"Rock Bottom"

Part 3

Spoilers: Season 6

Disclaimer: ER and all its characters belong to NBC etc and no infringement of their copyright is intended.

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Dr Robert Romano was happy. No scratch that he was more than happy, he was ecstatic. As he walked down the long surgical hallway he could not help the grin that manifested on his face every time he mentally reread the letter that was now secured tightly in his briefcase. After months of determined wrangling he had finally managed to convince Paula, the reporter from the Gazette, to return to the hospital and conduct a second interview, only this time with him in the question seat.

Putting Elizabeth Corday in control of the previous interview had only resulted in unfavourable publicity for County and her picture plastered all over the front page.

He tightened his grip on his raincoat and grimaced remembering his utter bafflement

and anger at discovering his minute picture next to the obituaries of all places.

What was supposed to have tooted the horn of County and the dedicated new Chief of Staff, had only resulted in a detailed description of a violent shootout in the ER and a ER resident clamping his first aortic rupture on an eight year old.

He shook his head quickly as if shaking the painful memories away.

* No matter Robert, this time you will certainly make up for it. What woman can resist The Rocket? *

As he turned an abrupt corner he chuckled to himself thinking about his handsome profile in the rightful position on the front page.

"Ah Lizzie!" He exclaimed as the female surgeon suddenly exited the changing rooms up ahead. "And how are we on this beautiful morning?" He asked falling quickly into pace with her.

"Good morning Robert," Elizabeth replied a hint of confusion evident in her voice as they continued down the hallway. "I'm very well thank you."

"Great! Got any hot ones this morning?"

"Well I'm just about to go and scrub for an appy actually."

"An appy? Oh. Well have fun slicing and dicing." He commented as they soon arrived at the ORs. Manoeuvring around a passing porter and gurney he bid his farewells to the female surgeon then continued on his way to his office.

"Uh thank you Robert." Elizabeth replied pausing with bewilderment as she watched the male surgeon round the corner. He was awfully happy. Too happy. The theme from The Twilight Zone started to play in her head and she giggled to herself.

"See you later Lizzie for lunch," He shouted over his shoulder, chuckling. However his broad smile soon was wiped off of his face when he came face to face with two smartly dressed men standing outside his office, reeking of authority.

"Robert Romano?" One of them asked, looking him up and down before frowning.

"Dr Robert Romano, yes?" The surgeon replied, not giving an inch.

"We represent Lincoln and McDermott, Attorneys at Law." The taller man declared giving Romano one of their business cards. "May we have a moment of your time please?"

"What's this all about?"

"I do not think the hallway is an appropriate place to discuss this matter, do you doctor?" The man answered with a hint of disdain.

*Arrogant son of a …* "No of course not. Why don't we go into my office then? We will be more comfortable in there." The surgeon offered as he pointed his free hand to show the way.

"Thank you."

Fifteen minutes later the wooden office door slammed open and a red faced Romano stormed over to his shocked receptionist.

"Get Kerry Weaver up here NOW!"

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Kerry Weaver sighed deeply as she slowly made her way into the ambulance bay. What a morning it was, she contemplated as she glanced up at the overcast sky. The wind was tearing at her body like a vacum and she had trouble maintaining her balance with her crutch.

Anticipation was rising in her tense muscles as she imagined what she would confront this morning in the hospital. Would John have changed his mind? Had he come back to talk to her? She hadn't slept much last night, tossing and turning as she pondered all the questions her frantic mind kept asking. She could only hope, she thought as she paused to let the electric doors slide open.

She caught sight of her reflection in the glass and winced slightly at her exhausted features. She absently ran her cold hand through her hair as she prayed that this day went a lot better than the previous one.

Undoing her long coat she silently crutched over towards the admit desk, taking in the empty waiting area and the quietness of the desk. She furtively glanced around the ER, craning her neck to try and find any sign of Carter.

"Amira, has Carter been in today?" She queried.

"No his shift isn't till later. I thought you would know that." The dark haired woman replied giving Kerry her small pile of messages before saying:

"Oh Dr Romano wants to see you in his office immediately. He said if you were not told the moment you stepped through the door, I should consider myself fired."

Kerry's head shot up instantly and she stared open mouthed at the dark haired receptionist. She mentally repeated what Amira had told her as her mind ticked over with all the reasons why she had been summoned upstairs.

Romano wanted to see her straight away, which did not bode well. He couldn't possibly know what had happened yesterday could he? Unless one of the others had told him, but she had specifically requested for absolute discretion regarding this matter, surely they wouldn't have disobeyed her.

"Dr Weaver?"

Amira's voice roused her from her worried trail of thought.

"Aren't you going? It sounded very important."

"Yes thank you Amira." She snapped and then turned around and marched off in the direction of the doctor's lounge. She pushed the wooden door open and crossed the small room before nervously dialling the familiar combination of her locker and shrugging her long coat off her weary shoulders.

After routinely straightening her crisp white coat Kerry headed off towards the elevators. She pressed her hand against the round button and anxiously tapped her foot on the floor worrying about what she was supposed to say. What if Carter came in today asking for their help and support, saying he had made a grave mistake, and she had told Romano everything? She doubted that Romano would respond as sympathetically as the others and herself had done. But then again what if Carter didn't appear? She couldn't be expected to keep his job open for him indefinitely. And how would she explain his departure?

There was also the fact that Romano wouldn't be happy about his exclusion from the intervention. How would she account for that?

Kerry quickly swallowed hard trying to regain her somewhat composure. She would just have to look on the bright side and hope that Romano was none the wiser about yesterday's events. Perhaps this meeting was just to discuss the summer budget instead.

When the elevator finally appeared she quickly stepped inside and selected the button for the fourth floor. As she watched the metal doors close and the lights above her head indicating the floor level increase, she fiddled absently with the buttons on her blouse.

She prayed that this meeting would be brief, as she needed to get back to the ER to keep her eyes and ears open for John. She wanted to speak with him straightaway if he did appear and try and sort the situation out, amicably.

When she heard the familiar bing of the lift she took a deep breath and slowly stepped out. Walking down the empty corridor she tried to eradicate any last minute nerves appearing.

The female doctor arrived at Romano's door fairly quickly and took a moment's pause before skipping into her well practised façade. Straightening the creases out of her jacket she swallowed hard and then knocked twice on the wooden door before entering.

"Hello Sheila, Robert wanted to see me. Is it alright to go straight in?" Kerry asked the blond haired receptionist.

"Morning Kerry. You can go in now, he is expecting you." Sheila replied.

"Thank you." Kerry responded and stepped over towards the door.

"Robert?" she asked, knocking on the frosted glass window before peeking her head around the door.

He wheeled his chair round to greet her. "Kerry." He said smiling warmly. "Please do come in."

This greeting threw Kerry immediately; something was not right. Why was he so happy and so pleased to see her, unless she was just misreading him? She looked closely at his face examining his features; his smile to her was a little too broad and didn't quite reach his eyes. It made her wonder what exactly was hidden behind that smile.

"Please take a seat." Romano said motioning towards the leather chair in front of his desk before crossing his arms against his chest and leaning backwards.

Kerry lowered her stiff body into the seat in front of her, all the while keeping her eyes locked on Romano.

"Is…" Kerry croaked out before taking a quick cough and continuing. "Is something the matter Robert?"

"Matter? What could possibly be the matter?" he replied clasping his hands together in front of him and examining them. "I mean just because I arrived at work today to discover two snotty nosed lawyers waiting for me at my office, why would anything be the matter?"

"Lawyers?" Kerry queried, inwardly smiling. This couldn't have anything to do with John then. Her mind raced with notions as she replayed the week's events. Maybe it concerned Luka and the young girl with the baby instead.

"Yes, two lawyers… representing the Carter family." Romano paused for a beat looking up to stare at Kerry's horrified expression. "Now I like to think that I have my finger on the pulse of every activity in this hospital. So you can imagine my surprise this morning however when I was gleefully informed by these lawyers that yesterday this very hospital accused one of its staff of drug abuse and theft of hospital narcotics. ……But wait that couldn't possibly happen here, not without the Chief of Staff knowing about it surely?" He said glaring at Kerry.

"Does any of this sound familiar to you Kerry, because it sure the hell didn't to me when I was told." Kerry met Robert's angry gaze as he stood up and began pacing the confines of his office.

"Are you familiar with the term unfair dismissal Kerry?" Romano asked angrily before pausing to hear a response.

Kerry could only stare at him wide eyed, horror coursing through her body.

* Oh God John what have you done? *

"No wait let me rephrase that. Do you have any idea who we are dealing with here? I mean do you know exactly how rich and how powerful the Carter family really is? Imagine their connections! For example, are you aware of the fact that Howard Davies of County's Davis Cardiac Wing is a close family friend…No?"

Romano scrutinised Kerry's forlorn expression. "Well how about the law firm representing them then? No again? Hmm you do surprise me. Lincoln and McDermott are well known throughout Chicago and probably the state. You do not mess with them! They are the best. They could file a suit that would fry our asses from here to…to… God I don't know Timbuktu!"

Kerry uncomfortably shifted in her seat. "What are their terms?"

"Well, they said that if we were willing to offer John Carter his job back, no strings attached…"

"But…" Kerry tried to interrupt.

"Not now Kerry…" He commanded raising his right hand. "…No strings attached with a full apology, then they would drop their lawsuit."

Romano raised his eyebrows as if to say "Well?"

"Robert you can't be serious?!" She paused, biting her lip as she quickly summed up her options. Romano obviously knew everything now about yesterday so there was no need to protect Carter any longer. She didn't relish the idea of discussing John's problems with the emotionally challenged surgeon, but in the past they had had some sort of turbulent alliance. If Romano trusted her enough to put her in charge of the ER, maybe he would trust her enough to handle this problem by herself. She alone would have a better chance of stopping John's current cause of action, not Romano.

"Robert, you do not know what you are saying. Carter has a serious drug problem and needs professional help. He has still not recovered both mentally and physically from Valentine's Day. If you will just let me handle it, I'll speak to John myself and…"

"I'm sorry Kerry, but you had your chance yesterday and it's obvious how that turned out. So you are just going to have try my way now ok?"

Your way?" Kerry chuckled bitterly. "How is your way going to help?" She sighed exasperated. "Robert we cannot let him back here. He has been abusing his pain meds and has been seen injecting hospital fentanyl in the trauma room!"

Romano cocked his head. "By who?"

"Abby Lockhart, a new medical student."

"A medical student? Oh well then let's stop the panicking because that's really going to stand up in court, isn't it now!" He sighed rubbing his hand over his head. "Have you any other proof, a drugs test or anything?"

Kerry shook her head "He's taking a prescribed drug, he'll test positive anyway."

"Then we have no choice. I've already spoken to Legal about some of the issues raised by Carter's lawyers, and with your recent information about this Abby then we simply do not have a case here. It's one allegation from a newly recruited employee who is only just learning the ropes. We use that as the backbone of our defence and we'll be laughed out of the courtroom. There just isn't enough evidence to support your accusations. If we go ahead with Carter's dismissal then it will cost us a fortune in compensation, because he will win no matter what with that team of lawyers on his side."

The surgeon sighed heavily before returning to his chair.

"Legal have informed me that County simply cannot afford to lose a case this big. They have recommended that we just have to accept their terms and deal with the repercussions any way that we can."

Kerry shook her head in sheer disbelief. "Robert there is no way that I am letting Carter back into my ER until he has been fully treated for his addiction."

"And under what authority do you have to say that, pray tell?"

"I'm Chief of Emergency Medicine!"

"Hmm I'm so confused as to what you think I am." He paused, rubbing his chin. "Could it possibly be…CHIEF OF STAFF!!!"

"Now listen here Kerry, John Carter will be welcomed back here at this hospital with open arms, waving a full written apology. You will however keep an eye on him and the drugs lockup. You will keep tabs on his patients and the traumas he attends to, going over every one of his charts with a fine toothcomb.

I want everyone and I mean everyone watching him around the clock whilst he is in this building ok? If Carter is stealing from the hospital we need to have proper proof of it.

If and when we go up against these jackass lawyers we need to have substantial evidence to throw at them. Now can you do this or will I have to find someone else to play acting Chief of Emergency Medicine while you are suspended?"

"Don't worry Robert." Kerry replied witheringly. "I will do this. But I want it known though that I don't agree to it. John has a serious problem that he needs to face, and I don't think allowing him back here where the problem began is going to help him."

Romano sighed and Kerry watched the creases appear above his eyes. "I'm sorry Kerry but it's the best we can do. Our hands are tied."

"When does he start back?"

"Tomorrow."

Kerry shook her head with disgust as she stood up to leave.

"You are making a terrible mistake here Robert. I can't tell you how wrong you are. You are willing to put patients at risk by allowing a doctor to work in the ER whilst addicted to a narcotic?"

"He's been working in the ER without fault for the past two months and you haven't complained, but it's still wrong for me to let him work now?"

"It's not the same and you know it! It's a mistake!"

No Kerry it is not. You made the mistake yesterday by not informing me about this situation. Did you think I wouldn't find out?"

"I thought it would be best for a small group to confront him that he knows and trusts. It still would be best for me to handle it, not informing the entire ER of the situation. It will just push him further away, and that is something he doesn't need at the moment. Please Robert, I will speak to him later and try to convince him to change his mind about his lawsuit.

We have a place for him at a drug treatment centre in Atlanta. He can go on hiatus and receive the proper attention he needs and then return to us later on in the year."

Kerry exhaled frustrated. "If you just give me some time I'll work this out."

"We don't have any time! Look if Carter does indeed have a problem then he is obviously not ready to face it yet, or he wouldn't have called his lawyers. The best thing we can do is to give him some time to think. Once he has had a little breathing space then he might decide to go to Atlanta and get treated for this alleged addiction instead of taking County to court."

"It's not alleged, it's fact."

"Well we'll soon see won't we. Close the door on the way out would you."

The only response he got was a ferocious door slamming.