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: PG-13.
Author's Note: I never could accept that Dr. Jordan's first name is Letty. So I extended it to Leticia for the heck of it. Don't get confused.
Summary: What would you do in the name of love?
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Chapter Nine~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Want to tell me why you're late…again?" Harriet asked sternly as she withdrew the needle and marked off something on her charts.
Tugging her shirt down, Jules gave a groan as her back began to immediately complain about the increase amount of hormones in her system. "I had a little problem with a couple of … patients."
"Patients?" Harriet asked with a knowing grin. "Or the doctors that are treating the patients?" she laughed as Jules cursed under her breath. "By the way, how did your and Matt Slingerland's pagers get mixed up?"
"Oh god," Jules got off the exam table and pulled her lab coat on. "The speed of gossip in this hospital rivals stealth bombers."
"You have to admit that it is a rather curious occurrence," the good doctor chuckled as she put the chart away. "I hadn't heard any hint of your…"
"There is nothing going on between Matt and me," Jules assured her old friend with a dramatic sigh. "Nothing remotely romantic, anyways." She sighed and hopped off the exam bed. "Things just got a little crazy on us because his parents are in town and Matt's big mouth let it out that he had help fertilized my eggs. So his dad is kicking up a fess about future ramifications and… It's just a little messy, that's all."
"How messy?"
She gave her a significant look. "Really messy."
"Messy enough for you and Slingerland to end up spending an entire night trying to come up with a way to solve this lovely knot you've put yourselves in?" she asked sweetly.
Jules knew trap when she saw it but didn't know how to avoid it and still her own questions answered. "Something like that."
Harriet shook her head and put down her pen to look over the chart. "You seem to be taken to the treatments nicely, like last time. Another week of this and we should be ready. Have you made arrangements?"
"Yeah," Jules pulled a form from her coat pocket. "I'll need your signature for the fertilization."
"Why two?" Harriet asked as she looked over the form.
"One is for me and the other is for Kokoris and Slingerland."
"Excuse me?"
"They need stem cells for a patient."
"That's very controversial issue here," Harriet reminded her as she filled in the rest of the form with a quick practiced hand. "We could be looking at a whole lot of hell if the administration…"
"This coming for a woman that was going to go head to head with them washing sperms."
"I guess I shouldn't be one to talk about doing controversial things for the good of a patient, should I?" she replied with a smile. The heat was just beginning to die down from that little hot potato. And if the administration ever found out the truth… "Have the boys signed off on this?"
"Kokoris doesn't care whose it is that he's using as long as he's got some. Slingerland was on board," Jules admitted.
"But he's having second thoughts now that it involves him biologically." Harriet nodded her head in perfect understanding. "Tricky business this thing."
"You're telling me. He's been trying to corner me on this since I told him."
"He's against it?"
"I'm not sure what he's problem is, actually."
"Have you told him about getting pregnant?"
Hedging, Jules toyed with the form for a moment before putting into her pocket for an internal mail later. "Not really."
Harriet raised a brow.
"Well, technically they are my embryos and I can do with them as I please."
"No need to be so defensive, Jules. I'm merely asking," Harriet said quietly as she put away stuff. "Unless you are feeling just a bit guilty about keeping something this important from him when he went out of his way to help you; and especially given his recent parental problems."
The gnawing feeling in her stomach was so obviously guilt. "You certainly are a mom through and through. No one can pile on the guilt like mothers do," Jules muttered as she sighed and crossed her arms. "I'm considering it."
"Consider it quickly," she advised as she closed the charts and prepared for her break. "You're only going to get a few more days to decide. Once the embryos are thawed, they only have a short lifespan. Be completely sure and ready."
"I am," Jules assured her. "Just not about whether or not I want to tell Matt."
Harriet watched her friend for a moment, a slight frown to indicate her concern. "Want a little sage advice from someone with a little more experience with life?"
"Sure, I can use all the advice I can get right now."
"Tell him."
There was silence. "Why? It really doesn't concern him. I'm not asking him for anything. The buck kind of stopped at the fertilization part of this."
"I know. But he's a friend and he will be hurt if he ends up find out about this through the usual hospital grapevine. How do you think he's going to feel then?" she asked quietly.
Jules groaned. "I hate it when you're right."
Harriet smile, that soft know-it-all maternal smile. "I know."
~~~~
"Here," Nick said as he tossed the small packet on Dr. Keating's desk and sat down across the all-absorbed pediatrician. She was playing with a lock of her hair as she read from a medical textbook and compared it to the lab results in other hand. "For you."
Her mind had been so engrossed in the problem of a baby that couldn't seem to sleep that she hadn't even heard anyone entering her office. She blinked several times, staring at the small brown paper bag sitting on her notes. Eyeing it cautiously as if it would sudden explode, "What is it?"
"Open it," he instructed tiredly. He has one more consultation with Jules then a quick round of follow-ups before he could head home again. Sleep was only a privilege that he was not receiving at the moment. "How did your lunch with Slingerland go?"
"It didn't," she replied. "Matt got called away on an emergency. The ER is still a little short staffed since Wednesday night." Using only the thumb and forefinger of both hands, she slowly opened the bag, waiting for some kind of trick to be pulled. But instead, she retrieved a soft dusty rose color pager cover case. "Oh…"
"They didn't have any shade of purple that I found to be particularly attractive," Nick informed her with a smile as he watched her pull her pager from her belt. "So I chose this one. Do you like it?"
"It's beautiful," she breathed and clicked the two pieces together with delight. Looking up, she gave him a wide happy smile that had not graced her face in some time now. "Thank you, Nick," then got up to come around the desk to give him a grateful hug.
The spontaneous affectionate embrace caught Nick unexpectedly and he stuttered to find his footing as he suddenly found himself with an armful of a wonderful woman that he was sure would make a great mother someday. "You… you're more than welcome." He cleared his throat and watched with a growing sense of fondness as she continued to admire the new case on her pager. "Now, shall we discuss our current endeavors?"
"Pardon?"
"The stem cells," he clarified. "I take it that you and Dr. Slingerland had some discussion on your decision?"
"Some," she admitted reluctantly. "But it has been less than constructive."
"He is opposed?" not sure if he was surprised by this or not.
"Not entirely," Jules replied with a shrug. "I honestly cannot be completely certain what his position is on this whole thing. On one hand, he wants stem cells for Charles and would be more than willing to do whatever is necessary to get it, including bullying me into asking one of my patients' parents. On the other hand, I think he's more than a little disturbed that I'm going to do this."
Nick nodded his head slowly. "So you are onboard with this then?"
"I won't have volunteered if I hadn't been," she replied cheerfully.
Clearing his throat, "I've been doing a little rumor checking." Her eyes narrowed slowly and she slowly moved around the table to seat herself behind her desk: position of power. "The word is that you went through a rather traumatic time with the threat of your health and…" he had a feeling that he was going to die a rather painfully. "Possible future elimination of being able to have your own family."
"Someone's been busy," she muttered and folded her fingers together over the pager. "Yes, I was going through a health crisis. And yes, I did have a few of my eggs frozen for purposes of insuring that I have a biological child of my own someday. And yes, Dr. Slingerland was the sperm donor for that purpose." She gave him a smile that spelled trouble. "Is there anything else you'd like me to clarify?"
"Yes," Rae Brennan said from the doorway where she had been standing for the past two minutes, having been stunned at the sight of Kokoris sitting there so amiably with her best friend that she almost missed the thread of conversation that was happening. "Like why you didn't bother telling me that about all this?"
If someone had come along and pinched Jules at that exact moment, she won't have felt a damn thing. "Rae!"
"Hi," the oncologist said dryly. "Start talking girl, cause I've got a feeling that I've been missing some things around here." She stared to enter the room but paused as she stared at Kokoris, who merely turned his head coolly and stared back. Swallowing the heaviness in her throat, "Do you mind?"
His eyes closed for a moment and he sighed. Turning back to the pediatrician, who was watching with a guarded look that told Nick that she knew too much and probably not enough. *Great, just perfect.* "We need to discuss the case."
"What case would that be?" Rae asked tightly.
"Not one of yours," Nick replied calmly without looking back.
Jules shivered slightly. "Is it me? Or is really cold in here all of a sudden?" She looked from one to the other without a word. "Rae, let's talk later. Tonight over dinner?" Jules asked in a tone that didn't really offer any compromises.
"Why do you bother asking when you weren't really looking for answer other than an affirmative?" Rae asked, a little surprised by the unyieldingness in her friend's tone.
"I'm tired, Rae. Not really up to my usual perky self," she answered correctly interpreting the look from Dr. Brennan. She shrugged her shoulder than looked at Kokoris. "I need another half an hour to get some last minute test results. Chances are, were going in tonight. You got an OR set up?"
"No," Nick answered honestly.
She smiled ever so sweetly. "Then you better get to it then!"
He held back the smile with great difficulty before getting up and gave her the due respect that she deserved. "As my lady wishes," and bowed before leaving the room, making sure that he didn't need to meet Dr. Brennan's eye as he did so.
Rae held her tongue until the door closed behind the surgeon's back before eye her friend carefully. "What's going on?"
"We'll talk about it tonight," Jules answered, going back to her chart.
For a moment, Dr. Brennan was unsure as to what to do. "We're friends, Jules. I'd like to think that…"
"I'm not sleeping with him, if that's what you're thinking," she answered without looking up. "Nor am I dating him… or anyone else for that matters. Take it easy, Nick is just trying to get under your skin. As he seems to like to do with everyone else around me."
"What does that mean?"
"It means he does the same thing when Slingerland's around."
That certainly was unexpected. "What going on with you and Slingerland?"
"Nothing."
That was answered just a little too quickly. "That's not what the nurses are saying?"
Frustrated, she threw her pen on the table. "Why does anyone around here care? I'm a grown woman with a life outside of this office. I don't see why my personal matter has to be broadcasted across the hospital PA system. We give our patients the privacy and confidentiality that the law allows but God forbid that we doctors ever get the same courtesy."
Taken aback by the anger in Jules's voice, Rae simply sat there and stared for a moment. "What's going on Jules? What's wrong?"
She sighed, experiencing an irrational irritation with life in general. She rubbed her eyes tiredly. "Nothing is wrong. Just too much work, not enough sleep and too many people nosing around my person."
Rae frowned and studied Jules with the practiced eye of a physician. Jules's Irish roots mostly explained the paleness of her skin and the hazel in her eyes, but her bloodless lips and almost murky green of her eyes had nothing to do with her ancestors. "You look like you could probably use a good twelve hours of uninterrupted rest."
"Tell that to my patients," Jules muttered going back to her notes.
"Have you talked to admin about moving patients off your rotation to let you recover from the bus accident?"
"Yeah," nodding her head and switching to her next patient. "I'm only seeing patients in the late afternoon now, after school ones, and doing NICU and rotations in the mornings."
"That still means that you're pulling full days," Rae advised. "Don't over extend yourself, Jules. It's not healthy."
"I'm not," she replied easily, ignoring Rae as much as possible. As good of friends as they are, Jules had a nasty feeling that the oncologist won't understand her reasoning behind her recent decisions in the family way. "Besides which, I can't even if I wanted to. Too many people would nag me to death."
"Which peoples?"
Jules glared at her, correctly guessing what was going through Rae's mind. "Were you looking for me about something in particular?"
"Yeah," she nodded. "Donald Isser."
A moment of shifting in thoughts, "Leukemia."
"You passed him on to me two weeks ago."
"What's up?"
"His parents are refusing treatment."
"You're kidding."
"Nope," shaking her head. "They won't do the transfusion."
"You're kidding!"
"I wish."
"We have a candidate?"
"Seattle, Washington. Amy Jenson: twenty-six year old graduate student, who has signed a consent form and is ready at a moment's notice to fly down. They are almost an exact match."
"Shit," quashing the need to throw something heavy out her window. *I can't find anyone to save my nephew and these people want to throw their chance away. Stupid idiot!* Mentally counting to ten, then ten again, she carefully picked up the phone. "Debbie, pull Donald Isser's records and get the parents into my office ASAP. Shift my appointments around if you have to. Thanks." She hung up, counted to ten again and turned to Rae. "I'll handle it."
"Want me here?"
"No," shaking her head. *Can't find a more perfect way to vent my frustrations of life than this.*
"Okay then," Rae said, seeing that she's been dismissed. "I'll come around six-thrity?"
"Make it seven; I've got paper to catch up on."
"When do you not?" she asked. "Seven it is."
~~~~
George Slingerland paused to scan the area for a moment. After putting his wife on a plane bound for Merry ole England, he had taken a taxi to Presidio Medical Center with due hast. Last night's blow up was as much his fault as it had been Matthrew's. He should have handled it better. And it was time to take this to the source of the contention.
Approaching the spectacled receptionist, he had a moment's qualm about this. He may not have worked in a large office environment is some time now but he knew how the currents of tales goes. By the evening, news of his visit would reach his son. Unfortunately, there was going to be no help for it. "Dr. Keating office?"
Anita didn't glance up. "Down the hall, third door on your right."
"Thank you," then turned to leave.
The accent finally registered in Anita's head. "Hey, wait a minute."
"Yes?" came the respectable tone.
"Do you have an appointment?"
"I'm afraid not."
The accent was still bothering her. "Then I'm afraid that you can't…"
"Dr. Keating will see me," he said with confidence. "This is a personal matter."
"Personal?" Anita asked, the speculative gleam in her eyes. "And you're name, sir?"
"George Slingerland," he answered with ease before resuming his search for the young woman that could be a potential problem to his son's future.
Knocking on the door with an impossibly large cheeky gray rabbit on it, he was beckoned with a cheery, "Come in."
"Good afternoon," he greeted as he opened the door to an office that did not remotely resembled what he imaged a doctor's working space would look like. Aside from the extended oak desk and half a wall of bookshelves, the rest of the spacious office was taken up with colorful pillows, rugs and toys. Even the CD player and plants by the window were crowded with beanies and figurines.
It was the accent more than anything else that put Jules on alert. Anyone with a British accent was now on her list of things to watch out for… especially if their last name is Slingerland. "Yes?"
"Hello, Dr. Keating," he crossed the room, tripping only once over a big yellow head of a toy on the ground. Correcting his posture rather awkwardly, he held out his hand. "I'm George Slingerland, Matthew's father. It's nice to meet you."
"Yes, I remember," Jules answered carefully as she shook the man's hand. She didn't trust the easy, determine-to-charm smile on the man's face. "What can I do for you, Mr. Slingerland?"
Sitting down, "I was hoping for a moment of your time to discuss a few manners between us."
She was afraid of this. The last time she handled this one her own, Matt ended up drunk and unhappy in her apartment at ten in the evening, setting off a chain of rumors that was now haunting her. "Mr. Slingerland, I'm not sure if this is such a …."
"Ah…" he nodded understandingly. "I believe I can safely assume that my son has come to you with the agreement in hand?"
He was direct if nothing else. "Yes."
"He was less than please with it, I take it?"
"Yes."
"Did he explain to you…"
"Let's just say that he was upset with everyone involved and leave it at that."
"I see," he frowned and rested his hands together in his lap. "What did he drink?"
"I beg your pardon?" surprised as hell.
"What did my son drink before he came charging at you with incriminations? I assume that he followed his usual route of venting his frustrations." The calm reply was almost eerie.
"Does he always drink when he's upset?"
"No," he informed her firmly. "Only when he's extremely upset."
"I see."
"Do you?"
"Yes."
He nodded wisely. "The agreement? Did you see it?"
"Yes."
"And?"
"It's currently playing the role of confetti around my wastebasket after I thoughtlessly complimented you on your efficiency," she replied dryly. "Tell me something, did you really have that thing drawn up and lying after Matt told you about it during the first round of this whole mess?"
George didn't answer but his silence was more than enough.
"Hum…" Jules closed her eyes and shook her head. "So he wasn't being paranoid after all."
Saying nothing to that, "Did you get a chance to read it before Matthew decided to play a shudder?"
"Some of it," she admitted. "It looks pretty good. I'll still want a copy of it sent to my lawyers before I sign anything of course, but I didn't see anything that jumped at me right away so I'll assume that everything is in order."
"If you'd like to provide me with…"
"I'll get you the names," she replied briskly. "But they're not the ones you're going to have to worry about. In case you don't remembered, this contract has to be between Matt and me. And judging from last evening, he doesn't look too thrilled with the prospects of signing the thing."
"Matt has always been a reasonable boy as a child, I'm sure he'll see things the right way soon."
"The right way," she repeated grimly, suddenly glad that she and Matt weren't involved in any family planning together. She wasn't sure she could keep herself from strangling the elder Slingerland otherwise. Jules made a face. "Have you even talked to the man about this? If you think he's going to be reason about it, you're dreaming."
~~~~
The nurses were all scrambling out of the way as Slingerland was moving a pace that was most accurately described as a dead run. Anyone in the way was more than less likely to be wearing a size 11 shoeprint on their faces. Fortunately for everyone on the second floor, Leticia Yvonne Dumont Jordan, M.D. wasn't so easily intimated by such a sight.
"Whoa there, big fella," she said as she grabbed Slignerland's arm before he could past. The track and field that got her through college taught her to move with the momentum, which spun them both around. "What's your rush?"
Biting his tongue on the curse that was not for gentle ears, he paused only long enough to keep from falling before he was moving toward the stairs again, at a more moderate pace. "Word was just received that my father has somehow gotten an audience with Dr. Keating at this very moment. Sufficient to say, I'm not all together thrilled with the prospects of that particular occasion."
As tall as she was, she was no match for the long legged Brit. "So? Jules is a big girl. I'm sure she's more than capable of taking care of herself and would probably be offended by the fact that you think that she can't."
"You don't know my father, Dr. Jordan. I've seen that man charm an investor into handing over a half a million dollar check with a smile and reduce a grown man to tears with a well placed word… all within an hour." He twisted pushed down on the handle of the stairwell door a little too violently and nearly sent himself flying. "I can only imagine what he's doing to Dr. Keating right now."
Letty was quick hide a smile but didn't bother to disguise her amusement. "It's permissible for you to call her Jules, you know."
"I think it would safer to call her Dr. Keating right now."
"Why?"
"Because I'm likely to make a complete ass of myself if I don't," taking the stairs two at a time. "Why are you following me?"
"'Cause I don't want to miss the show," she replied cheerfully as she continued to dog his steps with determination. *And I don't want to see you spill your father's blood. Bad for hospital business. Sheesh boy, you should have seen the look on your face when you came down the hall. No wonder the girls are putting an all bulletin's alert on you.*
Slingerland didn't think it would be wise to tell Letty Jordan what he thought of her curiosity at the moment. Slamming out of the stairwell, he nearly ran down Anita on his way to Dr. Keating's office. The redhead didn't seem the least bit bothered by the near accident but cheerfully followed until she caught sight of a scowling Dr. Jordan.
"Um… Slingerland…er… Matt," Letty said as she continued to follow. "What are you planning on doing when you get there?"
"I'm not quite sure yet," he answered rounding a corner and just avoided crashing into a medicine cart. "But you'll be the first to know when I figure it out."
"No need for sarcasm," Letty muttered as they caught sight of the giant Bugs Bunny door poster down the hall. "Someone has to tell her to take that thing down."
"I like it," he said as they got closer.
"It's unprofessional," she complained thought secretly thought it was endearing.
"Her patients like it."
"Most of her patients still think cooties are an actual reason to punch someone in the nose."
"I thought that that was a sure sign of adoration."
"On what planet?"
"For heaven sakes, Dr. Jordan. You've got three kids at home."
"And none of them are allowed to dispense bloody noses for any reason," she replied sternly. "What have you been doing? Reading Jules's child psychology magazines?"
"I've got too many patient for leisure reading."
"You call that leisure?" she laughed. "And they think you're a playboy."
That certainly got a pause. "Who does?"
Letty stopped just in time not to crash into Slingerland's back. "Don't do that!"
"Who's been blunting about that I'm a playboy!" he said it so indignantly that Dr. Jordan almost laughed. "This isn't funny at all. Someone is deliberately smearing my reputation."
Rolling her eyes, "Yeah, and that someone is named Matt Slingerland. Tell me something: how many nurses from this hospital have you dated already? And do you remember all of their names? Do you have a little black book somewhere that you keep track of all this?"
"I do not have a little black book, that's just plain cliché."
"And the other two questions?"
"None of your bloody business."
Letty laughed.
The door to Dr. Keating's office opened just as Dr. Slingerland was reaching for it. The two men crashed, bounced off one another and barely kept their footing in a comical scene that rival one of the old Abbott and Costello skits. The amount of embarrassment it caused could only be measured by the amount of red on their faces. No one dared to laugh… they were too afraid they weren't going to be able to stop.
"Jude's toe boy, what the devil are you doing?" Mr. Slingerland hissed between clinched teeth as his forehead throbbed after bouncing off his son's shoulder.
"'Jude's toe?' What the bloody hell is that?" Matt asked, rubbing his shoulder from where he felt as if something had been dislocated.
"Um… excuse me," Jules grabbing them both by the arm and dragged them into her office. She rolled her eyes at Letty as the cardiologist shut the door. "Hello? What is the matter with you two? This is a pediatrics ward. There are young and impressionable minds roaming around here."
"Some of whom are still in this room," Geroge Slingerland muttered.
"You're one to talk," Matt growled.
"Oh my god, this is so not happening," Jules bemoaned then grabbed the stack of papers from her desk. "Well, since you boys are going to act like a couple of boys. I'm outta here. Feel free to use my office for your little tête-à-tête. I've got patients to see and consultations to go to. See ya." Then sailed out the door before either men had a chance to reply.
George blinked. "Well, she certainly does have a way with words doesn't she?"
Matt frowned, feeling somewhat cheated of a chance to scowl her. "Ever met a woman that wasn't?"
Dr. Jordan shook her head and followed her colleague. "Someone has to be sensible about things around here. And since the testosterone in your systems seems to render you all stupid sometimes, it's got to be women that take the logical role of sensible adults." She paused at the door and glared at them both. "Don't get blood on any of the future. Jules might get upset over that." Then left as well.
There was a long silence before Mr. Slingerland asked, "And you chose to work here? With them?"
Dr. Slingerland glared.
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To be continued….