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Episode 15:

Good News and Bad News


AN: A big thanks goes out to Ash for her help with this episode.


Joey Fatone stepped out of the lounge, his girlfriend Melissa Ruffino right alongside him. He liked the days when the two worked the same hours – they could ride in to work together, eat lunch together, and go home together. But that morning, he suddenly wished Melissa weren’t with him, for he spotted Mariah Johnson waggling up the hall towards him.

“Hi, Joey,” she cooed, smiling and winking at him. Joey could sense Melissa’s eyes boring into him and felt his face grow hot.

“Hey, Mariah, wassup?” he muttered in what he hoped was a nonchalant tone.

“Oh, nothing. Just about to start my shift. See you later.” She grinned again and made sure she brushed against Joey as she went past him.

“God, I hate her,” Melissa growled at his side. “Why Brunson hired her is beyond me. If she could only see what that tramp acts like up here!”

“Aw, you’re just jealous, Mel,” Joey chided, grinning at her. He had only meant it as a joke, but Melissa looked as if she had been slapped. She stared up at him for a moment, a wounded expression on her face, then stalked off past him without looking back.

Joey sighed and shook his head. He was a horrible boyfriend. Why was he always messing up, doing and saying the complete wrong things? He should have known how self-conscious Melissa was about her weight, and indicating that she had a reason to be jealous of beautiful Mariah, with her perfect body, was probably more offensive than he realized.

As Joey thought about Mariah, he felt even more like a horrible boyfriend. It had been a month since the day of the hurricane, when he had accidentally ended up almost on top of her, and they had kissed without really meaning to. Well, he hadn’t meant to anyway. He wasn’t sure about her. If it had just been one kiss, Joey wouldn’t have felt so bad about it, but it wasn’t just one kiss. Sparks had flown between the two – kissing Mariah was unlike kissing anyone else. Melissa was cute enough, but she was no Mariah. And so, the two of them had hooked up and had been secretly seeing each other for a month. Joey wasn’t sure whether “seeing each other” was really the right term for it – they didn’t really go out together, for fear of someone seeing them and ratting Joey out, but he had been over to her apartment many times. Joey felt bad about it; he had been trying to make himself break it off with her almost since it had started. But with every kiss, he wanted her more and more and regretted it less and less.

Raking a hand through his thick brown hair, Joey sighed as he watched Melissa disappear around a corner. Then he slowly followed her to the staff lounge to get ready to start his shift.

+++

“Good morning, Risha!”

Risha Veers jumped at the sudden voice behind her. She spun around to find Chris Kirkpatrick standing in the doorway of her office, a wide grin on his face.

“Oh… Chris,” Risha breathed. “You scared me!”

“Sorry,” Chris said, still smiling. “So, how are you this morning?”

“Fine, thanks. How about you?”

“I’m great,” said Chris. His endless smile was beginning to unnerve her.

“That’s good,” Risha said, shifting uncomfortably. “So… uh… did you need anything?”

“I just came up to say hi,” Chris replied. “Did you have a good time last night?”

“Sure… it was nice,” said Risha. She had gone out with Chris the night before to a nice restaurant for Thanksgiving dinner. It had been a spur of the moment thing, and doing something like that was completely out of the ordinary for Risha, who was anything but impulsive or spontaneous. They had had an okay time, but she didn’t know Chris very well and had been rather uncomfortable the whole night. Thanksgiving was supposed to be a time for family, not random, unfamiliar men.

“I’m glad you had fun. I know I did,” Chris said. “It was great getting to know you.”

Risha raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Yeah, same here,” she replied automatically, all the while feeling as though she had barely gotten to know Chris at all. She knew nothing about him, except for that he repeatedly cracked bad jokes and thought he was funny when he was not. And that he was a nurse in the ER. That was it. She didn’t see how he could have gotten to know her either, for she hadn’t told him much about herself, only that she was not married or engaged (he had asked when he saw the ring on her left hand). Although, Risha thought now, maybe I should have told him I was married. Then he would have left me alone. She didn’t want to be antisocial, but there was just something about him that she found slightly annoying.

“Well, I have to get ready to scrub in for a surgery at eight,” said Risha, starting for the door.

“Oh, okay, I’d better let you go then,” Chris said, stepping back to let her out of the office. “I wouldn’t want to cut into your operating time.” He began to laugh hysterically. “Get it?” he snorted through wild giggles. “Cut? Get it?”

Risha stared at him for a moment, then forced a laugh. “I get it. Good one,” she said with a weak smile. “See you later.”

“Hey, you have any plans for lunch? Maybe we could go for a slice of pizza together,” Chris suggested. Then he began to laugh again. “Get it? Slice? You get it, Risha?”

“Uh-huh,” Risha replied. “But no, I don’t think I can today. I have a surgery scheduled for noon. But maybe another time.” It was a lie, but she didn’t think she could sit through lunch with him make lame surgical puns every few minutes. She made a mental note to grab something from the vending machines and lock herself in her office for lunch.

“Okay. Well, maybe I’ll see you tonight then. Or should I say to-knife?” He began to crack up again, slapping his knee and gasping for breath.

“Maybe,” Risha said through gritted teeth, turning and hurrying away.

+++

“Hey, Dr. Parker, can you take a patient right now?” asked Susan Walker, the new ER nurse, her arms full of charts. “The waiting room’s filled with people waiting to be seen.”

“Uh… I’m pretty swamped myself, but maybe I can take another one. What are the symptoms?” Bianca Parker asked.

“Eight-year-old boy with shortness of breath,” said Susan.

“Find Siara Reily; she’s the ER pediatrician,” said Bianca. “She can take him.”

“Okay,” Susan replied, looking around the ER, wondering where she was supposed to find this Siara Reily. It was only her third day, and there were a lot of staff members she hadn’t met yet. Siara was one of them. Luckily, she spotted Natalie Spade, one of the nurses she had met, and hurried up to her.

“Natalie, do you know where Dr. Reily is?” Susan asked.

“Oh, she’s not working today. Try Dr. Harnett,” Natalie replied.

“Where can I find her?”

“Um… try Exam 4, I think she went in there.”

“Thanks,” Susan said, and went down the hall to the exam room. She got there just as a young, dark-haired woman was walking out. Glancing at the gold nametag pinned to the woman’s lab coat, she read Dr. Ivory Harnett. “Excuse me, Dr. Harnett?” she asked.

“Hi there, are you the new nurse down here?” asked Ivory.

“Yeah, I’m Susan Jennings,” Susan replied.

“Ivory Harnett, nice to meet you. So what do you need?”

“There’s an eight-year-old boy in Exam 2 with shortness of breath. Do you think you could take him?”

“Sure,” said Ivory.

“Thanks. Here, I started a chart for him already and hooked him up to oxygen,” said Susan, handing Ivory a clipboard from the top of the stack in her arms.

“Okay, great,” Ivory replied. She took the chart and went up the hall to Exam 2. Inside she found a little boy lying on the exam table, his worried-looking mother hovered over him. “Good morning, I’m Dr. Harnett,” she introduced herself quickly, going over to the little boy. Glancing at his name on the chart, she continued, “So, Brandon, you’re having some trouble breathing?”

Brandon nodded, his hazel eyes wide.

“He was outside playing football in the backyard with some of his friends,” Brandon’s mother said. “He got tackled and got the wind knocked out of him, but he hasn’t been able to catch his breath since. I got worried and drove him in here.”

“That’s completely understandable, Mrs. Levis,” said Ivory. “Does Brandon suffer from asthma or any other kind of respiratory condition?”

“No, nothing! He’s always been perfectly healthy,” Mrs. Levis said anxiously.

“Okay. Brandon, do you have any pain in your chest?”

“A little,” Brandon replied, his voice slightly breathy, even with the oxygen canula in his nostrils.

“Okay, Mrs. Levis, if you could just step back for a minute, I’m going to listen to Brandon’s heart and lungs,” Ivory said, putting her stethoscope in her ears.

Brandon’s mother moved out of the way, and Ivory slid the other end of her stethoscope down Brandon’s mud-stained sweatshirt. She listened, pursing her lips in concentration, then removed the stethoscope.

“I’d like to get a chest x-ray, just to make sure there wasn’t any damage done,” she said to the mother. “From what you said, it sounds like he got knocked around pretty hard. There’s a possibility he could have bruised or cracked a rib.”

Mrs. Levis nodded. “Okay.”

“Brandon, what we’re going to do is get an x-ray of your chest, just to make sure you didn’t get hurt too bad when you got tackled,” Ivory explained to Brandon. “All it is is just a picture of the inside of your chest; it won’t hurt at all.”

Brandon nodded. “I know what an x-ray is,” he said.

“Okay, great. Well, I need to go see some other patients right now, but I’ll order the x-ray, and someone will be down here to take you to x-ray soon. I’ll be back later to check up on you,” said Ivory. She gave him a reassuring smile and left the room.

+++

“Yo, Kev, what’s up?” Nurse Hayley Aldworth burst into the surgical lounge, where Kevin Richardson was sitting, sipping coffee.

“Morning, Hay,” he greeted her. “Did you have a good Thanksgiving?”

“Yeah, it was fine. How about you?”

“Mine was good. Liz and I got back from Lexington last night,” Kevin replied. “And she managed to get the morning off today, so she’s probably still in bed right now.”

“Lucky her,” said Hayley. “So, you got any lunch plans? I mean, if you’re not meeting her, maybe we could grab something together.”

“What, you’re not meeting Tyler again?” Kevin asked derisively.

Hayley frowned. “No, he’s at his parents house,” she said stiffly. “I told you already, he just stopped here on his way to visit me. Do you have some kind of problem with that?”

Kevin could feel his face heating up. He hadn’t meant to come across so… jealous-sounding. “No, sorry, Hay,” he mumbled, not meeting her eyes. “I didn’t mean that the way it sounded.”

“Well, so anyway, what about lunch?” Hayley asked.

“That sounds great,” Kevin told her. “I should be out of surgery by about 12:30 or one, so if you wanna meet then…”

“Sounds good to me,” replied Hayley. “’Scuse me, I need a cup of coffee.” She crossed the room to the coffeemaker, just as the door to the lounge opened again, and Risha Veers came in.

“Oh, Kevin,” she said, smiling shyly. “There you are. I was looking for you.”

“Oh, is there some kind of emergency?” Kevin asked, jumping up.

“No! I just… wanted to thank you. For finding my ring.”

Kevin stared at her, confused for a moment, but then she held up her left hand, and he could see the gold ring gleaming on her ring finger. He remembered how he had found it in the scrub-in room, but that had been at least a month ago. He had assumed it wasn’t hers, that she had put it in the lost and found box when she found it taped to a note on her desk.

“Oh… so that was yours then?”

“Yes,” said Risha. “I just found it the other night, actually.” She gave a little laugh. “My desk’s a mess; it got buried under stuff, and I didn’t know it was there.”

“Oh. I’m sorry, I should have made it more noticeable,” said Kevin.

“Oh no, it’s not your fault! I just need to get organized. But anyway, thank you so much. This ring… it means a lot to me…” Her voice trailed off, and she looked down, twisting the ring back and forth on her finger.

“You’re welcome,” Kevin said, frowning as he watched her. Risha was a mystery to him. He had known her for three months now, but he felt like he barely knew her at all. He knew nothing about her family, her social life, or anything else outside her career. She didn’t seem to like to talk much, unless it was about a patient. She was always very polite to everyone, unlike Holli, but she wasn’t exactly friendly. She spoke when she was spoken to and asked questions when she needed to, but rarely struck up a conversation with anyone. He wasn’t sure if she was anti-social or just shy, but he could sense that it was something more than either of those things. It was as if she was afraid to get to know people, afraid to get close. Something had happened to her, something had made her this way. But what?

+++

“Ivory, there’s a nine-year-old with a wrist injury in Exam 3. Can you see her?” Melissa Ruffino asked, tracking down Ivory in the hall later that morning.

“Oh, sure,” said Ivory, taking the patient’s chart from Melissa. She went into the exam room and found a small, skinny little girl with stringy blonde hair sitting on the examining table, her legs dangling off one side. She glanced down at her chart and read the name. Alicia Rivers.

“Hi, Alicia,” Ivory said warmly. “I’m Dr. Harnett. Is anyone here with you?” She had noticed that Alicia was all alone; there was no one else in the room with her.

“My daddy’s here,” Alicia replied shyly. She had a soft, whispery voice. “He went to the cafeteria.”

“Oh okay. Well, I hear you hurt your wrist,” said Ivory. “Can you tell me how that happened?”

“I was playing outside, and I fell,” she said quickly.

“Aww, I’m sure that hurt. Well, I need to look at your wrist now; it might be broken or fractured. Can you wiggle your fingers for me?”

Alicia did, and Ivory carefully examined her wrist, then said, “Well, I need to get an x-ray of your wrist to see if it’s broken or not. I’ll call x-ray, and someone will be here to take you in a little while.”

“Take her where?” came a deep voice behind Ivory. She spun around, startled, to find a tall man standing in the doorway.

“Are you Alicia’s father?” Ivory asked.

“Yes,” the man said. “Where are you taking my daughter?”

“To x-ray,” Ivory replied. “She might have a broken wrist.”

“Oh,” said Mr. Rivers. “How long will that take?”

“The x-ray itself will only take a few minutes, and then I’ll have to set it in a cast if it’s broken, which takes a little while. Otherwise she’ll just get a brace for it.”

Mr. Rivers just grunted in reply. He didn’t seem like the friendliest person.

“Well, like I was saying, I’ll go call the radiology department and have someone come get Alicia when they’re ready for her. I’ll be back to talk to you later, Alicia, once I’ve seen your x-rays.”

She left the room and went to call the radiology department yet again.

+++

Around eleven, the doors to the ER burst open and in rushed EMTS AJ McLean, Allison Brooks, and Amelia Caston. The three of them were pushing in a gurney, followed by a hysterical young woman who looked to be around the age of 27 or 28.

Ivory Harnett took the opportunity to hurry over to them. "What do we have here?" she asked as she pulled her stethoscope from around her neck to hear for a pulse on the patient.

"One and a half year old female. Mother called in saying she found her daughter unconscious after walking back into the child’s room. Clammy skin, high fever, no evident breathing or heart rhythm upon arrival at child’s home. Heart resuscitated after performing CPR, child has a weak pulse, BP is 80/60. Still no breath sounds performed by child on her own," AJ McLean rattled off to Ivory.

"Natalie, what trauma room is free?" Ivory called out to nurse Natalie Spade as they began to wheel the child down the hall.

"3 and 4 are free," Natalie answered.

"I don’t want you treating my daughter," the obvious mother of the child said, tugging on Ivory’s arm in a frantic manner.

"Excuse me?" Ivory asked in confusion as they hurried along.

"I want Dr. Siara Reily to help me daughter!"

"I’m sorry, but Dr. Reily isn’t on call today-"

"I don’t want anyone else but her working on my daughter! Please, I want Dr. Reily!" the mother screamed out.

Ivory looked back at AJ and the other two paramedics with a questioning look, but only got three shrugs back in reply. Finally, she looked back over her shoulder and yelled out, "Natalie, page Dr. Reily and get her in here! Stat!"

+++

Siara Reily directed her 2002 Volkswagen Jetta into the parking-lot outside the Rescue Squad Station, where she had arrived to visit with her boyfriend, Harry Littrell, who was the squad leader of the station, and her good friend Kylie McCartney, who was one of the head paramedics there.

Siara wasn’t on call at the hospital that day, so she and Harry had made plans to head out to lunch when he got the chance and he was supposed to meet her somewhere. But Kylie had phoned Siara up earlier that day and told her to just stop by the station and pick Harry up, because she had something to tell both her and Harry, quote-unquote "news" in Kylie’s own words.

Siara could only wonder what it was that Kylie had to tell her and Harry, but whatever it was, Siara knew it wasn’t anything bad. Far from it in fact, for she had detected strict happiness in Kylie’s voice.

Stepping out of her car and making sure her sunglasses were securely fastened over her eyes, she shut the door and used the automatic lock feature on the key chain to lock the car and set the alarm. By sound of the "beep" the car made in return when she pressed the correct button, Siara tossed the keys in her purse and headed towards the double glass doors.

Reaching the doors, she pulled one open and stepped into the overly-air conditioned building. Why they always had the air conditioning up higher then it needed to be was beyond her, but, she figured, it was probably all Harry’s fault. He was always turning the air conditioning up extremely high at their apartment and Siara was always having to turn it down. Sadly, the two of them had gotten into several heated arguments over the stupid thing, and usually in the end, Siara would end up freezing because Harry would win. All she knew though, was that if she and Harry ever bought a house together, the air conditioning would never be set this high.

"Hello?" Siara called out as she stepped further into the building, but all she got back in return was a whole bunch of nothing. Silence bounced back at her off the walls and she looked around in question.

The place almost seemed abnormally quiet as the paramedics of the station were usually running amuck, goofing off when they had nothing to do or weren’t called out to respond to a situation. But none of them were in sight.

‘Where are you guys?’ she thought to herself as she did a slow 360° turn, taking in her surrounding. Surely they weren’t all out on call. That only happened when there was a major accident, and still, at least one paramedic stayed back at the station.

Siara headed towards the door on the other side of the room that lead out into the enormous garage of the station. "Harry?" she called out, listening as her voice echoed off the concrete walls when she opened the door.

Looking around, she noticed that one of the two ambulances belonging to the station was gone. Well, that gave answer to why the place was so quiet. But still, where were the others that stayed behind?

"Kylie? Anyone?" she mumbled out, turning around to go check the other rooms of the building. But no sooner did she turn around, did she squeal out in surprise as she ran into the arms of someone.

"Looking for me, babe?" Harry chuckled, grinning as he stared into Siara’s sapphire eyes. His lips curled up into even more amusement as the two of them stood there, Siara’s face masked with shock at the sudden appearance of her boyfriend.

Siara stared at Harry for a moment before she finally reached out and smacked his left shoulder as hard as she could. She shot him a stern glare, placing her hands on her hips.

"Don’t scare me like that," she scolded, but it wasn’t long before she laughed out loud at the pouting look he was giving her as he gingerly rubbed the shoulder she had smacked. "You’re such a big baby," she teased, leaning up and placing a small kiss on his lips.

"But that’s why you love me so much," Harry replied, returning the kiss.

"Maybe I do…heh, maybe I don’t," Siara teased further. "So, where is everyone?"

"AJ, Allison, and Amelia are out responding to a call across town," Kylie answered as she stepped into the room. "Hey girl!"

"Hey Ky!" Siara greeted with a smile and gave Kylie a friendly hug. "I was beginning to think that this place had been deserted when I saw no one around. I was about to go haywire, thinking Harry had skipped out on our lunch date."

"Never babe, never," Harry was quick to assure Siara.
"Geez, Har…Si’s got you wrapped around her finger," Kylie giggled.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about," Harry grinned and kissed his girlfriend’s cheek. "I happen to love Siara very much. Our relationship is a 50/50 thing."

"Anyway," Siara interrupted with a wry grin. "You called me over here because you said there was some news you needed to tell Harry and I. So, well, what’s the news?"

Kylie felt a smile creeping up on her lips. She knew Siara would be ecstatic when she found out exactly what it was that Kylie had to tell, so she decided to drag it on for a while. "What news?" she asked innocently.

"That’s what I would like to know," Siara answered.

"I have no idea what you are talking about."

"You lie so bad, Ky! You do too know what I’m talking about."

"I do?"

"Yes, you do. You told me on the phone this morning that you had some news to tell Harry and I, and that’s why I was supposed to come pick him up for lunch instead of him coming to meet me somewhere. So spill it before I get Harry to make you spill it!"

Harry laughed at his girlfriend’s antics and points of reasoning. "Yeah, Ky…I do remember you mentioning to me earlier that there was something you wanted to tell the two of us."

"Tell you what?" fellow paramedic, Kym Jennings, asked as she walked through the doors, carrying a fresh bag of hot McDonald’s food in one hand and a drink in the other.

"Hey Kym," Siara greeted. "We’re still trying to figure it out."

"You have a secret you haven’t yet told me?" Kym glared playfully at Kylie, but upon receiving the look back from her friend, she nodded her head, a mysterious look washing over her face. "Ah, I get it. Yeah, proceed to tell them. I’m gonna go eat my lunch. Bye!" And she quickly hurried from the room.

"Even she knows?" Siara asked.

"Maybe…" Kylie shrugged.

"Dangit, girl! Just tell me already!"

"Alright! I’m…"

"You’re…?"

"I’m pregnant!"

"You’re what?!" Harry coughed out, his eyes wide and his mouth dropped open.

"Pregnant, Har. Pregnant. P-R-E-G-N-A-N-T," Kylie spelled out in amusement.

"Nah, you’re joking."

"Actually, I’m quite serious."

"Wow, pregnant?" Siara asked in shock as she stared at her friend.

Kylie nodded. "I’m nearly three months along."

"And you’re just now telling me?!"

"Well, I’m just now pretty much telling everybody," Kylie grinned impishly. "Sorry, I just didn’t know how you all would react."

"I’m ecstatic!’ Siara grinned and pulled Kylie in for a tight hug. "I’m so happy for you and Josh! I bet he’s excited that he’s going to be a daddy?"

"Very much so."

"And I get to be Auntie Siara, right?"

"Of course!"

Siara turned to her boyfriend. "Say something, Harry!"

"Congratulations, Ky!" Harry grinned, also giving Kylie a hug and a small kiss on the cheek after he was prompted to by Siara. "Give Josh my congrats."

"I will be sure to," Kylie nodded.

"So that means pretty soon we won’t be having you on the squad because you’ll be on maternity leave?"

"Unfortunately, but you won’t miss me," Kylie answered.

"Very true," Harry teased and received a smack from both girls. "Ouch!" he cried out, backing a few feet away.

"Wow, Kylie’s gonna be a mommy," Siara drawled in amazement, but before she could say anything else, the pager which was attached to her belt loop began to beep like crazy and she quickly reached for it to find out who was paging her on her day off.

She knew it had to be someone from the hospital, for that was basically the only reason why she had the pager. If the hospital needed her there on her day off and she wasn’t at home, they could always get a hold of her by paging her. Very rarely would Harry ever call the paging number, and besides, she was with him at the moment.

Sure enough, though, by looking at the little screen, she saw the hospital’s number. Immediately, she reached back into her purse for her cell phone, but a look of dismay crossed her face when she came up with nothing. "Crap, where is it?" she muttered to herself.

"Who’s the page from?" Harry asked.

"Hospital, and I can’t find my cell," Siara answered distractedly, still digging in her purse.

"Use the phone in the lounge," Kylie suggested.

Siara nodded her thanks and quickly ran off to the lounge. Kym, who was in there eating her lunch, said a hello as Siara rushed into the room, but Siara chose to ignore Kym’s greeting as she hurried over to the phone. Siara grasped the receiver and quickly dialed the seven-digit number that took her straight to the ER.

"Atlantic City Memorial Hospital-" Nurse Natalie Spade answered.

"Natalie, it’s Siara Reily. I was just paged."

"Yeah, Dr. Harnett had me page you. There’s a trauma going on and she needs you here."

"Can’t she handle it?" Siara asked in confusion.

"Let me transfer you to the trauma room Dr. Harnett is in."

Siara waited impatiently as she was put on quick hold. It was only a mere seconds that she had to wait before the line was picked up again and someone else spoke out to her. This time it was Dr. Harnett.

"Siara, where are you at the moment?" Dr. Harnett asked quickly.

Siara’s mind grew fuzzy as she listened to the background noises. ‘No heart rhythm or breath sounds! Quick, bag her!’ What was going on?

"I’m with Harry at the station. Why? What is going on?"

"How quickly can you get over here?"

"Two minutes at the most-"

"Good, we need you over here!"

"Alright, I’m on my way!" Siara slammed the phone down and hurried from the room, not giving an explanation to Kym‘s questioning stare.

She ran back out to where Harry and Kylie were still standing, talking quietly amongst themselves. "There’s an emergency at the hospital and they need my assistance," she told Harry. "I’m sorry babe, but I can’t do lunch today."

"It’s alright," Harry told her, giving her a quick kiss. "Just go."

+++

Siara rushed through the ER doors approximately two and a half minutes later. She saw nurse Natalie Spade, the one who had answered the phone when Siara had called back and she hurried over to her. "What trauma room is Dr. Harnett in?" she quickly asked, gripping the edge of the counters with her hands.

"Trauma room 7, and you need to hurry. The little girl’s mother is in there and she’s refusing to leave until you get there," Natalie answered.

"Thanks," Siara mumbled and she ran off down the hall. As she neared the correct trauma room, Siara could begin to hear the desperate cries and pleadings of help from a hysterical voice that she couldn’t quite decipher as to who it belonged to. "Alright, what’s the situation?" she called as she burst into the room. Immediately, she was bombarded by someone, but it wasn’t a doctor.

"Oh God, Siara! You have to help her!" the person cried out as she gripped Siara’s shoulders tightly and shook her.

Siara squinted her eyes at the tears streaming down the person’s face, and then her heart skipped a beat. "Sam?" she gasped out in shock and confusion.

"You have to help her, Siara! You have to help Cassidy!" the woman continued to cry.

Siara felt her mind whirl as she stared into one of her closest friend’s panicked eyes for a slight moment. The woman’s name was Samantha McGuire and Samantha’s one and a half year old daughter’s name was Cassidy McGuire. She and Samantha had been close friends ever since the two of them were in high school together and Siara had grown especially close to little Cassidy.

"Dr. Reily, we need you over here right now!" Dr. Harnett ordered, looking back over her shoulder Siara.

Siara shook herself out of her daze and rushed over the gathering of nurses and ER physicians. She looked at the pediatrician on call in the ER that day, Dr. Harnett, and down at the little girl on the ER gurney. Amidst the hands that were reaching out to her and the tubes that were already hooked up to her little body, Siara could barely recognize who she saw.

Little Cassidy’s body was adorned with extremely pale skin, her head of blonde curls was matted to her forehead with a cold sweat. "W-what’s the situation?" Siara asked again, taking a stethoscope from one of the nurses and pressing it to Cassidy’s chest.

"Paramedics brought her in approximately five minutes ago. No heart rhythms or existence of breath sounds on arrival. Pulse was brought back, weak pulse ever since, still no existence of breath sounds. BP is 70/50," Dr. Harnett rattled off as Siara continued listening to Cassidy’s heart rhythm. It indeed was a very weak rhythm, and the heart monitor hooked up to the little girl showed that.

"Continue bagging her!" Siara instructed to nurse Chris Kirkpatrick, who had the bag-valve mask positioned over the little girl’s mouth. She reached for the pen with the little light on the end that she always kept in her purse and brought it up to Cassidy’s closed eyes. Using two fingers, Siara carefully popped one of the eyelids open and shined the light into the eye. The pupil wasn’t dilated, and when she checked the other eye, it was the same case and both eyes were nearly rolled into the back of the child’s head. Siara felt her heart racing at that moment as Samantha seemed to become even more hysterical in the background.

"What’s wrong with her?!" Samantha cried out.

"We don’t know," Dr. Harnett answered.

"The child is extremely dehydrated. Lack of fluids is possible cause for loss of consciousness," Siara explained thoughtfully with determination as she continued to check Cassidy’s vitals. "I want her started on a 35 ml saline IV right away. Has she been sick lately?" When Siara got no answer from the mother, she quickly looked back over her shoulder. "Samantha, has Cassidy been sick lately?"

"Sh-she…she’s had a case of the flu for the past weak," Samantha answered as best she could, stuttering over her words.

"What have her symptoms been?" Siara continued to ask. "BP is dropping!"

"Oh God!" Samantha cried.

"What kind of symptoms has she had?!"

"She’s been throwing up since she became sick-"

"When was that?"

"Last Wednesday."

"What else?"

"A really harsh cough, wheezing-"

"Trouble breathing," Siara nodded. "Someone take Mrs. McGuire to the waiting-area."

"I don’t want to leave my daughter!" Samantha yelled out as Chris Kirkpatrick handed the bag-valve mask over to Dr. Harnett and began to lead her from the room.

"You can’t be in here any longer ma’am," Chris told her gently and he directed her towards the door.

"But my daughter-"

"Dr. Reily and the rest of the team are working on her. We’ll send someone out to speak with you soon. Now if you’ll follow me, I will take you to the waiting area," Chris answered, leading Samantha from the room.

But no sooner had she and Chris walked out of the room and the door was shut, did the slow unsteady raising line on the heart monitor flatten., and a long steady beep sounded, a very high shrill sound.

"Starting CPR," Siara cried out as she leaned over Cassidy’s little body and placed her hands on the correct spot, in the correct position on her chest. "On my count…1...2...3...breath…"

Siara stole a quick glance at the heart monitor, but the line hadn’t changed and the machine was still whining.

‘C’mon Cassie!’ Siara’s mind begged as she continued giving gentle chest compressions to the little girl. "1...2...3...breath!"

Slowly, but still weak, the line on the monitor rose and made a rhythm tic beep. "Alright, we have a steady heart beat, but it’s still weak. Let’s also get her started on a 10mg IV of Trimethoprim-Sulfamethoxazole, and after that a penicillin IV. Move her up to the ICU of the Pediatrics ward."

"Trimethoprim-Sulfamethoxazole is for Pneumococcal pneumonia," Dr. Harnett mentioned.

"I know, but it’s also used to prevent it," Siara answered. "Cassidy has always had a weak immune system since birth, and I’m afraid she may already have Pneumococcal pneumonia from her influenza infection."

+++

At ten till noon, Elizabeth O’Brien breezed into the lobby of the hospital, ready to get to the ER and start her afternoon shift. As she passed by the elevators, one of them dinged and opened, and two people stepped out, laughing. Elizabeth stopped and turned back as a deep, familiar-sounding chuckle greeted her ears.

“Kevin?”

Her boyfriend, Kevin Richardson, stopped and spun around. “Liz!” he cried. “I didn’t even see you there!”

“Hi, Elizabeth!” said the woman with Kevin, Hayley Aldworth. Hayley and Elizabeth didn’t know each other well, only through Kevin. Hayley and Kevin had been friends for a few years, since they started working together, before he and Elizabeth had even become a couple.

“Hello, Hayley,” Elizabeth greeted her rather coolly, looking from her to Kevin. “Where are you two going?”

“Lunch,” Kevin replied.

“Oh. I thought you told me you had a surgery scheduled and wouldn’t be able to take your lunch break until later this afternoon,” Elizabeth said, raising an eyebrow at Kevin. She was quite sure he had said he wouldn’t be out of surgery until around one and wouldn’t be able to meet her for lunch before her shift started.

“Yeah, I didn’t think I would be, but my patient crashed and died in the middle of surgery,” Kevin explained. “I just got done talking to the family.”

Elizabeth nodded, studying his face.

Kevin shifted his weight. “Well, we better let you get to the ER. See you later, honey.”

“Have a good lunch,” Elizabeth said briskly, turning on her heel and walking quickly away. She glanced back once to see Kevin and Hayley walking in the other direction. Hayley was talking animatedly to Kevin, her hands flying as she spoke, and he was laughing again. Elizabeth’s eyes narrowed as she watched them. Then she forced herself to turn away and walked on to the ER without a second backward glance.

+++

“How’s your day been so far, sweetie?” Ivory’s boyfriend Brian Littrell asked, as the two of them walked down the street to Sully’s for lunch.

“Hectic, but alright,” Ivory replied.

“Seen any good cases?”

“Yeah, I just got done with a trauma about an hour ago. A baby came in in full arrest, but the mother was friends with Siara or something and insisted that she treat the baby. So I paged Siara, and she came right in. We got the little girl stabilized, but she’s really sick. Pneumonia. Other than that, most patients I’ve seen have been the run of the mill stuff. Girl with a broken wrist, kid with a football injury, stuff like that. I’m basically just waiting on x-rays for a lot of them right now.”

They reached the small restaurant. Brian pulled open the door and held it for Ivory. Inside, they saw Brian’s cousin Kevin and his friend Hayley sitting at one of the tables.

“Hey, cuz!” Kevin called, waving them over. “You wanna pull up a table?”

“Sure,” said Brian, and he and Ivory pushed another two-person table up to Kevin and Hayley’s and sat down.

“Liz working day?” Brian asked Kevin, as he skimmed over the menu.

“Yeah, she just got on,” Kevin replied.

“And she didn’t look too happy to see us together,” Hayley added.

“You think?” Kevin asked in surprise. “I thought she sounded sort of distant…”

Hayley raised her eyebrows. “Well, I dunno, maybe I was reading her wrong, but she didn’t seem very thrilled to see me with you.”

“Nah, I don’t think that’s it, Hay. Elizabeth isn’t like that. I’m sure she was just…”

But what Elizabeth was, they never found out, for as Kevin trailed off, a waitress came up to take their orders, and the matter was forgotten.

+++

Alana Hill walked briskly down the hall of the ICU ward of the hospital, studying over the file she had clutched in her hands as she made her way to the patient's room.

It was her last check-up before she could finally leave for a lunch break, and she was really dying for a bite to eat since she had pretty much skipped breakfast that morning.

This patient wouldn't be hard at all to check over, just a quick check of the vitals and then she was out of there. The patient she was going to see was Lance Bass.

Ever since Lance had woken up on Thanksgiving day, the day before, Alana had been making more frequent visits to his room to check up on his condition. She was by far amazed that Lance had woken up at all, when she believed inside all along that the man never would wake up.

It was a miracle.

Upon entering the room, Alana looked up from Lance's file to see both of Lance's parents sitting on both sides of his bed. He peered at the inferior man laying stationary on the bed between them and saw that Lance was indeed conscious at that moment, which she was thankful for.

"Afternoon, Mr. and Mrs. Bass," she greeted as she walked over to them.

"Hello Dr. Hill," Diane Bass said back in return with a small smile.

"Afternoon," Jim Bass also greeted.

"I see that Lance is awake?" Alana nodded as she immediately went over to the machines that were hooked up to Lance's body.

"Yeah, he has been for about the past fifteen minutes, though he's starting to drift in and out," Jim answered.

"Dr. Hill, how exactly is our son doing, now that he has woken up?" Diane asked, pleading with Alana for an answer.

“Sorry, Lance,” Alana told her patient as she lifted the bandage off his scalp to examine the site of surgery, causing Lance to close his eyes tightly. “It’s okay.”

Turning her attention back to the hopeful parents, Alana cleared her throat, a nervous habit developed over the years. “He is doing a lot better than we thought he would be at this point. Your son is very strong willed, any other patient and they probably would have given up at this point.” Now comes the hard part, she thought to herself.

“The bullet did damage to the parietal lobe of Lance’s brain which controls stimulation, touch, sensory, amongst other things. So far we have concluded that Lance is paralyzed on one side of his body, probably temporary and with a lot of physical therapy and determination on his side, he should overcome this with minimal problems.”

“Anything else, Dr. Hill?” Jim Bass questioned the young neurologist, knowing from the look in the doctor’s eyes she wasn’t done with giving the diagnosis.

"Well..." Alana sucked in a deep breath. "The parietal lobe also controls parts of speech, so there is a chance, a high chance, he will have trouble speaking. He may have to learn how to speak all over again."

"Is that for sure?" came Diane's question.

"We won't know for sure until we run some more tests," Alana answered. "I'm going to be quite frank with you, Mr. and Mrs. Bass. Though Lance may seem to recover from his injury in many ways, there is a very high chance that he will never be the same person he used to be, that he won't be the same Lance as you used to know him as. His personality could be totally changed because of this."

“What do you mean?”

“It has been shown in patients whom have been in similar situations, that sometimes they come out of this ordeal as let’s say a new person. They are different from the person their friends and family remember, sometimes it is minor and other times it is drastic.”

“When will we know?”

“Well right now, it is a touch and go situation, Mr. and Mrs. Bass. Lance is unable to speak so until we can get him to succeed in speech therapy, we may not know until then. It could be weeks or even months; in some cases years.”

“Oh God,” the trembling voice of Diane echoed throughout the room. Alana watched in sympathy as her frail shoulders began to shake with suppressed sobs.

"But we're not going to give up on your son. Rest assured that we are going to do everything we can to help him recover in the best way possible," Alana told her softly. "All you can do is be there for him with all of your love and support, it's the best thing for him coming from you."

"Thank you, Dr. Hill,” Jim nodded gratefully as he got up to embrace his wife in a tight hug.

"I will leave you to have time alone with your son again, now. I'm currently heading out for lunch, but I will be back in about an hour. So if you feel the need to speak with me, just have me paged." Alana waited until Lance's parents nodded in understanding, then he exited from the room.

+++

“Oh, Ivory, there you are!” cried Bianca Parker as Ivory came back to the ER after lunch. “Someone from radiology has been looking for you. The x-rays are back on the kid in Exam 2.”

“Oh, great, thanks, Bianca,” said Ivory. She rounded up Brandon Levis’s chest x-ray films and took them to the light board outside his room to read them. She put up one from the front view first and turned on the board. Ivory looked up at the film, prepared to see nothing more than a bruised rib or two. What she did see made her gasp aloud in horror.

“Oh man…” said a voice behind her. Ivory turned around to see Bianca standing behind her, her blue eyes fixed on the x-ray as well. Bianca shook her head sadly. “That’s got to be at least a stage three.”

Ivory nodded numbly. “This is just an eight-year-old little boy,” she said softly. “He was playing football with his friends, got tackled, and was having trouble breathing. I was thinking he had just gotten the wind knocked out of him and maybe had a bruised rib or something. I never suspected he had a tumor in his lung!”

“Oh god… so this isn’t a recurring thing?”

“I don’t think so. His records don’t say anything about being treated for cancer. Nobody knew about it. And it’s so big…”

“He probably hasn’t got a chance,” Bianca finished quietly.

Ivory bit her lip, staring at the dark shape that had invaded the little boy’s left lung, and slowly nodded again.

+++

“Hi, Brandon,” Ivory said, swallowing hard as she walked into Exam 2. “Mrs. Levis, could I talk to you outside?”

Brandon’s mother gave Ivory a puzzled expression. “Of course,” she said, standing up and following Ivory into the hall. “Is something wrong?”

Ivory took a deep breath. “I got back Brandon’s chest x-rays,” she began, “and I’m afraid there’s a problem.”

“What? Did he break a rib or something?”

I wish it was that simple, Ivory thought, but she just shook her head. “No, his ribs look fine. But I know why he was having trouble breathing. Mrs. Levis, your son has a tumor in his lung.”

The mother gasped, her eyes widening in horror. “Oh my God,” she whispered. “How… how bad is it?”

Ivory placed the first x-ray back on the light board and turned it on. “This is the tumor,” she said grimly, circling the large, dark mass with her finger.

“God… it’s huge!” Mrs. Levis cried, clapping a hand over her mouth. “H-how could we not know about this?” Her voice was choked with tears, and Ivory could tell she was close to breaking down. She put a hand lightly on Mrs. Levis’s shoulder.

“Sometimes, things like this come without symptoms. It’s probably been growing for months, and Brandon seemed perfectly fine until now. There was no way you could have known.”

Mrs. Levis’s eyes filled. “A tumor this size… is it treatable?” she asked. “We… we have good insurance. We’ll do whatever it takes – chemo, radiation, surgery… anything!”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t really know. This isn’t my area of expertise. I’m going to call an oncologist down her for a consult, and then you’ll be able to find out more about your options,” Ivory said.

Mrs. Levis nodded slowly. “How am I going to tell Brandon about this?” she asked softly, blinking back tears.

“I can talk to him if you want me to,” Ivory offered.

“Would you?” Mrs. Levis asked, looking grateful. “It’s just that… I wouldn’t know what to say, how to explain it to him. And I don’t want him to see me cry.” With those words, she broke down, the tears escaping from the corners of her eyes and running down her cheeks.

“I know, Mrs. Levis, I know,” said Ivory. “I’ll tell him. Why don’t you come with me - I’ll take you to somewhere more private so you can be by yourself for a little while.”

“Thank you,” the woman whispered, allowing Ivory to lead her down the hall to a smaller waiting room with just a few chairs.

“Just stay here for awhile,” said Ivory, “and come back when you’re ready.”

“Thank you,” Mrs. Levis said again.

“You’re welcome,” Ivory replied. Then she left Mrs. Levis alone and went back down the hall, trying to prepare herself for the dreaded task of telling an eight-year-old boy he was dying.

+++

“Excuse me, doc, but we’ve been waiting here for hours! Haven’t you gotten Ali’s x-rays back yet?”

Ivory rolled her eyes and turned to Alicia Rivers’ father, who had come up behind her in the hall. “I’m sorry, sir, but I haven’t had a chance to look at them yet,” she said. “I’ll be back to talk to you soon, but I have another patient I need to see right now.”

“Well, what about us? We’ve been here forever!”

“So has this patient, and he’s in worse shape than your daughter, so if you’d please just wait patiently, I’ll get back to you as soon as I can,” Ivory said through gritted teeth.

“This is bullshit,” Mr. Rivers muttered, stalking off.

Ivory rolled her eyes again, realizing what a wise decision Brian had made in specializing in pediatrics, treating children instead of adults – some adults could be much more obnoxious than any child. But as she reached Brandon’s room, her irritation melted away and was replaced by a feeling of dismay. Taking a moment to collect herself, she slowly walked into the room.

“Where’s my mom?” Brandon asked casually, as Ivory sat down in the chair Mrs. Levis had previously occupied.

“She’s just down the hall. She’ll be back soon,” Ivory told him. “Brandon, I need to talk to you about something.”

“What?” Brandon asked, looking at her. His large hazel eyes were questioning, but not fearful. He had no idea what she was about to tell him.

“Brandon, there’s a reason why you’ve been having some trouble breathing lately, and it’s not because of football,” Ivory began slowly. “You have what’s called a tumor in one of your lungs. Have you heard of a tumor before?”

“Yeah…” Brandon said uncertainly, “But I don’t really know what it is. Is it bad?”

“Well, a tumor is like a big blob thing that grows inside your body,” said Ivory. “There are different kinds of tumors, and they can grow in different places. Some of them are harmless; they don’t do anything. But others are what we call malignant, and that means they have cancer in them. Do you know what cancer is?”

Brandon nodded. “My grandma had cancer,” he said, his expression serious. “You can die from it, can’t you?”

“Yes,” said Ivory, “but not always. It depends on what kind of cancer and how bad it is.”

“So I have cancer?”

“Well… I’m not sure yet. Another doctor, one that takes care of people with cancer, is going to run some tests on you and figure out what kind of tumor you have. It might be cancer, but there’s a chance it isn’t,” Ivory explained, though she was pretty certain the tumor was malignant. Still, she couldn’t bear to leave him without hope.

“What if it is cancer? Am I going to die?” Brandon asked. She could see the fear in his eyes now, but his voice was steady. Kids were surprising like that. If Ivory had just been told this news, she knew she would have been crying. But Brandon was not.

“I don’t know, sweetie,” Ivory said, and at this point, her own voice trembled slightly. She swallowed hard and continued, “Your new doctor will be able to explain some more to you, about how they can get rid of your tumor and make you better. I’m not a cancer doctor, so I don’t know.”

Brandon nodded. “So I’m going to get better?”

Ivory managed what she hoped was a reassuring smile. “We have some very good doctors at this hospital, and they’re going to do everything they can to make you get better.” It wasn’t exactly an answer to his question, but Brandon nodded again and accepted it.

+++

“Haven’t you looked at her x-rays yet?” a voice exploded in Ivory’s ears.

Ivory spun around to find Mr. Rivers standing behind her again. She had just sent Brandon up to the Oncology Floor for further testing and was about to head to the lounge for a break. After all that, she needed one.

“Oh, Mr. Rivers,” she groaned, “Yes, I was just about to look at them. I’ll be right back.” Before he could say anything else, she turned and hurried away to find the x-rays of Alicia’s wrist.

Knowing my luck, she’ll probably have bone cancer or something, Ivory thought to herself as she put the x-rays up on a light board. But all she saw there was a hairline fracture. Taking the x-rays down, Ivory went into Alicia’s room, hoping to put her wrist in a brace and send her on her way before Mr. Rivers could pester her any further.

“Hi, Alicia,” Ivory said, smiling at the little girl as she entered the room. “Where’d your dad go?”

“I dunno. He left a few minutes ago to find you, and he hasn’t come back yet,” Alicia said softly, shrugging.

“Okay. Well, I have good news and bad news. I just took a look at your x-rays, and your wrist isn’t broken. That’s the good news.” She smiled at Alicia again, but Alicia just nodded, her expression blank. “The bad news is that you do have a fracture, which means the bone is not broken, but cracked. I don’t have to put your arm in a cast, but you will have to wear a wrist brace for a little while. I need to go find one of those for you, but I’ll be right back, and then you can get out of this place, okay?”

She gave Alicia’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze, but Alicia winced and quickly jerked away.

“I’m sorry!” Ivory apologized quickly, looking at Alicia in surprise. “Did I hurt you?”

“No. No, I’m okay,” Alicia said hurriedly.

Ivory’s eyes narrowed. “Hold still a minute. I’m not going to hurt you, I just want to look at something,” she said, gently reaching for Alicia’s shoulder again. She pulled lightly on the neck of Alicia’s t-shirt, exposing one of her shoulders. Ivory could see a large, severe-looking bruise on it. “How did you get this, honey?” she asked.

Alicia shrugged. “I fell,” she said simply, looking down.

“You fell? Do you fall and get hurt a lot?”

Alicia nodded. “My daddy says I’m a klutz.”

“I see. Do you have other bruises like this.”

Alicia just shrugged again and didn’t answer. Very slowly and gently, Ivory lifted the back of her shirt up. Sure enough, Alicia’s back was covered in black and blue marks.

“I… I fell down the stairs a few days ago,” Alicia said. “I hit my back.”

“Is that really what happened?” Ivory asked, sure that Alicia was lying. Alicia did not reply. “Alicia, honey, did someone do this to you? Did someone hurt you?” Again, Alicia did not answer, but Ivory could see that her shoulders had begun to shake. “Sweetie, don’t be afraid, you can tell me. Is it your dad? Does he hit you?”

Very slightly, Alicia nodded.

Ivory bit her lip. That’s what she had suspected. “Does he do other things too, Alicia? Does he… touch you in places? Private places?” She closed her eyes momentarily, praying the answer would be no.

“No,” Alicia said.

Ivory nodded, relieved. “But he hits you,” she went on seriously. “What about your mom? Does he hurt her too?”

“My mommy’s dead,” Alicia replied. “She died when I was five.”

“Oh. I’m sorry,” Ivory said. “Did this start after your mommy died? Your dad hitting you?”

Alicia nodded, her bottom lip quivering. “I’m bad,” she whimpered. “I… I’m a bad girl, and he has to punish me.”

Ivory shook her head. “No,” she said firmly. “That’s not punishment. That’s abuse. It’s wrong. No one should ever hurt you like this.” Alicia began to cry. “Shh,” Ivory said soothingly, resting a hand on Alicia’s head and lightly stroking her hair. “It’s all right, sweetie. I’m going to make sure your daddy can’t do this to you anymore. Everything is going to be all right.”

“What is going on here?” a sudden voice boomed. Alicia’s father stormed into the room. “What did you do to her?” he demanded, glaring at Ivory. “Did you hurt her?”

“No,” Ivory said, standing up and glaring back at him. “But you did.”

Mr. Rivers’ eyes narrowed. “What are you talking about?” he asked, his voice low and menacing.

“I saw the bruises,” Ivory said, gazing defiantly at him. “I know the truth.”

“What truth? That Alicia’s clumsy? She falls a lot, gets hurt a lot. She’s always climbing around on stuff. I don’t have any control over her getting hurt; I can’t watch her every minute of the day, you know!”

“You hit her,” Ivory hissed. “She told me.”

“What?!” he roared, and Ivory saw Alicia flinch. “That’s bullshit!” her father cried. “She’s making it up! I… I’m her father; I would never hit her!”

He was lying through his teeth; it was obvious. Ivory saw red. “You bastard,” she whispered. “Come with me.” She grabbed him by the arm and yanked him away, out into the hall. She slammed the door shut behind her and turned to face him. “What do you get out of hitting your daughter? Does it make you feel good, inflicting pain on some poor defenseless little girl? Do you feel big when you do that?”

“You have no right to-“ Mr. Rivers started, but Ivory went on.

“You lying bastard, stop pretending it’s not true! I suspected the truth, and Alicia confirmed it! You’ve been abusing your daughter, and you’re going to pay for it! There is no way that girl is going back to live with you; I’ll make sure of that!”

“You bitch!” Mr. Rivers spat, and Ivory could see the rage in his eyes. Was this how he looked when he struck Alicia?

Feeling some of her bravado fade, Ivory took a step back. And then Mr. Rivers lunged at her. Reacting just at the right moment, Ivory jumped out of the way, sending the large man into a wall. Before he could turn around, she grabbed him from behind and shoved him hard into the wall again with such force that she nearly went tumbling into him. He turned around, his hands clenched into fists. Acting on a rush of adrenaline, Ivory let out a shriek and sent her own fist flying into his face. He grabbed his eye and staggered back, and Ivory was all set to hit him again, when a shrill voice screamed, “Ivory!”

A hand came from behind and grabbed her fist; then suddenly, two security guards were restraining Mr. Rivers while someone pulled her roughly away. Turning around, Ivory came face to face with Elizabeth O’Brien, who was in charge of the ER. Her face was livid, her green eyes wide with disbelief.

“Ivory!” she cried angrily. “What the… I… argh, come with me, right now!” She grabbed Ivory’s wrist, and before Ivory could protest, dragged her into the lounge. “Susanna, get out,” Elizabeth growled to Susanna Larson, who was sitting at the table, drinking a soda and doing paperwork.

Susanna’s eyes widened in surprise, but she knew better than to question Elizabeth when she was angry and grabbed her things and left without a word.

“Ivory, what in the hell where you doing?!” Elizabeth screamed.

“Defending myself!” Ivory shouted back. “That guy was about to attack me!”

“Did you provoke him? What in the hell happened?” Elizabeth demanded, her nostrils flaring.

“He’s a god-damn child abuser, and he’s been hitting his daughter!” Ivory cried.

“So you report him to social services, and let them take care of it! What, did you think you were going to cure him of his ways by lecturing him about it or something?”

“No, I wanted him to know he’s not getting away with anything here, that I was on to him!”

“Well, that was a pretty dumb-ass thing to do! You can’t just go accusing someone of abusing his daughter; of course he’s going to get angry! And if he hits his daughter, he’s not going to have much of a problem hitting you, is he?” Ivory fell silent, not sure what to say to that. Elizabeth took the opportunity to continue with her rampage. “And besides, Ivory, you’re a doctor! You do not attack patients or their families, verbally or physically!”

“I’m sorry,” Ivory mumbled. “I was angry.”

“Well, that’s evident. But you can’t let yourself get out of control like this! You should have just reported it to social services and let it be.”

“I know, Elizabeth, you said that already,” Ivory muttered, rolling her eyes. She knew Elizabeth was right, but she couldn’t help but feel that the guy had deserved what he had gotten.

“I’m going to have to report this to Dr. Brunson, Ivory,” said Elizabeth. “She’s going to hear about it whether I report it or not.”

Ivory hung her head. She was afraid of that. Elizabeth was nothing compared to how angry Holli was going to be.

“Am I going to get in serious trouble for this?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” said Elizabeth, her tone softening slightly. “I’m sure you’ll get some kind of punishment, but I doubt you’ll get fired or anything that serious.” Ivory started to relax, but Elizabeth continued, “However, if you do something like this again, I can pretty much guarantee you’ll be out a job.”

Ivory sighed and nodded. “It won’t happen again,” she said softly. “I promise.”

+++