January 1st, 2005
Week 10
A New Year, a new pregnancy, and new joy. Jing-Mei knew 2005 was going to be amazing. It had to be. Portia was getting so big. She was sitting up all by herself and she was resting on her knees just waiting to start crawling. Jing-Mei walked down the hallway towards Portia's nursery. She heard Greg reading to her.
"What are you reading?" She stood in the doorway.
"A book." Greg smirked at Portia.
"What Book?" Jing-Mei asked.
"Well," He showed her the cover, "The Inferno."
"Gregory Pratt!" Jing-Mei laughed. "PJ is going to get nightmares."
"Oh she won't." He said, "She loves it."
"Maybe that's what I should be afraid of." She said leaving the room. Greg groaned.
"Mommy is a poo poo head." He told his daughter.
"Hey, I heard that." Jing-Mei called back over her shoulder. She went into the kitchen, "I think I'm going o make stew for dinner."
"That sounds good." Greg got up and walked out. "What do you think of the name Dante?"
"Dante? Dante Pratt? I think it sounds perfect." Jing-Mei said, "How about Dante Gregory Pratt…If we have a boy."
"I like it." Greg beamed with pride. "but what if we have a girl?"
"Dawn'taya." Jing-Mei laughed.
"No way." He said. "We'll come up with something, but if we wait awhile we can find the sex out and pick a name then."
"you're no fun." She chuckled as she cut the beef tips into smaller pieces. "I hope we have a little boy though. We already have a girl and a little boy would be perfect."
"Yeah it'd be nice." he said. "But I don't care."
"I don't care either." Jing-Mei said, "Want regular potatoes and sweet potatoes in the stew?" Greg groaned loudly.
"My mom used to do that." He said.
"is that a good groan or a bad groan?" Jing-Mei asked.
"Wonderful groan." he said putting Portia in her high chair.
"I'll do it then." She said grabbing two sweet potatoes, "Do you want corn bread?"
"Sure. I'll make it." he said getting up.
"Thanks." Jing-Mei said. It was nice to have a man who helped out around the house. She glanced over her shoulder and looked at Portia. God, her daughter was so beautiful. Jing-Mei looked back at her stew. Her face turned green as morning sickness hit her. So much for this passing. "Oh god." She ran to the bathroom to throw up. Greg chuckled.
"Wait until you have babies, PJ." He said, "You'll understand what your mommy is going through." Greg thought about what he said and then grimaced. "you're not going to have children for a very long time though."
At least he hoped she wouldn't have kids for a long time. He hoped she would be a virgin until she was forty years old. Most fathers thought like that he guessed.
January 15th, 2005
Week 12
Jing-Mei slid the check for $5,000 into the bucket that sat on the admit desk. Susan wanted to help the people hit by the Tsunami, but she couldn't afford to spare a doctor or nurse to go over there, so she thought raising funds would be good, considering a few of the doctors in the ER were very well off. Jing-Mei didn't mind donating money to them.
"Dr. Pratt, the tests back on that ankle sprain are back." Sam said handing Jing-Mei the chart. Jing-Mei looked at it and groaned. "What?"
"He has drugs in his system…A whole lot of drugs." She said glancing towards the door.
"I hope he wasn't coming in here just to score." Sam said. Jing-Mei shrugged.
"He probably was." She said putting the chart down, "I have more important patients to tend to right now. He needs to get it out of his system. Let him chill here for awhile, but keep an eye on him. I don't want him raiding our closet."
"You got it." Sam said. Jing-Mei glanced over her shoulder and looked at her husband. He was chatting to a young girl…a young girl patient, but he had that look upon his face. That look that made Jing-Mei swoon. She shook her head. He was almost the same. Jing-Mei walked over to the curtain area.
"Mr. Jakes, how is your ankle?" She asked him.
"It hurts like a son of a bitch." He growled. Jing-Mei nodded with a gentle smile. He was just trying to score. She could see his twitching.
"I am aware of that, but we can't give you anything until we get your test results back." She lied.
"That's bull shit. Mercy will give me something for my pain." Mr. Jakes sat up.
"Well, you're not at Mercy. You're at County and we have a protocol to follow." Jing-Mei said. The man grabbed her wrist.
"Give me something for the pain." He growled. Jing-Mei looked at him sternly.
"No." She said pulling her hand away from him. He held on tighter, "Mr. Jakes, let go of me."
"Give me the goddamn drugs you bitch." He grabbed her other wrist and pulled her close.
"LET GO OF ME!" Jing-Mei snapped.
"GIVE THEM TO ME!" He yelled.
"Security!" Jing-Mei yelled at the top of her lungs. Greg looked up form his patient. Someone was touching his wife…His pregnant wife. He dropped his chart and dashed over to her.
"Let go of her man." Greg said.
"Give me my drugs." Mr. Jakes yelled again.
"I SAID LET GO OF MY WIFE!" Without thinking, Greg's fist connected with the man's face. Jing-Mei stumbled back as he let go of her.
"Pratt!" Susan snapped as she ran over with security. They pinned the man down, "In the lounge now!" Greg looked at Jing-Mei.
"Are you okay?" He asked. Jing-Mei nodded slowly as she got a needle of Haldol.
"I'm fine." She looked at him, "Susan looks pissed. You better go get chewed out."
"Are you sure you're okay, baby?" Greg asked. He could careless about his job. He cared about his wife and his child. She smiled weakly.
"I'm fine. Go." She said. Greg nodded. He glanced at Susan. She looked pissed. She probably wasn't happy that Greg punched a patient in his face. Greg didn't care. He would loose this job if it meant protecting Jing-Mei and his children.