Chapter 18 – It's a job

When you are constantly living in a cloud of uncertainty, the slightest hint of a positive movement can have you leaping in the air. It was a small step, a very small step, but Sammy being given the chance to breathe by himself, it felt like a mile stone that would never be reached. The hours that followed that moment became nothing but a blur as we watched the machine being switched off, the tube being removed, then his little chest starting to work so hard all by itself.

The word miracle' is a funny one really, it can mean so many things to so many different people, it can be a miracle that someone remembered to get the bread from the store, a miracle that someone learns to walk again after an accident or even a miracle that someone sticks up for someone they usually torment. There are many definitions of the word, in some cultures it's an act from god, in others something which is beyond natural powers. In the end though no matter what the situation, it all comes back to one thing, what was seen as impossible just hours ago suddenly becoming reality.

Elliot Reid had always considered herself to be an observant person. When her mother had started spending more time in the pool house with the gardener, she noticed. When her brother had started sneaking out of the house with men, in the middle of the night, she noticed that too. So when half the hospital suddenly started whispering to each other, and stop talking when she walked passed and generally looking like their pet dog had eaten them alive in the night, you can bet she noticed that as well.

Yes, she was always an observant person; in fact it was one of the reasons she had become a doctor in the first place. The ability to pick up on the little things is something she prided herself on, not many people had the skills to do that. The only problem was her head was in the clouds so often that she frequently failed to realize the importance of these little observations. Like the fact her mother was actually having an affair, or that her brother was in a relationship with these men. Or in this case, that people weren't talking about her and her boyfriend's latest drama, but the fact her best friend was going through the worst time of his life. Being observant is one thing but when your mind can't quite connect the dots the dexterity is pretty much useless, especially when you don't stop for a second to think and ask what on earth is going on.

So when she heard the whispers from her coworkers about the 'almost married doctor' and how they felt so sorry for him and saw how they all went silent when she walked into the room, her mind soared to only one possible answer- they were talking about her and Keith.

By the time five o clock that afternoon came around the young doctor was officially fed up, all she was trying to do was treat her patients, fill in her paper work and maybe get in a quickie with her boyfriend, but it seemed everywhere she went she had judgmental eyes on her. In the ladies room she had two nurses watching her every move, on the ward she had a porter actually walk in, see her and walk straight back out again and even Doug seemed to be massively avoiding her. She had gone to ask him about moving one of her dead guys down to the morgue and he had practically jumped out of his skin, charged across to the nurses' station and hid beneath the desk, and if she wasn't mistaken, he had remained there for the rest of his day.

It had been a very strange tiring shift to say the least, especially when you added all the crying and depressed faces into the mix.

'Not the best atmosphere in the world to surround a hospital with'. Elliot thought to herself as she walked down the ward she had now renamed the 'dark cloud block'. It was almost like the place actually smelled of death and despair. She couldn't even begin to imagine what was probably going through the patients' heads right now , the reactions of the ones getting set up for an operation by professionals with tears running down their faces, hardly the confidence boost they'd need before being knocked out.

Shaking her own head as yet another surgeon ran past her sobbing, Elliot bit back the desire to shout out 'who died?' and made her way into her office to grab her coat. Almost mindlessly she threw it on over her scrubs not having the energy to get changed or even face the locker room and headed out the door; she couldn't wait to get as far away from the hospital as possible. She needed one hell of a glass of wine and batch of fresh cookies to make up for the day she had had. Who did those people even think they were to stand there judging her relationship? It wasn't anyone else's business, sure she had dumped him a few times but that was just part of their little game, to keep thinks fresh and interesting. Not that anyone in the hospital even remotely needed to know that.

She was just sick of the looks she was getting; they all just reeked of judgment and they were all from people who were in no position to look down their noses at her. At least she was making something of her life, moving up in the world, whereas they had probably been doing the same job every day for the past god only knows how long.

"You're in a hurry, of to see JD?" She heard someone bark out as she made her way down the ramp to the outside world. Pausing Elliot glanced to her left to see the janitor leaning against the wall, a mop in one hand, a newspaper in the other.

"What are you up to now?" She replied, looking at the items he was holding in confusion, ignoring his question completely.

"What a guy can't stand with a mop, outside a building and not get accusations thrown at him?" He resorted with a shrug, a sly smile on his face as he folded the paper in half and dumped it on the floor.

"Not when the mop is attached to a large piece of string no..." She said while glancing upwards, following the offending materials with her eyes to try and work out what in god's name the man was up to this time. "Shouldn't you be working?"

"I am working, my Job is a very important one and this needs to be done."

"Where exactly does that string go?" She asked, as her attempt to follow it came to a dead end at the window above them. The janitor just smirked in response and looked at her with a knowing expression, one that made the thirty year old feel rather uneasy. "Whatever, after the day I've had I don't even care, just don't kill anybody." With that she turned to leave again, but not before noticing the man, whose name no one knew, lift the mop up into the air ever so slightly, the expression on his face darkening as he pulled it back down to the ground.

Before she even had the chance to turn back around and question it she felt her feet disappearing from under her and she went flying forwards, did a flip over the barrier and ended up in a pile of dirt and leaves on the other side.

"WHAT THE HELL!" She screamed out blowing her hair out of her face and attempting to stand back up, before screaming as a bucket of very cold icy water came flying down from above her, succeeding in drenching the woman from head to toe.

"What do you know it did work…" The janitor whispered as he bent back down to retrieve his newspaper and pull the string that now lay loosely on the floor back in towards him. "Bright side you're not dead and I'm sure your day is going a lot better than some peoples."Elliot didn't respond as she turned to look up at him from her position on the ground, a look of pure venom on her face. "You know what I don't like about doctors like you? You all get on your high horse about everything, presume everything is about you when it's really not and don't take even a second to think about what's going on with the people around you… Now don't get me wrong, I'm not a bad guy and usually I leave girls alone, teaching them a lesson in manners is really not my thing, but for today only I'm making an acceptation to that rule."

Walking closer to the path where Elliot now lay, he smiled once again and leaned onto the metal posts of the barriers. Some things needed to be done and this was one of them, he didn't want to appear sexist after all. When people were in the wrong, they needed to be corrected; he wouldn't be very good at his job if he didn't put people of all genders into their place when they needed to be.

"What are you even talking about? And don't even think you're getting away with this! You're so getting my dry cleaning bill you frickedy frick head! Just wait until I tell Keith!" She shouted out, her voice going more and more high pitched as she tried to brush of the majority of the mess from her clothes, before slipping over on a wet patch of mud as she tried again to stand and going flying back into the soil once more, a deep frown plastered on her face.

"People are selfish, selfish people need to be taught life doesn't revolve around them." He replied simply before standing up straight once again and walking back towards the hospitals entrance, ticking of Elliot's name on his mental check list as he did. "Oh and just because clearly you need it spelling out to you… The whole hospital isn't talking about you and your dim witted fella, in fact guvnor; I'm interested to know how you think they are and why they'd all be crying like guilty puppies if they were?"

"Stop talking in riddles!"She spat out, in no mood for his little games.

"Fine… Kim's dead… Has been for two weeks now… people just found out… Simple enough for you?"

With that he disappeared though the doorway leaving a stunned Elliot in his wake. People called him heartless but sometimes when their own stubbornness got in the way, being heartless was the only way to get though to people. Sacred Heart meant a lot to him and the patient's inside deserved the best, a doctor too wrapped up in herself to notice something as big as the death of a surgeon , was not the best, therefore it needed rectifying. It was his business to correct these situations before they got out of control and that was exactly what he was going to do.

Because seriously, did anyone honestly believe a janitor as bad at his 'job' as he was would have been kept on for so long, allowed to leave sick on the floor and sleep though his shifts?

At a hospital of all places?

Of course the people who worked there were far too draped up in their own lives and own careers to ever really think that one through, which was rather lucky for him.

"One down two to go."

(a/n) Two updates in 2 weeks, on a role here! Thanks to everyone whose reading and reviewing! So happy people still like this story and are staying with it after all this time.