"Lizzie!" Robert's voice pounded through Elizabeth's ears as her office door swung open to reveal the short surgeon. She looked up from the operative report in front of her and stared at him expectantly.
"Can I help you Robert?" She asked after several moments of silence.
Robert approached her and leaned onto the side of the desk. "I was just wondering if there was a reason why you've been avoiding trauma call." He said causally. "Because somehow you've avoided going into that hell hole that your husband works in for the last several weeks, and I for one am not going down there when I have people like you to send down."
Elizabeth sighed. "Robert I've been catching up on my elective cases. I'm happy to go down there once I've caught up but I have…"
"No you'll be happy to go down there today. You're on trauma call." Robert cut her off.
"Robert!" Elizabeth began to protest.
Robert raised his eyebrows. "I thought you liked it down there, with your husband and all his so-called doctor friends."
"Robert." Elizabeth replied quietly rubbing her fingers on her temple.
"What are you and the hubby still fighting?" He asked her incredulously.
Elizabeth slammed the folder on her desk closed as she stood up. "I'll be downstairs." She said angrily, grabbing her pager before heading to the elevator.
Mark was napping in the suture room when Abby came in carrying a little girl with a head laceration.
"Oh Doctor Greene, I'm sorry." Abby said awkwardly as she saw him wake up. "Chloe here had a bit of a nasty fall in the hallway and Jerry said this room was open, but I can go down the hall…"
"No, no point I'm up." Mark said, waving his hands to excuse her as he sat up slowly. "Do you need a doctor to assist?"
Abby nodded. "That would be great, everyone else is prepping for an incoming trauma." She said with a smile before turning to the little girl. "Chloe this is Doctor Greene and he's going to help me fix your head alright?"
Chloe nodded in response, watching as Mark pulled out a suture kit from the cabinet. "Is it going to hurt?" She asked him quietly.
Mark smiled and bent down so he was at her level. "It might sting a little bit, but it won't be too bad." He said giving her hand a squeeze.
"Are you good Mark?" Abby asked as they heard Doctor Chen calling for a nurse down the hall.
Mark nodded. "We'll be fine." He promised as he opened the kit. Abby quickly left to assist with the trauma. "So Chloe what are you doing here?" He asked her as he began prepping the laceration.
"My sister Kimmy has cancer." She replied, looking down at her feet. "I have to come with Mommy when she gets her treatments."
Mark sighed. "That must not be a lot of fun." He sympathized. "Alright this is the part that's going to sting a little, why don't you hold onto him?" Mark said handing her a small bear. "I need you to hold very still." He said quickly inserting the local anesthetic.
"Is it over?" Chloe asked several minutes into her stitches.
"Not quite, but I'm almost done." He said as he began the last of her stitches.
Chloe sat quietly until Mark bent down in front of her again. "You, are all done." He said with a smile. "How about we see about getting you back upstairs to your Mom?" He asked her, tossing the remains of the suture kit into the waste bin.
"I don't want to." Chloe said quietly, staring at the top of Mark's head. "Hey, where did you get that?" She asked him pointing at his scar, obviously trying to change the subject.
Mark smirked. "I got a much bigger cut on my head than you did didn't I?"
"Did you have to get stitches too?" Chloe asked him with interest.
Mark nodded. "And I have to go up to the same floor as you so why don't we go together?" He said, lifting Chloe off from the bed onto the floor.
"Why do you have to go upstairs? Do you work there?" She asked, taking hold of his hand as they walked to the elevator.
Mark smiled sadly. "No." He replied as the two of them got onto the elevator.
"Are you sick like Kimmy?" Chloe asked, suddenly looking at him sadly. Mark nodded softly. "I didn't know doctors got sick." She said to the floor.
Mark nudged her shoulder. "Doctors are just like you and your sister. Some of us get sick, some of us don't."
Chloe nodded. "I never thought about it like that." She said with a smile before the doors opened to oncology. The two of them walked into the Lobby.
"Doctor Greene you're late." Peggy, the oncology nurse admonished him.
"Sorry." Mark said with a smirk. "I was busy taking care of Chloe's head laceration." He said pointing to the girl at his side.
Peggy glanced over the desk. "There you are Chloe!" She exclaimed, rushing around the desk. "Your mother was very worried about you. Let's take you back to Kimmy's treatment room." She said taking the little girl's hand. "Doctor Greene your treatment is set up in treatment room four, I'll meet you in there?"
Mark nodded, waving as Chloe began to walk away. Suddenly she turned around and ran to Mark, grabbing onto his leg. She looked up at him with wide eyes.
"What's wrong Chloe?" Mark asked, crouching down to her height.
"Please get better." Chloe said quietly wrapping her arms around him. "You're a really good doctor."
Mark sighed. "I'm glad you think so." He said with a smile. "Thank you Chloe." He said as she let go of him, running back to Peggy.
"I'll see you later!" Chloe said with a wave as she headed into the pediatric treatment center.
Mark smiled before heading back into his own treatment room.
"Doctor Corday?" Kerry asked as she approached the admit desk where Elizabeth was sifting through charts. "I didn't know we called you down for a consult."
Elizabeth looked up from the pile of charts in front of her. "Romano put me on trauma call." She said, barely making eye contact with the woman in front of her.
"We can page you if we need you, there's no need to…" Kerry began before Elizabeth cut her off.
"I'm avoiding Robert." She said curtly.
Kerry raised her eyebrows but didn't question her. "Carry on then." She said before moving on to her patient.
Elizabeth stared mindlessly at the charts in front of her, her headache that had been threatening her since this morning was beginning to take form, and she wasn't looking forward to the rest of her shift if it hit her full force.
Susan approached the admit desk and looked over at Elizabeth. Her face was growing increasingly pale causing Susan to watch Elizabeth shift through the charts in front of her. "Elizabeth?" She asked after several minutes.
"Hmmm?" Elizabeth replied, not looking up.
"Are you feeling alright?" Susan asked, gently putting a hand on Elizabeth's shoulder.
Elizabeth shrugged Susan's hand off from her. "I'm fine." She insisted, putting the charts back onto the rack in front of her.
Susan backed away, hands in the air in surrender. "Okay, okay."
It was then that Jerry hung up the phone. He turned around to face the two of them. "Doctor Corday do you know where Doctor Greene is?"
Elizabeth looked at him curiously. "He's on shift." She replied, her eyebrows raising in confusion.
"This says he checked out almost an hour ago." Jerry replied.
Elizabeth shook her head. "He's on shift until five and then he's taking Ella for a few hours." She recited, as if the information didn't mean anything personal.
"Well he's not here and Rachel's school keeps calling. Something about suspension." Jerry replied with a shrug.
Elizabeth's eyes widened. "Suspension?" She asked angrily.
"Don't shoot the messenger!" Jerry replied, turning back to the computer.
Susan took in a deep breath before interrupting. "Mark is off for about an hour, he should be back down here soon."
Elizabeth looked over to her, crossing her arms. "Where is he?" She asked, her tone cold.
"I don't know." Susan replied, grabbing a chart from the rack.
"You're covering his patients." Elizabeth replied sharply, noticing that she grabbed one of Mark's charts. "But he didn't tell you where he was disappearing to?"
Susan shrugged. "He asked me to and I didn't ask questions."
The phone rang again, Jerry answered it before turning to Elizabeth again. "Doctor Corday the school says Rachel needs to be picked up."
Elizabeth rolled her eyes before pulling out her pager. "Did you think to page him?" She asked as she quickly sent a message to Mark.
"They want to talk to you." Jerry said, holding out the phone to Elizabeth.
"I'm not her guardian." Elizabeth replied, not moving toward the phone. "Tell them Mark will call back when he gets back from wherever he's decided to spend his time."
It was then that the elevator opened to reveal an incredibly tired looking Mark.
"Doctor Greene!" Jerry called out to him, but Mark just quickly moved toward Elizabeth.
He stopped briefly to catch his breath before speaking. "Elizabeth? You paged me? 911?" He asked each question with a huge breath between each of them.
"Rachel's school called." She replied monotonously, pointing to Jerry. "Something about suspension."
"Suspension?" Mark asked, sounding irritated.
"She's your daughter Mark." Elizabeth said before turning around to go to the elevator. Suddenly she turned back around, "I'll tell Katherine she'll need to stay with Ella tonight since you'll apparently be busy." She said harshly before sliding into the elevator as the doors closed.
Mark sighed deeply before reaching to the phone Jerry was holding out to him. "This is Doctor Greene."
"Hello Doctor Greene, your daughter Rachel has been suspended for drug possession." The voice on the line began. "She'll need to be picked up immediately."
"Of course." Mark replied tiredly. "I'll be there soon." He said before hanging up the phone.
"Mark?" Susan asked expectantly.
"Rachel got caught with drugs at school." He said, sounding even more exhausted than before. "I have to go pick her up."
Susan quickly grabbed his arm and took him into the lounge, making him sit before speaking. "Mark you aren't in any shape to drive." She said pointedly. "I'll pick up Rachel, but I'm taking you home first."
Mark shook his head, becoming increasingly nauseated. "I still have four more hours left of my shift."
Susan laughed. "Not like this you don't." She said before becoming serious. "I'm going to go get some emesis basins so you don't vomit all over my car, and then I'll drop you off and go get Rachel." Mark tried to protest but Susan shook her head. "This isn't up for discussion Mark."
It was nearly six o'clock and Elizabeth's headache had grown into a full force migraine. She was in the surgeon's lounge laying on the couch, praying that her pager wouldn't go off during the next two hours of her shift.
Moments later Shirley entered the lounge and quietly approached her. "Doctor Corday?" She asked as she gently tapped her arm. Elizabeth groaned and sat up, giving her a questioning look. "Your nanny is in the ER with Ella. She says that Mark isn't here to take Ella and she needs to get to school."
Elizabeth shook her head slowly. "I called her, she knows Mark couldn't take Ella and I'm on shift until eight."
Shirley shrugged. "All I know is that Doctor Romano says if the ER calls up to my desk one more time he's going to fire me."
Elizabeth sighed. "I'll be downstairs in five minutes." She said, looking down at her pager to find it dead. "Dammit." She quickly made her way to her office to switch the batteries out of her pager, causing it to come back to life with several unanswered pages from the ER.
Just under five minutes later Elizabeth ran down the stairs into the ER, seeing Katherine and Ella waiting in chairs. "Katherine I thought you were able to stay with her?" She asked seriously as she picked up her daughter.
"Yeah, Mark called just before you and said he'd be here around 5:30. I've been waiting for him for half an hour but I need to get to class." Katherine said apologetically. "I'm sorry for the confusion."
Elizabeth nodded, sighing internally at Mark's lack of responsibility. "Thanks for bringing her." She said quietly, taking the diaper bag from Katherine.
Katherine smiled before turning to Ella. "I'll see you tomorrow Ella!" She promised before running out the doors.
Elizabeth looked down at Ella before deciding to take her into the lounge and call Mark. She walked over to the door and was about to open it when she heard her name through the door.
"Poor Elizabeth." A voice said that sounded somewhat like Doctor Chen's.
"I just can't believe that Mark and Susan would get together after all that happened." Yosh's voice sounded in response.
"Poor Elizabeth? More like poor Mark!" An unfamiliar voice replied, who Elizabeth assumed was one of the newer nurses.
It was then that Yosh's words sunk in. Elizabeth grabbed onto Ella more tightly than she currently was before heading to the admit desk.
Haleh was walking by when she saw Ella squirming in Elizabeth's tight arms. "Elizabeth is everything alright?" She asked her gently, taking Ella out of her arms and bouncing her gently.
Elizabeth took in a deep breath and nodded. "Of course." She said quietly. "I'm just not feeling well." She realized as her migraine began to increase in intensity.
Haleh looked at her seriously. "What's the matter?" She asked as Ella happily played with her badge.
Elizabeth shook her head. "Honestly it's nothing, I've just got a horrible headache." She said suddenly feeling incredibly dizzy. "I'm fine I promise."
"You don't look…" Haleh began before Elizabeth closed her eyes and sunk down to the floor. "…fine." She finished before looking down the hallway. "Abby!" She called seeing her helping Doctor Kovac with a patient. "I need help down here!"
Abby looked back at her and saw Elizabeth lying in a heap on the floor. "What happened?" She asked as she ran toward them, taking Elizabeth's pulse.
Haleh shook her head. "I don't know. I took Ella from her because she was looking tense and pale. She said she had a headache but…"
"Alright." Abby said as Kerry came rushing towards them. "Doctor Weaver we need a gurney!" She said as she carefully helped Elizabeth sit up. "She's unconscious and her pulse is dropping slowly." She reported to Kerry as she crouched down next to them.
Kerry nodded. "Alright let's get her into trauma two."