The summer was dwindling into fall. The days were growing shorter and cooler. It was on one such fine October day that Anne was working down in the ER, where Robert found her. Robert had been feeling under the weather for a week now, but he didn't want to go home. He didn't want to leave Anne alone, but he couldn't stay any longer, Robert was going to tell her so.
Anne and Dr. Carter were standing in the hallway chatting, when Robert approached them. "Annie, I'm going to go home, I feel like crap. Why don't you take the rest of the day off?"
Anne looked at Robert, concerned. "Are you ok?" She asked. He was pale and sweating.
"Yes, I'm fine," Robert replied. He turned to walk down the hall and doubled over in pain. Groaning, he fell to his knees, clutching at his stomach. John and Anne rushed over to him, Anne checked him over. He was soaked to the skin and burning with fever.
"Let's take him in this room and check him out," John said, pointing to the door in front of them. Together, they picked Robert up off the floor, John holding onto his right arm, Anne with her arm around Robert's shoulder.
They set him on a bed carefully; he leaned back against the pillow, groaning. Anne took his temperature. "It's 104 degrees!" She exclaimed. He kept doubling over in pain. "What do you think is wrong with him?" She asked John, looking worried.
"I don't know yet, I'll have to look at him first. Let's get him into a gown."
Anne unbuttoned Robert's shirt and peeled it away from his burning skin. He was so out of it, he didn't even realize what was going on. She untied his shoes and unbuckled his belt, and stripped his pants off. Laying the gown over Robert, Anne leaned over him to tie it on, then stepped back to let John examine him.
John examined Robert's abdomen. Reaching his appendix and pressing on it, Robert cried out in pain and pushed John's hand away. "I think we have a hot appy here."
"Has it burst? He hasn't been feeling well all week."
"No it hasn't burst yet, but he needs to get to an OR soon. I'll go book one and we'll send him up," John said, stepping towards the phone.
Dr. Weaver was passing by and stepped inside to see what was going on. Robert picked just that time to come out of his stupor. Looking at Anne with wild eyes, he grabbed her hand, saying, "You were always my favorite one. You're the prettiest one here. Annie, will you marry me?"
Anne cringed, turned beet red, and clapped her hand over Robert's mouth to shut him up. Looking at Kerry, Anne shrugged her shoulders and said, "His temperature's 104 degrees, he's obviously delirious, and doesn't know what he's saying."
Dr. Weaver looked suspiciously back and forth at Robert and Anne. One of Anne's hands was still over Robert's mouth and the other was trying to hold him still. He kept reaching for her necklace, pulling the chain around her neck until the locket slipped out from under her shirt. Grasping it in his hand, he began to calm down.
Kerry knew they were extremely close, but she hadn't realized there was more than just student-teacher bonding going on. She decided to stay silent over this new piece of information for now.
John and Anne wheeled Robert out of the room and up to the OR.
*****
Robert's eyes fluttered, trying to open, but the light was too bright. Finally managing to open them, he saw that he was in a hospital bed. He looked around and saw Anne in a chair, curled up, asleep. He tried to call out to her, but his voice was groggy and scratchy from the anesthesia. He made enough noise to wake her up anyway. Anne smiled and came to his bed, sitting down next to him. "How do you feel?" She asked.
"What happened?"
"We had to take your appendix out. You've been feeling sick all week, remember?"
"Did they let you scrub in?"
"Yep, no cutting, but I watched the whole thing. It was pretty cool!"
Robert smiled weakly. "Well, I guess you can say you know me inside and out now."
"You have no idea," Anne replied. "Go back to sleep, you need your rest." Anne kissed him on the forehead and tucked his blankets back in. Turning out the light, Anne went back to her chair and slept as well.
Later that morning, when Anne and Robert were both awake, Anne told him all about what had happened yesterday. He apparently had no memory of it. When she told him what he'd said around Kerry, he grew silent. He felt as if his New Year's resolution was one step closer to being made for him now. He'd never felt more humiliated in his entire life. He might as well quit now, before he was ousted from his job. But more importantly, he was embarrassed that he'd actually said those things to Anne. He'd proposed to her! He couldn't believe it.
Anne had left his room to get some lunch when Kerry arrived to speak to Robert. "What do you want, Kerry?" He asked, looking defiantly at her.
"I just wanted to see how you were doing," Kerry replied. "You should be used to this scene by now, me standing over your hospital bed. This should seem familiar to you as well: I've arranged to act as temporary Chief of Staff while you recover. Anne, no doubt, will be by your side, nursing you back to health, until you can return." Kerry said this stiffly, as though she wanted to say more, but couldn't bring herself to.
Robert had shown compassion to her on more than one occasion and while she would love his coveted position at County, she didn't want to see the guy fired to get it. After all, she truly believed, he genuinely loved Anne. It wasn't some torrid, messy love affair. Why should he be punished for finding the love and happiness she knew he had so little of? She wasn't going to rob him of that. But she was not going to tell him this. She'd just use her power over him when it suited her.
Kerry turned and walked out of his room, leaving Robert to wonder what she was going to do. A few minutes later, Anne returned, sandwich in hand. "Dr. Corday says they're going to let you go home tonight. I can drive you if you want," she said, biting into her lunch.
"That's fine. Dr. Weaver thinks you should stay and help me. I don't know what she's up to, but she practically gave us her blessing."
"I can do that. We can get Elizabeth to keep an eye on her while we're gone."
*****
Anne drove Robert home. She helped him into the house and set him on his couch. Luckily there was a bathroom on the first floor, so he wouldn't have to bother with stairs for a while. Anne found pillows and blankets and set up a bed on the couch. It had been decided that she would stay at his house until he was better. "Do you have a spare bedroom?"
"No, but you can sleep in mine."
Anne walked upstairs to the room he said was his bedroom. Opening the door, Anne fumbled around for a light switch. Finding it and turning it on, she looked around. He had a king-size bed (big surprise!), with dark blue sheets. The walls were stark white and a dark mahogany hard wood floor spread out before her feet. A large window, closet, chest-of-drawers, and a desk by his bed were the only other pieces of furniture in this gigantic room. It was painfully stark and uninviting.
Anne had returned to her dorm that afternoon and packed a suitcase. She walked to the bed and opened the suitcase, began unpacking; hoping her items had enough personality to fill up the sad room.
Anne returned to Robert in the living room to see how he was doing. "Are you hungry? Do you want some soup?" She asked.
"I don't think I have a whole lot to eat, I usually eat out or get take-out," Robert explained.
Anne went to the kitchen and looked around. It was large, with stainless steel features, much like a professional restaurant kitchen. She looked through cupboards, drawers, and the refrigerator. They were fully equipped with cooking utensils that had never been used before, but there was hardly any food to be found. Shaking her head in wonderment, Anne walked back to Robert. "I could go shopping for you. Do you have any money?" She asked him. Robert reached into his pocket, pulled out his wallet and took two 50-dollar bills and held them out to Anne. She took them, grabbed her car keys, and headed for the store.
Robert found the remote control and turned on the television. Flipping through the channels, he stopped when he came to one of his favorite shows, he watched it whenever he got the chance. Gretl came over and laid her head on Robert's feet while he watched TV. "Great, an Amy Wynn episode! With Laurie and Hilda, it doesn't get any better than this!" Robert thought to himself, watching the two groups of neighbors trade spaces with each other. "Purple paint? What is she thinking? Hopefully she won't put hay on the walls again," Robert thought to himself during the show. They were just revealing the rooms to the couples when Anne returned, grocery bags in hands.
"Give me the change," Robert called out to Anne, eyes plastered to the TV screen.
"Hello to you too! There was no change," Anne called back, her voice coming from the kitchen. "You had nothing, I had to buy a lot of stuff," she explained, heading back outside for more bags. After a third trip, Anne shut the door and walked into the living room to Robert. "What kind of soup do you want? I got a little bit of everything."
Looking slightly embarrassed, Robert asked, "Got any chicken noodle?"
Smiling, Anne answered, "That's my favorite when I'm sick too," as she turned back towards the kitchen.
A while later, Anne reappeared with a tray of soup, crackers, and a napkin. She set it gently on his lap and went back to the kitchen. Anne spent half an hour putting groceries away and orienting herself to the room. Finding a nice saute pan, Anne cut up some vegetables and cracked a couple of eggs and made herself an omelet. She went to the living room to eat with Robert who was jealous over her dinner.
Robert flipped through the channels until he came across a cooking show that piqued Anne's interest. "I love this guy, the Naked Chef," she said. "Only, it's kind of false advertising. The first time I watched it, I was really excited, but he was fully clothed the whole time! But he's still hot though."
Robert chuckled and tried to stifle his laughter, it hurt his side. "Don't make me laugh! At least not for a couple of weeks."
Later in the evening, Anne held Robert as they walked to the bathroom and back. She pulled the blankets over him and gave him a kiss goodnight before walking up to her room. Anne did feel a little strange getting into his bed, but it was soft and she fell asleep within minutes.
A few days passed, with Robert's strength returning to him. Soon he could hobble around without Anne's help. He stood against the kitchen counter one afternoon, watching Anne cook. She took pride in her culinary artistry and loved having a huge kitchen to work in. "I used to work at a restaurant, before I got into med. school. I love it. I could teach you sometime, if you want. It would be fun to finally show you how to do something," Anne said.
"Yeah, I could be the One-armed Chef: he slices, he dices...just not on people anymore," Robert sighed, a mournful look passed over his face. "It does look like fun though," Robert thought to himself. He watched her sauteing a pan full of vegetables. It was amazing to see them flip in the air like that; he'd always wondered how people did that. "It must have taken a long time to learn to do that," Robert said.
"It took quite a while to get the hang of it. But I started practicing with a small pan, like that one," Anne explained, pointing to a pan hanging from a rack above the stove, "And a piece of bread. It's not as messy if you drop it. It took a long time, but I finally got it."
*****
A week flew by and Robert was ready to go back to work on Monday. Anne was sad to leave him, but it was time to get back to her duties at the hospital. Robert gave her a big hug and kiss as she left, thanking her for her help.
Restless, Robert walked to the kitchen, took down the saute pan that Anne had pointed out last week, found a piece of bread and began to practice. It made him feel close to her, and it excited him to have an interest outside of medicine. It could come in handy some day.
Anne and Dr. Carter were standing in the hallway chatting, when Robert approached them. "Annie, I'm going to go home, I feel like crap. Why don't you take the rest of the day off?"
Anne looked at Robert, concerned. "Are you ok?" She asked. He was pale and sweating.
"Yes, I'm fine," Robert replied. He turned to walk down the hall and doubled over in pain. Groaning, he fell to his knees, clutching at his stomach. John and Anne rushed over to him, Anne checked him over. He was soaked to the skin and burning with fever.
"Let's take him in this room and check him out," John said, pointing to the door in front of them. Together, they picked Robert up off the floor, John holding onto his right arm, Anne with her arm around Robert's shoulder.
They set him on a bed carefully; he leaned back against the pillow, groaning. Anne took his temperature. "It's 104 degrees!" She exclaimed. He kept doubling over in pain. "What do you think is wrong with him?" She asked John, looking worried.
"I don't know yet, I'll have to look at him first. Let's get him into a gown."
Anne unbuttoned Robert's shirt and peeled it away from his burning skin. He was so out of it, he didn't even realize what was going on. She untied his shoes and unbuckled his belt, and stripped his pants off. Laying the gown over Robert, Anne leaned over him to tie it on, then stepped back to let John examine him.
John examined Robert's abdomen. Reaching his appendix and pressing on it, Robert cried out in pain and pushed John's hand away. "I think we have a hot appy here."
"Has it burst? He hasn't been feeling well all week."
"No it hasn't burst yet, but he needs to get to an OR soon. I'll go book one and we'll send him up," John said, stepping towards the phone.
Dr. Weaver was passing by and stepped inside to see what was going on. Robert picked just that time to come out of his stupor. Looking at Anne with wild eyes, he grabbed her hand, saying, "You were always my favorite one. You're the prettiest one here. Annie, will you marry me?"
Anne cringed, turned beet red, and clapped her hand over Robert's mouth to shut him up. Looking at Kerry, Anne shrugged her shoulders and said, "His temperature's 104 degrees, he's obviously delirious, and doesn't know what he's saying."
Dr. Weaver looked suspiciously back and forth at Robert and Anne. One of Anne's hands was still over Robert's mouth and the other was trying to hold him still. He kept reaching for her necklace, pulling the chain around her neck until the locket slipped out from under her shirt. Grasping it in his hand, he began to calm down.
Kerry knew they were extremely close, but she hadn't realized there was more than just student-teacher bonding going on. She decided to stay silent over this new piece of information for now.
John and Anne wheeled Robert out of the room and up to the OR.
*****
Robert's eyes fluttered, trying to open, but the light was too bright. Finally managing to open them, he saw that he was in a hospital bed. He looked around and saw Anne in a chair, curled up, asleep. He tried to call out to her, but his voice was groggy and scratchy from the anesthesia. He made enough noise to wake her up anyway. Anne smiled and came to his bed, sitting down next to him. "How do you feel?" She asked.
"What happened?"
"We had to take your appendix out. You've been feeling sick all week, remember?"
"Did they let you scrub in?"
"Yep, no cutting, but I watched the whole thing. It was pretty cool!"
Robert smiled weakly. "Well, I guess you can say you know me inside and out now."
"You have no idea," Anne replied. "Go back to sleep, you need your rest." Anne kissed him on the forehead and tucked his blankets back in. Turning out the light, Anne went back to her chair and slept as well.
Later that morning, when Anne and Robert were both awake, Anne told him all about what had happened yesterday. He apparently had no memory of it. When she told him what he'd said around Kerry, he grew silent. He felt as if his New Year's resolution was one step closer to being made for him now. He'd never felt more humiliated in his entire life. He might as well quit now, before he was ousted from his job. But more importantly, he was embarrassed that he'd actually said those things to Anne. He'd proposed to her! He couldn't believe it.
Anne had left his room to get some lunch when Kerry arrived to speak to Robert. "What do you want, Kerry?" He asked, looking defiantly at her.
"I just wanted to see how you were doing," Kerry replied. "You should be used to this scene by now, me standing over your hospital bed. This should seem familiar to you as well: I've arranged to act as temporary Chief of Staff while you recover. Anne, no doubt, will be by your side, nursing you back to health, until you can return." Kerry said this stiffly, as though she wanted to say more, but couldn't bring herself to.
Robert had shown compassion to her on more than one occasion and while she would love his coveted position at County, she didn't want to see the guy fired to get it. After all, she truly believed, he genuinely loved Anne. It wasn't some torrid, messy love affair. Why should he be punished for finding the love and happiness she knew he had so little of? She wasn't going to rob him of that. But she was not going to tell him this. She'd just use her power over him when it suited her.
Kerry turned and walked out of his room, leaving Robert to wonder what she was going to do. A few minutes later, Anne returned, sandwich in hand. "Dr. Corday says they're going to let you go home tonight. I can drive you if you want," she said, biting into her lunch.
"That's fine. Dr. Weaver thinks you should stay and help me. I don't know what she's up to, but she practically gave us her blessing."
"I can do that. We can get Elizabeth to keep an eye on her while we're gone."
*****
Anne drove Robert home. She helped him into the house and set him on his couch. Luckily there was a bathroom on the first floor, so he wouldn't have to bother with stairs for a while. Anne found pillows and blankets and set up a bed on the couch. It had been decided that she would stay at his house until he was better. "Do you have a spare bedroom?"
"No, but you can sleep in mine."
Anne walked upstairs to the room he said was his bedroom. Opening the door, Anne fumbled around for a light switch. Finding it and turning it on, she looked around. He had a king-size bed (big surprise!), with dark blue sheets. The walls were stark white and a dark mahogany hard wood floor spread out before her feet. A large window, closet, chest-of-drawers, and a desk by his bed were the only other pieces of furniture in this gigantic room. It was painfully stark and uninviting.
Anne had returned to her dorm that afternoon and packed a suitcase. She walked to the bed and opened the suitcase, began unpacking; hoping her items had enough personality to fill up the sad room.
Anne returned to Robert in the living room to see how he was doing. "Are you hungry? Do you want some soup?" She asked.
"I don't think I have a whole lot to eat, I usually eat out or get take-out," Robert explained.
Anne went to the kitchen and looked around. It was large, with stainless steel features, much like a professional restaurant kitchen. She looked through cupboards, drawers, and the refrigerator. They were fully equipped with cooking utensils that had never been used before, but there was hardly any food to be found. Shaking her head in wonderment, Anne walked back to Robert. "I could go shopping for you. Do you have any money?" She asked him. Robert reached into his pocket, pulled out his wallet and took two 50-dollar bills and held them out to Anne. She took them, grabbed her car keys, and headed for the store.
Robert found the remote control and turned on the television. Flipping through the channels, he stopped when he came to one of his favorite shows, he watched it whenever he got the chance. Gretl came over and laid her head on Robert's feet while he watched TV. "Great, an Amy Wynn episode! With Laurie and Hilda, it doesn't get any better than this!" Robert thought to himself, watching the two groups of neighbors trade spaces with each other. "Purple paint? What is she thinking? Hopefully she won't put hay on the walls again," Robert thought to himself during the show. They were just revealing the rooms to the couples when Anne returned, grocery bags in hands.
"Give me the change," Robert called out to Anne, eyes plastered to the TV screen.
"Hello to you too! There was no change," Anne called back, her voice coming from the kitchen. "You had nothing, I had to buy a lot of stuff," she explained, heading back outside for more bags. After a third trip, Anne shut the door and walked into the living room to Robert. "What kind of soup do you want? I got a little bit of everything."
Looking slightly embarrassed, Robert asked, "Got any chicken noodle?"
Smiling, Anne answered, "That's my favorite when I'm sick too," as she turned back towards the kitchen.
A while later, Anne reappeared with a tray of soup, crackers, and a napkin. She set it gently on his lap and went back to the kitchen. Anne spent half an hour putting groceries away and orienting herself to the room. Finding a nice saute pan, Anne cut up some vegetables and cracked a couple of eggs and made herself an omelet. She went to the living room to eat with Robert who was jealous over her dinner.
Robert flipped through the channels until he came across a cooking show that piqued Anne's interest. "I love this guy, the Naked Chef," she said. "Only, it's kind of false advertising. The first time I watched it, I was really excited, but he was fully clothed the whole time! But he's still hot though."
Robert chuckled and tried to stifle his laughter, it hurt his side. "Don't make me laugh! At least not for a couple of weeks."
Later in the evening, Anne held Robert as they walked to the bathroom and back. She pulled the blankets over him and gave him a kiss goodnight before walking up to her room. Anne did feel a little strange getting into his bed, but it was soft and she fell asleep within minutes.
A few days passed, with Robert's strength returning to him. Soon he could hobble around without Anne's help. He stood against the kitchen counter one afternoon, watching Anne cook. She took pride in her culinary artistry and loved having a huge kitchen to work in. "I used to work at a restaurant, before I got into med. school. I love it. I could teach you sometime, if you want. It would be fun to finally show you how to do something," Anne said.
"Yeah, I could be the One-armed Chef: he slices, he dices...just not on people anymore," Robert sighed, a mournful look passed over his face. "It does look like fun though," Robert thought to himself. He watched her sauteing a pan full of vegetables. It was amazing to see them flip in the air like that; he'd always wondered how people did that. "It must have taken a long time to learn to do that," Robert said.
"It took quite a while to get the hang of it. But I started practicing with a small pan, like that one," Anne explained, pointing to a pan hanging from a rack above the stove, "And a piece of bread. It's not as messy if you drop it. It took a long time, but I finally got it."
*****
A week flew by and Robert was ready to go back to work on Monday. Anne was sad to leave him, but it was time to get back to her duties at the hospital. Robert gave her a big hug and kiss as she left, thanking her for her help.
Restless, Robert walked to the kitchen, took down the saute pan that Anne had pointed out last week, found a piece of bread and began to practice. It made him feel close to her, and it excited him to have an interest outside of medicine. It could come in handy some day.