although she knew there was abuse in his family. He would simply hide it and I never asked him about all the scars on his body. I thought when --Lucci was ready to talk about it, he would. She knew him from high school and he never said word one about his personal life. Maybe --Lucci wasn't an Einstein or go to an Ivy League U.S college like you guys, but he used what he had and managed to get through medical school and become a doctor and I couldn't be more proud of him. All eyes focused on Kerry as she still couldn't help but to blame herself for Malucci's death.

The group had been discussing about Malucci's many practical jokes he pulled over the years. Most of them, Kerry walked in on, and at the time was furious but now she could only look back and laugh. Connie said that Malucci had a great laugh and smile. Cheryl had hoped that their son would have his daddy's sense of humor. Yosh remarked on the one practical joke that Dave had let him in on. Yosh had grabbed Abby from the hall and pulled her into a trauma room telling her that a psych patient was just admitted to ER and was freaking out. He needed her help. When she went into the room, she saw the patient with a pillowcase over his head completely out of control thrashing around and screaming. Malik was putting him in restraints. Well Luka walked by and heard the screams, he entered the room and saw the patient and grabbed a syringe, filled it with Haldol and stabbed the insane patient with it. Yosh's face had dropped as did Abby's and Luka's when the pillowcase was removed and it was Malucci under it. His joke had backfired which is something that never happened with a Malucci practical joke. Then Weaver walked in and caught them and pulled the five of them in on a lecture about the dangers of practical joking. In the middle of her lecture, you could hear someone snoring. We all turned around and it was Malucci. The haldol was starting to take effect. Weaver woke him and told him to go the lounge and sleep off the haldol, she would talk to him later in one of their many lectures to come. Well Luka had to get back at Dave, something no one else dared to do in fear of retaliation from Malucci and he was the best. Luka sneaked into the lounge while Dave slept and glued Dave's hand to his head. Angry at Luka for humiliating him like that, Dave still had to respect Luka for getting even. They all laughed. Then Peter and Elizabeth walked in and gave them an update on Carter's condition. They said he was doing great. He hasn't looked this well since before he had gotten sick. Dave's heart was strong and seemed to fit in Carter's chest cavity like a glove. It started working immediately like it was meant to be.

Lydia said that she couldn't believe that Malucci was really gone and they would never see him again. Elizabeth added, " Yeah, I keep thinking he's going to walk through the door any minute late as always and trying but unsuccessfully avoiding Kerry. Which makes me wonder, who would Kerry have to yell at and chase around the hospital now that Malucci was gone." Haleh said, " Well as far as I'm concerned , there will always be a little of Malucci in the ER as long as Carter still worked there. Mark said that was true then proposed a toast as everyone lifted their glasses. "To Dr. Dave, whether you know it or not you did good, kid. Your heart and spirit will live on in life as well as in death now. Thank you for giving us back one of our own and for all the good times. You made our lives more interesting....unusual... unique .... bizarre... hectic....fun. Despite what you think you were an excellent doctor, just inexperienced but we did love you, although we should have told you all this before. We will never forget you. Goodbye, to our colleague and our friend. God Bless You, Dr. Dave Malucci. We will miss you forever, pal." Everyone in unison, " To Malucci." Then they all just sat there in silence as they realized that this was indeed another Valentine's Day tragedy they had to deal with.

To be continued. Please read and review.