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.
“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. “
“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
“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
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
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,
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
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
“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
“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
“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
Several minutes elapsed without conversation;
the softly playing carols from the stereo and the bright lights made words
unnecessary.
“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
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...
“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.
“
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.
“
“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
“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
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
“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
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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
“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,”
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
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.
+++