Without a price?
Chapter 4
Emily quickly scanned the area, looking for the people she was trying to avoid. It was a dangerous situation but one that she could not have avoided or put off when they weren't around. That was all the shame too. She had an excuse to get out of here in fast pace though. She was busy, too busy for the likes of them.
Finishing scanning the hospital floor, she looked back and frowned at the hall and the door she had had to visit. It was a shame that Sydney had to leave her squad; she had great potential. She understood though, the baby Sydney now carried was more important and she could not risk losing it. Still, she needed a new second in command but whom? She had a squad of complete idiots and spoiled brats who don't have one sense of reality in them.
That was a problem for later though as she studied at her options. She could just rush through but doing so would collect attention. So that was a bad one. She could ask if her parents were here and not busy but Bobbie was on the desk. She would tell Monica and Alan that she asked, which would mean that she wanted to see them and she certainly did not! That only left one option, hope those two would stay busy while she walked through as a normal person. She'd stand out like a thumb because of her hair.
She had placed blonde highlights in it earlier in the week and that was one of the things her parents did know. No one had such ideas on this floor currently. Still, she needed to go and get things done so she quickly looked again and calmly walked into the main hall and towards the elevators. She pushed the button for down and waited for one to come.
As it rang, one arrived and she stepped into it and took a deep breath as the doors closed. She had thought she had made it until the elevator reached the next floor down when she found her mother was heading out too. Yeah, this would be one hellish ride. Running into her mother was one thing, running into her in a crowded space such as the elevator shaft? That was so much worse.
As Monica entered she smiled pleasantly, way too pleasantly for Emily's good. "Emily, I've been meaning to talk to you." Monica told her and Emily looked to the elevator list. Damn, her floor was not coming up soon. Emily would have to actually talk to her mother. If there was one thing to be happy about, it was the fact Alan was not here. She hated when they double teamed up on conversations. It was impossible to say anything much less skip out of the conversation all together!
Emily just nodded, following the childish rule of "if you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all". She was going to try anyway but her mother continued.
"It's been so hard to do so; it's almost as if you are avoiding me." Monica commented, while Emily cursed herself for not going with the second option. So her parents would know she was looking for them, at least she wouldn't be cornered like this!
"What makes you say that?" Emily implied, not denying that remark but not saying it was true either.
Monica looked at Emily with a stiff smile. "Because you are," Monica replied, stopping only for a second more before finishing her line of thinking. "I suppose it is mine and Alan's fault. It's just that we care about you and want you to be safe and your job…."
Emily looked desperately at the floor list engraved into the metal of the elevator, attempting to hurry her floor number. She had heard this reasoning before-way too many times before. She was quite sure she could say it word by word herself by now. It was annoying.
"…does not fulfill those concerns." Emily heard as she unfortunately again tuned in again to what her mother was saying. Two more floors to go, Emily told herself watching the floor numbers like a clock in English class in high school. "Which is why you should really rethink your career choice," Emily glared upwards and considered repeatedly hitting her head hard on the metal walls as Monica used an example she had used for a while now. "I mean you have a pre-med bachelor's degree. With your rank, GPA, grades and talents you could easily get into a good graduate school and earn an internship."
As Monica was going to continue, Emily's floor lit up. Wanting to run out of there as if demons were chasing her, Emily walked out and onto the floor. To her dismay, Monica came too. Emily walked faster, cursing her bad luck all the way. "General hospital is a perfect place to…" Monica was not given an opportunity to go on with her lecture when Emily's patience snapped.
As they walked outside, Emily swiftly turned around to face her mother. "Monica! Do you have any idea on how many times you have given me this lecture?" Emily asked.
"Well, I can't give an approximate estimate but I feel as if I have told you it quite a few times." Monica figured, as if it didn't matter.
"Exactly," Emily exclaimed. "And if I did not take it to heart the first or third time you told me, what are the chances of me absorbing it this time?"
"Not good," Monica realized but persisted with her usual lecture. "But it would really be good of you to be a doctor. You can help people that way too. Why else did you get a bachelor's degree?"
"I got that degree because I thought it would give me a career edge in the National Guard. It is important to keep your fellow officers and soldiers under good health or else they will not be useful. That knowledge and degree allows me to do that." Emily explained to her mother, who would still probably not get it.
"Yes, but-"Monica started but Emily interrupted her tirades again.
"No buts! This is not your life, its mine! If I want to have a risky job so be it. If you can't accept that then don't say anything at all!" Emily walked away after she said this, through with taking to her mom when she was like that. Screw the childish rule! She'll be as rude as she wants as long as her mother does not accept her career choice.
Jason stood in front of a building, wondering just what he was doing here. He should be sleeping but somehow the suspicion of Sam's way too quick adoption kept him up. Something was definitely up that lane, though he wondered why he still cared so much. He and Sam were no longer together, yet he still felt a need to protect her even though she could easily do that by herself.
He would go in there and imply about Eleanor, see that everything was just as it seemed and leave the situation be, or at least that was what he told himself. He did not necessarily think that anything was wrong with Eleanor herself. She was only a helpless infant, but the adoption timing just did not fit. Then there was his gut, it just screamed that something was up. He needed to settle that feeling.
Such reasoning allowed him to open the door and enter. He approached the blonde receptionist and asked if he could see someone who could help him with his investigation. The lady said that they could and directed him toward a social worker named Gail Emery-Andersen.
She was on the phone so he had to wait until she was done, which was something he usually did not mind. Today was the exception it seemed. It was probably because Sam was involved. It was also becoming a serious problem. He did not want to be responsible for Sam anymore, shouldn't have to worry. His previous relationships had not been this way, so why was this one that way?
Jason shook off the unanswerable questions as Mrs. Emery-Anderson got off the phone and called him in. The professional woman had light brown hair wrapped tight in a bun, a blue suit with a skirt that went down to her knees and had high heels on. She smiled pleasantly as she got settled into her seat again after they shook hands and provided each other's names.
"Mr. Morgan, how can I help you?" The woman asked sitting straight in her chair with her hands folded in front of her, patiently waiting for an answer.
"I was hoping you could answer some of the questions I had on a friend's recent adoption. She recently adopted an infant girl from this adoption agency and I want to see that it will go smoothly for her sake." Jason explained, feeling a bit out of place asking about it but doing so anyway.
"She has been burned many times and been disappointed many times before. As I feel a certain responsibility to her, I would not like to see it happen again." Jason had felt he needed an excuse to be here, so he offered one. The social worker just nodded in understanding and didn't publicly note the slight awkwardness of the situation (which was lucky for him).
"What kind of adoption did she have?" The woman was obviously looking for an answer of public or private.
"It was a private one." Jason answered and watched as the lady went to the file cabinet that was labeled "private" along with alphabetize listings.
"The child's name if you please?" Mrs. Emery-Andersen directed from behind her back but Jason heard the question just as well.
Jason paused, uncertain of what Eleanor's last name would be. Would it be her old one, which he did not know, or Sam's last name? Jason just decided to go with the latter. "Eleanor…McCall I believe."
The married woman stopped looking for a file and paused. "McCall, yes I'm familiar with the case. It is quite a recent adoption so it is fresh in my mind." She murmured and turned toward her desk, to the right corner of it and pulled out a thin file out of an organized pile.
She sat back down and opened the file, flipping it open. "Your friend's name is Samantha McCall?" Asking for verification, she must have guessed just what kind of friend he was: an ex-boyfriend. Still, Jason nodded letting her know that her assumption was correct.
"What kind of information are you looking for?" Gail waited patiently for an answer to her question.
"Well, I am specifically looking for who requested the adoption. The adoption just seems a little rushed, that's all." Jason told her.
Gail looked through the file and frowned. "You're right. It usually takes a couple months for an adoption to be complete. Let me see who contacted the agency." The woman looked further into the file and pulled out a sheet of paper. "Hmm…it seems they did not want to be named."
Suspicion immediately flashed in his mind. It was too good to be true if there was no name recorded. He couldn't say why Eleanor was put up for adoption but it was obviously the person wanted no tracing back to them. Which meant something was wrong and unnatural with this adoption. The question was what though and what did it have to do with Eleanor?