CHAPTER 6

By the time Robert made it to the ER, it looked like all hell had broken loose. There were so many people, he was finding it difficult to manoeuvre his way to Exam Room 1 where, according to his pager, a particularly nasty accident meant that some poor sod needed his help.

"Right, what's the problem and who called me away from whatever it was I was doing, which is bound to be more interesting than spending time with you lot!" Robert snarled as he pushed open the door with his prosthetic. A nurse he vaguely recognised gave him a withering look and turned away.

"Dr Romano, we need your opinion on this patient." Abby Lockhart was saying. Robert liked her – she was a good nurse and would be a good doctor. It would have been nice to see her smile more, but hey, you can't have everything, he reasoned.

"My opinion?" I'm surprised it still counts for anything round here anymore," Robert quipped, as he gestured to the nurse whose name he still couldn't quite remember. "What's your name?" He asked her.

"Sam Taggart, Doctor Romano," the nurse replied, her voice dripping with disgust. "The only reason you're here is because Dr Carter is busy and Dr Kovac isn't here yet. Otherwise we wouldn't have bothered paging you."

Robert scowled at Sam and held out his right hand.

"Nurse Taggart," he sneered, "if you would be so kind as to provide me with a glove, perhaps I can look at the patient, make an assessment, and let you get on with your job; after all, you'll have to work long hours to make just a fraction of my wage, before you go back to your trailer park, so I wouldn't want to hold you up."

Abby cleared her throat, and they both stopped glaring at each other to face her.

"So sorry to interrupt," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "but it's kind of urgent that you look at this patient. She may have to have surgery immediately."

Robert nodded at Abby and winced as Sam snapped the glove a little too hard onto his wrist. He moved to stand near the patient and his heart missed a beat as he saw that it was a little girl, no more than about eleven, with severe injuries to her right arm.

"Where's Dr Corday?" Romano asked. "This is a surgical consult. This girl…" he stopped, and smiled gently at the girl who was clearly very scared, but doing her best to be brave. Robert took her uninjured hand in his and leaned down towards her.

"Hey, what's your name?" He asked.

"Emily." The little girl said. She'd started crying as the nurses battled to staunch the bleeding and ease the pain. Her arm was quite clearly beyond repair. Robert thought about Jessie and how she would, in months to come, try to help Emily come to terms with what had happened to her.

"Hello Emily," Robert smiled. "I'm Robert. Does it hurt?"

Emily shook her head.

"Not anymore," she replied. "The pretty nurse gave me something and now it doesn't hurt."

Robert glanced up at Abby, who gently shook her head. The pain medication they had given her hadn't had a chance to work yet; Emily was in shock. Robert looked back down at her.

"Listen to me, sweetheart," he whispered. "You're going to have to be a brave girl now. The nurses here will look after you and then you're going to have an operation. When you wake up, I'm going to make sure that another pretty lady is there to talk to you. She's a doctor, a very good one, and she'll help you get better."

"Am I going to have a plastic arm like yours?" Emily withdrew her hand from Robert's and gently touched his prosthetic.

Robert nodded.

"Are your Mummy and Daddy here?" He asked, looking round at the nurses.

"They're on their way," Sam confirmed. "And I've paged Dr Dorsett, and Dr Corday but I don't know where they are."

Robert's lip curled slightly when Dorsett's name was mentioned, but he didn't comment. Instead he smiled down at Emily, and accepted her hand when she offered it to him.

"Emily, I promise I won't leave you until your parents get here, so you don't need to be scared." Robert looked up at Sam. "Let's get her up to the O.R. and page Corday and Dorsett again. The sooner we get her into theater, the better."

Sam nodded and she and Abby wheeled Emily out of Exam Room 1, into the elevator, with Robert following just behind. The elevator doors closed and Sam looked at Abby.

"What happened there?" She asked. "From class A jerk to caring doctor in under two minutes. Am I hallucinating?"

"I know," Abby replied, "sometimes he can surprise you."

vvvvvvvvvvvvv

Up in the surgical ward, Robert was organizing with a ruthless efficiency that he'd not displayed in months. Emily was made as comfortable as possible and a search party was dispatched for Dr Corday and Dr Dorsett. Emily had drifted off, thanks to the pain medication, and Robert used the opportunity to visit the bathroom. He'd made sure that a nurse was sitting next to Emily's bed, in case she woke up and wondered where he was. He took the stairs up to the next floor and made his way to the gents. He often used this bathroom as it was out of the way and not used as much. Since his accident, he'd preferred to be alone when taking a leak; sometimes it could be tricky.

Pushing open the door, he though he heard a giggle. Cocking his head slightly, he tiptoed into the room. Yes, he thought, it was definitely a giggle. Probably a couple of the medical students fooling around, thinking that they wouldn't be disturbed. Well, Robert thought, since I'm in the mood to throw my weight around, I'll give these kids a piece of my mind, and then I'll take them to Kerry and they can suffer her wrath.

Robert walked up to the only occupied cubicle and knocked quietly on the door. The giggling stopped abruptly, followed by a sharp intake of breath. Robert knocked again, smirking to himself. He'd got all day; these kids weren't going anywhere.

He heard the sound of the door unlocking and it swung open, hinges squeaking. Robert's mouth opened in astonishment as he saw Elizabeth, her hair decidedly dishevelled, hastily buttoning her blouse. His eyes moved to her companion, Dorsett, who was looking at Robert with a smug grin on his face.

"Yes, Doctor, can I help you?" Dorsett enquired, his eyes twinkling with amusement.

Robert ignored him and stared at Elizabeth, who had the grace to look embarrassed.

"When you've quite finished fooling around, there's a little girl downstairs who needs to have her arm amputated. Now whilst you may not know what that's like, take it from me – it's not pleasant. And I can't imagine it's any easier when you're eleven." Robert spat, disgustedly. "But perhaps if you'd bothered to answer the page from the ER, you would have known that she requires your services! The nurses didn't realise that you were doing a little servicing of your own… "

He turned on his heel and left the bathroom, scarcely able to believe what he had just seen. He couldn't believe that Elizabeth had not answered her pager whilst at work. It was bad enough seeing her in the arms of that… idiot, but the fact that she had wilfully ignored her pager when Emily needed her skills as a surgeon; he was really disappointed in her.

"Robert – wait!" He heard Elizabeth call him as he walked down the stairs to the toilets on the floor below. "Robert! Stop!"

Sighing deeply, Robert turned to face Elizabeth. She had done her best to smooth down her hair and tidy her clothes but he could still see signs of her assignation all over her face.

"Robert, I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over me. I just, he just, I don't know… please don't say anything. I'll come and look at your little girl." Elizabeth was clearly flustered and embarrassed, and Robert felt a twinge of sympathy, which was quickly extinguished when he though of that smug jerk Dorsett. He turned away from Elizabeth and continued down the stairs; his bladder had a more urgent agenda.

"Don't put yourself out Lizzie," Robert sneered. "After all, it could be Ella instead of Emily." He knew that the remark was cutting, but he no longer cared. The past few months he had come to realise that Elizabeth was never going to fall in love with him and it was about time that he moved on. This display had only underlined the fact that she was not the one for him, despite his many years of hoping that she would be.

"I'm so sorry, Robert." Elizabeth repeated.

"What for?" Robert snapped. "For not doing your job? For having appalling taste in surgeons? For the fact that it was me who found you? Forget it, Lizzie. Your dirty little secret's safe with me." He walked towards the gents and pushed open the door, Elizabeth on his heels. "Your patient's in the ward over there," he gestured, "not here in the gents. Perhaps you'd be kind enough to wait until I've finished here before you take her into surgery. I promised her I'd look after her until her parents arrived."

Turning away from her, Robert stormed into the bathroom. He was really angry, and had to take several deep breaths to calm down. Once he had finished, he washed his hands and stared at his reflection in the mirror. I can't believe that, after all this time I don't love her anymore, he thought. This was just the final nail in the coffin. She's never going to notice me, and now it doesn't matter. It's like a spell, he mused, and now I've escaped. He smiled at his reflection. Actually, he realised, it felt good to be free.

vvvvvvvvv

Back in the ward, Elizabeth was talking to the nurse who was still sitting at Emily's bedside. Robert walked in, and went over to check on Emily. She was still sleeping.

"We'll get her in straight away" Elizabeth was saying. "I'll go and scrub up." She left the room, avoiding Robert's eyes. He ignored her and took Emily's hand again.

"Are her parents here yet?" He asked the nurse.

"I can go and check," she said, rising from the chair.

"Do that," he replied. "And send Abby Lockhart up with them when they get here."

Alone with Emily, Robert sat quietly, listening to the sound of the little girl breathing. He thought about Jessie and the work she would have to do. He would page her once Emily went into surgery and let her know what had happened. He wondered whether he could help Jessie with her work. Perhaps she could use an extra pair of hands, he thought, smirking at his own joke.

Next to him, Emily stirred, and opened her eyes.

"Still here, sweetheart," Robert reassured her. " Your parents will be here in a bit and they'll look after you."

"You won't go away though, will you, Robert?" Emily whispered. "Will you fix me?"

"I can't do surgery anymore," Robert admitted. "I mostly look after little girls who are waiting for their parents."

"Yeah, but you can still stay with me, can't you?" Emily said, smiling up at him.

Robert opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the door opening and a handsome, well dressed couple rushing in, followed by Abby.

"Darling! My darling!" Emily's mother dashed to her bedside and cradled her daughter's head in her hands. She looked at Romano questioningly, taking in his prosthetic, and asked rudely, "Are you a doctor?"

"Doctor Romano's one of the best," Abby interrupted smoothly, "he's retired from surgery now, but he's an excellent teacher. He offered to look after your daughter until you arrived."

"Thank you so much, Doctor," Emily's father murmured, extending his hand for Robert to shake.

"No problem," Robert managed, still a little thrown by Abby's comment. "I think they're nearly ready to operate. Perhaps after the surgery I can introduce you to our expert in the field of amputees and prosthetics. Emily wants me to sit in with her during surgery, and well, I promised."

Emily's parents muttered their agreement, and Abby led them to a waiting room. Emily waved with her good hand as she was wheeled down the corridor into surgery, Robert trailing behind, an unreadable expression on his face.