Dorsett wore a corset that made the ladies drool.
Dorsett liked his corset. He thought he looked real cool.
It put Lizzie in a tizzy and Shirley thought him squirrelly,
But he never fooled Romano and that's my little song-o.
Oh, and I don't own any characters off of ER.
PG - For mild sexual innuendos, again. Good Cordano. I hope you like it. I know I kind of write fast paced. It might be hard to catch everything, but the show's pretty fast paced, too. And I just write the way I see scenes could possibly play out on the show: cutting from one scene to the next; leaving things open ended to be explained later. I hope this story is making sense. Please R&R. I'm willing to take any suggestions you might have.
Chapter 9 - Pillow Talk
It was late...very late. In fact, it was so late it was tomorrow. And unfortunately, Elizabeth was still at work. She was in her office (if you could call it that) at her desk catching up on all her paperwork. She had let it stack up this week and it was already Thursday night...or Friday morning; however you wanted to look at it. As she wrote this and that on each chart, her eyes were getting heavy. They would go in and out of focus occasionally and she'd have to shake it off. She left her door open and through the corner of her eye she thought she spotted someone pass by. This startled her. No one should be there this time of night and it was a bit scary, so she looked up and then saw the person back up to her door.
"Hey," he said, "what are you still doin' here?"
It was only Robert, so she let out a sigh of relief and relaxed.
"Charts," she replied. "The real question is what are you doing here?"
"Oh," he rubbed the bridge of his nose as if to clear away a headache, "research."
Elizabeth just looked at him questioningly. So he explained.
"Yeah, I..." he continued, "...I'm implementing a new system in the ER. Installing some cameras. I wanted to inspect the ones up here; see how it's done; so they don't screw me over when they put 'em in down there."
She just nodded and went back writing on her charts. He just looked at her for a minute.
"Well," he began again and she looked up at him with her eyes half closed, "don't stay too late." Then he left. She thought about leaving herself. She was exhausted and probably couldn't do much more anyway. If she left now she could possibly catch up with Robert and not have to go down to her car in the dark by herself. But by the time she finished this thought, she figured it was too late and he was probably long gone. So she might as well take her time.
-----
As Robert walked away from her doorway, he didn't leave right away. He just stood in the hall a moment. He wished he had asked her if she was ready to go. He would have walked her out. He couldn't remember ever seeing her here this late before. She had always been very good at keeping up, so she could go spend her evenings with her daughter. He was just contemplating going back to her when he heard a strange noise from the S.I.C.U.
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Elizabeth heard a strange noise. It was a loud clatter, like some big piece of metal had fallen to the floor. It was very out of place within the peaceful silence of the area. She looked up. It couldn't have been Robert. He had headed in the other direction. She got up from her chair and went to have a look. She turned cautiously around the corner to her right, where the noise had come from and didn't see anything. She then turned to her left and gave a little gasp. Robert was still there and only a few feet away. She relaxed at seeing him and didn't wonder too deeply about why he was still there. He was looking in the direction the noise had come from.
"Did you hear that?" she asked him plainly.
"Yeah." He became curious and walked past Elizabeth toward the S.I.C.U. Elizabeth followed.
They walked in and spotted Dr. Dorsett standing over a patient who was unconscious. Dorsett was standing with his back to them both, doing something with the patient.
"Dr. Dorsett?" questioned Elizabeth.
This startled him and he jerked around quickly. As he did, both Robert and Elizabeth noticed he was holding a syringe that was still in the patient's IV tube. He pulled the syringe out quickly and just stared at the two of them stunned; the monitor went crazy.
"He's in V-Tach," proclaimed Romano and they both ran over to the patient to get to work. Elizabeth pushed Dorsett aside as she darted over. Dorsett dropped the syringe as she did and just backed away. Elizabeth ripped away the patient's gown and then noticed his face.
"This is Mr. Dublin," she stated offhandedly.
"Who?" asked Robert. He didn't remember him even though he had seen him just a few days before.
"My hip-replacement!" she yelled at Robert; then turned and yelled at Dorsett, "What did you give him?!" Dorsett just stared at her blank faced.
The monitor changed its noise.
"He's in V-Fib! Starting compressions!" exclaimed Robert. He wasn't sure he could do compressions with one hand. Quite frankly, it hadn't come up before. He had been doing very well so far staying away from trauma situations that needed two hands. When he would be helping with a trauma there were always many other doctors or at least nurses to do things for him. They just did it automatically. However, now he had no choice. He did his best and hoped that would be good enough.
Elizabeth looked frantically around searching for a crash cart. She found one and rolled it over. She prepped the chest and charged the paddles. "Charging!" she yelled. She just stopped briefly before shocking him. She needed to give the machine a moment to charge, anyway. "I need epi!" she yelled.
"You want me to stop?!" Robert questioned Elizabeth harshly. He couldn't really stop, but if she had answered yes, he would have. But, Elizabeth didn't answer. Simultaneously, they both just turned to look at Dorsett briefly. Robert glared at him with pure hatred in his eyes. Elizabeth stared at him dumbfounded and shocked. Then, simultaneously again, they turned to focus on Mr. Dublin.
"Clear!" Elizabeth shouted.
Robert stopped and backed away. Thankfully his compressions had been strong enough to work; although his arm was very tired and sore already. Elizabeth shocked him, but it didn't do anything.
"Still in V-Fib!" Romano blurted as he resumed compressions.
"Charging to 200!" Elizabeth shouted as she turned around and charged the machine.
"Clear!" she yelled again. Romano backed up. Elizabeth shocked him.
"Nothin'!" stated Romano and automatically resumed compressions yet again. He thought this arm might fall off, too.
"Alright, that's enough," stated Dorsett softly. Neither of them heard him.
"Charging to 250!" Elizabeth declared.
"I said get away!!!" roared Dorsett.
Elizabeth had turned to charge the machine. She didn't see Romano look up at Dorsett, stop compressions and slowly back up.
"Clear!" she yelled again.
But before she was able to shock him Romano told her quite soft and clear, "I think you should do what he says, Elizabeth."
"What!?!" she screeched. She quickly looked at Romano who had stopped, then turned to Dorsett and gasped loudly. The paddles dropped from her hands and clanked on the floor before bouncing and swinging from the cables against the crash cart.
Dorsett had a gun. And it was pointed straight at Elizabeth's head.
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Author Intrusion: Time for a commercial!!!!! Ha-ha. Just kidding.
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No one said a word. No one moved a muscle. All that could be heard was the monitors pulsating in their ears. Elizabeth took a chance.
"Edward," she spoke cautiously, "you don't have to do this. You don't have to become a murderer. I can get him back...and I promise...I won't say a word."
"Really?" he asked quite calmly. It was obvious he wasn't taking her seriously, though. He turned the gun on Robert. "You promise?" he asked him.
"Yes." Robert answered plainly and truthfully.
"Wow." He put the gun back on Elizabeth. "That's very nice of you, but I don't think that's gonna work out for me." He was still very calm, cool and collect.
Elizabeth moved her eyes to look around behind Dorsett at the door. Dorsett looked back behind him briefly and knew just what she was thinking.
"Oh, the nurse on duty won't be back for a while. I sent her on a little errand and told her I'd watch things for her. I have a fairly persuasive way about me. I guess it's the smile." Dorsett smiled at Elizabeth coyly. Robert and Elizabeth just glared at him without moving.
Dublin went into asystole. They heard it over the monitors. Elizabeth closed her eyes as this happened, but Romano never let his glare down for a moment.
Finally, Dorsett pointed the gun at Romano, then back at Corday, then back at Romano again. "Turn that off," he told Romano. Robert turned off the monitors and there was silence. "Get over there," he told Romano again, as he kinda shook the gun in Elizabeth's direction to show him where to go. Romano walked around the back of the bed and stood next to Elizabeth; still never letting his glare down from Dorsett for a second. He didn't even seem to blink once.
Dorsett kept the gun on Elizabeth and looked down at Dublin. "Poor, old bastard," he said plainly. "He was my father-in-law. His daughter was...Julie?...Jeanie?...hmm...anyway, I was only married to her for a couple of weeks. I didn't plan on being married to her longer than that, really. Just long enough to empty the bank account, grab a few things and skip town." He looked up at them. They were still glaring at him expressionless, unless you call utter disdain an expression. "Oh, I didn't plan to kill him," he explained, as if this would make it alright. "He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I did his hip-replacement this morning and he saw me right before he went under. I didn't have a choice."
"Are you even a surgeon?" asked Elizabeth.
"Of course I am. My name's not Dorsett, but we all have our faults," he replied.
They just stared at each other, when suddenly Dorsett just remembered something.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Elizabeth." He was speaking in a phony sympathetic tone. "I'm afraid I'm gonna have to cancel for tomorrow night." Dorsett sighed and continued seductively. "It's too bad things didn't work out between us, Elizabeth." He looked her up and down slowly; undressing her with his eyes. He was getting off on this. "You would have been a lot of fun."
"Why, you little-" she began and took a step towards Dorsett, but Romano clutched her by the arm to stop her. Dorsett found this amusing.
"Uh-uh-uh-uh. Who's the one with the gun?" He shook his gun around just a little bit for fun. He kept his small smile as he stared at Elizabeth.
"What are you going to do?" she asked him.
"Well, that's a very good question, Elizabeth." He looked around and started opening doors around the room as he spoke. "You see, I wasn't really planning on you guys to drop by. I was hoping to just get it all done quick and be outta here." He found a door to a closet, opened it and stopped, "Ah, here we go. This'll do." He stepped aside. "Get in."
"I beg your pardon." Elizabeth said with almost a laugh.
Dorsett cocked his gun. "I said get in." he spoke out harshly. She walked towards the closet and Robert followed her. Robert was being very quiet, but never letting his gaze down for a second. Elizabeth thought this was probably smart. She wasn't so smart, though. She stopped in front of Dorsett before getting in. The gun was very close to her heart.
"You'll never get away with this," she said.
Dorsett chuckled silently. "Oh, I think I will. By the time they find you, I'll be out of the country." He shoved them in and exclaimed out of the blue, "Jenny...that was it. Good-night," and he shut the door. He quickly pushed 2 filing cabinets, a chair and a desk in front of the door. There was no way they were getting out of there by themselves. Then he left.
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Neither Robert, nor Elizabeth could see a thing. It was pitch black and scary. Elizabeth could barely breathe. She could hear the sound of Dorsett putting things in front of the door. They didn't dare try to get out until he was gone. Finally, she couldn't hear anything anymore. All she could hear was the sound of Robert's breath.
"Is he gone?" she asked, whispering.
Robert didn't answer right away, "I think so." They both subconsciously relaxed slightly knowing the danger was gone. "Well, Lizzie," Romano stated trying to relieve the tension, "you, uh, sure can pick 'em."
"Oh, shut up, Robert," she pouted.
They just stood there for a minute not moving an inch. She could feel her heart still pounding in her chest and feel Robert's closeness. She could still hear nothing but his breath. She thought the tension would kill her, so she let out a loud sigh and started looking up and around her. Of course, she couldn't see anything. She tried to move a little, but when she did she stubbed her toe. "Ow," she whined.
"You okay?" Robert asked.
"Yes," she spat out frustrated. "There has to be some way out of here."
He didn't answer.
She knew there was a shelf behind her. She saw it when she got in. She turned around to get to it and accidentally brushed up against Robert as she did. "Sorry."
"It's okay," he answered.
She started feeling for things on the shelf. "What are you doing?" he asked and also turned around.
"Looking for something."
"What?"
"I don't know...anything that might help us get out of here." She wasn't having any luck. She looked up, but didn't see much. Their eyes were starting to get used to the dark, so she could see the shelf went all the way up to the ceiling. She placed one foot on the second shelf and pushed down a little to see if it would hold her. Robert saw what she was doing.
"Careful," he stated.
She placed her other foot on the second shelf. As she did, she slipped a little. Robert's hand automatically went up to the small of her back and held her steady. This startled her and a chill went up her spine. Of course, she was sure it wasn't Robert that gave her chills. It was the fact she had almost fallen. He let go and she began to search around the higher shelves.
"Ah, I found something," she declared proudly.
"What?" he asked.
"A flashlight!" She was very excited at her discovery.
"Oh, great. Now we can tell ghost stories," he said sarcastically. Elizabeth climbed back down and sighed at his statement.
"Well at least we'll be able to see," she explained. She flipped on the flashlight and it came on brightly. "Ah, there...see." The beam of light then slowly started to fade until finally it went out completely within seconds. "Don't say it," she warned.
"I wouldn't dream of it."
She looked back up at the shelf, preparing to climb again. Robert just sat down.
"What you doing?" she demanded. He looked up at her oddly, not answering her question, because it would insult her intelligence if he stated the obvious. "Well, you can't just give up! He's bound to get away!"
Robert didn't say anything.
"Don't you care if he gets away?" she asked mortified.
"Well, as long as they don't start thinking the one-armed man did it, I'm okay."
She just glared at him.
"Listen, Elizabeth," he continued, "you have someone watching your daughter, right?"
"Yes."
"Well, as soon as that person realizes you're later than you should be, she'll call the police, right?"
"Oh...right." He was right. She hadn't thought about that.
"And hopefully she'll do that soon enough for them to catch him before he leaves the country."
"Right...unless..."
"What?"
"Well, unless she's asleep."
"What?"
"Well, when she knows I'll be late she sometimes just puts Ella down and sleeps on the couch 'till I get home."
Robert just stared at her for a moment, then stood up. "Well, there has to be something we can use to get out of here."
Elizabeth just smirked at him as he was contemplating climbing the shelf himself...with one arm. She sighed and sat down. "Oh, your right, Robert. I give up." He looked back down at her, then sat beside her. They didn't say anything for a while; just sat next to each other in the dark. This wasn't what Robert was planning for his evening, but deep down he couldn't complain.
"What time is it?" she blurted.
"Well, if I could see my watch, I'd let you know."
"Doesn't it have some sort of light or something?"
"Yeah, let me push that button with my nose." He hated it when things came up that he couldn't do with one hand. Those things happened a lot.
Elizabeth just grabbed his arm, pushed the little light button on his watch and saw it only said 1:09 am. "Oh God," she said.
Again they just sat there silent. She wondered why Robert was still being so quiet. It was very much unlike him. She yawned. A few seconds later, he yawned, too. She grabbed his arm again and pushed the little light button on his watch...again. This time it read 1:21 am. "Great. Well, this is fun," she concluded sarcastically.
"Sorry," he said.
"Oh, don't be sorry. It's not your fault." Just then she remembered what happened and got angry. "How could I have been so stupid? Don't answer that," she warned. He just smiled a little. "I can't believe I could be so blinded by that ass of a man."
"Well, it could have been worse."
"I suppose," she pouted.
There was a pause. "Did you sleep with him?" Robert dared to ask.
Elizabeth was surprised. "That's a very personal question."
"You don't have to answer."
She contemplated a while before answering, "No, I didn't. Thank God."
"Well, then, you're smarter than most."
"Thank you...I think." Elizabeth sighed, then slumped her shoulders and got all mopey. Robert thought this was cute and just stared at her for a minute until she spoke up again. She started to whine. "I miss my daughter."
"I'm sure she's fine."
"I know," she moaned, paused and then, "'Course I don't know why I miss her. All she ever does is cry and whine and need this and need that; wets her pants; wets the bed."
Robert didn't answer. He just looked down, smiling a little. She saw this and smiled, too. "She's your daughter," he replied finally.
"Exactly," she stated pleasantly.
There was silence. She grabbed his arm again to check the time: 1:54. She shoved his arm away. She yawned again. She was getting tired. When she got tired, she had a tendency to speak without thinking. All of a sudden she blurted out, "Do you ever get lonely, Robert?"
He looked up at her shocked. He wasn't sure whether to answer or if this was a rhetorical question. She looked over at him, so he realized he should answer.
"Sometimes."
She nodded. "Me too. I mean, I have Ella, but...it's not easy, you know. Sometimes I really miss Mark. I never planned on having to raise a child on my own. Sometimes I don't know if I can do it. I'm sure I'll mess her up somehow."
"No you won't."
"Don't be so sure." She paused again, then, "I still think about Mark so much."
"Well, you probably always will."
She looked at him oddly, "You know, you're the first person to say that. Everyone says to me that I just need time; that I'll eventually forget about Mark and be able to get on with my life...but I don't want to forget about Mark."
"Well..." he thought carefully about what to say. He didn't want to say the wrong thing. "...you'll think about him less, but he'll always pop into your mind occasionally. I wouldn't worry."
She just looked at him questionably. "Yes...you understand."
He didn't respond for a minute, then said, "I was married once."
"What?" She was shocked.
"Shocking, I know."
"Uh, no, it's not that...it's just...I had no idea."
"Of course you didn't. I never told you."
"Wow." He didn't say anything after that, so she pestered him. "So are you going to tell me more or do I have to guess?"
He kept talking awkwardly. "Her name was Angela. We were married for about six years. After the first two years, she wanted a baby. That was fine with me. So two more years and three miscarriages later, she was able to carry a baby full term, but he died at birth."
"Oh, Robert, I'm so sorry."
He just shook her off and continued. "So, after that it got kinda rocky and one day I came home and everything was gone; all her things: clothes, jewelry, little stuff. And I didn't see her for two months when she came back with divorce papers. I haven't seen her since."
"Oh my. When did all this happen?" She was just staring at him very distraught.
"Oh, a couple of years before I met you."
She was shocked and didn't know what to say. "And nobody knows about this?"
"No. And I would like to keep it that way."
"Of course."
They didn't talk again after that. After a long while, Elizabeth's eyes grew very heavy. She began to nod off and then jerk awake. This happened a few times, until...Bang!
"Ow!" she yelled as she held the side of her head. She had bumped it on a wooden crate that was on the floor to her right.
"You okay?"
"Yes," she snapped. She was frustrated. She grabbed Robert's arm again: 2:43. She sighed.
"Here, you wanna lean against the door?" he asked. He was about to adjust his position so she could get comfortable, but she stopped him.
"No. I'll just stay awake," she quipped. "Aren't you tired?"
He just nodded and made an affirmative noise. They stopped talking and she began to nod off. He watched her this time. She was starting to do the same thing she'd done before. He decided to take a risk. Luckily, she was on his right side. So he lifted up his arm and put it around her ever so carefully, trying not to wake her up. He placed his hand on her head and guided it to his shoulder. He held his breath. He hoped and prayed she wouldn't wake up and be upset with him for a week. He let out his breath when she was comfortably against him. He then slowly leaned back against the wall, thankful she just slept and didn't notice what he'd done.
Elizabeth opened her eyes slightly. Robert didn't notice. She was too tired to care about anything right now. She'd just deal with it in the morning. At least now she could get some sleep. She shoved all thoughts from her mind of who she was sleeping on.
Dorsett liked his corset. He thought he looked real cool.
It put Lizzie in a tizzy and Shirley thought him squirrelly,
But he never fooled Romano and that's my little song-o.
Oh, and I don't own any characters off of ER.
PG - For mild sexual innuendos, again. Good Cordano. I hope you like it. I know I kind of write fast paced. It might be hard to catch everything, but the show's pretty fast paced, too. And I just write the way I see scenes could possibly play out on the show: cutting from one scene to the next; leaving things open ended to be explained later. I hope this story is making sense. Please R&R. I'm willing to take any suggestions you might have.
Chapter 9 - Pillow Talk
It was late...very late. In fact, it was so late it was tomorrow. And unfortunately, Elizabeth was still at work. She was in her office (if you could call it that) at her desk catching up on all her paperwork. She had let it stack up this week and it was already Thursday night...or Friday morning; however you wanted to look at it. As she wrote this and that on each chart, her eyes were getting heavy. They would go in and out of focus occasionally and she'd have to shake it off. She left her door open and through the corner of her eye she thought she spotted someone pass by. This startled her. No one should be there this time of night and it was a bit scary, so she looked up and then saw the person back up to her door.
"Hey," he said, "what are you still doin' here?"
It was only Robert, so she let out a sigh of relief and relaxed.
"Charts," she replied. "The real question is what are you doing here?"
"Oh," he rubbed the bridge of his nose as if to clear away a headache, "research."
Elizabeth just looked at him questioningly. So he explained.
"Yeah, I..." he continued, "...I'm implementing a new system in the ER. Installing some cameras. I wanted to inspect the ones up here; see how it's done; so they don't screw me over when they put 'em in down there."
She just nodded and went back writing on her charts. He just looked at her for a minute.
"Well," he began again and she looked up at him with her eyes half closed, "don't stay too late." Then he left. She thought about leaving herself. She was exhausted and probably couldn't do much more anyway. If she left now she could possibly catch up with Robert and not have to go down to her car in the dark by herself. But by the time she finished this thought, she figured it was too late and he was probably long gone. So she might as well take her time.
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As Robert walked away from her doorway, he didn't leave right away. He just stood in the hall a moment. He wished he had asked her if she was ready to go. He would have walked her out. He couldn't remember ever seeing her here this late before. She had always been very good at keeping up, so she could go spend her evenings with her daughter. He was just contemplating going back to her when he heard a strange noise from the S.I.C.U.
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Elizabeth heard a strange noise. It was a loud clatter, like some big piece of metal had fallen to the floor. It was very out of place within the peaceful silence of the area. She looked up. It couldn't have been Robert. He had headed in the other direction. She got up from her chair and went to have a look. She turned cautiously around the corner to her right, where the noise had come from and didn't see anything. She then turned to her left and gave a little gasp. Robert was still there and only a few feet away. She relaxed at seeing him and didn't wonder too deeply about why he was still there. He was looking in the direction the noise had come from.
"Did you hear that?" she asked him plainly.
"Yeah." He became curious and walked past Elizabeth toward the S.I.C.U. Elizabeth followed.
They walked in and spotted Dr. Dorsett standing over a patient who was unconscious. Dorsett was standing with his back to them both, doing something with the patient.
"Dr. Dorsett?" questioned Elizabeth.
This startled him and he jerked around quickly. As he did, both Robert and Elizabeth noticed he was holding a syringe that was still in the patient's IV tube. He pulled the syringe out quickly and just stared at the two of them stunned; the monitor went crazy.
"He's in V-Tach," proclaimed Romano and they both ran over to the patient to get to work. Elizabeth pushed Dorsett aside as she darted over. Dorsett dropped the syringe as she did and just backed away. Elizabeth ripped away the patient's gown and then noticed his face.
"This is Mr. Dublin," she stated offhandedly.
"Who?" asked Robert. He didn't remember him even though he had seen him just a few days before.
"My hip-replacement!" she yelled at Robert; then turned and yelled at Dorsett, "What did you give him?!" Dorsett just stared at her blank faced.
The monitor changed its noise.
"He's in V-Fib! Starting compressions!" exclaimed Robert. He wasn't sure he could do compressions with one hand. Quite frankly, it hadn't come up before. He had been doing very well so far staying away from trauma situations that needed two hands. When he would be helping with a trauma there were always many other doctors or at least nurses to do things for him. They just did it automatically. However, now he had no choice. He did his best and hoped that would be good enough.
Elizabeth looked frantically around searching for a crash cart. She found one and rolled it over. She prepped the chest and charged the paddles. "Charging!" she yelled. She just stopped briefly before shocking him. She needed to give the machine a moment to charge, anyway. "I need epi!" she yelled.
"You want me to stop?!" Robert questioned Elizabeth harshly. He couldn't really stop, but if she had answered yes, he would have. But, Elizabeth didn't answer. Simultaneously, they both just turned to look at Dorsett briefly. Robert glared at him with pure hatred in his eyes. Elizabeth stared at him dumbfounded and shocked. Then, simultaneously again, they turned to focus on Mr. Dublin.
"Clear!" Elizabeth shouted.
Robert stopped and backed away. Thankfully his compressions had been strong enough to work; although his arm was very tired and sore already. Elizabeth shocked him, but it didn't do anything.
"Still in V-Fib!" Romano blurted as he resumed compressions.
"Charging to 200!" Elizabeth shouted as she turned around and charged the machine.
"Clear!" she yelled again. Romano backed up. Elizabeth shocked him.
"Nothin'!" stated Romano and automatically resumed compressions yet again. He thought this arm might fall off, too.
"Alright, that's enough," stated Dorsett softly. Neither of them heard him.
"Charging to 250!" Elizabeth declared.
"I said get away!!!" roared Dorsett.
Elizabeth had turned to charge the machine. She didn't see Romano look up at Dorsett, stop compressions and slowly back up.
"Clear!" she yelled again.
But before she was able to shock him Romano told her quite soft and clear, "I think you should do what he says, Elizabeth."
"What!?!" she screeched. She quickly looked at Romano who had stopped, then turned to Dorsett and gasped loudly. The paddles dropped from her hands and clanked on the floor before bouncing and swinging from the cables against the crash cart.
Dorsett had a gun. And it was pointed straight at Elizabeth's head.
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Author Intrusion: Time for a commercial!!!!! Ha-ha. Just kidding.
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No one said a word. No one moved a muscle. All that could be heard was the monitors pulsating in their ears. Elizabeth took a chance.
"Edward," she spoke cautiously, "you don't have to do this. You don't have to become a murderer. I can get him back...and I promise...I won't say a word."
"Really?" he asked quite calmly. It was obvious he wasn't taking her seriously, though. He turned the gun on Robert. "You promise?" he asked him.
"Yes." Robert answered plainly and truthfully.
"Wow." He put the gun back on Elizabeth. "That's very nice of you, but I don't think that's gonna work out for me." He was still very calm, cool and collect.
Elizabeth moved her eyes to look around behind Dorsett at the door. Dorsett looked back behind him briefly and knew just what she was thinking.
"Oh, the nurse on duty won't be back for a while. I sent her on a little errand and told her I'd watch things for her. I have a fairly persuasive way about me. I guess it's the smile." Dorsett smiled at Elizabeth coyly. Robert and Elizabeth just glared at him without moving.
Dublin went into asystole. They heard it over the monitors. Elizabeth closed her eyes as this happened, but Romano never let his glare down for a moment.
Finally, Dorsett pointed the gun at Romano, then back at Corday, then back at Romano again. "Turn that off," he told Romano. Robert turned off the monitors and there was silence. "Get over there," he told Romano again, as he kinda shook the gun in Elizabeth's direction to show him where to go. Romano walked around the back of the bed and stood next to Elizabeth; still never letting his glare down from Dorsett for a second. He didn't even seem to blink once.
Dorsett kept the gun on Elizabeth and looked down at Dublin. "Poor, old bastard," he said plainly. "He was my father-in-law. His daughter was...Julie?...Jeanie?...hmm...anyway, I was only married to her for a couple of weeks. I didn't plan on being married to her longer than that, really. Just long enough to empty the bank account, grab a few things and skip town." He looked up at them. They were still glaring at him expressionless, unless you call utter disdain an expression. "Oh, I didn't plan to kill him," he explained, as if this would make it alright. "He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I did his hip-replacement this morning and he saw me right before he went under. I didn't have a choice."
"Are you even a surgeon?" asked Elizabeth.
"Of course I am. My name's not Dorsett, but we all have our faults," he replied.
They just stared at each other, when suddenly Dorsett just remembered something.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Elizabeth." He was speaking in a phony sympathetic tone. "I'm afraid I'm gonna have to cancel for tomorrow night." Dorsett sighed and continued seductively. "It's too bad things didn't work out between us, Elizabeth." He looked her up and down slowly; undressing her with his eyes. He was getting off on this. "You would have been a lot of fun."
"Why, you little-" she began and took a step towards Dorsett, but Romano clutched her by the arm to stop her. Dorsett found this amusing.
"Uh-uh-uh-uh. Who's the one with the gun?" He shook his gun around just a little bit for fun. He kept his small smile as he stared at Elizabeth.
"What are you going to do?" she asked him.
"Well, that's a very good question, Elizabeth." He looked around and started opening doors around the room as he spoke. "You see, I wasn't really planning on you guys to drop by. I was hoping to just get it all done quick and be outta here." He found a door to a closet, opened it and stopped, "Ah, here we go. This'll do." He stepped aside. "Get in."
"I beg your pardon." Elizabeth said with almost a laugh.
Dorsett cocked his gun. "I said get in." he spoke out harshly. She walked towards the closet and Robert followed her. Robert was being very quiet, but never letting his gaze down for a second. Elizabeth thought this was probably smart. She wasn't so smart, though. She stopped in front of Dorsett before getting in. The gun was very close to her heart.
"You'll never get away with this," she said.
Dorsett chuckled silently. "Oh, I think I will. By the time they find you, I'll be out of the country." He shoved them in and exclaimed out of the blue, "Jenny...that was it. Good-night," and he shut the door. He quickly pushed 2 filing cabinets, a chair and a desk in front of the door. There was no way they were getting out of there by themselves. Then he left.
-------
Neither Robert, nor Elizabeth could see a thing. It was pitch black and scary. Elizabeth could barely breathe. She could hear the sound of Dorsett putting things in front of the door. They didn't dare try to get out until he was gone. Finally, she couldn't hear anything anymore. All she could hear was the sound of Robert's breath.
"Is he gone?" she asked, whispering.
Robert didn't answer right away, "I think so." They both subconsciously relaxed slightly knowing the danger was gone. "Well, Lizzie," Romano stated trying to relieve the tension, "you, uh, sure can pick 'em."
"Oh, shut up, Robert," she pouted.
They just stood there for a minute not moving an inch. She could feel her heart still pounding in her chest and feel Robert's closeness. She could still hear nothing but his breath. She thought the tension would kill her, so she let out a loud sigh and started looking up and around her. Of course, she couldn't see anything. She tried to move a little, but when she did she stubbed her toe. "Ow," she whined.
"You okay?" Robert asked.
"Yes," she spat out frustrated. "There has to be some way out of here."
He didn't answer.
She knew there was a shelf behind her. She saw it when she got in. She turned around to get to it and accidentally brushed up against Robert as she did. "Sorry."
"It's okay," he answered.
She started feeling for things on the shelf. "What are you doing?" he asked and also turned around.
"Looking for something."
"What?"
"I don't know...anything that might help us get out of here." She wasn't having any luck. She looked up, but didn't see much. Their eyes were starting to get used to the dark, so she could see the shelf went all the way up to the ceiling. She placed one foot on the second shelf and pushed down a little to see if it would hold her. Robert saw what she was doing.
"Careful," he stated.
She placed her other foot on the second shelf. As she did, she slipped a little. Robert's hand automatically went up to the small of her back and held her steady. This startled her and a chill went up her spine. Of course, she was sure it wasn't Robert that gave her chills. It was the fact she had almost fallen. He let go and she began to search around the higher shelves.
"Ah, I found something," she declared proudly.
"What?" he asked.
"A flashlight!" She was very excited at her discovery.
"Oh, great. Now we can tell ghost stories," he said sarcastically. Elizabeth climbed back down and sighed at his statement.
"Well at least we'll be able to see," she explained. She flipped on the flashlight and it came on brightly. "Ah, there...see." The beam of light then slowly started to fade until finally it went out completely within seconds. "Don't say it," she warned.
"I wouldn't dream of it."
She looked back up at the shelf, preparing to climb again. Robert just sat down.
"What you doing?" she demanded. He looked up at her oddly, not answering her question, because it would insult her intelligence if he stated the obvious. "Well, you can't just give up! He's bound to get away!"
Robert didn't say anything.
"Don't you care if he gets away?" she asked mortified.
"Well, as long as they don't start thinking the one-armed man did it, I'm okay."
She just glared at him.
"Listen, Elizabeth," he continued, "you have someone watching your daughter, right?"
"Yes."
"Well, as soon as that person realizes you're later than you should be, she'll call the police, right?"
"Oh...right." He was right. She hadn't thought about that.
"And hopefully she'll do that soon enough for them to catch him before he leaves the country."
"Right...unless..."
"What?"
"Well, unless she's asleep."
"What?"
"Well, when she knows I'll be late she sometimes just puts Ella down and sleeps on the couch 'till I get home."
Robert just stared at her for a moment, then stood up. "Well, there has to be something we can use to get out of here."
Elizabeth just smirked at him as he was contemplating climbing the shelf himself...with one arm. She sighed and sat down. "Oh, your right, Robert. I give up." He looked back down at her, then sat beside her. They didn't say anything for a while; just sat next to each other in the dark. This wasn't what Robert was planning for his evening, but deep down he couldn't complain.
"What time is it?" she blurted.
"Well, if I could see my watch, I'd let you know."
"Doesn't it have some sort of light or something?"
"Yeah, let me push that button with my nose." He hated it when things came up that he couldn't do with one hand. Those things happened a lot.
Elizabeth just grabbed his arm, pushed the little light button on his watch and saw it only said 1:09 am. "Oh God," she said.
Again they just sat there silent. She wondered why Robert was still being so quiet. It was very much unlike him. She yawned. A few seconds later, he yawned, too. She grabbed his arm again and pushed the little light button on his watch...again. This time it read 1:21 am. "Great. Well, this is fun," she concluded sarcastically.
"Sorry," he said.
"Oh, don't be sorry. It's not your fault." Just then she remembered what happened and got angry. "How could I have been so stupid? Don't answer that," she warned. He just smiled a little. "I can't believe I could be so blinded by that ass of a man."
"Well, it could have been worse."
"I suppose," she pouted.
There was a pause. "Did you sleep with him?" Robert dared to ask.
Elizabeth was surprised. "That's a very personal question."
"You don't have to answer."
She contemplated a while before answering, "No, I didn't. Thank God."
"Well, then, you're smarter than most."
"Thank you...I think." Elizabeth sighed, then slumped her shoulders and got all mopey. Robert thought this was cute and just stared at her for a minute until she spoke up again. She started to whine. "I miss my daughter."
"I'm sure she's fine."
"I know," she moaned, paused and then, "'Course I don't know why I miss her. All she ever does is cry and whine and need this and need that; wets her pants; wets the bed."
Robert didn't answer. He just looked down, smiling a little. She saw this and smiled, too. "She's your daughter," he replied finally.
"Exactly," she stated pleasantly.
There was silence. She grabbed his arm again to check the time: 1:54. She shoved his arm away. She yawned again. She was getting tired. When she got tired, she had a tendency to speak without thinking. All of a sudden she blurted out, "Do you ever get lonely, Robert?"
He looked up at her shocked. He wasn't sure whether to answer or if this was a rhetorical question. She looked over at him, so he realized he should answer.
"Sometimes."
She nodded. "Me too. I mean, I have Ella, but...it's not easy, you know. Sometimes I really miss Mark. I never planned on having to raise a child on my own. Sometimes I don't know if I can do it. I'm sure I'll mess her up somehow."
"No you won't."
"Don't be so sure." She paused again, then, "I still think about Mark so much."
"Well, you probably always will."
She looked at him oddly, "You know, you're the first person to say that. Everyone says to me that I just need time; that I'll eventually forget about Mark and be able to get on with my life...but I don't want to forget about Mark."
"Well..." he thought carefully about what to say. He didn't want to say the wrong thing. "...you'll think about him less, but he'll always pop into your mind occasionally. I wouldn't worry."
She just looked at him questionably. "Yes...you understand."
He didn't respond for a minute, then said, "I was married once."
"What?" She was shocked.
"Shocking, I know."
"Uh, no, it's not that...it's just...I had no idea."
"Of course you didn't. I never told you."
"Wow." He didn't say anything after that, so she pestered him. "So are you going to tell me more or do I have to guess?"
He kept talking awkwardly. "Her name was Angela. We were married for about six years. After the first two years, she wanted a baby. That was fine with me. So two more years and three miscarriages later, she was able to carry a baby full term, but he died at birth."
"Oh, Robert, I'm so sorry."
He just shook her off and continued. "So, after that it got kinda rocky and one day I came home and everything was gone; all her things: clothes, jewelry, little stuff. And I didn't see her for two months when she came back with divorce papers. I haven't seen her since."
"Oh my. When did all this happen?" She was just staring at him very distraught.
"Oh, a couple of years before I met you."
She was shocked and didn't know what to say. "And nobody knows about this?"
"No. And I would like to keep it that way."
"Of course."
They didn't talk again after that. After a long while, Elizabeth's eyes grew very heavy. She began to nod off and then jerk awake. This happened a few times, until...Bang!
"Ow!" she yelled as she held the side of her head. She had bumped it on a wooden crate that was on the floor to her right.
"You okay?"
"Yes," she snapped. She was frustrated. She grabbed Robert's arm again: 2:43. She sighed.
"Here, you wanna lean against the door?" he asked. He was about to adjust his position so she could get comfortable, but she stopped him.
"No. I'll just stay awake," she quipped. "Aren't you tired?"
He just nodded and made an affirmative noise. They stopped talking and she began to nod off. He watched her this time. She was starting to do the same thing she'd done before. He decided to take a risk. Luckily, she was on his right side. So he lifted up his arm and put it around her ever so carefully, trying not to wake her up. He placed his hand on her head and guided it to his shoulder. He held his breath. He hoped and prayed she wouldn't wake up and be upset with him for a week. He let out his breath when she was comfortably against him. He then slowly leaned back against the wall, thankful she just slept and didn't notice what he'd done.
Elizabeth opened her eyes slightly. Robert didn't notice. She was too tired to care about anything right now. She'd just deal with it in the morning. At least now she could get some sleep. She shoved all thoughts from her mind of who she was sleeping on.
