October 31, 1997
At 1253 Maple Street, Audrey Hardy paced uncomfortably while her granddaughter, Sarah Webber panted, moaned, and clutched frantically at an emesis basin. She fervently wished that Steve was still alive. He would get to the bottom of everything. "I'm sorry, dear. Perhaps I should bring you back to the Emergency Department. I can insist that Dr. Stryker not be involved in your care. I can't believe that he had the nerve to even suggest that you were exaggerating your symptoms," she said.
Sarah offered her a wan smile. "You know I would never lie about anything, but certainly not about being sick," she said.
"Of course, dear. I do know that. Unlike your sister, you have always been such a good girl. I just don't know what to do. We're about due for another state inspection at the hospital so I really need to make sure that all the nurses are on their toes, but I can't imagine leaving you home alone when you're so ill," Audrey said.
I really am feeling better Grams. I'm just tired, I was up and down all-night vomiting. You should go to work, you know the hospital can't run without you," Sarah said.
Audrey smiled at that thought. "That is true. I'll try to be home early. I was going to help with that party on Pediatrics, but Grace will just have to understand," she said.
Sarah appeared stricken. "Oh no! I forgot all about the party."
"I'm sure Nikolas will understand. I would suggest that your sister could help out, but I don't exactly see that going well," Audrey said.
Sarah laughed. "You mean because Liz and Nikolas don't get along or because Liz isn't exactly good with kids? Actually, both are pretty good reasons! I'll call Nikolas and let him know and then I think I'll try to go back to sleep," she said.
Audrey nodded as she made her way to the door. At least she had one sensible grandchild. Steven also seemed to show real potential despite who his mother was.
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Dr. Alan Quartermaine shook his head after he hung up with the paging operator. Apparently, Dr. Boardman had confused the call schedule so although he should have started in house trauma call fifteen minutes ago, he was still on a beach in Miami. Finding someone to cover call with negative notice was pretty unlikely so Alan resigned himself to the reality that once again poor planning on Dr. Boardman's part was going to constitute an emergency on his part. He was going to need to cover Dr. Boardman's 8AM through 8PM in house trauma call. Unfortunately, that meant he wouldn't be able to make it to Emily's Sectional Championships for Cross County as they were being held at the Chapparal County State Park in Deering about twenty minutes outside of Port Charles.
Alan swallowed the disappointment and swiped his badge to access the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit on 7East. He nearly collided with his wife who was driving the bedside echo machine back into it's docking station. "Excuse me," he said with a sly smile.
"I guess it was good that we arranged to have AJ pick up the kids from swimming again this morning since it appears you are still rounding, and I just finished up placing a pericardial drain. I've just got to dictate this procedure note and then I should be able to head over to the state park. Emily's race is at 10 AM," Monica said as she reached up to insert the echo cord into the grounded outlet.
"I am about to see my last patient, but I also just learned that Dr. Boardman is flaking on call, so I am going to have to cover for him and I won't be able to leave the hospital," Alan said.
Monica raised an eyebrow. "How do you flake on call?" she asked.
"I do not flake on call! Dr. Boardman allegedly was confused by the call schedule, so he didn't book a return flight from Miami until tomorrow when he was supposed to start in house trauma call this morning at 8AM," Alan said.
"That sounds like something that Jeff would have done when we were residents," Monica said.
"Exactly but since Mark isn't the son of the Chief of Staff and this isn't exactly the first time, he has failed to cover his own call, he is going to have to start using the hospital concierge service to book his flights so they can double check his plans against the call schedule. I think your mother required the same of Dr. Davis a few years ago so maybe she can help me with the verbiage of the contract addendum," Alan said.
"Somehow I have a feeling that I would also be needing that verbiage if we had hired Dr. Hayward," Monica joked.
"I don't think there are enough contract clauses out there to help Dr. Hayward be a successful PCGH physician. Did you mention the restraining order to your brother?" Alan asked.
"I didn't. I'm not sure how he knew about that perhaps Dr. Doyle mentioned something to one of her colleagues and either Karen or Eve mentioned it to him," Monica suggested.
Alan considered that. He decided not to think too hard about the fact that his brother in law's current girlfriend was in the same PCGH intern class as his elder daughter. Then there was the even more concerning thought that if Dr. Aly Doyle had mentioned restraining orders to Dr. Lambert he should wonder if that was because she had the same concerns about Dr. Devlin's conduct where she was concerned as his wife did. "Umm, yeah, maybe we should discuss that more later, but right now I need to check on a post-operative patient and I need to let you get that procedure note dictated so our daughter will have the support of at least one of her parents," he said.
"Emily knows you'll always have her back even if your call schedule isn't always flexible and your colleagues take advantage of your professionalism far too often. I'll give you a call after the race is over so you can talk to her if you aren't running a trauma in the ED. She and Allison were both going to help with the Halloween Party on Pediatrics this afternoon so maybe you can pop down and congratulate or console her in person as well," Monica suggested.
Alan nodded. "You know, despite all we've been through, I can't imagine doing this parenting thing with anyone else but you," he said.
Monica smiled. "I feel the same way, I really do."
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In the PCGH PICU, Lark Madison winced and caught her breath as yet another doctor mashed on her stomach.
"I'm sorry, I guess that is still a little tender?" the guy who looked a little bit like an oversized teddy bear wearing scrubs and a long white coat asked.
Lark nodded but didn't speak. The badge on his coat said he was Dr. Alan Quartermaine. She guessed he had also told her that or maybe he had. So much was a blur.
"I know it may not seem like it, but your labs and temperature curve are better after the surgery. I'm going to leave the drains in because are still draining a lot. If you're still having a lot of pain tomorrow, then we'll consider getting another ultrasound. Is there anything else I can do for you?" Dr. Quartermaine asked.
Lark silently shrugged her shoulders. She was pretty sure he didn't want an honest answer to that question. Because there were so many things but none of them were really things she could ask for.
Dr. Quartermaine smiled warmly. "I'll let the PICU team know that from my standpoint it is ok for you to transfer back to the regular pediatrics floor. They're having a Halloween Party this afternoon. That should be fun right?"
Lark resisted the urge to roll her eyes because he seemed so much more genuine than most adults. He wouldn't understand that her daily life was much more the stuff of nightmares than any of the scary Halloween movies her junior high classmates were planning to watch at the slumber party she would never be invited to anyway. Just before Dr. Quartermaine slipped from the room she forced herself to nod her head.
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In his study at Wyndemere Stefan Cassadine struggled with plotting his next move. He was beginning to regret arranging for his cousin Alexis to get the position at PCGH. He had been wary about Lee Baldwin. The guy had been personal friends with Dr. Steven Hardy, and he was Dr. Alan Quartermaine's father-in-law. There was no reason to ever believe he could or would be loyal to Stefan. Unfortunately, with each passing day, Alexis gave him new reasons to question her competence and her loyalty. She had somehow let Dr. Kevin Collins escape into the wind. She still hadn't managed to come up with a contract that Dr. Rachel Locke would sign, and she had failed to convince the hospital board to hire Dr. David Hayward. The last failure was the most troubling.
"Master Cassadine, Dr. Hayward is here to see you," Alfred announced upon entering his study.
"Thank you, Alfred. Please show him to Parlor and I will join shortly. Has my cousin returned from the mainland yet?"
"Cyrus is on his way back to the launch to collect Miss Davis now," Alfred said before he turned on his heel and departed the study.
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Dr. David Hayward admired a Faberge Egg while he waited for Stefan Cassadine to join him. Although clandestine meetings were usually right up his alley, he would have preferred to have met at Port Charles General Hospital. Then he would have had an opportunity, complete with plausible deniability, to at least admire Aly from not too far. They had been separated long enough. But once he had privileges at Port Charles General Hospital that would end. That day couldn't come soon enough.
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Alexis Davis watched the horizon as the boat made it's way to Spoon Island. It had been just a little over a year since she had come to Port Charles at Stefan's behest. That was a typical pattern for them. Stefan had been her protector, as much as he had been able at least and she had done his bidding. When she had first become PCGH Co-Counsel, Stefan had made a big push for her to handle the legal matters of PCGH physicians even if they weren't really hospital matters. He claimed that it was beneficial to the hospital to have their physicians free to focus on their practice of medicine and not be distracted with mundane legal issues. He also argued that there were scenarios where these legal issues actually made the hospital itself more legally vulnerable than one might presume on first review. It sounded reasonable but it was often soul crushing.
Independently, she suspected she wouldn't have defended Dr. Kevin Collins, and she highly doubted she would have helped Dr. Tony Jones with his paternity petition. But she knew that she would not have tried to appeal Dr. Aly Doyle 's order of protection. She had never felt so pleased to be denied as when Judge Casto had ruled that Dr. Doyle's original May 1997 California order was perfectly valid and he didn't have jurisdiction to cancel it.
When Cyrus moored the boat at the edge of Spoon Island, Alexis gathered up her briefcase and steeled herself for the conversation she knew was coming. Stefan would not be as pleased with the ruling as she had been. For inexplicable reasons he wanted to hire Dr. David Hayward which of course could not happen as long as Dr. Doyle's order of protection was in effect.
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Stefan Cassadine looked up from his computer when his cousin Alexis breezed into his study unannounced. Sometimes he worried that she had become a bit too familiar and that was what lead her to overestimate her importance and overstate her role within the family. "Were you successful in your task?" he asked.
Alexis shook her head. "Judge Casto felt that the order was valid and frankly outside of his jurisdiction," she said.
"Did you raise the issue of the public good?" Stefan asked.
"He didn't feel that was compelling. From his perspective, PCGH should hire a different cardiologist that none of the current medical staff have an order of protection against. He has a point," Alexis said.
Once again Alexis's insolence annoyed him. "You would think that. But there are always two sides to the story," Stefan argued.
"Sure, but the California court heard both sides and granted a five-year order which suggests that Dr. Doyle's side was felt to be valid and credible," Alexis challenged.
Stefan grunted with frustration.
"Ok, I'm sorry I couldn't work a miracle but seriously why do you want Dr. Hayward at GH so badly?"
Stefan knew he could claim that he wanted to capitalize on his research efforts and the potential for patent royalties for the hospital. He had planned to talk that up for the board, but he just couldn't anymore with Alexis. "Very well, why don't you take the time to draw up a contract that Dr. Locke will sign. I'll be in the parlor breaking the bad news to Dr. Hayward," he said. Then he executed the keystrokes to lock his computer, stood up, and stalked out of the room.