A Friendly Hand
By Didi
Disclaimers: I don't own any of the characters. John Wells and his friends do. Let's not get into the debate as to who owns the ideas and all that; cause let's fact it, you'll lose. Enjoy the story anyways.
Summary: The hospital rumor mill get hold of a hush-hush situation.
FYI: The "Teddy Bear" is one hundred years old.
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Chapter 7
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"Ring, ring. Ring, ring. Ring, ring."
The phone fumbled, crashed against the table before it was picked up. "What the bloody hell do you want?" came the muffled and irritated greeting.
There was a pause. "Dr. Slingerland?"
"Yes. Who is this?" turning his head so that he was no longer speaking into the pillow. Sleeping on one's stomach, while comfortable, was not the most efficient position to answer the phone.
"It's Harriet Lenning."
"Who?" Then came the belated recognition. "Oh lordy. Dr. Lenning, my apologies. I'm not quite awake yet."
"No, no, I'm sorry. I must have dialed the wrong number," though her tone held a note of doubt. "Didn't mean to wake you."
"Not a problem," though it was since he still couldn't open his sleep-swollen eyes.
"Good night."
"Nite," then hung up with phone with a groan of relief.
Two seconds later, "Ring, ring. Ring, ring."
Matt gave a pathetic groan before reaching out to pick up the phone again and flipping onto his back. "Yes?"
There was a pause. "Dr. Slingerland?"
"Dr. Lenning, what can I do for you?" he replied with a sigh giving a Herculean attempt to open his eyes then stared at the unfamiliar blue lamp by his bedside. There were beaded fringes on the lampshade. Odd, he couldn't quite remember when or why he would purchase a map with beaded fringes on the lampshade.
"I'm sorry again, I thought I was dialing Dr. Keating number."
"Dr. Keating?" he came the slightly confused question before it hit him like a ton a brick. "Oh. Oh..." He felt ten times the fool and looked around the shadow apartment for some divine intervention.
"I'm sorry I keep waking you. I don't know why I keep dialing the wrong..."
"No, no... I should be apologizing." He just knew this was going to be bad. Oh god, when the gossip mill gets their hands on this one.... Then again, Harriet Lenning wasn't known to be a gossip. "You didn't dial the wrong number."
Another long heavy pause, "I see," in that wise knowing tone.
"No, no, no, no, no..." he clutched the phone so tight that he was surprised that plastic handle didn't crack under the pressure. Oh Lord, what a bloody mess! Jules is going to kill him for this one. "It's not what you think!"
"Oh?"
A hard surface on which to bang his head against would be nice right about now. "Listen, there is a logical and very innocent explanation for all this."
"Really?" came that same knowing tone that made Slingerland cringed with some unexplained reason. Oh yes, it was probably because it was similar to the tone his mother used when she knew he was fibbing. But in this case, he really wasn't.
"Yes, and I would be more than happy to relate it to you when my brain functions are at full capacity," Matt said shaking his head to clear more of the cobwebs of sleep. Somehow, anything nearing his truthful version of the story is not likely to believe him. He and Jules have simply have to come up with a better one... when he tells her. Oh lord, he could already see the outrage on her face. "Was there some particular reason you were looking for Jul...er...Dr. Keating?"
There was another pause. "I need her here at the hospital. I've got a mother at 28 weeks coming in with strong contractions. She arrived from Chicago this morning...or yesterday morning rather, starting having contractions last night but waited until about an hour ago to come in. I was just paged."
"Right," swinging his leg around and glancing down at the unfamiliar sweat pants he was wearing before remembering it had been a pair of Jules's brother's, left behind during a visit. "Isn't there anyone else at the neonatal unit? I mean, she's awfully tired."
"Is she?" came the question.
He winced at how that may have sounded coming from him. "I meant that she went to sleep rather late and..." Oh, he was just making it worse now. "Why don't I just wake her up and we'll be there as soon as... I mean, *she* will be there as soon as humanly possible."
"All right. Good night, Dr. Slingerland." He could almost see the knowing smile on the good doctor's face.
With nothing more he could say to make the situation any better, "Good night, Dr. Lenning." And hung up the phone with a resounding click.
There was a brief moment that he was tempted to just fall back asleep and pretend this never happened. But then, there was a life at state and he knew that Jules would kill him if she found out about it. With a sigh from way down deep, he got up and prayed that Dr. Keating won't wake up screaming when she finds him there.
The door had a big felt teddy bear on it with the word "Jules" stitched on it in blocky letters. It was rather sweetly endearing in a manner. Opening the door, the first impression of Dr. Keating's bedroom was that it had an awful lot of stuff animals. Or more precisely, there was an awful lot of teddy bears. They were everywhere, in every size, shape, color and form. There was even one twice the size of Dr. Slingerland in one corner. Had it not been for the large dresser and queen size bed in the middle of the room, Matt would have sworn he stepped into a teddy bear museum. Even the little nightlight by the door was in the shape of a bear.
Curled in the middle of the bed was a sleeping Dr. Keating. Like Tatania in the forest, her pixie sweet face had the peace and happiness that inspired men to poetry. Women, Slingerland was sure, were the most beautiful when completely unconscious of themselves. And it certainly applied beautifully here.
While he loathed waking her after the harrowing day she had, he knew the consequences should he not. Settling himself on the bed, he reached over and gave her bared shoulder a gentle shake. "Jules?"
Moaning as she shifted in her sleep, green eyes fluttered for a moment before settling on the voice that had awoke her from slumber. Licking her lips for moisture, she stared at him. For a moment, confusion clouded her face. "Matt?"
"Yeah," he smiled, feeling uncomfortably awkward at the moment. It certainly won't be the first time he's been in a woman's bedroom. But this was different from his normal course of life. "Wake up, Jules."
She struggled from under the covers. Blinking at the dimness of the room. "What time is it? What are you doing in here?"
Glad that her mind wasn't awake enough to become outraged by this boldness, "It's about ten after four. Dr. Lenning called. She needs you down at the hospital. They're about to deliver a seven month premie."
Blinking rapidly to wake, she asked, "Why?"
"Mother flew in from Chicago. Waited too long to go to the hospital," he pulled her up into a sitting position from the shoulder. Her skin was warm to the touch. And he couldn't help but glance down as the blankets fell away. He grinned at her teasingly. "Jules? You don't by chance shop at Victoria's Secrets, do you?"
That got her awake nicely as she whacked him on the arm and pulled the blanket around her. The camisole, while revealing nothing, bared more than enough to give Matt a hint of what she would look like beneath. "Matt!"
Getting off the bed, he looked around for a robe or something. Finding none handy, he shrugged. "Shall I start coffee for you?"
Jules whimpered as she rolled onto her side and sniffed pitifully. "They don't pay me nearly enough for these kinds of days."
"Come on, you know you live for excitement such as this," he rubbed her exposed shoulder with his hand and smiled down at her. It just occurred to him that she smelled rather nicely. "How about I make coffee and you wake up? I'll drive you down to the hospital on my way home. I think I've gotten enough rest now not to fall asleep behind the wheels. Especially if I get some more of your mother's delicious French Vanilla bean coffee."
Turning her head, she smiled back at him. "Okay, deal."
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"And why can't we just tell them the truth?" Jules asked clutching the hot thermo mug with her hand. Her second cup of java and she was finally starting to come awake.
Matt sipped the traveling mug she had kindly provided him and grimaced as the liquid scalded his tongue. "Jules, you know me. You know what people think of me and my... reputation. If I were to tell you that I was too tired to drive home after taking a female co-worker home, would you believe me?"
Jules thought back to the long list of women she has heard about linked to Dr. Slingerland's name. "Okay, you've got a point there."
"It's not to say that it couldn't happen, which it did last evening, but it's just hard for most to actually believe something as innocent as that." He made the turn with one hand and ran a yellow. "Why are there so many bloody cars out in the middle of the night?"
"Because we live in a city where the good clubs close at 3:00 AM." She replied and leaned back in her chair. "So what do we tell them?"
"As close to the truth as possible," Matt replied glancing at the clock on his dashboard. "Doubtful that Dr. Lenning talked but you never know."
"Harriet will mind her own business," Jules said chewing on her lip. "But I have to tell her something plausible."
"How about I fell asleep on the coach? Simple, close to the truth but not quite."
She frowned at him. "So we're just going to leave out the part where I invited you to stay."
"Yes," he nodded as they neared the hospital. "Trust me when I say that no one would believe you any ways. This way, they'll think you're doing a good deed."
Jules shook her head. "Won't someone ask what you were doing in my apartment in the first place?"
"Hopefully not. They'll probably just jump to the natural conclusion that I invited myself in." He pulled toward the emergency entrance. "Here we are."
"I kind of don't feel right about this," she said gathering her stuff.
"You think the baby's in danger cause of premature birth?" he asked seriously.
"No, I mean letting everyone think you're the bad guy here. We didn't do anything wrong. We didn't do anything either one of us needs to be ashamed of. The truth is perfectly innocent and feasible."
"But not when it comes to certain reputations," Matt concluded as she pulled the door open. "Jules trust me when I say that it's simply better to allow the rest of the hospital to think that I made a pass and let's move on with it. You say anything about your part in it and it's likely to live for ninety days."
She sighed and shrugged. "I think you're wrong but whatever. I've got a premie to take care of. Thanks for the ride."
"See you later!" giving her a quick wave as she closed the door to his car firmly.
"Slow down!" she called after him as he took off from the emergency bay at sixty miles per hour. Shaking her head, she turned to head into the hospital. "Hi Millicent, nice night to have a baby."
"Good evening Dr. Keating," Millicent greeted with wide eyes.
She smiled and went in, never noticing the eyes of every nurse and attendant in the emergency reception area following her all the way to the elevators.
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"Mother is five centimeter dilated and doing well. The baby on the other hand... pulse is tready and I'm afraid that we may be looking at an emergency c-section." Harriet handed the chart over and frowned at the new reports. "Oxygen levels are down."
"If we can do natural birth, let's do it. The baby is not cook ripe yet and I don't want to chance a c-section to make it worse," Jules murmured as she studied the charts. "Let's wait, keep the heart monitor on the baby and if it dips again, we're going in."
"Agreed," Harriet nodded and removed her glasses. "I've already talked to Dad. We have consent to do emergency c-section if necessary."
"Always one step ahead of me," she grinned and closed the clip.
"Now tell me why Slingerland was in your apartment at three in the morning," she said as he looped one arm around her arm and guided her into her office.
Jules groaned. "Harriet!"
"Jules, I'm worried. If I weren't I wouldn't have asked." She looked at the young doctor with her calming blue eyes. "I know you are a grown woman and more than capable of taking care of yourself. But I'm your friend."
"It's nothing," she sighed. For a moment, she almost told her the story she and Matt had agreed tentatively upon. But this was Harriet Lenning. "Dr. Slingerland brought me a patient yesterday that had to go into emergency surgery. Threw my schedule all out of whack. By the time I was able to leave, the last trolley had already left. Slingerland offered to take me home and on the way, we got some dinner. He brought me back to my apartment and was too exhausted to drive safely home. I offered the coach and he spent the night. When you call, he instinctively picked up the phone. Nothing to it at all."
"Nothing to it," Harriet repeated as she settled behind her desk. Her blue eyes twinkled with amusement. "And you invited him to stay the night."
"On the couch," she emphasized.
"Right, on the coach," she nodded and smiled gently. "It was very nice of him to drive you home and very nice of you to let him stay."
A since of impending doom seemed to hit her for a moment. "Harriet?"
"Yes, dear?" mild curiosity in her face.
"You do believe me, don't you?" But she could already see the doubt in her friend's eyes. "Oh god, you don't, do you?" If Harriet, who has known her since lord knows when, didn't believe her, she could only imagine what the rest of the hospital was going to say.
"That's not true," Harriet said reassuringly. "Jules, I trust you. You are a very good doctor and a very good person. You are sweet, generous, and very strong willed when you want to be but a little naïve at times. And well... Dr. Slingerland has quite a reputation with the ladies."
"Matt's a friend."
"Who help to inseminate your eggs," Dr. Lenning pointed out.
Jules groaned and slouched in her seat. "That would have to come back and haunt me now, won't it?" Okay, so maybe Slingerland was right about the whole not telling the truth thing. "Harriet..."
"I haven't said a word and I'm not going to," she assured her with a quick glance at the clock. "And it's time we get back to..."
The quick knock on the door did not wait for an answer before Susan's head popped in the room. "BP is down and baby monitor reads the heart at two hundred."
Keating and Lenning both scrambled out of their seats. "The baby is in distress. Prep the mom for emergency c-section and get neonatal to prepare incubator and revival kit. Page the attending surgeon."
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"Good morning Billy," Dr. Slingerland greeted the gleeful five year old that was happily consuming red cubes of gelatin at the moment. "How is our favorite patient this morning?"
"Good," came the soft reply as he popped another piece of his breakfast into his mouth. "I've got scar, like Frankenstein."
"That's right, kiddo!" he grinned as he ruffled the boy's soft baby hair. "Did you sleep okay last night?"
"Yes," he nodded his head. "Dr. Jules says that I can leave in another day if I'm good."
Yes, of course she would have come check up on Billy. Jules was nothing if not dedicated to her patients. "Well, then you best behave yourself young man, won't want to make a liar out of the doctor now. When did Dr. Keating come see you?"
"She gave me breakfast," he said soberly. "She was sad. Says she needs cheering up so she came to see me." He grinned proudly at the doctor with the funny accent. "I made her smile."
"She was sad?" Slingerland frown with concern. "And you made her smile. Good for you. We gentlemen must do our best to keep the ladies happy." He watched the sweet child continue to finish his breakfast of oatmeal, juice and gelatin. "Where is your mum?"
"Mommy called and said she will come to see me later," Billy explained, feeling quite grown up in his role as the information distributor.
"Well good," though silently he damned Debra for leaving her child in the hospital by himself. "I have to go talk to some doctors now. Will you be all right alone, Billy?"
Pointing to the coloring books and a bucket of crayons by his bed side, Billy nodded his head.
"From Dr. Keating?"
"She will bring me robots later."
With a laugh, Slingerland patted the boy's head and headed out. The moment he left the room, his smile dropped into a frown. "Gina," coming to the nurse's station and reading the name tag off the petite brunette's tag. "Where is Dr. Keating?"
Brown eyes blinked at him for a moment before startling to action. "She just left. I think she went to her office to get her purse."
Finding it odd that the woman appear to be looking at him as if he's grown a second head, Slingerland decided that finding out what happened to cause Dr. Keating's upset was more important than finding out what's been effecting the nursing staff lately. Something was definitely up.
When the knock on Dr. Keating's door went unanswered several times, Matt found that he didn't believe it for a second. Pushing open the door, he was not surprised to find Jules curled up in the corner on top the giant serpent that he has yet to figure out where she could have gotten it. She had hold of a pale blue bear with a pink nose whose head was tucked firmly under her chin. Over all, she looked like a sulking child but he knew it was more. "Good morning, Dr. Keating."
She glared at him with rabbit eyes. "When someone doesn't answer the door it usually means they don't want to be disturbed."
"Yes but I'm a big believer in barging in where one's not wanted when it is obvious that a friend is hurting badly," he shut the door firmly behind him and came across the room to stare down at her for a moment. She looked helplessly sad. Settling himself next to her, "The premie?" She turned her face and refused to answer. "Come on. You'd feel better if you share."
"I already shared with Harriet and it didn't help," came the sullen reply and a sniffle.
Looking around, he found a box of tissues with a panda bear cover on it. Holding the bear out to her, he watched as she grabbed two tissues and turned away again, giving him her back. "Yes, but I'm not Harriet." He turned his body to try to look at her face, but she kept avoiding him. "And I'm much more charming."
She hit him with the teddy bear. "Says you," but it elicited a watery smile from her as she turned and laid back on the serpent.
Slingerland shifted down to his side and propped himself up with on his elbow. "The baby?"
Jules stared at the ceiling, her face sad and pensive. "Three and a half minutes without oxygen. Vegetable on birth."
He hated it when the young ones suffer. "Umbilical cord?"
"Around the neck...twice."
"How did that...Nevermind." Slipping an arm under her shoulder, he pulled her up against him, waiting until her stiff posture relaxed next to him. "We're not miracle workers, Jules. We're doctors. We do what we can for our patients and no one can ask more from us."
There was a moment of silence before her head dropped rolled onto his shoulder, allowing him to cradle her, her heart and head too heavy. "It was a baby, Matt. One pound, six ounces of miracle that died in my arms."
He could her feel her sorrow and wonder how she could put herself through this kind of pain each time. But then he remembered this was a giving, loving soul. And every child was a miracle to her, just as ever death was a tragedy. He didn't have words of wisdom to share, didn't have words of comfort to give. All he had was a shoulder to let her cry on.
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R&R please.
By Didi
Disclaimers: I don't own any of the characters. John Wells and his friends do. Let's not get into the debate as to who owns the ideas and all that; cause let's fact it, you'll lose. Enjoy the story anyways.
Summary: The hospital rumor mill get hold of a hush-hush situation.
FYI: The "Teddy Bear" is one hundred years old.
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Chapter 7
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"Ring, ring. Ring, ring. Ring, ring."
The phone fumbled, crashed against the table before it was picked up. "What the bloody hell do you want?" came the muffled and irritated greeting.
There was a pause. "Dr. Slingerland?"
"Yes. Who is this?" turning his head so that he was no longer speaking into the pillow. Sleeping on one's stomach, while comfortable, was not the most efficient position to answer the phone.
"It's Harriet Lenning."
"Who?" Then came the belated recognition. "Oh lordy. Dr. Lenning, my apologies. I'm not quite awake yet."
"No, no, I'm sorry. I must have dialed the wrong number," though her tone held a note of doubt. "Didn't mean to wake you."
"Not a problem," though it was since he still couldn't open his sleep-swollen eyes.
"Good night."
"Nite," then hung up with phone with a groan of relief.
Two seconds later, "Ring, ring. Ring, ring."
Matt gave a pathetic groan before reaching out to pick up the phone again and flipping onto his back. "Yes?"
There was a pause. "Dr. Slingerland?"
"Dr. Lenning, what can I do for you?" he replied with a sigh giving a Herculean attempt to open his eyes then stared at the unfamiliar blue lamp by his bedside. There were beaded fringes on the lampshade. Odd, he couldn't quite remember when or why he would purchase a map with beaded fringes on the lampshade.
"I'm sorry again, I thought I was dialing Dr. Keating number."
"Dr. Keating?" he came the slightly confused question before it hit him like a ton a brick. "Oh. Oh..." He felt ten times the fool and looked around the shadow apartment for some divine intervention.
"I'm sorry I keep waking you. I don't know why I keep dialing the wrong..."
"No, no... I should be apologizing." He just knew this was going to be bad. Oh god, when the gossip mill gets their hands on this one.... Then again, Harriet Lenning wasn't known to be a gossip. "You didn't dial the wrong number."
Another long heavy pause, "I see," in that wise knowing tone.
"No, no, no, no, no..." he clutched the phone so tight that he was surprised that plastic handle didn't crack under the pressure. Oh Lord, what a bloody mess! Jules is going to kill him for this one. "It's not what you think!"
"Oh?"
A hard surface on which to bang his head against would be nice right about now. "Listen, there is a logical and very innocent explanation for all this."
"Really?" came that same knowing tone that made Slingerland cringed with some unexplained reason. Oh yes, it was probably because it was similar to the tone his mother used when she knew he was fibbing. But in this case, he really wasn't.
"Yes, and I would be more than happy to relate it to you when my brain functions are at full capacity," Matt said shaking his head to clear more of the cobwebs of sleep. Somehow, anything nearing his truthful version of the story is not likely to believe him. He and Jules have simply have to come up with a better one... when he tells her. Oh lord, he could already see the outrage on her face. "Was there some particular reason you were looking for Jul...er...Dr. Keating?"
There was another pause. "I need her here at the hospital. I've got a mother at 28 weeks coming in with strong contractions. She arrived from Chicago this morning...or yesterday morning rather, starting having contractions last night but waited until about an hour ago to come in. I was just paged."
"Right," swinging his leg around and glancing down at the unfamiliar sweat pants he was wearing before remembering it had been a pair of Jules's brother's, left behind during a visit. "Isn't there anyone else at the neonatal unit? I mean, she's awfully tired."
"Is she?" came the question.
He winced at how that may have sounded coming from him. "I meant that she went to sleep rather late and..." Oh, he was just making it worse now. "Why don't I just wake her up and we'll be there as soon as... I mean, *she* will be there as soon as humanly possible."
"All right. Good night, Dr. Slingerland." He could almost see the knowing smile on the good doctor's face.
With nothing more he could say to make the situation any better, "Good night, Dr. Lenning." And hung up the phone with a resounding click.
There was a brief moment that he was tempted to just fall back asleep and pretend this never happened. But then, there was a life at state and he knew that Jules would kill him if she found out about it. With a sigh from way down deep, he got up and prayed that Dr. Keating won't wake up screaming when she finds him there.
The door had a big felt teddy bear on it with the word "Jules" stitched on it in blocky letters. It was rather sweetly endearing in a manner. Opening the door, the first impression of Dr. Keating's bedroom was that it had an awful lot of stuff animals. Or more precisely, there was an awful lot of teddy bears. They were everywhere, in every size, shape, color and form. There was even one twice the size of Dr. Slingerland in one corner. Had it not been for the large dresser and queen size bed in the middle of the room, Matt would have sworn he stepped into a teddy bear museum. Even the little nightlight by the door was in the shape of a bear.
Curled in the middle of the bed was a sleeping Dr. Keating. Like Tatania in the forest, her pixie sweet face had the peace and happiness that inspired men to poetry. Women, Slingerland was sure, were the most beautiful when completely unconscious of themselves. And it certainly applied beautifully here.
While he loathed waking her after the harrowing day she had, he knew the consequences should he not. Settling himself on the bed, he reached over and gave her bared shoulder a gentle shake. "Jules?"
Moaning as she shifted in her sleep, green eyes fluttered for a moment before settling on the voice that had awoke her from slumber. Licking her lips for moisture, she stared at him. For a moment, confusion clouded her face. "Matt?"
"Yeah," he smiled, feeling uncomfortably awkward at the moment. It certainly won't be the first time he's been in a woman's bedroom. But this was different from his normal course of life. "Wake up, Jules."
She struggled from under the covers. Blinking at the dimness of the room. "What time is it? What are you doing in here?"
Glad that her mind wasn't awake enough to become outraged by this boldness, "It's about ten after four. Dr. Lenning called. She needs you down at the hospital. They're about to deliver a seven month premie."
Blinking rapidly to wake, she asked, "Why?"
"Mother flew in from Chicago. Waited too long to go to the hospital," he pulled her up into a sitting position from the shoulder. Her skin was warm to the touch. And he couldn't help but glance down as the blankets fell away. He grinned at her teasingly. "Jules? You don't by chance shop at Victoria's Secrets, do you?"
That got her awake nicely as she whacked him on the arm and pulled the blanket around her. The camisole, while revealing nothing, bared more than enough to give Matt a hint of what she would look like beneath. "Matt!"
Getting off the bed, he looked around for a robe or something. Finding none handy, he shrugged. "Shall I start coffee for you?"
Jules whimpered as she rolled onto her side and sniffed pitifully. "They don't pay me nearly enough for these kinds of days."
"Come on, you know you live for excitement such as this," he rubbed her exposed shoulder with his hand and smiled down at her. It just occurred to him that she smelled rather nicely. "How about I make coffee and you wake up? I'll drive you down to the hospital on my way home. I think I've gotten enough rest now not to fall asleep behind the wheels. Especially if I get some more of your mother's delicious French Vanilla bean coffee."
Turning her head, she smiled back at him. "Okay, deal."
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"And why can't we just tell them the truth?" Jules asked clutching the hot thermo mug with her hand. Her second cup of java and she was finally starting to come awake.
Matt sipped the traveling mug she had kindly provided him and grimaced as the liquid scalded his tongue. "Jules, you know me. You know what people think of me and my... reputation. If I were to tell you that I was too tired to drive home after taking a female co-worker home, would you believe me?"
Jules thought back to the long list of women she has heard about linked to Dr. Slingerland's name. "Okay, you've got a point there."
"It's not to say that it couldn't happen, which it did last evening, but it's just hard for most to actually believe something as innocent as that." He made the turn with one hand and ran a yellow. "Why are there so many bloody cars out in the middle of the night?"
"Because we live in a city where the good clubs close at 3:00 AM." She replied and leaned back in her chair. "So what do we tell them?"
"As close to the truth as possible," Matt replied glancing at the clock on his dashboard. "Doubtful that Dr. Lenning talked but you never know."
"Harriet will mind her own business," Jules said chewing on her lip. "But I have to tell her something plausible."
"How about I fell asleep on the coach? Simple, close to the truth but not quite."
She frowned at him. "So we're just going to leave out the part where I invited you to stay."
"Yes," he nodded as they neared the hospital. "Trust me when I say that no one would believe you any ways. This way, they'll think you're doing a good deed."
Jules shook her head. "Won't someone ask what you were doing in my apartment in the first place?"
"Hopefully not. They'll probably just jump to the natural conclusion that I invited myself in." He pulled toward the emergency entrance. "Here we are."
"I kind of don't feel right about this," she said gathering her stuff.
"You think the baby's in danger cause of premature birth?" he asked seriously.
"No, I mean letting everyone think you're the bad guy here. We didn't do anything wrong. We didn't do anything either one of us needs to be ashamed of. The truth is perfectly innocent and feasible."
"But not when it comes to certain reputations," Matt concluded as she pulled the door open. "Jules trust me when I say that it's simply better to allow the rest of the hospital to think that I made a pass and let's move on with it. You say anything about your part in it and it's likely to live for ninety days."
She sighed and shrugged. "I think you're wrong but whatever. I've got a premie to take care of. Thanks for the ride."
"See you later!" giving her a quick wave as she closed the door to his car firmly.
"Slow down!" she called after him as he took off from the emergency bay at sixty miles per hour. Shaking her head, she turned to head into the hospital. "Hi Millicent, nice night to have a baby."
"Good evening Dr. Keating," Millicent greeted with wide eyes.
She smiled and went in, never noticing the eyes of every nurse and attendant in the emergency reception area following her all the way to the elevators.
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"Mother is five centimeter dilated and doing well. The baby on the other hand... pulse is tready and I'm afraid that we may be looking at an emergency c-section." Harriet handed the chart over and frowned at the new reports. "Oxygen levels are down."
"If we can do natural birth, let's do it. The baby is not cook ripe yet and I don't want to chance a c-section to make it worse," Jules murmured as she studied the charts. "Let's wait, keep the heart monitor on the baby and if it dips again, we're going in."
"Agreed," Harriet nodded and removed her glasses. "I've already talked to Dad. We have consent to do emergency c-section if necessary."
"Always one step ahead of me," she grinned and closed the clip.
"Now tell me why Slingerland was in your apartment at three in the morning," she said as he looped one arm around her arm and guided her into her office.
Jules groaned. "Harriet!"
"Jules, I'm worried. If I weren't I wouldn't have asked." She looked at the young doctor with her calming blue eyes. "I know you are a grown woman and more than capable of taking care of yourself. But I'm your friend."
"It's nothing," she sighed. For a moment, she almost told her the story she and Matt had agreed tentatively upon. But this was Harriet Lenning. "Dr. Slingerland brought me a patient yesterday that had to go into emergency surgery. Threw my schedule all out of whack. By the time I was able to leave, the last trolley had already left. Slingerland offered to take me home and on the way, we got some dinner. He brought me back to my apartment and was too exhausted to drive safely home. I offered the coach and he spent the night. When you call, he instinctively picked up the phone. Nothing to it at all."
"Nothing to it," Harriet repeated as she settled behind her desk. Her blue eyes twinkled with amusement. "And you invited him to stay the night."
"On the couch," she emphasized.
"Right, on the coach," she nodded and smiled gently. "It was very nice of him to drive you home and very nice of you to let him stay."
A since of impending doom seemed to hit her for a moment. "Harriet?"
"Yes, dear?" mild curiosity in her face.
"You do believe me, don't you?" But she could already see the doubt in her friend's eyes. "Oh god, you don't, do you?" If Harriet, who has known her since lord knows when, didn't believe her, she could only imagine what the rest of the hospital was going to say.
"That's not true," Harriet said reassuringly. "Jules, I trust you. You are a very good doctor and a very good person. You are sweet, generous, and very strong willed when you want to be but a little naïve at times. And well... Dr. Slingerland has quite a reputation with the ladies."
"Matt's a friend."
"Who help to inseminate your eggs," Dr. Lenning pointed out.
Jules groaned and slouched in her seat. "That would have to come back and haunt me now, won't it?" Okay, so maybe Slingerland was right about the whole not telling the truth thing. "Harriet..."
"I haven't said a word and I'm not going to," she assured her with a quick glance at the clock. "And it's time we get back to..."
The quick knock on the door did not wait for an answer before Susan's head popped in the room. "BP is down and baby monitor reads the heart at two hundred."
Keating and Lenning both scrambled out of their seats. "The baby is in distress. Prep the mom for emergency c-section and get neonatal to prepare incubator and revival kit. Page the attending surgeon."
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
"Good morning Billy," Dr. Slingerland greeted the gleeful five year old that was happily consuming red cubes of gelatin at the moment. "How is our favorite patient this morning?"
"Good," came the soft reply as he popped another piece of his breakfast into his mouth. "I've got scar, like Frankenstein."
"That's right, kiddo!" he grinned as he ruffled the boy's soft baby hair. "Did you sleep okay last night?"
"Yes," he nodded his head. "Dr. Jules says that I can leave in another day if I'm good."
Yes, of course she would have come check up on Billy. Jules was nothing if not dedicated to her patients. "Well, then you best behave yourself young man, won't want to make a liar out of the doctor now. When did Dr. Keating come see you?"
"She gave me breakfast," he said soberly. "She was sad. Says she needs cheering up so she came to see me." He grinned proudly at the doctor with the funny accent. "I made her smile."
"She was sad?" Slingerland frown with concern. "And you made her smile. Good for you. We gentlemen must do our best to keep the ladies happy." He watched the sweet child continue to finish his breakfast of oatmeal, juice and gelatin. "Where is your mum?"
"Mommy called and said she will come to see me later," Billy explained, feeling quite grown up in his role as the information distributor.
"Well good," though silently he damned Debra for leaving her child in the hospital by himself. "I have to go talk to some doctors now. Will you be all right alone, Billy?"
Pointing to the coloring books and a bucket of crayons by his bed side, Billy nodded his head.
"From Dr. Keating?"
"She will bring me robots later."
With a laugh, Slingerland patted the boy's head and headed out. The moment he left the room, his smile dropped into a frown. "Gina," coming to the nurse's station and reading the name tag off the petite brunette's tag. "Where is Dr. Keating?"
Brown eyes blinked at him for a moment before startling to action. "She just left. I think she went to her office to get her purse."
Finding it odd that the woman appear to be looking at him as if he's grown a second head, Slingerland decided that finding out what happened to cause Dr. Keating's upset was more important than finding out what's been effecting the nursing staff lately. Something was definitely up.
When the knock on Dr. Keating's door went unanswered several times, Matt found that he didn't believe it for a second. Pushing open the door, he was not surprised to find Jules curled up in the corner on top the giant serpent that he has yet to figure out where she could have gotten it. She had hold of a pale blue bear with a pink nose whose head was tucked firmly under her chin. Over all, she looked like a sulking child but he knew it was more. "Good morning, Dr. Keating."
She glared at him with rabbit eyes. "When someone doesn't answer the door it usually means they don't want to be disturbed."
"Yes but I'm a big believer in barging in where one's not wanted when it is obvious that a friend is hurting badly," he shut the door firmly behind him and came across the room to stare down at her for a moment. She looked helplessly sad. Settling himself next to her, "The premie?" She turned her face and refused to answer. "Come on. You'd feel better if you share."
"I already shared with Harriet and it didn't help," came the sullen reply and a sniffle.
Looking around, he found a box of tissues with a panda bear cover on it. Holding the bear out to her, he watched as she grabbed two tissues and turned away again, giving him her back. "Yes, but I'm not Harriet." He turned his body to try to look at her face, but she kept avoiding him. "And I'm much more charming."
She hit him with the teddy bear. "Says you," but it elicited a watery smile from her as she turned and laid back on the serpent.
Slingerland shifted down to his side and propped himself up with on his elbow. "The baby?"
Jules stared at the ceiling, her face sad and pensive. "Three and a half minutes without oxygen. Vegetable on birth."
He hated it when the young ones suffer. "Umbilical cord?"
"Around the neck...twice."
"How did that...Nevermind." Slipping an arm under her shoulder, he pulled her up against him, waiting until her stiff posture relaxed next to him. "We're not miracle workers, Jules. We're doctors. We do what we can for our patients and no one can ask more from us."
There was a moment of silence before her head dropped rolled onto his shoulder, allowing him to cradle her, her heart and head too heavy. "It was a baby, Matt. One pound, six ounces of miracle that died in my arms."
He could her feel her sorrow and wonder how she could put herself through this kind of pain each time. But then he remembered this was a giving, loving soul. And every child was a miracle to her, just as ever death was a tragedy. He didn't have words of wisdom to share, didn't have words of comfort to give. All he had was a shoulder to let her cry on.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
R&R please.