Chapter 6
AN: I own nothing. Thank you to the lovely people who have been reviewing.
Fuck.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Robert Romano had just been informed that there was a sexual harassment complaint against him, delivered by Kerry Weaver no less. The woman had no moral high ground to stand on, considering her willingness to hit on a patient. Great. Just. Fucking. Great. What a way to end the day.
Go home to Gretel and alcohol or go to a bar and have a drink. Max had a case this week, so his go-to drinking buddy was unavailable, and most of his other friends in Chicago either worked long hours like himself or had families to go home to. Nights out with the guys had to be planned, and he sure as hell didn't want to explain why he was calling for a last-minute drink.
Home it was then.
He walked in the door expecting to be greeted by Gretel, and instead, there was silence. Great. Not even his dog to comfort him in his time of need. Where was she anyway? He hung his coat in the entryway and walked through to the lounge; the liquor cabinet was calling his name. He was desperate for a drink. And there he found Gretel.
She was curled up on the leather couch, fast asleep, and dreaming of something if her twitching paws were anything to go by. Usually, Robert didn't allow Gretel on the furniture, she was going to be far too big when she finished growing, and he didn't want to compete for space, but it had been a hell of a day, and he couldn't blame her.
"Gretel, what are you doing?"
The massive hound startled from her slumber and saw Robert looking at her. She was caught in the act. He shook his head and walked past her to make a drink and ignored the fact that she was on the couch. A glass of scotch and a cuddle with Gretel sound perfect, and just this once the cuddle could be on the couch. Drink in hand, he sat down next to her and gave her an expectant look. Gretel got up and rearranged herself, draping her paws and head across Robert's lap. The love of his dog after a horrible day warmed his heart.
He didn't know who to call. Even if he did, he wasn't sure what he'd say. Calling Max was the obvious option. Max was a successful lawyer, and his college roommate, he and Robert had been through a great deal together. Robert was terrified to call a lawyer, though, even one that was his friend. He could see it going over so well. 'Hello Max, I know it's been a while, but today I've been accused by an anonymous coworker of sexual harassment, and I don't know who did it. Don't even know what I've done that they are calling harassment.'
A chill ran down Robert's spine. There was one person that could potentially accuse him. Please not her. Dear God, anyone but her. Elizabeth could have accused him. He'd asked her out while sponsoring her work visa and then fired her weeks later. It didn't matter that her saying no wasn't the reason he fired her, Kerry Weaver would latch on to that like a dog with a bone and be blind to anything else. Robert put his head in his hands and let out a sob. The only woman he had paid any attention to since he met her, and now she was the most likely candidate to be his accuser.
Fuck.
He didn't know if it was her, and wouldn't until tomorrow. If Elizabeth had accused him, then Weaver would have taken steps to keep them from working together. The surgical schedule tomorrow would confirm if it was Elizabeth. One of them would be on call for the ER indefinitely if it were her, the only way to keep them apart without suspending him. Robert made a promise to himself that if Elizabeth weren't his accuser, he would do everything in his power to make up for firing her. Hell, he'd find the funding to reinstate her fellowship.
The scotch was empty, and he had no appetite. How could he eat with the Sword of Damocles hanging over his head, potentially held by a woman he put before all others. He should just go to bed and try to sleep. Robert knew he was going to need his wits about him tomorrow.
The next morning was long and torturous. Sleep has been elusive, leaving Robert in a fog until his third cup of coffee kicked in. Somehow he had managed to get out the door and to work without having a panic attack. Robert was terrified of the surgical schedule for the day as he stepped into the elevator. His hands were trembling by the time the doors opened onto the surgical floor, his infatuation with Elizabeth Corday could be crushed at any moment. Robert held his breath as he approached the board, looking for who was on call to the ER. It was Edson. Scheduled for surgery were the names Romano and Corday. A weight had lifted from his shoulder; it wasn't her. Robert set out to find Elizabeth. Lizzy. Somehow he had to fix the issue of her fellowship, and he would start by telling her.
So far, Robert's morning had gone better than he hoped. Lizzy hadn't accused him of anything, they had an operation planned together, and he had found out who accused him. Maggie Doyle. The ER-resident that picked up a pet patient and wanted to spend some time in surgery seeing things through. Unfortunately, Doyle's surgical skills had been lacking, resulting in the need for at least one of his procedures to be rescheduled for stupid reasons such as letting the patient eat before surgery. She may be competent and respected in the ER, but the only redeeming quality she had shown in her surgical rotation was a backbone. Robert had done his usual poking a prodding to see what her limits were, and very quickly, she told him to fuck off. In those exact words. He could respect that. It just didn't stop him from giving her a lackluster performance review.
Doyle was proving to be a more significant pain in his ass than he thought possible. While the only real grievance she could have was the performance review, it had been suggested to him by Shirley that Maggie Doyle had a list of names. Names she thought would back her up, and apparently, Lizzy's name was on it. Out of the frying pan and into the fryer again. Robert's elation at Lizzy's lack of involvement was dwindling more and more as he heard that Weaver wanted to speak with her. Kerry Weaver was always poking her crutch where it didn't belong. Pity, she didn't trip on it.
Robert's night was a far cry better than the previous one. Relived that the only real complaint was a poor performance review, he made dinner for two, Gretel was celebrating with him after all. As he sat in front of the fire, he thought back on his surgery with Lizzy. For the first time in months, it felt like when she first came to America, when they were a team. It thrilled Robert, and when he slept that night, it was to the vision of her blue eyes across from him in the OR.
Robert felt so good the next morning that he decided to treat himself to breakfast. Breakfast a Doc Magoo's wasn't much, but it would suffice for the moment. It was almost the weekend, and he could take his mother out to brunch. That idea came crashing down as he walked away from the counter with his food, there sat Kerry Weaver and Elizabeth Corday. It took every ounce of self-control to play it cool while they made their excuses and left. His food tasted like ash as he forced himself to eat it at the table they had just occupied. Robert was on autopilot as he tried to process the numerous outcomes of Weaver's meeting with Elizabeth and was so out of it that he didn't hear Weaver calling his name as he waited for the elevator at work.
"Robert!" He turned to look at her; she was furious and practically foaming at the mouth. "What did you say to her? Do you know how inappropriate it is for you to speak about this investigation? Did you threaten her work visa?"
"Kerry, I have no idea what you're talking about." Robert was trying to remain uninterested in the ravings of the madwoman.
"Yeah, well, we're going to Anspaugh and now. You were way out of line speaking to Elizabeth about this inquiry."
The elevator opened, and Weaver waved at him with her crutch to get in. Robert obliged, believing that she might use it on him. When the doors opened to the surgical floor, Weaver made a beeline to Anspaugh's office and barged right in, barely waiting for Robert to follow her into the room before going off.
"Donald, you won't believe the conversation I had with Elizabeth Corday this morning. I don't know what Robert said to her or threatened her with, but somehow he got her to lie for him."
Thankfully there was a very convenient chair for Robert to sit in because he was sure as hell unable to stand after hearing that. He exchanged a look with Anspaugh, who shared his confusion.
"Dr. Weaver, I haven't spoken to anyone about this matter. I don't know what Dr. Corday has said to you, but I can assure you I had nothing to do with it."
"Oh come on, Robert, you're lying, and we all know it. Why else would she defend you."
Genuine shock registered on Robert's face, apparent enough for even Weaver to notice and be taken aback by it.
"Kerry, why don't you calmly tell us what Elizabeth has said. Robert claims he doesn't know, and if the look on his face is any indicator, I'm willing to believe him." Anspaugh had finally interceded and stepped into the role of mediator. Kerry shot them both a dirty look.
"She said. She said you fired her for cause, which is ridiculous. Elizabeth is an excellent surgeon, and I've seen no actions from her that would give credit to this."
Fired. For. Cause. Three little words that were Robert's salvation, perhaps she had taken his words on Christmas Eve to heart after all.
"She was." Robert's voice was so quiet that the other occupants of the room almost didn't hear him.
"Kerry, what exactly did Elizabeth say?" Anspaugh was questioning her now, equally as curious as Robert about why the British surgeon thought she had been fired.
"Elizabeth said she spent her entire year acting, and I quote 'like an arse who knew better than everyone.' That if she wasn't intentionally butting heads with Robert to his face, she was doing it by going behind his back." anger and disbelief we're evident in Weaver's voice.
"That would sum up her year working with me."
"Well, I don't believe it, Robert. I think you've bullied her into speaking up for you."
"Bully Elizabeth Corday?" Robert was laughing now and Anspaugh shot him a look, silencing him.
"Kerry, did Elizabeth give any examples or incidents to back her story up? Robert never filed any disciplinary reports, so if there is something to look into, I'd like to hear it."
"Well, Donald, she gave several examples, each more ridiculous sounding than the last."
"Get on with it, Kerry."
"Elizabeth said she operated without an Attending-" Donald instantly interrupted her.
"She did. I was the Attending. She was used to operating solo in England and was under the impression the same standards would apply for minor surgery here. I had a very stern conversation with her about what was expected of our residents in the US."
"Oh." Kerry was momentarily deflated at this. "Well, Elizabeth said she brought in an outside surgeon behind Robert's back. A Head and Neck consult for one of their patients."
"Kotlowitz?" Anspaugh's eyebrow went up as he said the name.
"I believe that's the name she gave me."
"Robert, I thought you were on board with that; you made the arrangements with my office to get him temporary privileges." Anspaugh was observing him now, intrigued to find out what actually had taken place.
"I made the arrangements, but only after Dr. Corday presented it to me fait accompli. I had no idea that she had consulted with an outside surgeon or that she spoke to you about it. At that point, Kotlowitz had already examined the patient, and it wouldn't have been right to prevent his involvement."
The room was quiet enough to hear a pin drop. Anspaugh, who had worked with Elizabeth enough to glimpse the depths of her ambitious streak, was shocked but not as much as Weaver. She had to sit down upon realizing that two of the stories so far had not been made up. Anspaugh cleared his voice and asked her if there was more.
"Right. Ah. A bad performance review. Elizabeth said the two of you talked about it and how she could improve, and then she did the opposite of what you suggested."
Robert couldn't help but laugh at the ways Elizabeth had described that.
"Something funny, Robert?"
"Just the way she described that. 'Opposite' wouldn't be my first choice of description, but sure we can go with that. Did she tell you what she did?" Robert shouldn't have been enjoying this, but the anticipation of watching Weaver squirm over Elizabeth's actions in the ER was enough to make him smirk.
"Elizabeth said you invited her to work on a drug study, and instead of taking you up on your offer, she used the drugs to run her own research without your approval."
"Stole the drugs you mean. Yet again, I had no clue what Elizabeth was doing. Ran her study in your little ER as well with your buddy Mark Greene signing off on it. There's no way he was unaware of the fact that she didn't have my blessing to use the Hemoaid drugs, and yet he went along with it anyway. Now I admire her ambition, it's why I sponsored her in the first place, but when I offered her Regional Coordinator for my Hemoaid study, and she turned it down to continue hers, I knew there was a bigger problem."
The room was quiet while Weaver and Anspaugh processed what Robert had told them. Neither could easily believe that Elizabeth Corday had caused multiple issues for Romano.
"Kerry," Anspaugh seemed drained, "was there anything else that Elizabeth said? And I hope to God that's a rhetorical question."
"Elizabeth said she called Robert a prick. In the OR. In front of everyone." her voice was quiet as she delivered the final blow to her inquiry against Robert. Kerry Weaver knew she had lost, and that using Elizabeth Corday's name to drag Robert Romano down wasn't going to work.
"Robert. Please tell me-"
"You know Donald; I deserved to be called a prick in that instance. I even told her so."
"Fuck." Anspaugh was not pleased; Robert had never heard him swear before. "Robert, if you were having these issues with Elizabeth, then why didn't you say something. Write a report, document it?"
"Donald, it was humiliating to realize that the surgeon I had sponsored wanted nothing to do with me. Since I had no issues with Dr. Corday's surgical skills, I decided not to lodge a formal complaint. I had hoped her blind ambition would see reason, but unfortunately, it didn't. I was left in the position to determine if I wanted to continue to work with a surgeon who had no desire to work with me, and it's fairly obvious what I chose." he had nothing else to say. Elizabeth had fallen on her sword for him and dragged her name through the mud instead of his. Robert had no idea why. He could not begin to comprehend how she would deal with this fallout, something he had tried to protect her from in the first place. Kerry was the one who finally spoke.
"So, you're saying that Elizabeth called you a prick, and your response was to apologize?"
"Yes. I goaded her in an unprofessional manner and deserved her ire. I made that very clear after the surgery."
"Robert, I believe you are free to go. Kerry, you need to get your sources in order, and it sounds as if Elizabeth Corday won't testify unless it's on Robert's behalf. Robert, you'll get a written report of the overall testimony, but I believe this is the extent of the inquiry." Anspaugh dismissed him. It was over.
