Chapter 21

"Stefan, I really need to speak to you," Amanda Barrington said as she waltzed towards him, causing his step to falter slightly.

Abbey sighed as she looked over at him, "I'll wait over by the nurse's station, just don't keep me too long," she told him as before she continued towards the area in question. Rolling her shoulders to relieve some of the building tension, she ran through what she had been told by Cassidine, not liking the implications, as she found herself agreeing with Leo's conspiracy theory.

Shaking her head as she reached her destination, she decided to focus on something she could do something about, and quickly flipped through the charts in a tray till she found Donna's. Moving to the side, she pulled out her glasses and opened the file, only to have it closed on her hand. Annoyed, she looked up to see a young doctor towering over her due to the station's added height and motioned for her security detail to stay put. "Patient's charts are confidential," the doctor informed her simply.

"Really? How about you tell me something I don't know, doctor. . ." Abbey started, her annoyance clear in her tone.

"Scanlon," he replied simply, choosing to ignore the condescension she addressed him with. "Doctor Joe Scanlon. And if you know what are you doing snooping in private files?"

"Couldn't possibly have something to do with the fact that they're my patient's files, now could it?" she asked sarcastically.

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Eve Lambert easily matched pace with Chris Ramsey as they walked down the hospital corridor, "I just can't believe that we can't get these tests done!" she complained.

"Yeah, it's about as unexpected as the Medical Power of Attorney disappearing," he said dryly.

"Ramsey are you implying. . .?"

"Eve, you're losing your edge!" he sighed with a roll of his eyes.

"It's just hard to believe. . ." she shook her head, "then again. . ."

"Yeah."

"So we can't give a patient the proper care because of who hurt them? Whatever happened to the Hippocratic oath?"

"Apparently they took a different one," he sighed as they turned a corner and who caught sight of who was standing by the nurse's station and laughed slightly.

"What's up with the laugh? It's not exactly a laughing matter, especially since we'll be the ones on the end of a malpractice suit."

"Not necessarily."

"Meaning?"

"Calvary's just arrived."

"Chris, I think you're finally gone over the edge!"

"Remember how Tony said there was someone being brought in to consult on Donna's case?"

"Yeah. So?"

"She's standing over at the nurse's station talking to Scanlon right now."

"How do you know that? How do you even know who. . ." Eve started, as she let her attention go to the area in question, only to stop short in recognition of the person talking to Joe as she pulled on the sleeve of Chris's suit jacket. "Is that. . ?"

"Yep."

"How. . ?" Eve shook her head not knowing how to continue as she released her hold on Chris's arm.

"Let's just say that Donna isn't exactly the little 'nobody' that people tend to think she is," he responded as he started to continue to the nurse's station as Eve got herself together to follow close behind.

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Joe narrowed his eyes slightly at Abbey's tone. "You don't work here."

"Consulting."

"Haven't heard of the hospital board approving any privileges to non-staff recently.'

Abbey fought the urge to roll her eyes at his comment, her jaw tightening. This they worry about, but not checking in on critical patients? How charming! "Paper work's being drawn up."

"Well then, these papers are off limits," Joe said as he started to take the file from her.

"Umm. Don't think so," Abbey replied evenly as she pulled the file towards her and once again started to open it.

"Look, lady, I don't care if you're the friggin' First Lady! Unless the paper work is cleared, you have no business looking at any patient's chart!" Joe shot back, angry that anyone should think to question his limited authority.

At his pronouncement a couple of the nearby agents gawfed, and Chris laughed as he stopped near Abbey, "Ma'am, please excuse Dr. Scanlon. He's just return from a sojourn in the mountains, unfortunately he left his people skills there. Not that they were that great to begin with."

"Why don't you mind your own business Ramsey?" Joe asked testily.

"Considering the case she's consulting on is one I'm involved in, I'd think this is my business," he shot back as he turned to Abbey. "I'm Chris Ramsey, and I must say that it's an honor to be working with you, Ma'am," he said as he extended his hand to her.
Amused, she accepted, "Nice to meet you," she started then added, "and since we'll be working together, please call me Abbey."

"Yes Ma'am, I mean. . ." he paused as she laughed.

"Ah, we'll have to work on that," she reasoned as she caught sight of Eve and raised an eyebrow.

'That's Eve Lambert, she's. . ."

"Also one of the doctors of record on the case. Leo McGarry, did give me that much information, although it seems he wasn't able to get much more out of your Dr. Jones," Abbey acknowledged with a smile as she took in the younger woman's surprise.

"She's usually more out-going," Chris chided good-naturedly earning an elbow in the ribs as Eve stepped forward and extended a hand to the older woman.

"I seem to have that effect on people," Abbey cracked as she accepted the proffered hand.

"I look forward to working with you, Ma'am. . ." she paused at Abbey's look and laughed nervously, "I mean Abbey."

"That's better," Abbey replied as Eve was page.

"Well, I better answer that," Eve started as she stepped back, her eyes going to Chris. "See if influence works for our side for a change, will ya?"

"Will try," Chris smirked as he put his hands into his pockets and Abbey was finally able to turn her attention to the chart, immediately frowning at the limited notations and orders she saw.

"Quartermain's gonna have your hide," Joe warned Chris.

"Oh, I'm shaking in my boots."

"You should be," Joe smirked as he caught sight of Stefan coming towards them. "Wonder how Cassidine's going to react to the fact that you're leaving this hospital open to a lawsuit once again."

"Whatever, Scanlon."

"Sorry about that delay, but unfortunately it was not to be helped," Stefan said as he came upon the trio of doctors. "Although I see you have made good use of your time," he added as Abbey closed the chart and turned towards him.

"I tried to at least," Abbey replied as she slipped her glasses off and into the pocket of her suit jacket, well aware that Scanlon was silently seething behind her.

"Have Doctors Scanlon and Ramsey introduced themselves?" he asked, choosing to ignore the undeniable hint of annoyance in her tone as he had many times during their short meeting.

"Yes. In fact Dr. Scanlon and I had a nice little chat on the duties of a First Lady," she replied cuttingly as she shot the doctor in question a glare that had put fear into the hearts of much better men, enjoying his slight gulp.

"Excuse me?"

"Forget it," Abbey sighed. "I was thinking. It's a shame for you to waste your time walking me around. I'm sure Dr. Ramsey can take over getting me acquainted with the hospital, while bringing me up to speed on the case before I have to return to the hotel. If, of course, you don't mind."

"As you wish," Stefan said simply.

"Good, then we're agreed," she nodded as she turned her attention back to Joe. "Dr. Scanlon, it certainly was. . . interesting," she acknowledged dismissively. "Mr. Cassidine, a pleasure, as always."

"As usual, the pleasure was mine, Dr. Bartlett," Stefan replied as he shook her hand, not noticing as Joe paled at the address. "Please, don't hesitate to let me know if you need anything during your work here."

"Don't worry, I won't," she replied slyly as she picked up Donna's chart. "Oh, and do give Jed a call, I'm sure he'd love a rematch."

Stefan cringed slightly at the thought. An exchange of trivia he could handle, or a game of chess, but when the two were mixed--- well, their outcome was a bit disconcerting. "I'll certainly take it under consideration."

Hiding a knowing smile, she turned toward Chris. "Dr. Ramsey, if you'd lead the way."

"Certainly, Ma'am," he said as she rolled her eyes, "We really will have to work on that," she sighed as they started down the hall, her security detail fanning behind them. After a moment of silence, she looked over to him, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Ma'am?"

"How did you know what case I was consulting on? I was under the impression. . ."

"That no one knew who Donna worked for before Jacks?" Chris interrupted, causing Abbey to nod. "Most don't. The only reason that I do is that I took her to the last Nurse's Ball and when I picked her up, I spotted a picture of Josh Lyman in her apartment. I teased her about being a member of his fan club, to which she told me that considering the fact that she worked for him for five years, she would defiantly not call herself a fan," he paused not sure if he should have revealed that much, only let out a relieved sigh as Abbey laughed slightly. "How Donna!"

"Anyway, she made me promise not to say anything and I didn't," Chris shrugged.

"Well that answers that. Now, what about Dr. Lambert's comment about using influence?"

"We're getting the run around on Donna's labs and tests."

"Oh, really?" Abbey asked, her eyes narrowing slightly as she started to plot a bit, even if she had promised to keep a low profile on this, name dropping could work to their advantage. As Leo had said, she could just say that the friend she was doing a favor for was him. "Then let's see what a little name dropping can do for us. . ."

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CJ rolled her eyes as she shifted in her seat, her attention partially on the notes that Toby had given her as a distractory tactic shortly after they had taken off. "Would you stop that?" she asked with a long suffering sigh as she managed to at once flip a page and make a notation of her own on the yellow legal pad at her side.

"It helps me think," he shrugged as he continued to catch and release the red rubber ball against the plane's bulkhead, the open laptop next to him seemingly ignored.

"Well, it would help me think to shove that ball down your throat, but I've refrained from doing it--- so far," she shot back as she glared at him over the top of her glasses.

Mumbling a curse, he allowed his feet to drop from the console he had rested them on and onto the floor as he swiveled in the chair to face her, his hand tightening and relaxing around the ball he held still in his hand. "What is this really about?"

"You really have to ask?"

"Ceej. . ."

"Fine," she huffed as she slammed the papers she held onto the conference table between them and rose to her feet. "How much can we rely on this nameless source?"

"I don't know."

"And how much of this is fact rather than conjuncture?" she asked as she started to pace the area between the workstation and the sofas.

"I don't know," Toby replied evenly as he watched her. He knew where this was going. Hell, he'd gone over the exact questions she was raising while he was flying to meet her. He hadn't liked where the answers he had had left him anymore than she apparently did now.

"That seems to be the only answer any of us has isn't it?" she asked as she turned, her ire palpable. "I don't know. I didn't know. Well, where the hell is that going to get us when we get there? How the hell is that going to help us help her? And why the hell don't we know? Didn't we know?" she asked as she slumped into the sofa.

Sighing, Toby rose and moved towards her, "We get the facts verified by V. We find out what they know now. We use our resources. . ." he answered as he sat down next to her, his eyes fixed as hers were on the opposite wall.

"We should've known. Should know what's fact and what isn't."

"Yeah."

"We need more than some notes and police files to fix this."

"Exactly what are you trying to fix, Claudia Jean?" he asked softly, looking at her out of the corner of his eyes.

"You know what. . ." she shook her head as she looked over at him, and then back to the wall.

"Yeah," he admitted as he nodded. "But remember, it's not just you. None of us. . ." he shook his head. "We can't change what happened. We can change what we do from here. We will change. Only now. . ."

"That's not what our focus has to be on," she said tiredly. "We need to get the facts. Find the answers to the other."

"Make them pay," Toby added, his tone deadly calm.

"And then we pay."

"Yeah. And then we pay."

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Jax walked into the ICU room with takeout from Kelly's, and cursed at the look on Ned's face. "They still didn't?" he asked, although he knew the answer.

Carly only shook her head as she took two of the containers from him. "I thought you were stopping to get V," she said as she sat back down and passed one to Ned.

"She had to go to the airport to get some of the people McGarry brought in," Jax said as he sat and opened his container.

"Did you ask her about him?" Carly asked as she swallowed.

"Let's just say we're of different opinions on this one."

"Meaning?" Ned asked.

"Meaning that she thinks his presence here is just dandy!" Jax said as he slumped in his seat.

"Maybe it is," Carly said softly. "Jax, he did seem worried and he got the paperwork pretty quick. I mean. . . maybe he's not so bad. If V. knows. . ."

"V.'s too naive on this one," he sighed. "She probably thinks the PCPD is doing all they can to get AJ. Whatever they have in the file she'll probably buy. No, there's something off about him. I don't trust him. He's too judgmental. He's too power hungry on this. He thinks he can come in here and take over. Meanwhile, where has he and these so called close friends of hers been? We're the ones who know this town. Know the people involved. I am not going to let McGarry come in here and ruin the possibility of bringing down the people responsible."

"So what are we going to do? We can't bar the man from coming in here. . ." Carly said, then shook her head as Jax sat straighter in his chair, a smirk on his face. "Oh no. . . Jax, we're not doing it."

"It could buy us some time. Maybe I can even get Alexis to file papers to try to get us the MPA. I mean, he's the alternate. . . hasn't seen her in g-d knows how long. . ."

"Ned, would you talk some sense into him?" she pleaded.

"I don't know, maybe he's right. I can't shake the feeling that I know his name from somewhere. . ." Ned sighed as he rolled his shoulders. "We have to think of Donna here."

"Yeah, and barring her friends from seeing her is going to be such a big help!"

"If he gets around it, it will help prove my point," Jax reasoned.

"What point?"

"That he can't be trusted."

"Jax, do you know how many ways around you trying to block him from getting in here there are? I mean, especially since he has an MPA!" Carly shot back.

"With any luck he won't for long."

"Don't you think we're fighting the wrong battle here?" she asked. "Shouldn't we be using what limited resources we have to I don't know get Donna's tests done? Get AJ arrested?"

"Carly does have a point," Ned put in.

"Thanks."

"Look, once we know we don't have to worry about out side interference we can get the others done," Jax said evenly. "Look, I'm going to get and tell Amy who to let in, and then I'm going to talk to Alexis."

"How about I talk to her?" Carly asked as she rose, causing him to groan. "Hey, I need to check on Michael anyway, and. . . look, I have an idea on how to get AJ if we can't for this. I need to discuss it with her anyway. I'll be back later."

"Whatever," Jax sighed as he watched her close her container and then pick up her purse and things.

"Ned, you really should go home and get some sleep."

"Someone should be here," Ned countered tiredly.

"I'll come back after I talk to Amy," Jax reassured.

"Come on Ned, walk me out and make sure I don't do anything to get myself arrested, will ya?" Carly teased as he extended her hand to him.

"Well, when you put it that way," he sighed as he stood and allowed her to lead him out of the room, with Jax trailing behind.

As the three people walked to the nurse's station an older woman slipped into the room, and frowned as she walked over to where Donna laid unconscious. "Now look at what you've gotten yourself into," she sighed as she sat next to the bed. "You've certainly given them all a scare. Really, I don't know what you've been thinking. . ." she admonished softly before looking through the window at an approaching Abbey and Chris and shook her head slightly before slipping into the shadows of the room, unseen, to watch what would happen next.