Chapter 75:

Anna finally was able to get out of the room. After carefully explaining things to the parents. It was a lot for them to have to take in. She walked out of the room with her arm around the mother's shoulders. She was talking softly to her trying to be as reassuring at supportive as she could. She let go of her long enough to put the chart into the nurse's rack, and then continued walking with her. Normally she wouldn't have spent this much time with a patient's family, but this was special case. She sat down with her on the bench giving her a shoulder to cry on.

Doug let Anna sit with the mother for a few minutes. He knew how important it was for them to be with someone, but that was a big part of why the nurses were there too. "Dr. Del Amico." he said to her motioning for her to come over to the desk. "Can I speak with you a moment?" He just wanted to let her know he had called peds and to get back to work as quick as possible...he was careful to keep his voice soft though, making sure he didn't come off like he was talking down to her.

Anna rolled her eyes and hugged the mother once more, "if you have any more questions don't hesitate to ask me." She walked over to the desk, "what."

Doug made a face at the tone of her voice...this was going to be a long day. "I just wanted to tell you that oncology is a little backed up but they are sending someone down within the hour." Doug bit his lip, he knew he shouldn't say it but she was really starting to piss him off. "We're getting a little backed up so when you get a chance...you want to grab another patient or two?"

"Yeah sure whatever." Anna said as she picked up two charts not even looking at them until she had her back to him. And started to walk down the hall.

Doug had it...she was beyond the point of being disrespectful and he was going to figure out what was going on. "Anna!" he called after her. "What's your problem? Is there something i should know about?"

She wasn't sure why, but she decided to ignore him for a change...she just walked into the suture room and sat down with the patient. He had a nasty lac from trying to open a pickle jar the hard way. She started to clean it and stitch him up.

Doug shook his head as she kept walking. Susan came by to put her grab another chart and saw the expression on his face. She thought she knew was it was about so she didn't ask. "So how are you doing Doug?" he turned to look at her and smiled. "Pretty good. I'll be better when I get off of my crutches and back to normal...and when people learn to grow up." he said sarcastically turning back to the computer.

Susan decided then to let him be. "Ok...I'll see you later then." she said touching his shoulder. She grabbed another chart and headed into the suture room where she saw Anna. Susan had to fix a small baseball injury and was glad for the company. She knew Doug was talking about her and Anna looked awfully pissed so she decided to add some levity. "Looks like its fate for us Anna. We always seem to be in the same place at the same time..." she said with a smile before talking to her patient. After prepping him she started with Anna again. "I'm kind of feeling like I'm back in high school with all the drama teenage angst today."

Anna just sighed as she tied the last knot on her patient's hand. "Keep it dry, and come back in 5 days to have them taken out." She said as she pulled off her gloves. "Sorry Dr. Lewis, it's just one of those days." Anna said maintaining some form of professionalism in front of the patient. She got up and walked out of the room she signed the chart and put it in the discharge rack. She wasn't even going to give him a chance to say anything to her. She was short, snippy, and not happy anymore. Time wasn't going to go fast enough for her to get out of there. She noticed that her patient's mother was still sitting where she had left her. She tossed the chart back and walked over to her once more, sitting down next to her.

Susan sighed as Anna left the room...she was awful short today. Doug noticed her walk back out and kept his head down typing. If she wanted to say something to him she would, otherwise he was just going to leave her alone. He didn't know what her major issue was, she seemed fine yesterday, but he didn't really care. He was over it...they had broken up...and it was done. Doug finished the last paragraph of his paper and went to print it. He was proud of himself that he had gotten it done in only a few days and now he could be out of here right around lunch. He hoped Anna got over whatever was making her been so annoying. He had no problem being her friend.

Anna took her back to her daughter's room and walked into the lounge for a cup of coffee. The rack could wait five minutes for her to have a cup of coffee. God she was moody today. It hadn't taken much to set her off. She felt like any minute she would just snap like a twig. She leaned against the lockers taking two minutes to herself. Anna enjoyed the quiet for a few minutes before Kerry came in and started in on her about how she wasn't paid to stand in the lounge drinking coffee when she was on the clock. Anna put her head back put the coffee cup in the sink and on the way out should have kept her mouth shut but couldn't, "I'm entitled to a break every now and then Dr. Weaver. Just leave me alone." As she slammed the lounge door behind her on the way out. She grabbed a chart and went back to work.

Doug saw Anna storm out of the lounge and Weaver follow shortly there after. A slight grin crept onto his face as he guessed what happened. "I didn't do it." he joked stacking his papers together. "I'm just about out of here anyway...unless you need me to do anything else. I just finished the research paper for the grant." he said holding it up.

Kerry looked at him. "Glad to hear that you finished your grant paper." She smiled. "She's your problem though. I have a meeting with Romano. Keep your doctors in line. Deal with it." She said as she headed for the elevator.

Doug sighed as Weaver left. 'Great' he thought. 'Just when i was about to go home' Doug wheeled around in the chair to find the pager numbers. He was so glad he had a mobile seat; it made life so much easier. He found Anna's number and paged her back to admit. 'As long as i keep it professional it will be ok' he told himself. 'I can straighten her out and be on my way... nothing messy' at least he hoped.