Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the reviews. I'm glad you like it. It spurs me on.
Okay, I didn't want to make Ella a brat, but let's face it, even the sweetest of two year olds are a little bratty sometimes, especially if they have good reason.
PG - For some definite bad words. In fact, I hope I don't offend anybody with some of these words, actually. Realize these aren't things I would ever say to anybody ever. However, Romano can be a little offensive sometimes, you know? Hope you like. I think you will. Not much Cordano here. More Robert/Ella and plot development with Robert and Weaver. I'm building as you know and you will be quite fulfilled by the end of the story.
Chapter 12 - Kerryed Away
"So you in?"
"What?" asked Susan to Malik's question. She was typing something on the computer at the front desk. Malik had come up behind her holding a pen and paper.
"Are you in?" he asked again. Susan furrowed her brow, so Malik continued. "The pot."
"Pot for what?"
"10 bucks says they'll be walking in here together by next week."
"Who?" Susan laughed exasperatingly.
Lydia walked behind them as they were talking and answered for Malik, "Corday and Romano. I put my money on this Friday."
"In three days? That's ridiculous," said Susan practically laughing at the thought.
"Unh-uh. Don't even pretend you weren't there yesterday. How 'bout you Abby?"
Abby had been standing beside Susan ignoring the conversation. "It'll never happen," she answered plainly, while looking up at him from her paperwork. "I mean think about it...it's Romano. She's desperate, not stupid." At that, Abby left.
"Yeah, whatever. I'm thinkin' next Wednesday. You know he's wantin' him some o' dat," said Malik.
"Hmm," thought Susan for a minute. "Alright, I'm in. I say two weeks from tomorrow."
Malik didn't say anything in reply, but with a big smile he wrote Susan's bet down on his paper and left.
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The elevator door opened with a ding on the first floor and a few different docs walked out going this way and that way, as well as Kerry. She wanted to check on things in the ER. Robert's new system of carefully monitoring medicines had been going into full swing for about a month now. It made Kerry very nervous. Luckily, she hadn't seen or spoken to the Alderman since she had seen Scott...his new friend. However, when she got home from work yesterday, she listened to her answering machine and there had been a message from Alderman Bright just asking her how she was doing, how the new job was panning out and if she could call him back when she got this message. He had never called her at home before. He would have had to look up her home phone number. She hadn't returned his call, yet. She didn't want to.
Kerry started walking toward the admit desk, when Haleh zoomed by her.
"Uh, Haleh," stated Kerry, stopping her before she ran away.
"Yes, Dr. Weaver," answered Haleh breathless.
"Um, how are things going down here?" Kerry was asking in her very polite, yet sort of condescending tone of voice.
"Terrible. I wish you'd come back down here. Romano's got us working our tails off. We're always shorthanded, juggling a dozen patients, along with all this paperwork and inventory we gotta do now. He's drivin' us all crazy." Haleh answered.
"Right...Well, I know it's still a bit difficult for him right now. He's still getting adjusted."
Haleh just shrugged and turned to leave, but Kerry stopped her.
"But, um, Haleh," Kerry paused and looked Haleh seriously in the eye, "as far as I'm concerned, you don't need to be doing inventory anymore."
"But, he's asked us to-"
"I know..." She paused. "...But don't. I'll talk to him about it and get back with you."
"Fine by me." At that, Haleh left. Kerry just stood there staring at the wall deep in thought and worry.
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Elizabeth breezed through the ambulance bay doors. In one arm was draped her purse and a big colorful bag on her shoulder. The other arm held her daughter with her thumb in her mouth and head lying against mom's shoulder, but her eyes were open. Kris was still preoccupied taking care of her car, so she couldn't watch Ella and Careful Care Preschool was only on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. This was Tuesday. Elizabeth was just passing through before taking Ella to the daycare there at the hospital.
"Good-morning," said Elizabeth pleasantly.
"Hey," said Susan.
"Has anything come in yet?"
"Not yet," replied Susan, thinking that an odd question. It was only 8:20 in the morning. Most things didn't happen this early. Drunks, hobos and idiots were usually sleeping right now.
"Okay, well, I just wanted to check before taking her up to daycare. Not to mention, they don't open 'til 8:30."
Susan just nodded in reply. Ella sat up all of a sudden, and popped her thumb from her mouth. She wasn't listening to her mom, but she did begin to squirm for some reason.
"Are you having a good morning?" asked Susan trying to make conversation.
"As best as one can on 3 hours sleep," she answered. Ella was still squirming wanting down. "Ella, stop that."
"I want down," whined Ella.
"Fine, but don't go anywhere," stated Elizabeth exasperated with Ella. She put Ella down and sighed tiredly as she stood back up and leaned her head against her hand on the desk, closing her eyes. Ella darted off immediately.
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"Will I get to play tomorrow?"
"Play what?"
"Soccer," answered a young man about 20 years of age. He was sitting on a bed in curtainary 4 with his girlfriend. The curtain wasn't drawn. It wasn't necessary. He had just hurt his ankle.
"If you're a sadist," answered Romano plainly.
"But, the big game's tomorrow. If I don't play, we don't have a chance," said the boy pleadingly.
"Well, that's humble of ya," Romano mumbled under his breath while writing something on his chart.
"Isn't there anything you can do so he can play tomorrow?" asked the girlfriend sweetly.
"Look, you sprained your ankle," he snapped. He was getting annoyed. "We wrap it up, send you home with pain pills and you stay in bed. End of story. If you don't like it...well...tough."
Romano looked up from the chart and glanced over to his right. Just then, he saw a little girl running...well, more like hobbling...his way, as fast as she could. He saw immediately it was Ella. As she came his way, he set the chart down on the bed and squatted down to her level. Just as he got there, she attacked him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Simultaneously, he scooped her into his arm and stood back up. They both seemed to make this action look very casual, like it was something they did everyday.
"Aww, she's so cute. I love children. Is she yours?" asked the soccer player's girlfriend.
Romano didn't respond. He was looking around to see where Ella's mother had gotten to. After a few seconds he spotted her at the admit desk. She was leaning on the desk with her head in her hand practically asleep. Romano stepped a little bit away from his patient. He didn't really want to hear anything more from either of them. He didn't walk over to Elizabeth, though. He just stood watching her for a while, occasionally glancing at Ella, who had now stuck one thumb in her mouth, while the other hand was holding onto his neck. Her head had plopped down on his shoulder.
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"Kids can be tough, huh?" asked Susan, supposing Ella must be the reason for Elizabeth's lack of sleep.
"Yes, among other things," answered Elizabeth groggily, not moving or opening her eyes. Susan furrowed her brow a little without Elizabeth noticing. She thought maybe she should have betted on next week. After a moment of silence, Elizabeth shook herself awake and looked down for Ella. Alarmed, she looked all around her. "Oh my God. Ella?" After a brief second, she looked farther away and spotted Robert coming her way, carrying Ella. He had a smart-alecky smirk on his face.
"You know, Lizzie, correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems your daughter is more fond of me than she is of you. Hmm. How ironic."
"Don't be stupid, Robert." Elizabeth reached out for Ella. "Come on, Ella."
Ella just made a little whine, a big frown and clung tighter to Robert. Robert's smirk grew a little wider.
Elizabeth was getting agitated. She was too tired to deal with either of them right now and especially both of them ganging up against her. She reached out for Ella again. "Come on, Ella, we need to take you to daycare."
"No!" snapped Ella.
"Yes!" snapped back Elizabeth, a little surprised by Ella's reaction. Ella didn't like the daycare at the hospital at all. Luckily, she didn't have to go there often, but the few times she did, it was horrible. One time she was there, she colored a picture with all the other students. Ella wanted to keep her picture, but Misty, the daycare worker, wouldn't allow it. She took up everyone's pictures for them to get back at the end of the day. Ella was smart. She watched her picture and noticed that Misty picked it up last and put it on the top of the pile. A few hours later, Ella saw a big boy (about 6) pick up the top sheet from the pile, make a paper airplane from it and throw it across the room. Ella then saw Misty come over, grab the airplane off the floor and throw it away. Ella almost cried, but didn't say anything. Sure enough, when Misty was passing out papers, Ella just sat and watched while everyone else got their pictures except her.
On a different occasion, Misty had all the children lie down to take a nap. She told Ella to take off her shoes, but Ella didn't want to take off her shoes. Ella knew that her mommy was going to be coming for her any minute and she wanted to be ready to go. But Misty was persistent and made her take off her shoes anyway. Sure enough, Elizabeth came to get her during naptime and Ella was furious that Misty hadn't listened to her.
Ella didn't like Misty and told her this one day saying quite plainly and out of the blue, "Misty, Misty...I don't like you, Misty." At which Misty then replied, "Well, you have to like me. I'm the boss." This made Ella hate her all the more. Ella was a very smart little girl.
"Look," said Robert, "I worked last night. I'm done. Why don't you...uh..." He paused nervously, "...I could watch her," he spat out quickly.
Elizabeth's eyes went huge and she was aghast. "I don't think so." She knew he did well yesterday, but she wasn't going to push her luck.
"Why not?"
"Well...uh...um...well, you've worked all night and you worked yesterday. I'm sure you'll want to sleep."
"I'm fine."
"Come on, Ella."
"No!" Ella snapped again, louder this time.
"Yes!" Elizabeth got louder, too. She physically put her hands around Ella to pry her off of Robert. Ella held on to Robert's neck for dear life.
"Noooooooooooo!!!!!" she screamed in Robert's ear. Elizabeth finally got her off of Robert and Ella began to kick and squirm and make herself as heavy as possible to get away from Elizabeth. She put Ella down, because she wasn't strong enough to control her. Bent over, Elizabeth just held on to her arm. Ella continued to throw her tantrum while others around them began to stare. Elizabeth hated that. It was so embarrassing.
"I don't wanna go! I don't wanna go! I wanna stay here! I wanna stay heeeerrrre! Let me go!" Tears began to roll down her little cheeks. "I hate them. They're mean! Pleeeeease!" she begged. After that, she just cried.
"Elizabeth?" asked Robert in a tone of voice that suggested, 'Why are you doing this? Just let her stay with me.'
Ella had finally gotten tired and was just sitting on the floor with little tears running down her face. A little sniffle heard here and there. Elizabeth looked up at Robert and was about to give in when she looked around at the people just watching and waiting to see what she would do. At that Elizabeth made her decision.
"You're going to daycare. Come on." She spoke shakily, yet calmly. She grabbed Ella off the floor. Ella was too tired to fight again and just rubbed her eyes, whined and pouted. As Elizabeth carried her away, Ella sniffled, rubbed her eyes more and with her thumb in her mouth, she waved bye-bye to Robert. Elizabeth didn't see this. Robert just waved back to her with a sympathetic, little smile on his face.
Chuny stood next to him for a moment, smirking, before she finally cleared her throat. He clenched his jaw and glared at Chuny.
"You need to sign this," she said to him nicely. Romano snatched the chart from her hand, set it on the desk, signed it quickly, then shoved it back at her. "Thanks. I'm outta here," she said starting to walk away.
"Woah, wait, wait, wait. No you're not. You still have inventory."
"Unh-uh. Weaver told us not to."
"Excuse me!?"
"She told Haleh we didn't have ta do it."
"Really? Well you know what? Last time I checked, I'm the boss around here."
"Yeah. And Weaver's the boss over you. What she says goes."
"Are you asking to be fired?"
"You can't fire me. Kerry'd just hire me back." With that, Chuny walked away for good.
Robert glanced around the ER absolutely furious. He rubbed his hand over his mouth and jaw looking for the recipient of his anger. He couldn't find her anywhere. He went over to the admit desk.
"Jerry, where's Kerry?" he asked.
"Geez, I just came in. Can't I get my coat off first?"
"Do I look like I care?"
"Actually, I think I saw her go into the bathroom."
"Yeah. Great. Typical." He walked over to the Ladies Room and stood next to the door. He was going to wait right there until she came out. Next to the bathroom door a patient was lying on a bed that was placed in the hall. He was lying there because all the other rooms were taken.
"Hey, I need somebody to change my diaper," the patient said to Romano as Romano just stood there by the door. The patient's name was Mr. Peterson. He had been out in the hall for a while. He was an African American gentleman with graying hair and hitting about 78 years of age. In his prime, he was a very intelligent, successful man, married for over 50 years and raised 4 beautiful children. However, now age was catching up with him.
Romano just ignored his statement and stood there by the bathroom door for about five minutes before Kerry finally walked out.
"What do you think you're doing?" he asked her before she even got through the door.
She was startled and answered a little edgy. "Robert. Good. I wanted to talk to you." But before she had even finished, Robert went on.
"Because it sure sounds to me like you're giving new orders to my nurses without consulting me first." He had put a strong emphasis on 'my.'
"Oh, Robert, don't get all bent out of shape about it. I was gonna tell you."
"Oh yeah? When?"
"Today."
"Great! Then let's talk about it right now. What gives you the right to come down here and start changing everything around without talking to me first?"
"I have every right-"
"No, you don't!" He started to yell, but then composed himself down to a very intense whisper. "Whenever I had any problems with anybody or anything down here, I told you to take care of it. If you have problems with the way I'm running things around here, you come to me."
"Funny, that's not how I remember it."
"Well, you're remembering wrong!"
"Hey, who's gonna change my diaper?" piped up Mr. Peterson again.
Kerry just looked at Mr. Peterson disgusted. She talked to him and began to ignore Robert. "Someone will be right with you, sir. We'll take care of you as soon as possible. Abby?" she yelled looking around for any nurse, then turning to Robert said, "Yeah, you're doing a great job, Robert. How long has this guy been out here?"
"Don't change the subject," said Robert. "You know, you're just never satisfied are ya, Kerry? Is, is this about power? You've just gotta strut around don't ya? Use whatever bit of power you can get and lord it over people to make their lives as miserable as possible just because you can."
"That sounds familiar."
"I have good reasons for the decisions I make. You just hurt people for yourself."
"Robert-"
"Oh, but of course, you don't do that to everyone. Only the people you feel are a threat."
"Robert, this isn't about me."
"Oh, oh, it's not? Okay. Well then, Miss Manager of the Month, please enlighten me."
She then started to yell. "It's about you putting a system into play that requires an excessive amount of additional paperwork, overtime for nurses and is completely unnecessary."
"It is not unnecessary."
"Well, that's your opinion. The system we had was working just fine. There was no need-"
"Oh, yeah, fine. If I recall, a lot of drugs went missing quite often under your system."
"Oh Robert, that's not true."
"Not to mention what happened to Carter." There was a pause. Kerry couldn't respond, so Robert continued. "I mean, what if his little girlfriend hadn't had caught him, Kerry? How long would it have gone on under your watchful eye before you noticed, huh?"
Again, Kerry didn't say anything.
"Hey, you there," Mr. Peterson said to Kerry, "what do I gotta do to get some service around here? I'm dyin'."
"Just eat your food," she snapped at him. He had a tray of food next to his bed that he hadn't touched.
"I don't want that. I want somethin' else."
Robert just continued on his point. "Well, I see there to be plenty of evidence for keeping the things the way I have them. But, if you can give me one good reason to stop, I will."
Kerry still didn't respond. Robert just raised his eyebrows at her, still snapping. "Hello? You still in there somewhere? I'm waiting."
"It's too much work for the nurses." She was pretty unconvincing.
"They seem to be handling it."
Another pause.
"I'm still waiting," said Robert again.
Kerry shifted back again to anger. "I don't have to give you any reason for anything. I'm your supervisor now, like it or not, Robert. And what I say goes!"
"Oh, oh my, wow, such power. Oooh, I'm so intimidated," he responded sarcastically.
Kerry just glared at him.
"You know, Kerry, I think maybe it just kills you to see that perhaps I have been doing a better job down here these past few months than you ever did. And you're just jealous that this is something you never thought of first."
"That is utterly ridiculous."
He ignored her and went on. "And you know what else, Kerry? Correct me if I'm way off base here, but I bet whenever anyone ever out smarted you or out ran you or out did you in any way at all whatsoever, you had your crutch to fall back on so to speak. You could always tell yourself, 'Well, I'm the minority. I'm the disabled lesbian. I'm special.' Well, guess what? You don't have a leg to stand on anymore. I guess we're even, 'cause even with one arm, I'm still smarter than you."
Her nostrils began to flare. She was too furious to even speak.
"So tell me, Kerry, is that why you became a lesbian in the first place? 'Cause two minorities are better than one?"
SMACK! She slapped him good.
He just stood there a moment looking at her with a slight smirk on his face. He told her quite calmly, "Until you can give me a good reason, I'm keeping my system. Even if I have to do it all by myself." He then turned around and started to walk away.
"No, Robert. I can't allow you to do that."
"Tough!" he yelled with his back to her, walking away.
"Robert, we're not through here."
"I think we are," he yelled and kept walking.
"Robert, get back here!" she yelled. He ignored her and kept walking away.
"Robert?..."
"Robert!?!..."
"Robert, you're fired!!!!!!"
He stopped without turning around. In fact, everyone stopped. The whole place was in shock. You could have practically heard a pin drop. He let out his breath in a little chuckle. He turned around and bounded back over to her, stopping only mere inches from her face. He glared right into her eyes; jaw clenched, lips tight and nostrils flaring. Kerry didn't flinch.
"Are you sure this is a line you want to cross?" he asked her quite soft and cool holding back his utter contempt.
"Get out of my face...NOW!!!"
After a moment more of an intense stare at Kerry, he turned forcefully, threw all of Mr. Peterson's food all over the hall, which startled Kerry, and stomped away.
"Hey, I was gonna eat that," said Mr. Peterson.
Robert ignored him. "Up yours, you miserable dyke," he muttered under his breath as the ambulance bay doors flew open and he stormed out.
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Author Note: Originally I was going to have Elizabeth be in the ER and hear Robert get fired. I was going to have her almost run after him, but stop and decide not to. But, after I wrote it, it just sort of flowed this way and it seemed better.
Okay, I didn't want to make Ella a brat, but let's face it, even the sweetest of two year olds are a little bratty sometimes, especially if they have good reason.
PG - For some definite bad words. In fact, I hope I don't offend anybody with some of these words, actually. Realize these aren't things I would ever say to anybody ever. However, Romano can be a little offensive sometimes, you know? Hope you like. I think you will. Not much Cordano here. More Robert/Ella and plot development with Robert and Weaver. I'm building as you know and you will be quite fulfilled by the end of the story.
Chapter 12 - Kerryed Away
"So you in?"
"What?" asked Susan to Malik's question. She was typing something on the computer at the front desk. Malik had come up behind her holding a pen and paper.
"Are you in?" he asked again. Susan furrowed her brow, so Malik continued. "The pot."
"Pot for what?"
"10 bucks says they'll be walking in here together by next week."
"Who?" Susan laughed exasperatingly.
Lydia walked behind them as they were talking and answered for Malik, "Corday and Romano. I put my money on this Friday."
"In three days? That's ridiculous," said Susan practically laughing at the thought.
"Unh-uh. Don't even pretend you weren't there yesterday. How 'bout you Abby?"
Abby had been standing beside Susan ignoring the conversation. "It'll never happen," she answered plainly, while looking up at him from her paperwork. "I mean think about it...it's Romano. She's desperate, not stupid." At that, Abby left.
"Yeah, whatever. I'm thinkin' next Wednesday. You know he's wantin' him some o' dat," said Malik.
"Hmm," thought Susan for a minute. "Alright, I'm in. I say two weeks from tomorrow."
Malik didn't say anything in reply, but with a big smile he wrote Susan's bet down on his paper and left.
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The elevator door opened with a ding on the first floor and a few different docs walked out going this way and that way, as well as Kerry. She wanted to check on things in the ER. Robert's new system of carefully monitoring medicines had been going into full swing for about a month now. It made Kerry very nervous. Luckily, she hadn't seen or spoken to the Alderman since she had seen Scott...his new friend. However, when she got home from work yesterday, she listened to her answering machine and there had been a message from Alderman Bright just asking her how she was doing, how the new job was panning out and if she could call him back when she got this message. He had never called her at home before. He would have had to look up her home phone number. She hadn't returned his call, yet. She didn't want to.
Kerry started walking toward the admit desk, when Haleh zoomed by her.
"Uh, Haleh," stated Kerry, stopping her before she ran away.
"Yes, Dr. Weaver," answered Haleh breathless.
"Um, how are things going down here?" Kerry was asking in her very polite, yet sort of condescending tone of voice.
"Terrible. I wish you'd come back down here. Romano's got us working our tails off. We're always shorthanded, juggling a dozen patients, along with all this paperwork and inventory we gotta do now. He's drivin' us all crazy." Haleh answered.
"Right...Well, I know it's still a bit difficult for him right now. He's still getting adjusted."
Haleh just shrugged and turned to leave, but Kerry stopped her.
"But, um, Haleh," Kerry paused and looked Haleh seriously in the eye, "as far as I'm concerned, you don't need to be doing inventory anymore."
"But, he's asked us to-"
"I know..." She paused. "...But don't. I'll talk to him about it and get back with you."
"Fine by me." At that, Haleh left. Kerry just stood there staring at the wall deep in thought and worry.
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Elizabeth breezed through the ambulance bay doors. In one arm was draped her purse and a big colorful bag on her shoulder. The other arm held her daughter with her thumb in her mouth and head lying against mom's shoulder, but her eyes were open. Kris was still preoccupied taking care of her car, so she couldn't watch Ella and Careful Care Preschool was only on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. This was Tuesday. Elizabeth was just passing through before taking Ella to the daycare there at the hospital.
"Good-morning," said Elizabeth pleasantly.
"Hey," said Susan.
"Has anything come in yet?"
"Not yet," replied Susan, thinking that an odd question. It was only 8:20 in the morning. Most things didn't happen this early. Drunks, hobos and idiots were usually sleeping right now.
"Okay, well, I just wanted to check before taking her up to daycare. Not to mention, they don't open 'til 8:30."
Susan just nodded in reply. Ella sat up all of a sudden, and popped her thumb from her mouth. She wasn't listening to her mom, but she did begin to squirm for some reason.
"Are you having a good morning?" asked Susan trying to make conversation.
"As best as one can on 3 hours sleep," she answered. Ella was still squirming wanting down. "Ella, stop that."
"I want down," whined Ella.
"Fine, but don't go anywhere," stated Elizabeth exasperated with Ella. She put Ella down and sighed tiredly as she stood back up and leaned her head against her hand on the desk, closing her eyes. Ella darted off immediately.
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"Will I get to play tomorrow?"
"Play what?"
"Soccer," answered a young man about 20 years of age. He was sitting on a bed in curtainary 4 with his girlfriend. The curtain wasn't drawn. It wasn't necessary. He had just hurt his ankle.
"If you're a sadist," answered Romano plainly.
"But, the big game's tomorrow. If I don't play, we don't have a chance," said the boy pleadingly.
"Well, that's humble of ya," Romano mumbled under his breath while writing something on his chart.
"Isn't there anything you can do so he can play tomorrow?" asked the girlfriend sweetly.
"Look, you sprained your ankle," he snapped. He was getting annoyed. "We wrap it up, send you home with pain pills and you stay in bed. End of story. If you don't like it...well...tough."
Romano looked up from the chart and glanced over to his right. Just then, he saw a little girl running...well, more like hobbling...his way, as fast as she could. He saw immediately it was Ella. As she came his way, he set the chart down on the bed and squatted down to her level. Just as he got there, she attacked him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Simultaneously, he scooped her into his arm and stood back up. They both seemed to make this action look very casual, like it was something they did everyday.
"Aww, she's so cute. I love children. Is she yours?" asked the soccer player's girlfriend.
Romano didn't respond. He was looking around to see where Ella's mother had gotten to. After a few seconds he spotted her at the admit desk. She was leaning on the desk with her head in her hand practically asleep. Romano stepped a little bit away from his patient. He didn't really want to hear anything more from either of them. He didn't walk over to Elizabeth, though. He just stood watching her for a while, occasionally glancing at Ella, who had now stuck one thumb in her mouth, while the other hand was holding onto his neck. Her head had plopped down on his shoulder.
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"Kids can be tough, huh?" asked Susan, supposing Ella must be the reason for Elizabeth's lack of sleep.
"Yes, among other things," answered Elizabeth groggily, not moving or opening her eyes. Susan furrowed her brow a little without Elizabeth noticing. She thought maybe she should have betted on next week. After a moment of silence, Elizabeth shook herself awake and looked down for Ella. Alarmed, she looked all around her. "Oh my God. Ella?" After a brief second, she looked farther away and spotted Robert coming her way, carrying Ella. He had a smart-alecky smirk on his face.
"You know, Lizzie, correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems your daughter is more fond of me than she is of you. Hmm. How ironic."
"Don't be stupid, Robert." Elizabeth reached out for Ella. "Come on, Ella."
Ella just made a little whine, a big frown and clung tighter to Robert. Robert's smirk grew a little wider.
Elizabeth was getting agitated. She was too tired to deal with either of them right now and especially both of them ganging up against her. She reached out for Ella again. "Come on, Ella, we need to take you to daycare."
"No!" snapped Ella.
"Yes!" snapped back Elizabeth, a little surprised by Ella's reaction. Ella didn't like the daycare at the hospital at all. Luckily, she didn't have to go there often, but the few times she did, it was horrible. One time she was there, she colored a picture with all the other students. Ella wanted to keep her picture, but Misty, the daycare worker, wouldn't allow it. She took up everyone's pictures for them to get back at the end of the day. Ella was smart. She watched her picture and noticed that Misty picked it up last and put it on the top of the pile. A few hours later, Ella saw a big boy (about 6) pick up the top sheet from the pile, make a paper airplane from it and throw it across the room. Ella then saw Misty come over, grab the airplane off the floor and throw it away. Ella almost cried, but didn't say anything. Sure enough, when Misty was passing out papers, Ella just sat and watched while everyone else got their pictures except her.
On a different occasion, Misty had all the children lie down to take a nap. She told Ella to take off her shoes, but Ella didn't want to take off her shoes. Ella knew that her mommy was going to be coming for her any minute and she wanted to be ready to go. But Misty was persistent and made her take off her shoes anyway. Sure enough, Elizabeth came to get her during naptime and Ella was furious that Misty hadn't listened to her.
Ella didn't like Misty and told her this one day saying quite plainly and out of the blue, "Misty, Misty...I don't like you, Misty." At which Misty then replied, "Well, you have to like me. I'm the boss." This made Ella hate her all the more. Ella was a very smart little girl.
"Look," said Robert, "I worked last night. I'm done. Why don't you...uh..." He paused nervously, "...I could watch her," he spat out quickly.
Elizabeth's eyes went huge and she was aghast. "I don't think so." She knew he did well yesterday, but she wasn't going to push her luck.
"Why not?"
"Well...uh...um...well, you've worked all night and you worked yesterday. I'm sure you'll want to sleep."
"I'm fine."
"Come on, Ella."
"No!" Ella snapped again, louder this time.
"Yes!" Elizabeth got louder, too. She physically put her hands around Ella to pry her off of Robert. Ella held on to Robert's neck for dear life.
"Noooooooooooo!!!!!" she screamed in Robert's ear. Elizabeth finally got her off of Robert and Ella began to kick and squirm and make herself as heavy as possible to get away from Elizabeth. She put Ella down, because she wasn't strong enough to control her. Bent over, Elizabeth just held on to her arm. Ella continued to throw her tantrum while others around them began to stare. Elizabeth hated that. It was so embarrassing.
"I don't wanna go! I don't wanna go! I wanna stay here! I wanna stay heeeerrrre! Let me go!" Tears began to roll down her little cheeks. "I hate them. They're mean! Pleeeeease!" she begged. After that, she just cried.
"Elizabeth?" asked Robert in a tone of voice that suggested, 'Why are you doing this? Just let her stay with me.'
Ella had finally gotten tired and was just sitting on the floor with little tears running down her face. A little sniffle heard here and there. Elizabeth looked up at Robert and was about to give in when she looked around at the people just watching and waiting to see what she would do. At that Elizabeth made her decision.
"You're going to daycare. Come on." She spoke shakily, yet calmly. She grabbed Ella off the floor. Ella was too tired to fight again and just rubbed her eyes, whined and pouted. As Elizabeth carried her away, Ella sniffled, rubbed her eyes more and with her thumb in her mouth, she waved bye-bye to Robert. Elizabeth didn't see this. Robert just waved back to her with a sympathetic, little smile on his face.
Chuny stood next to him for a moment, smirking, before she finally cleared her throat. He clenched his jaw and glared at Chuny.
"You need to sign this," she said to him nicely. Romano snatched the chart from her hand, set it on the desk, signed it quickly, then shoved it back at her. "Thanks. I'm outta here," she said starting to walk away.
"Woah, wait, wait, wait. No you're not. You still have inventory."
"Unh-uh. Weaver told us not to."
"Excuse me!?"
"She told Haleh we didn't have ta do it."
"Really? Well you know what? Last time I checked, I'm the boss around here."
"Yeah. And Weaver's the boss over you. What she says goes."
"Are you asking to be fired?"
"You can't fire me. Kerry'd just hire me back." With that, Chuny walked away for good.
Robert glanced around the ER absolutely furious. He rubbed his hand over his mouth and jaw looking for the recipient of his anger. He couldn't find her anywhere. He went over to the admit desk.
"Jerry, where's Kerry?" he asked.
"Geez, I just came in. Can't I get my coat off first?"
"Do I look like I care?"
"Actually, I think I saw her go into the bathroom."
"Yeah. Great. Typical." He walked over to the Ladies Room and stood next to the door. He was going to wait right there until she came out. Next to the bathroom door a patient was lying on a bed that was placed in the hall. He was lying there because all the other rooms were taken.
"Hey, I need somebody to change my diaper," the patient said to Romano as Romano just stood there by the door. The patient's name was Mr. Peterson. He had been out in the hall for a while. He was an African American gentleman with graying hair and hitting about 78 years of age. In his prime, he was a very intelligent, successful man, married for over 50 years and raised 4 beautiful children. However, now age was catching up with him.
Romano just ignored his statement and stood there by the bathroom door for about five minutes before Kerry finally walked out.
"What do you think you're doing?" he asked her before she even got through the door.
She was startled and answered a little edgy. "Robert. Good. I wanted to talk to you." But before she had even finished, Robert went on.
"Because it sure sounds to me like you're giving new orders to my nurses without consulting me first." He had put a strong emphasis on 'my.'
"Oh, Robert, don't get all bent out of shape about it. I was gonna tell you."
"Oh yeah? When?"
"Today."
"Great! Then let's talk about it right now. What gives you the right to come down here and start changing everything around without talking to me first?"
"I have every right-"
"No, you don't!" He started to yell, but then composed himself down to a very intense whisper. "Whenever I had any problems with anybody or anything down here, I told you to take care of it. If you have problems with the way I'm running things around here, you come to me."
"Funny, that's not how I remember it."
"Well, you're remembering wrong!"
"Hey, who's gonna change my diaper?" piped up Mr. Peterson again.
Kerry just looked at Mr. Peterson disgusted. She talked to him and began to ignore Robert. "Someone will be right with you, sir. We'll take care of you as soon as possible. Abby?" she yelled looking around for any nurse, then turning to Robert said, "Yeah, you're doing a great job, Robert. How long has this guy been out here?"
"Don't change the subject," said Robert. "You know, you're just never satisfied are ya, Kerry? Is, is this about power? You've just gotta strut around don't ya? Use whatever bit of power you can get and lord it over people to make their lives as miserable as possible just because you can."
"That sounds familiar."
"I have good reasons for the decisions I make. You just hurt people for yourself."
"Robert-"
"Oh, but of course, you don't do that to everyone. Only the people you feel are a threat."
"Robert, this isn't about me."
"Oh, oh, it's not? Okay. Well then, Miss Manager of the Month, please enlighten me."
She then started to yell. "It's about you putting a system into play that requires an excessive amount of additional paperwork, overtime for nurses and is completely unnecessary."
"It is not unnecessary."
"Well, that's your opinion. The system we had was working just fine. There was no need-"
"Oh, yeah, fine. If I recall, a lot of drugs went missing quite often under your system."
"Oh Robert, that's not true."
"Not to mention what happened to Carter." There was a pause. Kerry couldn't respond, so Robert continued. "I mean, what if his little girlfriend hadn't had caught him, Kerry? How long would it have gone on under your watchful eye before you noticed, huh?"
Again, Kerry didn't say anything.
"Hey, you there," Mr. Peterson said to Kerry, "what do I gotta do to get some service around here? I'm dyin'."
"Just eat your food," she snapped at him. He had a tray of food next to his bed that he hadn't touched.
"I don't want that. I want somethin' else."
Robert just continued on his point. "Well, I see there to be plenty of evidence for keeping the things the way I have them. But, if you can give me one good reason to stop, I will."
Kerry still didn't respond. Robert just raised his eyebrows at her, still snapping. "Hello? You still in there somewhere? I'm waiting."
"It's too much work for the nurses." She was pretty unconvincing.
"They seem to be handling it."
Another pause.
"I'm still waiting," said Robert again.
Kerry shifted back again to anger. "I don't have to give you any reason for anything. I'm your supervisor now, like it or not, Robert. And what I say goes!"
"Oh, oh my, wow, such power. Oooh, I'm so intimidated," he responded sarcastically.
Kerry just glared at him.
"You know, Kerry, I think maybe it just kills you to see that perhaps I have been doing a better job down here these past few months than you ever did. And you're just jealous that this is something you never thought of first."
"That is utterly ridiculous."
He ignored her and went on. "And you know what else, Kerry? Correct me if I'm way off base here, but I bet whenever anyone ever out smarted you or out ran you or out did you in any way at all whatsoever, you had your crutch to fall back on so to speak. You could always tell yourself, 'Well, I'm the minority. I'm the disabled lesbian. I'm special.' Well, guess what? You don't have a leg to stand on anymore. I guess we're even, 'cause even with one arm, I'm still smarter than you."
Her nostrils began to flare. She was too furious to even speak.
"So tell me, Kerry, is that why you became a lesbian in the first place? 'Cause two minorities are better than one?"
SMACK! She slapped him good.
He just stood there a moment looking at her with a slight smirk on his face. He told her quite calmly, "Until you can give me a good reason, I'm keeping my system. Even if I have to do it all by myself." He then turned around and started to walk away.
"No, Robert. I can't allow you to do that."
"Tough!" he yelled with his back to her, walking away.
"Robert, we're not through here."
"I think we are," he yelled and kept walking.
"Robert, get back here!" she yelled. He ignored her and kept walking away.
"Robert?..."
"Robert!?!..."
"Robert, you're fired!!!!!!"
He stopped without turning around. In fact, everyone stopped. The whole place was in shock. You could have practically heard a pin drop. He let out his breath in a little chuckle. He turned around and bounded back over to her, stopping only mere inches from her face. He glared right into her eyes; jaw clenched, lips tight and nostrils flaring. Kerry didn't flinch.
"Are you sure this is a line you want to cross?" he asked her quite soft and cool holding back his utter contempt.
"Get out of my face...NOW!!!"
After a moment more of an intense stare at Kerry, he turned forcefully, threw all of Mr. Peterson's food all over the hall, which startled Kerry, and stomped away.
"Hey, I was gonna eat that," said Mr. Peterson.
Robert ignored him. "Up yours, you miserable dyke," he muttered under his breath as the ambulance bay doors flew open and he stormed out.
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Author Note: Originally I was going to have Elizabeth be in the ER and hear Robert get fired. I was going to have her almost run after him, but stop and decide not to. But, after I wrote it, it just sort of flowed this way and it seemed better.
