Thanks again for reading and reviewing! This chapter took longer than usual, but here it is at last.
I hope you enjoy it.
Chapter Five: Captivation
A week later:
It was the elevator which next brought them together and that was completely by chance. With no surgeries together and no more emergencies, Romano had barely seen Elizabeth for the last few weeks. Now, here she was on a Sunday morning, looking fresh and charming. It was an idiot's game, but he wanted to hear about her plans to stay in the US.
'Good morning, Elizabeth,' he greeted her. 'What a surprise. Working on a Sunday too? You obviously can't leave this place.
'I'm picking up an extra shift covering the ER.' She took a sip of her coffee, a little too nonchalantly. 'You know, the devil makes work for idle hands and all that.'
'Rather you than me.' Was something going on between her and Greene? He needled her a little. 'Hoping to impress Anspaugh? Or is it the company of a certain ER doctor?'
'It's neither, thank you very much,' she returned. She shot him a cautious look. 'There's something I'd like to ask you. Please.'
'Ask away.'
'If I…,' she paused and looked down at the floor and back at him in a flash of clear blue eyes. 'If I, er, stayed here on an internship…would you mind?'
'An internship?' He raised his eyebrows. 'Oh, how the mighty have fallen.'
'I don't think there's any need to think of it in terms of status,' she retorted, sounding more like herself.
'By which you mean you're trying not to.'
'I'd be here, gaining experience and helping to save lives in a busy hospital,' she argued. 'There's nothing shabby about that.'
So, Elizabeth wanted to stay on. Elizabeth who called him a prick. Elizabeth who accused him of unethical behaviour. Elizabeth the endlessly talented and passionate surgeon. Elizabeth the charmingly untamed and spirited. He thought that it was a bad idea, logically speaking, to have an ambitious younger surgeon with such a track record for opposing him in the department. Unaccountably, it felt like a relief. He realized she was waiting for a reply.
'Well, you're clearly committed to staying here. I couldn't do it, myself – take an internship after a residency – but who am I to stand in your way?' He gave her a taut, professional smile. 'I take it you're enjoying Dr Anspaugh's undivided attention.'
She shook her head silently.
Telling himself it was just good office politics to get this talented surgeon back on his side, he threw her a bone. 'Well, I'm gonna meet him now. Perhaps that can change.'
'It can?'
Now she was almost hanging off his words, the way she used to do. It was a heady feeling, but he'd been caught out that way before. Fortunately, his phone went off which spared him having to come up with a witty answer. It was his younger niece. Huh. Turned out that one of the benefits of calling family more often was that they started to call you.
'Hey, Sarah, sweetheart.' With a genuine smile, he took the call and stepped out the elevator without looking back.
Unlike Eizabeth, Romano wasn't working that day. It was a drag to come in on Sunday, but it was the only time Anspaugh had carved out enough space for a meeting. He had a good idea of what it would be about. With Morgenstern abruptly retiring, Anspaugh had been stretched pretty thin over the administration. Wrapping up his call with Sarah, he knocked and stepped into the older man's office.
'Ah, Robert. Thanks for coming in on a Sunday.'
'What can I say?' He spread his hands in a disarming gesture. 'I'm thinking of setting up a second home here.'
That drew a laugh from the other man. 'And I'm trying not to, but failing in the attempt,' Anspaugh admitted. 'That's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about today. You know I'm covering Morganstern's role in Emergency Medicine, Surgery, and the Chief of Staff position? I can hardly remember the last time I spent an evening at home without paperwork.'
'And you're looking for someone to step up and help out? Consider me a willing volunteer.'
'That's just what I hoped you'd say. In fact, I'd like to offer you the position of Chief of Surgery. It would take a lot of my plate. I've spoken to the Board, and we're in agreement that you're the top choice for the role. You're our top grant winner, you've driven the OR forward with new tech and you're comfortable with dealing with strong personalities. What do you say? Would you like the job?'
Romano grinned broadly. 'Very happy to take it. Thanks, Donald. You won't regret this.'
Anspaugh scribbled a number on a notepad and pushed it over the desk. 'This would be your new salary. For the practicalities – paperwork and so forth - we'll transfer the role over the next week or so to give you the bigger picture, but I'll announce it at the meeting this week.' He tapped his pen on the desk, thoughtfully. 'As part of this, I wanted to ask your opinion about a possible internship.
'Elizabeth Corday's internship?'
Anspaugh shook his head. 'Rocket, how do you do it? You hear everything which goes on around here.' He gave him a small smile. 'Did you get this from Shirley?'
A good magician never gave away his secrets. 'I keep my ear to the ground,' he answered.
'Well, yes, Elizabeth Corday's internship. She tells me she's very keen to stay on here and learn and quite willing to go back to an internship to do it. What do you think? You've been her strongest supporter, but she's caused you more problems than most. And I haven't forgotten that you two seem to take professional matters very…. personally.' He shot Romano a look. 'Frankly, that concerned me.'
Tread carefully here, Robert. Romano told himself. Anspaugh clearly hadn't forgotten how he had berated Elizabeth for losing her visa sponsorship. He chose his words with care. 'I see in her a very talented surgeon,' he said sincerely. 'She was being wasted in London. Professionally, I'd like to keep her here. You know how busy we are here. She'll get more experience here than she would in ten other hospitals.' He sealed Elizabeth's future. 'Keep her, Donald. She wants to stay, and she can learn a lot here.'
'I think that's very generous,' Anspaugh replied. 'Right, I'll get her paperwork together for the internship. It'll be ready for you to sign off by Friday. I'll have to assign her to a resident for supervision. I was thinking about Edson. What do you think?'
She wants to get away from Anspaugh. 'She's better than him, but he can learn from her. Sure, Edson.'
Anspaugh reached over the desk to shake Romano's hand. 'Thanks, Robert. It's a hell of big role to cover, you know. I hope you won't regret this.'
Elizabeth met Peter the next day. It was his first day back at work. The sight of him made her heart beat faster. 'Mmmhmm,' she kissed him deeply. 'It's so good to see you again, Peter. She wrapped an arm up around his neck. 'I've missed you.'
'It's good to see you too.' He edged them to the side of the street so the crowds could get past on their way to work. A few of them spared the couple a quick glance as if wondering why they were kissing and clinging to each other passionately while the rest of the world hurried into work.
'Have you forgiven me? Honestly, I've had such a bad month. Nearly all surgeries with Dr Anspaugh and you weren't there.'
'Mmm-hmm.' He kissed her. 'I'll always forgive you, Elizabeth. It's been terrible for me, too.'
'Well, I hope you've spent lots of time with Reece.' She smiled sunnily up at him. Things were alright between them again and she had a plan for staying in Chicago and early summer was on its way. The world was brightening up again.
'I have spent lots of time with Reece. I had to bring him here, actually. We had an appointment, so I didn't have a chance to see you.'
'Oh, poor Reece! What's the matter?'
He ran a hand over his head. 'It's hearing loss. I'm kicking myself for not spotting it earlier. Carla's leaning on me to make a plan, but I don't know what to do.'
'What have you done so far?'
'I've met a couple of specialists. Dr Kotlowitz – you remember him? – recommends an implant, but it all seems so radical. But I don't want to go down the sign language route either.'
'Well, how about considering a mix of approaches? You know, sign language and hearing aids and look at speech therapy when he's older?'
'Yeah, I guess we could end up going down that route. I'll think about it, thanks. Anyway,' he changed the subject, 'tell me what you've been doing.' He pulled her closer to him. 'Are you going to go back to London?'
She grinned at him. 'Actually, I'm still sending out applications, but I asked Dr Anspaugh if I can stay here on an internship next year and he's agreed to it. I actually start today. It was just the nick of time. So…surprise! We'll still be together, Peter.'
She reached up to kiss him, but he pulled back with concern.
'You're staying here on an internship? Look, Elizabeth…I love you; I love so many things about you, but I don't want you to make these kinds of big decisions just for me. You could lose a couple of years of your career like this.'
How sweet of him to care about her career. 'It's just one year, actually, and then I'll be qualified in my own right,' she reassured him. 'I expect it'll be more of a formality. I've thought it through and it's what I want to do.'
'I think you're very dedicated.' He gave her a final kiss and a smile. 'Let me buy you a coffee to celebrate you staying.'
'You've got to be kidding. I'll buy you a coffee to celebrate your first day back.' Snuggled companionably together, they headed for the coffee truck.
After her reassurances to Peter, Elizabeth's meeting with Dale Edson came as a shock.
'You missed rounds,' he announced. 'You need to be here at 5am, sharp. I need you to finish pre-rounding before 6. I need all the vitals: T-max, mental status, I's and O's.'
She stared at him, speechless. Five o'clock in the morning?
'After rounds, check the labs and run down all X-rays. Buff the electrolytes as needed. If we have clinic that day, you do H and P's and of course, all pre-op orders: CBC, lytes, UA, EKG, PT. You take all floor calls. Beds 1, 3 and 5 need wet-to-dry dressing changes. I'm busy operating, but it's scut and someone has to do it.'
Was he serious? She was by far the better surgeon out of the pair of them. He damn well knew it too. What was he thinking to waste her time with this power play? Her impulse was to go in with all guns blazing, but the last couple of months had tempered her edge a little. She tried to make him see reason.
'Look, Dale. I'm going to be most use here for the patients if I'm doing a resident's job. As I see it, you're supervising that, and-'
'- It's Dr Edson to you,' he interrupted. 'Elizabeth. And you look. You're my intern; I'm busy and you need to get with the program. Now move it. Those dressings aren't going to change themselves.' He smirked and strode off, leaving her fuming.
As the week stretched on, Elizabeth realized that Edson was entirely serious about the work he expected her to do. It was scut, pure and simple, suitable for surgical trainees who barely knew a ten blade from a five. She was on the run all shift, fetching labs and X-rays, running the pre-op tests, taking samples and tracking Edson down to present reports on his patients to him. When she had time to scrub in for surgeries, she was all but elbowed aside.
By Thursday, she was exhausted and seething. Am I supposed to stick this out for a year? I can't bear another week of it. To make matters worse, she was allowed to join Romano's surgeries as Edson's intern, and this was to be her first of the week with Romano. Undoubtedly, he had heard from the other surgeons just how her internship was going. She didn't know if she could bear the humiliation ahead of Edson side-lining her. It was going to be the bloody old boys club she'd tried to leave behind all over again. She scrubbed in silence opposite Romano, keeping her eyes down on the sink.
The minutes dragged on. Across the room, she heard Romano snap, 'Where the hell is he? I got that guy stretched out in there like a slab of meat and I wanted to be cutting already.'
Edson hurried in, late. Well, there was a surprise. She waited for Romano's inevitable comment on timekeeping. The man had a mania for punctuality.
'Did you get lost looking for the scrub room?' Romano enquired sarcastically. 'Seeing that you're five minutes late?'
Edson hastily grabbed a sponge and began a belated scrub. 'I'm sorry, I was looking for my intern.'
'Clearly not very hard since she was here on time,' Romano pursued. 'Not exactly overburdened with interns, are you?'
'I…uh…' Edson shook his head, trying to remember which fingers he had scrubbed while Romano went on the attack.
'Or with a whole lot else,' Romano concluded. 'Be in there in sixty seconds, Edson or you're sitting this one out. Everyone else, let's move.' He indicated the OR.
Unfortunately, the surgery unrolled according to her prediction with the men taking the lion's share of the work. Romano opened up the patient and directed Edson to his task. There simply wasn't enough work for three surgeons and it fell to her to suction and retract tissue on command. For much of the time she stood in silence, itching at the lack of a job. Edson was taking forever and a day, too.
'Give me a clamp' Edson motioned to Elizabeth.
Romano paused in his stitching and glowered across the table. 'Hey, wonder boy. She's not here to make admiring eyes while you take an hour to do a Pringle manoeuvre.' His patience, never extensive, ran out. 'You, stand back.' He indicated with the needle. 'Elizabeth, get in there and tie the damn liver off before this guy dies of old age.'
'With pleasure.' She stepped up to take over. Now she could finish the manoeuvre quickly and cleanly for the poor man on the table.
'Whoa, Elizabeth.' That was Edson again. 'You're contaminated.'
'What?' She looked down at herself. Her technique was good. 'No, I'm not.'
'Yep. You'll have to go change gowns.'
'What the hell?' Romano glared at Edson. 'I saw her; she's clean. Lizzie, carry on.' He rolled his eyes. 'Jesus, Edson, my dog's less of a bitch. Hey, if I tossed a sponge out to the scrub room and yelled fetch, think you'd go get it?'
Edson stared back at him in angry confusion while the nurses smirked behind their masks. Elizabeth smiled to herself while keeping her eyes on her work. It was pleasant to be defended by a senior surgeon, but it was even better to demonstrate how much faster and cleaner her technique was. It revealed her superiority to Edson wordlessly.
After the operation, Edson made sure Romano was nowhere to be seen before going on the attack.
'Don't ever make me look bad in an operation again. I had that under control.' He crushed the surgical cap in his hand.
'Well, clearly you didn't-'
He cut her off. 'Clearly I did. You think you can come here and get all the best jobs? I mean, you,' he jabbed a finger at her, 'you come in here, screw up on a visa placement and think nothing changes and everyone still loves you.' He sneered at her. 'If you were a guy…'
'Stop that,' she hissed. 'How dare you imply this is because I'm a woman? The truth is, I'm better than you and that makes you afraid.'
His eyes glittered. 'Everyone knows you're only here by the skin of your teeth. You had to beg to stay on as an intern so get this. You are not a resident and you've got to learn your place.' He stalked into the men's locker room before she could reply.
Elizabeth saw red. Flinging open the door, she stormed in after him.
'Listen to me, you little prick…' She trailed off as she gradually became aware that the room was filled with men. At the evening shift change, the room was packed with the male staff of the OR in various states of undress. Edson, still red with rage, was just pulling his top over his head. There was Peter, wearing just scrub pants and putting the nearby doctors to shame with those chiselled muscles. Elizabeth looked quickly away from his broad chest, blushing slightly, only to see Anspaugh – she blushed vividly now – dressed only in boxers.
A number of the men hastily snatched up clothes to cover up. There were more middle-aged men wearing very little indeed than she cared to see. The words died in her throat as embarrassment took over.
'Dr Corday?' Anspaugh looked as if he could hardly find words. 'Perhaps you'll leave now?
'I…ah..yes….oh god I'm so sorry,' she stumbled. She would have moved if she could, but she was paralysed with embarrassment.
More men emerged from the showers to see what the sudden silence was all about. Oh god, there was Dr Kayson, wearing just boxers too. Caught in the headlights of their collective gaze, she stood rooted to the spot. No matter how much she willed herself to move, she was unable to turn and flee. She became aware of more and more of the men, equally shocked speechless, staring back at her.
Suddenly, there was Robert Romano, too, stepping out of the showers to see what the problem was, a towel knotted loosely around his waist. The water was still running down his light brown chest hair. Even frozen with embarrassment, she couldn't help noticing his muscular chest and stomach which were usually hidden under scrubs. He leaned against the shower doorway, arms folded across his chest and observed her frozen state with some amusement.
'Well, Elizabeth. You seem to have taken a wrong turning.' He observed her fixed state. 'Do you need a map to find your way out?'
She found her voice again. 'A map? I mean, er…' she stammered.
He shook his head in disbelief. 'I mean get the hell out of here.'
His command broke the spell holding her in place. Blushing wildly, she turned and fled.
Friday morning found Anspaugh and Romano reviewing last night's events. Elizabeth's paperwork lay on the desk between them, awaiting Romano's signature.
Anspaugh closed his eyes and rested his head on his hands for a moment. 'I'm sorry, Rocket. You've inherited a thorny problem to start your time in charge. Dr Corday has apologised and asks to continue her internship. Preferably under a different resident. She suggested Dr Benton. I have to say that my inclination is to pull the plug. She is talented and no doubt she had some justification for her…irritation with Dr Edson, but we can't have this happening again. I've had complaints. Who knows what she'll do next?'
Unlike Anspaugh, Romano very much wanted to see what Elizabeth would do next, in surgery and out of it. He thought that she was magnificent. Once again, he reminded himself to tread carefully in front of Anspaugh. The man was still Chief of Staff.
'She made a mistake, and she won't repeat it. Edson was wasting her time and mine, yesterday.' He frowned. I don't want to see her go all meek and mild and losing her Lizzie-ness. 'So, she told him what she thought. I've ruffled a few feathers in my time too,' he confessed. 'Bruised a few egos from being honest. No-one let me go because of it. And look what County gets now.' He gestured at himself. 'I, uh, I think Elizabeth could go a long way in surgery. All the way to the top. We said this was a time for her to learn.' Here goes. He stuck his neck out again for her. 'I want to keep her here.'
Anspaugh sighed and rubbed his eyes. 'Well, if that's your feeling, we can continue with this internship. I hope Dr Corday appreciates this opportunity.'
A knock on the door interrupted them. It was Peter Benton.
'Dr Anspaugh; Dr Romano.' Peter looked unusually troubled. 'I heard Dr Corday asked to change her internship supervisor.'
'If indeed she continued it,' Anspaugh said dryly. 'But as it seems likely she will, thanks to Dr Romano's representations, then we may look at changing her supervisor. Is something on your mind, Dr Benton? I trust you'd do your best if she were assigned to your supervision.'
Benton gathered his usual self-control. 'Dr Corday and I are…friends. We occasionally socialise outside work. I wanted to say that I don't think it's appropriate for me to supervise her.'
'Thank you, Peter.' Anspaugh regarded the other man. 'That's very helpful. Is that all? I'll see you in OR3 in twenty minutes, then.'
He waited until Peter had left the room and turned to Romano. 'I think that was thoroughly professional. I have to say it's raised him in my estimation.'
Romano raised his eyebrows. 'Just friends, huh?'
'And if there was anything more going on, would it change the response?' Anspaugh retaliated. 'No, I think that whatever their friendship, he's right to say he shouldn't supervise her. The question is, who should?'
The morning was pressing on and both surgeons had operations lined up. Romano made a snap decision. 'Put it on a rotation between the residents, including Edson, excluding Peter. They can have…oh a month each.' He pulled across the paperwork to sign it.
'Done.'
Romano met Elizabeth later that day as he scrubbed for a whipple. She slid into the scrub room stealthily, as if hoping he wouldn't notice her entrance. He glanced up. 'Hey, Lizzie. Looks like you got a little mixed up last night.'
She blushed, kneed the tap on with more force than necessary and concentrated on scrubbing her hands. 'Oh god, please don't remind me.'
Romano barrelled straight past that plea. 'It's supposed to be dinner and a show, not the other way around.' The sight of Lizzie Corday blushing deeply enough to match her hair was captivating.
She cleared her throat. 'Um..I wanted to thank you.' She looked across at him. 'Really. Dr Anspaugh told me you were instrumental in persuading him to let me stay.
'Well,' he said lightly. 'It would be a shame to lose that talent. And the entertainment.'
He shook his hands dry and backed into the OR, taking the last word with him.
