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Chapter 18 – Where Your Loyalties Lie

While still in the surgical lounge, Grace heard herself being paged on the hospital intercom. She used the phone in the lounge to call the ER, only to find that Weaver needed her downstairs immediately.

"I wonder what's got Kerry's knickers in a twist?" She said. "I'm sure it won't take long. Meet me down in the ER lounge after your shower and we can go back to my place." She grinned as she walked out the door.

As she arrived in the ER, Weaver, looking serious, pulled Grace into the lounge.

"What's wrong Kerry?"

"Grace, I need to take a blood sample."

"What for?"

"The patient you worked on in trauma one, the last one you worked on."

"The boy who died?"

"Yes. It seems he was given the wrong dose of epi."

"That's impossible."

"I'm sorry, Grace, but this is not a request."

"What are you saying? You think I screwed up and you're accusing me of being intoxicated? You and I both know that's not true."

"They found an empty vial of epi in the trauma room."

"The vial couldn't be empty, Kerry. That's three times the dosage! Carter asked for 5mg and that's what I gave him."

"That's right, Carter asked for 5 and that's what's noted on the chart, but the vial in the trauma room was empty. Here, see for yourself."

"Look, Kerry, I don't know what's going on, but this is crazy."

"I'm going to need a sample of your blood, Grace."

"Where's Carter? He'll back me up. And Chuny, she was there too."

"Chuny is the one who found the vial, Grace. Carter said he didn't see you actually inject the epi, so he couldn't confirm how much was in the syringe."

Shooting Weaver a look of daggers, Grace held out her arm. "Fine. Do whatever you need to do, but it won't change anything. The autopsy will prove I didn't do anything wrong."

"Unfortunately an autopsy won't help us in this case. Levels of epinephrine increase rapidly after death making post mortem evaluation impossible."

Weaver took a sample of Grace's blood and asked her to wait while they ran a rush tox screen. As she sat there, she replayed the events of the trauma in her mind and each time came up with the same conclusion. She did not give the patient an overdose. She clearly remembered giving him 5 mg and placing the rest of the vial back on the counter. Didn't she?

Upstairs, Romano had finished showering and had just left the locker room when he ran into Mancini. "My, my, Mancini. I haven't seen you in what, 4 or 5 annoying-free hours? What the hell are you doing back here today?"

"Always a pleasure running into you, Robert. I gave Grace a ride back here after lunch. They called her and asked her to come in to lend a hand."

"By the way, just in case you haven't already guessed, I'm revoking my previous offer of a position here."

Mancini laughed, "I was never interested in coming here permanently. It's true, I had other motives in addition to being a bit of a hero, but now that everything's going according to plan, life should be back to normal in short order."

"Just so you know, Grace is counting the minutes until you leave, Mancini. Tick tock."

"Is that what she told you? She always did have a hard time letting go, feeling that sense of obligation. It's too bad you had to run off and miss lunch. Grace and I had the best time, reminiscing for hours. It was just like old times, complete with a kiss that almost knocked me right off my feet."

"You're full of shit, Mancini."

"Hey, if you don't believe me, go ahead and ask her yourself. Grace was never able to resist me for long. That's why she had to move away from Detroit. She knew her willpower would wane and eventually she'd end up back in my bed. One thing we could always count on was the most unbelievable, mind-blowing sex. Even if everything else was falling apart."

Romano came close to Mancini and stared intensely into his eyes and replied in a low, threatening voice. "I'm not buying for one minute that Grace would willingly touch you, and if you think that your delusional fantasies are in any way, shape or form going to get a rise out of me, you're even more obtuse than I thought."

"What she possibly sees in you is beyond me, although I should probably let you in on a little secret. Grace is certainly no saint and she's not beyond doing favors to advance her career. How do you think she ended up with me in the first place? In fact, she's so good at manipulating men, you probably thought it was your idea to put her on the surgical team."

Romano had a sudden flashback of Grace flirting with Kovac when she had been angry at him for not calling her.

Shirley approached them, and pulled Romano aside. She told him that Weaver was having a meeting down in the ER that required his immediate attention.

"Lucky for you we'll have to continue this conversation later, but let's get one thing straight, cowboy. This is my hospital and I'll run it the way I see fit. Any decision to put Grace on or off the team was entirely up to me."

"And our little pal Donald. Don't forget you needed his influence with the advisory committee on this. But hey, thanks for the chat, Robert." Mancini grinned at Romano, knowing that his lies had at the very least, planted a seed or two of doubt in his mind.

"Yeah, well, don't thank me for insulting you, it was a pleasure." He barked, storming off towards the elevator.

Back in the ER, Kerry returned with Carter and both had a somber look on their face.

"Grace, your BAC level was 95."

"It can't be. When I checked it, it was within acceptable limits."

"Maybe you hadn't metabolized all the alcohol from lunch when you tested it."

Grace turned to Carter, "I wasn't drunk and I'm not the only one who was in the trauma room. Someone else could have emptied this vial."

"That's a bit of a stretch, don't you think? You really think someone tried to frame you?" Carter replied

"It's the only explanation!"

"Grace, I know I shouldn't have asked you to work. I shouldn't have put you in this situation."

Romano walked in, obviously still hot from his recent encounter with Grace's ex.

"What the hell's going on in here? Looks almost like an intervention. Dr. Carter did you fall off the wagon?"

Weaver jumped in and explained to Romano why they were there.

"So let me get this straight. You asked Grace to work a trauma knowing she'd been drinking?"

"She took a breathalyzer, Robert. Technically she blew under the limit."

"Really? Did you see the test?"

Grace looked at him incredulously, as though he was accusing her of lying.

"I trust Grace, Robert."

"Mmm hmm. Well, that's just great, Kerry. So you can't actually verify she was sober and now we find out that Grace is indeed intoxicated. Thanks to the incompetence of this ER a 15 year old boy is now in the morgue."

Defending herself, Grace yelled, "Look, I'm not now, nor was I drunk earlier this afternoon, and…I didn't inject him with the entire vial of epi! I would never have agreed to work if I hadn't been fit to perform my job."

"We were drowning in patients and I practically begged Grace to help out. She was just doing what she thought was in the best interest of this hospital." Weaver said.

"Well, all evidence to the contrary, Kerry. This is completely unacceptable not to mention this hospital will undoubtedly be faced with a lawsuit. I'm sure the family will want a little more than, 'gee sorry, a drunk nurse over-medicated your son and killed him'."

"I didn't give him an overdose!" Grace reminded harshly.

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"Did I ask for a nurse's opinion? I don't think so, because, quite frankly, it's never happened."

"His injuries were severe. We probably wouldn't have been able to save him anyway." Carter added.

"Not much of a consolation knowing we did everything possible to ensure he never stood a chance."

"We were only successful in stabilizing his leg wound before he went into v-fib, Dr. Romano." Carter said.

"Yes, it was a screaming success if the desired outcome was death. Kerry, as the ER attending, I'll need you to write up an official reprimand for Grace's gross incompetence."

"You can't do that!" Grace protested.

"Watch me." He said coldly.

"Robert, I think we should talk privately about how we're going to handle this." Kerry said.

"Well, I guess I can't trust a lesbian to do a man's job. If you don't have the stones to write her up, I will. Oh, and effective immediately Grace, you're on suspension."

"You're looking for a scapegoat, but I'm not the one to blame." Grace said emphatically.

"It was your responsibility to be fit to work, Grace. You didn't do your job, so maybe it's only fitting that you do the honors? You want to go tell the parents why their son is dead?"

"Bastard!" She yelled. Grace stormed out of the lounge, and ran outside, into the ambulance bay.

Carter glared at Romano before running out after her, "Grace! Grace!" He yelled as she kept walking away."Grace!" He called as he finally caught up to her, grabbing her arm to get her to stop.

"Thanks for backing me up in there." She said harshly.

"I couldn't lie, Grace. I didn't see how much you gave him."

"I wasn't drunk. I took a breathalyzer before I even started and it was 0.07."

"You know that is pretty close. Borderline."

"Fine, you don't believe me either? Then we have nothing left to say." She said pulling away from him and continuing on.

"Grace, I didn't say you were unfit in there. You seemed as sharp and as capable as always and I'll put that in the report. I've worked with you long enough to know your level of competency. I'm sure you'll only end up with a small suspension and probationary period."

"Not to mention an M & M. Well, that's just great. All this, for trying to help."

"I'm sorry, Grace. You know I'll do whatever I can to help. Are you going to be okay?"

She looked up at him, as the tears welled up in her eyes.

"I know it couldn't have been easy. Having him tear into you like that."

"No, it wasn't. To be honest, it was the last thing I was expecting." She cried, wiping her face.

"Grace, I'm so sorry." Carter said, holding her.

"You sound like a broken record, Carter."

"I'm off in an hour, do you want a ride home?"

"No, thanks. I don't think I could bear to hang around this place for another hour."

"Call me later, okay?"

Grace nodded and made her way to the EL platform.