Sorry – for the long wait between chapters. I hope that someone is still reading this! I know that it seems to go be going on a bit, and to be honest I did not intend the suspense bit to go on this long, but as you have read I have had problems with what to do. I do not think that it will be too long, before some things become clearer!
Thanks again for the feedback everyone, and to Britgirl for reading and helping with suggestions.
As I said there are a few different directions that I could go in with this, so if it starts to sound wrong, please tell me.
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters or anything to do with the ER.
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It was still quite early morning. Everything still seemed quite pleasant outside, and the ER was still quite calm. It was nearly time for the shift change. One place in the ER where all was not calm was outside Trauma 1.
Abby and Susan were just standing there in silence. Abby was looking increasingly angrier at Susan for a mixture of reasons.
"You really should not have done that without an attending there..." Susan started.
"Don't lecture me Susan," Abby snapped back.
"...there are reasons why these guidelines are in place..." Susan continued seemingly blocking Abby out.
"Yeah, yeah I know the policy," She replied somewhat sarcastically.
"Something could have gone wrong," Susan suggested, trying to sound calm, but failing.
"It didn't," Abby replied, sounding somewhat uninterested.
"I am aware of that fact Abby," said Susan.
"Well then," replied Abby a bit sarcastically again.
"That still does not change the fact that you should not have done it in the first place," Susan said starting to loose it.
"Will you just leave it," Abby said loudly turning away from Susan.
"No, I will not just leave it Abby" Susan shouted after her, both of them unaware that their argument had attracted so many onlookers in the ER.
"You were in the wrong as well," Abby loudly retorted.
"I was on my way, and I know that I should have got their quicker," Susan replied
loudly. Their fight now seemed to be at the focus of the ER.
"Oh, and where were you..." Abby started with a mixture of sarcasm and anger in her voice.
"Abby!" Susan shouted after Abby who had started to walk away.
Next came a silence splitting, glass shattering voice from behind Susan. It was Weaver.
"What is going on here?" Kerry bellowed.
Both Abby and Susan glared at each other.
"Well, what is it?" Kerry pressed.
There was no response. Kerry also seemed to be getting very angry very quickly.
"That's it, Suture Room, two minutes, both of you!" she roared and flew off down the corridor. Abby and Susan went in different directions, Susan to check on the patient that Abby performed the procedure on, and Abby just disappeared in the direction of the Suture Room.
A couple of minutes later, she was joined by Kerry, and then by Susan. Kerry closed the door behind them and shut all the blinds.
"Does one of you want to tell me what that display was all about?" Kerry asked.
Both Abby and Susan started at the same time, but Abby stopped and let Susan speak. "Abby performed an unsupervised thoracotomy," she said. Kerry nodded.
"Abby?" she was obviously requesting Abby input.
"I did it because the patient's vitals were instable and she crashed twice," Abby said.
"You were supposed to get an Attending," Kerry replied.
"I know that, and I tried, and I waited but I felt that there was not enough time," Abby said.
"What do you mean by 'you tried'?" Kerry enquired.
"I paged Doctor Lewis. Twice" Abby replied.
"Did she attend?" Kerry asked.
"Yes, after the second page, and after I had finished the procedure," Abby finished.
"Doctor Lewis, do you have anything to say?" Kerry said sounding interested.
Susan shook her head. Abby and her stood glaring at each other.
"Is there something that I am missing here?" Kerry asked.
Both of them looked at her and said "No," in chorus.
"Do you two have a problem working with each other? You can be reassigned to another Attending if you want Abby," She said.
"No, everything is fine," said Abby flatly.
"Well it sure as heck doesn't seem like it," Kerry snapped, "If you two are having personal problems, leave them at the door, OK?" She finished.
They both nodded and turned to walk out.
"Doctor Lewis," Kerry called
Susan turned and faced Kerry.
"Stay," said Kerry.
Abby closed the door behind her and sunk backwards against the wall next to it. She was angry, angry that nothing else was said, and she really wanted to know what Kerry was saying to Susan. She decided against listening at the door for two reasons. One, that she did not want to annoy Kerry further and two, she could not hear anything properly.
She headed off towards the desk to collect a chart. Several of the nurses were watching her. She just angrily glared at them and continued. It was a simple case.
Things were not so simple in the Suture Room. Kerry had motioned for Susan to sit down on top of the gurney. She did this and Kerry looked at her and spoke.
"What is going on with you and Abby?" she asked.
"Nothing Kerry," Susan replied half heartedly.
"Really, because it does not seem like that," Kerry said, quite softly and friendly.
"OK, I admit that there has been some tension between us, but I suppose that we can work it out," Susan replied.
"Good," said Kerry, "Do that quickly, so that there aren't any more shows for everyone in the corridor, understood?" said Kerry.
"Yeah," said Susan. Kerry's pager sounded.
"Kerry," Susan began as Kerry was walking away.
"Yes,"
she said and turned around.
"Nothing, it can wait," Susan
said.
Kerry turned and walked out of the room, leaving Susan sitting alone on the gurney. She sunk her head into her hands and started crying. She was unsure whether it was the morning's events, or a culmination of the past week or so.
A few minutes later, she left and went to look for Abby. She found her in the drug lock-up.
"Can we talk?" Susan asked.
"Whatever," Abby said and followed Susan into the empty Exam Room 3. Susan slowly sat down on the gurney and motioned for Abby to sit on the stool in front of her. They looked at each other and smiled a bit.
Abby's eyes were puffy and tired looking and Susan's were red from crying.
"I am sorry about this morning," Susan said.
"Me too," said Abby, "have you been crying again? Kerry wasn't that bad surely?" she joked.
"No, it wasn't Kerry" she replied with a half-hearted laugh.
"Well what's up?" Abby asked concerned.
"It's just a mixture of everything over the last few days," She said beginning to cry again, "I am sorry for the way I have been Abby, I really am" She said breaking down. Abby pulled her into a hug,
"It's OK Susan, I understand," she said.
"I'm sorry for the way I've been Abby, I really am," Susan said again.
"Why won't you be honest with me, tell me what's going on? I thought we were friends?" Abby asked.
"We
are!" Susan replied.
"So talk to me! Look, our shifts should
have finished five minutes ago. Let's grab our stuff and go for a
walk," Abby
They both got up headed to the Lounge, got their stuff and walked out of the hospital. They were going for a walk. They were also back on night shift again that night.
