Chapter 23: A hectic Day

Author: zeusfluff.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Blue Blood's characters. They belong to CBS. But I do own all originals. Date Started: 12/18/24. Date Finished: 12/19/24. Enjoy!

Jamie never wanted a desk and wade through stacks of patient charts. But it all came with his promotion to Chief of Obstetrics. Shaking his head, he ran a hand through his hair.

"Why can't we just digitize all this? Way easier to pull up on the computer than to go and dig down in records."

Sighing, he looked up when he heard a knock on his door.

"I'll be with you in a minute Mara… Oh Linda. Come in. Sorry about the mess."

Linda only gave Jamie a tired smile and held out a cup of coffee towards him.

"It looks like you could use some more coffee. Here you go."

Jamie took the cup of coffee and a sip before speaking. Setting the cup down on the desk, he looked up at Linda.

"Thank you. I wish we had money in the hospital's budget to digitize these charts. Its frankly a pain in the ass to go through all of these by hand."

Linda took a seat in one of the chairs opposite Jamie in front of the desk.

"Hospital Administration has other priorities. Our job is to take care of the patients. Look we're all exhausted. You need more nurses. I can see if I can transfer to OB if you'd like."

Jamie placed both his hands, palms down on the desk in front of him.

"I can't ask you to do that Linda. Transferring up to OB would be a huge conflict of interest for the both of us. You're family."

Linda shook her head and crossed her arms.

"I'll see if I can round up some more nurses."

Letting out a long and heavy sigh, Jamie looked Linda straight in the eye.

"I appreciate what you're trying to do for me Linda, I do. But I'm going to finish out the week and then on Friday, I'm going up to hospital administration and giving my letter of resignation."

Linda leaned forward and knit her forehead in thought.

"I respect your decision, Jamie. It's your choice. But if I could find a few more nurses to help you out, would you stay?"

Jamie took his hands away from the top of his desk and sat back, blowing out a breath of air.

"I'm feeling more than a little snowed in and almost burnt out. But I can't really afford to quit right now. I've got a family to support with six kids. It would be different if it were just me and Eddie. But it's not."

"Hey bub. Coming to bed?"

Jamie kept flipping through the channels and finally turned the tv off, almost tossing the remote on the coffee table. He nodded at Eddie and slowly got up from the couch. Eddie could see the dark circles under Jamie's eyes, and she shook her head. Jamie could read Eddie like a book.

"I'm fine babe. Let's just go to bed."

The couple climbed the stairs, and it wasn't until they reached their bedroom, and the door was closed that Eddie gave Jamie a look.

"Ok bub, spill. Something is bothering you."

Jamie climbed into bed and held the covers back for her to join him.

"I'm thinking about quitting."

Eddie never broke eye contact with Jamie and her mouth hung open for a second before she closed it.

"You're quitting? But you love your job."

Jamie nodded but pulled Eddie close as she got under the covers with him.

"I do. But there has been so much uncompromising change lately, it's getting hard to keep up. I'm short more than 12 nurses and other doctors are still quitting. There are always people who are having babies. Job security. Unless there are budget cuts. I may be the head of Obstetrics, but all those charts it's really a three- or four-person job to go through. Yes, they are my charts, and mainly my responsibility, but I can't go through all of them by myself."

Eddie gave Jamie a confident look and nodded.

"Bub, look at me. If you want to quit its your choice. But the other option could be that you step down as Chief of Obstetrics and just be a regular OB. Have someone else take the job. You'd have a little better hours."

Jamie rubbed a hand up and down Eddie's left arm and sighed.

"Linda came up to my office today. She offered to be transferred up to my floor. I told her that I appreciated the thought, but if she transferred, it would prove a huge conflict of interest because she is family. She then offered to rally other nurses to come work with me."

Eddie ran a hand through Jamie's hair and kissed his forehead.

"Linda has always done her best to help others. She was great helping me through all my pregnancies. She should've been up on your floor from the start. She'd see more joy than heartbreak."

Jamie felt his shoulders slump and he held Eddie closer to him still.

"I was thinking of finishing out the week and putting in my letter of resignation on Friday."

Eddie nodded once more and leaned into Jamie's embrace.

"Whatever your decision, I'm right there with you bub. 100%."

The couple sat in each other's embrace and slowly the two fell into a deep slumber, the only light in the room was the lamp from Jamie's bedside table.

To Be Continued…

A/N: So, what'd you guys think? I wasn't sure I liked where I went with the ending of this chapter. Hmm…