****
"Well, it looks like you've made a new friend. Congratulations."
"What are you talking about Slingerland?" Nick turned from the patient chart he was looking over. "What new friend?"
"Dr. Cori, Nick. I hear that she's called you to do another surgical consult. I heard the nurses talking about it."
"So? It's not unusual."
"It is because it's Dr. Cori. She never… and I'll repeat that, NEVER requests specific surgeons for consults. As I said before, she hates them with a bloody passion."
"Have you ever stopped to wonder why?"
"Nope. She hates me too. Cold fish that one is. Just be careful Nick. If you get on her bad side, she'll make your life miserable."
Nick shook his head as he turned down the hallway towards where the nurse had said Dr. Cori's office was. Life couldn't be any more miserable than Rae… Doctor Brennan was making it. He stopped in the doorway, watching the wild haired Dr. Cori as she sat looking at the two x-rays on the light behind her. He tilted his head and studied her for a moment. She looked like she was in deep contemplation.
"You're welcome to come in and have a seat." She said without even turning around.
Nick blinked. How did she know he was there? Quietly he stepped in and closed the door behind him. "You called for a surgical consult, Dr Cori?"
"You got it." She wheeled around and crossed her arms on the desk in front of her.
Nick studied her hands for a moment. Strong hands, he could see the tendons working beneath the surface of her skin. Clear skin, she took care of herself obviously and didn't spend great amounts of time in the sun. And, he noticed she took time out to get her nails done. French manicures took forever and she had the same paint job last week when she shook his hand.
"Hello, eyes up here please?" she laughed lightly and sat back as he looked up at her again. "I got a patient here with some wrist damage. Hyper extended wrist ligaments, tendons and muscles. Some of the wrist bones are displaced, rather big ones too." At his questioning look, she pointed to the x-rays behind her. "Hockey player. Scott Philders was checked from behind and at his speed, crashed into the walls. Dumb boy didn't have his gloves on. If he had, this would simply be a sprained wrist to keep some ice on for a week until the swelling goes down."
"What do you think?"
Cori blinked for a moment, completely stunned. Any other surgeon would have said 'operate' immediately upon hearing the words 'bones' and 'displaced'. She sat there for a moment in silence. "Um, well, I think that with some intense daily therapy he won't have to have surgery."
"I see. Well, Dr. Cori, where is he? I'd like to examine his wrist myself and see what I think he needs."
Again she sat in shocked silence. Was this guy for real? "He's at home, resting! I sent him home with his parents and a prescription for a painkiller! What do you need to see that I haven't told you already?"
"I need to see for myself the extent of the damage to his wrist, you know, get a feel for his injury. Surgery might not be needed, but then again it might. I won't know until I see his wrist."
Cori blinked slowly, standing up as her lower jaw worked like a fish. "You… you…" she couldn't explain why she was so irritated. No, she knew why… he hadn't behaved as she'd expected him to, he'd also second-guessed her examination.
"Sounds like 'you'… I'm guessing you don't want me to examine him? No, I can see you wouldn't. Slingerland was right, I suppose you do hate surgeons, don't you?"
Cori was getting more and more livid by the second. But, all she could voice was an irate squeak.
"Wow, she's speechless. I'll have the nurse call Scott and his parents to come back this afternoon so I can examine him." At another squeak and the blooming scarlet color on her neck creeping up to her ears, he laughed. "What, did you expect me to make some snap decision? I can't do that, and I won't, not until I see for myself. I'll let you know what I think he needs after I see him."
He stood up and left Cori standing behind her desk, mute with shock. She wasn't angry at all. Inside she was jumping that he hadn't made the same decision any other surgeon would have made. Maybe he had a heart and brain in addition to good looks.
Nick paused at the nurse's station and chuckled. Slingerland would have loved to have seen the 'Viperous Bitch', as he called her, speechless. However, from what he saw on the x-ray the kid would need surgery. If for nothing else than to put those few wrist bones back into place. But Nick wanted to feel the kid out first and see how seriously damaged his wrist was before he said what was on his mind. That, and he wanted to make sure that Dr. Cori wasn't sugar coating things to keep the kid out of surgery as it had been suggested by other voices. Funny, she didn't seem like the type to put her patients in that kind of jeopardy.
****