Story: The Nobel Laureate
Chapter 11
Disclaimer: See Chapter 1
Previously: Jed was surprised by all the attention he was getting on campus; Abbey was confronted by Dr. Kyle Nelson regarding the Niederlander case; with only a few precincts reporting, Jed was leading in his election while Abbey's initiative managed to win in four of the smaller districts
Summary: Abbey tells Jed about her conversation with Kyle; when Jed tries to storm off to find Kyle, Abbey puts her foot down
AN: The Kyle/Abbey med school relationship was originally depicted in the story "Back Home Again" which can be found on this site for anyone who's interested!
Election night festivities continued in the Bartlet house. It was an intimate setting, so small and personal that it allowed the adults to gather around the coffee table in the living room for dinner and dessert while they watched election returns on television. Unfortunately for Abbey, such close interaction betrayed her desire to hide her thoughts from the prying eyes of her guests.
She shifted in her seat several times. Her smile, seemingly forced, faded as the minutes passed, and floating among the flecks in her jade-colored orbs was a gloomy overcast that dulled its usual sparkle. Even when her public policy initiative passed in a total of seven districts and even when Jed won their home district in a landslide victory to reclaim his seat in the state legislature, a bubbly reaction escaped her. She kissed him a kiss of congratulations, her stiff body blocking the guarded emotions that churned inside.
Jed noticed immediately, but aside from holding her close in a hug of reassurance and a few stolen opportunities to squeeze her hand later, he waited until they were alone to pursue it.
Their guests eventually filtered out, couple by couple, and Abbey began the arduous task of cleaning up. Jed joined her after he put Zoey to bed.
Framed in the doorway of the family room where the kids had been playing earlier, he gave her a warm smile and asked, "You okay?"
She toyed with the idea of simply nodding. For tonight, she reasoned, she could pretend nothing was wrong, for his sake. He deserved that on the night of his election. Tomorrow, she could shower herself in her anger and frustration without raining on his parade and marring this wonderful moment with her own troubles. But just as she began her strong denial, her glance met his and in that instant, she realized he wanted the truth.
"It's not that big a deal," she said. "To anyone else, it might even be pretty minor. I don't know why I'm letting it affect me like this."
"What?"
"Something happened at the hospital that got to me." She set the plates she had collected back on the card table so she could devote her attention to Jed. "I had a run-in with Kyle Nelson."
"What did he say?"
"It's not what he said. Actually, it is what he said. I don't know why people say that because it seems to me that what people say matters just as much as how they say it."
"Abbey?"
"He implied that Bill Niederlander died because of my negligence, that something I did...or didn't do...during the first operation caused the infection."
Jed stood before her, motionless. She may not have been a board certified thoracic surgeon yet, but in his mind, Abbey was already world-class doctor. She loved medicine because of her patients, the people she devoted her entire career to. They came first in her professional life. Before the loopholes and bureaucracy that plagued healthcare, before the constant battles with insurance companies and the six-figure paychecks that she'd be cashing once her fellowship was over, her commitment was to the people who turned to her to make them well.
Obviously, Dr. Kyle Nelson was ignorant to that fact. The notion that he could accuse Abbey of negligence shocked Jed to his core. Instead of interrupting, he listened as she untangled the details of their meeting.
"He also accused me of forcing Arlene Niederlander to sign the consent form to get him back into the O.R. She supposedly told him that I manipulated her and now he's on the warpath, thinking that maybe the second operation wasn't the best course of action, that it wasn't in the best interest of the patient." Still silent, Jed folded his arms in front of him until Abbey curiously called out to him. "Jed?"
In a low, breathy voice, Jed replied, "Yeah?"
"Why aren't you saying anything?"
"I'm waiting for you to finish."
"I'm finished."
"No, you're not. Because I know there's no way this man could accuse you of such things without you defending yourself, so I'm waiting to hear what you said to him."
"I told him that he could run his own investigation, independent of the hospital's, and he still won't prove negligence. I said I did everything right." Her gaze fell to the floor. "Only..."
"Only what?"
"The truth is, I don't know if I did everything right," she mumbled.
Jed opened his arms as wide as he could, then took a few steps towards her, enveloping her so tight into his embrace that he could feel her limbs clench then relax against him. They had been here several times before, lost in a maze of 'what ifs' and 'if onlys.'
Abbey had told him long ago that some husbands and wives tire easily of hearing their doctor spouse babble about the details of surgery, of patients they'd saved and those they'd lost. That was never the case with Jed. He cherished the way Abbey's face lit up when she recounted stories of a successful operation. Her enthusiasm was always his undoing. His heart beating with pride, he loved the goosebumps that tingled his skin when she talked about saving a life. And though it was a far cry from the giddy emotions he adored, he was just as receptive to the regrets that doused her happiness following a death.
She frequently tried to mask her tears, stiffen her upper lip to avoid surrendering to the helplessness that always pierced her soul. But he wouldn't let her. Only when doctors lose their humanity, he would say, is when they no longer cry. And with those words, he'd cup the back of her head and urge her to bury those tears in his shoulder, a place where they'd be forever safe from the rest of the world.
She had already cried for Bill Niederlander. Those tears had been shed on Halloween night. Tonight, she wasn't feeling any sorrow. She was feeling the brunt of her doubts drenched in the rage that Kyle had provoked.
Jed relaxed his grip across her back and when she stepped slightly out of his hold, he tenderly stroked her cheek. "Don't let him do this to you. Not again."
"It's not about him."
"The hell it's not, Abbey."
"It's not."
"I was there. I saw what he put you through in med school. I saw the way he tore down your confidence during third-year rotations. I won't ever forget how he made you feel."
Abbey had put those feelings behind her, she thought. Pimping was a normal part of medical school. As part of the curriculum, ambitious residents always quizzed students during clinicals. Most of the time, it was an educational tool to enhance the student's knowledge, but Kyle Nelson used the opportunity to taunt Abbey. Jed was right. Kyle humiliated her on more than one occasion and for a while, he robbed her of the spunk and tenacity that propelled to the top of her class after her first two years of instruction.
She wasn't willing to let him do it again. "I'm not a med student anymore."
"No, but he hasn't changed. And neither have you."
"What?"
"He tells you that you're to blame for a patient's death and you come home rattled. He got to you again. I don't get it. If anyone else had said that to you, you would have socked them."
"Actually, I wouldn't." She walked around him.
"Why the hell not?" He turned to face her back.
She spun around and replied, "Because I like my job! And in case you've forgotten, I'm a fellow and he's an attending."
"Oh, I haven't forgotten. But he's crossed the line."
"Yes, he has. And in time, I WILL do something about it. I won't let him get away with it. But for right now, I'm going to lay low, at least where hospital administration is concerned."
"So what does that mean?"
"It means, I'll handle it."
"How? By ignoring it? By letting it gnaw at you? You just told me you don't plan to go to the hospital for help, so how, pray tell, are you going to handle it?"
"By standing my ground against the implication that I did something wrong. Yes, Jed, I may have doubts, but I can still defend myself pretty damn well. I've been over that procedure a thousand times in my mind and I still can't figure out exactly what happened, but I will continue to claim I did nothing wrong until someone can prove otherwise because I don't think they can. I'm 95 certain I didn't miss anything."
"Then why the doubts?"
"There are always doubts. Even when everything goes smoothly, I replay it in my head and wonder if there was something I could have done better. It's just what I do."
"You're minimizing this."
"What?"
"This. What he said to you. You're minimizing it. If it was really no big deal, you wouldn't have been upset about it all night. It bothered you."
"Of course it bothered me. This is the first time I've lost a patient without answers. If anyone's suspicious, they're going to look to me. Add Kyle's threats to the mix and I don't know how you could expect me not to have been bothered."
"What threats?"
She shrugged, but they both knew he wouldn't dismiss her slip of the tongue without explanation. "Not threats really. Just something he said."
"What did he say?"
"He's just trying to flex his muscles."
"Abbey?" Losing patience, he called her name in a firm voice.
"He said that if he finds out I coerced Mrs. Niederlander into singing the consent form, I'd be doing sutures for the rest of the year!" she blurted out.
It took only a second for Jed to absorb her words. It drove him crazy that anyone dared to talk that way to Abbey. It annoyed him even more that he didn't know what to do about it. He felt helpless, an outsider to the politics in her world. He had ventured inside the walls of the hospital many times, but he never truly understood the tumultuous relationship that sometimes existed between doctors, especially when one was as ego-driven as Kyle Nelson.
He whirled around, briskly walking out of the room as Abbey followed. "Jed!"
"He's still working, right?"
"You're not going down there."
"Wanna bet?" He collapsed on a chair and bent forward to slip into his shoes.
"You're not going down there. Stop it."
"Abbey, I am sick to death of this guy pushing you around! He did it while you were a student and you begged me to lay off, which I did. Then you told me that you can't do anything about it without jeopardizing your grade and recommendations for residency."
"That's right."
"Well, as you so clearly pointed out to me just minutes ago, you're not a med student anymore!"
"No, I'm not. I'm a surgical fellow and I'm also an adult who doesn't need you to go down there to tell off the big, mean schoolyard bully!"
"So I should just ignore this?"
"You should be here for me just like you always are. Let me work through it my way."
"I will. As soon as I have a word with him." He stood and headed for the front door.
Abbey chased after him, clicking at his heels. "JED!"
"I'll be back." He opened the door.
"If you go out that door, we are going to have one HELL of a FIGHT when you get back! Worse than we've had in a VERY long time!"
Reluctantly, he paused. His back to her, he dropped his head and shot back, "I'll take my chances."
"DON'T!" she shouted. "Don't test me on this. Let me handle it."
"Your idea of handling things isn't exactly proactive, Abbey!"
"Excuse me?"
"God knows you haven't done anything so far," he snapped as he stepped back inside and slammed the door. He wished he hadn't turned to see her then. Her mouth was twitching with anger. Her eyes held an unforgiving stare. He inhaled deeply and softened his tone before adding, "You haven't done anything that he's responding to, is what I meant."
"That's not what you meant." She knew him so well. "I have done something. I've let him know that he doesn't scare me. And we'll revisit this. I will do something about it when the time is right. But in the meantime, I want you to understand that it it's not your job to make this all better."
"Yes, it is. I'm your husband. Yes, it is."
"No, Jed, it isn't." She abandoned her stern approach as she continued. "I know you're just looking out for me, but I know what I'm doing. You have to trust me."
"What are you doing?"
"I'm waiting until the initial investigation is over. When there's a concrete report about both surgeries and about the source of the infection, I'm going to file a formal complaint of harassment against Dr. Nelson."
"Yeah?"
"Yeah. I can't do it until afterwards because I don't want anything to taint the investigation. I want to know what caused Bill Niederlander's death. If nothing else, his wife deserves the truth. Once that's done, I'll make sure Kyle never tries to intimidate another employee ever again."
"You're going to take him on? Even though he's an attending and you're a fellow?"
"I think I've proved myself over the past seven years. I've got some friends who will vouch for me, if it comes to that. I'm going to talk to Rob Nolan about it tomorrow."
"When did you decide this?"
"Tonight. That's why my mind was a little preoccupied at times. I'm just as angry as you are, but I can't let my impulses drive my actions because if I lose an ounce of credibility here, he wins." She extended her hand to him, curling her fingers around his when their palms touched. "That's why you can't go down there either."
"Forgive me for that. I was so furious, I just wanted to let him know who he was dealing with."
"Well, yeah, but he's not exactly dealing with you. At the hospital, he's dealing with me."
"No matter where it happens, Abbey, if he messes with you, he's dealing with me. Make no mistake about that." His breathing had steadied and, slowly, his chest stopped puffing.
"You know what?" Abbey pushed her hips against his as she wrapped one hand around his neck. The fingers of her other hand swept under the lock of brown hair that had fallen across his forehead during his tirade. She had made that happen. His love for her was so intense that the mere suggestion of her unhappiness was enough to spur his rage. How could she possibly fault him for loving her so much?
"What?"
"You are so irresistibly sexy when you're being an overprotective jackass."
He laughed. "You sounded pretty pissed off a few minutes ago."
"I'm over it."
"So does it always turn you on?" He flashed a coy grin.
"Depends on how I'm feeling."
"How are you feeling now?"
"Like I want to jump you."
She pressed her mouth into his, innocently unaware of his hands dropping to cover her rear. Suddenly, he pulled away. He cradled the back of her knees and scooped her up into his arms despite her protests.
"Jed!"
"Just relax," he told her as he walked towards the stairs.
"Your back!"
"My back is fine."
"It won't be if you don't put me down. You're going to give yourself a herniated disc. Either that or you'll make the one you already have even worse."
"You know, Sweet Knees, it is acceptable to drop the white coat and stethoscope once in a while."
"I thought you liked me in the white coat and stethoscope," she purred softly as her fingers delicately outlined his collar.
Jed stopped to get a good look at the mischievous twinkle in her eye. Her left brow arched to the middle of her forehead and she smiled out of the corner of her mouth, a flirtatiously playful expression that let him know, unequivocally, she was ready to play whatever game he had in mind. Without further hesitation, he tightened his grip on her back and her legs and sprinted up the stairs.
TBC