Trisha Alden McKenzie stood in the shallow end of the indoor pool at the Port Charles Hotel and watched her five-year-old son, Christopher, swim with his cousin Tyler, carefully within arm's reach.
"Trucker didn't want to come?" Trisha's cousin, Cooper asked as he waded over with his daughter in one of those baby life preservers with the intertube design.
Trisha smiled at baby Courtney before making eye contact with her dad. "He had a planning board meeting. They're always the third Thursday of the month," Trisha said. It was true; Chapparell County Planning Board meetings were always the third Thursday of the month. Although Trisha suspected that if the Planning Board conflict hadn't existed Trucker might have been looking for some other excuse. The Port Charles Hotel was not exactly his kind of place. Her family were not really his kind of people.
"Steffi decided to turn in early. Apparently, they didn't get everything finished and will need to shoot most of tomorrow as well," Cooper volunteered.
"So, then should we plan on going to Great Adventure on Saturday instead? That would be better for Trucker anyway, I think," Trisha said.
"We can just go tomorrow. I need to work in the morning, but I should be done by noon. Zoe is here to help and honestly Steffi isn't that into amusement parks to begin with," Cooper said.
"Ok, if you're sure," Trisha said. She tried to ignore that her cousin seemed anything but sure. She wasn't sure she even blamed him. She knew how scary things had been during Steffi's last relapse of her eating disorder.
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Dr. Ryan Grabler portioned leftovers into Tupperware and searched for the right words, as his wife loaded the dishwasher. He knew that she had been on edge since Ned's call right before they sat down to dinner. Apparently, Carly had been admitted directly after her prenatal appointment. From what Ryan understood, Carly wasn't in labor and the baby appeared to be doing well but he also understood that there was far too much emotional baggage and history for his wife to process any of it without pain and fear.
May 4, 1994
"Here, you should sit down," Dr. Ryan Grabler said as he moved a chair in his daughter in law's direction and placed a hand gently on her shoulder to help her.
"I'll go find Ned," Tracy Quartermaine-Grabler offered. She made a hasty exit from the kitchen without waiting for agreement, but Ryan saw the terror in her eyes.
Lois Cerullo Ashton lowered herself into the chair still holding her abdomen. She took a few both visible and audible deep breaths. "I'm ok, I just really wasn't up to doing this tonight" she said.
Ryan wasn't sure he believed she was ok. She seemed very pale. "How about some water?" he asked as he pulled a glass from the cabinet and filled it at the water dispenser in the refrigerator door. He set the glass in Lois's hand.
Lois curled her fingers around the glass as she took another guarded breath. "Thank you. I'm probably just a little dehydrated," she said as her husband and his wife returned.
"Lois, honey, what happened?" Ned Ashton asked as he crouched down in front of his wife.
Yet Ryan caught the glance exchanged between his wife and stepson.
"I'm fine, Ned, I'm sure it was just a cramp," Lois said. She took a sip of the water Ryan had handed her. "Really, Ned, I'm fine, I just want to go home, please," she said. Then she gasped, clutched her stomach and collapsed into Ned's arms.
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Ryan reached for the mop and wiped it across the porcelain kitchen tiles as he heard the diminishing strains of the siren of the departing ambulance. He turned back around to see his wife standing in the kitchen doorway. "I just wanted to make sure I got all the glass cleaned up before one of the kids came through here with bare feet," he said.
Tracy didn't speak. She just nodded.
Ryan finished mopping and crossed over to where Tracy was still standing. He clapped a hand on each shoulder and started kneading gently. "Did you want to go to the hospital?" he asked.
"I'm not sure that is such a great idea. It seems whatever I do where Lois is concerned is the wrong thing," Tracy said.
Ryan heard the defeat in his wife's voice. So often she was her own worst critic.
That night, and even the remainder of the pregnancy, had been full of uncertainty. Ultimately though Lois had given birth to a healthy daughter in August 1994. Although even that had been more awkward than he was sure Tracy had wanted it to be, it had been infinitely easier than learning in early 1997 that Ned and Lois had buried a child the prior July.
"So, Carly is roughly thirty weeks now?" Ryan asked.
"I don't know, maybe. Ned has of course been intentionally vague about all of this," Tracy said as she closed the dishwasher. She took a deep breath and then met his eyes. "Yes, Ryan, I know how this all looks. I know she was pregnant long before their wedding. I know that he at best conceived this child while floundering about in his grief for the baby he and Lois buried but damn it Ryan, I'm not sure he will survive burying another child so all of that seems pretty unimportant right now!"
His wife's words were punctuated with sobs and Ryan took her into his arms and just held her. "Shh, you're right, none of that matters now," he whispered.
Eventually Tracy's sobs quieted. Ryan hugged her tightly and then released her. "I'm sorry, I really wasn't implying anything. I was more thinking about gestational age in the context of the prognosis for the baby. Sometimes it is hard to turn the medical side of my brain off," he said.
"Ned says he loves her, and he at least seems committed to supporting her through the pregnancy and raising their child with her. He was such a devoted dad with little Brooklyn. He really can be an amazing father," Tracy said.
"I know, and I miss Brooklyn too. Maybe seeing how much this new baby needs him will remind him of how much Brooklyn did, and still does I'm sure."
"He thinks Lois just needs more time, and maybe she does, but I'm afraid that Brooklyn needs him now. I wish Lois and I had been closer, maybe then things wouldn't be so awkward now. Or maybe I could help her see that, even if she can't face Ned, Brooke needs him."
Ryan wouldn't dispute any of that but he sensed that once again his wife was beating herself up for her inability to force her first husband to be involved in Ned's childhood as much or even more than she was appealing to her son to be there for his daughter. "I truly believe that you did the best you could, with Ned, with your efforts with his father," he said as he wrapped his arms around her again.
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Emily Quartermaine closed her Geometry textbook, slid her completed problem set into her folder, and reached down to turn on her computer. Theoretically, if she finished her biology lab report, she should have minimal homework over the weekend. That was always a positive.
She had just completed the data table and first kinetics graph for her biology lab report when there was a knock on her door. "Come in," she called as she clicked the save button on her document and then turned in her chair to face her mother.
"Oh, AP biology, how is that going?" Dr. Monica Quartermaine asked as she glanced at the screen as she passed Emily's desk on her way to the window seat.
"It's fine; the ecology part was mostly a review of the Regents Biology Course I took in seventh grade with a little new information. The Chemistry/ Biochemistry part started off with a little a review of the Regents Chemistry Course I took in 8th grade, but the labs are all new material and kind of cool. We just finished up a lab on enzyme catalytics. That is what this graph is for," Emily said.
"Ok this is making me feel old, we had graph paper and rulers," her mom said.
"Technically, we do also, and we have to do the manual graph in our notebook, but we get extra points if we insert computer generated graphs and tables into our final reports which isn't really fair. If I was a better equity partner then I would just forego that, but I guess I'm a little afraid I might need those extra five points which is lame," Emily said.
"Do you mean it isn't fair because you have access to a nice computer and various scientific writing and modeling programs which give you an advantage?" her mom asked.
"Yes, I mean it is more work to do it on the computer rather than just photocopy and attach the graphs from our lab notebook so I sort of understand the extra points for extra effort but that is only fair if the playing field is also fair which it isn't. For example, Greg Saunders is my lab partner and he doesn't have any of that so I told him he could come over on Monday night and use dad's computer if he wanted to do that but there might be other people in the same situation and I have no idea," Emily said. Ironically, she suspected that if her mother hadn't died and the Quartermaines hadn't adopted her she would be in the same situation.
"That is kind of you to recognize that, but I see your point. Perhaps your father and I could offer to donate a computer similar to the ones we bought you and Allison with the programs we bought you. We have some discretionary funds in the charitable gifting budget so maybe I could reach out to Mr. Mosher about that," her mom offered.
"I guess it still isn't completely the same because the access is still limited but I guess the reality is that life isn't completely fair and perhaps the path to equity is paved in pieces. I think I like that idea," Emily said.
"I think you are much more compassionate and logical than I was at your age. I suspect a lot of that is your mother Paige's influence," her mom said.
Emily considered that. Some of who she was had to be her biological mother's influence but she had been ten when her mother died so there would eventually become a time when she had spent more time without her influence than with it. That thought distressed her less than it had a year ago. "My mommy was amazing, and we had a good life, much different than this life but I wouldn't have ever traded it. But life isn't completely fair, and I guess, when I don't feel sorry for myself, I'm incredibly grateful to have this family. You and dad really are my parents now and I have brothers and sisters and some good friends, and I really am very lucky. I just lose sight of that sometimes. Maybe you understand that better than anyone," she said.
"I was a lot younger when my parents died and I suppose that in some ways your grandmother Gail and I had more of that us against the world relationship that you and Paige had after your father died. I can also imagine that your grandfather Lee and your Uncle Scott were a little less overwhelming for me than the Quartermaine contingent was for you three years ago," her mom said. She finished her words with a laugh.
Emily joined in the laugh. "Uncle Scott would probably dispute that though," she said.
Her mother laughed again. "He probably would, and it took us awhile to figure out our relationship on our own terms. Despite that, I can't imagine life without him at this point," she said.
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Ned Ashton watched his wife sleep. She seemed comfortable. He hoped she was. He supposed he probably should have asked her if she wanted him to contact Jason. There was way too much to unpack there so he let the thought go and laid a hand on her right shoulder just as the door opened and the same nurse from earlier stepped inside.
"Is everything ok?" Carla Greco RN asked.
Ned gulped. "I think so. Is there something wrong on the monitoring?" he asked.
"No, everything looks good. The baby's heart rate is great, and we haven't seen any contractions," Carla said.
"Good, I need to go home and get some things. I wanted to wait until she was asleep but now, I'm afraid I won't be back before visiting hours end at nine," Ned said.
"This unit actually allows one support person at all times. I can give you a pass so security will let you back in if that helps," Carla offered.
"That would help, thank you. Also, if Carly does have any other visitors before I come back, can you just ask them to come back in the morning since she is sleeping," Ned asked.
"Of course, and don't worry, Mr. Ashton, Dr. Meadows made your wife a no information patient so no one will know she is here unless you, or she, tell them."
"We appreciate that;" Ned said. He sensed that she presumed he was worried about reporters but truly he had been most concerned about the possibility that Dr. Jones might realize that Carly was admitted. He had already confirmed with Alan that Dr. Muir was the neurosurgeon on call so that reduced the likelihood that Dr. Jones was even still in the building.
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Dr. Matt Harmon was starting to understand his colleagues' frustrations with Dr. Devlin being the cardiologist on call. He refused to let anyone send him EKGs at home and he never came in to see patients at night. Since Matt had spent the first four months of internship rotating through General Surgery, Pediatric Surgery, OB, and in the ER; he had missed out on the joys of Internal Medicine call with less than helpful attendings. Perhaps that was why he found it so unacceptable. Or perhaps when he started to find it acceptable, he needed to leave medicine he decided as he reached for the phone and started to dial Dr. Monica Quartermaine's home number.
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Kim Randolph extricated herself from Dr. Jones' bed while he snored like a drunk Saint Bernard. He kind of resembled one as well she realized. She tried to remind herself that it was all part of the plan. Even so, as she collected her clothes from the floor of the master bedroom, she wondered how Carly had managed to sleep with the guy for over a year. She knew she wouldn't be able to do that so she sure better get pregnant quickly!
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Dr. Monica Quartermaine sent the CCU transfer orders and forced a smile. As frustrated as she might be with her colleague, Dr. Devlin, she wanted their housestaff to consider her approachable. She wanted them to call her if they needed help. That was Dr. Steve Hardy's legacy and that was the bare minimum for being a competent academic attending. "So, I ordered the Heparin Drip and the Nitroglycerin Drip, and we will move the patient to the Cardiac Critical Care Unit. If we can't get her pain free then she will need to go to the cath lab tonight," she said.
"How long would you give the Nitroglycerin Drip to work?" Dr. Harmon asked.
"Probably about an hour after she gets to the CCU. Our nurses titrate quickly, so she will either define herself as a stable NSTEMI that someone can cath tomorrow morning or an unstable NSTEMI in which case it is very reasonable to just have the urgent cath done by whomever is taking STEMI call," Monica said. Of course, if the roles were reversed, she could easily see Dr. Devlin claiming that technically it wasn't a STEMI just an unstable NSTEMI so whoever the primary cardiologist was should come in and cath. He had apparently fought that battle with Dr. Nelson a few weeks earlier. Fortunately for the patient, Dr. Nelson had taken the high road and come in to do the angioplasty.
"So, should I call you in an hour?" Dr. Harmon asked literally as her pager went off.
Monica glanced down at her pager and saw the STEMI alert. "Apparently there is an actual STEMI patient in the ED so I'm going to go deal with that and I'll touch base with you after I'm done in the cath lab with that patient," she said. Then she took another deep breath and made her way down to the Emergency Department.