"Bound II"
Summary: Abby & Susan are trying to cope with the aftermath of the abduction from the previous night. Did the situation they were pushed into, affected their friendship? Tension runs high for them in the ER. Featuring Kerry Weaver.
It's clean…
Tension
Abby and Susan were standing at opposite ends at the admit desk. They both forced their weary heads out of their beds to come to work. Since arriving at the ER they have spent the entire morning clashing with each other, haven't said a pleasant word nor looked at each other in the eye. They both look dreary eyed from the lack of sleep; a sleepless night getting over the shock of being abducted.
Abby turned around to place a chart in a tray and coincidently Susan did the same. They bumped into each other. They paused and waited for the other to go ahead.
"You first," Abby said looking away with one hand on hip and the other hand holding up the chart.
"Thank you," Susan mumbled, placing her chart in the tray. In an attempt to break the ice from the tension, she asked, "How are you?"
Abby grunted and placed her chart on top of Susan's and walked away. The blonde stood there in a daze, feeling rejected by Abby's detachment.
The ambulance bay door crashed open and a GSW victim appeared on a gurney. Abby and Susan joined in to take the victim to the trauma room.
The heart monitor screeched out the lethal rhythm.
"He's in fib."
"Abby what are you doing?"
"I'm draining the chest."
"He doesn't need it," Susan said, listening through the stethoscope, trying to feed in the central line.
"Why is his chest full of fluid? It's better to be safe than sorry."
Abby grabbed the instrument and cuts an incision on the side of the patient's chest. Inserted the tube inside the chest.
"I said no Abby!" Susan shouted, "Get out!"
She ignored her and carried on the procedure.
"Get out of here now!" She shouted again.
Everyone else in the trauma room looked at each other with uneasiness as they felt the tension between the two doctors. The blood started to drain out of the chest through the tubing into the bag. The heart monitor blipped the normal sinus rhythm.
"There you go" Abby said smugly.
"Normal sinus rhythm" Haleh said, looking at the monitor.
"Ok take him up to O.R." Susan said staring at Abby, watching her leave the room snapping of her gloves.
Susan raced out of the trauma room to catch up with Abby. Grabbed hold of her arm and yanked it to drag her straight into a nearby room. They were unaware that they were being watched by Kerry Weaver, who was quite shocked by their behaviour. The room was empty and pitch black, the flickering of lights came when Susan turned on the switch. They both winced at the change from darkness to brightness. She was standing looking infuriated; a look that you wouldn't normally see on her. Susan is quite laid back and easy going. But at this minute her tension is running high feeling embarrassed and angry from the night before and humiliated by Abby's aloofness back in the trauma room.
"How dare you disobey my orders!" Susan yelled at the top of her voice.
Abby flinched at the blonde's reaction; she had not seen her like this before.
"I saved the guy's life" Abby said, folding her arms "So what is your problem?"
"Well done, you saved the guy's life," Susan said in a sarcastic tone, clapping her hands "I told you not to do the procedure, hell! I was in the middle of putting in the central line in!"
The room door opened and Kerry Weaver hobbled in, pursing her lips at the pair.
"You two in my office now!" The red head shrieked.
Weavered
Kerry Weaver sat with both hands together leaning on her desk, looking at Abby and Susan, disappointed. The pair looked miserable.
"Would you mind telling me what the hell is going on between you two?" Kerry asked in a steady calm voice. "You both have been at each other's throats all morning!"
Abby and Susan both stood looking at the Chief of Staff in silence. They were unsure who should go first to confess.
"And as for you Susan, as the Chief of ER why aren't you handling this efficiently?"
"Because it's my problem too."
"Did something happen between you two at last night's pub crawl?" The red head asked curling her top lip to sneer.
"Erm… yes," Abby answered under her breath.
"Would you care to share it?" Kerry asked with her eyes peering over her glasses, tapping her pen on her desk, looking at the brunette.
The pair looked at each other in awkwardness.
"We were abducted last night," Susan announced
"What?" She dropped her pen and stuttered in shock "Are you both ok? Well obviously you're both alive and kicking."
"We are just angry about what they did to us," Abby said "or embarrassed is probably the best word to describe it"
"Of course you would be angry and upset if you were abducted" Kerry rose from her chair and slipped her arm through the crutch and walked round her desk. "But why are you both embarrassed with each other? Did one of you do something to jeopardise the situation? Did you go to the police afterwards?"
Susan shook her head "No we didn't go to the police."
"Why not?"
"Because it is a difficult one."
"Why is it a difficult one, did they threaten, if you went?" Kerry asked.
"It's what they made us do," Abby said.
"If we didn't do as they asked, they would have shot us dead," Susan interrupted
"What did they make you both do?" Kerry asked, "I hope you both didn't do something illegal."
"Of course not."
"Hmm," Kerry frowned "Are you frightened to tell me? They didn't forced themselves to have sex with you?"
"Not quite."
"What you mean not quite?" Kerry asked, starting to get frustrated "Will someone come out with it and tell me, I am not playing a game of guessing here!"
Abby and Susan started to cringe with awkwardness; they know that if Kerry went through what they did, it probably would not bother her the slightest.
"They… erm…" Abby winced "made us have sex with each other."
Kerry's jaw dropped to the floor, she didn't know what to say about that. She stepped back and leaned against the front of her desk.
"Wow," She muttered to herself. "I have not heard that happened before."
"It was an unimaginable situation, the room was mirrored and we could not see the audience on the other side of the glass." Susan explained.
"An audience? God how many?"
"Yes, exactly."
"I know I am that way inclined but what you went through is humiliation, especially between 2 straight females, but consider yourselves lucky that you both are close friends, or best friends I don't know which, it could have been with a stranger."
Abby and Susan glanced at each other thinking…Are we best friends? After the conflicts happened between them earlier on.
"I think you both should apologise to each other, I know what you went through was not nice, but at least can you put your differences aside, it could have been worst."
Abby gently folded her arms, rolls her eyes letting out a sigh. Susan tilts her head forward rubbing her forehead.
"I'm very sorry Susan."
Susan frowned at the brunette trying to work out her tone of voice whether her apology was intentionally… To get even, she put on a forced grin and nodded.
"Oh I'm sorry too."
"Well that's sorted," Kerry chirped and she hobbled back behind her desk. "We are over staffed today so why don't you both take the rest of the day off and sleep off your tiredness and tension? You're both dismissed."
They both turned to leave the office until Kerry's voice was heard again.
"Susan can you stay for a minute, I need your help with this question on this report, its regarding the ER."
"Sure."
Drenched
Abby walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped round her body and a towel in her hands drying her hair. She showered to warm herself up when she got in after being caught in the rain on the way home. She poured herself a coffee from the pot and walked to the lounge area. She sipped her drink while watching the news on the television. She then heard a knock on the door and frowned thinking who could it be? Abby walked to the door and opened it. She looked on in surprised to see who it is.
"Hi," Susan grinned nervously, she was standing there with her lip quivering; shivering from being soaked, out in the cold. Her hair was dripping wet; her coat and clothes seeping from the wetness, clung to her skin. "Your neighbor let me in; she arrived at the same time"
"My god, Susan look at you!" Abby laughed at the sight "Don't just stand there, come in!"
Abby gestured Susan in to her apartment. The blonde struggled to undo her coat. Her hands were numb from cold.
"Let me give you a hand," Abby reached to undo the buttons and helped to take the coat off. "Did you swim here?" She asked sarcastically
Susan laughed, "I guess you were lucky to get home before the storm hit the ground."
"Yeah, you didn't go to work in your car today?" -Asked Abby putting the coat on the radiator.
"No, I decided to take the EL this morning for a change, and relax. I was too tired to concentrate on driving through town…" Susan wiped her brow to stop the water trickling in to her eyes.
"Coffee?" Abby asked
"Oh yes please," Susan replied "I… erm… came to say I am really sorry, I've shouldn't have yelled at you, you did the right thing."
"I'm sorry too," Abby said with sadness on her face "It's killing me, with us clashing."
"Yes it hurts seeing us like this," Susan agreed.
"What are we like?"
They both wrapped their arms round each other to form a hug.
"What we did," Abby muttered in Susan's ear "I guess I can live with it…"