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: Brotherly love...it's like a good kick in the butt.
Rating: PG-13
Author's Note: "Mr. Edison's Gift" was derived from an episode from "Growing Pains." I take no credit for the idea.
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Chapter 21
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Glass of water in hand, Jeremiah Keating sat down in front of his kid sister and pressed the drink into her hand. Her usually pale face looked even more deathly tonight and her thin face appeared to have lost more of its fullness. Over all, she looked exactly as his wife did carrying their first child. "Okay, you want to tell me why you're here trying to convince me that you want to go come stay a weekend with me and mine when you just managed to convince Josh to convince me and Jeff not to beat the living daylights out of your boyfriend?"
"Not that we wouldn't welcome a nice visit from you, Juli-kins," Jeffrey added with a sympathetic smile. "But you have to admit that this does seem particularly odd given your adamancy that this Dr. Singer-ma-bob is a good guy."
"Slingerland," she corrected with an irritated look.
"Whatever," Jeff said gruffly. "You want to tell us what happened between this afternoon and now to make you change your mind about him?"
"Nothing," she responded with more insistence than she knew was wise. She was tired, that was it, just tired and she wanted some patience and quiet. Well... coming to her brothers wasn't such a good idea if that was what she really wanted. "I just thought that maybe a little time away would give me some perspective on things."
"That's not what you said this morning," Josh responded, his brows knitted together with concern.
"That was this morning's hormones and now this is this moment's hormone levels. So are any of you going to let me stay with you for a couple of days or am I going to have to go talk to mom?" she asked, knowing very well that she would rather go ice fishing then have to tell her mother the recent mess she's gotten herself into.
"You know that you are more than welcome at any one of our homes, baby sis," Jerry responded with a quick nod to his brothers. "We're just trying to make sure you aren't flying off the handle and doing something foolish."
"What happened, Jules? Did the bad import do something stupid?" Josh asked. Let Jerry pay the diplomat, he'll pay the protective lion.
"Will you stop calling him that?" she snapped, her patience strained. Coming to see her brother was definitely not a good idea in retrospect. "He didn't do anything wrong and I" her pager vibrating violently in her purse cut her off.
"Leave it," Jeffrey advised.
"Can't," she replied fishing for the object. "You can ignore a call from your clients, but I can't just ignore my patients. Some of them require constant attention."
"I told you to go into Real Estate," Jeff sighed and leaned against the table, watching for her to finish. "Not too late you know. Many women go into the business relatively...."
"I've got to go," she said, dropping the pager into her purse and getting up. "I've got a NICU patient that needs me."
"Jules," Jerry called as he rushed to intercept her at the door. Taking her hand, he hugged her tight for a moment, careful not to squeeze her hard. "Whatever happens with the man, you know that this family stands behind you one hundred and ten percent."
"Thanks, Jerry," she pressed her lips against her brother's cheek. "Give the little ones a kiss for me." She turned and stared at her bachelor brothers. "And don't get into any trouble while you are here. I cannot explain to the hospital why my brother's decided to randomly attack people." She pointed at Josh, "And stay away from Slingerland and his brother."
"Love you too, Little Jules," Jeffrey said as he followed her down the hall and to the elevator door. Kissing her on the cheek, he received her sisterly smile with indulgence and watched her until the doors closed on his face. Sighing, he returned to the hotel room the Keating brothers were occupying for the day and turned to the youngest of the male set. "So what was he like?"
Staring out the window, mind on the woman that just left, "Couldn't begin to tell you," Josh replied, picking up the glass of water Jules had left behind and finishing it with a gulp. "She separated us too quickly." He frowned at the window, the peacefully gloomy weather outside completely ignored by the gloomy mood he was in. "By what I see, he definitely cares. Didn't like her running in the hallways."
"She was running? In her condition?" Jeff asked, eyes wide in disbelief.
"You know how Jules is," Josh answered with a shrug.
"You think he'll do right by Jules?" Jerry asked, taking a seat and wondering if his wife would enjoy a little visit with his sister. They hadn't seen each other since Thanksgiving, and even that was a short and hectic affair, especially with their youngest sick to his stomach most of the weekend.
"Who knows," Josh replied with a heartfelt sigh. "She doesn't think marriage is in the horizon given the examples his family has shown him. And she isn't going to push him into it, knowing what kind of resentment it might create."
"Our dear sister really has herself in a pickle, hasn't she?" Jerry asked, hand going to his buzzing cell phone. Glancing at the caller ID, he decided to ignore it. "So what now? I'm not too keen on leaving while she's still so upset over... whatever it is she's upset about."
Jerry stared at the ceiling and thanked the many gods above that he only had one sister. God knows what kind of murder and mayhem he would have gotten himself into if he had more to protect. "I think it's time we have a little chat with this Dr. Singleton."
"Slingerland," Josh corrected automatically.
"Whatever."
Josh frowned at his eldest brother. "Get use to saying it right."
"Why would I want to do that?" came the irritated reply.
"Cause unless I've missed my guess, our baby sister is in love."
Two groans greeted that assessment simultaneously.
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"Let's start him on antibiotics now that his weight is up a notch," Jules ordered as she scribbled it down on the medication chart and glanced at the three week old wonder that was fighting for every breath. "And let's up the heat in here, two degrees, I don't want there to be another infection."
"Yes, doctor," Laura answered as she moved about a little and turned up the heat to the incubator by two degrees. She gave the young neonatal specialist covert glances and then sneaking more looks at the desk nurse.
"What is it?" Jules asked, after spying another exchange of nervous glances by the attending nurses around her.
"Nothing," Haley answered with a smile.
"Don't give me that," she admonished with a look. "I know when I'm being talked about, or speculated about, behind my back. Out with it."
Ingrid decided to be the brave one; she did have twenty years in the NICU under her belt and was less likely to catch hell. "We were given strict orders to make sure you don't stay in here pass ten o'clock." She glanced at the large clock on the wall and back at her. The long hand read fifty-five while the short was inching toward ten. "I think we're getting damn close."
Shock, horrified, and outraged, Jules planted her fists on her hips. "Who gave the order?"
"I did," Harriet Lenning replied as she came through the swinging door. "And it's about time you went home," dropping two charts with Ingrid and stopping just before the sputtering young doctor. "And don't look so indignant. If you weren't in those shoes, you'd agree with me."
"Harriet!" Jules stared but stopped when the matron doctor pulled her out of NICU by the elbow and down the hallway. "Will you...."
"You're health is not at its best," Harriet began with a frown at the stubborn lines on Jules's forehead. "And given your diagnosis, and being a doctor yourself, I think you would agree that a light schedule and a stress free environment would be the best medicine prescribed for a mother to be with a compromised health situation."
"I'm perfectly..."
"Capable of ignoring my advise and doing yourself serious harm," Dr. Lenning finished as she pushed Dr. Keating's office door open. "Need I remind of you of the fainting episode you just went through not too long ago?"
Jules groaned. "You would have to remember that, won't you?"
Harriet stared at the dark stain on the ground. "What happened to your carpet?"
"What?" glancing down. "Oh that, it's just tea."
"You spilled tea in here?" Ever graceful, even under stress, Harriet had serious doubts.
"No," Jules admitted with a sigh. "It's a long story."
"Which need not be told right now," Harriet replied throwing jacket and purse at the younger doctor. "Go home. Sleep. Rest. Come back tomorrow morning and save lives. In the mean time, let's keep that life within you as healthy as possible, shall we?"
"You don't pull any punches do you?"
"If you were less stubborn..." she slanted her a smile and walked her out. "I would have thought you'd be with Slingerland tonight?"
"That was the plan but he cancelled on me at the last minute."
"Hum..." came the non-reply.
"What?" curious.
"I would have though you'd be meeting up after the surgery."
Now thoroughly confused, "What surgery?"
"The tongue laceration." Nothing cleared on Jules's freckled face. "He brought in a fourteen year old with an artery dissection on the tongue. Apparently he was at the scene when the kid had an accident. Went into surgery with Kokoris before the kid hemorrhaged."
"When?"
"Just before six."
The amount of shame she felt was... "Was his brother..."
"Came in and went looking for you."
Her anger mounted even as her guilt took a nice chunk out of her heart. "Can't meet me as planned," she remembered with irritation. George and his stupid... "I'm going to kill him."
"Who?" Harriet asked quietly.
"He is a dead man," she pronounced before storming off in a huff leaving Harriet Lenning in the hallways staring after her for a moment before the OB went to her office.
Harriet smiled to herself as she pulled the charts for the evening and was glad that she was happily married and not quite so impulsive and young any more.
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Matt was out of his seat and lunging for the door the minute he heard it rattle. He had been not so patiently waiting in her apartment after making a quite run to his own in the vain hope that she would be here. The spare keys Dr. Keating had kept in "Mr. Edison's Gift" had come in handy tonight. "Jules?!?"
"Sorry, wrong Keating," Josh announced cheerfully as Jeffrey returned the spare keys to Jules's apartment to their hiding place within the enormous wall-lamp by the door.
Normally the sight of the three Keating brothers filing in and taking a good long survey of the British doctor would have raised all sorts of alarm bells in Slingerland's head, but at the moment, he was much too distracted by the fact that Jules Keating was not there. "Where is she?" he asked unceremoniously.
Josh decided to play the tormentor. "Oh? Isn't she here?"
For a moment, Matt wondered if punching a guy into a bloody pulp would constitute violating the doctor's Hippocratic oath to do no harm. "I'm not in the best frame of mind at the moment and had you catch me at any other time, I would be more than happy and willing to go round and round with you on these useless, pointless bantering. But as I am not in such a mood to play games, would you kindly inform me where your sister is."
Josh tilted his head and asked mockingly, "Now why would I want to..."
Grabbing him by the front of his shirt, Matt dropped all pretenses of civility. "TELL ME WHERE SHE IS!!!"
Jerry and Jeff both grabbed an arm and managed to pry the angry doctor off their brother before physical damage can occur. Wrestling the taller man to the coach, Jerry felt a wave of sympathy to the near overwhelming panic he could see in the man's eyes. "Easy there. Josh was just having some fun at your expense. And given that you got our sister pregnant, you cannot exactly expect any of us to welcome you with open arms. But if you must know, Jules was called back to the hospital on a patient."
That very fact that he now knew where she was calmed Matt down considerably. Shaking off the elder brothers off, he glared at Josh who stood there smirking at him with amusement. "That was hardly nice."
"Who says I have to be nice to you?" Josh replied as he went to the kitchen to search out food. He was hungry. "Trust me when I say that I'm the least of your worries with Jeff here."
With that, Jeffrey tapped Slingerland on the shoulder with enough force to topple the doctor into the nearest armchair. "Have a seat, we've got to talk."
Seeing that there was not much choice in the matter, Matt crossed his arms and sat back as comfortably as he could. "Let the interrogation begin."
Jerry smiled, glad that the lot of them didn't easily cow the man. "Listen, we're not trying to be difficult..."
"Don't listen to him," Josh called from the kitchen where he could only find Ritz crackers and peanut butter. "We plan on being plenty difficult, or at least I am." He grinned before opening the frig in hopes of something more. "What the heck did you say to her anyways? She was your complete champion this morning and now she wants to come home with one of us for a few days."
"I didn't say a bloody thing to the infuriating woman," Slingerland raged, having his emotions yanked around is hardly the most pleasant way to live. "And what do you mean she wants to come home with one of you..." He's eyes narrowed darkly. "She wanted to leave town for a few days?"
"Said something about clearing her head," Jeff added, watching Slingerland critically. The tall, lean, handsome man was not what he had expected. He was too cultured, too smooth and too... cool for what he had pictured his baby sister's boyfriend would be. In her youth, Jules had always navigated toward smart, shy, funny, sometimes geeky boys that could never pull off silk without looking like a pansy. "You're not exactly her type."
"What the hell does that mean?" Matt asked with a scowl.
"Exactly what I said," Jeff replied with smile. "You are hardly the imagine she's always had of the man of her dreams. And the doctor part, that is unexpected. She once vowed never to marry one of her kind."
Jerry sighed and leaned back in his seat. "Jules always said that her ideal dream mate would be a nice accountant with a love of music and babies. He's have blond hair and green eyes and wouldn't mind the occasional dinner and charity events that the doctors all have to attend. And more importantly, he wouldn't have crazy office hours the way she does, he'd be around for the kids cause she may not be."
Josh nodded his head and dropped himself into the seat next to Jeff. "You," pointing with a hand that had a M&M bag, "Are hardly what she wanted, especially given your schedule looks to be as insane as hers."
Slingerland digested without a hint emotion on his face. "Are you done tell me just how much Jules is not going to like being with me?"
"Not by a long shot, bucko," Josh replied with grin. "But why don't you tell us what happened this evening before we go on?"
"Nothing happened!" Slingerland replied with more frustration than anything. Getting up, he started to pace the length of the room with five long legged steps. "We were doing just fine until all of you showed up out of no where decided it would be fine and dandy to see how much trouble you all can cause. George and his bloody insinuations. You and damn right fist. Every interfering know-it-all member of the clans seems to find it necessary to stick their bloody noses where it doesn't belong." He ran long fingers through his dark hair. "We were damn happy, even with the unexpected twist in the maternity section of the relationship. I was this close to talking her into moving in with me. This bloody close."
Matt ignored the widening of eyes from the brothers as he continued to vent. "Had it all worked out too. The spare room would be the baby's room, we'll have it repainted, redone in any way she liked... well, as soon as we find out whether it's going to be a boy or girl. Though I suppose we can always go with pastel yellows and green so that it would work either way. I was going to buy teddy bears, as many as I can bloody well find in the city and online for the baby; even more than the bloody museum she's already got. I was going to have the antique crib shipped from England; Mum would no doubt have it around somewhere, she usually tries to give it to George at every one of his numerous weddings. And if Jules wanted, I was going to buy a blood house for her. Something bigger so that there would be room, not that my townhouse now isn't a nice place. But if she wanted something different; I was going to get it. I had the whole damn plan worked out. Then you all showed up!" He glanced at the door with a angry glare. "WHERE THE BLOODY HELL IS SHE?"
"Probably still at the hospital," Jeff replied glancing at Jerry with resigned look. There was an obvious attachment there already, even if Jules hadn't realized it yet. And man was already head over heels and he didn't even know it. "So what are you going to do now?"
Glancing back at him, startled as if he just remembered the three men were there, Matt sighed and shook his head. "I don't know. I don't know much anymore. I do not, however, plan on allow you three or my brother to influence or interfere with what Jules and I will plan. In the mean time, I'm going to go look for Jules." With that, he reached over and picked up his jacket, more than intent on going to the hospital and making Jules listen to... to... whatever he can say or do to make this right. He silently cursed his brother for his stupid interfering ways.
"Don't be foolish," Jerry said as he got to up to stop the man. "For all you know, she's on her way here now. It does no good to run about in the middle of the night."
Matt wasn't paying much attention as he grabbed his keys from the counter, where he had deposited it earlier. He held it out of reach as Jerry tried to make a grab for it. "I don't care. I'll go bloody mad if I continue to sit here and no nothing with the three of you trying to stare me down. And for your information, anything you plan on doing will not have the least bit of consequence upon my relationship with Jules. I plan on being around for her and her... our child." And headed for the door with Jerry still trying vainly to take away his keys.
Jeffrey almost smirked as he asked the one question that would solve everything. "Do you love her?"
"Of course I love the infuriating woman, why else would I put up with the chaos she creates in my orderly life," he replied hotly before realizing what he's just said. When the words sank in, so did he into the nearest chair. "Oh blimey."
"Hadn't hit you yet, did it?" Jerry asked with only half sympathy as he took the keys from Slingerland's limp hand. The good doctor had gone pale with shock. His flame of indignation had been snuffed within a blink of an eye. If it weren't so ironic, it'd be funny; those in love are usually the last to see it.
"No," he replied soberly and tried to swallow the lump in his throat. Taking a shaky breath, he ran a hand over his face. He felt sick to his stomach and just a little dizzy. "How the hell did this happen?"
"Snuck up on you, didn't she?" Josh laughed feeling surprising relaxed. As much as he hated to admit it, he kind of liked this guy. Granted, Slingerland wasn't what he had wanted for his baby sister, but by all indications, the doctor appeared to be as devoted to her as Josh would ever wish for her. "Yeah, our Jules does that to a man. Grows upon you until one day, you cannot imagine a life without her exasperating ways."
"The question now is," Jeff said, always the practical one, "What are you going to do about it?"
Slingerland sat there, head in his hands trying to put some semblance of order to his scattered head. "I don't know." The lump in his throat was not going away, and added to that was the strange tightening around his heart. And his breath was having a difficult time catching up with one another the other. Panic was sure to follow, he was almost positive of that. He was displaying all the physical symptoms of an anxiety attack. And even being a doctor didn't help to relieve him of the problem. Mentally, he knew what to do. But he couldn't quite piece together enough thought to do something about it.
"You all right?" Jerry asked, as Slingerland lowered his head between his knees.
"Define all right?" he replied with a muffle as he took deep breath to keep the nasty cafeteria sandwich he had snacked on earlier down. "Oh lord, this is not what I had planned on."
"What exactly did you plan?" Josh asked, feeling sorry for the fellow and getting up to get him a glass of water.
"I... I don't know. But this definitely was not it." Swallowing hard to keep the raising tide of fear down. "Thank you," taking the offered water and gulping it down.
Jeffrey got up and walked over, studying the slumped shoulders for a moment. Quietly, he offered what he could hope to be sound advice. "Jules hasn't made it a secret that she wants kids, some two or three. And in this day and age, being a single parent isn't the end of the world. She's got family, lots of them that are willing to help out if and when she needs it as a single parent. I won't say that I had hoped that she would wait until after marriage to start a family, but I can certainly understand her need to have some now given the recent circumstances of her health."
Matt blinked at him. "You're making it sound as if you're cutting me out of the picture. Need I remind you that this is my child too?"
"Yes, we know that."
"Boy do we know it," Josh added with the roll of his eyes then received a sharp elbow to his ribs from Jerry.
"And we're not trying to cut you out," Jeff explained with gravity. "But you have to understand something. We love our sister. We adore her. There isn't anything in this world we won't do for her. And that means that we want what's best for her. If you love her and know that you won't be there for her, be it marriage or child support, than you need to leave her. Don't give her false hopes. For as strong and as independent as Jules is, she's a romantic at heart and can easily be crushed. I don't want to see my sister cry."
Matt sat there in silence. He was unsure of what to do next. He didn't doubt that he loved her... but then again George claimed to love all his wives at one point or other. Love he can do... but fidelity?
On the other hand, he's never been in love before. Never felt this kind of bottom dropping sensation that scare him deaf, dumb and numb. How does anyone handle this kind of petrifying fear that one false move and you could lose...everything. He knew the difference between love and lust... right? And while he certainly enjoyed going to bed with Jules, there was so much more than just simple physical pleasure.
He craved the moments, those quiet moments with her, when he simply had his arms around her sitting on the floor of his living room chitchatting while Tracy and Hepburn talk circles around each other on the television screen. Watching her face lit up with delight across the breakfast table over some new brew he managed to find at the various coffee shops that were scattered throughout San Francisco all the while bantering over who had the bigger obsession for coffee. Hearing her giggling delight over the ridiculously fragrant roses that still sat by his bedside where she could wake up to them and smile with sweet pleasure. Sharing left over Chinese or Italian food from cartons after leaving the hospital in their usual preposterously late hours and discussing the latest gossip or news in their profession. Wrestling her for the remote to the TV while arguing over the benefits of watching CNN over C-Span. Holding her hand while she cooed over sweet smelling babies in the park on warm sunny Sunday afternoons. Kissing her tears away when she's fought the good fight for a precious new life and still lost.
Smiling almost wistfully, "I'm not going anywhere."
The others exchanged knowing smile and nodded their agreement. Jerry was just about to welcome him into the clan when the front door opened jarringly and Jules toppled in. She managed to catch herself with the doorknob. "Holy sh..." the curse was lost at her eyes went wide at the sight of all the men in her life cramped into her little living room space. "What the hell is going on?"
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TBC...
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: Brotherly love...it's like a good kick in the butt.
Rating: PG-13
Author's Note: "Mr. Edison's Gift" was derived from an episode from "Growing Pains." I take no credit for the idea.
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Chapter 21
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Glass of water in hand, Jeremiah Keating sat down in front of his kid sister and pressed the drink into her hand. Her usually pale face looked even more deathly tonight and her thin face appeared to have lost more of its fullness. Over all, she looked exactly as his wife did carrying their first child. "Okay, you want to tell me why you're here trying to convince me that you want to go come stay a weekend with me and mine when you just managed to convince Josh to convince me and Jeff not to beat the living daylights out of your boyfriend?"
"Not that we wouldn't welcome a nice visit from you, Juli-kins," Jeffrey added with a sympathetic smile. "But you have to admit that this does seem particularly odd given your adamancy that this Dr. Singer-ma-bob is a good guy."
"Slingerland," she corrected with an irritated look.
"Whatever," Jeff said gruffly. "You want to tell us what happened between this afternoon and now to make you change your mind about him?"
"Nothing," she responded with more insistence than she knew was wise. She was tired, that was it, just tired and she wanted some patience and quiet. Well... coming to her brothers wasn't such a good idea if that was what she really wanted. "I just thought that maybe a little time away would give me some perspective on things."
"That's not what you said this morning," Josh responded, his brows knitted together with concern.
"That was this morning's hormones and now this is this moment's hormone levels. So are any of you going to let me stay with you for a couple of days or am I going to have to go talk to mom?" she asked, knowing very well that she would rather go ice fishing then have to tell her mother the recent mess she's gotten herself into.
"You know that you are more than welcome at any one of our homes, baby sis," Jerry responded with a quick nod to his brothers. "We're just trying to make sure you aren't flying off the handle and doing something foolish."
"What happened, Jules? Did the bad import do something stupid?" Josh asked. Let Jerry pay the diplomat, he'll pay the protective lion.
"Will you stop calling him that?" she snapped, her patience strained. Coming to see her brother was definitely not a good idea in retrospect. "He didn't do anything wrong and I" her pager vibrating violently in her purse cut her off.
"Leave it," Jeffrey advised.
"Can't," she replied fishing for the object. "You can ignore a call from your clients, but I can't just ignore my patients. Some of them require constant attention."
"I told you to go into Real Estate," Jeff sighed and leaned against the table, watching for her to finish. "Not too late you know. Many women go into the business relatively...."
"I've got to go," she said, dropping the pager into her purse and getting up. "I've got a NICU patient that needs me."
"Jules," Jerry called as he rushed to intercept her at the door. Taking her hand, he hugged her tight for a moment, careful not to squeeze her hard. "Whatever happens with the man, you know that this family stands behind you one hundred and ten percent."
"Thanks, Jerry," she pressed her lips against her brother's cheek. "Give the little ones a kiss for me." She turned and stared at her bachelor brothers. "And don't get into any trouble while you are here. I cannot explain to the hospital why my brother's decided to randomly attack people." She pointed at Josh, "And stay away from Slingerland and his brother."
"Love you too, Little Jules," Jeffrey said as he followed her down the hall and to the elevator door. Kissing her on the cheek, he received her sisterly smile with indulgence and watched her until the doors closed on his face. Sighing, he returned to the hotel room the Keating brothers were occupying for the day and turned to the youngest of the male set. "So what was he like?"
Staring out the window, mind on the woman that just left, "Couldn't begin to tell you," Josh replied, picking up the glass of water Jules had left behind and finishing it with a gulp. "She separated us too quickly." He frowned at the window, the peacefully gloomy weather outside completely ignored by the gloomy mood he was in. "By what I see, he definitely cares. Didn't like her running in the hallways."
"She was running? In her condition?" Jeff asked, eyes wide in disbelief.
"You know how Jules is," Josh answered with a shrug.
"You think he'll do right by Jules?" Jerry asked, taking a seat and wondering if his wife would enjoy a little visit with his sister. They hadn't seen each other since Thanksgiving, and even that was a short and hectic affair, especially with their youngest sick to his stomach most of the weekend.
"Who knows," Josh replied with a heartfelt sigh. "She doesn't think marriage is in the horizon given the examples his family has shown him. And she isn't going to push him into it, knowing what kind of resentment it might create."
"Our dear sister really has herself in a pickle, hasn't she?" Jerry asked, hand going to his buzzing cell phone. Glancing at the caller ID, he decided to ignore it. "So what now? I'm not too keen on leaving while she's still so upset over... whatever it is she's upset about."
Jerry stared at the ceiling and thanked the many gods above that he only had one sister. God knows what kind of murder and mayhem he would have gotten himself into if he had more to protect. "I think it's time we have a little chat with this Dr. Singleton."
"Slingerland," Josh corrected automatically.
"Whatever."
Josh frowned at his eldest brother. "Get use to saying it right."
"Why would I want to do that?" came the irritated reply.
"Cause unless I've missed my guess, our baby sister is in love."
Two groans greeted that assessment simultaneously.
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"Let's start him on antibiotics now that his weight is up a notch," Jules ordered as she scribbled it down on the medication chart and glanced at the three week old wonder that was fighting for every breath. "And let's up the heat in here, two degrees, I don't want there to be another infection."
"Yes, doctor," Laura answered as she moved about a little and turned up the heat to the incubator by two degrees. She gave the young neonatal specialist covert glances and then sneaking more looks at the desk nurse.
"What is it?" Jules asked, after spying another exchange of nervous glances by the attending nurses around her.
"Nothing," Haley answered with a smile.
"Don't give me that," she admonished with a look. "I know when I'm being talked about, or speculated about, behind my back. Out with it."
Ingrid decided to be the brave one; she did have twenty years in the NICU under her belt and was less likely to catch hell. "We were given strict orders to make sure you don't stay in here pass ten o'clock." She glanced at the large clock on the wall and back at her. The long hand read fifty-five while the short was inching toward ten. "I think we're getting damn close."
Shock, horrified, and outraged, Jules planted her fists on her hips. "Who gave the order?"
"I did," Harriet Lenning replied as she came through the swinging door. "And it's about time you went home," dropping two charts with Ingrid and stopping just before the sputtering young doctor. "And don't look so indignant. If you weren't in those shoes, you'd agree with me."
"Harriet!" Jules stared but stopped when the matron doctor pulled her out of NICU by the elbow and down the hallway. "Will you...."
"You're health is not at its best," Harriet began with a frown at the stubborn lines on Jules's forehead. "And given your diagnosis, and being a doctor yourself, I think you would agree that a light schedule and a stress free environment would be the best medicine prescribed for a mother to be with a compromised health situation."
"I'm perfectly..."
"Capable of ignoring my advise and doing yourself serious harm," Dr. Lenning finished as she pushed Dr. Keating's office door open. "Need I remind of you of the fainting episode you just went through not too long ago?"
Jules groaned. "You would have to remember that, won't you?"
Harriet stared at the dark stain on the ground. "What happened to your carpet?"
"What?" glancing down. "Oh that, it's just tea."
"You spilled tea in here?" Ever graceful, even under stress, Harriet had serious doubts.
"No," Jules admitted with a sigh. "It's a long story."
"Which need not be told right now," Harriet replied throwing jacket and purse at the younger doctor. "Go home. Sleep. Rest. Come back tomorrow morning and save lives. In the mean time, let's keep that life within you as healthy as possible, shall we?"
"You don't pull any punches do you?"
"If you were less stubborn..." she slanted her a smile and walked her out. "I would have thought you'd be with Slingerland tonight?"
"That was the plan but he cancelled on me at the last minute."
"Hum..." came the non-reply.
"What?" curious.
"I would have though you'd be meeting up after the surgery."
Now thoroughly confused, "What surgery?"
"The tongue laceration." Nothing cleared on Jules's freckled face. "He brought in a fourteen year old with an artery dissection on the tongue. Apparently he was at the scene when the kid had an accident. Went into surgery with Kokoris before the kid hemorrhaged."
"When?"
"Just before six."
The amount of shame she felt was... "Was his brother..."
"Came in and went looking for you."
Her anger mounted even as her guilt took a nice chunk out of her heart. "Can't meet me as planned," she remembered with irritation. George and his stupid... "I'm going to kill him."
"Who?" Harriet asked quietly.
"He is a dead man," she pronounced before storming off in a huff leaving Harriet Lenning in the hallways staring after her for a moment before the OB went to her office.
Harriet smiled to herself as she pulled the charts for the evening and was glad that she was happily married and not quite so impulsive and young any more.
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
Matt was out of his seat and lunging for the door the minute he heard it rattle. He had been not so patiently waiting in her apartment after making a quite run to his own in the vain hope that she would be here. The spare keys Dr. Keating had kept in "Mr. Edison's Gift" had come in handy tonight. "Jules?!?"
"Sorry, wrong Keating," Josh announced cheerfully as Jeffrey returned the spare keys to Jules's apartment to their hiding place within the enormous wall-lamp by the door.
Normally the sight of the three Keating brothers filing in and taking a good long survey of the British doctor would have raised all sorts of alarm bells in Slingerland's head, but at the moment, he was much too distracted by the fact that Jules Keating was not there. "Where is she?" he asked unceremoniously.
Josh decided to play the tormentor. "Oh? Isn't she here?"
For a moment, Matt wondered if punching a guy into a bloody pulp would constitute violating the doctor's Hippocratic oath to do no harm. "I'm not in the best frame of mind at the moment and had you catch me at any other time, I would be more than happy and willing to go round and round with you on these useless, pointless bantering. But as I am not in such a mood to play games, would you kindly inform me where your sister is."
Josh tilted his head and asked mockingly, "Now why would I want to..."
Grabbing him by the front of his shirt, Matt dropped all pretenses of civility. "TELL ME WHERE SHE IS!!!"
Jerry and Jeff both grabbed an arm and managed to pry the angry doctor off their brother before physical damage can occur. Wrestling the taller man to the coach, Jerry felt a wave of sympathy to the near overwhelming panic he could see in the man's eyes. "Easy there. Josh was just having some fun at your expense. And given that you got our sister pregnant, you cannot exactly expect any of us to welcome you with open arms. But if you must know, Jules was called back to the hospital on a patient."
That very fact that he now knew where she was calmed Matt down considerably. Shaking off the elder brothers off, he glared at Josh who stood there smirking at him with amusement. "That was hardly nice."
"Who says I have to be nice to you?" Josh replied as he went to the kitchen to search out food. He was hungry. "Trust me when I say that I'm the least of your worries with Jeff here."
With that, Jeffrey tapped Slingerland on the shoulder with enough force to topple the doctor into the nearest armchair. "Have a seat, we've got to talk."
Seeing that there was not much choice in the matter, Matt crossed his arms and sat back as comfortably as he could. "Let the interrogation begin."
Jerry smiled, glad that the lot of them didn't easily cow the man. "Listen, we're not trying to be difficult..."
"Don't listen to him," Josh called from the kitchen where he could only find Ritz crackers and peanut butter. "We plan on being plenty difficult, or at least I am." He grinned before opening the frig in hopes of something more. "What the heck did you say to her anyways? She was your complete champion this morning and now she wants to come home with one of us for a few days."
"I didn't say a bloody thing to the infuriating woman," Slingerland raged, having his emotions yanked around is hardly the most pleasant way to live. "And what do you mean she wants to come home with one of you..." He's eyes narrowed darkly. "She wanted to leave town for a few days?"
"Said something about clearing her head," Jeff added, watching Slingerland critically. The tall, lean, handsome man was not what he had expected. He was too cultured, too smooth and too... cool for what he had pictured his baby sister's boyfriend would be. In her youth, Jules had always navigated toward smart, shy, funny, sometimes geeky boys that could never pull off silk without looking like a pansy. "You're not exactly her type."
"What the hell does that mean?" Matt asked with a scowl.
"Exactly what I said," Jeff replied with smile. "You are hardly the imagine she's always had of the man of her dreams. And the doctor part, that is unexpected. She once vowed never to marry one of her kind."
Jerry sighed and leaned back in his seat. "Jules always said that her ideal dream mate would be a nice accountant with a love of music and babies. He's have blond hair and green eyes and wouldn't mind the occasional dinner and charity events that the doctors all have to attend. And more importantly, he wouldn't have crazy office hours the way she does, he'd be around for the kids cause she may not be."
Josh nodded his head and dropped himself into the seat next to Jeff. "You," pointing with a hand that had a M&M bag, "Are hardly what she wanted, especially given your schedule looks to be as insane as hers."
Slingerland digested without a hint emotion on his face. "Are you done tell me just how much Jules is not going to like being with me?"
"Not by a long shot, bucko," Josh replied with grin. "But why don't you tell us what happened this evening before we go on?"
"Nothing happened!" Slingerland replied with more frustration than anything. Getting up, he started to pace the length of the room with five long legged steps. "We were doing just fine until all of you showed up out of no where decided it would be fine and dandy to see how much trouble you all can cause. George and his bloody insinuations. You and damn right fist. Every interfering know-it-all member of the clans seems to find it necessary to stick their bloody noses where it doesn't belong." He ran long fingers through his dark hair. "We were damn happy, even with the unexpected twist in the maternity section of the relationship. I was this close to talking her into moving in with me. This bloody close."
Matt ignored the widening of eyes from the brothers as he continued to vent. "Had it all worked out too. The spare room would be the baby's room, we'll have it repainted, redone in any way she liked... well, as soon as we find out whether it's going to be a boy or girl. Though I suppose we can always go with pastel yellows and green so that it would work either way. I was going to buy teddy bears, as many as I can bloody well find in the city and online for the baby; even more than the bloody museum she's already got. I was going to have the antique crib shipped from England; Mum would no doubt have it around somewhere, she usually tries to give it to George at every one of his numerous weddings. And if Jules wanted, I was going to buy a blood house for her. Something bigger so that there would be room, not that my townhouse now isn't a nice place. But if she wanted something different; I was going to get it. I had the whole damn plan worked out. Then you all showed up!" He glanced at the door with a angry glare. "WHERE THE BLOODY HELL IS SHE?"
"Probably still at the hospital," Jeff replied glancing at Jerry with resigned look. There was an obvious attachment there already, even if Jules hadn't realized it yet. And man was already head over heels and he didn't even know it. "So what are you going to do now?"
Glancing back at him, startled as if he just remembered the three men were there, Matt sighed and shook his head. "I don't know. I don't know much anymore. I do not, however, plan on allow you three or my brother to influence or interfere with what Jules and I will plan. In the mean time, I'm going to go look for Jules." With that, he reached over and picked up his jacket, more than intent on going to the hospital and making Jules listen to... to... whatever he can say or do to make this right. He silently cursed his brother for his stupid interfering ways.
"Don't be foolish," Jerry said as he got to up to stop the man. "For all you know, she's on her way here now. It does no good to run about in the middle of the night."
Matt wasn't paying much attention as he grabbed his keys from the counter, where he had deposited it earlier. He held it out of reach as Jerry tried to make a grab for it. "I don't care. I'll go bloody mad if I continue to sit here and no nothing with the three of you trying to stare me down. And for your information, anything you plan on doing will not have the least bit of consequence upon my relationship with Jules. I plan on being around for her and her... our child." And headed for the door with Jerry still trying vainly to take away his keys.
Jeffrey almost smirked as he asked the one question that would solve everything. "Do you love her?"
"Of course I love the infuriating woman, why else would I put up with the chaos she creates in my orderly life," he replied hotly before realizing what he's just said. When the words sank in, so did he into the nearest chair. "Oh blimey."
"Hadn't hit you yet, did it?" Jerry asked with only half sympathy as he took the keys from Slingerland's limp hand. The good doctor had gone pale with shock. His flame of indignation had been snuffed within a blink of an eye. If it weren't so ironic, it'd be funny; those in love are usually the last to see it.
"No," he replied soberly and tried to swallow the lump in his throat. Taking a shaky breath, he ran a hand over his face. He felt sick to his stomach and just a little dizzy. "How the hell did this happen?"
"Snuck up on you, didn't she?" Josh laughed feeling surprising relaxed. As much as he hated to admit it, he kind of liked this guy. Granted, Slingerland wasn't what he had wanted for his baby sister, but by all indications, the doctor appeared to be as devoted to her as Josh would ever wish for her. "Yeah, our Jules does that to a man. Grows upon you until one day, you cannot imagine a life without her exasperating ways."
"The question now is," Jeff said, always the practical one, "What are you going to do about it?"
Slingerland sat there, head in his hands trying to put some semblance of order to his scattered head. "I don't know." The lump in his throat was not going away, and added to that was the strange tightening around his heart. And his breath was having a difficult time catching up with one another the other. Panic was sure to follow, he was almost positive of that. He was displaying all the physical symptoms of an anxiety attack. And even being a doctor didn't help to relieve him of the problem. Mentally, he knew what to do. But he couldn't quite piece together enough thought to do something about it.
"You all right?" Jerry asked, as Slingerland lowered his head between his knees.
"Define all right?" he replied with a muffle as he took deep breath to keep the nasty cafeteria sandwich he had snacked on earlier down. "Oh lord, this is not what I had planned on."
"What exactly did you plan?" Josh asked, feeling sorry for the fellow and getting up to get him a glass of water.
"I... I don't know. But this definitely was not it." Swallowing hard to keep the raising tide of fear down. "Thank you," taking the offered water and gulping it down.
Jeffrey got up and walked over, studying the slumped shoulders for a moment. Quietly, he offered what he could hope to be sound advice. "Jules hasn't made it a secret that she wants kids, some two or three. And in this day and age, being a single parent isn't the end of the world. She's got family, lots of them that are willing to help out if and when she needs it as a single parent. I won't say that I had hoped that she would wait until after marriage to start a family, but I can certainly understand her need to have some now given the recent circumstances of her health."
Matt blinked at him. "You're making it sound as if you're cutting me out of the picture. Need I remind you that this is my child too?"
"Yes, we know that."
"Boy do we know it," Josh added with the roll of his eyes then received a sharp elbow to his ribs from Jerry.
"And we're not trying to cut you out," Jeff explained with gravity. "But you have to understand something. We love our sister. We adore her. There isn't anything in this world we won't do for her. And that means that we want what's best for her. If you love her and know that you won't be there for her, be it marriage or child support, than you need to leave her. Don't give her false hopes. For as strong and as independent as Jules is, she's a romantic at heart and can easily be crushed. I don't want to see my sister cry."
Matt sat there in silence. He was unsure of what to do next. He didn't doubt that he loved her... but then again George claimed to love all his wives at one point or other. Love he can do... but fidelity?
On the other hand, he's never been in love before. Never felt this kind of bottom dropping sensation that scare him deaf, dumb and numb. How does anyone handle this kind of petrifying fear that one false move and you could lose...everything. He knew the difference between love and lust... right? And while he certainly enjoyed going to bed with Jules, there was so much more than just simple physical pleasure.
He craved the moments, those quiet moments with her, when he simply had his arms around her sitting on the floor of his living room chitchatting while Tracy and Hepburn talk circles around each other on the television screen. Watching her face lit up with delight across the breakfast table over some new brew he managed to find at the various coffee shops that were scattered throughout San Francisco all the while bantering over who had the bigger obsession for coffee. Hearing her giggling delight over the ridiculously fragrant roses that still sat by his bedside where she could wake up to them and smile with sweet pleasure. Sharing left over Chinese or Italian food from cartons after leaving the hospital in their usual preposterously late hours and discussing the latest gossip or news in their profession. Wrestling her for the remote to the TV while arguing over the benefits of watching CNN over C-Span. Holding her hand while she cooed over sweet smelling babies in the park on warm sunny Sunday afternoons. Kissing her tears away when she's fought the good fight for a precious new life and still lost.
Smiling almost wistfully, "I'm not going anywhere."
The others exchanged knowing smile and nodded their agreement. Jerry was just about to welcome him into the clan when the front door opened jarringly and Jules toppled in. She managed to catch herself with the doorknob. "Holy sh..." the curse was lost at her eyes went wide at the sight of all the men in her life cramped into her little living room space. "What the hell is going on?"
*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*~~*
TBC...