Chapter 108

As hard as Doug tried he couldn't fall asleep. He watched the clock move through the hours. Once it hit four thirty he decided just to get up and get to work early. Anna was sound asleep and he tried his hardest not to wake her. He got dressed quickly and made sure his alarm was still set for 5:30. He gave her another look before going to his living room. She looked so peaceful and beautiful. Doug quickly left the house and headed for the hospital. It was fairly quiet when he walked in; the night shift was still on. All the patients were taken care of so Doug went into a suture room to finish up some paperwork and think. He pulled out his meds from his coat pocket and popped a few back. They seemed like the only thing that could stop the throbbing in his head and back. He laid out his papers on a bed and started to work. He hoped Anna wouldn't mind him leaving, he was sure she'd understand.

"Oh no." She moaned as she heard the blaring of an alarm clock. She stretched out to find his side of the bed cold. She hit the alarm trying to want to go back to sleep. She got up dressed into her clothes and out the door. She made it back to her apartment. She turned on the shower and started to brush her teeth. After her shower she dressed and headed back out once again. It was almost quarter to seven now. She drove and pulled into the parking lot, she hit the newspaper stand for a cup of coffee before heading into county. She looked around before stowing her stuff and heading out to admit. It was going to be a long 6 hours stuck in triage. She right now it was quiet, she meander down the hallway before poking her head into the suture room. She saw him sitting there amidst his paperwork. "Morning." She said, "I see you're busy."

Doug looked up, breaking his daze, as he heard her voice. "Not really" he said tossing his pen aside. "Just trying to get through some of this." he glanced at his watch to find that it had just turned seven. "You're right on time." he said with a tired smile standing up. "I better get to my real job." he said walking past her into the hallway. "Make sure you give me a shout if you need anything today ok? Even if it's just to talk." he really didn't want her to get too bogged down on her first day back. As well as she looked he knew how easy it was to fall back down.

"Yeah." She said, "I think I can handle it boss." She was smiling happy to be back at work. There weren't many people there right now so it wouldn't be crazy as she started in. Nothing like spending the day trying to sort out who needed to be seen first, and who could wait... not that there was a wait right now. Ten plus years of med school and she was stuck in triage. "Ohh this is what I went to med school for." She said as she listened to a patient start to go over his complaints. She waited until there was a decent lull in the ER before looking for Carol's number and slipping into the lounge to call her. She kept it short and didn't get into any details over the phone with her, but some how by the grace of god she convinced her to let her and Doug has the girls tonight. Anna smiled as she then called Chen and traded her two days off work half of her shifts. Oh well, it was just two half days anyway. She'd survive. It was worth it. She hoped that no one had noticed she had slipped away as she walked back out to dig back into triage.

Doug had a few regular patients come in and some minor traumas. An asthma attack and a baseball injury but nothing too major. He was just happy to be back in the swing of things. For the first time in awhile his love life was straightened out and he didn't have to worry about his job. He was the boss for once and it felt good. Doug's next patient was enough to cause him more than a little headache though. He got in charge of a fifteen year old pregnant girl...and she was a girl. There was nothing adult about her. She sat there and cried as Doug told her she was pregnant. "I just don't know what to do..." she managed to say in-between sobs. She, of course didn't want her parents to know, they were deeply religious and he knew they would pressure into something but Doug knew she also didn't feel comfortable talking with a man about her decisions. After Doug tried to calm her down a little he went to find Anna. "Hey can you help me out please?" he asked trying to pull her away from a Pablo look a like.

"Uh yeah, what do you need?" She asked happy to away from smelly man. "I'm up for a change. But I am so glad that I am not a nurse right now." She had to laugh at that.

Doug grinned as he led her down the hall. "I have a fifteen year old who is pregnant. She is pretty freaked out and against talking to her parents...i don't think she wants to talk to a man either. I was wondering if you could discuss her options with her and go over how important support is...I'm not sure we should encourage her to tell her parents but...well you're a woman, I just thought you could help her out." he said stopping in front of the exam room.

She took a deep breath in, "yeah I think I can do that." Anna said putting her hand on the door. "Glad I can be of service, and out of triage. I'll be out in a little bit." She said as she walked in and sat down next to her.

Doug gave her a nod and headed for the charts. He thought that he and Anna stood the same place on the best choice for teen pregnancies, although they had never discussed it. Doug didn't want her parents knowing, because he knew they would involve a priest. It would be better for all if she just chose to not have the baby and he thought she might drive that home. Doug found another baseball player with a sprained ankle and went to go give it a look. He knew Anna would come back to him when she had help the girl with her choice

She talked and went over all of her option more than once. She tried to emphasis how important some form of support would be. But it seemed that nothing she was saying was getting no where with her. She thought that they had come up with the best decision with her and set her up with OB upstairs. She walked out standing next to Doug keeping her voice low, "she's ready to go home. She wants a few days to think about it. I think she's going to talk with her parents about it before making a decision."

Doug looked up as Anna talked to him. He took her to the side and lowered his voice. "I told you I didn't want her to tell them. You were supposed to talk to her about her options, not tell her to go over it with her parents. She's going to tell them and they're going to pressure her to keep it. That families catholic Anna, or didn't you bother to ask?"

"You asked me to go over her options with her and I did. And yes I am well aware that her family is catholic. She is only 15 and is in no shape to make that a decision that is going to affect her for the rest of her life right now." She kept her voice low. "And before you go off on me with her talking to her parents' maybe you should have asked me, she has an appointment upstairs in a week. I asked her if she wanted me to make it and I did. Against my better judgment knowing that she's not going to talk to anyone else before she makes up her mind. But I was not going to send her up there today!" Anna turned and walked off; she was not going to continue this discussion with him right now. Dealing with that girl had sucked most of the life out of her and she didn't want to snap, not at him.

Doug kicked himself for not taking care of it with his own judgments. He should have had Abby talk to her instead. He turned on his heels as Anna walked off and he headed back to his own patient. He was almost glad that he had a double tonight. It would save him from another conversation; actually he was glad she had saved them both last night. It was funny how they both always seemed like they wanted to talk about problems but then never really did. After casting the little boys foot Doug checked the clock. His stomach was growling and he thought he could take five for some lunch. He didn't see Anna around, maybe she was already off or stuck washing Pablo. He walked up to the cafeteria and went to stand in line.