Episode 19:
‘Tis the Season
December 20
Chris took one final, wistful look at his apartment before he shut the door. It was like an island... a sanctuary away from all the lights and glitter and stupid happy songs that were everywhere he went. He made his way to his car, noting that the skies were gray... a perfect reflection of his mood. By the time he reached the hospital he was quite sure the day was going to suck. Just like they all had, since-
He shook his head, not wanting to finish that train of thought. It would be hard enough trying not to go postal with all the damned smiles he was bound to see on his fellow Atlantic staffers' faces. Gritting his teeth, he crossed the threshold to begin his workday.
“Hi Chris,” Jack said, passing him the sign-in clipboard. “Listen, you never gave me a definite answer about tomorrow night. It'll just be a few of us, after shift, heading over to Green's for a few drinks and some laughs.”
“No thanks,” came the subdued reply. “Not much in a partying mood.”
Jack’s eyes softened a bit. “Well, if you change your mind, you know you're always welcome. Six thirty.”
“Yeah, thanks,” Chris said distractedly.
He walked away, not noticing his friend's look of sympathy.
+++
“’Tis the season to be joooooo-llllllyyyyy!!” Brian grinned to himself as he stuck another sprig of mistletoe over the nurses station.
“Brian! You didn’t!”
He turned to look down at Mandie. “Of course, I did! It’s Christmas time, and mistletoe is a must because we need some major love in this emergency room!”
Mandie couldn’t help but smile. “Okay, good idea. Maybe I’ll try to get JC under one of them.”
“Under one of what?” JC wondered, coming up behind her. When he saw Brian’s work, he scowled. “Littrell, quit it. Not everyone wants your holiday cheer.”
Brian’s loony smile didn’t disappear. “Oh, JC. I think someone needs a little holiday loving!” he cheered in a sing-song voice.
“He better,” Mandie said, poking JC’s side. “And, maybe if he’s good, he’ll get some holiday loving.” She took the chart he held and headed off towards an exam room.
JC’s scowl deepened as he watched Brian hum his way off the chair he’d been using. “Mistletoe and wreaths,” he muttered, remembering the one Brian had tacked to his office door. “What’s next? Brian in a Santa suit?”
“Why, JC! You’re absolutely right!” Brian turned, grinning widely. He’d heard all of his colleague’s griping and vowed to bring holiday cheer to the man’s day. “I get to dress up and go to the children’s ward on Christmas Eve. You should come! I’m sure I could find an elf suit somewhere. Let me see, where could I get an elf outfit from?” He tapped his chin, deep in thought.
Not wanting to get sucked into his co-worker’s holiday schemes, JC escaped. Snapping his fingers, Brian turned. “I know! Wait…JC?” He looked around and, not seeing the other doctor, shrugged. “Maybe Nick could play the elf,” he said to himself, spotting the med student and waving him over.
“I’m not doing it,” Nick said as soon as he saw the light in Brian’s eyes.
Brian’s shoulders slumped slightly. “I get it. No one wants to be Santa’s helper on Christmas. It’s okay.” He shrugged and pulled out another sprig of mistletoe from his sack. “Since you don’t want to help with that, could you stick this up in that doorway over there?” He gestured. “You’re taller than me, anyway.”
Nick shrugged. “Sure.”
+++
Chris was kept hopping the entire morning; a multiple victim car accident, a few broken bones, a woman in false labor, and two hysterical patients didn't give him any time to dwell on his earlier thoughts. It wasn't until he was instructed to take his lunch break that he even noticed the disturbing change in the staff lounge.
Mistletoe. Bunches of the stuff. And garland... someone had strung yards of it along the walls. The myriad teeny tiny blinking lights on the artificial tree, nestled in the corner, gave him an instant headache. And, of course, someone had programmed endlessly looping Christmas tunes through the sound system.
He fought the urge to scream.
“Bah, humbug,” he muttered instead. “Scrooge had it right.”
“Scrooge?”
He turned around, surprised. Feeling a blush color his cheeks, he cleared his throat.
“Hi Jaela. Um, yeah... didn't mean to say that out loud.”
She smiled. “Holiday cheer getting on your nerves?” she asked.
“And then some,” he said, relieved someone understood.
“This is supposed to be a fun, happy time,” she said. “But try having a two-year old and five-year old twins and keeping presents secret.”
Chris grinned, despite himself. “No thanks. I like kids, but they get so hyper this time of year.”
“Don't I know it,” she said, fixing herself a cup of coffee. “Christmas eve and Christmas morning are fun, but I'm not sure it makes up for the stress of the rest of December.”
“Especially this December,” he commented. He winced a second later when he realized what he'd said. When he glanced at Jaela, though, he saw understanding.
“You know, he'd want you to try and have a good time,” she said gently.
“I suppose,” Chris said. “But... Jae, it's only been two weeks. I keep expecting to see him just around the corner. I mean... I can remember last year so clearly, when we had the staff party...”
“When Dr. Littrell dressed up like Santa, but his pants kept falling down because he lacked the proper girth?”
He smiled. “Yeah, that... and how much fun it all was. How much Lance and I laughed when people kept getting caught under the mistletoe. How mad Brunson was when she found out someone had spiked the punch...”
“She turned seven shades of purple,” Jaela said with a slight chuckle.
“Didn't stop her from sneaking a cup when she thought no one was looking,” he said. “I swear, Lance made dumb jokes about that for at least a week.” His expression fell. “I'd give anything to hear one of his lame jokes again, you know?”
“I know,” she said. “Just... treasure those good times. Be grateful you have those memories. And try to think of what Lance would want you to be doing right about now.”
“He'd probably be kicking my butt, telling me to get on with it already. He'd want me to make the most of the holidays.”
“Sounds like good advice.” Jaela tossed her now empty cup into the trashcan. “Although I know it's easier said than done.”
She left, and Chris let out a long sigh. He knew she was right; Lance would want him to move on. And she was also right about it being easier said than done. For the moment, he knew that his best bet would be to stay busy and not to dwell on what he'd lost.
To that end, he tossed away his empty instant-noodle cup and headed back to work.
+++
Nick smiled as the little girl got her new crutches and hobbled away on them with her father happily. A spunky girl who had broken her leg climbing up trees in the middle of December. Reminded himself of what he had been like growing up. Always hyper, always outside, always trying to do exactly what he was told not to do. When he was happy at least.
He sighed as he heard Brian sing Christmas carols happily as he decorated the halls of that particular room.
“So Nick, what are you doing for Christmas?” Brian continued humming. He was beginning to drive the staff crazy. Well, more specifically, Holli, Dr. Chasez, and Elizabeth. The whole thing was amusing, really. Besides, Brian did seem to keep the sick children in brighter spirits, like the cancer patients. The man would be a good father some day.
The young blonde’s eyes shifted away. “Probably working.”
“Actually, I don’t think they’re scheduling you, but I could be wrong.”
He shrugged. “Maybe I will anyway. I’m going to take my break.” He left immediately to escape the conversation and headed down the hall.
Nick heard a laugh and turned to spy Isabel talking to Bianca Parker down the hall. A smile immediately appeared on his face once more. It was funny how she seemed to have that effect on him so easily.
He slipped into a room, after shifting one of the many mistletoes Brian had hung about the halls to the doorframe, and waited for her to come down. He grinned as she turned and started walking in his direction. As soon as she was in reach, his arm snuck out, grabbed her, and pulled her to him under the mistletoe. She squealed in surprise, her coffee brown curls bouncing about, her eyes sparkling with surprise and laughter.
“Nick!” She swatted him playfully. “You scared me, and if Dr. Brunson sees us fooling around, she’ll have our heads on a platter. She’s in a bad mood cause of what’s happening with Ivory.”
He just smirked. “Well, it is now beyond our control.” He pointed up at the mistletoe. “She hasn’t gotten Dr. Littrell to pull them down yet, and I doubt she will.” He pulled her in for a sweet kiss, deepening it as it continued.
A loud crash disturbed them, and they both jumped, thinking it was someone who would get them in trouble… until they discovered the other young, curly-haired med student who jumped when they did. Justin, just crashing into something.
Nick shook his head. How Justin Timberlake had gotten into medical school was beyond him. It was a hard road to get to this point, and it seemed like Justin didn’t see or respect that. It sort of rubbed Nick the wrong way.
“Nick? You okay?” Isabel asked softly.
There he’d gone again, letting his thoughts take over. Nick shook his head. “I’m fine; let’s go get some food.”
They strolled along to the café together, holding each other’s hands, their fingers interlocking sweetly.
“So what are you doing for Christmas?” she asked him. “I’m going to have to deal with this big family thing.” She made a playful face. “Crazy excited family, good food, my aunt will take over the kitchen, make tamales on Christmas Eve… what about you?” Sometimes her family pushed the pressure on her, but around the holidays, they were always a blast.
There was that annoying question again. “Probably working.”
“Is your family coming up when you get off?”
“Probably not.”
Isabel frowned a bit at the abrupt tone. What was bugging him? Before she could ask him, however, Mariah approached them.
“There you are, Nick. You have a call.”
He sighed, “An important one, right?” He watched her nod. “Alright, I’ll take it.” Nick turned to Isabel and put on a smile. “I’ll meet you there after I get the call okay?”
“Okay. But hey, why don’t you join my family for Christmas, since yours isn’t coming down?”
Nick smiled at that. “I’d love that. Let me go handle this call, and then we can go back to our earlier activities.” His eyebrows wiggled in a playful, exaggerated way. He kissed her nose cutely before following Mariah to the phone. He watched Isabel go and picked up the phone.
“Yes, Mom?”
“Nickolas, why aren’t you down here yet?”
“Mom, I’m here working on my ER rotation; I can’t afford to come down. You know what this means to me.”
“You’re acting like your father, abandoning us the first chance you get.”
His ocean eyes blazed angrily. “I am NOTHING like that.” He tried to keep his tone down when he saw that his miniature outburst had attracted some of the nurses’ attention. He saw Susan watching him until she saw he noticed and then immediately looked away.
“Then come home, get control of your siblings and-”
“Isn’t that your job? I’ve worked for this for years, Mom, I can’t lose it by going back to do what dad should have done.”
“Do you even care about us anymore?” He heard her voice crack and knew she was about to cry.
“Mom, Mom, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, of course I care. I love you guys, you know that. I just can’t come down right now. I gotta go…”
She sniffed. “Don’t forget your responsibility to this family.”
He sighed again. “I won’t, Mom.”
+++
Walkin’ in a winter wonderland…
The lyrics seemed fitting as Joey walked into the ER that afternoon, a few minutes before his shift was scheduled to begin. In just a day, the department had been transformed from its usual bland sterility into a showcase for every Christmas decoration imaginable. Following the trail of garland and fake snowflakes to the admit desk, Joey knew one thing – Brian Littrell had been working that day.
The doctors typically left any holiday decorating up to the receptionists, the housekeeping department, the nurses, or whoever would do it. Brian was the exception. For the last few years, he’d headed the unofficial Christmas decorating committee, making the ER look more festive than any department store in Oceanside Mall. The “Scrooges” of the hospital – Holli Brunson and her ER cronies, Elizabeth O’Brien and JC Chasez – always complained, but the rest of the staff and the patients seemed to enjoy it. Joey certainly did. He liked Christmas decorations; he just hated putting them up. Thanks to Brian, he got to enjoy the festivities without raising a finger, which was ideal in his book.
“I see Brian’s been here,” said a voice behind him, and Joey turned to see Kylie and Josh walking in, hand in hand.
He grinned. “Looks like he has.” Looking at the couple more closely, he wondered, “Hey, what are you guys doing here? Not working today?” Neither of them were in their usual EMT uniforms; they both had jeans on underneath their winter coats.
Kylie shook her head, grinning back. “Nope. We’ve got an appointment in OB,” she said, her hand slipping inside her coat to rest on her stomach.
“Ohh… cool. Well, good luck!” said Joey, nodding to both of them. With her red hair, dark green coat, and pregnant glow, Kylie looked like she could be a Christmas decoration herself. Josh squeezed her hand tighter, and they hurried around Joey, eager to get upstairs for their appointment. Smiling as he watched them scurry off, Joey continued his leisurely pace, in no real hurry to get to his station.
“Sleigh bells ring, are you listening… in the lane, snow is glistening,” he sang in his smooth baritone as he strolled up to the desk. Mariah was bending over to get her purse from her workstation. He stopped to admire the view of her delectably round ass, hugged by tight black pants, and the few inches of her smooth, tanned back that showed as her red blouse rode up. “A beautiful sight,” he continued behind her, “we’re happy tonight… walkin’ in a winter wonderland.”
Mariah straightened up and turned around, a seductive smile on her scarlet lips. “I see you noticed the decorations,” she said, gesturing around.
Joey nodded, but he couldn’t take his eyes off her. Stop it, stop looking at her that way, he scolded himself, knowing he had to end this, but he couldn’t help it. She was a knock-out; any man would have a hard time not staring. “Beautiful,” he commented, not just referring to the décor.
She smiled and brushed against him as she sidled around him. “Well,” she said, slowly pulling on her jacket, “I guess I’m off. You should have plenty to keep you busy; it’s been a little crazy in here today. I guess the holiday rush applies to everything, even emergencies.” She zipped the form-fitting leather jacket up slowly, her hand drifting from just below her waist up to her chest, where the usual amount of cleavage was showing. He watched its path hungrily, still unable to look away.
All of a sudden, she let out a little squeal. “Oh! Oh, no! Look, I got my hair stuck in my zipper!” she exclaimed, tugging gently at the long lock of blonde hair that seemed to have somehow woven itself into the metal teeth of her zipper. “It won’t come out! Oh, Joey, help me, please!”
Joey took a step towards her, reaching for the zipper, but she took a few steps back, still fiddling with it. He came after her, saying, “Mariah, hang on, lemme look at it. I can’t do anything if you don’t-”
She looked up suddenly, and then she gasped. “Joey! Look where we’re standing,” she said with a giggle, her eyebrows raised to the ceiling. He followed her gaze up and saw the sprig of mistletoe hanging directly over their heads.
In his head, he celebrated and cursed her all at once, realizing she had lured him to this spot on purpose. His eyes bored into hers as they met his. Did you have to do that? he chided her silently. Do you want everyone in the ER to realize what we’ve been doing? Do you want Mel to know?
But it was too late to get away now. Nick, who had just slammed the phone down at the desk, suddenly spotted them and crowed, “Ohh-ho, look who’s under the mistletoe! Kiss, kiss, you two!” His blue eyes twinkling wickedly, the blonde med student puckered his lips and made exaggerated kissing noises, suddenly seeming a full decade younger than his twenty-four years.
Joey rolled his eyes and felt his face getting hot. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to kiss Mariah; Lord knew he loved kissing her, which was exactly why he didn’t want to be in this position now. If she kissed him the way she kissed him in her apartment, he was terrified everyone would see. Not just see them kissing, but see, really see exactly what was going on between them.
But there was no time to get out of it; Mariah wouldn’t let him. Before he knew it, she had taken his cheeks in her red-clawed fingers and pulled his face down to meet hers, kissing him deeply on the lips. Her arms encircled his neck in a vice-like grip, keeping him in the kiss for much longer than he would have liked, knowing that Nick and God knew who else were watching.
“Muah!” exhaled Mariah as she finally released him, grinning mischievously as he staggered back, his fingers traveling to his lips. He rubbed them, and his fingertips came away red from her lipstick. Guiltily, he glanced over his shoulder at Nick, who was staring wide-eyed, the boyish, taunting expression gone from his face.
“Wow,” Nick said simply, once Mariah had slung her purse over her shoulder and click-clacked away on her heels. “That was… Wow, dude.”
Joey slumped into his chair, ducking his head behind the computer screen. “You can say that again,” he mumbled.
Behind the glass window that separated Trauma room 1 from the admit area, Melissa reached up to close the blinds, trying hard to blink away her tears before she turned back to her patient.
+++
“You both must be so excited, huh? This time next year, you’ll have a baby to spoil with presents,” Dr. Melanie Reyes said as she readied the ultrasound machine for Kylie’s visit.
Josh grinned. “You bet! I mean, I’ve already got a list: a tricycle, one of those basketball hoop things, and, if we can afford it, a laptop. You can never get started with education too soon, right?”
Kylie rolled her eyes and patted his hand. “Josh, I don’t think a baby who’s barely a year old will be able to work a laptop, a trike, or play basketball. Heck, I don’t think he, or she, will be able to crawl by then, either. Right?” she asked Melanie.
“Very true. Most babies crawl around seven or eight months, sometimes even nine. So, I’m afraid a tricycle and basketball equipment will have to go in storage, Josh. Kylie, let’s lift your top here, so we can get started, okay?”
Kylie shifted the bottom of her sweater up and leaned back, Josh’s hand clutched in hers. They were going to hear their baby’s heartbeat today, and she was full of nerves and excitement. She couldn’t believe she was going to be a mother soon, but that was life. Unpredictable, right?
Melanie ran the sensor over Kylie’s belly, and, slowly, the first sounds of life reverberated through the room. Thump, thump, thump, thump.
Josh felt amazement flood him. The baby had been an idea before now, but, being able to hear its heart, it suddenly became much more real to him. He was going to be a father—a good one, he told himself and tightened his grip on Kylie’s hand.
She looked up at him and grinned. “That’s amazing! Josh, it’s our baby’s heartbeat! I can’t wait until we do the sonogram and can see it, too.”
“Do you” he swallowed. “Do we want to know what it is? Girl or boy?”
Kylie watched Melanie fiddle with the setting on the machine and shook her head. “Let’s make it a surprise. It’ll be more exciting that way.”
“Well, if you can stand another surprise,” Melanie interrupted them, “I have one for you. Just listen to this.”
She ran the sensor over Kylie’s belly again, and they heard the heartbeat again. But then…
“Josh! It’s two! There’re two heartbeats!” Kylie gasped.
“What? But…oh, God. Two? Twins?” Josh gaped at Kylie and Melanie. “We’re having twins?!”
“Congratulations,” Melanie said enthusiastically. “And Merry Christmas, too! What a present!”
“Yeah.” The shock was slowly disappearing and a grin broke out on his face. “Kylie, we’re gonna have to get two of everything, now. Twins!”
“Twins!” Kylie echoed. She pressed a hand to her belly and thought of her child—no, children, she corrected herself. Merry Christmas, for sure!
+++
“Hey, Mel,” said Joey, when Melissa appeared with a wheelchair to whisk away the little girl in ice skates who had just come in, carried by her father. She was the third skating injury he’d seen in the three hours he’d been on duty.
“Yeah?” asked Melissa, her voice brusque. He wasn’t surprised by its tone; he knew she was busy. Just as Mariah had warned him, the ER had seen a steady stream of patients all afternoon and into the evening.
“Got time for a break in awhile? I was thinking of grabbing dinner soon,” Joey said, patting his rumbling stomach.
Melissa hesitated, her hands gripping the handles of the wheelchair. She glanced at the clock, then at Joey, the expression on her face odd. Finally, she said, “Sure. Lemme just get her set up in one of the exam rooms, and then I’ll be back.” Before he could reply, she leaned over to the little girl in the wheelchair. “Okay, sweetheart, let’s get you back to a room and get these skates off so the doctor can look at your ankle.”
“See you in awhile!” Joey called, as she pushed the girl away, the father worriedly following at her heels.
True to her word, Melissa was back in half an hour. “Cafeteria okay?” Joey asked, when she didn’t say anything.
“That’s fine.” Her voice was distant. He assumed she had other things on her mind, though he had no idea what.
They walked out of the ER and followed the hallway to the large cafeteria, where they each grabbed a tray and got in the a la carte line. “So, how’s your shift going?” Joey asked, desperate for conversation as they made their way slowly through the line.
Melissa reached for an apple. “Swell,” she said flatly.
“Swell?” Joey repeated, laughing. “I sense some sarcasm there. It’s been a little crazy, huh?”
“A little, yes,” she said vaguely, leaving him to frown and wonder what her tone was implying. He knew it was implying something; she was acting weird. But then, women did that. Sometimes he just couldn’t figure them out.
As they neared the cash register, he noticed a small cluster of mistletoe swaying right over the spot where you stood to pay. “Look, mistletoe,” he commented, nudging her shoulder. “Guess we better put this together, eh?” He pointed to their two trays.
She turned around, her expression humorless. “Why? Going to kiss me the way you did Mariah earlier?” she asked sharply.
Joey winced. Nick said something, didn’t he? Little prick, he thought. “What, have you been talking to Carter or something? Cause whatever he said, I’m sure he was just playing around. We ended up under the stupid mistletoe together, and well, it’s tradition – it was just a little peck; it meant nothing,” he insisted, surprised by how smoothly the lie rolled out of him.
“Oh, is that so?” Melissa raised her eyebrows. “Just a little peck, huh? Didn’t look like that to me.”
Joey swallowed hard. “What do you mean? You telling me you saw it?”
Melissa had reached the cashier. Clearing his throat, Joey pushed his tray up against hers and told the woman, “This is all together.” But before she could start ringing up their suppers, Melissa pushed her tray another inch down the counter.
“No, it’s not. Just this tray,” she countered, touching her own.
The cashier’s eyes flitted between them, but finally she nodded and started punching in Melissa’s food. “$4.18,” she said.
Melissa pulled a wad of cash from her billfold and counted out four dollars. Handing the cashier the bills and a quarter, she said, “Keep the change,” and picked up her tray.
The cashier gave Joey a funny look as he sighed and pushed his own tray ahead. “$6.63,” she said when she rang up his dinner, and he absently pulled a five and two ones from his wallet, stuffing the change she gave him into his pocket without bothering to count it.
Melissa had already started walking off towards the wide area with tables, at which a few of their colleagues were scattered. Joey hurried to catch up, his soda wobbling precariously on his tray. “You saw it??” he asked breathlessly when he finally caught her.
Melissa whirled around, her blue eyes pure ice. “Yes, I saw it,” she snapped. “We must have different standards for kisses, because that was not what I would consider a ‘peck’ by any means. If that was a peck, you must not feel anything towards me at all, because all I get are ‘pecks’ from you.”
Joey sighed. “Okay, okay, it wasn’t a peck. But it wasn’t my fault! She kissed me! I couldn’t exactly stop her; I was just as shocked as you!” Well, the first part was true, and he supposed he had been shocked, but there was still a lot he wasn’t telling her. He wondered if she could see the lies written all over his face. He could feel it getting warm anyway.
“Oh, oh, I see,” said Melissa, her voice rising. “You’re the victim here; I get it. It was all her fault. It’s not like you had any part in it… I know you would never want to kiss her.”
“I-I don’t!” Joey lied.
“Oh, no, of course not. When you stare at her ass or her boobs every time she’s in the same room as you, you would never think of kissing her. When she flirts with you, and you flirt right back with no regard to me... you wouldn’t want to kiss her then, would you? Oh no, I’m sure that thought’s never crossed your mind. It’s not like you don’t sit there and watch her every time she whips that tube of red lipstick out of her purse or anything.”
Melissa normally wasn’t the sarcastic type, but somehow she’d mastered the art without Joey ever knowing. “Mel…” he started, but he was glad she interrupted him because he had no idea what he would have said next.
“Don’t,” she warned, gripping her tray tightly, her eyes flashing right at his. “Before you say anything else, I just want you to answer one thing for me.”
Joey swallowed. “Okay.”
Melissa spoke slowly, her voice low. “I need to know… Was this the first time you kissed her?”
He had been lying to her so long that it seemed only natural to keep it up. But as he looked around the cafeteria, desperate for some way out, and saw the Christmas wreaths with the white candle lights inside, giving off such soft, serene light, he knew he couldn’t keep doing this to her. It was Christmas, and New Year’s was just over a week away, and he didn’t want to start the new year off in a relationship that was fill of dishonesty. He had to come clean with her. From there, the ball would be on her court, and she could play it as she wanted.
He took a deep breath and held it. Then, letting it out in a rush, he answered, “… No.”
Melissa’s face crumpled.
Swallowing, Joey knew he had to explain himself, or at least try. “It was an accident at first. Well, sort of. It happened during Hurricane Cortney… when we had the black-out, remember? We were in the lounge together, and I tripped when the lights went out and sort of… fell-on-top-of-her,” he mumbled quickly, his eyes dropping. It was true, but Melissa probably wouldn’t see it that way. “I didn’t mean to, and by the time I realized it, she’d already made a move and started kissing me. I… I know I should have pushed her off, but I was just… shocked, and I… I guess I let it happen.”
“You fell on top of her?” Melissa asked skeptically. “Why not just say she tripped you and made you fall on top of her, Joey? Since it seems to be all her fault.”
“Hey, you know what she’s like! She flirts with every guy in this hospital!” Joey defended himself, momentarily forgetting he was really just as much to blame as Mariah was.
“Yeah, but I don’t see every guy in this hospital falling all over her – literally – and making out with her under a mistletoe in front of everyone!” Melissa spat, angry tears springing to her eyes.
Joey hung his head. He wanted to retort that they hadn’t been “making out,” but what was the use? The truth was, maybe he hadn’t exactly made out with Mariah under the mistletoe, but they certainly had many other times when Melissa wasn’t around. He was a cheater, a rotten cheater, and she was on the verge of finding out just how rotten. He was definitely going to be on Santa’s naughty list this year, that was for sure.
“Look, I’m… I’m sorry, Mel,” he said quietly. Then, looking around, he realized they were still standing in the middle of the cafeteria, and a few people were watching them by now. Embarrassed, he leaned closer to her and asked in a low voice, “Can we at least go sit down or something and, you know, talk about this? People are starting to stare.”
“Yeah, well, they stared when you and Mariah were under the mistletoe too,” Melissa snapped unforgivingly, refusing to meet his eyes.
He closed his eyes and nodded, knowing he deserved that one. With his eyes still closed, he mumbled, “Okay… you’re angry… I understand. You have every right to be. You and me… I think we need some time apart.”
“Are you breaking up with me?” Melissa’s voice rose. “You shove your tongue down another woman’s throat in the middle of the ER, and now you’re breaking up with me? I should be dumping you! But I guess that’s probably what you want, isn’t it? Then you’ll be free to do whatever you want with Mariah!”
Joey kept his eyes closed, bracing himself. He couldn’t say anything.
“You just gonna stand there and not say anything?” Melissa demanded, her voice growing angrier still. “Well, FINE! Consider this your gift then – we’re through. I can’t take this shit from you anymore, Joey! You’ve been flirting with her and undressing her with your eyes for months. Now you can go drag her under the mistletoe and do it for real! Merry fucking Christmas!”
Joey opened his eyes just in time to see her dinner tray flying towards his face. On instinct, he raised his arms to shield himself, but his reaction came too late; the tray dropped and caught him right in the chest, while her sandwich smacked him across the face, and her apple ricocheted off his forehead. That was going to leave a mark.
Merry Christmas indeed, he thought sadly as he stood in the middle of the cafeteria, painfully rubbing his forehead, hardly aware of the slimy chunks of chicken salad clinging to his cheeks or the fact that every pair of eyes in the room was now trained on him.
+++
December 24
The short straw. He couldn’t believe he’d drawn the short straw. He always ended up drawing the short straw.
Life wasn’t fair, or at least Justin Timberlake’s life certainly wasn’t. First he’d gotten stuck working on Thanksgiving, and now here he was, trudging into the ER for his Christmas Eve shift.
“We’re going to need one of you to work on Christmas Eve,” Dr. O’Brien had addressed the three med students last week. “It tends to get pretty chaotic in here; people are out shopping, traveling, cooking… lots of accidents happen. We’ll need a fully-staffed ER. I don’t care which one of you it is; I’m just expecting to see one of you here on the 24th. Decide for yourselves and let Joey know so he can add it to the schedule. You can draw straws, if that’s what it takes.”
They’d settled for drawing tongue depressors. Nick had snapped one in half, and naturally, that was the one Justin had drawn. He’d even gotten a splinter from the jagged bottom, which Addie had had to dig out with his finger with a pair of tweezers.
Yes, life sucked, and so did this Christmas. Bah humbug, thought Justin, feeling like a regular Scrooge as he passed through the ER doors.
The ER looked like an all-out winter wonderland, courtesy of Dr. Littrell, who’d decked the halls with bows of holly, swags of garland, strands of lights, sprigs of mistletoe, paper snowflakes, snowman cutouts, Santa and reindeer decals, and, at the nurses station, even a fully-decorated Christmas tree and a Santa that started singing and dancing whenever someone passed by it.
It certainly didn’t fit Justin’s mood, but he couldn’t help but smile as he saw Joey hastily reach over and slap the ‘off’ button on the dancing Santa just as Dr. Brunson emerged from the elevator. When he noticed Dr. Scrooge herself look around at the decorations in disgust, Justin ducked into the staff lounge and out of her line of sight. The last thing he needed was an unnecessary confrontation with Brunson today. It was bad enough that he had to be here at all.
As he hung up his jacket and scarf in his locker, trading them for his lab coat and stethoscope, Justin thought about Britney. They had planned to spend Christmas together. He’d even told his poor mother in Tennessee that he wasn’t going to be able to make it home for the holidays because he knew she wouldn’t want Britney to come. Britney had talked about them both traveling to Louisiana to spend Christmas with her family, but there wasn’t enough room for guests in her parents’ trailer, and with medical school bills and a waitress’s salary, there wasn’t enough money for a hotel either, let alone the traveling expenses. And so they’d counted on spending a quiet Christmas together here in Atlantic City, just the two of them.
It really wasn’t such a bad idea; in fact, Justin had been looking forward to it. Especially Christmas Eve. He’d bought an early Christmas gift for Britney last week, a sheer red teddy with white feather trim around the bottom and a matching thong. It looked like what Mrs. Claus the stripper might wear, and Britney had been saving it to wear for him on Christmas Eve. She hadn’t been too pleased to find out he would be working yet another holiday and wouldn’t be back till late on Christmas Eve, assuming there were no major traumas that kept him at the hospital even longer.
Adjusting his stethoscope around his neck, he closed his eyes briefly and prayed, Please God, don’t let anything too bad happen on Christmas Eve. And if you do, please make sure it happens closer to St. John’s so we don’t have to take it. It’s Christmas; I really want to get home to my girlfriend on time tonight.
Satisfied, he slammed his locker shut and walked back out into the merrily-decorated hallway.
+++
She hated tiptoeing around the hospital. Metaphorically speaking. Everyone knew she was under review by the hospital board, and Holli Brunson had used every opportunity to snub her—starting with the decrease in her workload. They hadn’t suspended her while she was under suspicion, but, instead, they’d simply cut the number of shifts she had per week.
“Which is completely unfair,” Ivory muttered under her breath as she headed in for her Christmas Eve shift.
It wasn’t that she didn’t like to be home and relax, it was that she didn’t have much to do when she was home. At least, not when Brian was still working. He’d been nothing but supportive, but she wondered if he, too, believed she was guilty. He’d never say it to her face, but, occasionally, she’d caught him studying her with a serious expression on his face.
Shrugging it off, she moved through the ER and into the lounge. The first thing she noticed was the Christmas decorations, which hadn’t been up when she’d last worked, several days ago. “Brian has been here,” she said to herself, smiling. Brian was always hyped up about Christmas and had already turned her apartment into a Christmas wonderland, complete with a singing Santa, trimmed Christmas tree, and lots of garlands draped over everything. It appeared the hospital was now under his siege.
Ivory stored her belongings and, when she left the lounge, she spotted him deep in argument with Brunson. He was also wearing a Santa suit, a beard, and a white wig. The beard had managed to slip off his chin, though, while he gestured wildly with his Santa hat.
“It’s for a good cause! Besides, I’m supposed to have a break now, anyway,” he was telling Holli as Ivory drew near.
“Be that as it may, I still don’t understand why the ER looks like a circus,” Holli told him in a stern voice.
Brian rolled his eyes and grinned when he saw Ivory behind Holli. “Duh. Because it’s Christmas! Have you no Christmas cheer, Dr. Brunson? Everyone has Christmas cheer! Don’t you have Christmas cheer, Mariah?” he asked the receptionist manning the admit desk.
Mariah smiled brightly at Brian and Holli. “Jingle bells, jingle bells!”
“See!” Brian pointed to her. “You’re missing out, Dr. B. The mistletoe and garland is absolutely necessary. As is my trip up to the children’s ward.” He adjusted the beard and slid his hat over his head. “I’m off! Ho, ho, ho!”
He brushed past Holli and caught Ivory up in a hug. “Merry Christmas, baby! Santa has thirty seconds to find out what you want for Christmas,” he told her in deep tones, his blue eyes dancing beneath the bushy white wig.
Ivory laughed, ignoring the way Holli’s eyes were boring holes in the back of her head. “Can I just have a kiss, Santa? That’s all I really want.”
“Really? Well, that’s easy enough. Tell me, dear, have you been a good girl this year?” He wiggled his eyebrows, causing her to giggle.
“I hope so, Santa,” she said sheepishly.
Brian shrugged, enjoying the way she played along though the chief was glaring at her. He hated that she was being investigated and wasn’t allowed to work to her full capacity. Still, he knew it was something he couldn’t fix, but he could take her mind off of it for a few minutes and make her smile.
“Well, I guess I can give you that kiss. Smile pretty, darling.” He cupped her face and brushed her lips with his. “Mmm. Tonight, seven o’clock, my place,” he murmured against her lips. “Be there. I promise it’ll be good.” He let her go then and, fixing his beard again, turned to head towards the elevator. “Ho, ho, ho! Merry Christmas everyone!” he called over his shoulder, causing more than a few people to smile appreciatively.
Ivory watched him go, glad he could put some cheer in her day, then turned to look into Holli’s disapproving face.
“Dr. Harnett. The board wishes to speak with you again on the twenty-seventh. You will be at my office by nine AM. Is that clear?”
She bit back a groan and nodded. “Of course.”
+++
“Hi, Lily! Why don’t you hop on up into Santa’s lap?” Brian held out his arms for the little girl with the bandanna wrapped around her head. Leukemia, Brian knew, and smiled at her hesitation. “It’s okay, honey. Santa just wants to know what you want for Christmas.”
She nodded and cautiously allowed herself to be lifted into his arms. “Are you really Santa?” she asked, her large brown eyes studying him curiously.
Brian grinned. “Of course, I am! And this is Santa’s helper, my elf friend, Justin.” Brian gestured to the med student he’d managed to snag for the role. Justin shifted uncomfortably in the green tights, red, fuzzy costume shirt, a felt, green hat, and pointy shoes with bells on them. Brian stifled a chuckle at the younger man’s obvious embarrassment and turned back to Lily. “Have you been a good girl this year, Lily?”
Brian had been expecting an enthusiastic nod from his last visitor, but instead, Lily’s eyes filled with tears. “I don’t know!” she wailed. “I’m sick, and my hair went bye-bye! I don’t wanna throw up anymore! And, I-I wanna go home!”
His heart broke a little, and he held her close, rubbing a soothing hand over her back. “It’s okay, Lily. Shh, honey, don’t cry. I know it’s tough being sick all the time, but the doctors at the hospital are going to help you feel better, I promise.” When her crying continued, Brian shook his head at the nurse who offered to take the little girl and, instead, gestured to Justin. Justin nodded, surprisingly seeming to understand the little girl’s predicament, and picked up the sack Brian had brought with him. “Hey, Lily, would you like an early Christmas present? Would that make you feel a little bit better?”
She sniffled and looked into his eyes. He wondered what she’d seen for she nodded after a moment and wiped some of the tears from her cheeks. “Uh-huh. Please?”
Brian smiled. “That’s a girl! Justin, why don’t you give Lily the present we brought all the way from the North Pole for her?”
Justin knelt so he was eye-level with Lily and smiled as he held out a wrapped box. “Here you go, Lily. Merry Christmas!”
She took the box from him and, unwrapping it, she squealed and launched herself at him. “Thank you!”
Brian laughed as Justin’s discomfort was obvious as he patted the little girl’s back awkwardly. “What about Santa, Lily? Don’t I get a hug?” he wondered, pouting a little.
Lily wrapped her little arms around him and giggled. “Thanks, Santa! Thanks Justin! I’m gonna go play with my present now!”
The two men watched her go before Brian chuckled and patted Justin’s shoulder. “You did good, Timberlake. Thanks for helping me out.”
Justin shrugged. It had felt good. “No problem, Dr. Littrell. But, next time, could you make Carter do this instead?”
+++
The little jingle bells on his shoes jangled with each step. Justin looked down at the bright green, curly-toed monstrosities and scowled. He had to admit, dressing up like an elf for the kids upstairs on the pedes floor had felt good… while he was on the pedes floor. But now that he was back in the ER, he felt like an idiot.
Everyone was staring at him as he walked by, trying to hide their smirks, and he felt his face getting redder and redder. Soon it was going to match the brim of the stupid felt hat Brian had crammed over his curls.
He couldn’t wait to get back to the lounge so he could get out of this crappy costume. Although… Justin thought on sudden inspiration, looking down at the festive attire… maybe he could sneak this stuff home to wear for Britney. It would go well with her sexy Santa outfit. Maybe we could do a little roleplaying, he thought with a smirk, rounding the corner to get to the lounge.
He had no more set foot into the sanctuary of the lounge when a voice called, “Hey, Twinkletoes! Come here, I’ve got a patient for you!”
Scowling, Justin turned to see Dr. Parker standing a few feet away, looking amused and harried at the same time. “I can’t see patients looking like this; I gotta change first,” he whined.
“Too bad. It’s not called the Emergency Room for nothing, Twinkletoes – I mean, Timberlake.” The doctor winked, and Justin flushed redder, wishing the floor would just suck him up right now, starting with his jingly feet. “Emergencies come first; now come on.”
Justin knew he had no choice; Dr. Parker was his supervisor. God, I’m gonna be glad when my ER rotation is over next month, he thought, grudgingly following her to the patient.
He quickly discovered that his patient was not an emergency, just a regular pain in the ass dressed in a Santa suit. The man looked less like Santa than scrawny little Brian Littrell did, slumped over in a wheelchair, mumbling incoherently and reeking of booze and cigarettes, his bedraggled-looking beard under his chin. He was sporting a blackening shiner on one eye, and his nose was red and bleeding.
“Nose like a cherry, they say,” joked the policeman standing next to his wheelchair, handing the drunk a fresh tissue to stop the nosebleed.
“Shut up,” slurred “Santa,” barely swiping at his nose. “I didn’t do nothin’… just tryin’ to… to enjoy my Christmas Eve. Yoooou’d wanna… have a few drinks too, if you’ere ringin’ them little bells on the corner all day. I can hear ‘em ringin’ all the time… all the time… even when I… sleep…”
On the word “sleep,” the drunk fell forward in his chair, passing out. The police officer rolled his eyes at Justin. “Have fun with this one,” he said, starting to walk away. Then he stopped and looked back, doing a double take at Justin. “Hey, you two know each other?” he asked, looking between Justin and the drunk Santa he’d just picked up with obvious amusement.
Justin rolled his eyes and grabbed the handles of the wheelchair, jerking the drunk guy towards the nearest open room before the officer and Dr. Parker could have some more fun at his expense.
“Hey, make sure you get a BAL on Mr. Claus there!” called the officer behind him. “Once you mop him up, I’m gonna take him straight over to the county jail and book him for public intoxication. Guy started a fight in the middle of a bar on Jefferson, dressed up as Santa, on Christmas Eve! He’s gonna spend Christmas morning in the slammer; that’s for sure.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Justin muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes as he pushed his patient into Exam 3. Why did he always get stuck doing the dirty work?
+++
“More eggnog?” Brian held out another cup to AJ, who shook his head.
“No thanks, Brian. I think if you’d spiked the stuff, I’d be falling over drunk by now because I’ve had so much. If I see more eggnog, I might throw up,” AJ told him.
Brian shrugged and pushed his beard back on straight. The thing kept slipping so the mustache was over his lips. He’d just have to buy a better one for next Christmas. “Eggnog, anyone else?”
“I’ll have some,” Addie offered, making her way towards the refreshment table that had been set up in one of the hospital’s lounges for the staff Christmas party. “Every time I drink eggnog, it reminds me of Christmas.”
Brian grinned. “That’s the spirit! Merry Christmas!” He waved Harry and Siara over. “Hey, you two! There’s a little bit of eggnog left. Get it while it’s still here!” He leaned conspiratorially towards them. “And before someone spikes it, of course. I don’t know if I can trust the doctors here, you know. They know how to get their hands on those chemicals and all.”
Siara rolled her eyes, but Harry grinned. “Well, don’t talk to me, Doctor Littrell. I’m just a measly EMT; I’d never do something like that. But I’ll take some before we get out of here.”
“Great! And, Har, I have your Christmas present at home. Let me know when I can bring it by.”
Harry frowned. “I should be home tomorrow, so, when you come, I can give you yours, too.”
“Yay! Presents!” Brian waved his arms around and laughed. “Don’t you love Christmas, Siara?”
She frowned. “I do, but I think you’re going a little overboard, Brian.”
He gaped at her. “Overboard? There’s no such thing as ‘overboard’ this time of the year. You need more spirit! Did you find the mistletoe, yet?” he asked, wiggling his brows at them.
Harry chuckled. “Maybe. You did good this year,” he told Brian. “I came down into the ER, and the place looks like Santa’s elves attacked it.”
“They might have.” Brian grinned and checked his watch. “Well, I have to leave this awesome party, now. Ivory’s coming over tonight,” he explained.
Siara nodded. “How’s the investigation going?”
Brian tried not to let the thought ruin his mood. “It’s going. She’s not so happy, which is why I’m going to spend tonight making sure she forgets all about it. So, I gotta go!” He patted Harry’s shoulder and headed for the door where he stopped. “Merry Christmas, everyone!”
+++
“Merry Christmas, honey!” Mr. and Mrs. Evans, Jaela’s parents, said as they hugged their daughter. Jaela had invited her parents and her in-laws to celebrate Christmas at their home. Jaela placed her parents’ coats on the nearby coat rack, placed the Christmas gifts under the tree, and led them to the living room, where Paul’s parents already sat with her three children. Jaela smiled as Joshua and Alexandra showed them their art and crafts projects from kindergarten and saw that Paul’s mother was bouncing two-year old Rayna on her knee. Joshua was the first to see Jaela’s parents and ran towards them.
“Grandma! Grandpa!” Joshua yelled as he hugged their legs. Mr. Evans picked him up and hugged him back.
“Hey there, Josh! Merry Christmas!” he said. Alexandra ran to them as well, and Mrs. Evans gave her a hug in return.
“How’s my little Allie today?” she asked. Alexandra hugged her and enthusiastically showed off her pretty dress and art projects from school. Jaela smiled and walked to the kitchen to check on their dinner. She had barely started to stir the gravy when she heard footsteps behind her. Jaela turned around to see her mother staring critically at her.
Oh no… did I do something wrong? Jaela thought. Even though they’d had Christmas at her home a few times before, Jaela was still nervous about making the Christmas Eve dinner perfect.
“Jaela, the gravy’s fine. Sit down,” her mother said, pulling a chair from the kitchen table. Jaela sighed as she sat down.
“Is everything okay, Mom?” Jaela asked. Her mother took Jaela’s right hand.
“Jaela, I may be old, but I still remember fixing Christmas dinner for my parents and for your father’s parents, and trust me, it’s not worth all the stress. Is everything okay?” her mother asked.
Jaela subconsciously looked down. She didn’t want to ruin her mother’s Christmas by telling her everything that was going on with Paul. She looked at the clock. It was 6:00 PM. He should have been home by then. Jaela nodded and swallowed all the doubts she had.
“Yeah, Mom…. I’m fine. Don’t worry about it,” she said, although she barely believed it herself.
+++
“Dani, do you want to put the star on top of the tree?” Howie called. He smiled as he immediately heard the sound of his daughter’s footsteps running into the living room. He unearthed the star from underneath the various other Christmas ornaments his family had collected over the years.
“Here you go,” he said handing it to her. “Okay, you ready?”
Dani nodded and giggled as Howie lifted her up. She painstakingly placed the star on top and, after she had positioned it for several seconds, allowed Howie to place her back on the ground.
“When will Rita be here?” Dani asked, grinning, fully aware of the question her father planned on asking Rita that night.
“Soon. She called earlier; she’s just finishing up her shift at the hospital.”
“How come you didn’t have to work on Christmas, Daddy?” Dani asked.
“I got lucky,” Howie said honestly. This was the first Christmas in several years Howie had managed to escape working, and he was extremely thankful. He cherished what little time he got to spend with his daughter, which was even less than normal since the divorce.
“Listen, why don’t you go grab the present we got for Rita, and I’ll help you wrap it?” Howie said.
“Okay,” Dani said cheerfully and took off through the house again. The “present” was an ornament that Howie had had made with Rita’s name on it. Everyone in the family had one, even Dani’s mother, although hers had gone with her after the divorce.
Dani returned. She held the ornament in both hands, cradling it as if it were precious gold. Howie took it from her with a slight smile.
“Okay,” he said. “I bought a little bag especially for this. It should be in the bag in the den with the other Christmas stuff.”
“I’ll get it,” Dani said and hurried away. She returned triumphant a minute later. After wrapping it carefully in tissue paper, Howie placed the ornament in the bag under Dani’s supervision.
“Okay, we’re all set,” he said, leaning down to place it under the tree. “And not a minute too soon; Rita should be here any minute.”
As if Howie had said the magic words, at that moment, the doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it!” Dani said excitedly.
A smile forming on his lips, Howie followed his daughter to the door. Dani pulled the door open and revealed Rita, her head barely visible over the tall stack of presents she was holding.
“Here, let me give you a hand with those,” he said quickly.
“Thanks,” Rita replied gratefully, allowing him to remove some of the packages. “Am I late?” she asked.
“No, just in time. Dani and I were just finishing up the tree.”
“How was your shift?”
“Not bad,” she replied. “Dr. Littrell kept everyone’s sprits up. He’s been hanging mistletoe everywhere and singing Christmas carols all day. He even dressed up as Santa for the kids.”
“That sounds typical for Brian. He loves this time of year.” Howie smiled. “Well anyway, the food’s ready. I guess we can go ahead and eat.
“I’m impressed,” Rita said. “You cooked this whole meal by yourself.”
“Dani helped, and besides, I love cooking. It wasn’t a big deal.”
The three of them sat down to the meal Howie had prepared. Rita returned the smile Dani gave her as Howie’s head was bowed in prayer, thanking God for allowing Rita to join them for Christmas dinner. It was almost as if the little girl knew something she didn’t. But in the end, Rita shook it off as Dani just being excited because it was Christmas Eve.
After dinner, Howie told Rita rather nervously, “I… we,” he added with a glance at Dani, “have a present for you.”
“Isn’t that supposed to wait until in the morning?” Rita asked
“Well, this one’s special,” Howie said. Reaching into his pocket, he removed a black velvet box.
Rita took it, smiling, and opened it. Her eyes immediately filled with tears when she saw the ring. “Oh my gosh… Howie, it’s beautiful… I don’t know what to say!”
Rita glanced up to see Howie on one knee. “Say you’ll marry me,” he said.
“Yes… Yes, I will!” Rita said tearfully.
Dani squealed with delight as she watched her father kiss his new fiancée.
She then retrieved the wrapped ornament from under the tree and allowed Rita to hang it between Howie’s and her ornaments.
+++
Back at the hospital, JC signed the orders and handed the clipboard back to Chris. He watched as the nurse wheeled the gurney out of the small room and thought, not for the first time that night, that more than a few people were having lousy Christmas Eves.
At least he wasn't alone in that respect.
From Chris' subdued behavior, and a few casual comments, he also knew that he wasn't the only one that found the entire Christmas cheer thing to be annoying. If he thought he could get away with it, he would have either throttled Littrell, the self-appointed 'Spirit of Christmas Present', or locked the man in a closet until New Year's. Well, what was done was done. Brunson would have the decorations down within a few days.
He stripped off his gloves, tossed them into the bin, and washed his hands. Most people hated working on Christmas Eve, but he didn’t mind. He'd worked last Christmas Eve as well. After all, he had no family to speak of, at least none he wanted to be around, and he hated dwelling on memories of holidays past. Christmas hadn't been all cookies and cheer, even as a child. It was a holiday he simply wanted to get through. ER duty kept him busy, and not caught up in memory land. It worked out well for everyone involved.
Plus, with Mandie working up in surgery; any chance of a pleasant evening vanished with her absence.
He wondered if she would be working on the patient he'd just sent up to her floor; another stupid mishap involving a ladder, a roof, and lights had produced a fractured pelvis, broken leg, and a substantial concussion in a man who was certainly old enough to know better. All in the name of holiday cheer.
JC shook his head. Stupid holiday.
He left the room and got a cup of coffee, taking advantage of the brief quiet. He finished in time to see Chris exit the elevators and nod a greeting.
Before he could say anything, the ER doors burst open and he rushed to greet the paramedics as they wheeled a victim inside.
“Hit and run, victim was crossing the street when a car ran a red. Female, age 22, in and out of consciousness, abdominal and leg trauma indicated...”
He took in the vitals as the young woman was brought to the nearest trauma room. He began his assessment before the gurney had fully stopped; as Chris and another nurse hooked the woman up to various monitors, he focused on a few unusual aspects of her condition.
Her pulse was rapid; not unexpected, but it was a bit too high for an unconscious person. And her color... it was off, but he couldn't quite nail it. She was pale, but her skin had a strange tinge. Could it be a factor of the cold?
As the monitors came online, he shifted his attention to the readouts. Oxygen saturation was far too low...
An examination of her torso revealed massive bruising along the ribcage; gentle palpitation confirmed his guess of broken ribs. She wasn't able to take in deep enough breaths, thus the low oxygen count.
“Three possible broken ribs, maybe four... check for fractures also, both sides. Bruising indicates internal bleeding, although there are no lacerations. X-ray, stat, then up to the O.R. She'll need exploratory-”
“But I have to see her!” a voice shrilled from the hallway. “I'm her best friend! Where is she, where have you taken her? Oh my god, her parents don't even know-”
JC frowned. He heard someone trying to calm the obviously hysterical girl, but apparently it wasn't working.
“You don't understand, it was my fault she got hit, I was talking when we should have been really watching- No, I don't know her parents’ phone number, we're spending Christmas break together and-”
“Chris,” JC said, clenching his jaw.
“On it, Doc,” Chris answered, knowing the girl had to be handled quickly. Grabbing a clipboard, he left the room.
JC turned back to his patient, continuing his evaluation.
+++
Chris took the young girl by the arm and steered her out of hearing range of the room where JC was working. In a calm, firm voice, he caught her attention.
“Your friend is being looked at by one of the docs right now,” he said. “You need to amp down a bit so we can get some helpful information.”
“But she-”
“What's your name?”
“Uh... Amber. Amber Gleason. What-”
“Amber. Okay. Now, let's get some basic stuff down. Tell me about your friend... what's her name?”
“Chloe... Chloe Faith Morgan,” she said, then burst into tears.
Chris wrote the information down, then handed the sobbing girl a tissue from a nearby box. “Come on, Amber, keep it together. Dr. Chasez is a great doc, Chloe is in the best hands. The more you tell us, the more we'll be able to help, okay?”
Amber nodded, blowing her nose miserably. “S-sorry,” she said.
“It's okay,” he assured her. “Now, tell me what happened.”
“We were shopping, you know? We're roommates... in college, I mean... and since my family is kinda far away, she invited me to stay with her at her folks' place. See, we go to-”
“You were shopping, and went to cross the street, right?” he interrupted.
“Um, yeah, we had just come from Caputo's, that little shop that sells Italian shoes and these awesome purses-”
“The street?”
“We were crossing the street, headed for a pipe and tobacco shop, Chloe's dad smokes a pipe, see, and-”
“Amber.”
“Right,” the young girl said, sniffing. “We waited for the cross light... I know it was on 'walk', so we did... it was cold, though, so we didn't pause for a second before starting like we normally would. We were talking about... about...” She clenched her fist and gave a frustrated noise. “I can't remember what it was!”
“Doesn't matter,” Chris said. “Was Chloe on the outside?”
“Yeah, she was on my left side, and then out of nowhere- we were about halfway across- this huge car just comes zooming down the street, not even slowing down, and-” A sob caught in her throat. “It never stopped! It just hit her and kept on going!”
“Was she conscious after she was struck?”
“She... she was moaning a bit, and her eyes were squeezed shut... there was traffic, I was so scared that we'd get run over by someone else...”
“But she wasn't really ever awake?”
“No,” Amber said shakily. “Even when I screamed her name, she didn't wake up!”
“How long was it until the paramedics got there?”
She twisted the tissue in her hand. “I... I don't know, it seemed like forever, then all of a sudden there were cops and the ambulance and all these people-”
“Okay, that's all right. Now, do you have her home phone number? Address, date of birth, stuff like that?”
“Not her home phone, just her cell... but- oh, I have her purse! There's got to be something in there, right?”
“Good, very good. Why don't you look through it and I'll check with the doc, see if there's any news, okay?”
“Okay.”
Chris left the girl rifling through a small purse and re-entered the ER room. JC was just stepping back from the now-stabilized woman.
“She's headed up to O.R. right after x-ray,” the doctor said. “Her vitals aren't that bad, we stabilized her fairly easily. Oxygen helped; I think she should be okay for surgery. Who's on call there tonight?”
“Dr. Richardson, I think,” Chris answered.
“That'll do,” JC said. “I hope he didn't have plans tonight.”
“She ready to go?”
“Yes, they're waiting to take some films. Can you take her or should I get someone else?”
“I'll find someone, her friend out there has some information I need to finish getting.”
“Fine,” JC said. “And Chris?”
“Yeah, doc?”
“Thanks for handling her.”
“No problemo,” Chris said, exiting the room with a nod.
Tiredly, JC looked down at the pale woman and sighed. Yet another person who wouldn't be enjoying Christmas Eve.
Happy Holidays, indeed.
+++
Kevin topped off Elizabeth's glass and handed it to her with a smile. It wasn't often that she drank alcohol, but Christmas Eve eggnog was a traditional exception.
“I wish you could join me,” she said, giving her boyfriend a smile.
“Me too,” he said, settling back onto the couch. “Maybe I'll have better luck on New Year's Eve and won't be on call then.”
“Well, no drinking, but...” She gave him a sly glance. “There's no rule against other things.”
He raised an eyebrow. There was no mistaking the 'come hither' look in her sparkling eyes; he wondered if the eggnog had been spiked a bit too much. “I suppose not,” he said, putting an arm around her shoulder.
She snuggled close as she sipped her drink. “Isn't it beautiful?” she asked.
“It sure is,” he answered, looking down at her.
“I always hate the fuss that comes before Christmas,” she said, watching the twinkling lights on their tiny tree. “But when it's finally the night before... it all seems right.”
Kevin smiled. It was unusual to find Elizabeth so relaxed and amiable, especially after a full week's shift in the ER. He decided he liked it. A lot.
Several minutes elapsed without conversation; the softly playing carols from the stereo and the bright lights made words unnecessary.
Elizabeth finished her eggnog and took the empty glass into the kitchen... no excuses for clutter, even on Christmas Eve... and returned to the couch. There, she surprised Kevin by straddling his lap.
“Well,” he said, grinning. “What's this?”
She smiled rather wickedly. “This is a very needy woman,” she said, kissing him intently. “It's been a while,” she added.
“Mmm,” he murmured, returning the gesture. “It has. Between my schedule and yours-”
“Less talk,” she instructed. “More action.”
Kevin was surprised at her passion... it had been a very long time since she'd been the slightest bit interested in making love. Lately, they'd had more fights than sex. He'd chalked it up to stress and hectic rounds at work...
She began unbuttoning his shirt, and he abandoned his train of thought. This was a side of Elizabeth that he hadn't seen.... or felt... in a long, long time. Being no fool, he went gladly with the flow. It didn't take long for things to really heat up.
He had just unhooked her bra when it happened. He froze, praying that it had been his imagination. But then it sounded again.
Beep... beep... beep...
Elizabeth moaned in protest when his hands stopped, but he couldn't ignore the noise.
“Pager,” he muttered into her hair.
“Mmph,” she said, lifting her head. “Ignore it.”
“I'm on call,” he said with a groan.
“You're third on the list,” she said, nibbling at his neck.
“I have to answer, you know I do,” he said, slightly frowning.
“Let them call number four,” she protested, drawing back unhappily.
“Elizabeth, you know I can't do that,” he said, shifting slightly under her. “I have a responsibility-”
A flash of anger glinted in her eyes. “That's always the problem,” she said. “Why can't we enjoy ourselves once in a while? Just us?”
“Because we're doctors,” he said, pushing her completely off his lap. “It comes with the territory.”
She suddenly stood, hands clenched at her sides. “Fine, go ahead and call.”
“I'm not getting into this now,” he said, reaching for the nearby phone.
“No kidding,” she said. She shrugged her blouse back on and began buttoning it up.
Kevin groaned, but dialed without comment. He watched as she stormed out of the room.
“Atlantic, Hayley speaking,” came a familiar voice on the line.
“Hi Hayley, this is Kevin. I got a page...”
“We're backed up in surgery,” she said at once. “Dr. Caldecott and Dr. Emerson are already in the middle of procedures and we've got two more on their way up. The last one is critical.”
“I'll be there in ten minutes,” he said.
“I'll have a room prepped for you,” she promised, then hung up.
He quickly found his shoes and adjusted his shirt, mind already on the short trip ahead. Grabbing his jacket, he pocketed his pager and hesitated.
“Liz, I've got to go, they're backed up and I don't know how long it'll take. Hopefully I'll just have to do a single procedure...”
“Or, more likely, you'll be there all night,” came the bitter reply from the vicinity of their bedroom.
“Don't be like this,” he said, a bit of anger rising in his own voice.
“Like what, a normal woman?” she called. A second later she stalked down the hallway, fully covered in a thick robe.
He clenched his jaw, trying to stem his annoyance. “We'll talk about this when I get home.” He pocketed his keys and reached for the doorknob.
“Don't bother to wake me,” she said.
With a sigh, he left the suddenly cold apartment.
+++
By 7:30 PM, the Miller/Evans family dinner was underway, and everyone was enjoying the meal. Joshua, Rayna, and Alexandra were playing with the toy Santa’s that were being used as decorations at the kid’s table, and the adults were sitting at a larger table next to them. Paul’s place was still vacant, as he still hadn’t come home yet.
“Everything’s excellent, Jaela! I may just have to take some of your recipes home with me!” Paul’s mother said. The adults chuckled, but Jaela couldn’t bring herself to really enjoy the meal. She was starting to get worried about Paul. He used to call if he would be late, but the phone hadn’t rang once the entire evening.
She felt her mother’s hand on top of hers, and looked back at her mother. By looking at her eyes, Jaela knew her mother could tell she was stressed and worried. Jaela tried to smile, but she could barely even do that anymore.
Suddenly, they heard the front door open and loud footsteps enter the hallway. Paul was home.
Jaela rose from her seat and saw that Joshua and Alexandra had stood up.
“Daddy’s home!” they both said excitedly and started to run towards the front hallway. Jaela, knowing that it would be better if she saw what kind of mood Paul was in first, stopped them and squatted down to their level.
“Hey, don’t you want to tell everyone about your field trip to the museum?” she whispered to them. Both sets of little eyes lit up. The twins turned around and told everyone their story. Jaela, on the other hand, walked around them and went to meet Paul.
Jaela half-ran to the front hallway and saw Paul kicking his shoes off in a violent matter. Jaela knew it was a bad sign.
“Paul! Where have you been? Dinner started twenty minutes ago! And you were supposed to be home an hour and a half before that!” Jaela asked quietly. Paul gave her a dirty look and walked upstairs. As he turned towards the stairs, Jaela smelled the air around him. It smelled highly of liquor and women’s perfume. He had been with that other woman.
Jaela followed him up the stairs, still saying nothing.
Once in their room, Paul had taken off his shirt and looked in the closet for another one. When he was putting on his new shirt, he looked straight at Jaela.
“What do you want?” he asked angrily. He was having an issue with a button on the front of the shirt.
“I want to know where exactly you were, Paul. You were late, so I want an explanation,” she said, surprisingly calm.
“I was at the office. Didn’t you see the note?” he growled. He soon forgot about the shirt altogether and left it open for the moment.
“Then why do you smell like liquor?” she asked. This question seemed to hit Paul hard, and he walked up to her.
“Why the twenty questions, bitch?” he asked. Jaela gasped. What had happened to the nice, loving man she married? “Oh, not so comfortable when you’re not asking all the questions, huh?”
“Why didn’t you just call, Paul?” Jaela cried. She could feel the tears welling up in her eyes.
“It was busy at the office! We were swamped!” he said, getting louder by the minute.
“Well, what was I supposed to believe? There was no phone call, no voice message, no anything! The only thing I had was a little note saying that you had to go to work for an emergency! And that was at God knows WHEN because you were gone when I woke up! Do you know how hard it was to try to explain to your parents –” Paul groaned.
“My parents are here?” he said. He sighed and rubbed his hand through his hair. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Paul! You’ve known for MONTHS that they were coming! YOU were the one who invited them! For the record, my parents are also.” Paul angrily grabbed the knob on the end post of their bed.
“So I have to be nice to the in-laws, too??” He grasped the knob even tighter.
“Paul!” she gasped. At every family event, Paul seemed to love her parents. Was that all a lie? Jaela walked over to her husband and tried to hug him, but Paul pushed her off immediately.
“Hey! I’m thirty-three years old! I don’t need you to ‘mommy’ me!” he yelled.
“Well, you should act more like I -” Jaela didn’t get to end her sentence before Paul slapped her hard on the face.
Jaela was stunned. Neither of them moved for a moment.
Before she could stop them, the tears fell from her eyes. Jaela blindly grabbed her makeup kit and opened the bedroom door so she could go to the bathroom.
“Oh, and Merry Christmas, Paul,” she cried as she closed the door behind her.
+++
Kevin was scrubbing up when Hayley joined him in the pre-op area. As she put up the x-rays, she gave him run-down on the young girl being prepped nearby.
“...and Dr. Chasez warns that there might be liver or spleen damage,” she finished. “X-rays aren't very helpful, I'm afraid...”
“All the whited-out areas indicate massive bleeding,” he said, nodding as he studied the films. “We can't wait for an ultrasound or scan. Carol,” he called to the woman at the head of the gurney, “is she ready?”
“Yes, Doctor,” the operating nurse said. “I'll get her hooked up to the overhead monitors in just a second.”
He turned to Hayley. “Well here we go again,” he said as she helped him don his gloves.
“Let's hope we can make this a merrier Christmas for her, huh?” Hayley said.
He nodded, and together they entered the operating arena.
+++
“Clamp,” he said as he looked through the magnifier. An instant later the instrument was in his hand. He carefully maneuvered the clamp as he called for suction. “Okay, it's clamped... sponge,” he requested.
Hayley's steady hand held the gauze sponge in place, clearing the area of blood.
“Good,” he muttered, surveying the surrounding tissue. “Suture number zero, please.”
“Number zero,” Carol repeated, handing him the requested item.
With deft skill and a delicate touch, he repaired the bleeder and scanned for further hidden damage. “Vitals.”
Hayley read from the monitor display, then turned her gaze back to Kevin. He was frowning behind his mask.
“There's got to be something else,” he said. “BP is too low, with the unit we've given her already she should be up higher. Unless...” He gently probed a new area. “Spleen looks intact... I'm not seeing any blood there...” He drew a deep breath.
“Doctor, what are you thinking?” Hayley asked.
“The slight laceration on the liver has been repaired... maybe we missed something.” He moved tissue with ultimate care. Then, he saw it...
“Have the blood gases come back yet?” he asked, focusing on the anomaly he'd found.
“Not yet,” Hayley answered. “They're backed up in the Lab...” She leaned over and followed where his gaze was locked.
“Tumor,” he confirmed. “No wonder it didn't show in the films, it was obscured. Let's do a biopsy on this one-” He stopped, his sharp eyes finding something else. “Oh.”
Hayley saw his eyebrows crease.
“Look,” he said, indicating a new area. “See, to the left?”
“Another tumor?”
“I'm afraid so.” He inhaled deeply. “This... I'm not liking this.” He made a small noise as he discovered yet another mass where it didn't belong, this time near the stomach.
He looked up, meeting her hazel eyes for a moment. She had no trouble reading his thoughts.
“I want a rush on the biopsies,” he said, his voice low. He fell silent as he began removing samples.
Half an hour later, he stepped back.
“Well done, Doctor,” Carol said, giving the surgeon a nod.
“Thanks to the both of you,” he said to the two women. Tiredly, he exited the operating room.
+++
Later, after a reluctant Dani had been put to bed (Howie had finally managed to convince her that Santa wasn’t going to come as long as she was awake), Howie sat on the sofa, huddled in a blanket, holding Rita in his arms. “Well, what do you know,” Howie said with surprise.
“What?” Rita asked and then followed his gaze out the window. “Oh my gosh, it’s snowing! We haven’t had a white Christmas in years! I’ve always loved snow; it reminds me of the fairy tales my mother used to tell me when I was a little girl.”
Howie smiled and pressed his lips to her forehead. Her description was perfect. It was like a fairy tale. He could see them clearly living happily ever after.
+++
Hayley found Kevin in the doctor's lounge, eyes closed and leaning back on the small couch. She knew he wasn't asleep, however.
“I have the biopsy results,” she said in a soft voice. His emerald eyes opened.
He knew what he'd find before he read the papers; a minute later, he lowered the pages and leaned forward. “Damn,” he said, rubbing his eyes.
Hayley sat next to him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “You okay?”
He didn't answer at first. She watched as he struggled with a reply.
“This kind of thing is always so damned hard,” he said.
“I know,” she said, voice full of sympathy. “I can come with you; the family is in the surgical waiting room.”
“I...” he cleared his throat. “I'd like that, thanks.”
When he didn't rise, she simply waited.
“She's so young,” he said, pain lacing his words.
“I know.”
“It's Christmas Eve, for God's sake.”
“Yeah.”
“It's not fair,” he whispered.
“It never is.”
He stood, struggling to compose himself. Seeing how hard it was for him, Hayley stepped forward and gave him a long hug. After a second's hesitation, he returned it, glad she was there.
They made the short journey together, neither one really ready for the revelation. Fifteen minutes later, the news had been delivered and a family had been changed forever by two simple words.
Hodgkin's Lymphoma.
Cancer. Too far advanced to combat. Spread throughout Chloe Morgan's body, cutting short her far too brief life. Extinguishing her hopes, her dreams, her future.
Sometimes, Kevin Richardson hated his job.
+++
“And there we go… great job, everyone,” Risha said to the rest of her team. She had finished her last patient for the night – Alison Matthews, a woman in her mid twenties who had some bleeding in her brain from a severe concussion she’d received when she accidentally fell and hit her head while trying to hang last-minute Christmas decorations. It had been a close call, one of the worst concussions Risha had seen in some time, but Alison had made it through surgery and would recover nicely.
Honestly, Risha had been a little shaky ever since Lance’s death. He had been one of her first patients here at Memorial, and with as surprisingly serious as her head injury had been, she’d been scared that Alison might end up the same way. But after some reassurance and advice, she’d been able to perform the surgery with flying colors. She wrote Alison’s statistics on her chart, and Alison was wheeled to a recovery room.
Risha cleaned up in the scrub room and started to walk out. Instead of taking her normal route to her car, Risha decided to cut through the ER. In a way, it reminded her of her days as a med student. Back then, she couldn’t wait to get out of there, but now she missed the hustle and bustle of the ER.
She started to sigh a bit as she saw Chris walk towards her. Chris was nice and all, but all she wanted to do at the moment was go home. Maybe he wouldn’t notice her….
“Hi, Risha!” he said, finally meeting up with her. Risha put on a smile and faced him. It was the holidays, after all. She should be nice and be social.
“Hey, Chris. What’s going on?” she said.
“Not much. Are you going home?” Chris asked as Risha started to put on her coat.
“Yeah… just got done with my last surgery. What about you?”
“Nah. I’m trying to keep myself busy since… you know…” Risha nodded. She understood how Chris felt. It had been two weeks, yet it still felt like it was just the other day.
“Umm… Risha?” Chris asked. He seemed to be looking at something.
“What?” Risha looked around, trying to see what Chris was looking at.
“Look up.” Sure enough, they were underneath the mistletoe. Someone had thought of putting mistletoe near the exit.
“Um… well… yeah…” Risha started to blush. She didn’t really want to kiss Chris, even if it was tradition.
“Must be one of Brian’s…” she heard Chris mutter. “Hey, if you really don’t want to…”
Risha was a little taken back. “No… it’s okay… really…”
“No one’s around, you can just go…”
“You sure?” Risha was pretty sure she heard a bit of sadness in Chris’s voice. Did he really like her?
“It’s empty around here. No one would -” Before Chris could finish his sentence, Shannon Chung, a cardiologist, walked around the corner and noticed both of them.
“AWWW! You guys are under the mistletoe! You know the tradition!” she said excitedly.
It must be a boring day in Cardiology if she’s excited that much about mistletoe… Risha thought. Chris and Risha looked at each other, and then Risha gave Chris a peck on the cheek.
“Merry Christmas, Chris,” Risha said as she walked out of the door.
+++
By the time he pulled up in front of his apartment that night, Justin’s Scrooge mood had vanished. There was no point in being annoyed anymore, now that work was over and drunken Santa Claus had been driven out of sight in a black and white “sleigh” with flashing lights. It was Christmas Eve, and it was finally time for him and Britney to celebrate.
Putting his car into park, he shut off the windshield wipers and sat to watch for a moment as tiny snowflakes collected on the glass. It didn’t snow much in North Carolina, so a snowfall on Christmas, even a light one, was especially miraculous.
Finally feeling in the Christmas spirit again, Justin shut off the ignition and climbed out of the car. The atmosphere outside was very peaceful and still, and the starry sky and the snow made it seem almost magical. He lingered in the crisp winter air for a moment before finally going into the building, eager to see Britney. He took the steps two at a time, fumbling with his keys as he approached his apartment. Britney had promised to be waiting for him there.
He unlocked the apartment and stepped inside. The lights were turned on, and the Christmas tree was lit as well, but Britney wasn’t waiting for him in the small kitchen or living room. He looked around as he pulled off his jacket and tossed it over a chair. “Brit? I’m home! Merry Christmas, babe!” he called, starting for the bedroom.
The door was closed, but it was his bedroom, so he didn’t think twice before throwing it open. He blinked in surprise at what he found.
Britney was standing naked in the middle of the room, one of his pillows covering her front. Behind her, his bed was unmade. Her slinky Santa teddy lay next to it in a heap on the floor.
“Justy! You’re home earlier than I thought you’d be!” Britney exclaimed, her voice high. “I… well, what a nice Christmas surprise!” She smiled, adjusting the pillow. “I’m sorry I wasn’t ready for you… I wanted to have everything ready when you came home. I was just gonna get into that sexy Santa lingerie you got me, and then I was gonna finish turning down the bed so it’d be all set for us.”
“Ohh,” said Justin. Now it made sense why she was naked in his room, without him there. “Well, I’m sorry, babe. Lemme just change my clothes, and you can finish changing, and then we’ll make some Christmas magic, eh?” He winked, and she smiled wider.
“Sure! But uh… wait!” she cried, grabbing his arm as he started for the closet. “Wait, don’t open up your closet. I’ve got presents for you in there; they’re not wrapped yet!”
Justin gave her a weird look. “You hid my presents in my closet?”
“Well, I was gonna just bring them over wrapped, but I ran out of paper, so I thought I’d wrap them here while you were gone. Only I… I ran out of time, as you can see.” She gestured to the rumpled bed. “Can you just… just…”
He nodded knowingly. “It’s alright, I gotta hit the john anyway. Brian’s eggnog gave me the runs. You should have a few minutes to do something with those; I won’t peek.” He winked again.
She wrinkled her nose. “How romantic, Justin.”
He shrugged, giving her a ‘When you gotta go, you gotta go’ look, and went into the bathroom. As he sank down on the toilet, he heard her open the closet door and the sound of footsteps in the bedroom. Moments later, he heard the apartment door open and close. But he thought nothing of it and went ahead with the ‘business’ at hand, humming “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” to drown out the unpleasant noises that followed.
+++
Hayley watched as Kevin signed off his shift, noting that it was now officially Christmas. She added her signature to the list and the pair walked to the elevators in silence.
“Wanna go for some coffee?” she offered.
He gave her a tiny smile. “No, thanks. I'm beat, and I just want to go home, you know?”
She nodded. “I know. Kevin,” she said, shifting from work mode to friend mode, “are you really okay? I know how hard a cancer diagnosis always is for you...”
He cleared his throat, pushing raw emotions back. “It's harder for the family,” he said.
“True, but I know it brings back awful memories for you,” she said. “I just wanted you to remember that I'm always ready to talk, or listen, if it can help.”
He gave her a truer smile, then. “I know that,” he said. “And I know how lucky I am to have a great friend like you, Hay. But I'll be okay, I promise.”
“Well, I'm sure you and Elizabeth have plans to help take this off your mind,” she said, stepping out onto the main floor. “After all, it's Christmas, right?”
She missed the darkening in his eyes.
“Right,” he said, trying to keep his tone light. “Listen, have a great holiday and I'll see you in a couple days.”
“Merry Christmas, Kev,” she said, giving him one last quick hug.
He watched until she was safely at her car in the parking lot.
“Merry Christmas,” he said softly.
Wrapping his jacket around him a bit more tightly, he headed for his own car, and home.
+++
Risha unlocked the door to her apartment and sighed. Since she’d been so busy with work, she hadn’t decorated the place. She hadn’t even gotten a Christmas tree since moving to Atlantic City. She used to love Christmas time and went all out with decorating, but since she was by herself, she never really saw the point.
“John used to love decorating too,” she muttered to herself, getting lost in her memories…
“John! Do we REALLY need that singing Santa?” Risha asked while laughing herself to stitches. It looked silly, even when it wasn’t singing.
John pretended to look hurt. “Rish! It’s SANTA we’re talking about here! He knows when you’re sleeping…” John said as he turned on the singing Santa. He pretended to dance like the Santa in the aisle of the store, and Risha started to laugh at him. As they walked away from the Christmas items, Risha looked back at the singing Santa.
‘Maybe it’s not that bad…’ she thought as she jotted it down in her mental list of things to get John for Christmas.
Risha looked around her apartment again. It looked really sad. It was Christmas Eve, after all.
“I know what to do,” she said to herself. Risha grabbed her coat and purse as she walked out of the door.
Risha walked to a Walgreen’s that was down the street from her apartment. She walked in and immediately went to the Christmas display. She saw tons of stockings and cute cards (and even some singing Santa’s) and finally found what she was looking for. A small Christmas tree. Risha smiled and grabbed one of them, along with garland, lights, a wreath, and ornaments. After paying, she happily walked home.
She got home and started to decorate the apartment. She placed the small tree on a small cabinet, and after it was decorated, she turned off the lights and turned on the Christmas tree. Everything sparkled and shined. She turned on the lights again and strung the garland around the cabinet and around the window. She also placed the Christmas wreath on the front of her door. After she put the wreath on the door, she looked at her apartment again. It looked a lot better than before. It looked warm and inviting. She turned off the lights, sat on the couch, and looked at the lighted up Christmas tree. It truly looked magical.
“Have yourself a Merry little Christmas…” she sang softly while watching the Christmas tree glitter and shine.
+++
Entering the apartment as quietly as possible, Kevin Richardson was eager to put the night behind him. Wanting nothing more than to get some much-needed sleep, he crept down the hallway to the bedroom he and Elizabeth had shared for over a year.
On a day known for surprises, Kevin received a big one.
The door was not only shut, it was locked.
Blinking in disbelief, he tried to turn the knob again, but it wouldn't budge.
Elizabeth had locked him out of their bedroom.
For a suspended moment, he was at a loss. Pounding on the door wasn't the answer... if she was angry enough to lock him out, there would be a nasty confrontation for sure. He couldn't handle that, not after his disturbing stint in surgery.
What, then? With a bone-weary sigh, he turned and trudged back down the hall. His remaining options were limited to the floor or the couch. After a second he chose the couch, kicking off his shoes and whumping one of the pillows in hopes of making it softer. It didn't really make a difference.
He scrunched his tall frame into the confines of the couch, wishing once again that Elizabeth hadn't insisted on choosing furniture that focused on style rather than comfort. True, his over six-foot frame would challenge any couch, but still...
Despite his fatigue, he couldn't fall asleep. He finally got up after an hour, wandering into the kitchen in hopes of finding some remaining eggnog. Perhaps that would relax him enough to fall asleep.
The kitchen was, as usual, spotless. There was no trace whatsoever of the eggnog he'd made earlier; no doubt Elizabeth had gotten rid of it soon after he'd left. He settled for a glass of milk instead, supplementing it with several cookies from the tin his mother had sent them as a gift.
Thoughts of his mother naturally led to darker memories of his father; familiar, sharp pain welled in his chest as he remembered the final days of his father's life, unable to battle the cancer that claimed him. It was that singular, painful event that had propelled him towards medicine. Towards dedicating his life to healing, to helping.
He'd worked hard to become the best doctor and surgeon he could be; he wondered if his father would have been proud of his accomplishments. His mom had reassured him countless times that of course he'd have been proud, just as proud as she was of her youngest son.
He ate a bell-shaped cookie, savoring the wonderfully nostalgic taste of it. He remembered how awesome Christmases had been when he was growing up; how much fun and excitement there was around the Richardson home during the holidays. He could still see his father pulling his mother under the mistletoe that always was hung in the parlor doorway, making her laugh with his exaggerated eyebrow wiggling and subsequent dramatic kisses. Still see them dancing to Christmas carols despite her protest that dinner needed tending to... Still feel the love that radiated from them as they gazed into each other's eyes on Christmas morning, amidst the colored paper confetti storm he and his brothers always managed to create.
Although his father was no longer living, at least his mother had known many years of happiness with him. Kevin reluctantly admitted he had yet to experience that level of love.
He had truly thought that Elizabeth was the one; at the beginning, every touch was electric, every word profound, every glance, magic. She was beautiful, intelligent, and competitive... different enough in tastes and temperament to be interesting, but alike in all the important ways. She loved medicine, both the discipline and rewards that went with it; she understood dedication and pride in a job well done. She had introduced him to art films, modern paintings, and authors he'd never even heard about. He'd shown her the joys of home-style Southern cooking, classic movies and the intrinsic beauty to be found in hiking the surrounding countryside.
As he took a long drink of milk, he wondered how they had arrived at the place they were now. Earlier that evening, he had noted that it had been quite a while since Elizabeth had wanted intimacy. Thinking about it again, he realized that it had been a startling long time since they'd expressed real passion. Lovemaking, when it had happened, had been more of a familiar comfort than an exciting exchange. More often than not, their evenings and days had been filled with silences, work, or tension.
What had happened?
He still loved her; that wasn't in question. But her reaction to the evening's events had made him re-examine their current connection. Obviously, Liz wasn't happy. It had to be deeper than a thwarted lovemaking session. No, something fundamental was wrong.
Finishing his snack, he took his glass to the sink, automatically rinsing it out and stacking it in the dishwasher. Certain he wouldn't be able to sleep, he curled up on the couch anyway. At least he could try and rest.
+++
December 25
Elizabeth rolled over, automatically reaching out to touch Kevin's side. When her hand met empty space, she woke fully.
It took a second for her to sort her thoughts... then, the evening came back in vivid clarity. With a groan, she put a hand over her eyes, belatedly realizing she had a roaring headache.
She had been anticipating a romantic Christmas Eve, just her and Kevin for once. No work, no arguing, none of the odd distance that had crept between them as of late. She had arranged the schedule so that neither one of them would be working. The fact that he was chosen to be on call had been a mere technicality.
She was sure that she'd finally gotten Kevin's interest; the way he'd reacted to her advances was gratifying. But then, just when things were getting good, that stupid pager had thrown ice-water on the entire evening.
She didn't understand why he seemed so eager to get to the hospital. Almost like he was happy for the reprieve. Without a second thought, he'd turned away her advances and left her hanging. Unsatisfied, unfulfilled, unwanted. But then again, it had been an eternity since Kevin had truly seemed interested in her wants, her needs. In her.
It wasn't fair. She worked hard, gave her all to the hospital and her patients... surely she deserved a little happiness, a little satisfaction, in her private life. And yet the man she loved seemed ambivalent. Sure, he'd been more than ready to have a little romance last night, but if she hadn't initiated the entire thing, would he have made the first move? Unlikely.
Standing, she waited for the room to come back into focus... her headache was brutal... and wondered who had truly captured his interest lately. An answer popped up almost at once, and she frowned.
It was no secret that Kevin spent a lot of time with Hayley Aldworth. Hayley was attractive, outgoing, and apparently fun to be with. And the fact that he spent much more time with the surgical nurse than he did with his own girlfriend on a day-to-day basis didn't help.
Of course, Hayley would be attracted to Kevin. After all, he was handsome, respected, and well-off. She was single, and most likely saw Kevin as available. After all, it wasn't like he was engaged.
Elizabeth bit her bottom lip. Sure, they hadn't made an official commitment, but they had an understanding. At least, she thought they did.
But the more she considered it, the more it made sense. Hayley was there. Nearly every shift, they worked together. He talked about her all the time; although he insisted they were just good friends, Elizabeth wondered just how close their relationship had gotten lately.
Wrapping the robe around herself, she tied the belt tightly and marched to the door. She had a few questions to ask of her so-called boyfriend.
It made her angry that he hadn't even knocked on the door when he got home. He probably hadn't even come down the hall... if he made it home at all.
She found him sprawled half-on, half-off the couch. Sleeping like he didn't have a care in the world. For some reason, it tweaked her anger.
Not bothering to keep quiet, she went into the kitchen and began making coffee. Hopefully, it would help clear her head. And if the banging woke him up, so be it.
+++
The aroma of fresh brewed coffee propelled him out of sleep. Slowly, Kevin opened his eyes and abruptly winced as sore muscles announced their presence. So much for rest.
Awkwardly he sat up. He saw Elizabeth, back towards him, snatching a coffee cup from the cupboard. He briefly shut his eyes as he realized she was still in a mood.
“Mornin',” he mumbled, trying to break the hostile silence.
She didn't reply, save for clanking her cup on the counter. Groaning, he rose.
“Liz-”
“Who, exactly, answered that page last night?” she asked, seemingly out of the blue.
“Huh? It was Hayley,” he said with confusion. “As usual.”
Her shoulders tensed. Spinning around, she gave him an accusatory glare. “Now there's a surprise.”
“What?” he said, coming fully awake. “What's that supposed to mean? She's my surgical nurse, of course she's the one that calls if she's on duty.”
“And you didn't waste any time getting to the hospital either, I bet.”
He scowled. “No, I didn't.”
She gave him another glare and grabbed her coffee, turning her back on him as she went to sit at the small kitchen table.
“Are you going to explain that glare?” he said, his patience evaporated.
“Do I need to?”
“Damnit, Liz, I don't want to play games. Either speak your mind or get a grip.”
“Let's just say I don't like to be tossed aside.”
“Tossed aside?”
“You knew I wanted to be with you last night, yet the second a call comes in you go running-”
“I was on call!”
“You were third on the call list, they would have tried the fourth if you hadn't answered. We could have had the entire night to ourselves.”
“What? Why does it matter where I was on the call list? Obviously I was the only one that answered the page, they were in need of a surgeon-”
“I wonder if your Hayley even tried the first two,” she snapped.
“Wait... my Hayley?”
“You heard me. Don't think I haven't noticed how much time you two spend together, Kevin. I'm not blind, and I'm not stupid.”
“We work together!” he exclaimed.
“What about lunches, dinners?”
“When we're working,” he grated. “Sometimes we grab a meal together, it's not a crime!”
“I've seen how she looks at you,” Elizabeth countered. “When she thinks she's unobserved.”
Kevin threw up his hands. “This is absurd, Liz. Where on earth do you come up with this stuff?”
“Ask anyone,” she said. “They'll tell you the same.”
“You're... jealous? Of Hayley and me? Liz, there is no Hayley and me!”
She refused to answer.
“Is that why you locked the damned door on me?” he said, coming around to face her. “Over some ridiculous idea?”
“It's not ridiculous,” she said. “And stop shouting, I have a headache.”
“I suppose that's my fault too,” he said. “Or maybe it's Hayley's.”
“You really disappointed me last night, Kevin,” she said, putting down her cup. “It hurt, more than you can imagine.” She sniffed. “And it's not the first time. Things haven't been right for months now.”
He stood there, unable to make sense of anything she was saying. He ran a hand through his hair. After a bit of pacing, he turned to her once again.
“All I wanted last night was to come home, crawl into bed, and put the day behind me. I was looking forward to today, to spending Christmas with you, here. But I come home to find the door locked, and you on this ridiculous rant this morning. You know what? I'm going to go take a hot shower and get into some clean clothes. Maybe by then you'll be able to tell me what it is you want.”
She looked up, her golden-green eyes unreadable. “I don't know what I want, Kevin,” she said in a low voice. “Or what I need. But... I don't think it's you. Not anymore.”
With that simple statement, Kevin's heart broke.
+++
He stood before the door, a pumpkin pie in his hand. He hoped it was a pumpkin pie anyway. Nick honestly wasn’t sure.
He’d spent the last two days trying to make what should have been a simple pie. First, it had been apple. After he’d gone through four of those getting burnt all day Christmas Eve, he’d given up on apple. His neighbors had even banged on his door asking if there had been a fire. All they had gotten in response, however, was Nick cursing the kitchen, loudly and colorfully.
After the apple debacle, he’d considered cherry, but realized that would have been as hard as the apple.
He’d then gone to the store, got a cooking magazine which had the recipe for a “simple” pumpkin pie, and bought the ingredients. Nick didn’t have to bring something, but he felt he should. He wanted to impress Isabel’s family. Do something to show he really appreciated the invitation. It was obviously much better than yet another Christmas in his apartment alone with random phone calls from the people he wanted to avoid.
So after three more attempts that morning, the last one looked the least hazardous, and he went with that, hoping he wasn’t going to poison his girlfriend’s family.
Now here he was, standing in the snow, holding gifts Isabel and a pie in his hand, wondering how he was going to ring the doorbell with his hands full without setting anything down and wondering if he wanted to ring it to begin with. The blond groaned. The way this was going, he might as well sleep outside the door like a Golden Retriever.
As he debated this, the door suddenly opened, catching him by surprise. He stumbled back, slipping on the ice. The items flew into the air, and he raced to catch the pie. He sighed with relief when it landed safely in his hands. As he picked up the gifts from the snow, he looked up to see a giggling Isabel.
“Nick, what are you doing?” She raised a brow at him, still full of giggles. He blushed furiously as he stood quickly.
“I was about to knock on he door,” he replied smoothly, wondering if his cheeks would stop being red any time soon.
More giggles. Nick watched her with a small smile he couldn’t hide. It wasn’t THAT funny. “Sure you were, Nicky Poo.”
“Nicky Poo?”
“If I’m Izzy, you’re Nicky Poo.” She smirked. Her eyes spotted the pie. “Did you make this?”
He nodded modestly; maybe he didn’t want to take credit for that just yet. It hadn’t been tasted, so it wasn’t sure to be safe yet… “I thought I’d bring something.”
“Aww, this is so sweet!” She took the pie and kissed his cheek. “Come on in. Don’t mind the fam; they can be a little loud.”
Isabel headed into the kitchen and tasted a little bit of the pie. Her eyes widened. Were pumpkin pies supposed to have bones? After pulling a tiny one out, she snuck the pie into the back of the fridge and pulled out the store bought pumpkin pie when Nick’s gaze had shifted elsewhere. Sometimes, ignorance was truly bliss.
“Can’t be too bad…” Nick’s mind wandered. Just before he had put that last pie in the oven, he’d knocked a bowl over by accident… Those chicken wing remains didn’t fall in, did they? He considered it… Nah, he doubted it strongly. He hoped. Well, it was too late now.
“Trust me…” They heard a bunch of excited yelling, followed by a tiny crash. She laughed, “They can get that way.”
Nick chuckled, “I’m used to loud…”
+++
Nick was NOT used to loud. It was twenty versions of the Isabel he knew: male forms, female forms, forms that only had a slight resemblance. All loud, vocal, talkative, and speaking mainly in a language he had no comprehension of. All reaching for food after the very quick prayer before dinner.
He looked over across the table, where Isabel’s father, Adrian Rivera, was sitting. Beside him was Alicia, Isabel’s sister. She was identical to Isabel; you couldn’t tell the two apart at first glance, until you saw how Alicia looked a bit older, more adult, more self-assured, but not in the good way.
These were the doctors Iz had told him about.
“So, you’re the Nick my daughter keeps talking about.”
Oh boy, the father talk. The large family chattered on and fought over food animatedly with no notice to them. Nick sat up, trying not to let his eyes run away from Adrian‘s. The man had an air about him that made you feel you‘re not worthy of his presence. “Um, yes sir.”
Alicia smirked a bit. “What do you do? All she talks about is how sweet you are. She doesn‘t discuss her job at the hospital much, only school.”
Nick gave Alicia a look. Okay, perhaps it was too soon, but he didn’t like her. She seemed too confident. His azure eyes glanced over to Isabel. She was looking down, eating quietly. It was such a sudden mood change, and it caught him by surprise. “I’m a med student too.”
“Just a third-year?” The older sister nodded and ate the food. “Good for you then.” She smirked. “It’s hard work; few can handle getting past that. I’m a neurologist,” she informed them all too smugly.
“You going to treat my daughter right, young man.” Isabel’s father stared Nick down, after having stayed quiet for a short while. It unnerved Nick a bit.
“Of course, Sir.”
“How about some pie? Nick made it for us.” The table suddenly cheered, and Nick tried very hard to surpass a chuckle and thank Isabel mentally for the distraction. She gave Nick, Adrian, and Alicia each a piece before going down to serve the rest of the secretly-switched store-bought pie. She got a slice for herself and sat next to Nick to see his reaction.
He took a bite and blinked, his bright blue eyes showing his obvious surprise. “I am a good cook!” he said quietly to Isabel.
The young Hispanic woman smiled, silently reminding herself not to let the family taste the other pie. Isabel watched her father and sister closely. They were going to try and chase him away. She could feel it.
She grabbed Nick’s hand and stood. “We’re going outside for a walk.”
He looked at her and nodded in understanding as he rose as well, following her out the door before any of the family could say anything. On the way, he grabbed the main gift of the few he had brought for her. They put on their coats and went out, as the rare Christmas snow slowly fell upon them outside.
“Having fun?” she asked, gazing at him gently.
He smiled and gave her her present. She opened it happily, to discover an obviously expensive charm bracelet with little medical tools and symbols between little hearts. It had a larger heart in the middle, and inscribed on it were their names and the day they had met. She squealed with joy, as she hugged him tight.
“You didn’t have to get me that. But thank you; I love it.”
She handed him a small box as well. He opened it to find a necklace with a golden stethoscope on the end, glittering in the evening sun. On the back it said, Dr. Nickolas Carter.
“I know we’re not doctors yet, but I thought this would be an early sign of what we will be.”
He pulled her close, kissing her deeply after putting it on. “Thank you,” he said to her softly. Nick smiled; it was turning out to be a good day after all.
It was then that he heard laughter of a family, and his whole demeanor changed. The two started walking, enjoying the overall serenity with the child’s laughter being the only sound between them for several moments. His hand interlocked with hers as they walked along.
“You’re so tense. What’s been wrong?”
“Nothing…” He looked away again. Could he not talk about his family? It seemed horrible not to want to think of them on Christmas Day, but really, it was all he wanted. Was it a lot for Nick to ask for?
She stopped, grabbing his shoulders and turned him towards her. Her soft, caring coffee eyes looked determinedly into his sad, lost ocean ones. “What’s wrong? Could you just tell me.”
“You wouldn’t understand, Iz.”
“Try me.”
“I just know you wouldn’t, alright?!” He moved away, watching a father and son happily build a snowman, revealing patches of dead grass as they rolled the light coating of snow into three balls. Something so simple, forever denied from him.
She sighed, wrapping her arms around him from behind, setting her head on his shoulder. “It’s about your family, isn’t it.”
“I just want a normal one, Iz. Is that a lot to ask for?”
“No family is normal.”
“No, trust me, your family is normal. Everyone’s is, almost, compared to mine. Not having to grow up living in a rest home and then out of your car. Then when you finally get this tiny home in Orlando where no tourist would ever dare go near, your father acts like a chicken shit and leaves the first time a whore looks at him. I’ve been the father since then to them. I had to raise my brother, my three sisters, my mother even cause after he left, she hasn’t been the same. It took me forever to get here, Iz, and now my family seems to be falling apart again back home. My siblings are doing things I can’t comprehend, and I don’t know how to stop it. I can’t go back to Florida, I can’t give this all up, but I can’t be like my father! I can’t! I’m not abandoning them, but I want my own life too! My mother keeps wanting me home, but I know once I go back, they won’t let me leave…”
Tears stung his eyes, and Nick was shocked at letting his emotions go so freely this time. He didn’t even say it all. Yet, the pain of it wouldn’t stop coming.
He let his loving girlfriend hug him, as the pain escaped his heart, through the tears coming from his deep blue eyes, and vanished into the Christmas night sky.
+++
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