Abby pushed open the door of the Surgeons lounge at twelve thirty after a relatively calm morning. She had been observed in theatre by Joanna Henna for most of the morning so far, and was about to go out to get some lunch.
"Hey Doctor Corday," Abby said, when she entered the lounge, "Doctor Clarke," Elizabeth looked up from a pile of paperwork,
"Oh, good morning Abby," She said, having not noticed her come in, "How's your rotation going?"
"Not bad," Abby said thoughtfully, "It's been… and enlightening experience… I thought you weren't working today?" She had remembered Elizabeth telling her how much paperwork she had to do, and how glad she was that she had the time off to get it out of the way. This was clearly not the case any longer.
"Yes well," Elizabeth suddenly seemed riled, "I have Doctor Dorsett to thank for that." Abby glanced at Clarke to see if he had picked up on the way Elizabeth had said Dorsett's name. The two words had a venomous quality they hadn't had before. Elizabeth picked up the pile of papers, shuffled them around so that the ones she had already filled in were at the back, and put them down again, taking up her pen. "His extended holiday means that I have to work until three. The fact that I'm due to start at five is of no concern of course." Abby winced,
"Ouch." She said sympathetically, "Well, I have to go do Romano's CT scan if it's any consolation." Elizabeth stopped writing again,
"Oh I completely forgot that was today." She said, annoyed, "I'd gladly swap with you Abby. If you fancy having a go at all this." Abby glanced at the papers,
"If it's not multiple choice then I'm not much help." She opened her temporary locker and took out her black leather rucksack that she had come into the lounge for in the first place. "I'm going out to get some lunch. Want me to bring you back anything?" Elizabeth was flicking through papers, and it took her a while to respond,
"Um, no thank you." She quickly scribbled something out and filled it in again, "But, could you take this down to the ER on your way out and give it to Kerry? I have to try and find a babysitter for Ella tonight. On top of everything else I've been cancelled on for that as well." Abby took the brown envelope from Elizabeth telling her that of course she would take it to Kerry. She was about to leave when she stopped,
"You know," She said thoughtfully, "If you're stuck for a babysitter, I get off at five thirty. I could do it if you want?" Elizabeth looked like she could kiss her,
"Really? Oh Abby, you'd be saving my life." Abby smiled,
"Sure. It'd be a first, but hey, I'm a nurse right? I can handle children. I there'll be a half hour to fill but I'm sure some one could watch Ella until I'm done." Elizabeth seemed to be going through names in her mind,
"Yes, I'm sure some one would. Thanks for this Abby."
"No problem. I'll see you later." Abby gave half a wave to Clarke and headed out the door. Babysitting? The last time she had babysat was ninth grade. She shook her head and headed for the ER, to give Weaver Elizabeth's paperwork, and too see if either Susan or Jing-Mei were available to go to lunch.
Her question was half answered when the doors of the elevator opened and she had to hurry out quickly as Jing-Mei wheeled in a gurney carrying a young boy, about seven or eight, covered in blood, and chillingly still.
"No time for lunch then?" Abby called to her, before the doors shut. Jing-Mei held up her hands and Abby caught her wistful smile as the doors closed with a familiar 'ding' of the bell. Abby smiled to herself, and glanced around for Susan. She soon spotted her examining a child on a gurney near to triage. She walked over to her,
"Hey." She said, Susan looked up from her examination of the girl's eye,
"Oh hey," She looked brighter than anyone else Abby had seen that day. "How's surgery?"
"It's… busy, complicated." Abby admitted, "And hard."
"Don't fancy being a surgeon then?" Susan asked, grinning and checking the little girl's ears. Abby shrugged, still holding the brown envelope across her chest,
"Well, it's hard, but it's satisfying." She said, not sure herself as to what she wanted to do after she finished Med School training. "Anyway, enough about work. Wanna grab some lunch?" Susan looked as if she had been waiting for her to ask,
"Definitely." She said, putting away her eye scope, "Just let me finish up here." Abby nodded,
"I got to take this to Weaver for Elizabeth anyway," She said, tapping the envelope. "Meet you at the desk in five minutes?"
"Sounds great." Abby headed off down the hall to find Kerry.
"Hey Frank, have you seen Weaver?" She asked at the desk. Frank shrugged unhelpfully and she rolled her eyes. "Pratt, seen Weaver?" Greg Pratt looked up from a chart.
"In exam three, last I saw." He said. Abby thanked him and headed back down the hall where she had come from. She spotted Kerry about to go into a room ahead of her,
"Doctor Weaver!" She called out, stopping her. Abby held out the envelope. "This is from Doctor Corday." She explained, "She asked me to give it to you." Kerry opened the file and glanced at the inside,
"Ah, great." She said, gratefully, "Thanks Abby."
"No problem." Abby said, about to leave. Kerry folded the envelope shut,
"Abby, how's Robert doing?" she hesitated, after having listened to Robert's rant about Kerry earlier that morning.
"Okay, I guess." She said, uncomfortably. Admittedly, Kerry was her boss, but there was still the case of Doctor patient confidentiality.
"I noticed his CT scan is scheduled today." Abby nodded, "I know he's pissed with me," Kerry said, noticing Abby's discomfort,
"He's pissed with everyone." Abby corrected, "It's not just you."
"I know. I keep telling him I'm not going to steal his job."
"Well that's what you said last time," Abby said, then noticing the look on Kerry's face and felt the need to explain herself, "I'm not saying you stole his job Doctor Weaver," She said quickly, "But that's what he was afraid of, and through no fault of your own, you ended up with it. It can't be easy for him." Abby was unsure of what Kerry was about to say, whether she was angry, or whether Abby had stepped out of line. She relaxed as Kerry's face cracked into a smile,
"I know you're a med student again Abby, but you shouldn't give up on nursing if you've managed to understand Rocket Romano. I'm proud of you. That's more than I've ever been able to do." Abby shrugged, but couldn't help smiling,
"Thanks." She was not expecting praise for speaking against her boss, "Maybe when he's feeling better he'll be more agreeable." Kerry waved her hand,
"Oh don't worry, I'm not loosing any sleep over it." She indicated the room behind her, "I'd better get in there, thanks for this Abby," She waved the paperwork before going back into the room,
"No problem," Abby said again, and headed back to the desk to meet Susan.
Elizabeth finished most of her paperwork and had two consultations scheduled, and when she had finished with the second, a twenty year old man with a serious heart condition, she checked her watch and her schedule. She had nothing to do until her third and final consultation of her shift in half an hour. She thought about doing some more work, but in half an hour there wasn't enough time, she would just have got herself sat down and sorted when she would have needed to pack up again. She didn't have time to go to her office, because she was supposed to be working a shift. If Dorsett hadn't messed everything up she could have got all of the office work done at home, or even just sat down in her office for a few hours and got it all done. She decided to put her head into Robert's room and see if he had been taken up for his CT scan yet. Her question was answered however, when she saw that the room was empty. She was torn for a second, but then she made her mind up and walked quickly up to the next level where she thought she might find Abby and whoever else was going to be there for the scan.
She got to the room in a few moments, and she recognised the back of Abby's head. She pushed open the door to the observation room, and recovered quickly from what was almost a double take when she recognised the other doctor in the room as one of the numerous faces she had seen when she had first found out that Mark's tumour was back. He hadn't mentioned his CT scan to her, and she hadn't had the need to be back on this level of the hospital since he had been diagnosed. In almost two years, she had managed to avoid it with out being aware that she had been doing so.
"Doctor Corday," The doctor who's face she had recognised suddenly linked with a name in her mind. Doctor Mitchell Turner.
"Hello Doctor Turner," She said, smiling warmly. She couldn't link the awful feelings stirring inside her to Turner, what happened was nothing to do with him, and after all, every one had done their best to help Mark. Abby turned around as well,
"Hey," She said, "Almost done." Elizabeth nodded,
"I tried to get in before." She said. Abby looked over her shoulder and saw that Turner was completely absorbed in his work, she lowered her voice,
"I explained how much work you had to do," She said to Elizabeth, "I know you would have been here earlier." Elizabeth nervously copycatted Abby's earlier motion and her eyes flew over her shoulder,
"Abby, Robert and I-"
"Doctor patient confidentiality." Abby said, holding up her hands, "I ask no questions," she nudged Elizabeth, "But if I were the type of person who would ask those questions…"
"You'd do better to ask them at another time." Elizabeth said hurriedly, as the tell tale bleep sounded, that meant the scan was over.
"How does it look?" She asked Turner, who looked up in surprise, so involved in his work that he had forgotten she was there.
"I can't see anything unusual at the moment," He said, "That's normally a good sign. I'll need to examine the results in more detail, but from the look of this it looks like your diagnosis was accurate," He added to Abby, "The loss of sight is just due to swelling from the surgery." Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief, "But just to make it clear, I'm not saying it's definite," Turner added,
"Of course," Elizabeth said, still not able to hide the immense feeling of relief that was rising through her. "Thank you." Turner nodded and turned to Abby,
"All yours Lockhart." He said brightly, and nodding at Elizabeth he left. As soon as the door was shut Abby turned to face Elizabeth,
"So you were saying?"
"Another time." Elizabeth repeated, grinning. Abby rolled her eyes,
"Oh come on." She moaned, "He lurves you, you know." Elizabeth glared at her,
"Abby." Abby raised an eyebrow,
"I'm very observant." She commented, "And just because my love life is crappy, it doesn't mean I'm not aware of other people's. In fact, to fill the painful void in my love life I quite enjoy sticking my nose into yours."
"I do not have a love life." Elizabeth said sharply,
"He lurves you…" Abby said again. Elizabeth groaned,
"Abby…"
"So you know then?" Elizabeth shrugged,
"The fact may have been mentioned." Abby coaxed her for more information,
"And…? When…?"
"Well, people tend to say things they don't particularly want to say when they're in recovery."
"Are we talking recently?"
"More like a year ago." Abby whistled. And collected together the remainder of her things.
"We will speak about this later." She said, like a teacher said to a student, "I have to go do my job now." Elizabeth nodded and watched through the viewer for a brief moment before picking up her things and heading for her consultation. She decided to be a little early rather than hang around uselessly.
"Good news," Abby said, as she undid the last of the supports. Robert swung his legs over the edge of the 'bed' and sat up,
"Oh yeah? So you've found a spare arm, eye and, well, I guess I could do with a new leg if we're on a roll." Abby ignored this as usual,
"Turner wants to do a more detailed examination of the scan, but from what he saw today he says there's nothing to worry about. Your loss of sight is just because of swelling from the surgery like we originally thought, and it should be back to normal in about two weeks."
"We'll see." Abby rolled her eyes,
"Oh come on, I know you're glad." She said, not falling for the charade. "Turner's the best at what he does. He doesn't really need to examine that scan any more, but he's probably just doing everything by the book because it's you."
"There was something shifty about the way he talked." Robert said, determined not be beaten. Abby couldn't help laughing.
"So he's a New Yorker. Since when has that been shifty?" She didn't expect an answer. "Elizabeth was here a minute ago." No response, but she noticed the certain look flash across his good eye that always did whenever Elizabeth was mentioned. "Her shift finishes at three."
"I know." Abby folded out one of the hospital wheelchairs, which Robert sat in after giving her a disdainful glance.
"Doctor Weaver asked how you were doing earlier." Abby told him conversationally. Robert scoffed,
"Oh my adoring fans."
"Do you ever wonder why you don't exactly have a fan club down in the ER? You have worked at County longer than most people downstairs."
"You really must have a pathetic personal life if you find mine so interesting." Robert commented. Again, Abby ignored him,
"Maybe, if you were just a little nicer, to everyone…"
"Maybe if you kept your opinions to yourself."
"What can I say, you are my mentor." Abby said, mockingly.
"Then take a leaf out of my book and stay out of other peoples lives."
"But not Elizabeth's?"
"Do you ever shut up?" Abby turned around, pushed the door to his room open with her spare hand and wheeled the chair in.
"Well, I have nothing better to do." Abby said. Robert would have raised an eyebrow if he could.
"No. I gathered that. Whoever said the ER doesn't have interesting reading material obviously never got round to having a look at that letter that was floating around a while back." Now it was Abby's turn to shut up. She had forgotten about that. No matter how hard she tried to think of a comeback, her mind came up blank. She packed up her things in silence, "I'll be back to change your dressing later."
"Not staying for a chat then?"
"Nurses talk." Abby said, woodenly, "So I'm going to go and treat." She left the room quickly, leaving Robert alone. He smiled humourlessly, Abby's attempt at conversation was irritating, but he had to admit he was becoming accustomed to her company. He'd admit this inside his own head of course, but not to any one else. With no one to yell orders at in the four walls allocated to him, he was bored, and he hated having so much time on his own to contemplate his condition, and his future. Many a time he had contemplated the fact that he might not have much of a future, and a few times, less since Elizabeth had pledged her support, he had wondered whether he wanted a future at all.
After sitting in the chair for a few minutes after Abby had left, he wheeled himself over to the edge of his bed and used the rail to pull himself out of the chair. When he was sat back in bed he took the time to check his leg, which was also bandaged up. He stretched it out, and then bent it again. He could feel some strain in his calf muscle, which was probably where some of the debris from the crash had cut into the muscle. He had nothing to do now but stare at the ceiling, or the walls, until some one came in. He couldn't read, due to the strain it put on his eyes, he couldn't stand day time television, and he now knew that there were four hundred and thirty seven ceiling tiles in his room. His mind drifted to his bedroom at home, without ceiling tiles. He wondered when it would be when he could finally get out of this room, get out of the hospital. When he could step outside this god damn hospital and- His train of thought stopped suddenly. He jumped at the thought of stepping outside the hospital, looking up and…
Robert flicked on the television, thinking that he might strike lucky and find something interesting on. He flicked through the channels without success, until he gave up and switched it off. The niggling thought at the back of his mind that told him that news programs were always on some channel or another, and news programs had accidents, and accidents had… helicopters. Suddenly, the clean white room, in the hospital he knew better than his own home felt suddenly safer than the outside world. Maybe being stuck there wasn't so bad.