By Didi
Disclaimer: Though the show has been cancelled, (damn those executives) I still cannot claim them as mine. And anyone that even thinks so would be laughed out of the courts. Don't sue; I'm not making any money out of this.
Timeline: Let's just assume this is after the last aired episode. But assume that Nick Kokoris and Rae Brennan are not together. I could not stand the two on the show so I refuse to write anything where they are together. Don't worry; I won't ignore their history already established as the back-story from the show.
Rating: Still at PG-13 for now.
Warning: Rather insensitive health issues. If you've experience a loss of a family member or friend to cancer, please reframe from reading any further. I don't mean to be insensitive to such issues but this is a story and I tend to write pretty lightheartedly.
Author's Note: I'm not a medical doctor or even a very good student; I know next to nothing about diseases and treatments of any kind. Please excuse my ignorance.
And to answer Nicky's question: Stem cells are highly unique cells of the body that scientists are only beginning to explore since 1998. Stems cells have two important characteristics that distinguish them from other types of cells. First, they are unspecialized cells that renew themselves for long periods through cell division. The second is that under certain physiologic or experimental conditions, they can be induced to become cells with special functions such as the beating cells of the heart muscle or the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. There are actually two types of stem cells: embryonic and adult. The embryonic stem cells are unspecified and therefore can be used to create other cells that will no longer renew itself. This is the type that Slingerland and Kokoris want for their patient.
Summary: What would you do in the name of love?
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Chapter Three~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Kicking off her granny shoes, as Rae fondly called them, Jules collapsed onto her pale peach lute string sofa with a sigh. Two hours with the police, the combing of the hospital and the endless questions, not to mention the publicity this was about going to cost the hospital; she could already hear the phone calls coming in from administration. But right now, she was ready for a long soak in the bathtub.
"After I call Jenna," she reminded herself firmly.
Picking up the phone by on the end table, she dialed the phone number by heart. Three rings followed by a standard lighthearted recording: "Hey, you've reached the Fraser residence. We cannot come to the phone right now. Please leave your name and number, slowly please, and we'll try to get back to you at our earliest convenience. Thanks, have a great day." The usual beep followed.
"Why is it that I always think of a company office when I hear your recording? It's so impersonal. Hey Jenna, it's Jules. I'm just calling to check up on you. Everything okay? I'm at home now following a day like you won't believe. Call me here if you need to talk to me. FYI, I spoke with Dr. Lenning today. I've started the ball rolling already so we're good on that end. I'll keep you updated, okay? Love you. Talk to you soon."
Clicking the phone off, she sighed and closed her eyes slowly. Maybe she'd forgo the bath and head straight to bed. Shower tomorrow morning will work just as well.
Just as she was about to get up, the phone rang. "Hello?"
"Jules?"
"Jenna. What's up? I just left you a message on your…"
"Yeah, I know. I heard. I was upstairs with the baby."
She bit her lip, gave a quick and silent plead, "How is he?"
A long pause ensued. "He's doing all right."
The good doctor made an impatient noise. "He's my nephew and I'm a pediatrician, Jenna. Can we cut through the polite, soothing crap and give it to me straight?"
Ever the peacemaker, "I'm sorry, Jules. I just didn't want to upset you."
"Too late for that. Now tell me what the doctor said?"
"The usual. The injections are doing minimum good. His body doesn't seem to be taking to the drugs as well as the doctors hoped, but at least it's doing some good. Just the same ole, same ole. His best bet still is to find a match."
"I wish you were up here instead of in San Diego. I could have Rae look at Kevin and see if there was anything more that we can…"
"Rae is good, I'm sure, but so are these doctors."
For a moment, Jules said nothing. "I'm working the donor front, but you do realize that it's till a long shot right? I mean, there's no guarantee that I can produce a child with AB positive blood type to match Kevin's. I don't want you hanging your hopes on my baby. Of course, it would be a lot easier if you hadn't produce a child with a blood type that only match like 2% of the population world wide."
"About that, Jules… I've been thinking..."
"Well you know, that's no good for you."
"Be serious here Jules. I want you to consider this some more."
With a sigh of resignation, "I have considered this for months now."
"But this isn't a decision to be taken lightly."
"Don't you think I know that?"
"I'm just saying that this is a decision that is… You shouldn't be making the decision of having a child under these circumstances. People don't have kids because their sister's child has leukemia. It's not fair to you. This should be my problem."
"And if you hadn't had to have a hysterectomy after having Kevin, it would be your decision to make. But since having another child of your own is no longer an option at this point, we'll simply have to do with seeing if your dear sister can fit the bill in that department."
"Jules, this is asking an awful lot of you."
"Well, since you're the only family I've got left, seems only fair that I do whatever is necessary to insure your long and happy life," she tucked her phone between her neck and shoulder and wondered into the kitchen. All she had was champagne and ice cream. Not exactly the staple of a healthy diet. "How's your husband doing?"
"David is just glad that someone in the family knows about all this medical mumbo jumbo."
"That's what I'm here for, darling. Listen, this is a rough period for you but you'll get through this. Tell him to take heart."
"I will. And you take care of yourself and keep me updated with anything."
"Ditto, Sis. Night."
"Good night, Jules… and thanks."
"You'd do the same for me."
"Let's hope we never put that to the test."
"Should I be insulted?"
The first real laugh came out of Jenna's mouth in months, making Jules breath a silent sigh of relief. "Good night, Jules."
"Good night."
"Sleep tight."
"Bite back the bedbugs that bites." The last things Jules head as she hung up the phone was the sound of her sister's laughter. It felt damn good.
~~~~
Harriet licked her lips, apologized to the saints and gods that she was no doubt offending by following through with this course and regarding the woman before her with a quiet resigning stare. "You do realize that the hospital is going to throw a fit over this if it were to leak?"
"You mean my Pink Alert yesterday didn't put me in the administration's black books already?"
"How was that, by the way?"
"They haven't found the baby yet."
"What's your take on the case?"
"They'll find him."
"Him? I heard it was a girl."
"Twins. The baby girl, Eleanor, was found before the mom could leave the hospital, an hour after the alarm was sounded. She was hiding in the garage waiting to get away. The baby boy, Edward, has yet to be found, along with his coke addict father."
"Julia Keating…" came the warning tone.
"Don't expect me to be nice to parents that put their children in danger. Newborn, infants, children… they are the most vulnerable of society and the most in need of protection. Enough of them die of natural causes as is, I've got zero tolerance for those that would hurt their kids on purpose."
Harriet understood Jules's attitude even if she didn't always share it. "Not everything is black and white, Jules. We have to make allowances."
"I do make allowance, personal pleasure isn't going to be the reason for one of them." She sighed and glanced at her watch. "I have to do a consultation in an hour with Dr. Kokoris. Did you get a chance to review my stuff?"
"Yes, I've reviewed it. And I will again caution you in making this decision."
"Trust me when I say that it was not easy even considering it."
"Then I think it would be best to start you on hormone treatments and begin the process immediately if that is your intention. Your physical condition is not ideal given the trauma your body has sustained in the past few months. But you are young and healthy to begin with and probably could withstand the pressures better. Plus they do say that a pregnant woman is the considerably healthier because her body builds up its immune system to protect the child."
Jules watched Harriet's eyes with hope. "Is that a yes?"
"Against my better judgment."
The smile on her face was incredible.
"But…"
"Oh, oh…" but Harriet had already said yes.
It was always better to be cautious. "You have better be prepare for the backlash from this. People are going to question the morality of this decision."
"Let them look into the eyes of their dying two year old nephew and have them question the ethics of this. Me? I'll sleep just fine at night."
"I'm glad someone will be," Harriet muttered as she pulled out Julia Keating's chart. She suppose that no matter what she thought of the idea, her heart couldn't say no to the picture of the thin fragile boy she had seen she had seen in Julia's office. The chart had been there in anticipation of her saying yes. "I'll have Janice make you an appointment at the earliest opening and get you started."
"Thanks Harriet," getting up. "You won't regret this."
Dr. Lenning made a face and though of the recent barrage of legal problems at the hospital's door. "We'll see."
~~~~
"Don't speak to me," Dr. Kokoris warned darkly as he slammed his locker shut. "I just had my head chewed off by Dr. Keating." He glared at the grinning internist. "You know, for such a small thing she certainly does have a biting way with words. I felt like I was back in middle school having been caught by the nuns playing ball when I should be studying."
"You went to a Catholic school?" Matt asked with more than just a bit of amusement. Having been on the receiving end of the feisty pediatrician's tongue, he could well imagine the ire he surgeon must be feeling. "Relax, Jules is all roar and no bite."
"I would not count on it," Nick glanced briefly at his watch. "I'm suppose to have a second consultation with her in the afternoon. I dread it like a man going to the guillotines."
"Don't mention the stem cells again then. Shall I have a crack at her at noon then?"
"Don't," the surgeon warned. "You know how Letty gets when we go into the afternoon shift without lunch."
"I'll eat."
"Not if Dr. Keating is scratching your eyes out."
"I don't let her bother me as much as she appears to be bothering you." He tilted his head. "Ready to meet your new patient?" handing him the chart he had been carrying under his arm. He was feeling exceptionally cheerful considering his parents were about to descend upon him this evening. He has yet to figure out what his mother had meant about his 'lady friend.' Something to quiz her on tonight.
"Is he going to be a cranky old man with a bad foot?" Nick asked wearily. This would be his fourth consult of the day and it wasn't even noon yet. The flu had knocked several doctors out of rotation, piling things up for those that had the foresight to get flu shots before the little bugs came knocking at everyone's doors.
"No," Slingerland replied with a smile. "She's a twenty-four year old grad student with a clot in her lung. We're looking at removing it through surgery since the medication isn't dissolving it like it should."
"History?"
"Nothing significant. We think it may have to do with the new birth control pills she's been on."
"Who's her OB?"
"Dr. Meyers."
"Her thoughts?"
Slingerland gave a snort of exasperation and rolled his eyes. "She couldn't stop bristling at the implied fault on her part long enough to give me her opinion."
Kokoris shook his head and was about to make a comment on the egos of doctors when Jules Keating came around the corner, her head buried in a large textbook. It was only due to Nick's distinct impression that Dr. Keating was too engrossed in her reading to pay attention to the two male bodies blocking her path, that save Jules from landing on her romp. He grabbed her arm just in time to have the fifteen-pound book collide first with his chest then dropped on his foot. If he were less of a man, he'd be howling at the excruciating pain that radiated from his foot all the way to his nose. As it was, he had to clinch his teeth and squeeze his eyes shut to keep from grunting. It was only when he was sure he wasn't going to humiliate himself by crying like a girl did he open his eyes. "Ouch."
Dr. Keating wore the most horrified look on her face; Nick almost felt instantly better just seeing it. "I'm so, so, so sorry," bending down to pick up her book and rubbing the top of his foot through his shoes. "Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," he managed to get out. He looked down at the top of the young doctor's dark haired head and wondered why he never noticed that her hair was more red than brown. "Don't worry about it," he insisted when she didn't stop rubbing his shoes. It was a rather endearing gesture if a bit comical.
"Jules, stop," Dr. Slingerland said as he hauled her to her feet again. "You're going to wear a hole in the leather."
"I'm so sorry," she repeated, reaching out to rub the spot between Dr. Kokoris's ribcage where the spin of the book had not only hit but also left a rather distinctive indent. "I should have been watching where I was going."
Because she had collided into him rather roughly and a bruise was no doubt already beginning to form under his blue shirt, and Jules was rubbing the spot with more enthusiasm then care, Nick winced.
Matt reached out and pulled Jules's hand away from Nick. "Jules, you are giving the patients, not the mention the staff, something to talk about." He was more irritated by the fact that she had been touching Kokoris than by the speculative glances. Nick, on the other hand, didn't seem to mind being touched by the slightly distracted young doctor. "What's the matter with you?" he took the big book she was fumbling with again before she could drop it on his foot and glanced negligently at the title. "What's this?"
"Rough case," she replied taking the book from him. "I've got to go," hurrying away from the two. "Nick, again I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you later. Oh and Matt…" she paused, her brows coming together in thought for a moment then she shook her head. "Never mind."
"What?" Slingerland and Kokoris asked at the same time.
"Nothing," she repeated and backed away from the two hurriedly. "Don't worry about it," then rounded the corner, just avoiding another collision with a fellow neo natal unit personnel.
"What was that all about?" Letty Jordan asked as she came up behind the two bemused doctors that were still standing in the middle of the hallway staring after where Dr. Keating had just disappeared. She had had the advantage of observing the rather ridiculous scene from a distanced standpoint. "What did the two of your do to her?"
"Us?" Matt asked, rounding about with disbelief.
"Not a thing," Nick replied as his dark brows furrowed together with concern. "But something is definitely up. Trouble in paradise, you think?"
"Paradise?" Matt asked, a little at sea on that one.
"One of the nurses say that she's been getting repeated calls from a man that identified himself as David." Nick informed him with a shrug. "Same name she used when she answered the phone last week."
Letty grinned at the frown on Slingerland's face. "What's the matter with you? Don't tell me you haven't gotten over that little crush you had on Jules?"
That only served to darkened the look on Matt's face. "I did not have a crush on her."
That had the cardiologist chuckling. "Fine. You didn't have a crush on her. Just a very healthy attraction."
Kokoris grinned and looked at Matt with amusement. "When was this?" He too had noted a rather distinct attentiveness the internist displays when it came to the pediatrician. Won't surprise him one bit to learn of an attraction.
"When Jules first came to the hospital, Slingerland asked her out," Letter informed the surgeon with glee while Matt scowled at her. "Jules, being young, naïve and sweet, wanted to say yes but said no instead. Her reason being that she doesn't mix business with pleasure. And working at the same hospital definitely presents a conflict for her. Matt moved on to less difficult catches quickly."
Nick nodded his head slowly with understanding. "The one that got away always taste that much sweeter in one's dreams."
"Oh shut up, both of you," Slingerland growled as they approached his patient's room. "And for your information, it was but a passing interest and have long since passed. She and I are friends now."
Letty couldn't quite suppress her smile as she asked, "And that's why she asked you to fertilize her eggs for her?"
"What?" Nick asked, his eyes wide with surprise.
"How did you…" Matt clamped his mouth shut a little too late.
Dr. Jordan, feeling that she's done enough for the day, smiled and moved on with a wave of her hand. "Patients to see, lives to save. Good day, gentlemen."
Matt scowled after her and muttered, "Nosy Americans."
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TBC…