By Didi
Disclaimer: Anyone out there that still thinks that I might actually own anything in association with this story after reading the first sixteen disclaimers for this story needs to have their reality checked for stalls. Thanks.
Timeline: I'm not even going to try to guess on this one now. Anything that was on the show beyond "With Grace" needs to be ignored and forgotten while reading this. Everything else… read the other sixteen chapters of this story for it. Thanks.
Rating: PG-13
Author's Note: Okay, I'm putting a twist into this story. Call it a copout or taking a short cut but that's the way I'm going to play this. Bear with me.
Summary: What would you do in the name of love? Just about everything.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter Eighteen~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"I was thinking. . ."
"There's a news flash."
"Seriously, darling."
"What?"
"I was thinking that maybe you and I could take a drive this weekend and go to this nice bed and breakfast place I know on the coast. Won't that be lovely? You, me, a big bed that we will hopefully get to do more in than sleep and the sound of the ocean to relieve some of this stress we've been carrying on our shoulders."
Jules turned and shook her head at him. This would be the second night he's spent at her place and he didn't appear to be in any hurry to leave. In fact, he looked just a little too comfortable lying there among her ridiculously loud bedspread. She had suggested that he slept on the futon that first night, but he had been quick to change her mind on that idea. And she had to admit it was kind of nice to have him to snuggle up next to in the nights. It was getting damn cold and her apartment never did have very good heating.
"What do you think, luv?" Matt asked propping himself up onto his elbow as he watched her put little tiny silver ball earrings on. He was beginning to memorize her routine in the morning. Brush teeth, have something for breakfast, dress then a tiny bit of make-up to emphasize her perky prettiness or to cover up exhaustion, which ever explanation you care to subscribe to. "A relaxing weekend? That is if you aren't on-call with NICU or PICU."
"I'm not but I can't," she informed him and rubbed her neck with some regret. A relaxing weekend sounded lovely after the hellish week she's been having. Flu season was wreaking havoc with her schedules with all the last-minute appointments and walk-ins. She's been yelled at more than once this week by either Slingerland, Kokoris, Jordan or Brennan about working through the lunch shift and not eating. "I'm going out of town tonight."
"What?" startled, he didn't brace himself as he sat up. The bed was about half the size of his own and quite difficult to become accustom to, which is why when he sat up so quickly, he slide off the edge and landed on the floor. "Ow . . ."
"Are you all right?" turning to stare. Slingerland was usually so graceful that it was quite staring to see him so awkward.
"I'm fine," rubbing his posterior with annoyance. "And what is this about leaving town?"
Fidgeting with her bracelet, a gift from her mother when she turned sixteen, "I was going to tell you about it but it just kept slipping my mind."
"Really?" not really believing.
"I'm going to see my sister this weekend."
That actually made sense in a non-sense kind of way. But he was still not over the fact that she hadn't informed him that she had plan on escaping his company for an entire weekend just as they were. . . well, he wasn't quite sure what they were at the moment. Only that he's managed to induce semi-invitations to spend nights in her apartment and hold her while she slept. And he's had some kind of agreement that he was going to be part of her and the baby's life, no matter how minimal; he fully intended to extend that further. And that she wasn't going to be seeing anyone while he was still around. Hum… sounds like a relationship to him though she refused to acknowledge that little reality. But he was quick to catch on to her insecurities of life. Oh well. . . A rose by any other color. . . "I see."
Jules struggled not to squirm. Why she felt uncomfortable over that calm and acceptable response was not something she wanted to dwell on too long. She had meant to tell him at one point or other but he's somehow always managed to find a way to distract her and . . . . oh, she was making excuses now. The truth of the manner was that she wasn't sure if she wanted him to know cause that meant that she might actually go through with the idea of inviting him along and that would mean that she'd be inviting him to meet the family. And that was too much of a . . . commitment. If she allowed him to meet the family, it meant that she had already decided to allow him have the kind of relationship that he obviously wanted with her. And… Okay, there was way too many links in her mind to conclusions that should have been so logical and easy but she was complicating it because . . . because. . .
Because she was scared to death.
She was afraid of the hurt that always come with every relationship that one falls into, good or bad.
"Matt. . ." And because he was standing here, in her whimsical bedroom, staring at her with something akin to disappointment in his eyes, Jules felt her heart clinch. She wasn't ready damn it. She just wanted a nice simple, quiet life that didn't include the complications having all these stupid feelings and needing to put someone else before herself and… And damn it, she was going to tell him that. Really. "Matt, I. . ." Her heart won't let her. With sigh, "You want to come along?"
"To see your sister?" he asked quietly, his face devoid of all emotions.
Not sure she could get words past the lump in her throat, she nodded.
"I'd love to," he said cheerfully and grinned at her.
She eyed him suspiciously. He was jovially putting on his clothes and grinning like a gleeful puppy, his seductive dark eyes twinkling. "You look… happy."
The smugness was both absurdly charming and irritating as he looped his hand-painted tie and leaned over to kiss her. "I knew you'd come around, darling. It's only a matter of time."
~~~~
"Jules?"
Dr. Keating turned in time to see Harriet Lenning making her way toward her hurriedly. The OB appeared somewhat hurried and maybe just a little frazzled. "Oh hey Harriet, what's up?"
"I need fifteen minutes of your time today if you have any available. Or after-hours if that's necessary."
Dr. Lenning seldom do after hours stuff that was work related and by the deep frown that seemed to be permanently etched across her forehead, it was definitely business. Unfortunately, Jules had plans. "I can probably pull fifteen minutes after lunch today, will that be okay?"
"Yes, yes, perfect," she rubbing her forehead and sighed. The last day and a half has been like a nightmare. Her husband ha spent half the night up with as she attempted to voice what she might have to say to her numerous patients in the coming days following the announcement and fallout. But first, she's got to talk to Dr. Keating. "I'll have Bonnie block out that time for us. Can we do it in my office?"
"Sure,"
Jules peered at her friend. "Is
something wrong, Harriet? You don't look
so good."
"It's nothing compared to what
I feel," she sighed and shook her head.
And it was true; her haggard appearance was only the first of many
physical manifestations of her concerns.
"I'll see you after lunch."
"Okay," watching Harriet go with worried eyes.
~~~~
"Hey you!" Jackie said dropping her plate onto the table.
"Hey you too," she said moving papers out of the way. She had been kicked out of her own office by the combined orders of Dr. Jordan and Dr. Slingerland at the stroke of noon. Every member of the staff seemed to be conspiring against her these days. It was with some grumbling that she headed to the cafeteria to eat and work, and to watch out for the two nosy doctors. At least one of them was going to get a piece of her mind. "What's up?"
"Did you hear?"
"Hear what?"
"That the shit is about to hit the fan," Jackie whispered conspiratorially. "Word around is someone is getting fired over this."
Perplexed, possibly because she's been so backlogged with patients that she's barely had time to come up for hair much less listen to the circuiting news, "Jackie, I have no idea what you're talking about."
"She's talking about the failed backups on the third floor," Nick informed her inviting himself to their little table. "And if the lawsuits don't hit legal by the end of the month, I'd be surprised." He just came out of a surgery that was going to be need a long recovery period, for him anyways. The patient on the other hand was going to be running and jumping before he has a chance to get to his chiropractor to readjust his back from five hours bend over a surgical table. "Good to see that you're beginning to eat more regularly."
"Not much for a choice there with all the nagging I get," Jules muttered as she scooted some more space for the long legged Dr. Kokoris. "And what's this about failed back ups?"
Sniffing dubiously at the salad he had chosen, he wondered how the hospital could expect any of them to eat the less than appetizing food provided. "There was apparently a city wide power surge on Monday evening, one of the power plants had a generator malfunction, and four circuits on the third floor jumped their breakers. Only three of the four back up units came online. Labs eight and nine were without power for quite some time."
Lab eight and nine housed delicate materials for most of the fourth and fifth floor. "Oh shit," Jules's hand stopped midway through the notes she had been making to catch up on paper work. "How much damage are we . . ."
"That's not the worse part," Jackie added, chewing on an overly ripe tomato then making a face over it. There's nothing worse than soft tomatoes. "The kicker is the lab techs didn't discover the problem until late Tuesday evening, when the emergency evening crew came in."
"How many hours?" Jules wanted to know.
"A full twenty," Nick replied.
"What happened to you?" Jackie asked catching the note in his voice.
"I had specialized AB+ blood in storage there for a surgery that now has to be put off another week while I attempt to pull off a miracle by having some flown in from Chicago so we can de-platelet them first."
"How is the administration handling it?" Jules wanted to know.
"They are pulling that 'let's keep it as quiet as possible' routine," Jackie made a face and threw her milk away. "But someone is going down for this one."
"Unfortunately, I have to agree with Dr. Colette in that," Nick muttered and ate the rest of his salad with as much olive oil and vinegar as he could stand to cover the taste of the stale vegetables. "They have to hold someone accountable if this turns ugly for us."
Jules groaned. She could already see the massive amount of problems something like this could cause. "Anyone heard anything more about the consequences."
"Only that several specimens were sent out Tuesday, all of them compromised. There is going to be hell to pay for this one." Jackie shook her head and was silently glad that her patients were all for elective surgery. Judging by the look on Kokoris's face, the others were going to have a hell of a time dealing with the fall out over this. "Does your patient know?"
Nick's lips twisted into something unpleasant on his handsome face. "The administration won't let me tell them."
"And?"
Eyes that were shielded, "I'm in enough trouble from the Terry Howell thing as is, I cannot kick up sand on this one. And you shouldn't either after that Medicare stunt you pulled with the knitting needles . . . yes, I know about that."
Jackie didn't look one bit contrived over the whole incident. "Well, I'm just saying that we made a mistake and we need to own up to it, even if we get our collective asses kicked for it. The patient has a right to know."
Nodding in agreement, Nick rolled his neck and mentally prepared himself for the afternoon shift that consisted for eight patients that had follow-ups to do. "Well, thank god we haven't done major harm yet so we don't have to worry. I think of all the specimens that went out, Dr. Lenning is the only one that's making noises about a major fallout."
Glancing at her watch, Jules saw that her afternoon was closing in on her. After her meeting with Harriet, she was going to be major busy for the rest of the day. Plus they had to stop by Slingerland's place for him to pack for San Diego before heading out for a late night drive south. "What's she saying?"
"Don't know, she's not talking to anyone but the admin."
Jackie shuddered. "I hope it's not serious."
"It would have to be to rattle Dr. Lenning," Jules announced just as her pager went off suddenly. "What the. . ."
The PA suddenly crackled to life. "Dr. Keating. Paging Dr. Keating. Dr. Keating to the ER. Dr. Keating to the ER stat."
Jules glanced at her pager and shook her head. "They must be really looking for me," and got up to grab her notes.
"Leave it," Nick said and placed a quick hand over her hurried ones. "I'll bring everything to the nurse's station. Go."
"Thanks, Nick," and said squeezing his shoulder as she passed.
The resident plastic surgeon observed all this with raised her brows then watched until Kokoris's eyes swiveled away from the retreating pediatrician before asking, "You are not going to be like totally stupid, right?"
"What do you mean?"
"Everyone knows that Slingerland and Keating are like totally together now."
"And your point is?"
"Don't go doing something that's going to stir the cauldron," she advised and speared a tomato. "Cause buff as you are, Slingerland will kill you with his bare hands if you go near his girl." She shrugged her shoulders. "But that's just my opinion as a woman watching from the outer edge."
"I don't doubt your assessment of the situation," he informed her with crooked grin. "Slingerland appears to be a man that will not tolerate infringement upon what he perceives as his."
"So what are you doing?"
Nick grinned. "Reminding our dear internist what a lucky bastard he is."
Jackie
frowned. "You're going to mess with his
head?"
"Not at all," he assured her
with confidence. "Just helping him to
see his fortunes in life."
"In other word, you're going to mess with his head."
The grin was unholy at best. "She's wonderful."
"You like her?"
"Of course," he replied.
Eyes that blinked with uncertainty, "Really?"
"What's there not to like? She's adorable, dedicated, brilliant, and pretty as hell, how can a man resist?"
"Oh, you're really going to mess with Slingerland's head, huh?"
~~~~
"Anita, where's Dr. Keating?" Harriet wanted to know after waiting fifteen minutes for what could have been potentially been the longest ten-minute appointment of her career. Of course, that fifteen-minute wait had been worth about a year's worth of professional pain.
The red headed receptionist looked peered at the OB over her half rimmed glasses. "She was called to the ER. Three-car pile up with several injured. I was told to push all her afternoon patients onto other doctors and to call in Dr. Neeson for backup."
"I see," she had heard of the emergency but hadn't given it much thought. "Can you tell Dr. Keating to come see me the minute she's free?"
"Sure," jotting down a note.
"Thanks."
~~~~
"Are you observing?" Matt asked as he walked the gurney toward the elevator. The patient on the gurney had been knocked out already in preparation for the surgery ahead. They were going to be lucky. It could have been ten times worse without the seatbelt. Behind him, Dr. Keating was walking along side yet another gurney making its way toward the elevator as well.
"Yeah, I think I better." Jules suppressed the urge to groan as he back protested and looked at the anesthesiologist. "How long?"
"Three hours," Dr. Jennings replied, her eyes on the monitor she was pushing ahead of her.
"You?" Jules asked her eyes on the tired Dr. Slingerland's face. He'd just spent the last hour trying to stabilize the mother of her patient, whose car had been broad-sided by a speeding vehicle running a light, forcing both cars into the next lane and in the path of yet another car. The three year old in the back seat had glass and metal stabbed through her car seat and into her right side.
"Yes," he replied grimly. The chances of survival were good if they stopped the internal bleeding. Which means they have to do it now. "How are you doing, luv?"
"You talking to me or the patient?" Jules asked dryly.
"You, of course," he replied with smile, ignoring the perked ears of the rest of the staff that were wheeling the two patients to the OR. "I don't want you over working yourself."
"I'm not," she informed him then wrinkled her nose at him. "By the way, I really didn't appreciate your giving my staff orders to kick me out of my office during the lunch hour."
"If I didn't, you'd work right through it," he said, moving to push the elevator button. "And it's nice to know that the staff has some consideration for your health even if you don't." He frowned at a surgical nurse. "Don't snicker. I've seen all you women do it when you think it's necessary."
"That's not true," Jules checked her patient and ignored the nodding heads of the three male nurses that were pushing the gurneys.
"I'm just saying that women tend to dedicate themselves thoroughly without thought of even their own needs when there are things they feel are more important. It's a very motherly thing to do," Slingerland explained with a quick glanced at the heart monitor. "Tom and Nick have been paged right? No surgeons would make doing a surgery very difficult."
"They've been paged," Nurse Joanne Johnson replied and nodded toward the tired pediatrician. "Dr. Keating made the call herself."
Jules nodded and let a breath. "I'm exhausted and it's not even two yet."
"Take a nap later," Slinglerand suggested just as the elevator opened. The two conferring surgeons looked up and moved quickly out of the way as the gurneys were wheeled in. "Aren't we lucky," and handed the charts over. "Which one of you is doing the mother and which one of you is doing the child?"
"I'll take the mom," Tom Jordan said and took the chart with a sigh. "Oh lord, are we talking about a bleeder?"
"Yes," Slingerland shook his head with regret as he watched Kokoris moved next to Jules and took the chart from her. "We've located the problem in her abdomen area. Looks like the hit she took dislocated a rib and puncture her liver." He frowned as he watched Jules leaned closer to point out something she had noted earlier. Kokoris leaned down to hear her words and rested on arm around her waist to bring her forward.
"How much blood you have pumped back into her?" Tom waited a beat to hear the answer ignore the murmur of voice around as others related information back and forth. When Slingerland didn't answer after a bit, he looked up to see the internist watching Keating and Kokoris confer. "Dr. Slingerland?"
"What?" his head snapping over a little too quickly. A look that didn't bode well crossed his face. "My apologies, what did you say?"
"Blood input so far," slanting a glance over at Kokoris and Keating. He had to admit, Kokoris was standing just a little closer to the pediatrician than normal and was currently resting one hand against the bed from behind his colleague, enclosing Dr. Keating.
"Three units of O neg. We just hung the first B neg on her five minutes ago." Slingerland shifted his body slightly, turning his back on the other two and forced himself to concentrate. "I called ahead to have the lab turn over three units of B neg for the surgery. I'm hoping to be in and out within the hour."
"I can't be sure of anything until we go. If there has been disruption in her. . ."
"Not a choice. Let's stop the internal bleeding first then worry about everything else." and unable to help himself, he turned and looked over his shoulders once more. Kokoris had backed off slightly to jot notes on the chart while Jules checked on her patient. "Everything okay, Jules?"
Nodding her head, "She's going to need sutures for these cuts," peeling back the bloody bandage on the girl's leg. "I'll come in for the first half and close up these wounds." With the ragged cuts, she was going to be spending a good hour stitching the edges together.
Kokoris shook his head and examined the major wound first. "Leave it. Looks like most of that is already clotting. Jules, if I'm not mistaken in my anatomy positioning, she's going to loose this kidney."
"I want confirmation of rupture before we do anything rash," she replied and leaned back against the wall of the elevator. Losing a kidney meant a lifetime of medication and dialysis. And for a three year old, that was a long time to go. These kinds of tragedies never failed to make her so sick of the world. And that in term wastes so much of her energy that she needed to see her through the tasks at hand. Every muscle in her body felt heavy now.
"Are you okay?" Nick asked, coming closer to peer at her. She was looking uncommonly pale under the fluorescents. Placing a hand on her forehead, feeling her body temperature, he ran it gently along the side of her face until he was cupping her cheek with his palm. "You look white as a sheet."
Matt managed to contain himself enough not to plant a facer on Nick. But nothing sort of the heavens could restrain him from jerking the surgeon away from Jules. He knew what that sick feeling in the pit of his stomach was even if he refused to give it a name. "Nick. . ."
Kokoris shook his head firmly and nodded head Dr. Keating. "Look at her."
Jules had gone the same color as her once white lab coat. Slingerland's stomach dropped out. "Darling? What's the matter?" touching her pale cheeks.
"Tired," she managed to say and took a huge swallow of stale air. "Just really really tired."
"Or it could be that lousy lunch you had," Nick supplied.
"Could be," she admitted and shook Matt off when he attempted to take her pulse. "I'm fine, Matt. I just need like twenty hours of sleep or something."
Despite the gravity, Nick couldn't stop himself from asking, "Why? What have you been doing in the evenings to keep you up late?"
Paying no attention to the knowing looks and quickly muffled giggles, Slingerland lifted Jules's chin and did a quick visual assessment of her. "You look pale. Your eyes are slightly bloodshot. And your skin feels clammy. Are you falling ill, luv?"
Blinking to keep things in focus because she was suddenly hot on the inside but felt as if she's taken a dunk in a pool of icy water. "I have been seeing a lot of patients with these same symptoms."
Nodding his head, "Then you need some rest and more fluids," he turned to Kokoris. "You going to be okay without her for the surgery?"
"Not a problem," Nick informed them as the door to the elevator finally dinged open. That had to have been the longest ride in the history of the hospital. "I don't need her fainting in the middle of my surgical room."
"That would be bad," Tom said as he shooed the orderly out. "Slingerland, get Jules something to drink and get her lay down for a bit. Kokoris and I will handle things from here. We'll come find get you guys when we're done and brief you on what happened." He gave Dr. Keating a stern look when the girl made a move to protest. "Don't make me sic my wife on you, young lady."
That effectively made Jules clamp her mouth shut. The only other person that Dr. Jordan could have threatened her with to gain the same effect would have been Dr. Lenning. It was difficult to argue with people you have nothing but the highest respect for.
"See you after surgery," Matt said and allowed them all out before pushing the button to the second floor. "You can rest in my office," he said pulling her unresistingly into his arms as the elevator doors gently closed, locking out the bustling sounds of the busy floor.
"I don't want to rest," she insisted but didn't lift her head from where it was resting against his chest, listening to the steady thumping of his heart. "I want to observe the surgery."
"I don't think that Dr. Jordan agrees with you," he ran a hand slowly through her strawberry hair, enjoying the softness. "Besides, you do look awful."
She hit him with an open hand. "Thanks a lot."
"You're welcome," dropping a kiss on her head. He amused her to end to see her resisting but giving in at the same time. Giving her a quick squeeze, he let go just as the door opened to allow in three chattering nurses, who all went dead silent upon lifting their eyes. The rest of the ride down to the second floor was done in silence.
When the two doctors finally made their way out of the elevator, Jules was trying hard to suppress the most unprofessional urge to giggle like a school girl being caught making out behind the school gymnasium. "That couldn't have been more awkward if we had been in there naked."
"I don't know about that," leading the way to his office, ignoring a gesturing Norman. "Having Dr. Lenning instruct me on what not to do when I donating sperm was pretty high up on the embarrassment meter."
She gave into the urge to giggle and then had to hang on to him to stay standing. When they finally got to his office, she collapsed onto the sofa against the wall and had to take several deep breaths to calm herself. "Oh man, I would have given just about anything, even triple fudge chocolate forest cake, to have been there for that conversation."
"Not so funny from where I was standing," he informed her and continued to ignore Norman who was wearing a scowl as he came around the receptionist area and marched toward him purposefully. Shaking his head at the dutiful man, Slingerland shut the door to his office. "Now, you want to sit back and let someone else take care of you for a change?"
"And if I say no?" she asked but accepted the bottled water he handed her. Matt was big on bottled water as she's come to learn.
"Well than that's just too damn bad," he said sitting down next to her with a sigh. "Lord, I'm exhausted."
"This your way of making me rest? By keeping me company?" leaned her head against his shoulder.
"No, just my way of telling you the truth of the situation. We've both been running full throttle for a week now," he stroked her hair once more than allowed himself a moment to enjoy the quiet time. "Is it any wonder that you're running on low?"
"I guess not," willing to admit that. Plus she was horribly tired. Coming off the hormone theory had been terrible on her back the last time and this time appears to be no different, pregnant or not. "How are we going to drive south tonight if we're both feeling like something the dog dragged through the mud?"
"Since I have never had the good fortune of owning a canine, they were not allowed in boarding school, I have no basis of comparison."
"It's bad," she informed him with a laugh.
"Thank you for that descriptive explanation," he closed his eyes and leaned back into the seat. "I need to get back to the examine room."
"I thought you were tired?"
"I am but I don't look like death warmed over the way you do darling, which means that I don't have an excuse to stay in here and take a nap."
"Take a nap?" she pulled back and gave him a look that said, "Are you nuts?"
"Yes, take a nap," he said, lifting the bottled water in her hand as he stood up and prepared himself to get back to work. "Kokoris wasn't too far off when he said you're as white as a sheet. And as your doctor. . ."
"Who elected you my doctor?"
He turned to look at her. "I am the internist here."
"And?"
"And therefore your doctor had you been admitted after passing out in the surgical room if you had been stubborn and insisted on accompanying your patient in." He pushed her back when she attempted to get up. "Stay and take an hour. I'll come get you later and we can go see how the surgeries went."
"I've got patients," putting a token of protest as he settled her in with a cream color throw from under the end table.
"They've undoubtedly called in backups for you and myself so don't you concern your pretty head over such matters," leaning over to kiss her head. "Take a nap while I go and check with Norman. I'll come get you in an hour."
"You promise?" failing to suppress the yawn.
"I promise," and smiled down at her. "Rest."
"Wake me in an hour," she murmured her eyes already half closed and her mind drifting.
Slingerland stood there for another two minutes, just watching her curl up in the seat. He was tempted to just forget Norman and lay down with her, taking her into his arms once more as he had done so for the past three nights. It felt good, felt right, to wake with her each morning and pretend that they would have such mornings forever. How easily it had been for him to accustom himself to the weight of her head on his shoulder, her small delicate hand curled and resting on his chest, her even breathing against his throat for she liked to cuddle close and bury her nose against his collar. Everything about her felt right.
Now he just had to convince her that that meant something.
~~~~
"Dr. Slingerland."
"Dr. Lenning," turning on his heel to face the OB. "What can I do for you?"
"Have you seen Jules? I've been trying to track her since noon and have had no luck so far. I thought she'd be in the observation deck but. . ."
"Oh, she's in my office right now," sighing an order and handing it to a waiting nurse. "She wasn't feeling well right before the surgery and Kokoris and Jordan bullied her into staying out and I managed to convince her to take a nap. She's been functioning on five hours and sheer will power for several days now."
"Not too healthy," Harriet murmured with concern.
"Yeah," rubbing his neck and wishing he had more than just a quick dry sandwich for lunch. He was going to need a nap soon too if he kept going without much longer without water. This nonstop fun was killing him. "Was there something you needed, Doctor?"
Frowning, Harriet considered it a moment. Ethically she couldn't tell him anything, this was Jules case and he had no official affiliation with her. Morally she knew that he needed to know, it was after all Jules they were talking about. But her Hippocratic Oath won't allow her to break confidence. If Jules wanted Matt to know, then she'd have to be the one to tell him. "I just needed to talk to Jules about something important, that's all."
"I'll see to it that she gets the message," he informed her and groaned when Norman handed him two more charts. "I though you said that would be it for an hour."
Norman rolled his eyes and thrust the charts at him again. "I lied."
"Bugger."
~~~~
"Hey Bonnie."
"Hey Dr. Keating. How's your schedule?"
"Like the death toll after a train wreck," Jules responded with a grime smile. "I've got like a dozen messages to get back to Harriet. She in?" holding up several memos with Anita's thin chicken scratch on it.
"No, one patient just went into labor," the graying haired nurse responded with a kind smile at the obviously exhausted doctor. "Need to leave a message?"
"Well," glancing at the pink memos again. "It says that she needs to see me. Any urgency on this?"
"When was the appointment?" grabbing the schedule book.
"Supposedly at 1:30 but I got tied up with an emergency."
"I heard," running a finger down the schedule. "I've got no red flag on it and nothing from the doctor about any hurry."
"Is it a consultation?" Jules asked with a frown. It was unlike Harriet to leave out details when making appointments. "Anything?"
"Nothing," Bonnie said flipping to the next page, just in case. "Only has your name on it in Dr. Lenning's handwriting. No more than that."
"Hum. . ." sighing because she still had patients to see and it's already five-thirty.
"Must not be that important," Bonnie suggested with a shrug. "She'd tell me if it was."
"But there were several message," fanning the memos.
"Personal?"
"Maybe," Jules glanced at her watch again. "Tell you what, leave message for her on her desk from me, will you? Tell her that I'll be at my sister's this weekend if she needs to reach me, have me paged and we can do conference call if necessary."
Jotting down the note quickly, "I got it."
"Thank, Bonnie."
"No problem."
"And if it's an emergency. . ."
"I'll have you paged from the PA," Bonnie concluded.
"Thanks."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To be Continued. . .
Who doesn't know where this is going, raise your hand.