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Cori sat at the bar, the crystal tumbler taunting her as she eyeballed it. It was still filled with the amber brown liquid, no ice. The background noise had long since dulled down to a muted rumble. Her arms were crossed in front of her, resting on the edge of the bar. She hadn't changed out of her running clothes and she knew she was absolutely rank with sweat. Right now she didn't care. After she'd hung up with Nick at the beach, she continued running, at a slower pace this time and reciting all the reasons she could think of to not like the man. After all, he was a cutter.

Nick walked into the door and visibly relaxed. He was in a pair of jeans and a polo shirt and was afraid he'd be seriously under-dressed for the place. When he saw that it was a true bar and not a cocktail lounge, he sighed in relief. Now to find - He smiled as he saw a disheveled looking Cori at the bar with the tumbler of scotch in front of her. It looked as if she hadn't taken a drink yet. He picked his way across the room until he was right next to her.

Following Nick into the bar and unknown to him, were Jackie and Rae. Jackie had overheard Nick mention something about going to Conroy's and had said something to Rae. Immediately Rae had suggested that the two of them go down to see if he was going to try and make up to Cori after their little spat. In Rae's mind, she wanted to see Cori get absolutely plastered. The rumor had been around the hospital for months now that when things got bad for Coriandra Eleszara, she responded by getting falling down drunk. The two of them settled into an out of the way table to watch. Jackie kept watching Rae, who had this odd look of pleasure on her face for once. It was almost eerie.

Cori curled her fingers around the tumbler and lifted it to her lips. In one smooth motion, she tipped her head back and tossed the drink past her lips. Her throat burned with the scotch as she swallowed it down. But, Cori didn't feel it, she wasn't feeling much of anything at the moment. Despite what it looked like, Cori was already three sheets to the wind.

Nick leaned up against the bar and looked at the glass as she set it down. She didn't look drunk, didn't act drunk, and didn't smell drunk. She mainly smelled of sweat and salty sea air. A scent that reminded him of Greece.

"What do you want Nick. I'm a little busy."

"Yes, I can see that. Cori, how many of those have you had?"

"One."

"Just one?"

"Just one Nick. You didn't answer my question - what do you want?"

"Oh, I thought you'd like to know how Scott is. He's back in his own room and sleeping. The surgery-"

"That I can find out tomorrow when I go to work. Why are you here?"

She hadn't looked at him yet, kept her eyes on the far wall opposite her. He leaned over and saw the mirror. "I still want to talk to you."

Cori was watching a pair of women in the mirror - Rae and Jackie. Oh how she wanted to walk back to Rae's seat and just slap the crap out of her. But she wouldn't do that. She was the bigger woman and she wouldn't lower herself to Rae's level. "Talk? Sure, talk."

"What is wrong? Is it something Rae said to you? I saw the two of you arguing in the observation room before Scott's surgery."

"What does it matter? It's not like there's anything between us. You're a cutter, that's that." Cori hoped still in her drunken mind that if she kept telling herself that, then she'd believe it.

Cutter. That wasn't the first time she'd called him that. He looked at the glass as the bartender refilled it and Cori's eyes lowered to look at it. Her fingers curled around it slowly. "What the hell is your problem with surgeons?!" he hissed in her ear.

Cori didn't even flinch as she put the smooth glass to her lips and tilted it back.

Nick watched as she swallowed, mesmerized by her throat for a moment. The spell was broken as she set the glass down again and did not answer him. "Why the hell did I think you were human to begin with, furious little banshee of a woman that you are. I thought you were someone I could actually get to like. But you're no different than Rae." Nick turned around, shaking his head in disgust as he moved to leave her there.

"It's not you I don't like."

Nick turned back. "No?"

"No. It's the profession, the way that most are brainwashed in 'Surgeon School' to think that everything can be cured with a scalpel."

"Something happened to you, didn't it?"

"Not to me, no." Cori blinked slowly and reached for the mysteriously full glass again.

Nick looked down and put his hand on her wrist to stop her from another drink. He swore he could see tears in her eyes. "Cori? How many of these have you had?"

She shrugged. "One."

Nick looked at the bartender who just shook his head as he leaned over the bar. "That's her answer, One. One glass… I've served her for years and it's always 'One'. Don't even bother to ask anymore."

Nick nodded and put the piece together to assume that she was probably intoxicated already. "Cori, talk to me. What happened with that surgeon?" He sat down on the stool next to her and waited.

Cori's chin trembled. "My first year out and in my own right as a certified doctor, I had this patient," she started off softly. In the corner of her eye she saw Nick lean in to hear her. "She wasn't a chronically ill child, but she came to me with symptoms of a hemorrhaged blood vessel in her abdomen. Pain, swelling, vomiting, you name it. I did the diagnosis, all the sonograms and tests. It came back and was decided that she needed surgery to repair the tear." She paused long enough to take that last drink, her hand shaking this time. "God I hated the surgeon that drew my patient. He… he was a gloryhound, thought his stuff didn't stink." She shrugged. "He killed her."

Nick nearly fell off of his stool. "What?!"

"Oh, he didn't take a scalpel and cut her artery intentionally." She sighed and took a moment. "He did the routine procedure, took very little time. But, this man liked to leave his 'mark' on people. He thought he saw something else that needed to be 'fixed'. There wasn't anything else. The assisting surgeon told him that, the surgical nurse told him that, the video camera told us all that. When he was told the third time to stop, he slammed his hand down on the tray and tools went flying everywhere."

Nick closed his eyes. He had a bad feeling about this. Suddenly he could sympathize with Cori and her dislike of surgeons.

"One of the scalpels lanced an artery in her abdomen. She bled out on the table. The more they worked to try and stop the bleeding the bigger and bigger the tear from the scalpel got. There was nothing they could do."

"Cori, not all surgeons are like that." He put his hand on her arm comfortingly.

She just looked down at his hand, then looked back at the mirror, watching Rae and Jackie watching them. "After the girl was pronounced, the parents were told that an artery blew and nothing could be done to save the girl. The surgeon was held exempt, almost a hero in the parents' eyes. Two months later, the surgical nurse that had told him to stop? She retired and told everything to the parents. It was then that it came out, what had happened, the cover-up, the whole 'community' of surgeons in the hospital all banding together to cover their cover-boy. I couldn't say anything before, and I couldn't say anything after. I was held in contract. Besides, after the parents were told it was an accident, I couldn't come along and say 'no, it wasn't. She was killed due to negligence.' That would have broken their hearts. Looking back now, I should have."

"What happened to the surgeon?"

Cori looked at Nick for a moment, then pushed back from the bar and made to stand up. Her knees buckled under her and she fell towards the ground.

Nick jumped up and caught her under the arms before she hit the ground. "Only one, huh?"

"Yeah, just one… Someone stop the floor from moving please."

"Come on tough girl, let's get you home. You shouldn't be driving."

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