Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews, I appreciate them. I don't own anything but this story.

Episode 4: My Brother's Keeper

"What are we going to tell him?" She rested her head comfortably on his chest.

"I don't know, Pheebs." His fingers lazily played with her hair.

"He's your best friend; it should be you."

"Yeah, I guess I have to. He doesn't deserve this."

"Well, maybe it'll work out in the end. It always does."

"What is that supposed to mean? He's going to be crushed when he hears this." She looked up at him with a small smile.

"Oh, no, you're not thinking about that are you? Please tell me that you're still not thinking of that." She laughed.

"And what if I were?"

"I'd say you were crazy. And I'd probably end up helping."

"That's what I wanted to hear." He continued to play with her hair as she drifted back to sleep on his chest.

"Where's the coffee?" Arnold rummaged around the lounge.

"I think we ran out yesterday," Nadine replied as she ate her yogurt.

"I didn't think they'd cut our budget this much," quipped Arnold as he wrapped his stethoscope around his neck. He walked out to the admit-desk.

"Troy, we're out of coffee again."

"Coke does the same trick."

"I thought that you could dissolve raw meat in Coke." Troy laughed.

"I can't believe you of all people would say that, Dr. Greene." Chuckling, Arnold walked over to the soda machine and bought a bottle of Coke, taking a big swig.

"No scrubs today, doc?" Troy remarked at Arnold's light blue button-down shirt that was rolled up to his elbows.

"I thought I would dress nicer today."

"Aren't those the days when you usually get the messy ones?" Arnold laughed.

"Yeah, this is one of my last nice shirts. My wife isn't too pleased at having to buy new ones almost every month." Troy answered the dispatch phone at the desk.

"Get ready to get messy."

"What's coming in?"

"2 guys coming in with gun-shot wounds, one abdominal, the other shoulder."

"Hmm, and it looks like I'm the only doctor here at the moment. Have Phoebe or Gerald checked in?"

"Not yet."

"Helga?"

"Nope."

"Wartz?"

"Do you really want him here?"

"Better than nothing."

The double doors whooshed open and Phoebe walked quickly past the help desk.

"Little late today, are we Phoebe?" Arnold remarked smiling. She shot him a glance and continued walking to the locker-room.

"5 year anniversary last night." Arnold explained to Troy.

"Well, that's as good as an excuse as any." Gerald followed soon after, but before Arnold could say anything he held his hand out to deflect any questions or sarcasm.

The EMT's burst through the double-doors wheeling in a young African-American male, no older than 18. He was bleeding profusely from a gun-shot wound to the right shoulder. His left hand was handcuffed to the stretcher. A heavy-set police officer ran beside them.

"What happened?" Arnold walked briskly beside the EMT. The cop interrupts.

"This punk holds up some taco joint for a couple of bucks; guy behind the counter doesn't fork it over and instead activates the alarm and pulls his own piece out. Then they both start shooting, he gets shot in the arm and then shoots the cashier in the gut. Stupid punk." Gerald appeared beside Arnold.

"I'll take this one; you wait for the other guy." Arnold nodded and walked off.

"Ok, we need to get an x-ray on that shoulder to see where the bullet's lodged. Sheena, let's go." Gerald and Sheena started wheeling the guy into the elevator when the cop tried to squeeze inside.

"Excuse me, officer, but you'll have to remain here. You can pick him up after surgery." The cop snarled.

"You know, I don't know why you would even waste your time on punks like this. I say just let 'em rot for all I care." The boy looked up and glared defiantly at the cop.

"You think you're so tough now that I'm like this. You just wait, sucka, I'm going to whoop your fat..."

The last word was cut off when Gerald placed an oxygen mask over the struggling boy's face. The cop was furious and his face reddened. Gerald had seen enough.

"Ok, both of you need to shut-up." He turned to the officer.

"Sir, once a person enters this building as a patient, they get our best effort." The elevator slammed shut leaving the officer steaming.

Arnold paced nervously. He hated the waiting period when you knew that a patient was coming with a certain ailment. Sometimes the sudden, spontaneous ones were easier because they minimized the down-time. That was the beauty of emergency medicine; moments of grace amidst chaos.

"You all-right?" Phoebe stood next to him.

"Yeah, I just don't like the waiting."

"Well, it doesn't look like we'll have to be waiting very long."

More EMT's rushed in, wheeling the second victim of the attempted robbery. He was an old Vietnamese man bleeding heavily. A young woman ran behind them but was stopped by one of the EMT's.

"Ma'am, please, you can't come in here."

"Please, that's my father, you have to help him." Arnold went over to her.

"Ma'am, if you would please wait in the waiting room. We'll tell you about his progress, I promise." Arnold ran back to the stretcher.

"What's his status?" he asked one of the EMT's.

"He's got 2 bullets in his abdomen; unconscious at the scene; probably lost a lot of blood." Phoebe checked his blood pressure.

"BP collapsing; he's going into shock. Let's get a tube in his throat and bag him." Nadine entered with the tube and bag and began pumping oxygen. Arnold motioned for Debbie to come over with some IV's.

"Ok, let's get 2 liters of saline inside him. Call the blood bank; tell them we're going to need 2 liters of O-negative. Dopamine after we get the blood back. And, call surgery while you're at it. Can't get a surgeon when you need one."

"You were saying, Greene?" Vincent Wartz walked calmly into the chaos.

"Nice to see you, Vince."

"Ok, folks, we've done all we can do here. This man needs surgery; time to make a miracle; let's go." Wartz led the team into trauma 1.

"Looks like I missed a big party," Helga remarked as she walked into the building.

"Just 2 gunshot victims," Arnold replied nonchalantly as he removed the clear, yellow top over his clothing.

"Where are they?"

"Gerald took one to x-ray a while ago; Wartz has one in trauma 1 if you're interested." Helga quickly threw on some scrubs and headed towards trauma 1.

"Need any help, Vince?" Helga asked as she began putting on gloves and a mask.

"I got this one, Helga. Next time you want one, you come in on time for your shift."

"So, I'm guessing that's a no."

"Yes, now get out of here!"

"Ok, cheesh, I'm leaving. I know when I'm not wanted." Helga stormed out of the room.

"Wartz get to you?" Arnold asked finishing the now lukewarm bottle of Coke.

"Don't ask." Arnold laughed as she threw away her gloves and mask.

The conversation was interrupted when more EMT's rushed in wheeling a little boy strapped on the stretcher. The boy was already intubated but was unconscious, and his skin was a pale blue.

"What happened?" Helga asked walking up to the boy.

"Near drowning, 2 kids out swimming in the lake go out too far from shore; this one gets tired and starts sinking; by the time his brother notices, he's already underwater; brother dives down, grabs him and treads water for almost 10 minutes before rescue comes in." Helga felt the boy's cheek; it was cold, almost like a corpse. The cardiac monitor started beeping and the EKG lines began dropping rapidly.

"He's going into arrest, let's shock him." Debbie arrived with the defibrillators. Helga rubbed the pads together to charge them up. She raised them above her head.

"Ok, 1, 2, 3, clear." She pressed the pads on the boy's chest and he jerked upwards in response. Arnold checked the monitor.

"2 more times, Helga; we need to get that heart rate back up." She rubbed the pads together again, this time at 300J.

"1, 2, 3, clear." She pressed the pads again on the boy's chest causing a more intense response. The EKG lines spiked upwards slightly, but then fell.

"Come on!" Helga cried in frustration. She charged the pads to 360J.

"1, 2, 3, clear." She pressed the pads on his chest causing him to jerk again. The EKG lines spiked upwards and began to stabilize. She breathed a sigh of relief.

"Ok, let's give him .30 mg of Epipen every 3-5 minutes until his pulse gets back to normal."

"Where's the other boy?" asked Arnold.

"He should be coming in a little after us. He should be ok except for a case of hypothermia," the EMT replied.

"Ok, let's get some warm blankets for this kid. Give him something hot to drink too."

"Dr. Greene?" Troy called from the desk.

"Yeah."

"That woman, the daughter of the gun-shot victim is asking how her father's doing."

"Tell her, I'll check and I'll get back to her." Arnold turned to Helga.

"You got this?" She nodded. He walked towards trauma 1.

Wartz sighed as he threw away his gloves.

"Vince." He turned around and saw Arnold walking towards him.

"He didn't make it, ok?" Arnold stopped.

"There was too much internal bleeding; we removed the bullets but the bleeding just wouldn't stop. His stomach lining was completely torn; there was nothing we could do."

"His daughter is outside. She wants to know what happened."

"Tell her the truth. You know how it goes; you do the best job at telling people."

"You want to tell her?"

"No."

"Vince, you performed the surgery." He stared at Arnold thoughtfully.

"Greene, you're the messenger boy around here. You cry their tears; you laugh their laughter; sometimes I wonder how you have anything left for yourself after you're done." Wartz walked away quickly leaving Arnold standing in front of the doors.

Gerald walked slowly into the recovery room. They had managed to remove the bullet from the boy's shoulder. He knocked on the door as he entered. The boy looked up groggily as Gerald sat down beside him.

"Hey, just wanted to check on how you were doing." The boy remained silent.

"Well, in a couple of weeks you should be able to have full use of that shoulder."

"Why don't you just get to the point doc?" Gerald looked confused.

"Excuse me?"

"Why don't you just start the lecture? Why don't you just start telling me that if I work hard enough and shape up that I can succeed just like you? That's all I've ever heard anyway. Look at me, I made it; why can't you? So go ahead, and tell me how you made it and how I can too if I just try hard enough." Gerald's features hardened.

"Well, I didn't come here to give you a lecture. I just came to see how you were doing. I also came to tell you that the man you shot died in surgery. His daughter is in tears in the waiting room." The boy became quiet. Gerald stood up to leave.

"Well, I think that that was better than any lecture." Two cops walked into the room. Gerald turned to them.

"He's all yours."

Arnold stared at the middle-aged Vietnamese woman holding her head in her hands. Her short black hair covered her eyes, red from crying.

"Excuse me, ma'am." She looked up at him.

"I'm Dr. Greene; I helped take care of your father when he came in."

"How is he, doctor?" Arnold sighed.

"Your father was shot twice in the abdomen. We took him into surgery, and there was a lot of internal bleeding." She looked at him, trembling.

"I'm sorry." He was cut off by her sobbing. He went over and sat next to her.

"It was his first day as manager after all those years working as a cook. He was so excited; he told me to bring the kids to come in and he would give them a free taco."

"Where did your father work?"

"At the El Patio restaurant." Arnold stared at her carefully. There was something familiar about this woman. It couldn't be a coincidence that her father worked at a taco place and was Vietnamese.

"Your father didn't happen to live in the Sunset Arms boarding house, did he?" She looked at him a bit surprised.

"Why, yes, he did? But how would you..."

"Are you Mai Huynh?" She pulled back in surprise.

"Yes, I am, but how do you..."

"Mai, it's me, Arnold. My grand-parents ran the boarding house. I was there when you and your father were reunited that Christmas." Her eyes brightened a bit.

"Arnold, my goodness, you've grown. I do remember." She smiled slightly.

"I'm sorry, Mai. I know it's not fair." He placed a hand on her shoulder and they remained that way for a long time.

"Excuse me, is that our son? Please we want to see him." A couple in their thirties pleaded with Troy at the desk.

"Let me check with Dr. Pataki." He called her over the intercom. She exited out of exam room 2 and walked towards the desk. She saw the couple and gave a tired smile.

"Hi, you must be the boys' parents. I'm Dr. Pataki."

"How is he, doctor?"

"Well, both of your sons are going to be all right. We managed to stabilize the one who nearly drowned and the other one is recovering nicely from hypothermia. If you want, I can take you back there to see them." They nodded gratefully. Helga led them into exam room 1 where the boy who nearly drowned was resting and they rushed over to his bed.

"It's going to be all right, David." the woman cooed, "Mommy and Daddy are here."

"Yeah, son. I'm real proud of you for hanging in there."

"He should be awake in an hour or two. Would you like to visit your other son? He's just next door in room 2." At those words, the man's face hardened and he began to snarl.

"Oh, yeah, I'd like to have a visit with him." The woman looked up and pleaded with her husband.

"Peter, please, don't be too hard on him." The man ignored her and marched into room 2. The little boy sat on the edge of the bed wrapped in a warm blanket, drinking hot cocoa.

"What the heck were you thinking out there, Kevin?" He growled as he pulled aside the curtain. The boy's lip began to tremble and he struggled not to cry.

"I'm sorry, dad, I didn't mean to. We've swam out that far before and nothing ever happened, honest."

"You're lucky we got these doctors here or else your brother would have drowned."

"I'm sorry, dad. Honest."

"You're sorry? That's right you're sorry. All you ever are is sorry. Sometimes I don't understand what goes through that head of yours." Helga decided that she had heard enough.

"Excuse me, sir. Kevin is still recovering from hypothermia. It would be better for him if you let him rest quietly." He whirled around and she gave him an icy stare. He started backing away.

"Ok, doc." He turned back to the boy.

"When we get home, we're going to have a long talk about this. You're looking at no video-games for a year or maybe more!" He stormed off, cursing under his breath. Helga stared after him for a while. She turned to the boy and smiled.

"Are you feeling better, Kevin?" She pulled a chair next to the bed and sat next to him.

"Yeah, I'm not as cold anymore."

"That's good. You want some more cocoa?" He shook his head.

"Are you mad at me too?" He asked in a small voice.

"No," Helga replied quietly. "These things just happen sometimes. I think that you were very brave by keeping your brother afloat and treading water the whole time."

"My dad doesn't think so. He just thinks that I was stupid for swimming out that far anyway."

"What about your mom?"

"She just cries and says why I can't be more like David." Helga's heart ached. The boy continued.

"We both swim on the YMCA swim team. David was always a little faster than me and we always finished first and second at the meets. His trophies always get put in the living room and mine are in a box in the closet. So, today, we were at the lake, and I dared him to see how far we could swim. He kept saying no, that he was tired, that he didn't have the energy. I kept teasing him until he finally gave in. We swam for a long time until I realized that I was alone. I swam back because I thought he turned back. Finally I go underwater and I see him sinking." The boy started crying again. Helga grabbed his hand and held it tightly.

"It wasn't your fault, Kevin. You can't keep thinking that." She paused for a moment. "I know how you feel about your brother." He shot a glance at her through his tears.

"No, you don't, nobody does." Helga sighed.

"You know, when I was about your age, I had a friend who said the same things you just said. She had an older sister that everyone thought was perfect. Smart, beautiful, and a good musician. To this day, people at her old elementary school still talk about what a great student her sister was. My friend would always complain how she never got any attention. Her mother was always sleeping and making smoothies while her father just watched TV all day. Sometimes her mother would forget to make her lunch for school, and her father would get her name wrong when he called for her." The boy looked up at Helga.

"Wow that really sucks. At least my dad gets my name right." Helga chuckled.

"Yeah, that's what she told me. She used to complain to me all the time. I remember, when we were older, I gave her a piece of advice that I'm going to give to you."

"What's that?"

"Don't ever let anyone tell you that you're not just as important, that you're not just as special as your brother, because you are. Your parents may not realize it now, but one day, when you're older, they will. And they'll come and tell you what a great person you've become, and that they're sorry for not seeing it earlier. But, it won't matter, because you knew it all along." The boy nodded his head at Helga.

"Well, Kevin, I better get back to making my rounds. Good luck, kiddo." She started walking out the door.

"Dr. Pataki?" She turned around.

"What happened to your friend, the one whose sister was perfect? Did her parents ever say how special she became?" The boy asked innocently. Helga gave a long pause before answering.

"I don't know. I haven't talked to her in a while."

Arnold checked his name off the marker board. He threw away some junk mail and breathed a heavy sigh.

"Long day, football-head?" Helga asked joining him inside the desk.

"Yeah, the gun-shot victim who died lived at my old boarding house."

"Oh? Who was that?"

"Mr. Huynh. I was sitting with his daughter in the waiting room for half an hour."

"Mai was here?"

"Yeah. Say, how did you know her name was Mai?" Helga gulped quickly realizing the little slip.

"Uh, well, um, Troy had her fill out some forms about patient check-in. Yeah that's it."

"Ok, Helga." He yawned "I'm going to head home."

"Night, football-head."

"Night." He walked slowly through the double doors.

"Arnold!" He turned around to see Gerald running to catch up.

"Hey, man." They did their secret hand-shake.

"Seems like it's been forever since we've talked."

"Yeah, I'm sorry."

"Well, I guess Phoebe has you pretty busy." Arnold grinned slyly at his friend.

"Ha-ha. Hey, you want to get a drink?"

"Sure, I guess it couldn't hurt." They walked into Wolfgang's.

"Are you sure Phoebe doesn't mind you out this later?"

"Hey man, a guy needs to spend some time with his buddies." They laughed.

"What'll it be guys?"

"2 beers." The burly bartender went off for their orders.

"So what's wrong, Gerald?"

"What do you mean? Can't a guy hang out with his best friend?"

"You wouldn't have asked me like this. Unless you're going to make me buy." Gerald smiled.

"Ok, I'm buying. But next time, it's you." The bartender returned with two glasses and two bottles.

They poured their drinks and sipped them, enjoying the taste.

"It's been a while since I've had a beer."

"Miss it?"

"Not as much as I thought I would. I mean, back in med-school."

"I know what you mean. You needed the beer back then." An awkward silence came between them.

"So, what is it Gerald?"

"What?"

"What did you want to talk to me about? It has to be serious or else you wouldn't offer to buy." Gerald sighed.

"How are thing with Lila?" Arnold raised an eyebrow.

"They're ok. I mean, I'd like it if she was here more, but I guess there's nothing wrong. Why?"

"Ok, Pheebs and I went out to Chez Paris for our anniversary dinner. We were about to eat until Pheebs points out this woman and her date sitting in the corner. Long brown hair, incredible figure, green dress, laughing a little too loud. Sounds like your wife." Arnold gave a quizzical eye.

"Oh, come on. There are a lot of people who could fit that description."

"I'm not asking you to believe me."

"I don't think I'm going to." They drank their beers in silence.

"Just ask her. For me." Gerald gave Arnold a serious look.

"Fine."

He struggled up the stairs. Only 2 beers and he was already feeling buzzed. His buddies back at med school would be laughing if they saw him now.

He opened the door and found a dark apartment. Sean was probably sleeping and he didn't want to wake him. He hung up his coat and headed towards the kitchen. Water would minimize the effects of the hangover. He opened the refrigerator, grabbed a big bottle of water and drank several huge gulps.

He couldn't believe what Gerald had told him. Sure, their marriage had problems, but it was like any other marriage. And when she was around, he enjoyed every minute together.

He finished the water and threw away the bottle. He opened the refrigerator again to look for an apple. As he rummaged through, he noticed an odd-shaped plastic carton that was crammed in the corner. He removed it and opened the lid.

"Hmm, that's odd. Where did this fondue come from?" He stuck his finger in and licked the contents.

Dark chocolate. The desert they always ordered every time they went to Chez Paris. This time, more bitter than sweet.