In the Bleak Midwinter

Coldest. Day. Ever.

In an unusual dip of the mercury, the temperature dropped to thirty below zero. The gusts of wind that belted the city through the night died down, leaving only a horrible frost and snowdrifts.

The ER had been flooded with frozen homeless people suffering from frostbite and hypothermia. What a way to ring in the New Year.

It was six in the morning. Ceila made her way past hordes of frostbitten patients.

"Dr. Romano, I need an actual doctor to treat these people."

Romano looked annoyed, irritated and cold. He wondered where the hell everybody was.

"As loathe as I am to treat the great unwashed, I see for now that I have no choice."

He tried to hold his ground amid the flopping masses. He was definitely annoyed.

"Could you kindly tell me where the hell everybody is?!"

"Dr. Kovac is still doing his ride-along penance, Dr. Corday is having some kind of childcare trouble and I have no idea where anyone else is," Ceila answered.

"Would that include nurses?" Romano asked.

Ceila nodded uneasily.

Romano signed a chart and sighed heavily.

"Well, you're in charge of the ER then."

Ceila gaped.

"What?! I can't...!"

Romano stopped her.

"Can is the first word in "Canadian", am I right?"

Ceila rolled her eyes.

"You don't really expect me to."

"You're the only one here, so, yes, I expect you to hold the fort," Romano answered. "Hopefully, it won't be for long and I promise you, your endurance and professionalism will be rewarded with the best treat I feel like shelling out for."

He started to walk away but uttered a curious witticism.

"You know- you're like those huskies, you know- the ones with blue
eyes. I should reward you with fresh salmon."

"Oh, would you?!" Ceila sarcastically plumbed.

Romano stopped before he got onto the elevator.

"Your job right now is to track down our errant staff. That is how you can be in charge."

"What about the patients?" Ceila asked.

"Keep them waiting in chairs," Romano ordered.

Romano pressed a button for a floor.

"I have to be back in the surgical theatre. Page me only- I mean only- if it is an emergency." Ceila could only watch as Romano left her to tend to an entire ward.

** The rig pulled up to a decrepit bungalow.

Luka and a paramedic jumped out and grabbed their gear.

"How long has she been there?" Luka asked.

The paramedic shook his head.

"I dunno. This is a bad neighbourhood so nobody notices anything unless it's on fire. But a neighbour noticed mail piling up so she thought she'd call us."

"Considerate of her," Luka commented.

"Yeah, right," the paramedic huffed in disbelief.

"Come on, Ru(z," Luka addressed the paramedic.

The two men trudged through knee-deep snow up to the bungalow's entrance. They made it to the door.

Luka tried to open the door.

"It's stuck."

He looked at the bottom of the door. It was completely iced over.

"She has been here for too long," Luka concluded.

Ru(z looked around the side of the bungalow.

"A water-pipe might be broken," he assumed.

"In the house?" Luka asked.

"Looks like it," Ru(z said.

"If she's collapsed, she may be wet as well as cold," Luka surmised.

"Wait here," Ru(z said and he ran back to the rig.

He came back with a blowtorch.

Luka raised a curious brow.

"If you have any better ideas, Dr. Kovac.." Ru(z asked, knowing full well the tall doctor probably had none.

"Go ahead!" Luka invited.

Ru(z ignited the spark and started to melt the ice at the bottom of the door. With a big push, Ru(z opened the door.

"I'm in."

Luka carefully made his way into the house. There were old newspapers and other bits of rubbish iced to the floor.

"You're right," Luka concurred. "A water-pipe was broken."

"From the bathroom, maybe," Ru(z guessed.

The men heard moaning coming from the other room. They made their way carefully to the room where they heard the moans. In the kitchen, an elderly woman lay immobile on her side. She wore only a thin nightgown and slippers. Her skin was grey. A thin stream of blood was on the right side of her head. Luka and Ru(z fell to their knees and crawled to her.

"Madame!" Luka cried out. "Can you hear me?"

The woman only moaned.

"I'm so cold."

Luka and Ru(z touched her.

Luka gaped.

"She's frozen to the floor!"

"You've got to be shitting me!" Ru(z exclaimed.

Luka started pounding a thin layer of ice under the woman with his fist.

"Forget it!" Ru(z negated. "We've got to melt it with the torch!"

"No!" Luka refused. "You'll burn her!"

"No, I won't!" Ru(z denied and crawled to get his blowtorch.

Luka touched the old woman's head.

"What is your name?"

"Hester," she answered in a weak voice.

"We're going to take you to a hospital, Hester," Luka promised.

Luka observed the dark bruise on Hester's face.

"What happened?"

"The water.." Hester moaned.

"Yes, yes," Luka nodded.

Ru(z returned with his blowtorch.

Luka gazed steadily at him.

"I'll keep the flame low," Ru(z promised.

Ru(z now turned his attention to Hester.

"Ma'am, I'm going to try to free you. I don't want you to move, okay?"

Ru(z started to melt the ice carefully.

Luka could barely feel his fingers.

"Hurry."

Ru(z stayed focussed on his task at hand.

"I'm getting there."

"Please," Hester said in a weak voice. " I'm so cold."

"We're nearly there," Luka assured her.

Ru(z turned off the torch.

"Done! I'll get a C-collar."

Hester tried to kick.

"Don't move, Hester," Luka warned her.

Luka turned to Ru(z.

"She has deep bruises on the right side of her face and shoulder, as well as fractures of the orbital bones and scapula."

Ru(z returned with the C-collar and placed it carefully around Hester's neck.

"She also exhibits signs of hypothermia and second-degree frostbite," Luka added. "Inhalation re-warming is our first course."

"I have heat pads in the rig," Ru(z said.

The men lifted Hester onto a stretcher and carefully lifted her outside.

Ru(z wrapped a blanket around the woman.

"I can't believe you were all by yourself, Hester!" Ru(z huffed. "You're a brave lady."

"I want to get warm," Hester declared. "Do you have some tea?"

Luka smiled.

"There is a nurse at the hospital who has all kinds of tea. She'll take care of you."

**

Ceila tried to speak into the phone as the din in the ER rose higher.

"Gallant, please say you're working today," she pleaded.

Gallant motioned to someone in his unit that he would only be a minute.

"I can't come in," he regretted. "My unit needs me here at the base."

"Shit!" Ceila cussed and ran her hand to the back of her head.

"Sorry," Gallant apologized. "I guess it's just you and the rest of the docs."

Ceila huffed.

"No, it's just me."

Gallant was incredulous.

"Really?"

"Yeah," she moaned. "Thanks. Stay loose."

With that, Ceila hung up.

The din and stress were mounting. Ceila made her way to the middle of the waiting area. "Would everyone please listen to me?!"

It was still unbelievably noisy. Ceila grabbed an emesis bin and beat it against the wall. Now there was adequate silence.

"Anyone who has pink to dark purple discoloration and chapping of their skin, please stand over there," she directed to the far left side of the waiting area. "You, no doubt, have frostbite."

An impatient man huffed.

"We do or we don't? Are you a doctor or what?"

Ceila glared the man into submission.

"No, I'm, an enforcer, dingus! Now move your ass!"

Ceila resumed her litany.

"People with chest pains, sit here please. People with breathing problems, excluding the common cold, sit right here. People with other problems, please, sit in the middle. Someone will be with you as soon as they can."

The telephone at the admittance desk rang.

Ceila ran and answered it.

"Hello. County General Hospital. How can I help you?"

"Ceila!" Luka puffed. "Where is everyone?"

"It's just me and Romano for now," she explained. "He's trying to save a heart patient." Luka cussed to himself.

"I can't believe it! Look- get Romano and prepare to receive an elderly patient with hypothermia and a broken shoulder."

Ceila nodded.

"Will do."

Luka hung up.

Ceila dialled a number and called Romano.

"Dr. Romano, you're needed."

**

Luka and Ru(z wheeled in Hester. Ceila met them at the door and helped move the woman to Trauma Room one.

"You can't reach anyone?" Luka queried.

Ceila shook her head.

"Nope."

She looked at her watch.

"It's six-forty-five now. Drs. Pratt and Chen should be here by seven."

Luka shook his head. That simply would not do.

"They need to be here now."

Luka and Ceila started to re-warm Hester. Luka ordered x-rays.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Luka. I've been pulling triple duty by being the desk help, resident student nurse and enforcer. I haven't been able to reach them yet."

Luka and Ru(z raised curious brows.

"Enforcer, huh?" Ru(z wondered.

"Don't get her angry!" Luka joked.

Luka started to treat Hester's other injuries.

"Can I have some tea?" Hester asked as Luka prepared to set her broken bones. "The doctor said I could have some."

Luka gave Ceila an approving look.

"Okay," Ceila answered Hester. "I have orange pekoe, lemon, mint, jujube, green tea."

"Just orange pekoe, please," the woman tried to smile.

"When Dr. Kovac is finished with you, then I'll get you some tea," Ceila smiled.

Ru(z prepared to leave.

"Ya coming?"

Luka wrapped his stethoscope about his neck.

"I can't," he refused. "I'm needed here."

Ru(z nodded.

"I hear that. I'll get to Caruthers to cover for you."

Luka nodded.

"Thank you."

Ru(z smiled.

Wouldna met ya, wouldna know ya, Doc!"

Luka smiled in return as Ru(z left the trauma room.

Ceila started an IV for Hester.

"Won't Dr. Weaver be mad at you?"

Luka shrugged.

"I suppose she will."

Both of them laughed.

The impromptu laughter stopped when Romano burst through the door.

"Kowalski, stop flirting and get your tight ass over here!"

Ceila scowled.

"I need her here!" Luka snapped.

Romano shook his head.

"The old lady's stable. This kid isn't."

Ceila cast a quick look at Luka.

"Go!" he ordered and off she went

In Trauma Room two, a young child lay immobile on the gurney. Her mother watched over her helplessly.

"What happened?" Ceila asked.

"She got outside," the mother tearfully explained.

Ceila placed a gown on.

"Alright, ma'am, you'll have to wait outside."

The woman was shocked.

"No! Let me stay!"

Ceila turned to her.

"We need to work. Please."

The woman stumbled out of the room, never taking her eyes off of her child.

Romano started to treat the child.

"How does a five-year-old wander outside without her parents' knowing?"

"You'd be surprised," Ceila answered.

"Okay, pop quiz, Hot Shot," Romano queried, "How do we proceed with treatment?"

"Core re-warming and an O2 mask of warm, moist air," Ceila answered.

"Yeah," Romano nodded. "Anything else?"

"Warm IV fluids of dextrose/saline but no drugs until the core temperature is above thirty-two degrees Celsius."

Romano applied the O2 mask to the child.

"Ding! Ding! Ding! Monty, tell her what she's won!"

Ceila grinned at Romano's levity.

Romano and Ceila started a warm solution for the child.

"There are med students who couldn't give me so quick and precise an answer," he went on. "You should consider being a GP or, better yet, a surgeon. Don't waste your life with the proles."

Ceila half-smiled.

"I think I like where I am, Dr. Romano."

"Pity," he muttered. "You'd be missing an opportunity to practise real medicine, and think of the perks! A salary with several zeroes."

Ceila raised a rhetorical brow.

"Is money everything?"

I'm going to forget you said that," Romano snapped as he treated the child. "A good parking space."

Ceila perked up.

"Well, now you're talking."

"And don't forget the golfing," Romano added. "If you like that sort of thing."

Ceila shook her head.

"Not really."

"Well, then, backgammon," Romano supplied. "Whatever turns your crank."

Ceila looked at the monitor.

"BP gradually climbing. Body temp at twenty degrees."

Romano concurred with the results.

"She's improving. Lucky for her. Maybe there will be no brain damage."

"Should I call Neurology?" Ceila asked.

"Wait and see," Romano advised. "She's responding well. It doesn't look like she's been out for long. Look at her skin. She's pale and very little sign of frostbite."

Ceila looked at the child's feet.

"A little on her toes," she observed. "Was she dressed up when she came in?"

Romano nodded.

"She had her bed clothes on. What do you call them? The one-piece suit thing. Never mind. The mom caught her just in time."

"Good," Ceila nodded. "She's improving quickly."

Ceila checked the child's pupil.

"I don't think I could take the meetings."

Romano looked from the monitor.

"Sorry?"

Ceila looked at him.

"I said I don't think I could take the meetings. All the official business and formalities."

Romano huffed.

"Let me level with you- the meetings are a myth."

Ceila grinned wickedly.

"Really? Get behind me, Satan!"

Romano affected his patented evil look.

"I knew you'd like it."

Romano removed his gloves and tossed them away.

"I want you to monitor her and let me know the second she wakes up."

"What will you tell the mother?" Ceila asked.

"That it looks like she'll pull through," Romano answered.

Romano pulled away his gown.

"Now, to treat the tired, the poor and the unwashed masses yearning to breathe in taxpayer-paid oxygen."

Ceila wondered at his snark.

"Even the great unwashed need medical care, Dr. Romano."

Romano rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, I guess."

Ceila laughed a little.

"Has anyone ever told you that they liked you?"

"Not that I'm aware of," he stodgily admitted.

Ceila smiled.

"Someone has now."

"I'll make a note of it, Kowalski," Romano said. "And keep an eye on that kid!"

** Seven AM.

Chen looked at her watch and kicked the floorboard of Pratt's car.

"We are so late!"

Pratt merely gripped the steering wheel and peered at the immense car pile- up out of the frosted windshield.

"Yeah, well, nobody else is moving, either, so we'll be late together."

Chen simply rolled her eyes.

"At least Weaver the Cleaver isn't working this morning."

Pratt grinned at her snipe.

"The last thing I need is to hear that nasal, high-pitched bark of her's!" Chen fumed.

"Jing-mei, you're late! I'm docking your pay!" she mimicked Kerry.

Pratt laughed.

"That sounds just like her!"

The mirth died down a little. Pratt hit the steering wheel forcelessly and wondered what was going on.

"Something's up."

He rolled down his window and flagged a police officer that was monitoring the stopped traffic.

"Hey! What's the hold-up?"

The police officer approached Pratt.

"A broken water-main."

The police officer's walkie-talkie buzzed. He answered it.

"This is Officer Rickman. We need an ambulance on the corner of North Wabash Avenue."

Chen reached over Pratt.

"Officer, what is it?"

"A man is having a heart attack," he answered.

Chen unfastened her seatbelt.

"I'm a doctor," she put in. "I can help."

She opened the passenger side door.

"Greg, call County."

Pratt shook his head.

"There's no way they'll get an ambulance through this!"

Chen slammed the door.

"They'll have to!"

Chen ran along side Officer Rickman.

"Where is he?"

Rickman pointed several metres ahead of the pile-up.

"Up here."

Chen and Rickman stopped at a middle-aged woman crouched over a man.

"Ma'am, this woman is a doctor," Rickman explained.

The middle-aged woman was crying.

"He hates traffic build-up," she sobbed. "We normally take the el."

Chen knelt to examine the man.

"Does he have a heart condition? Is he taking medication?"

"My husband just takes Digoxin," the woman cried.

Chen appreciated no breath or cardiac sounds.

"Dammit!" she cussed under her breath.

She started compressions.

**

Pratt pulled out his cell phone and called County General.

A deep voice answered the phone.

"Hello?"

Pratt was puzzled.

"Who is this?"

"It's Kovac," Luka answered.

"Where the hell is Randi?" Pratt spat.

"Where are you?" Luka returned. "We need doctors and nurses here now!"

Pratt sighed heavily.

"Look, we're stuck because of a broken water main. We were on our way when it happened. That's not important now. There's a guy in full cardiac arrest."

"Stabilize him and bring him in," Luka ordered.

Pratt rolled his eyes.

"How the hell can we bring him in with this car pile-up?"

"Find a way," Luka said and hung up.

Pratt, likewise, disconnected. He cussed to himself. He got out of the car and ran to Chen. She was performed CPR on the downed man. Chen gave him a quick look.

"I can't feel my hands," she revealed. "We need to get him to a hospital."

Pratt could only look at her.

"I just hope an ambulance can get through this pile-up."

Pratt turned to Rickman.

"Is there any way to clear some of this traffic? Just enough for an ambulance to get through?"

Rickman threw his hands in the air

"How? Would you like me to clear an entire sidewalk?"

Pratt returned his frustration with impatience.

"If that's what it takes, yeah! Unless you want to carry this man on your back, I suggest you find a way!"

Rickman wouldn't argue. He got on his walkie-talkie and tried to negotiate a solution.

Pratt knelt next to the man.

"Let me take over."

Chen backed away and let Pratt resume compressions.

"I wish I brought my med bag," she wished.

Pratt now looked at his watch.

"He's been down for nearly ten minutes."

"Keep trying," Chen implored.

Rickman ran back.

"If you can move him to the side street just down here, then we can transport him."

Pratt nodded.

"How do we move him?" Chen asked.

Rickman grinned and pulled a sled he had dragged behind him.

"A neighbourhood kid was good enough to let me borrow it for a minute."

Chen couldn't believe the dumb luck.

"Whatever works!"

Pratt and Rickman carefully lifted the man onto the sled. Pratt now turned to Chen and tossed her his car keys.

"You'll have to move my car."

Chen scowled.

"He's my patient!"

"If you can move him, then he's all yours," Pratt returned.

Chen had to relent.

The man's wife grabbed Pratt's arm.

"Can I come? Please?"

Pratt nodded.

"Come on."

The woman followed Pratt and Rickman to an ambulance waiting on a side street.

Chen watched them. Traffic slowly moved and started to disperse.

**

Pratt wheeled his patient in. Luka met him at the door.

"What's open?" he asked.

"Trauma Room one," Luka answered. "Do you need help?"

"I'm good," Pratt replied. "We got him back on the sled."

Luka was baffled.

"Long story," Pratt sighed.

Luka shrugged off the puzzlement.

"Where is Dr. Chen?"

"She's coming, if the traffic moves," Pratt assumed.

**

Ceila continued to watch her young patient all the while trying to convince her friend, Jeff, to forego his day off and cover for a couple of hours.

"Don't you think Rosie would be better off here, just in case she goes into labour? Well, it looks like she may be well ahead of the game, Jeff, so you're stuck."

She rolled her soft blue eyes.

"Well, whatever. Where's Jeff? Duh! Of course the other one! Really? When's he coming back? Aw, shag it! No, Jeff, the ER's not just fucked, it's a different level of fucked!"

Ceila noticed that the child's eyes started to flutter.

"Jeff, I have to go. Someone needs me."

Ceila hung up and went to the gurney. She touched the child's head.

"Hey?"

The girl opened her eyes.

Ceila smiled.

"Good to have you back."

The girl breathed heavily into the oxygen mask.

"Mommy!"

Ceila tried to soothe her.

"Your mum is outside. I'll go get her."

Ceila leaned out the door and called the child's mother.

"She's awake!"

The woman ran into the trauma room and hugged her child.

Ceila looked at them both and then left the trauma room without a sound.

Romano finished treating yet another frostbite victim.

"Is the kid awake?"

Ceila nodded.

"Yes. All signs are vital."

Romano nodded without looking at her.

"Good. Man the desk for a few. See if any of the miscreants who are supposed to work here are actually going to show up today. And you have my express permission not to take any crap from them."

Ceila rolled her eyes a little and sat behind the desk for another number- crunching phase.

**

Abby stepped lightly on the ice outside her apartment. As lightly as one could step when one was late for work.

She ran carefully to the el train. She scolded herself. She drank too much last night and now she was beyond late for work. She just hoped Carter would forgive her.

**

Eight AM.

Romano had to run upstairs (something about "that bastard Ferguson"), leaving Luka, and now Chen and Pratt, to hold down the fort. Things were getting a little better but the ER was still short of nurses and desk staff. Ceila had been running from the desk to either a trauma room or a suture room or a curtain and found that her patience was wearing thin. This was evident to a bundled-under blonde who stopped at the admittance desk.

"What do you mean heat stroke?" Ceila barked into the phone impatiently. "Oh, I see- a heat strike! Well, you know what I think a heat strike is? A heat strike is the mating call of somebody who has a stupid sense of entitlement! You know, half the world works in conditions that would be intolerable for dogs yet no one thinks twice about it! Now we have patients who need care and they need it now so you can either forget this "strike"- if you want to call it that- and come in, or I'll get scabs to replace you and not just any scabs but Canadian scabs who will not only work but do things properly!"

Ceila slammed down the phone.

"Excuse me!" the blonde addressed Ceila.

"Yes?" Ceila snapped impatiently.

"You've got patients backed up," the blonde observed.

Ceila did not need updates.

"Yes. I see that."

The woman tried to offer a suggestion.

"Well.. It might help if you..."

Ceila came out from the desk and stood face-to-face with the strange woman.

"What? If I try to clear the board, things would be better? Do you think I don't know that? What do you think I've been think I've been trying to do? I've been everybody's gopher since three in the morning! I've answered phones, ran errands and treated patients when there was other medical professional around! I'll tell you what I know right now! That man over there has congestive heart failure, those three over there have frostbite in their extremities. That woman's daughter has a fever and three babies have the croup. If you think you can do better, then do it!"

Ceila looked defeated. She spun around and crossed her arms, pouting.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to yell!"

The blonde woman only let out a chuckle.

"Don't worry about it! And I wasn't commenting on your ability to hold all of this together. Believe me- I've been through this! I totally know how you feel!"

Ceila turned around slowly.

"Really?"

The woman smiled and nodded.

"Yeah."

Ceila cleared her throat. She looked sorry she ever snapped.

"Do you have an appointment or something?"

The woman shook her head.

"No. Just popped in to say hello."

She peered at Ceila's name-badge.

"Cecilia?"

"Ceila," Ceila corrected. "Like keh-la. It's Gaelic. It means, "together". Not that I have my shit together right now, or anything. You know, I just need some tea."

"Why don't you just get some?" the woman suggested. "I'll watch things here."

Ceila shook her head.

"No. No, thank you. I have to.. you know, be here."

The woman started to remove her coat and sit behind the desk.

"Take off for a few minutes," she pushed. "I'll watch things. I was a doctor here. I know where everything's put. Just go."

Ceila shrugged slightly.

"Well.. I just have to get some tea. I'd be back in a couple of minutes."

The blonde woman waved her off.

"Go!"

Ceila smiled her gratitude and went to the lounge.

She could not deny she was grateful for a few minutes of peace and quiet. She had been on her feet for hours. She would just get a cup of tea and be right back.

Ceila's cell phone went off. She rummaged through her shoulderbag and answered it.

"Hello?"

"Kowalski?"

Ceila crossed her arms.

"How did you get this number?

"Never mind that!" the voice snapped. "Just get up to the el. I'm stuck."

Ceila was incredulous.

"Really?"

"Yeah," the unfavourably familiar voice intoned. "Really."

**

Ceila threw on her parka and ran to the el tracks that stopped outside of County General. She chugged up the steps. The el train, it seemed, was literally in medias res. It had stopped. Passengers tried to pry open the door or the window. Carter was one such passenger.

Ceila couldn't believe it. Her face bore a "the hell?" expression.

"Don't just stand there!" Carter cried with hands trying to pry open a window. "Give me a hand!"

Ceila pushed on the window. It was opened halfway and would not budge any more.

"This window could use some W-4," she commented. "You'll have to crawl out like this. I'll get a firefighter to jimmy this door open."

Carter tried to crawl out of the half-opened window of the el car. He gracelessly landed on the hard cement. He stood up trying to retain his dignity. Others clumsily followed suit.

"I heard this happened in Russia once," Ceila noted.

Carter dusted himself off.

"Yeah, well, I'm late because of this damn train! Who's on?"

"Dr. Kovac, Dr. Pratt, Chen and Romano," she answered. "No nurses but me. Oh! And a blonde doctor! She said she worked here before!"

A man rubbed his hand.

"I think I hurt my hand when I fell out," he pouted. "Can you do something?"

Ceila grabbed some ice from the roof of the train, handed it to the man and made her way along with Carter to the hospital. Carter grabbed on the railing so as not fall.

"What do you mean you think she is a doctor?" he asked.

Ceila shrugged.

"She said she was and that's good enough for me at this point."

Carter couldn't believe it.

"What? You just let anyone in because they say they are doctors? She could be an escaped lunatic for all we know!"

Ceila rolled her eyes far back into her skull.

"Fear not! You don't have to worry about that, Dr. Carter! Your metal detectors would have kept her out!"

Carter, incensed, spun his head to her and raised an angry finger.

"Don't you dare..!"

The blonde woman had approached Carter unawares.

"John?"

Carter stopped, his expression made softer by memory. Carter smiled at the familiar face.

"It's good to see you again, Anna."

**

Ceila broke away from Carter and his old friend (or flame). They looked genuinely happy to see one another, Ceila thought. She had since left them and went to retrieve her tea. On her way out of the lounge, she nearly bumped into Randi.

Ceila gaped.

"OH, thank GOD you're here!"

Randi just shivered.

"Please say you've got more of that in the lounge and that it's piping hot."

"Oh yeah," Ceila nodded.

Randi, too, thanked God and went into the lounge to help herself to some hot tea. Ceila re-entered the lounge.

"We are very short-staffed. You've got to man the desk."

Randi sipped the hot tea.

"That's why they pay me the small bucks."

Ceila grinned and returned to the admittance desk. Once again, she nearly ran into somebody. Abby emerged very quickly from the cold and ran to Carter, practically ignoring the woman he was speaking with.

"John, I am so sorry I was late!" Abby apologized. "You know, the weather and everything."

Carter could not believe her unawareness but chose to ignore it. He extended his hand to Anna.

"This is Anna Del Amico. An old friend," he explained.

Anna only smiled.

Abby tried to compose herself.

"Hello."

Anna swung out her hand.

"Hi."

Abby smiled awkwardly.

"I'm sure John's told you all kinds of bad stories about me."

Anna shook her head.

"No, he hasn't."

Carter looked a bit awkward.

"Well, you have to punch in before Kovac gets up on your grill about being late."

Carter and Anna left Abby.

"No, he wouldn't do that," Abby said out of earshot.

Abby turned to the lounge, shuffling as she went.

Ceila ran up to her.

"You are immensely late!"

Abby spun around to her and snapped.

"Sorry, Little Nurse Muffet! I'll never do it again!"

Ceila became nonchalant.

"WhatEVER! Don't get your back up because you are late and the entire hospital is short of nurses."

Abby ignored her and put her things away in her locker.

"Anyway," Ceila continued, "there are several patients who presented with frostbite and are now in various stages of treatment. There are also three children with croup, a man with congestive heart failure and is now being monitored. Dr. Kovac brought in an elderly woman with fractures and hypothermia. She has to be transported to Geriatrics. Abby, are you getting this?"

Abby did not look at her. She only folded her hands together.

"What's wrong?" Ceila asked.

Abby spun around.

"Nothing. Nothing at all."

**

Carter and Anna walked in and out of suture rooms, chatting as they went.

"I haven't heard from you in ages," Carter said.

"Well, you could have written, too!" Anna returned.

Carter shrugged.

"You know me! Work, work, work!"

Anna only looked at him.

"And you were attacked."

Carter froze.

"Yeah."

Anna was concerned.

"How are you? I mean- really?"

Carter formed and unformed fists.

"Just getting by. I have to."

Anna nodded.

"At least Weaver keeps you busy!" she joked.

Carter threw his head back and laughed.

"Yeah, she does!"

"That candy-striper up there is proof of that!" Anna noted.

Carter knew she meant Ceila.

"Oh! Kowalski? She's a student nurse, and she doesn't know the meaning of the word stress."

Anna couldn't believe it.

"Well, she looked wiped to me!"

Carter wrapped his stethoscope about his neck.

"She thinks jumping out of airplanes is good exercise. Trust me- she doesn't know the meaning of the word stress!"

**

Abby started her rounds very late. She shuffled along. Luka came out of a suture room.

"Abby, you're here!" he cried.

"Yep," she mumbled.

Luka approached her.

"You're very late."

"I know," she mumbled again.

"I should tell about the status of some of the patients," he offered.

"Don't bother," she refused. "Ceila already did."

Abby walked away from Luka. He raised his hands in mock defence, for fear she may bite his head off.

**

Randi chewed on a muffin and mumbled into the phone.

"Yeah, Kovac is here, looking all fine in a black turtleneck. Carter is here now. Chen and Pratt are, too. Yeah. Kowalski was, I guess. Yeah. Okay. Bye for now, Dr. Weaver."

Randi hung up the phone only to answer it again went it rang.

"County General. How can I help you? Oh, hi, Jeff! How's the wife? Oh! That soon, huh? Kowalski? Yeah. I'll see if she's around."

Randi toddled off to the lounge and tapped Ceila on the shoulder.

"Jeff's on line two."

Ceila picked up the phone and spoke.

"Hello? Jeff? What's the matter? You think you should bring Rosie in? She may not be due for another two weeks but it's better to bring her in if you think it's best."

Ceila's cell phone went off. She reached into her shoulderbag and screened the call. The monitor read unknown number. She impatiently shut the phone off.

"Okay. Jump the car and come down. I'll see if someone from OB can monitor her."

Ceila hung up and swallowed the last of her tea. It was time to get back to work.

**

Jeff pulled out a duffle bag from the closet and started to put a few things in. His eight-and-a-half months pregnant wife, Rosemary, waddled into the bedroom.

"I feel fine now," she said with her hand on her swollen belly. "Maybe it was one of those false contractions."

Jeff shrugged.

"Maybe. And maybe it's something else."

Rosemary smiled and walked over to her husband. She brushed her hand through his dark hair.

"You are a worrywart!"

Jeff spun his head to her.

"I am not!" he denied.

Rosemary only laughed.

"Yes you are! And you will stop smoking! It's definitely not good for the baby!"

Jeff was frustrated by her blasé attitude.

"What if something happens?! At least you'd have doctors near you."

Rosemary did not want to argue any more.

"I'll go for an hour. If they give me all-clear, I am out the door. There's stuff I have to do."

Jeff nodded and kissed his wife.

"That's all I ask, mikan."

**

Lizzie checked that Ella was secure in her baby seat and wrapped a blanket over her. She hushed her.

"Be still. We're going to the hospital today. Just for today, darling."

Lizzie started the car.

"You'll have so much fun with the other children."

"Santa," Ella mumbled.

Lizzie shook her head.

"No, Ella, Father Christmas is gone home. He'll back next year with lots of presents."

Lizzie adjusted the rear-view mirror and backed out of the garage.

"Here we go!"

**

Jeff gripped the steering wheel. He looked right and left.

"Damn light!" he cussed.

Rosemary had her head back on the headrest.

"We're nearly there, right?"

Jeff reached for her.

"Rosie?"

She breathed heavily.

"Good thing you were taking me to the hospital!"

Jeff slapped the dashboard.

"Shag the light! I'm running it!"

Rosemary shook her head.

"Don't! The last thing you need is some cop giving you grief!"

Jeff pressed his foot on the gas.

"Let him!"

Jeff had to brake suddenly. A pedestrian slapped the hood and marched the driver's side door. Jeff rolled down the window.

"I'm sorry!" Jeff quickly apologized. "You okay?"

"I might not be if you didn't stop, jerkass!" the toqued pedestrian shouted.

Jeff tried to contain his impatience.

"I've got to take my wife to the hospital!"

The pedestrian's look softened.

"Can I help? I'm a doctor."

Before Jeff could refuse, Rosemary cried out in pain.

"I'll take that as a yes!" the pedestrian said and climbed into Jeff's car.

The pedestrian slapped Jeff's headrest and pointed to the now green light.

"Get a move-on!"

Jeff couldn't believe the nerve of this stranger but Rosemary's pain was paramount to any potential fisticuffs.

"How far along are the contractions?" the pedestrian asked.

"Maybe about ten-fifteen minutes," Rosemary panted. "I thought they were false contractions."

The pedestrian shook his head.

"Nope. If your husband steps on the gas, you can get to County General before the kid is born."

"Done and done," Jeff said as he turned to the direction of the hospital.
**

Jeff and the pedestrian both carried Rosemary into the hospital. Abby ran to them with a wheelchair. She looked at the pedestrian, stunned.

"What are you doing here?"

The pedestrian returned her stunned look with a sarcastic one.

"What are you doing here? Do you work here or something?"

Abby ignored his snark and helped Rosemary into the wheelchair. She wheeled her to the elevator. Jeff ran along side them. He turned quickly.

"Hey! Thanks!"

They disappeared into the elevator. The pedestrian could only give a brief thumbs-up.

**

Luka stopped Ceila before she could take the elevator to the obstetrical ward.

"Where are you going?"

"McFarlane brought in his wife. She is having the baby now. That's where Abby is and I'm going to see them!" she panted.

Luka shook his head.

"You can't. You have to stay here. You're needed."

Ceila stamped her foot.

"But I want to see the baby! Everything here's fine!"

Luka took her by the wrist.

"You can see the baby later. Let's go!"

Ceila would not go easily.

"But I want to see the baby now!"

Luka huffed.

"You are a baby!"

"I am not!" she pouted.

Just then, Romano stamped out of the elevator. Luka and Ceila stopped their feud.

"Damn Ferguson!" he muttered.

He looked at his watch.

"Kowalski, it's eleven-twenty. If any of the soon-to-be-unemployed nurses shows up, you can take a hike!"

He marched into a trauma room without looking at either Luka or Ceila. The two of them shrugged. It had been a long day and it was not even noon yet.

**

Abby kept her voice low as she talked into her cell phone. The nursery was still half-filled with New Year's arrivals, Jeff and Rosemary's newborn son being among them.

"Yeah, I know, Conni, but things have cleared up a little so I think you can make it out. As far as I know, things in ER have settled down. No, I'm in the neonatal ward. McFarlane's wife had her baby. She had a little boy. Yeah."

Abby tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"Say again? Ceila threatened to replace you with Canadian scabs?"

Abby rolled her eyes with that bit of information.

"Yeah, well, maybe you should get down here fast. Romano and Weaver have taken her under their satanic wings and, for all we know, she's the Second Coming of.something evil."

**

It had just turned twelve. Susan had arrived and looked about. There were only a few patients waiting and the board looked clear. She spied an exhausted Luka coming out of a suture room.

"You look wiped!"

Luka smiled as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"I am very tired."

Susan smiled at him.

"At least you don't have to do ride-alongs any more."

Luka nodded fervently.

"Oh yes. Now I have only forced labour here!"

Susan chuckled at his joke.

"You guys held down the fort really well," she noticed.

"You mean only three people took care of over eighty patients?" Luka queried. "Yes, I suppose we held down the fort very well. If Kerry doesn't notice, then I don't know what to do!"

Susan understood his frustration.

"You're not the only who hasn't felt appreciated!"

Conni burst through the bay doors, shivering, despite the fact that she was incredibly bundled under. She removed her gloves as she charged into the lounge.

"If that skinny-ass kid called in some sub, I'll kill her!"

Susan and Luka shivered for Ceila

**

Carter checked the blood pressure of a homeless man who now found respite from the cold. Anna waited at the foot of the patient's bed.

"How long are you staying?" Carter asked.

"Heading back tomorrow," she answered.

Carter looked hurt.

"You're in and out!"

Anna reached out her hand and touched Carter's elbow.

"At least we managed to hook up."

Carter returned her smile.

"You know, maybe we can have dinner? Just the two of us. I know a great Korean place!"

Anna was touched by the idea.

"Great! When are you off?"

"At eight-thirty!" he piped up excitedly.

Anna grinned.

"It's the bomb!" she grinned. "I'll swing by at eight-thirty!"

"Great!" Carter nodded. "I'll see you then!"

Anna went to get her coat.

"Don't keep me waiting, John-boy!"

Carter only laughed.

**

Lizzie had finally made it to the hospital, with Ella in tow. She burst into the lounge. Only Ceila and Conni were there, arguing about something.

"No one's in a good mood?" Lizzie asked. "I wonder why?"

Lizzie spied a thermos marked TEA on the table.

"Oh, is that Tetley's? Thanks!"

She grabbed it and ran out of the lounge.

Ceila gaped at the theft of her precious tea.

"What do you mean thanks?!"

Conni poked Ceila in the shoulder.

"Don't even think about trying to replace me again!"

Conni stormed out of the lounge and started to work.

Ceila puffed and slumped down on a chair. She wondered if she could now go home.

**

Abby saw that Carter was working on some charts in an empty treatment room. She knocked on the door and entered.

"Hey!"

Carter looked up briefly and returned to his work.

"Oh, hi."

"Is your friend still here?" Abby asked.

Carter shook his head.

"Oh no. She had to go. I'll see her later."

Abby's brow furrowed.

"Later? You're inviting her over?"

Carter shook his head.

"No. we're. going out for dinner."

Abby was intrigued.

"Really? Can I come?"

Carter put down his pen.

"Uh, no. Sorry. I." He stumbled for a reply. "You see, I haven't seen her in ages. I just wanted to catch up on old times. You'd only be bored."

Abby couldn't believe it.

"You're shutting me out!"

"No I'm not!" Carter denied.

"Yes you are!" Abby returned. "You didn't even tell her we were going out!"

"It never came up!" Carter explained.

A look of clean disgust was etched on Abby's face.

"Nothing ever comes up with you, does it, John?!"

Abby stamped away before Carter could say another word.

**

Ceila had enough.

She sat down, put her feet up on the table and swallowed obscene spoonfuls of ice cream. Romano had rewarded her endurance.

Abby had a scowl on her face when she came into the lounge in search of coffee. She cast her eyes to Ceila.

"Are you eating ice cream? It's like fifteen degrees outside!"

Ceila swallowed a spoonful of ice cream.

"It's now minus twenty degrees Celsius," she answered. "And yes, I am eating ice cream. I deserve it!"

Abby raised an incredulous brow.

"You do?"

Ceila nodded.

"For being a good Girl Scout?" Abby spat.

Ceila dug into the tub of ice cream.

"Pretty much."

She shoved a spoonful into her mouth.

"It's Fat Girl's Choice Chocolate-Cherry Swirl."

Now Abby was interested in the ice cream.

"Oh, really?! That stuff's fantastic! Can I have some?"

Ceila unleashed her rage in languid way.

"Fuck you!"

Abby was appalled.

"Oh, come on! Stop being rude! You're not going to eat all of that, anyway!"

Ceila glared at Abby, adding an eerily evil glow to her pale blue eyes.

"Yes, I am going to eat of all of this fucking ice cream because I showed up for my fucking shift and worked everybody else's fucking shifts, too! So, if you don't mind, I'm going to continue to eat this fucking tub of fucking delicious ice cream!"

Luka walked into the lounge.

"I showed up for work. May I please have some of your fucking ice cream?"

"Yes, you fucking may," Ceila allowed.

Luka thanked Ceila and marvelled at the ice cream's taste.

"Mmmmm.this is fucking good ice cream."

Abby left in disgust. She did not want to be in the same room with people who would not share their ice cream.

**

Ceila left Luka to eat the rest of the ice cream and went to the neonatal ward. She peered through the window of the nursery. There was Jeff's son, a little bundle of pink flesh wrapped in a blue blanket.

"Ya wanna hold him?"

Ceila looked around. It was Jeff, beaming. It was a decidedly odd look for him.

"No," she gently refused. "Just let him sleep."

She spied the name-card.

"David! You called him David! That is such a good name!"

"I think so, too!"

Both Ceila and Jeff turned around. Jeff grimaced. It was that damn pedestrian! Ceila knew him by another name. She jumped on the pedestrian and hugged him tight.

"Malucci!"

Ceila broke her embrace.

"It's so good to see you again!"

Malucci cupped Ceila's face in his hands.

"You, too, ya mutt!"

Jeff didn't care for the familiarities.

"Kid, you know this jerk-off?"

Malucci scowled at Jeff.

"That's the thanks I get for my Good Samaritan act?"

Ceila now turned to Jeff.

"Dave helped you? Jeff, you've got to be grateful. Malucci is always ready to help."

Ceila hugged Malucci again.

Jeff couldn't be bothered with arguing.

"You still didn't tell me how you know this jerk-off."

"I met him at a dig near Norman Wells," Ceila explained.

"A dig?" Jeff intoned quizzically.

"Yeah," Malucci spat.

"What were you digging for?" Jeff asked as he crossed his arms.

"Someone in my family tree who fell to his death in the Mackenzie Valley and was amazingly preserved in an ice bed," Ceila answered.

Jeff could not contain his enthusiasm, which at the time was a cross between indifference and a morbid interest in something that froze to death in northern Canada.

"Yummy."

Ceila hoped he meant it.

"I didn't even know what I had stumbled across until I found a post on a pathology listserve inquiring about Arctic exhumations. Malucci and his pathologist-boss were keen to see what I found."

Jeff perked up a little.

"So, someone who was trying to exhume intact flu victims from the early twentieth century ended up digging up some yahoo you're related to instead?"

"In a nutshell!" Ceila grinned with glee.

"Wow," Jeff deadpanned. "No. Really. Wow."

Ceila disbelieved his lack of zeal.

"Now, Jeff, I know you don't really mean that!"

Ceila wrapped a tight arm around Malucci and resumed her reminiscences.

"Malucci and I became tight."

"Too tight!" Malucci said as he tried to extract himself from Ceila's unyielding embrace.

Ceila boxed him in the arm.

"You're such a nob!"

Jeff still had his arms crossed as he listened to Ceila's narrative.

"Well, this is all too fascinating but I have take my David to my wife."

Malucci gave Jeff an enthusiastic thumbs-up.

"It's good that you named the little guy after me!"

The red rose in Jeff's face.

"We were thinking of that name for a while, dumbass!"

Ceila laughed.

"Jeff, I'll come by to see David and Rosemary later."

Ceila and Malucci staggered playfully from Jeff, laughing as they did so.

**

Susan was now running the ER, at least until Kerry arrived. Luka took the opportunity to see Jeff, his wife and the new baby. He made his way down the hall of the obstetrical ward at a brisk pace. His pace slowed when he saw two familiar faces in very close proximity of one another. Malucci was there. Luka hadn't seen the young man in a long time. Luka remembered the letter Malucci had written him months ago- a request to look after his friend, Ceila. Luka watched in the distance as Ceila wrapped an arm around Malucci.

Luka now stopped. He fulfilled his end of the bargain, he supposed. Turning around, he promised himself he would see the new baby at a later time. It was best to leave lives in others' arms, anyway.

*