Chapter 93

Anna let her brother in when he got there, and found herself sobbing the whole story to him.

"Come on Anna," He said pulling her up off the couch, "let's get out of Chicago for awhile."

She walked into her bedroom, clothes still everywhere from Doug throwing them while he was tearing stuff apart she threw some clothes into a duffel bag, "where we going Nate?" She asked.

"Well I thought you and I could go visit Justin."

She smiled for the first time all day, "what he's in the states?"

Nate smiled when he saw his baby sister's eyes light up like that. "Yeah he's down in Norfolk right now. Come on road trip little sister, road trip."

Anna didn't waste any time locking up the apartment. Doug told her not to come back to work until she had things straightened out. After everything she figured she was owed a couple of days anyway. She headed down to Nate's car. "Can we put the top down? I know it's chilly but please." She threw her stuff into his car.

"Yeah anything for you Anna."

She smiled as she climbed in Nate putting the top down as they hit the road. "We haven't done this in a long time." Anna said looking over at him.

"I know Anna, I'm just sorry that you had to go thru all of that." He said.

"It's okay it might do me some good to get out of there anyway with everything that's been going on. And who better to have a road trip to Norfolk Virginia with than my older brother, besides Doug told me I needed to have one of my brother's fix it, who better than you." She leaned back in the car seat, "just don't get mad if I fall asleep on you it's been a long day okay." She said putting her feet up on the dash as the wind started to blow through her hair.

"I won't Anna." He said to her, "you know though you might want to let someone know that you left town so they don't worry about you."

She looked over at him, "I will eventually, it's not like I have anyone talking to me right now anyway. They have my cell phone number if they get worried."

Doug met Lynn for drinks. He spoke in hypotheticals in case she met Anna one day. Lynn told him she understood how he could be so upset and worried. "I just don't really have anyone to talk to." Doug said dropping his head. He had only spoken to this woman twice and already he was telling her his problems. They stayed at the bar for hours just talking. Although she had never had something similar happen Doug felt as the advice she had given him was worth thinking about. Not to call Anna for awhile, wait a few days and if she didn't contact him casually call. They could calmly talk over the situation but not to apologize. She needed to admit she had a problem. After their conversation Doug looked at his watch, it was getting pretty late. "Thanks Lynn...for talking. I know this isn't your idea of a nice date or anything."

She just smiled at him. "No...But spending time with a gentleman is." they both stood up together and went for a walk around the lake. It was dark and cold but the weather was nice enough. Doug really did hope Anna was ok. He hoped she would get some help.

Anna and Nate had stopped for food and were not back on the interstate. She looked over at him, "you know I appreciate this Nate." She said looking over at him, "I forgot what is what like to just up and, not have to worry about anything."

Nate looked at his sister, "yeah I know things haven't been easy for you lately. Seems like moving back to Chicago wasn't your brightest idea."

"I don't know about that. I like it there. Besides it wasn't all bad." She said, "I'll try to fix things with him when we get back. You know it's not like we've got anything romantic anymore, but he's a good friend. I'd like to find our way back to that."

Nate batted at his sister's head, "you will kiddo." They drove with nothing but the radio between them for a little while. It was going to take some time to get down there and as miserable as she was when she left, she had to admit being there with Nate she was feeling better the further they got away from Chicago.

Doug and Lynn walked along the lake for awhile while they talked about her. Doug liked learning about her...listening about her life. She had played basketball in college as well and seemed to like a lot of the same things as him. "Well I have a proposition for you..." Doug started. "I just so happen to have courtside tickets to Tuesday's bulls 76ers game. Would you like to go?"

Lynn smiled. "Of course i would if you want to spend the ticket on me."

Doug just nodded. He didn't think that Anna would go with him now and it would be a waste to not use such a good ticket. They walked and talked a little more until Doug realized that it was almost 11. "I should get you home." he said coming back to his car. Lynn actually didn't live all that far from him. Following her directions he pulled up to her house in less than ten minutes. "Thanks again for talking. I really appreciate it." he said with a smile.

She just patted his hand. "Hey anytime ok?" with that she got out of his car and went to her house.

Doug waited for her to get inside before going to his own home. As soon as he walked in his heart sank as he saw he didn't have any messages. He thought Anna would have called him for sure. He had to be up early so he jumped into the shower quickly and got into his bed clothes. After watching a little of sports center and climbed into bed and tried to sleep. For the first hour his thoughts were filled with Anna and 'what ifs' after that he tried to clear his mind and eventually fell asleep.

Anna and Nate stayed on the road talking about this and that. About his snowboarding competitions, life growing up, and this and that. The sun was up before the realized that they had been driving all night.

"Hey what do you say we grab a bite to eat and then stop for a few hours and catch some sleep?" Nate said to her.

"Yeah that sounds like a plan. It's been a long time since I've been up all night talking." They pulled into a drive thru getting something to eat and then found a spot to sleep for awhile. "You know," She said as she flopped down on the bed, "you and I need to do this more often."

Nate growled at her, "Yeah right with your busy doctor life. I don't think so; you never have time for anything anymore."

Anna threw a pillow at him, "well I can make time for stuff like this." He threw it back at her, "you have to promise to call and let someone know where you are." It was Anna's turn to growl at him, "forget it mister, and now go to sleep so we can get back on the road soon." She said as she closed her eyes. She was sore, but it wasn't as bad as she remembered it being before. It was going to take them two days to drive down there, she wanted to stay for at least three days visiting with Justin, she wasn't sure when she would get to see him again or if he would be shipping out again soon, and then another 2 days to get back. That was a week, she might have to look for a new job when she got back, she was pretty sure that this was going to get her fired. Oh well, it's not like County was the only hospital in Chicago and she had connections elsewhere. She and Nate slept for a couple of hours and by 8 am they were back on the road, no rest for the wicked. They had a lot of ground to cover.

Doug woke at the sound of his alarm. He grumbled but got up. After getting dressed he was out of his house quickly. He wanted to go to work and get started. Do anything to take his mind off Anna. He walked in and set his things in his locker. He rubbed his eyes as he walked to admit. He was going to have to pull a double since Anna wasn't there. He sighed as he started going through the charts to find a good one to have. He needed to talk to weaver and tell her...some of what had happened.

Kerry walked up to admit, "Morning Doug." She said looking at him, "Do you have a few minutes that we could talk?"

Doug looked up. He wondered what she had to talk to him about. He hoped he hadn't upset her the other night. "Sure i do" he said setting down the charts and turning to face her. "What's going on?"

"I know that Anna is one of your doctors, but she's also one of mine, I told her that she wasn't going to be able to return to work until she had seen and spoken with Dr. Meyers." Kerry said looking at him, "I was hoping that you would back this up and not let her work peds until she's had a chance to decompress from all of this, I'm worried that she's going to suffer post-traumatic stress disorder from the attack the other night."

Doug tried to keep the idea of talking to Kerry about her out of his head. "I'm with you." he said nodding. "I already told her she wasn't working for me until she got some things straightened out in her personal life. I don't really expect her to be back anytime soon actually. So i think i need to hire a temp for the time being." he scratched his head. He should tell Kerry but he just didn't think it was right. It was between Anna and him...if Anna didn't get things fixed then he would take it to the next level but not now. "Is that all?"

"No that was all, I left her a message telling her that I set up a mandatory meeting with Meyers this afternoon and if she wants her job she'd better be there. I know that what she went thru was rough, but in order to make ensure the well being of my staff I have to take a hard line on this." Kerry said as she walked away, "She'll be okay, it might take some time, but we'll have her back."