Oh my Lord, I am soooooooo sorry for the immense delay in chapters. It is
just extremely hard to find any time nowadays to sit down and write. If
there is anyone still reading this story thank you so much for your support
and reviews and I apologise profusely for the wait. I am hoping to write
the next chapter shortly. (Fingers crossed!!)
Hide and Seek Part 12
The silence was the first thing to hit her, and it was almost deafening. She comprehended the absurdity of that thought straightaway because how can a space devoid of noise create a sound so loud it causes her to cringe? The limited lighting provided by the hallway was casting an eerie glow to the room and it meant that Kerry had to squint slightly to see inside. She quickly scanned the whole room in a fit of desperation trying to convince herself that her eyes must be deceiving her. Why was the room empty? It didn't make any sense. Surely if something had happened then the guard would have alerted somebody.
This is not like last time. They had taken precautions. They had not left him alone.
She repeated the mantra over and over in her head, as she stood there frozen, unsure as to what to do. Somewhere deep at the back of her mind she understood that she should be doing something, anything at that moment but her body was unwilling to cooperate with that part of her brain. The hairs on the back of her neck were tingling with trepidation and all her muscles were fraught with tension as she took a second glance around the room.
Swallowing hard to hydrate her throat, Kerry was about to attempt to call for help when the overhead lights suddenly kicked into action, lighting up the room so brightly that the doctor had to blink harshly at the change. It took her a moment to realise that Chris was still standing behind her. Her overloaded senses had forgotten that she hadn't entered the room alone and she felt relief flood through her when she realised she wasn't by herself. She turned to face him and, when faced with his obvious confusion, struggled to explain the situation.
Chris took a step past her and glanced around the room in confusion, taking in the sight of the empty beds.
"Kerry? What's going on? Has he been moved?"
The doctor was at a lost for words. Could he have been moved? She had to admit it was an obvious possibility. But when she had left for her meeting earlier that evening she had been led to believe that it would be a good hour before Carter was moved due to a lack of private rooms.
Surely if Carter had been moved then someone would have informed her. She had her pager, they knew she would be in Romano's office they could have left a message. She felt anger build inside her at the fact that no one at the desk had been bothered to inform her of Carter's room change. Did they not think she would be concerned? Being the ER chief as well as Carter's friend it was important to keep her up to date with matters such as this.
Kerry turned back to face Chris, trying to rearrange her features into something vaguely like composure. "I'm sorry about this Chris. Carter must have been moved whilst I was upstairs. I need to go back to the desk and find out where he is. If he has gone upstairs then I'm sure that the guard will be with him. I'll locate him then you can go upstairs and speak to him."
Kerry crutched quickly down the hallway to the admit desk feeling her anger build with every step. When she turned the corner and approached the desk she paused as she took in her colleagues standing there chatting. They were all acting like nothing had happened and it reminded her so much of the Valentine's Day party that she struggled to contain her anger. What were they thinking? A friend of theirs had been hurt and they were acting as if nothing had happened. She quickly moved towards the group, clamping her hand around her crutch with a vicious force.
"Why am I not told of what's happening in my own ER? I make the decisions around here so why am I kept out of the loop? I came straight to the desk after my meeting upstairs so where was the update? Where was the message to tell me that Carter had been moved?" She stared hard at their faces trying to ascertain that there was no doubt they understood her anger.
Taking a step closer to the board she grabbed at a random pen and used it to point to where Carter's name was written.
"Why on earth is Carter's name still on the board if he is upstairs?"
She could feel the shock and confusion ebbing from her colleagues but it felt good to let it out. She wanted to make it clear that there would never be a repeat performance of tonight. Yet as she concentrated on that thought she realised they had been a repeat performance, just not of the show in front of her. She recognised with subsiding anger that Carter had been hurt again because of an incident in the ER, and she hadn't been there again.
She slowly began to understand that it was unfair of her to take it out on her colleagues. They had been here and helped their friend when he needed it. Seeing Carter hurt again must have affected all of his colleagues in some way and this is how they always dealt with it - together. Her problem was that she didn't want to keep reliving this feeling of lack of control. She was in charge, it was her responsibility to take care of her staff and not allow anything else to happen to them.
When it came down to it she comprehended that she was angry because their actions were contributing to this feeling. If she wasn't informed of what was happening how could she protect them?
Quickly turning around before she exacerbated the situation, Kerry grabbed at the nearest telephone in order to phone upstairs and find out exactly what was going on.
***
As he watched the night nurse inject a dose of morphine into Carter's catheter, Charles Smith struggled to contain his temper at the recent events. When he had arrived at the doctor's room downstairs earlier that evening he could not believe his luck at finding that there was no Security on the room. Plus there had been the added bonus of none of the department employees recognising him. Not that he had been surprised. Before he had been fired he had worked in the Psychiatric ward of the hospital and so he had little dealings with the ER.
He was only grateful that he had thought ahead and made a detour to collect his work uniform so that he could blend in at the hospital.
With such recent fortune Smith just could not believe the way things were now turning out. Why couldn't they have waited just a little longer to bring the doctor upstairs? He had overheard the nurses say that the morphine that they were giving him would knock him out for the night. As they had put it "make him comfortable." It had made his blood boil to hear them say that and he had almost lost his temper right there and then. Why should that doctor be made comfortable? He didn't deserve it. Plus it meant that he would have to wait until near morning before the doctor would be conscious enough to explain what had happened with his mother.
"There you go Dr Carter. That will help with the pain."
The sound of the nurse's voice brought Smith quickly back from his musing. Snapping his head up, he quickly stepped away from the door so the nurse could get past.
"Would you like me to get you a chair seeing as how you will be here a while?" The young nurse asked politely.
Smiling his thanks at her, Smith watched her retreating form until she was out of sight before returning his fiery gaze to the bed. Sooner or later he knew his recently acquired luck was going to run out, and when that time came he would never find out the truth.
He glanced around the room then at the neighbouring hallway trying to think what to do. He needed a plan, fast.
***
"Ok thank you."
As she replaced the phone into it's cradle Kerry tried to make her body feel the relief she knew she should be experiencing. Carter was fine and upstairs with a guard on his room, so why did she still feel a sense of worry? Maybe she should go check on Carter just to convince herself. She did need a break so she could go visit Carter then make a detour to the cafeteria.
Placing her hand back into the handle of her crutch Kerry was about to leave the desk when she saw Benton approaching her. Whatever he wanted she knew it had to be serious from the intense look on his face.
"Peter what's wrong?" She asked concerned.
"Kerry do you have a minute?" He asked ignoring the man to her left.
Kerry glanced at Chris for a moment before replying. "Well I was about to go upstairs and check on Carter."
Chris waved his hand dismissively at her. "Kerry it's fine. I will go up now and check everything's ok and meet you up there."
Kerry frowned, feeling like she was letting him down. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, not a problem. I'll see you up there." The head of security headed off towards the elevators before pausing for a moment and returning to the two doctors.
"Say you didn't catch the guards name at all did you?"
Kerry thought for a moment and realised the guard had never introduced himself. "No sorry Chris I didn't"
Chris shrugged good-naturally before resuming his path to the elevator. "It's ok. I'll find out when I get up there."
As Benton watched the retreating figure of the guard he wondered what he had been doing with Kerry. "Kerry is everything ok? Has something happened?"
"Oh no, Chris just wanted to make sure that the security was adequate for Carter. And I just wanted to go upstairs and make sure Carter's ok for myself. I'm probably just being paranoid. I need some coffee anyway why don't we go to the lounge?"
At Benton's nod of agreement Kerry made a start for the lounge. As she pushed the door open she wearily glanced at her watch and noting the time, realised that her shift had ended some time ago and that she had to be back on in a few hours. She would have laughed at the thought if she had had the energy.
As the surgeon sat himself down in pretty much the same position he had been a few minutes ago Kerry crutched over to the counter to pour herself a cup of much needed coffee. She had been surviving on the dark liquid for most of the day and night and said a silent prayer that she had not come across any medical studies which reported that the human body could develop an immunity to caffeine.
She turned slightly and raised the pot at Benton to see if he wanted any but he only shook his head in response and waited for her to sit down.
"I heard you spoke to Romano earlier." Benton stated, breaking the silence between the two doctors.
Kerry glanced at him questioningly before returning her gaze to her cup. "The ER grapevine is still as effective as ever."
"Romano has been on my back about my absence from work today." He clenched his fists together tightly in anger as he thought back to the conversation with the Chief of Staff. "With all that has happened today that is the only thing he can focus on."
"I wish that I could focus on something else. Kerry I've been going over and over what happened out there but I'm still none the wiser about what happened in here." Benton paused to glance hard at Kerry, hoping to receive the answers he so desperately craved.
Kerry sighed deeply knowing what it was like to be kept out of the loop.
"I spoke with Luka and Randi earlier. Apparently Carter treated a terminal cancer patient today who hadn't told her son that she had a DNR order. She died before her son could see her and he couldn't understand why we unable to do anything except make her comfortable. He took his anger and grief out on Carter"
Benton could only shake his head in amazement as he pictured what Kerry was describing to him. "Unbelievable."
"I know. I'm just glad that you were there. I dread to think what else this Smith character would have done to Carter if you hadn't have saved him. I'm going upstairs now to see him, why don't you go home and take a well-earned rest. Carter is going to be fine. Plus it wouldn't surprise me if Romano has signed you up for surgery tomorrow.
Benton chuckled wearily at the thought. "Neither would I."
Kerry gave him a tired but reassuring smile and patted his shoulder gently. "Peter go home, Carter's safe here."
Hide and Seek Part 12
The silence was the first thing to hit her, and it was almost deafening. She comprehended the absurdity of that thought straightaway because how can a space devoid of noise create a sound so loud it causes her to cringe? The limited lighting provided by the hallway was casting an eerie glow to the room and it meant that Kerry had to squint slightly to see inside. She quickly scanned the whole room in a fit of desperation trying to convince herself that her eyes must be deceiving her. Why was the room empty? It didn't make any sense. Surely if something had happened then the guard would have alerted somebody.
This is not like last time. They had taken precautions. They had not left him alone.
She repeated the mantra over and over in her head, as she stood there frozen, unsure as to what to do. Somewhere deep at the back of her mind she understood that she should be doing something, anything at that moment but her body was unwilling to cooperate with that part of her brain. The hairs on the back of her neck were tingling with trepidation and all her muscles were fraught with tension as she took a second glance around the room.
Swallowing hard to hydrate her throat, Kerry was about to attempt to call for help when the overhead lights suddenly kicked into action, lighting up the room so brightly that the doctor had to blink harshly at the change. It took her a moment to realise that Chris was still standing behind her. Her overloaded senses had forgotten that she hadn't entered the room alone and she felt relief flood through her when she realised she wasn't by herself. She turned to face him and, when faced with his obvious confusion, struggled to explain the situation.
Chris took a step past her and glanced around the room in confusion, taking in the sight of the empty beds.
"Kerry? What's going on? Has he been moved?"
The doctor was at a lost for words. Could he have been moved? She had to admit it was an obvious possibility. But when she had left for her meeting earlier that evening she had been led to believe that it would be a good hour before Carter was moved due to a lack of private rooms.
Surely if Carter had been moved then someone would have informed her. She had her pager, they knew she would be in Romano's office they could have left a message. She felt anger build inside her at the fact that no one at the desk had been bothered to inform her of Carter's room change. Did they not think she would be concerned? Being the ER chief as well as Carter's friend it was important to keep her up to date with matters such as this.
Kerry turned back to face Chris, trying to rearrange her features into something vaguely like composure. "I'm sorry about this Chris. Carter must have been moved whilst I was upstairs. I need to go back to the desk and find out where he is. If he has gone upstairs then I'm sure that the guard will be with him. I'll locate him then you can go upstairs and speak to him."
Kerry crutched quickly down the hallway to the admit desk feeling her anger build with every step. When she turned the corner and approached the desk she paused as she took in her colleagues standing there chatting. They were all acting like nothing had happened and it reminded her so much of the Valentine's Day party that she struggled to contain her anger. What were they thinking? A friend of theirs had been hurt and they were acting as if nothing had happened. She quickly moved towards the group, clamping her hand around her crutch with a vicious force.
"Why am I not told of what's happening in my own ER? I make the decisions around here so why am I kept out of the loop? I came straight to the desk after my meeting upstairs so where was the update? Where was the message to tell me that Carter had been moved?" She stared hard at their faces trying to ascertain that there was no doubt they understood her anger.
Taking a step closer to the board she grabbed at a random pen and used it to point to where Carter's name was written.
"Why on earth is Carter's name still on the board if he is upstairs?"
She could feel the shock and confusion ebbing from her colleagues but it felt good to let it out. She wanted to make it clear that there would never be a repeat performance of tonight. Yet as she concentrated on that thought she realised they had been a repeat performance, just not of the show in front of her. She recognised with subsiding anger that Carter had been hurt again because of an incident in the ER, and she hadn't been there again.
She slowly began to understand that it was unfair of her to take it out on her colleagues. They had been here and helped their friend when he needed it. Seeing Carter hurt again must have affected all of his colleagues in some way and this is how they always dealt with it - together. Her problem was that she didn't want to keep reliving this feeling of lack of control. She was in charge, it was her responsibility to take care of her staff and not allow anything else to happen to them.
When it came down to it she comprehended that she was angry because their actions were contributing to this feeling. If she wasn't informed of what was happening how could she protect them?
Quickly turning around before she exacerbated the situation, Kerry grabbed at the nearest telephone in order to phone upstairs and find out exactly what was going on.
***
As he watched the night nurse inject a dose of morphine into Carter's catheter, Charles Smith struggled to contain his temper at the recent events. When he had arrived at the doctor's room downstairs earlier that evening he could not believe his luck at finding that there was no Security on the room. Plus there had been the added bonus of none of the department employees recognising him. Not that he had been surprised. Before he had been fired he had worked in the Psychiatric ward of the hospital and so he had little dealings with the ER.
He was only grateful that he had thought ahead and made a detour to collect his work uniform so that he could blend in at the hospital.
With such recent fortune Smith just could not believe the way things were now turning out. Why couldn't they have waited just a little longer to bring the doctor upstairs? He had overheard the nurses say that the morphine that they were giving him would knock him out for the night. As they had put it "make him comfortable." It had made his blood boil to hear them say that and he had almost lost his temper right there and then. Why should that doctor be made comfortable? He didn't deserve it. Plus it meant that he would have to wait until near morning before the doctor would be conscious enough to explain what had happened with his mother.
"There you go Dr Carter. That will help with the pain."
The sound of the nurse's voice brought Smith quickly back from his musing. Snapping his head up, he quickly stepped away from the door so the nurse could get past.
"Would you like me to get you a chair seeing as how you will be here a while?" The young nurse asked politely.
Smiling his thanks at her, Smith watched her retreating form until she was out of sight before returning his fiery gaze to the bed. Sooner or later he knew his recently acquired luck was going to run out, and when that time came he would never find out the truth.
He glanced around the room then at the neighbouring hallway trying to think what to do. He needed a plan, fast.
***
"Ok thank you."
As she replaced the phone into it's cradle Kerry tried to make her body feel the relief she knew she should be experiencing. Carter was fine and upstairs with a guard on his room, so why did she still feel a sense of worry? Maybe she should go check on Carter just to convince herself. She did need a break so she could go visit Carter then make a detour to the cafeteria.
Placing her hand back into the handle of her crutch Kerry was about to leave the desk when she saw Benton approaching her. Whatever he wanted she knew it had to be serious from the intense look on his face.
"Peter what's wrong?" She asked concerned.
"Kerry do you have a minute?" He asked ignoring the man to her left.
Kerry glanced at Chris for a moment before replying. "Well I was about to go upstairs and check on Carter."
Chris waved his hand dismissively at her. "Kerry it's fine. I will go up now and check everything's ok and meet you up there."
Kerry frowned, feeling like she was letting him down. "Are you sure?"
"Yeah, not a problem. I'll see you up there." The head of security headed off towards the elevators before pausing for a moment and returning to the two doctors.
"Say you didn't catch the guards name at all did you?"
Kerry thought for a moment and realised the guard had never introduced himself. "No sorry Chris I didn't"
Chris shrugged good-naturally before resuming his path to the elevator. "It's ok. I'll find out when I get up there."
As Benton watched the retreating figure of the guard he wondered what he had been doing with Kerry. "Kerry is everything ok? Has something happened?"
"Oh no, Chris just wanted to make sure that the security was adequate for Carter. And I just wanted to go upstairs and make sure Carter's ok for myself. I'm probably just being paranoid. I need some coffee anyway why don't we go to the lounge?"
At Benton's nod of agreement Kerry made a start for the lounge. As she pushed the door open she wearily glanced at her watch and noting the time, realised that her shift had ended some time ago and that she had to be back on in a few hours. She would have laughed at the thought if she had had the energy.
As the surgeon sat himself down in pretty much the same position he had been a few minutes ago Kerry crutched over to the counter to pour herself a cup of much needed coffee. She had been surviving on the dark liquid for most of the day and night and said a silent prayer that she had not come across any medical studies which reported that the human body could develop an immunity to caffeine.
She turned slightly and raised the pot at Benton to see if he wanted any but he only shook his head in response and waited for her to sit down.
"I heard you spoke to Romano earlier." Benton stated, breaking the silence between the two doctors.
Kerry glanced at him questioningly before returning her gaze to her cup. "The ER grapevine is still as effective as ever."
"Romano has been on my back about my absence from work today." He clenched his fists together tightly in anger as he thought back to the conversation with the Chief of Staff. "With all that has happened today that is the only thing he can focus on."
"I wish that I could focus on something else. Kerry I've been going over and over what happened out there but I'm still none the wiser about what happened in here." Benton paused to glance hard at Kerry, hoping to receive the answers he so desperately craved.
Kerry sighed deeply knowing what it was like to be kept out of the loop.
"I spoke with Luka and Randi earlier. Apparently Carter treated a terminal cancer patient today who hadn't told her son that she had a DNR order. She died before her son could see her and he couldn't understand why we unable to do anything except make her comfortable. He took his anger and grief out on Carter"
Benton could only shake his head in amazement as he pictured what Kerry was describing to him. "Unbelievable."
"I know. I'm just glad that you were there. I dread to think what else this Smith character would have done to Carter if you hadn't have saved him. I'm going upstairs now to see him, why don't you go home and take a well-earned rest. Carter is going to be fine. Plus it wouldn't surprise me if Romano has signed you up for surgery tomorrow.
Benton chuckled wearily at the thought. "Neither would I."
Kerry gave him a tired but reassuring smile and patted his shoulder gently. "Peter go home, Carter's safe here."
