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Episode 2: Welcome to Memorial – Part 2


“Well, back to work,” said Elizabeth O’Brien, sighing. Lunch was over, and Elizabeth and her boyfriend Kevin Richardson had just gotten back to Atlantic City Memorial Hospital, where they were both employed, Elizabeth as a physician in the ER and Kevin as a surgeon.

“Only a few hours to go,” Kevin told her, giving her a quick kiss. “See you at home.”

“Alright. Bye, honey,” Elizabeth said and watched as her boyfriend went to the elevators to head back up to the surgical floor. She waited until he had gotten in the elevator, and then she went back to the ER.

As soon as the elevator doors opened on the second floor, Kevin wanted to go back downstairs again. There, standing at the nurses’ station right outside the elevator bay, was Dr. Holli Brunson, chief of staff, head surgeon, and the most dreaded woman of Atlantic City Memorial.

“Kevin,” Holli greeted. “So nice to see you.” The fake warmth immediately left her voice, and her eyes narrowed. “Where have you been?”

“On my lunch break,” Kevin replied through clenched teeth. “We mere mortals do have to eat occasionally, you know.”

Holli ignored his last comment. “I heard you lost another patient today,” she said, raising an eyebrow sharply.

“Yes,” Kevin said slowly. “It happens.”

“That’s the second this week. Are you losing your touch, Dr. Richardson?” she asked, smirking.

“Shove it, Holli,” Kevin wanted to say, but he couldn’t. “Who knows,” he just mumbled instead.

Kevin’s head turned towards one of the OR rooms, as the double doors banged open, and several nurses came through, pushing a gurney with a patient on it. Hayley, one of the nurses, saw Kevin and flashed him a smile. He managed a weak smile back, suddenly in a bad mood as a result of Holli.

“Dr. Veers, come here!” Holli called suddenly, pulling Kevin’s attention away from Hayley. He looked back towards the OR to see a woman walk out. The woman was all gowned up from surgery, her petite figure lost in the baggy scrubs she was wearing. She pulled off her surgical cap, exposing a head of red hair, and pulled down her mask to reveal the pretty face of a woman in her mid-thirties.

“Yes, Dr. Brunson?” she asked, looking from Holli to Kevin.

“Allow me to introduce Dr. Kevin Richardson, one of our general surgeons. Kevin, this is Dr. Risha Veers, our new neurosurgeon,” Holli introduced quickly.

“Pleasure to meet you,” Kevin said, holding out his hand.

“You too,” Risha said, shaking his hand lightly. “Dr. Brunson, may I take my lunch break now?”

“Of course,” Holli said. “Go.”

Kevin frowned; Holli was never that nice to him. He figured she must be on her best behavior for the new surgeon. But he was sure Risha would see Holli’s turbo-bitch side soon enough.

+++

The double doors to the ER burst open, and Dr. Bianca Parker looked up, startled. In came paramedics AJ McLean, Howie Dorough, and Josh McCartney, wheeling a stretcher.

“I got this,” Bianca announced and hurried over to them. “What do we got?” she asked the paramedics.

“Seventeen-year-old male involved in MVA. He wasn’t wearing his seatbelt and was thrown from the car. Complains of back and neck pain and numbness in lower region of body. BP 140/70,” AJ fired off expertly.

“Mel, what’s open?” Bianca yelled to nurse Melissa Ruffino, hurrying alongside the paramedics.

“Um… try Trauma 3,” Melissa shouted back from the nurses’ station.

“This way, guys,” Bianca directed, leading them to the empty trauma room.

“What do we got?” Dr. Jack Palmer asked, pulling on his latex gloves as he swept into the room, followed by his med student, Isabel Rivera, who was looking rather excited, for it was her first trauma.

AJ repeated the information he had given Bianca minutes earlier.

“Jack, have you seen Justin, my student?” Bianca asked. She had just gotten back from lunch minutes earlier and hadn’t seen him yet.

“Um… I’m not sure. Sorry,” he said, bending over the patient. “What’s your name?” he asked, looking into the teenage boy’s scared blue eyes.

“Caleb,” the kid whispered hoarsely.

“Hi, Caleb, I’m Dr. Palmer. You just relax and don’t worry; we’re going to take good care of you,” Jack said, with a reassuring smile.

“You guys need some help in here?” asked nurse Lance Bass, coming into the room.

“Yeah, we do,” Bianca said. “Have you seen Justin around here? You know, my med student?”

“Oh… no, I haven’t,” Lance said, sliding on a pair of gloves and coming up beside Jack. While he explained the case to him, Bianca ran out into the hall, just in time to see Justin strolling down the hall, half a cheeseburger in his hand.

“Justin!” she yelled.

“Oh hey, doc,” Justin greeted. “What’s up? We got a patient?”

“Yes, we ‘got a patient!’ ” Bianca spat, glaring at Justin. “Where have you been?”

“Just finishing up lunch,” Justin replied.

“Hate to break it to you, but lunchtime’s over, buddy. You had at least half an hour. I told you to be back here by 12:30.”

“Well, I-“ Justin started to sputter, but Bianca interrupted.

“Stop stammering, and get your butt in here right now; we’ve got a trauma.” She turned and hurried back to the trauma room, turning around once to shout back, “And get rid of that burger!”

Justin’s shoulders sunk in disappointment, and he halfheartedly tossed his burger into the nearest waste can and quickly followed after Dr. Parker.

He entered the trauma room to find Dr. Parker, Dr. Palmer, another med student named Isabel and two nurses hovering over a patient on a stretcher in the middle of the room. Three paramedics stood off to the side, watching.

“What can I do?” Justin asked Dr. Parker.

“Just watch,” Dr. Parker said curtly and went back to her work, ignoring Justin.

Jack Palmer tried not to snicker at the spat going on between Bianca and Justin. He wasn’t sure what exactly had happened, only that Justin had not been where he was supposed to be. And Bianca looked pissed. Jack had worked alongside Bianca for three years, ever since she first came to the hospital as a med student, so he knew her well. Well enough to know that while Bianca was normally sweet, kind, and understanding, she liked things to run smoothly and people to be in the right place at the right time, and when they weren’t, she got mad.

Jack couldn’t really blame Justin, since this was only his first day, but he was glad Bianca was teaching him a lesson. He knew he would have done the same, for he didn’t tolerate things like that either from his med students. (Luckily, it seemed he had gotten the cream of the crop with Isabel, who was nothing but enthusiastic, intelligent, and eager to learn). In this career, you had to be on the ball at all times. From now on, he was sure Justin would be.

“Okay, guys, we need to move him to the cot,” said Jack, taking charge of the trauma. “Be careful now; he might have a neck or spine injury. On my count – 1… 2… 3.”

The trauma team carefully lifted Caleb from the paramedics’ stretcher to the cot in the room. Caleb moaned in discomfort.

“You doing okay, Caleb?” Lance asked, doing his best to keep the boy calm.

“Yeah,” Caleb said uncertainly, his blue eyes shifting around the room nervously.

“Is there anyone you want us to call?” Lance asked.

“Um… well, my parents are out of town for the weekend; they’re visiting my older brother at college.”

“Do you know the number?” Lance asked.

“No,” Caleb said miserably.

“Okay… what college does your brother go to? I’m sure we could get a hold of him somehow.”

“He goes to Duke,” Caleb replied. “His name’s Elijah Valiant.”

“Okay, thanks. I’ll try to reach them as soon as possible,” Lance said and hurried out of the room.

“Okay, Caleb, I’m going to feel your stomach now. Tell me if anything hurts, okay?” Jack said.

“Okay.”

Jack began to poke and probe at Caleb’s stomach. “Any pain?”

“No… I can’t feel anything. Are you touching me?”

Jack looked up and across the cot, his eyes meeting Bianca’s. She bit her lip, worried that he was going paralyzed.

“What’s wrong?” Caleb asked when Jack did not answer him, his voice rising in panic. “I… I can’t feel anything! Am I paralyzed?!”

“Shh, calm down, honey,” Bianca said, taking his hand, not knowing if he could even feel it. “Don’t worry, it could just be temporary. That’s often the case.”

“How long will it last?” Caleb asked, as Jack continued to examine him.

“I don’t know. Once we’re done examining you, we’ll have a specialist come down and examine you, and he’ll be able to tell you more,” Bianca explained.

“Okay,” Caleb said.

Just then, Lance came back. “Caleb, the receptionist is working on trying to contact your parents, okay?

“Okay, Thanks,” Caleb said.

“Lance, could you go page someone from neurology, please?” Jack asked.

“Sure,” Lance said and left again.

“Okay, Caleb, everything else looks fine. You don’t have any internal bleeding, which is good. We’re going to get a neurologist to come down here and check out your back and neck,” Jack explained.

“Okay,” Caleb replied. “Do I have to keep this neck brace on?” He made a face of discomfort.

“Yeah, unfortunately. I know it sucks, but if we take it off and you do have a neck injury, it could get worse. This is just a precaution,” Jack said.

“I understand,” Caleb said grimly.

“Alright. Well, kiddo, we’ll see you later, okay?” Jack said.

“’Kay,” Caleb mumbled.

Jack nodded, and he, Isabel, and Bianca left. Slowly and silently, Justin followed after them.

“What do we do now, Dr. Parker?” he asked hesitantly, once they were in the hall.

“Well, I’m going to go find another patient to look at,” said Bianca. “How about you go back in that room and keep Caleb company until someone from neurology comes?”

“But… but isn’t that like a nurse’s job or something?” Justin protested.

Bianca’s eyes narrowed dangerously at him. “Not today. Go on; you’ve earned it. I’ll find you later when I need you,” she said and left before Justin could say anything else.

“Jeez, go take a Midol,” Justin muttered under his breath as he watched her walk off. Turning to Jack, he asked, “Is she always like this?”

Jack gazed coolly at him. “Be where you’re supposed to be and do what you’re supposed to do, and she won’t be,” he said matter-of-factly. “Come on, Isabel, let’s find you a patient to work on.”

“Okay,” Isabel said eagerly, and the two walked off together.

Justin remained behind, confused, disappointed, and overwhelmed.

+++

Meanwhile, Brian Littrell and his own med student, Nick Carter, put their lab coats on in the staff lounge, ready to get back to work. Dr. Littrell had found a stethoscope for Nick, which he slung around his neck now.

“You ready?” Dr. Littrell asked.

Nick nodded. “Ready.”

With that, they left the lounge and went to the nurses station to check in.

“Oh good, Brian, you’re back,” said nurse Addie Burke, looking up to find him standing there. “The results on the blood test on your patient in Exam 3 are back.”

“Oh good. Thanks, Addie,” Dr. Littrell said, taking the results. He stepped aside and stopped to look through them.

Nick watched a frown came over his face. “What is it?” he asked.

Dr. Littrell handed the paper to him. “Can you tell what’s wrong with that?”

Nick’s eyes scanned the paper, and he gasped. “Her white count’s two hundred thousand! Normal is ten thousand, isn’t it?”

Dr. Littrell nodded grimly. “So… what kind of illnesses do you think would cause that to happen?”

“Well… a bad infection might, I guess. Like mono or something,” Nick said slowly. But even as a beginner, he was fairly sure that wasn’t what Bailey had. “Or maybe…” He swallowed hard. “It could be cancer. Leukemia, Hodgkins, something like that.”

Dr. Littrell nodded. “Right,” he said. “We’ll need to do some more tests on her to find out. What would you order?”

“Um… a bone marrow?” Nick suggested.

Dr. Littrell nodded again. “That’s a good, conclusive one.”

Nick grimaced, remembering what he had learned in med school. It’s also a real painful one.

+++
Thirty-year-old ER nurse Jaela Miller walked down the hall, her left hand massaging her forehead. She could feel one hell of a headache developing, and she hoped that she could get it under control in time.
“Jaela, you have a call on line one!” a voice called out. Jaela turned in the general direction of the voice to see Joey Fatone waving to her from the receptionist’s counter.
“Thanks, Joey.” Jaela went behind the counter and picked up the phone. “This is Jaela, how may I help you?” she asked, silently hoping this phone call would be a short one.
“Hey, babe.”
Jaela’s breathing stopped as she recognized the voice of her husband, Paul.
“Paul,” she greeted as coolly as possible. In the background, she could hear the babbling of her two-year-old daughter, Rayna, and the playful laughter of her five-year-old twins, Alexandra and Joshua.
“I just wanted to call and tell you that I’m going out tonight. There is a company dinner in B-burg at six, and they want us all to attend.”
“So who is going to watch the kids tonight Paul? I don’t get off until 8:30,” Jaela asked with a sigh, as tears welled up in her eyes.
“Um, I will drop them off at your sister’s place. Is that okay?”
“Yeah, whatever, Paul. I have to go. There are patients I need to see,” Jaela said without waiting for a response and slammed down the phone. She knew Paul wasn’t going to a company dinner, but she didn’t have the guts to speak up about it. The only thing his excuse accomplished was verifying her suspicions.
Paying no attention to the tears silently streaming down her face, she walked away, feeling completely void of any emotion.
+++

“Hey, did somebody page me?”

“Oh, Alana, I’m glad to see you,” said Dr. Palmer, turning around to face a young, African-American woman in a white lab coat. “I have a seventeen-year-old boy, Caleb Valiant, who was involved in an MVA. He was thrown from the vehicle and complains of numbness from the chest down,” he explained.

“Alright, show me the way,” said the woman, Alana.

“Isabel,” Dr. Palmer said, turning to his med student, “This is Alana Hill, from Neurology. Will you take her to Caleb’s room so she can examine him? You can stay and observe if it’s okay with her.”

“Oh, that’s fine,” said Dr. Hill.

“Okay, great,” Isabel said with a smile. “Come with me; he’s in Trauma 3.”

They arrived at the right room and went inside. Lying on a cot in the middle of the room, right where they had left him before, was Caleb. Now that there were not so many doctors and nurses bustling around him, Isabel took a good look at him. Although he was pale and scraped up from the crash, she could see right away that he was very good looking, big and muscular, with wavy blonde hair and blue eyes.

“Good afternoon, Caleb,” Dr. Hill said professionally. “I’m Dr. Hill, from Neurology, and this is-“

“Isabel Rivera,” said Isabel. “I’m a med student; I was in here when you were brought in, but you probably don’t remember.”

“It was kind of a blur,” Caleb admitted, unable to raise his head to look at either of them, for he was strapped onto a backboard and wearing a neck brace.

“I’m going to examine you now, Caleb,” said Dr. Hill. “Just relax.”

Isabel watched as the doctor carefully examined Caleb.

“Okay, I’m going to prick you with a needle, and I want you to tell me if you can feel it or not, okay?”

“Alright,” Caleb said.

Dr. Hill started with one of his bare feet, gently sticking the needle into his big toe. “Anything?”

“No, nothing,” Caleb said.

“Okay. How about this?” Dr. Hill pricked him in the thigh.

“No.”

Isabel bit her lip, feeling sorry for poor Caleb. She prayed that he would say he felt something soon. But it just kept getting worse. Dr. Hill pricked his abdomen, but he felt nothing. Finally, when he got to his upper chest, Caleb gasped.

“There, I felt that,” he said, sounding relieved and panicked at the same time.

Isabel felt the same way, not knowing if that was a good thing or not. For one thing, at least he could feel his chest and wasn’t paralyzed from the neck down. But he still couldn’t feel anything below his chest.

“Will this get better, Dr. Hill?” Caleb asked.

“I’m not sure yet,” Dr. Hill replied. “We’ll need to run some tests and see where exactly you’re injured and how severe the injury is. Many patients with neck or spinal cord injuries regain full or at least partial use of their bodies.”

“That’s good,” Caleb said, sounding uncertain.

“Right. Well, I’m going to go now and make some calls and get some things arranged. You’ll be moved up to the neurology floor as soon as possible, and we’ll continue from there, okay?”

“Alright,” Caleb said. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. I’ll see you in a little bit,” Dr. Hill said.

“See you,” Isabel echoed and followed the neurologist out of the room, feeling completely helpless.

“How bad do you think it is?” she whispered to Dr. Hill, once they were out of earshot.

“It’s too soon to say. Like I told Caleb, I need to run some tests first,” Dr. Hill replied.

Isabel nodded sadly, making a mental note to include Caleb in her prayers that night.

+++

“Okay, Nick, I need you to get on the other side of her and hold her down, just like Addie is on this side,” Dr. Littrell instructed Nick.

Nick nodded and moved around to the other side of the padded table that Bailey was laying on, facedown. It was time for the bone marrow exam.

“You doing okay, Bailey?” Dr. Littrell asked.

Nick waited for some smartass comment from her, but none came, just a small, “I guess.”

“Alright. You just hold still and try to relax. First I’m going to rub some iodine on your back to clean it off. It’ll be a little cold.”

He dabbed some of the brown liquid onto Bailey’s back, and she winced from its coldness. Dr. Littrell rubbed it around in a circle, staining her lower back.

“Okay. Now I’m going to give you a shot. This is the local anesthetic, which will numb your back so it won’t be painful. The shot will hurt for a little bit, but after that, it shouldn’t be too bad,” Dr. Littrell said.

He prepared a syringe and inserted it into her back, right over the iodine stain. Bailey winced again, her face contorting in pain.

”It’s alright,” Nick whispered soothingly. “Only one part left, and then you’re done.”

Unfortunately, the last part was the worst.

“Okay, Bailey, now comes the real thing. I’m going to put a needle into your hipbone here, and it’s going to collect some of the bone marrow that’s inside. You’re going to feel some pressure, but it shouldn’t be too painful. Alright?”

“Alright,” Bailey replied slowly.

Addie got into position, holding down Bailey’s left arm and leg. Nick held onto the right side of her body. He watched as Dr. Littrell prepared the needle, and when he saw him bring it over, he inwardly cringed. It was giant, and he could only imagine how much it would hurt to have it thrust into your back. He clenched his jaw and held Bailey tighter.

“Okay, Bailey, here we go. Hold still,” Dr. Littrell said, slowly inserting the needle.

Bailey flinched at first and then started to jerk, releasing a strangled moan. The sound of her painful cries made Nick want to cry himself.

“Hold her, Nick,” Dr. Littrell snapped, as Bailey jerked.

Nick nodded quickly, pressing down firmly on Bailey’s shoulder blade and thigh to keep her in position. “Lie still, honey, it’s almost over,” he whispered shakily.

Finally, the painful process ended, as Dr. Littrell took out the needle and bandaged the puncture wound.

“All done, Bailey,” he announced.

Bailey burst into tears.

+++

Bianca stifled back a yawn and glanced at her watch. It was five till seven, five minutes until her shift ended.

“Hey, Justin,” she said to her student, who was standing at the main desk, flirting with Mariah Johnson, the large-chested blonde receptionist that most men seemed to be incapable of not flirting with. Bianca rolled her eyes in disgust when Justin did not hear her the first time, and shouted, “Justin!”

Justin startled and scurried over to her. “Sorry, Dr. Parker,” he said sheepishly.

Bianca chuckled. “It’s about seven, so you can head home now. Unless, of course, you’re planning on taking a certain someone out after your shift ends.” Her eyes shifted to Mariah, and she winked at Justin, who blushed.

“Thanks, Dr. Parker,” he said. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Oh yeah, and I’m sorry about earlier.”

“That’s okay. Now you know,” said Bianca. “Goodnight, Justin.” She punched out behind the desk and headed off for the lounge to get her things. There she found Brian, sitting at the table and studying what looked like a patient’s chart.

“Hey, Brian,” she said casually, as she went to her locker.

“Oh, hey, Bean,” he replied, using her nickname, Bean (she still wasn’t sure exactly why people called her that, but someone had called her it once, and it had stuck). Then, as if struck by sudden inspiration, he exclaimed, “Bianca! I need a second opinion. Can you take a look at this chart real quick?” He looked at her hopefully.

Bianca smiled. “Sure, Bri,” she said, then added teasingly, “But you owe me.”

“Thanks, Bianca,” he said, as she came over to the table. “Here it is. Patient presented with persistent flu-like symptoms. Original blood test showed a high white count, so I ordered a bone marrow and more blood work done. Here’s the results.”

Bianca already had her suspicions, and the results of the patient’s tests confirmed them. “Looks like ALL,” she diagnosed.

Brian nodded sadly. “That’s what I thought too.”

The two of them exchanged grim looks. Eleven-year-old Bailey Cole had just been diagnosed with acute lymphocytic leukemia. Cancer.

+++

Jack sat on a bench just outside the main entrance to the hospital, jiggling his foot and watching the revolving doors impatiently. Suddenly, the doors turned, and a woman stepped out.

“Hey, Bean!” he called to her.

Bianca smiled. “Hey, Jack! I thought you were off.”

“I am,” replied Jack. “Just waiting for Addie.”

“Oh, I see. You guys doing anything tonight?”

“Eh, not really. We’re just going back to the apartment to hang out, and then I think Josh and Kylie McCartney are coming over when they get off.”

“Cool beans,” said Bianca.

“How about you? Going out with AJ tonight?”

“No, actually, I need to get home. My friend Brianna and I are leaving for Raleigh in about half an hour.”

“Raleigh? Why are you – ohh, wait, your concert’s tomorrow, isn’t it?”

Bianca grinned. “Yup.”

“Wow, I’d almost forgotten about that! Well, have fun!”

“Thanks, we will!” said Bianca. “See you in a few days, Jack!”

“Alrighty. ‘Night, Bianca.”

Bianca walked off towards the parking lot to her car, and Jack went back to staring at the doors, waiting for his girlfriend to emerge.

+++
“Here, honey,” Addie said, a couple of hours later, as she stepped out of the small kitchen and placed a bowl of freshly popped popcorn in Jack’s lap.
“Thanks,” was all that he said as he automatically grabbed a fistful of popcorn and put it in his mouth with his eyes glued to the TV the whole time.
Addie just rolled her eyes and scooted back against the couch, wishing that Kylie and Josh would hurry up so she wouldn’t have to watch much more of what seemed to her a boring basketball game. She didn’t have the heart to tell Jack to change the channel as soon as she saw his eyes light up when his team got the ball into the basket.
One look at the clock told her it was now after 9:30, and Kylie and Josh were supposed to be there at nine. When Josh and Kylie said 9 o’clock, they meant 9 o’clock, not a minute later. This somewhat sent Addie’s nerves on edge. She knew that Josh had gotten off at seven, but had wanted to wait for Kylie, who got off at 7:30. She figured that two hours had been long enough for them both to make the usual fifteen-minute drive to the apartment. Now anger was slowly starting to replace her feelings of worry.
She got up from the couch and walked to the patio door, looking out and seeing the ocean, which calmed her somewhat down. When Addie had first laid her eyes on that apartment, she knew she had to live there and had been for three years now, with no plans to move out anytime soon if she could help it. At first, she and Kylie had shared the apartment. But after Kylie married Josh that summer, she moved out, and Jack moved in. Addie and Jack had been dating for almost two years, but the decision to start living together was a tough one. Addie’s mother hadn’t approved – “You shouldn’t live with a man until you’re married to him!” she had scolded when Addie told her the news – but she didn’t care. She was twenty-seven and old enough to make her own decisions. If she wanted to live with Jack, which she did, she would. And besides, if she had it her way, she would eventually be married to him anyway, so what did it matter? They had now been living together for just over a month, and so far, things were going fine. The living arrangement had definitely taken some getting used to, but they had adjusted by now and were very happy together in that beautiful seaside abode.
As Addie turned away from the patio door and walked to the couch to sit down, a soft knock was heard at the door. She slowly walked over and opened the door, prepared to ask why in the hell Kylie and Josh were so late, but her words stopped in her throat as she saw what was before her.
“MacKayla!” she said as she took Josh’s newborn niece out of Kylie’s arms. “How’s my girl doing?”
“Nice to see you too, Addie,” Josh said as he walked through the doorway, holding a diaper bag and some toys in his arms. He threw them in the living room floor and sat down heavily beside Jack.
“What’s up?” Addie found herself asking as MacKayla squirmed in her arms.
“Darrin got an emergency call, and Brandy had just gotten to work so they had no one to watch MacKayla so we said we would,” Kylie explained as she walked into the living room to retrieve a bottle to feed MacKayla with.
“What kind of emergency?”
“A major traffic accident on the interstate. Something about a truck overturning and a few cars piled into each other. I wouldn’t be surprised if they call other squads from the area to help, so I dunno how long I will be here.”
Addie nodded, knowing that Josh’s brother and Kylie soon to be brother-in-law, Darrin, was a paramedic in the town of Indian Valley, which was approximately forty-five minutes away.
“C’mon, the movie is starting!” Jack yelled from the living room, causing Kylie to jump and almost spill formula all over her. Kylie placed MacKayla in Addie’s arms and ran into the living room to tell Jack what was on her mind about his little stunt.
As Addie listened to the playful arguing going on around her, she grinned slightly, knowing that this was just another crazy day in her crazy life. She then stood up and carried MacKayla into the living room to settle down and watch the movie.
+++
Long after her shift had ended, long after Dr. Palmer had gone home, Isabel Rivera sat in the lounge, poring over a medical book Dr. Palmer had given her. She was looking up information on spinal cord injuries.

Caleb Valiant had been finally moved to the neurology floor towards the end of her shift, and Dr. Palmer had told her the neurologists would probably hold off on the tests until the next morning, since it was so late in the evening. So Isabel had decided to do some research of her own on Caleb’s injuries, wanting to know as much as possible on the topic.

The door to the lounge suddenly opened, startling Isabel, who practically jumped a foot off the couch she was sprawled on.

“Hey, aren’t you Jack’s student?” asked nurse Melissa Ruffino.

“Yeah,” Isabel replied.

“Well, what are you still doing here then? He left hours ago,” Melissa said.

“I’m just doing some research,” Isabel explained.

Melissa chuckled. “Well, it’s good to see you’re ambitious, but Dr. Palmer would rather have you come in refreshed and ready to work tomorrow, not exhausted from staying up studying all night,” she said, pouring herself a cup of coffee.

Isabel smiled sheepishly. “I know. I’ll leave in a few minutes.”

“Okay. See you tomorrow,” Melissa said, taking a sip of her coffee and leaving the lounge.

“Bye,” Isabel said softly and reluctantly put down her book. She got her things from her locker and left the lounge, ready to go home and relax after her very first day working at the hospital. But before she could leave, there was something else she wanted to do.

Isabel took the elevator upstairs, to Floor 3, Neurology. She stopped briefly at the nurses station to question one of the nurses. Then she walked slowly down one of the hallways, stopping at the door of room 345. Quietly, she turned the knob and crept inside. The room was dim, and the patient lying in bed in the middle of the room was motionless. But he was not asleep.

“Hello? Who’s there?” he asked, unable to see her in the doorway.

“Hi, Caleb,” Isabel said softly. “It’s Isabel Rivera, from earlier today, in the ER. The med student.”

“Oh yeah, I remember you,” Caleb replied. “Are you still working? You’ve been here all day, haven’t you?”

“Nah, my shift’s over. I was just looking over some charts and researching some things. I thought I’d check on you before I left, see if you needed anything.”

“Oh. Well, isn’t that what nurses are supposed to do?” he asked.

“Well, yeah. But… well, you’re my first patient, kind of, and I just wanted to make sure you were doing okay. Sorry if I’m intruding, but I just… I…” Isabel trailed off, unable to explain the reason for her visit.

Caleb chuckled. “I think I understand,” he said. “Well, I’m doing okay. Under the circumstances, I mean.”

“That’s good. So, are you all alone here? Have your parents or anyone come to see you yet?” Isabel frowned, realizing she hadn’t seen his parents around at all.

“No… they’re in Durham, visiting my brother at Duke for the weekend,” he said sadly. “One of the nurses in the Emergency Room said he would try to get a hold of them, but I haven’t heard anything.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Isabel said. Poor kid, all alone and scared in the hospital, without even his parents there to comfort him. “Do… do you want me to stick around for awhile and keep you company?”

There was a slight hesitation, then came Caleb’s voice, sounding more like a little boy’s than a deep, masculine teenager’s. “Would you?”

Isabel smiled tenderly. “Of course I would,” she replied. She pulled up a chair to the side of his bed and turned on his bedside lamp, lighting the room.

Caleb looked up at her, seeing her up close for the first time. “Wow… you’re pretty,” he commented.

Isabel blushed. “Thank you,” she giggled.

“You got a boyfriend?” Caleb asked, winking at her.

“Not yet,” Isabel replied, winking back. Oh my God, I’m flirting with my seventeen-year-old patient. I doubt that’s allowed, Isabel though, laughing inwardly.

“So… was today your first day?” Caleb asked.

“Yup,” Isabel replied.

“How was it?”

She thought for a moment before answering. “Well… I don’t know. It was nerve-wracking at first, but it wasn’t so bad. I didn’t do as many things as I would have liked, but I guess that’s the way it goes at first.”

“Yeah.”

“Guess your day didn’t go so well, huh?” Isabel asked sympathetically.

”Sure didn’t.” Caleb let out a rueful chuckle. “I guess I won’t be playing in the football game on Friday, huh?”

Isabel smiled sadly at him. “I guess not.”

Caleb was silent, and Isabel could sense how much that upset him. “So, you’re a football player, huh?” she asked, trying to take his mind off is injury.

“Uh-huh.”

“What position?” Isabel asked.

“Fullback,” he replied.

“So, are you a big football star?”

Caleb smiled. “Actually, football’s the one thing I’m good at. The one thing I can do better than my brother.”

Isabel frowned, sensing some major sibling rivalry. She knew how it felt to be the baby of the family and have an older sibling who was better at everything. Her older sister Alicia was a skilled brain surgeon and had always excelled in everything from academics to sports. Isabel had always done well in school and was good at sports, especially volleyball and track, and dance, particularly ballet. But compared to her sister, she had always felt inferior, stupid, not good enough. Her parents had pushed her to go into medicine, as both her father and sister had, and that was why Isabel was there. She liked medicine, she really did, but she felt like there was so much pressure on her to succeed and become a great doctor, like her father, like Alicia. She had a feeling Caleb felt the same way. If his brother was going to Duke, he had to be a well-rounded, intelligent person, much like Alicia was. Isabel could definitely empathize with that, and she told him so.

After quite a while of talking, Isabel glanced at her watch, shocked to see it was after ten o’clock.

“I’m sorry, Caleb, but I need to get going now. I was supposed to be out of here like three hours ago.”

Caleb chuckled. “Well, get going then,” he said.

She smiled. “Alright. I’ll see you tomorrow morning. Get some rest.”

“I’ll try to,” Caleb said, making a face at the neck brace he was still forced to wear.

Isabel smiled sympathetically and turned to leave. But Caleb stopped her.

“Hey, Dr. Rivera!”

Isabel turned back around, her heart swelling with pride at what he had just called her. “Yeah?”

“I just wanted to thank you so much for coming to talk to me. That really means a lot,” Caleb said sincerely.

Isabel smiled. “It was my pleasure,” she replied. “And I’m not a doctor yet. This is only my first day as a third-year med student, remember?”

“I know,” Caleb said, returning her smile. “But you will be a doctor someday. And you’ll make a great one.”

Isabel could have cried right then. Here he was, a seventeen-year-old kid with his whole life in front of him, possibly permanently paralyzed from the chest down, telling her, an inexperienced med student, that she was going to make a good doctor.

Swallowing the lump that had risen in her throat, Isabel whispered, “Thank you, Caleb. That means more to me than you’ll ever know. Thank you.”

And with that, she turned and left the room, bringing an end to her first day at Memorial.

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