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 face it, you'll lose. Enjoy the story anyways.
Summary: A whole new can of worms is about to be opened. But first, let's throwing some thing in the air.
Rating: PG-13 on this chapter.
Note: Okay, I'm no doctor so any kind of medical term is either from something I heard or just plain made up. Don't flame me for it. On and I know that holidays are over but I need you to stay with the timeline. And that means that Thanksgiving has just passed. Thank you for your cooperation in this little timeline matter.
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Chapter 12
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"Your workload is beginning to look ridiculous," Dr. Calloway grunted in disgust as he flipped through the lists of materials he's barely had to time to look through for these bimonthly staff meetings. "Kellerman, take over some of them will you. I don't want the hospital sued when Slingerland end up falling asleep on the job from over working himself."
"Can't help it if my patients are loyal," Matt answered with a grin as he handed over some of his scheduled appointments of the day to Kellerman.
"And more often than not female," Calloway replied with a look. "You know hospital rules about doctor/patient relationships."
"I know it by heart since everyone keep quoting it to me at ever meeting," Slingerland grinned cheekily. "And don't worry, I have not cross the lines once. Nor will I. I kind of like my hide the way it is. And the brass will take a stripe of it if I ever do."
"From what I hear, you may not have cross any of the doctor/patient rules, but you haven't really been paying much attention to the rules about dating among the staff."
"Didn't know there was any," and he would know since he did try to find any that may have existed. Contrary to popular opinion, he does not live to buck the authority.
"None that are written but that could change," Calloway warned, glaring at him. Even the crusty head of Internal Medicine have heard the recent rumors that were flying in and out of all the departments. Of those, are only the most recent ones involving the British physician, but the only ones that involved a fellow doctor.
"Then I hope that one foolish enough to do make such a real be prepared for the fight of their lives because I doubt the Drs. Jordan are going to take it too lightly."
A disapproving grunt came again before Calloway moved on to all the other necessary materials to go over with the fellow doctors, including rotation shifts and nursing staff notes that were not being pay enough attention to.
When the meeting disbursed, Slingerland left feeling rather light hearted. His workload had been lightened considerably, which meant he might actually have time to catch up on his paperwork during the day instead of trying to come in during the weekends or early in the morning, such have displeased Jules more than once now.
Making a note to pick up food before he took Jules home with him for the weekend, since there was only beer and olives left in his refrigerator, Matt drop most of his meeting materials back in his office before sitting down to finish some notes on his last patient. Glancing down, he spotted his bright tie and grinned. Maybe he could pick up some flowers too. He noticed that no matter how busy Jules got, there was always fresh flowers in her apartment. Where she got the time to go look for flowers was beyond him.
Whistling, he walked to the receptionist area ready for his next patient just as the elevator door dinged open and Dr. Kokoris burst into internal medicine carrying an unconscious Dr. Keating in his arms. "I need a gurney over here!"
"Someone call hematology and tell them to prepare for a rush blood works," Letty ordered as she kept up with Kokoris's long legged stride and kept Jules's head leveled.
Three of the nurse rushed forward as Slingerland stood there stunned and stupefied for a moment before rushing forward to help the two doctors strap Jules into the rolling bed. "What the bloody hell happened?"
"If we knew, we wouldn't be so freaked out!" Letty yelled back as they rolled the gurney into a curtained around.
Jules groaned and flipped her eyes for a moment as Kokoris took her wrist, his eyes deadly calm. "Keep still," as he flashed a flashlight into her eyes to watch for reactions.
"Oh... what happened?" reaching up to rub her forehead for a moment.
"You fainted," Letty replied as she took her blood pressure. "Can you tell me how you're feeling right now?"
"Besides ridiculous?" Jules replied pulling her arm from Kokoris, who was rolling up her sleeves to take blood for a full workup. "Stop that. I'm okay."
"People that are okay aren't carried in here like a rag doll," Slingerland snapped sharply at her as he took her pulse himself.
"Jules..." Letty reminded her.
"I'm fine," pulling her arm back against when Kokoris made to take blood again. "I just got light headed cause I didn't eat like I knew I should have." She avoided both Kokoris and Slingerland's accusing eyes.
"What happened to nibbling on something?" Kokoris asked dryly, giving up on taking her blood since she was pretty much determined to keep that from happening.
"What happened to 'I'll get something later?' you loopy woman," Matt hissed as he dug into his back pocket and pulled out a twenty dollar bill. "Margaret, I need a favor please."
"Yes, doctor?" came the petite little nurse eagerly.
"Go down to the cafeteria and get a small salad with Italian dressing; a sandwich, chicken or turkey, no tuna or ham; if they have ice cream, get strawberry or vanilla, no other favors, she doesn't like any others and get some gelatin if they don't have ice cream; whole milk and juice, apple or cranberry, no orange or grape or grapefruit. Thank you, Margaret." He turned back to Jules as Margaret stared rather stunned for a moment before scrambling to do as he had asked. "You!"
"Don't yell," Jules begged, her eyes sad and pathetic.
Sighing, Matt shook his head at her and counted to ten. "You'll eat every bite before you do anything else."
"I have patients," trying to keep the whining out of her tone.
"Not any more," Letty frowned disapprovingly at her. "I'll have them move all your appointments. As of now, you 'are' a patient."
"'My' patient since you are in my department," Slingerland pointed out. "And you're not going anywhere until I'm satisfied that you are not going to collapse on us." He double-checked her eyes and tongue, all the while glaring at her. "Scared us, Jules. Scared me."
"I'm sorry," she muttered as she glanced at a rather amused Dr. Jordan standing off to the side and a watchful Dr. Kokoris who was doing nothing to hide the fact that he was listening avidly to the conversation.
"Then you shouldn't have done something so foolish," he took her blood pressure once more than poured water into a glass and handing it to her. "Every last drop."
"I'm be more careful next time," she replied, dutifully drinking the water.
"There isn't going to be a next time," he muttered, closing his arms over his chest and studied her pale face. "From now on, you don't leave the house unless you have breakfast first. I don't care how late you are for patients or meetings, you don't leave the apartment until you get at very least toast and juice."
Clearing her throat slightly, Jules gave a little nod toward their audience. "I'll try to remember that."
Glancing at them, Matt dismissed their presence without a thought. There was still a heedful of steam that he hasn't yet to work off. The last thing he wanted concern with was what others thought of him. "I have to get back to my patients but you are going to stay there until Margaret gets back with your belated lunch. And yes, you will be having dinner later as well. I'll be back to check on you in a bit." He turned about and warned Kokoris as he walked by him, "She doesn't leave that bed until she's consumed every bite of what I ordered for her. Restrain her if you have to."
"I'm still here you know!" Jules threw up her hand. "I can hear every word you're saying."
"I know," he replied with a tight smile and more than a little anger in his eyes. He was not a happy man.
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"You okay?" Letty asked as Matt sent his patient off with a nurse to be admitted for an infected appendix. She had just left Jules under the care of Kokoris, who was warned not to be allowing the wily young doctor out of his sight. From what she observed, Slingerland appeared to be having a difficult time dealing with whatever emotions he was dealing with when Jules was brought it. "Or do you need one of those stress balls like that thick headed husband of mine does?"
Putting more pressure on the pen he was using to note the chart that would follow the patient later, Slingerland tried to ignore the fact that he was beginning to create holes on the paper he was writing on. Dropping the first of several clips still in his hands into the filing basket, he motioned for Dr. Jordan to step behind a curtain. "What are you talking about?"
Crossing her arms, Letty leaned back against the bed and raised one brow at him. "That little caveman act back there. Is it going to safe to allow you back into Jules's presence without you giving into the urge to shake or strangle her?"
Slingerland made a noise of disgust as he pulled his hand through his hair. "The woman is a doctor for Christ sakes. She had not bloody business forgetting essential things like eating." The hiss of anger was more telling than he would have liked to believe.
Letty frowned, "Scared you real bad, didn't she?"
"Thought my heart was going to stop when she came in," he admitted with a sigh, reliving the terrifying moment in his mind as he closed his eyes for some semblance of control over his own emotions. "Christ, that harebrained woman is going to drive me straight to Bedlam."
With a mixture of amusement and incredulity, Letty's eyes went wide. "Well, I'll be damned."
"What?" turning back to Dr. Jordan as if just realizing that she was in the room.
Grinning unabashed, she shook her head in disbelief. "And here I thought you and her were just flirting around."
"What?" Slingerland asked again, his eyes going wide as he realized just how much he must have revealed in his distraction over Jules's lapse in judgment. "Jules and I are friends. Of course, I would be concerned for a friend."
"Right," nodding her head knowingly as she rolled her eyes. "Friends."
"Yes, friends," he stated once more with a little more emphasis on the word. "I'd be just as angry at you if you had been that silly."
Letty made a face and pulled the curtain open. "Say what you will but I think we both know that truth."
"Really?" grabbing his clips up again. He still had little more than half a dozen patience before his day was over, barring any more emergencies. "And what exactly do you think you know?"
Punching the elevator button, "That Dr. Matt Slingerland does have a heart. And it is no longer exclusively reserved for his patients." As the door dinged open, "I left Kokoris with Jules. You might want to check on them later. I have patients."
The door shut before Matt could make any reply; leaving him staring at he closed doors with annoyance. "Bloody hell."
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"No way!"
"Totally went frantic-husband on her."
"What did he do?"
"Besides order someone down to the cafeteria for food? He left Dr. Keating with Dr. Kokoris. And everyone knows how he and Kokoris don't get along after that whole incident with the gangrene patient."
"Whoa..." dutifully impressed now. "So you think they're like...together-together?"
"Absolutely. No one is that freaked out about their 'friend' passing out in the hallway."
"Think she's really pregnant?"
"Could explain the fainting..."
Jules winced and buried her head in her hand, ignoring the jell-o still on the tray. Blessed with what her brother Josh calls dog-hearing, she had to live through more than one conversation among the gossiping nurses, who for some strange reason cannot seem to remember that curtains do not block voices.
"This isn't funny," she told the patient Dr. Kokoris who was watching her with an impassive face, having heard all the wonderful conversation in the hall.
"I did not say a thing," he replied quite proud of the fact that he was calm about the whole thing though he was enjoying the amount of squirming Dr. Keating was doing.
"That's not what your eyes are saying."
Trying but failing to hide his amusement, Nick pushed he small cup of yellow gelatin toward the patient once more. "Eat."
"I hate yellow jell-o," she replied sourly, pushing the but back toward the surgeon. "Why don't you eat it?"
"Because I'm not the one that starve myself to unconsciousness."
Wrinkling her nose, "You make one little mistake..."
Nick chuckled softly, his eyes twinkling with amusement. "Your little mistake could have caused a major scandal for the hospital. What if you had been with a patient at the time?"
She slanted him a look of annoyance before picking up a cube of yellow jell-o with her delicate fingers. "Advise on avoiding trouble from a guy that got suspended for butting heads with another doctor." She grinned when he winced, "Even if you were right."
"No one will ever allow me to forget that, are they?" he asked coming over to sit at the foot of her bed, watching as the color slowly seeped back into her cheeks. "But seriously, Dr. Keating, you do need to be more careful about how you maintain your diet."
Shaking her head in confusion, "I'm usually pretty good, and it's not like this would be the first time I've skipped more than one meal at in day to get work done. I've just never had this kind of blacking out stuff when I'm hungry. It's unusual."
Nick nodded his head, taking what she said for the truth. Jules Keating appeared to be a healthy young woman that should not have reacted so adversely to a skipped meal or two. And the tough rumors that circulated the halls of the hospital would have him believing that her petite figure would soon be gaining a new roundness, he was confident that she would have mentioned it by now if it were true. "You had surgery not too long ago, correct?"
A memory she did not want to relive, "Yes, a biopsy."
"That could explain the weaken state of your health," he nodded to himself, mentally going through a litany of possible consequences of a biopsy. "What has your workload been..." he shook his head at that particularly silly question. "Of course you've been loaded."
"Fall season, all kinds of flues and colds tend to come up. Add to those the array of unexpected emergencies, like Billy's gallbladder, Dorothy Ann's trigger-happy dad, Kenny's exploding tonsils, Maggie's heart defect..."
"I get the point," pressing hand to her forehead, he studied her pale face. "When was the last time you had blood work done?"
"Before and after my biopsy. Clean bill of health," she replied, pushing the hand away. "Plus I went through a whole lot of tests when I was preparing to freeze some eggs."
That was an unexpected piece of news. "I beg your pardon."
"Cancer of the ovary patients usually have some of their eggs cryogenically frozen when they're in remission. Assuming they still have their ovaries left. That way they can still have their own biological children in the future."
"And you did it," he grinned, amused and impressed at the same time. "The procedure causes a hormone imbalance for a period of time during and after; a side effect that you are no doubt aware of. May have compromised your immune system."
"A definite possibility," she agreed reluctantly.
"Possibility of what?" Slingerland wanted to know as he strolled in, her chart in hand and frowning at the neat cubes of jell-o still wiggling on her plate as she continued to poke at them with her forefinger. "Stop playing with your food. And didn't I tell you to eat everything?"
She scowled at him. "It's yellow."
"Yellow is every bit as palatable as red."
"Then you eat it," she challenged. "Can I get back to work now?"
"Not until I do a quick exam," he informed her in what he hoped to be a most reasonable tone though he was still tempted to strangle her for giving him such a fright.
Kokoris was wise enough to know when to disappear. "Since you are in good hands now, I'll be leaving you. Plenty of patients in need of services." He paused at drawing the curtains aside. "Eat something before you come in tomorrow. I don't need you passing out on me during surgery."
Waving him away, "I will, I will. Sheesh." Then sighed as Matt warmed up his scope with his hands. The barely suppress fury could be seen through every movement as he prepared an exam tray. "You might as well vent your spleen now."
Tempted as he was, Matt chose the more civilized manner of displaying his displeasure; with a deadly calmness. "I would like to remind you that you are a doctor and there are patients that count on you. Neglecting yourself is hardly a good example to be showing the young moldable minds that you see everyday."
Glancing as him as he took her temperature and pulse, she could see that he was still angry but doing everything in his powers to keep it all under wraps. The guilt leapt up unexpectedly. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry, just don't do it again," he replied detachedly. "Breathe in and cough."
Obeying, she glanced at him again. "Matt..."
"I was concerned for you," he interrupted her as he put things away. "I was scared." He turned to her, the disquiet confusion on his face. "I don't like to be either of those emotions invading my life, Jules. They don't become me."
"I'm sorry." She was considering having the two words tattooed to her forehead now she's repeated it so many times. "I just wasn't paying attention and I forgot about the hormone therapy and..."
"The what?"
"Hormone therapy. For the eggs? Plus the biopsy on my ovaries. They weakened my immune system. I guess I just... I forgot."
"You for..." He took a deep breath and began to count to ten. He only got to five when, "How can you forget something like that?"
"I just did," she explained, glancing at the curtains. She was sure there were a dozen nurses standing on the other side listening in. "Look, I know I was stupid about the whole thing. God knows I'm going to get hell from Letty and Harriet later today. I don't know how or why I allow this to happen. But I can assure you and I don't plan on making it a habit." Reaching over, she touched his arm. "I am really sorry that I scared you."
Slingerland glanced down at the hand, those beautifully sculptured hands that he held at night as she slept in his arms. Touching him now, he looked at her, feeling vaguely soothed to know that she was all right now. "I guess you are good to go again," glancing over at the curtains, he leaned close and touched her softly on the forehead with his lips before whispering, "I'll see you later?"
The smile he received was beautifully bright and full of warmth. "After work." Pressing her lips to his for a moment, she leaned back and tossed the sheets away. "I have patients to see and lives to save."
"Don't over work yourself," he warned, tugging the curtains open and ignore the mad scramble of the unusually large number of nurses in the area. "And drink plenty of fluids."
"Yes, doctor," she saluted him before skipping down the hall and away.
Sighing, Matt had a feeling that she was going to do as she pleased, no matter what he said. And he can't say that he didn't admire her more for it.
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"Just passed out?" Jackie asked in disbelief.
"Flopped over like a landed fish," Letty replied mildly as she completed the chart and sighed. Her back was killing her and she wanted to go home for a long hot bubble bath. Maybe she could even talk her husband into giving her a backrub. Assuming he was home.
Dr. Colette gaped at her silently. "Well, what happened afterwards?"
"Kokoris carried her to internal medication, where she woke up, and Slingerland ordered her food and rest. She's been running on nothing but coffee and sheer will for most of the day." Grinning, she leaned over and whispered conspiratorially. "He made a comment about her not being allowed to leave the house again without breakfast."
That got a reaction, "Whose house?"
"Hum.. makes one wonder, doesn't it?"
Laughing, "But she's all right now."
"Looks like, saw her making rounds earlier."
Glancing at her watch, "It's almost seven. I thought her shift ended at six."
Letty made a face at her as if she's gone stupid all of a sudden. "And when was the last time you got out of the office on time and the way you planned it?"
"True." She glanced up as Slingerland made his way to the stairwell; briefcase in hand and coat slung over one arm, getting ready to call it a day. "So Slingerland and Jules really are going out?"
"Looks like," watching as Slingerland disappeared into the stairwell just as Dr. Keating appeared around the corner, purse over one shoulder and jacket over the other. She looked exhausted, hurried and eager to leave. She too disappeared into the stairway. "Come on," grabbing Dr. Colette's hand and pulling her toward the stairs before the door fully closed.
Jackie held her breath and grinned conspiratorially as she glanced down the stairs making her sure the heels of her shoes don't click on the concrete stairway.
There was a clatter and soft laughter. "Matt, stop that."
"I merely want to make sure you're all right."
Another round of giggles. "Is this how you gage the condition of all your patients? Matt, stop. Someone could see us."
"Relax, no one is skulking about in the stairs. No one will see."
"You don't know that," she complained.
"Paranoia, luv, does not become you," Slingerland's heavily accented voice could be heard moving further down the stairs. "You look positively awful."
"Thanks," Keating answered dryly, her voice heavy. "I'm so tired. Just want to go to bed."
"Sounds like a plan," he replied.
"To sleep, you idiot."
"Oh well, we can do that too." There was soft chuckling. "I brought some clothes with me."
Letty covered her mouth to keep from chuckling out loud as Jackie made a frantic motions with her hand to keep herself from squealing with delight. They move lower down the stairs to see Jules's pale hand on the railing, as the couple continued to make their way down to the sublevel parking structure.
"Does that mean we can go straight to my house?" Jules asked.
"Yeah, but you have to pack tonight remember? We're spending the weekend at my place?"
There was a pause. "You sure that you want to..."
"We've been over this, Jules. Yes."
"All right then. I should bring my cell phone just in case."
"Do that, though why we bother any more is beyond me."
"Humor me."
"That's why I do it."
There was a soft laugher. "And here I thought it was because we're good in bed."
"That too."
The loud clang announced that they had arrived at their destination and Letty and Jackie were left to fill in the blanks of the rest of the conversation. Though, there was very little lift to imagine.
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Raise your hand if you think you know where I'm going with this.
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 face it, you'll lose. Enjoy the story anyways.
Summary: A whole new can of worms is about to be opened. But first, let's throwing some thing in the air.
Rating: PG-13 on this chapter.
Note: Okay, I'm no doctor so any kind of medical term is either from something I heard or just plain made up. Don't flame me for it. On and I know that holidays are over but I need you to stay with the timeline. And that means that Thanksgiving has just passed. Thank you for your cooperation in this little timeline matter.
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Chapter 12
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"Your workload is beginning to look ridiculous," Dr. Calloway grunted in disgust as he flipped through the lists of materials he's barely had to time to look through for these bimonthly staff meetings. "Kellerman, take over some of them will you. I don't want the hospital sued when Slingerland end up falling asleep on the job from over working himself."
"Can't help it if my patients are loyal," Matt answered with a grin as he handed over some of his scheduled appointments of the day to Kellerman.
"And more often than not female," Calloway replied with a look. "You know hospital rules about doctor/patient relationships."
"I know it by heart since everyone keep quoting it to me at ever meeting," Slingerland grinned cheekily. "And don't worry, I have not cross the lines once. Nor will I. I kind of like my hide the way it is. And the brass will take a stripe of it if I ever do."
"From what I hear, you may not have cross any of the doctor/patient rules, but you haven't really been paying much attention to the rules about dating among the staff."
"Didn't know there was any," and he would know since he did try to find any that may have existed. Contrary to popular opinion, he does not live to buck the authority.
"None that are written but that could change," Calloway warned, glaring at him. Even the crusty head of Internal Medicine have heard the recent rumors that were flying in and out of all the departments. Of those, are only the most recent ones involving the British physician, but the only ones that involved a fellow doctor.
"Then I hope that one foolish enough to do make such a real be prepared for the fight of their lives because I doubt the Drs. Jordan are going to take it too lightly."
A disapproving grunt came again before Calloway moved on to all the other necessary materials to go over with the fellow doctors, including rotation shifts and nursing staff notes that were not being pay enough attention to.
When the meeting disbursed, Slingerland left feeling rather light hearted. His workload had been lightened considerably, which meant he might actually have time to catch up on his paperwork during the day instead of trying to come in during the weekends or early in the morning, such have displeased Jules more than once now.
Making a note to pick up food before he took Jules home with him for the weekend, since there was only beer and olives left in his refrigerator, Matt drop most of his meeting materials back in his office before sitting down to finish some notes on his last patient. Glancing down, he spotted his bright tie and grinned. Maybe he could pick up some flowers too. He noticed that no matter how busy Jules got, there was always fresh flowers in her apartment. Where she got the time to go look for flowers was beyond him.
Whistling, he walked to the receptionist area ready for his next patient just as the elevator door dinged open and Dr. Kokoris burst into internal medicine carrying an unconscious Dr. Keating in his arms. "I need a gurney over here!"
"Someone call hematology and tell them to prepare for a rush blood works," Letty ordered as she kept up with Kokoris's long legged stride and kept Jules's head leveled.
Three of the nurse rushed forward as Slingerland stood there stunned and stupefied for a moment before rushing forward to help the two doctors strap Jules into the rolling bed. "What the bloody hell happened?"
"If we knew, we wouldn't be so freaked out!" Letty yelled back as they rolled the gurney into a curtained around.
Jules groaned and flipped her eyes for a moment as Kokoris took her wrist, his eyes deadly calm. "Keep still," as he flashed a flashlight into her eyes to watch for reactions.
"Oh... what happened?" reaching up to rub her forehead for a moment.
"You fainted," Letty replied as she took her blood pressure. "Can you tell me how you're feeling right now?"
"Besides ridiculous?" Jules replied pulling her arm from Kokoris, who was rolling up her sleeves to take blood for a full workup. "Stop that. I'm okay."
"People that are okay aren't carried in here like a rag doll," Slingerland snapped sharply at her as he took her pulse himself.
"Jules..." Letty reminded her.
"I'm fine," pulling her arm back against when Kokoris made to take blood again. "I just got light headed cause I didn't eat like I knew I should have." She avoided both Kokoris and Slingerland's accusing eyes.
"What happened to nibbling on something?" Kokoris asked dryly, giving up on taking her blood since she was pretty much determined to keep that from happening.
"What happened to 'I'll get something later?' you loopy woman," Matt hissed as he dug into his back pocket and pulled out a twenty dollar bill. "Margaret, I need a favor please."
"Yes, doctor?" came the petite little nurse eagerly.
"Go down to the cafeteria and get a small salad with Italian dressing; a sandwich, chicken or turkey, no tuna or ham; if they have ice cream, get strawberry or vanilla, no other favors, she doesn't like any others and get some gelatin if they don't have ice cream; whole milk and juice, apple or cranberry, no orange or grape or grapefruit. Thank you, Margaret." He turned back to Jules as Margaret stared rather stunned for a moment before scrambling to do as he had asked. "You!"
"Don't yell," Jules begged, her eyes sad and pathetic.
Sighing, Matt shook his head at her and counted to ten. "You'll eat every bite before you do anything else."
"I have patients," trying to keep the whining out of her tone.
"Not any more," Letty frowned disapprovingly at her. "I'll have them move all your appointments. As of now, you 'are' a patient."
"'My' patient since you are in my department," Slingerland pointed out. "And you're not going anywhere until I'm satisfied that you are not going to collapse on us." He double-checked her eyes and tongue, all the while glaring at her. "Scared us, Jules. Scared me."
"I'm sorry," she muttered as she glanced at a rather amused Dr. Jordan standing off to the side and a watchful Dr. Kokoris who was doing nothing to hide the fact that he was listening avidly to the conversation.
"Then you shouldn't have done something so foolish," he took her blood pressure once more than poured water into a glass and handing it to her. "Every last drop."
"I'm be more careful next time," she replied, dutifully drinking the water.
"There isn't going to be a next time," he muttered, closing his arms over his chest and studied her pale face. "From now on, you don't leave the house unless you have breakfast first. I don't care how late you are for patients or meetings, you don't leave the apartment until you get at very least toast and juice."
Clearing her throat slightly, Jules gave a little nod toward their audience. "I'll try to remember that."
Glancing at them, Matt dismissed their presence without a thought. There was still a heedful of steam that he hasn't yet to work off. The last thing he wanted concern with was what others thought of him. "I have to get back to my patients but you are going to stay there until Margaret gets back with your belated lunch. And yes, you will be having dinner later as well. I'll be back to check on you in a bit." He turned about and warned Kokoris as he walked by him, "She doesn't leave that bed until she's consumed every bite of what I ordered for her. Restrain her if you have to."
"I'm still here you know!" Jules threw up her hand. "I can hear every word you're saying."
"I know," he replied with a tight smile and more than a little anger in his eyes. He was not a happy man.
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"You okay?" Letty asked as Matt sent his patient off with a nurse to be admitted for an infected appendix. She had just left Jules under the care of Kokoris, who was warned not to be allowing the wily young doctor out of his sight. From what she observed, Slingerland appeared to be having a difficult time dealing with whatever emotions he was dealing with when Jules was brought it. "Or do you need one of those stress balls like that thick headed husband of mine does?"
Putting more pressure on the pen he was using to note the chart that would follow the patient later, Slingerland tried to ignore the fact that he was beginning to create holes on the paper he was writing on. Dropping the first of several clips still in his hands into the filing basket, he motioned for Dr. Jordan to step behind a curtain. "What are you talking about?"
Crossing her arms, Letty leaned back against the bed and raised one brow at him. "That little caveman act back there. Is it going to safe to allow you back into Jules's presence without you giving into the urge to shake or strangle her?"
Slingerland made a noise of disgust as he pulled his hand through his hair. "The woman is a doctor for Christ sakes. She had not bloody business forgetting essential things like eating." The hiss of anger was more telling than he would have liked to believe.
Letty frowned, "Scared you real bad, didn't she?"
"Thought my heart was going to stop when she came in," he admitted with a sigh, reliving the terrifying moment in his mind as he closed his eyes for some semblance of control over his own emotions. "Christ, that harebrained woman is going to drive me straight to Bedlam."
With a mixture of amusement and incredulity, Letty's eyes went wide. "Well, I'll be damned."
"What?" turning back to Dr. Jordan as if just realizing that she was in the room.
Grinning unabashed, she shook her head in disbelief. "And here I thought you and her were just flirting around."
"What?" Slingerland asked again, his eyes going wide as he realized just how much he must have revealed in his distraction over Jules's lapse in judgment. "Jules and I are friends. Of course, I would be concerned for a friend."
"Right," nodding her head knowingly as she rolled her eyes. "Friends."
"Yes, friends," he stated once more with a little more emphasis on the word. "I'd be just as angry at you if you had been that silly."
Letty made a face and pulled the curtain open. "Say what you will but I think we both know that truth."
"Really?" grabbing his clips up again. He still had little more than half a dozen patience before his day was over, barring any more emergencies. "And what exactly do you think you know?"
Punching the elevator button, "That Dr. Matt Slingerland does have a heart. And it is no longer exclusively reserved for his patients." As the door dinged open, "I left Kokoris with Jules. You might want to check on them later. I have patients."
The door shut before Matt could make any reply; leaving him staring at he closed doors with annoyance. "Bloody hell."
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
"No way!"
"Totally went frantic-husband on her."
"What did he do?"
"Besides order someone down to the cafeteria for food? He left Dr. Keating with Dr. Kokoris. And everyone knows how he and Kokoris don't get along after that whole incident with the gangrene patient."
"Whoa..." dutifully impressed now. "So you think they're like...together-together?"
"Absolutely. No one is that freaked out about their 'friend' passing out in the hallway."
"Think she's really pregnant?"
"Could explain the fainting..."
Jules winced and buried her head in her hand, ignoring the jell-o still on the tray. Blessed with what her brother Josh calls dog-hearing, she had to live through more than one conversation among the gossiping nurses, who for some strange reason cannot seem to remember that curtains do not block voices.
"This isn't funny," she told the patient Dr. Kokoris who was watching her with an impassive face, having heard all the wonderful conversation in the hall.
"I did not say a thing," he replied quite proud of the fact that he was calm about the whole thing though he was enjoying the amount of squirming Dr. Keating was doing.
"That's not what your eyes are saying."
Trying but failing to hide his amusement, Nick pushed he small cup of yellow gelatin toward the patient once more. "Eat."
"I hate yellow jell-o," she replied sourly, pushing the but back toward the surgeon. "Why don't you eat it?"
"Because I'm not the one that starve myself to unconsciousness."
Wrinkling her nose, "You make one little mistake..."
Nick chuckled softly, his eyes twinkling with amusement. "Your little mistake could have caused a major scandal for the hospital. What if you had been with a patient at the time?"
She slanted him a look of annoyance before picking up a cube of yellow jell-o with her delicate fingers. "Advise on avoiding trouble from a guy that got suspended for butting heads with another doctor." She grinned when he winced, "Even if you were right."
"No one will ever allow me to forget that, are they?" he asked coming over to sit at the foot of her bed, watching as the color slowly seeped back into her cheeks. "But seriously, Dr. Keating, you do need to be more careful about how you maintain your diet."
Shaking her head in confusion, "I'm usually pretty good, and it's not like this would be the first time I've skipped more than one meal at in day to get work done. I've just never had this kind of blacking out stuff when I'm hungry. It's unusual."
Nick nodded his head, taking what she said for the truth. Jules Keating appeared to be a healthy young woman that should not have reacted so adversely to a skipped meal or two. And the tough rumors that circulated the halls of the hospital would have him believing that her petite figure would soon be gaining a new roundness, he was confident that she would have mentioned it by now if it were true. "You had surgery not too long ago, correct?"
A memory she did not want to relive, "Yes, a biopsy."
"That could explain the weaken state of your health," he nodded to himself, mentally going through a litany of possible consequences of a biopsy. "What has your workload been..." he shook his head at that particularly silly question. "Of course you've been loaded."
"Fall season, all kinds of flues and colds tend to come up. Add to those the array of unexpected emergencies, like Billy's gallbladder, Dorothy Ann's trigger-happy dad, Kenny's exploding tonsils, Maggie's heart defect..."
"I get the point," pressing hand to her forehead, he studied her pale face. "When was the last time you had blood work done?"
"Before and after my biopsy. Clean bill of health," she replied, pushing the hand away. "Plus I went through a whole lot of tests when I was preparing to freeze some eggs."
That was an unexpected piece of news. "I beg your pardon."
"Cancer of the ovary patients usually have some of their eggs cryogenically frozen when they're in remission. Assuming they still have their ovaries left. That way they can still have their own biological children in the future."
"And you did it," he grinned, amused and impressed at the same time. "The procedure causes a hormone imbalance for a period of time during and after; a side effect that you are no doubt aware of. May have compromised your immune system."
"A definite possibility," she agreed reluctantly.
"Possibility of what?" Slingerland wanted to know as he strolled in, her chart in hand and frowning at the neat cubes of jell-o still wiggling on her plate as she continued to poke at them with her forefinger. "Stop playing with your food. And didn't I tell you to eat everything?"
She scowled at him. "It's yellow."
"Yellow is every bit as palatable as red."
"Then you eat it," she challenged. "Can I get back to work now?"
"Not until I do a quick exam," he informed her in what he hoped to be a most reasonable tone though he was still tempted to strangle her for giving him such a fright.
Kokoris was wise enough to know when to disappear. "Since you are in good hands now, I'll be leaving you. Plenty of patients in need of services." He paused at drawing the curtains aside. "Eat something before you come in tomorrow. I don't need you passing out on me during surgery."
Waving him away, "I will, I will. Sheesh." Then sighed as Matt warmed up his scope with his hands. The barely suppress fury could be seen through every movement as he prepared an exam tray. "You might as well vent your spleen now."
Tempted as he was, Matt chose the more civilized manner of displaying his displeasure; with a deadly calmness. "I would like to remind you that you are a doctor and there are patients that count on you. Neglecting yourself is hardly a good example to be showing the young moldable minds that you see everyday."
Glancing as him as he took her temperature and pulse, she could see that he was still angry but doing everything in his powers to keep it all under wraps. The guilt leapt up unexpectedly. "I'm sorry."
"Don't be sorry, just don't do it again," he replied detachedly. "Breathe in and cough."
Obeying, she glanced at him again. "Matt..."
"I was concerned for you," he interrupted her as he put things away. "I was scared." He turned to her, the disquiet confusion on his face. "I don't like to be either of those emotions invading my life, Jules. They don't become me."
"I'm sorry." She was considering having the two words tattooed to her forehead now she's repeated it so many times. "I just wasn't paying attention and I forgot about the hormone therapy and..."
"The what?"
"Hormone therapy. For the eggs? Plus the biopsy on my ovaries. They weakened my immune system. I guess I just... I forgot."
"You for..." He took a deep breath and began to count to ten. He only got to five when, "How can you forget something like that?"
"I just did," she explained, glancing at the curtains. She was sure there were a dozen nurses standing on the other side listening in. "Look, I know I was stupid about the whole thing. God knows I'm going to get hell from Letty and Harriet later today. I don't know how or why I allow this to happen. But I can assure you and I don't plan on making it a habit." Reaching over, she touched his arm. "I am really sorry that I scared you."
Slingerland glanced down at the hand, those beautifully sculptured hands that he held at night as she slept in his arms. Touching him now, he looked at her, feeling vaguely soothed to know that she was all right now. "I guess you are good to go again," glancing over at the curtains, he leaned close and touched her softly on the forehead with his lips before whispering, "I'll see you later?"
The smile he received was beautifully bright and full of warmth. "After work." Pressing her lips to his for a moment, she leaned back and tossed the sheets away. "I have patients to see and lives to save."
"Don't over work yourself," he warned, tugging the curtains open and ignore the mad scramble of the unusually large number of nurses in the area. "And drink plenty of fluids."
"Yes, doctor," she saluted him before skipping down the hall and away.
Sighing, Matt had a feeling that she was going to do as she pleased, no matter what he said. And he can't say that he didn't admire her more for it.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
"Just passed out?" Jackie asked in disbelief.
"Flopped over like a landed fish," Letty replied mildly as she completed the chart and sighed. Her back was killing her and she wanted to go home for a long hot bubble bath. Maybe she could even talk her husband into giving her a backrub. Assuming he was home.
Dr. Colette gaped at her silently. "Well, what happened afterwards?"
"Kokoris carried her to internal medication, where she woke up, and Slingerland ordered her food and rest. She's been running on nothing but coffee and sheer will for most of the day." Grinning, she leaned over and whispered conspiratorially. "He made a comment about her not being allowed to leave the house again without breakfast."
That got a reaction, "Whose house?"
"Hum.. makes one wonder, doesn't it?"
Laughing, "But she's all right now."
"Looks like, saw her making rounds earlier."
Glancing at her watch, "It's almost seven. I thought her shift ended at six."
Letty made a face at her as if she's gone stupid all of a sudden. "And when was the last time you got out of the office on time and the way you planned it?"
"True." She glanced up as Slingerland made his way to the stairwell; briefcase in hand and coat slung over one arm, getting ready to call it a day. "So Slingerland and Jules really are going out?"
"Looks like," watching as Slingerland disappeared into the stairwell just as Dr. Keating appeared around the corner, purse over one shoulder and jacket over the other. She looked exhausted, hurried and eager to leave. She too disappeared into the stairway. "Come on," grabbing Dr. Colette's hand and pulling her toward the stairs before the door fully closed.
Jackie held her breath and grinned conspiratorially as she glanced down the stairs making her sure the heels of her shoes don't click on the concrete stairway.
There was a clatter and soft laughter. "Matt, stop that."
"I merely want to make sure you're all right."
Another round of giggles. "Is this how you gage the condition of all your patients? Matt, stop. Someone could see us."
"Relax, no one is skulking about in the stairs. No one will see."
"You don't know that," she complained.
"Paranoia, luv, does not become you," Slingerland's heavily accented voice could be heard moving further down the stairs. "You look positively awful."
"Thanks," Keating answered dryly, her voice heavy. "I'm so tired. Just want to go to bed."
"Sounds like a plan," he replied.
"To sleep, you idiot."
"Oh well, we can do that too." There was soft chuckling. "I brought some clothes with me."
Letty covered her mouth to keep from chuckling out loud as Jackie made a frantic motions with her hand to keep herself from squealing with delight. They move lower down the stairs to see Jules's pale hand on the railing, as the couple continued to make their way down to the sublevel parking structure.
"Does that mean we can go straight to my house?" Jules asked.
"Yeah, but you have to pack tonight remember? We're spending the weekend at my place?"
There was a pause. "You sure that you want to..."
"We've been over this, Jules. Yes."
"All right then. I should bring my cell phone just in case."
"Do that, though why we bother any more is beyond me."
"Humor me."
"That's why I do it."
There was a soft laugher. "And here I thought it was because we're good in bed."
"That too."
The loud clang announced that they had arrived at their destination and Letty and Jackie were left to fill in the blanks of the rest of the conversation. Though, there was very little lift to imagine.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Raise your hand if you think you know where I'm going with this.