The Lucky Ones
Chapter Fifteen
A few hours later, Lucy entered the elevator to go back down to the ER. She had eagerly volunteered to take a chart up to another floor so that she could avoid Carter. Her plans of avoiding him had been working, until now. She rolled her eyes and softly groaned when Carter jumped in at the last second. Ok. I'll just ignore him. It's a short elevator ride.
"You do know that you can't avoid me forever, right?" he asked, with a small smile.
"I know." She looked over at him and, seeing his smile, she couldn't help but give him a small smile back.
"So if the whole Paul Sobricki thing isn't what's bothering you, do you wanna tell me what's really bothering you?" he asked. He was finally starting to break through the ice that she had built up between them during the events of the day.
"No, actually I don't." The smile left her face.
And with that statement, the ice was re-formed and stronger than ever. "Luce..." before he could finish that statement, the elevator abruptly stopped and the lights went out. Luckily the elevator had emergency lights that came on.
"What just happened?" Lucy asked.
"Well, there's that snow storm. Maybe it knocked out the power." Carter hypothesized.
"Great. So now my day has gotten worse."
"Lucy, what is wrong with you?
"Fine. You want to know what's wrong with me? I'll tell you. I'm upset. Yes. Naturally I'm upset that I saw Paul Sobricki and that he's not in jail or a mental institution, but that's not what's really bothering me right now. What's really bothering me is that I overheard Anna tell you that she wants to get back together with you. I told you that she still wanted you!" She took a deep breath. "There! I finally said it." She paused for a second. "Feels good to finally get that off my chest."
"I'm sorry you walked in on that. Did you happen to hear what I told her after she told me that?" He asked, guessing that she hadn't stayed around to hear his side of the conversation.
"No." She replied, looking at the floor. "So if you're going to break up with me, just get it done and over with."
"Break up with you?" He laughed. "Why would I break up with you?"
She looked up at him like he was an idiot for asking that question. "So that you can get back together with Anna."
"Luce, I don't love Anna. I love you. And I told Anna that I don't like her as anything more than just a friend. She understands that now."
"Really?" Lucy sat down. "I want to believe you, it's just that she's..."
He sat down next to her. "Then believe me. Please?" He slowly inched his way over to her. "I'm sorry. I should have listened to you when you told me that Anna still had feelings for me. You were right, and I was stupid for not seeing it..." he stopped talking when he felt her head on his shoulder.
"This day has been horrible. How in the world did it turn out this way? This morning was great. Then we come here and everything goes wrong."
"I don't know. Maybe we can blame it on the snow?" He kissed her forehead. "So is everything forgiven?"
She looked at him and gave him a grin. "Only if you'll forgive me for being so crazy."
"Done." He replied, bringing her lips to meet his. "So what do you want to do while we're trapped in here?"
She could tell that he had something specific in mind, but she wasn't sure. "John, I don't think that's a good idea. What if the power suddenly comes back on and we get caught?"
"That just adds some excitement to it. Besides, have you ever done it in an elevator before?"
"No. You?" she asked.
"Nope." He smiled, hoping to convince her.
"I don't know..." Lucy trailed off. Then she looked at Carter, who just looked so damned irresistible. "This is probably a bad idea, but what the hell!" she exclaimed as she kissed him and started to take off his lab coat.
About an hour later, they were cuddled together when the lights came back on. "Damn!" Lucy yelled, knowing that at any minute the elevator would be moving again. They both struggled to put their clothes back on before the door opened. But soon the door opened and they were face-to-face with Dr. Greene.
Mark couldn't believe what he was seeing. Ok, so he could believe it, but he was still shocked. He got into the elevator quickly and closed the doors, pulling the stop button for the elevator. Then he turned away from both of them. "You guys better finish getting dressed. Carter, your fly's open and Lucy, your shirt is on backwards."
Lucy looked at Carter with panic in her eyes as they adjusted their clothes.
"Can I turn around now?" Mark asked, giving them a few seconds.
"Yes." Carter replied.
"I wondered where you two were all this time." Mark sighed. "I just didn't really expect this."
"Dr. Greene, this is all my fault..." Lucy started to say.
"I don't care who's fault it is Lucy. You both have broken hospital policy."
Lucy closed her eyes. This is exactly what she didn't want to happen. Who knew what Dr. Greene was going to do to them now.
Carter looked over at Lucy and saw that she was upset. He wanted to wrap his arms around her and re-assure her, but now was definitely not the right time. There was no reason to add to the trouble they were already in.
Mark paused. He pressed the start button for the elevator. "Lucy, why don't you wait in the lounge? I want to talk to you in private after I talk to Carter.""Ok." She said quietly, even though she wanted to stay there with Carter.
Mark closed the elevator doors again and stopped the elevator. "Carter, you've done a lot of stupid things in the past. You've broken a lot of hospital policies, but I always thought that you knew better than to do something like this with your med student." He paused, thinking about what to do now. "I'd love to be able to tell you that I won't tell anyone and that it will be our little secret, but I can't do that."
"I understand." Carter nodded.
"I'm going to have to talk to Dr. Anspaugh about this and then we'll figure out what to do from there. Right now, I'm removing you as Lucy's teacher."
"That's fair."
"So is this a one-time thing between you two?" Mark asked. Maybe if it was a one-time thing, Dr. Anspaugh would be more forgiving.
Carter looked at the floor and shook his head. "This wasn't the first time. I mean, it was the first time in the hospital, but not..."
"Ok. I get the picture." Mark interrupted. "How long has this been going on?"
"Since around Halloween."
"Halloween?" Mark exclaimed. "I can't believe this! You've been keeping it a secret for that long!"
"And we're engaged." Carter informed him.
As mad as he was for Carter and Lucy keeping their relationship a secret, he couldn't help but smile at his friend. "Well congratulations."
"Thanks." Carter smiled back.
He laughed. "I always thought you two would make a cute couple. I even bet on you two in a couple of pools going on in the ER. I'll be rooting for you guys, but I can't promise that Dr. Anspaugh will be forgiving and compassionate about this."
"I understand." Carter replied.
Mark pushed the button for the elevator to start again. "Ok. I'll try to schedule a meeting with Dr. Anspaugh for today since we're all stuck here right now." He walked out of the elevator and headed into the lounge. When he got there, he found Lucy staring vacantly out the window. She turned to face him when he came in. "Lucy, I've spoken with Carter, and he told me about your relationship."
"He has?" Lucy asked, scared out of her mind.
"Yeah. First let me tell you congratulations on the engagement." He smiled.
"Thank you Dr. Greene." She gave him a half-smile and waited for him to tell her what the punishment would be.
"With that said, I'm very sorry to tell you that it's not my job to give out punishments for things like this. If it were, I would give you and Carter the minimum punishment possible and wish you well. But Dr. Anspaugh is the one who will be deciding your fate. I'm going to go and see if he can meet with us in the next couple of hours. We'll sit down and discuss the situation and he will decide your fates." Mark explained. "Any questions?"
"Just one." Lucy replied. "What do you think Dr. Anspaugh's going to do to Carter?"
"I don't know. He could fire him, but he could also just suspend him. I guess it depends on what kind of mood he's in." Mark explained. "I'll get back to you and Carter when I've set up a meeting."
Once Mark was out of the lounge, Carter came in. he saw Lucy sitting on the couch, and she looked like she was about to cry. He sat next to her. "Everything's going to be ok."
"No it isn't." she told him. "I was afraid this would happen. Everything's going to be ruined!"
"No it won't. Everything will be fine." He stroked her face.
She pulled away. She didn't want to, but she was afraid that they would get caught again. "I need to go think—alone." She got up and walked out of the lounge. She headed to the restroom, but stopped when she heard Dave call out to her. She entered an exam room and saw Dave sitting on a stool, going over some charts. "Catching up on work?"
"Yeah. There's nothing else to do." Dave sighed. He took a good look at her, and could tell that she was upset. "I heard about Sobricki. Want to talk about it?"
"No. It bothers me that he's here and not in jail or a mental institution, but that's the least of my worries right now." She confessed.
"What's wrong?"
Lucy closed the door to the exam room and sat down on the bed. "Carter and I got stuck in an elevator, and we got caught by Mark."
"What do you mean by caught? What exactly were you doing?" He smiled wickedly. "Oh! You were..."
"We actually had just finished." She corrected him, blushing slightly. "Carter's told him about our relationship."
"So now that Mark knows about you two, what's going to happen?"
"I don't know. Mark is scheduling a meeting with Dr. Anspaugh. Anything could happen."
"I'm sorry." He sympathized.
"Carter's acting like this doesn't matter, but it's a big deal! Dr. Anspaugh could fire him, yet he's perfectly calm. I don't know how he can be so calm." She exclaimed. "I'm not calm!"
"I think it's quite simple. It makes perfect sense." Dave told her. "He loves you Lucy. I mean, before you got here, his career was the most important thing in his life. But now, you're the most important thing in his life. I know that if I was in Carter's shoes, I'd feel the same way."
She smiled and gave him a quick hug. "How'd I get lucky enough to have you be such a good friend to me?"
"Some people are just born lucky I guess." He laughed.
"Thanks for listening."
"Anytime." Dave smiled, watching her walk out of the room.
Coming out of the exam room, she ran into Carter. "Hey."
"Hey. Mark just told me that we're supposed to go meet with Dr. Anspaugh now." Carter told her as he ushered her to the elevator.
Mark stood waiting outside of Dr. Anspaugh's office. He saw Carter and Lucy approach and gave them each a small smile. "I have explained the situation to Dr. Anspaugh. Now he wants to talk to the two of you separately."
Carter exchanged a glance with Lucy. He could tell that she was still scared, but she looked a little calmer that before. "So who goes first?"
"He asked for you to come in first." Mark explained, pointing to Carter.
"Ok." Carter agreed. He gave Lucy's hand a squeeze and entered the office. "Hello Dr. Anspaugh."
"Dr. Carter." Dr. Anspaugh nodded. "Please...sit."
Carter sat down and stared at Dr. Anspaugh, expecting him to yell about how inappropriate his relationship with Lucy is.
"You do know that dating your med student is against hospital policy, don't you?"
"Yes." Carter nodded.
"And you do know that I have the right to fire you and petition the state licensing board to revoke your medical license?"
"Yes." Carter nodded again.
Dr. Anspaugh paused for a moment and sat back in his chair. "So what do you have to say in defense of yourself then?"
Carter took a quick look around the room, gathering up his thoughts and trying to form them into a coherent answer. "I know that there really isn't a good excuse to justify why Lucy and I have broken hospital policy. But I'm going to give you my excuse anyway." He paused again, wanting to make sure that he expressed his thoughts correctly. "I love her. I love Lucy, and I have for a long time. She is that one person, that soul mate, that everyone searches a lifetime for. When I'm around her, I feel complete. I'm sorry that we've broken hospital policy, but I'll never be sorry that we've been dating. This isn't just a short-term relationship for us. We plan on getting married after she graduates, and we..."
"Thank you Dr. Carter. That's enough." Dr. Anspaugh interrupted. He had heard enough. "You're free to go, but please tell Ms. Knight to come in here for a moment."
Carter was disappointed that he didn't get to talk more. He had a lot more that he could've said in their defense. But he simply nodded and left the office.
Lucy jumped up and walked over to Carter when he came out into the hallway. "How'd it go?" she asked nervously.
"Not sure yet." He shrugged his shoulders. "He wants to talk to you now."
"Ok." Lucy slowly entered the office. "Hello Dr. Anspaugh."
"Ms. Knight." He nodded. "Please, have a seat."
She did as she was told and got even more nervous as the seconds dragged on.
"Ms. Knight, before you and Dr. Carter started you're relationship, were you aware that there was a hospital policy against teachers dating their med students?"
"Yes...yes I was." Lucy replied softly.
"Then if you were aware of the policy, why did you agree to engage in a romantic relationship with Dr. Carter?" Dr. Anspaugh asked. He had heard Dr. Carter profess his love for her, and was curious about what her answer would be.
She looked down at the floor, trying to compose her thoughts so that she didn't ramble. "We developed a pretty nice friendship after the whole Sobricki incident." She paused, a smile coming to her face. "I wasn't fully aware of it at the time, but I loved him. He's quite possibly the greatest man that I've ever met. I love him, and we do want to get married. But..."
"But what, Ms. Knight?"
The smile that had graced her face slowly melted away. "The last thing I've ever wanted to do was ruin his career. He loves being a doctor; he's great at it. So I guess what I'm trying to say is that I want you to punish me. Please! Just don't fire him." She pleaded.
Dr. Anspaugh sat there in silence for a moment, taking in what Dr. Carter and Mr. Knight had just expressed to him. Finally, he made a decision about their punishment. "Ms. Knight, please go tell Dr. Greene and Dr. Carter to come back in here. I've reached my decision."
A/N: I realize this is a really bad place to end the chapter and I'm sorry about that. But it could not be avoided. I'd like to also thank everyone who has been reviewing this story!! :)