A Touch of Romance

This story is a continuation of what was begun in “Indecision” and “Resolutions.”  It’s not necessary to read those stories but they do help in establishing where things stand in this Emergency! universe. 

“Okay, great.  I just wanted to confirm the reservation.  We’ll be seeing you at 7:00 then,” Dr. Kelly Brackett’s deep voice said.  He hung up the telephone and looked back to the handwritten list that sat in front of him.  Pressing his pen against the check mark he had already placed beside the word restaurant, he reinforced it with another layer of black ink.  The words “Flowers” and “Wine -- Antonin Rodet,” held a similar indentation from the pressure of his ball-point.

Shifting his weight in the chair, he knew he should be spending this time in his office at Rampart General Hospital catching up on some paperwork, but he wanted tonight to be perfect.  It was a significant day and there was a special woman whose radiant smile he wanted to see when he took her out tonight.  Not known for having a romantic inclination, he had already surprised her when he proposed an evening of dinner and dancing.  But he wanted to have a real date with her.  To spend some time in places that were out of the ordinary for them.

What you really want to do is thank her for letting you walk back into her life and show her how much you love her, he thought.  It had been a longtime since this holiday had mattered to either of them.

Years ago they had been more involved but when that ended they had slid into an easy platonic relationship of working and socializing together.  However, when a woman from his past had returned offering him a different brand of female companionship, he had thought it over then sought out whom he truly wanted.  It was the nurse who was both his confidant and sounding board; who had stood beside him through good times and bad; and who he enjoyed spending time with more than anyone else.  In essence his best friend.  Dixie R. McCall, RN had placed something over his heart that he had never been able to completely leave behind. 

The transition from friendship to once more that of a couple hadn’t been easy for either of them.  Old issues that they had never truly resolved plagued them.  Arguments, uneasy compromises, and leaving in anger then later trying to pick up the pieces, had been their forte in the first go round when they placed themselves on more intimate ground.  Later, it would all still hold true until Kel realized he could no longer walk away from a disagreement with Dixie.  She had a strong personality, much like his own, and could close the door on him forever.

Over the last month, they had worked in unison on their relationship.  What made them friends and a team at the hospital was applied more to their personal lives.  They would never look at the world through one set of eyes but it was also something that attracted them to each other.  Together they learned that it wasn’t necessary to start digging trenches when they differed in opinion or challenged one another.  Respect, love and wanting more than just the colleague or familiar “pal” had won out.

His musings were interrupted by a sharp knock against the closed door followed by someone entering without being asked.  Dropping the pen, he prepared a frown for whoever had so rudely interrupted him but it quickly faded when saw the head that was poking around the door.

“Just who I was hoping to see,” he told Dixie with a smile, his hand beckoning for her to come in.

Dropping a file in the middle of his desk, she took a seat in one of the chairs opposite it.  “I got those test results you wanted on the possible mono patient in three.  Looks like your diagnosis was right on target.”

Kel watched her sit back and tiredly rub at her eyes.  A diversion of funds, so that structural improvements could be made to some areas of the hospital, had reduced the ER’s nursing staff by several members and over the last few shifts Dixie had put in some long hours of overtime.  She considered it part of her duty as head nurse to cover when necessary. 

His own hours at the hospital were often long but he hated to see what the bureaucratic dictate was doing to her.  He knew she would consider him overprotective if she were aware of this, and would argue that his concern was misplaced since she perceived him to be a one-man-band when it came to his dedication to his work.  But as the department’s head, he still felt some guilt about the losing battle he had fought against the cost-cutting measure.  Now all he could do was bide his time until the opportunity presented itself for him to step into the war again.  Sooner or later Rampart’s administrative geniuses would have to see the light when it came to maintaining only a skeleton staff.

All the more reason to take her away from it tonight.  He knew all too well that both of them dedicated too much of their time to their medical careers.

Picking up the folder she had brought in, he set it aside.  “Thanks.  I’ll look it over in a minute then go talk to Ms. Davis.  Is Betty still coming in early for you?”

Dixie nodded, smiling.  “Yes, she is.”

“Good.  Dr. Martinez is lined up to cover for me.  Looks like we’re set.  I’ll be by around 6:15 to pick you up.”

Dixie couldn’t suppress the giggle she felt when she heard him once again following up on the details of their “date” as he termed it.  The fact that he was perfectionist and also a planner were but a few of the things she loved about him; it provided a balance to her more spontaneous nature when it came to her personal life.  However not since a long ago trip together to the Grand Caymans, could she remember him so carefully preparing for an outing together.  

“Yes, I have a feeling everything’s in place,” she assured him, her deep blue eyes twinkling with amusement that faded as she bit the inside of her lip.  “But Kel, it still might be easier if we go out tomorrow night.  We’ve got two days off together which is a scheduling miracle.  Just in case one of us has to--”

“Uh uh,” he interrupted, shaking his head determinedly.  “February 14th is reserved for those that are in love and for the first time in years, I’m one of those people.”

Her eyes held an affectionate glow as she looked at him. “Cupid must have fired a dart directly into your heart,” she chuckled, rising from the chair.  “I don’t think I’ve ever heard you wax more eloquent than now.” 

Pushing his chair back, he went to join her and dropped an arm around her shoulders.  Stepping with her toward the door, he grinned down at her and said, “I guess the little guy wearing a diaper finally got me but it also took a special woman.  I just had to find her again.”

Dixie stopped and placed her lips quickly against his, her fingers briefly twining within a lock of his dark wavy hair. 

“That makes two of us,” she said with a wink before turning back to the door.  “I’ve got to check on some x-rays for Dr. Morton but I’ll keep in mind the bard I heard here today.  Maybe you can come up with some more romantic endearments tonight.”

***

Dr. Joe Early sat in the lounge drinking a cup of coffee and talking shop with Kel.  Finishing with the details of an insulin shock victim he had recently treated, Joe glanced around the room and finding that they were alone asked softly, “So, is everything in place for tonight?”

“It is,” Kel answered, bashfully stirring at the clumps of powdered creamer that were surfacing in the unnaturally dark brown liquid that had grown stale and overheated while sitting in its pot.  Although most people considered him brash and forthright, he personality also contained a somewhat shy quality, especially when it came to discussing Dixie.

“I still think you should have surprised her by remembering that it is an ‘unofficial’ holiday.”

“And show up at her door to find her wearing her uniform or better yet her robe?”  Kel shook his head and looked up from the mug he had been studying.  Joe was a very close friend and he had confided some of the details of what he planned to get a second opinion on the treatment.  The doctor sitting opposite him also knew Dixie very well.  He alone had shared the ups and downs they had experienced together.

“Besides, she doesn’t know where we’re going.  Only that we’re going to have a night out on the town.  She deserves it,” Kel continued, flushing slightly as he thought of how they spent their rare evenings together in favorite neighborhood restaurants or watching television while they ate something that had been delivered.  It was time for a touch of class.  Where there were tablecloths, linen napkins decoratively folded, along with china and flatware for each course.  Afterward, they could move on to the adjacent nightclub that catered to LA’s more adult-tastes in music.

“You can’t get much better than Strings but are you sure she’ll be dressed for that?  It’s not Jose Mondragon’s Mexican Cantina and you could still show up to find her wearing jeans and a sweater,” Joe contemplated, seeing a realm of possibilities. 

“Yes, I’m sure,” Kel said confidently, pushing away the cup of coffee.  “Dixie knows it’s someplace out of the ordinary we’re going to.  I get the impression she even did some shopping.”

“What about the flowers?”

“I’ve checked on it.  A dozen carefully arranged lilies in various colors will be waiting when I get off and pick them up before I head home for a shower and the bottle of wine I’ve got waiting there.”

“Don’t you think roses would be better?  It is Valentine’s Day after all.”

Kel considered it then shook his head.  “Uh uh.  For somebody else, maybe.  But lilies are her favorite.”  Still thoughtful, he added, “I wish there was some way I could have them delivered to her at work but since we’ve both heard that old rumor that exists about us come up . . . well . . ..”

Joe nodded in agreement.  “Yeah.  You probably shouldn’t feed it if you can help it.  The budget reduction guillotine caught Rampart Emergency’s biggest gossip, Anne, but she left a little legacy behind her. She didn’t leave without getting the rest of the staff talking about you and Dix again.  Rumor has it she was trying to get into Ortho before Dix caught wind of that one.”

“Damn it all,” Kel muttered, thinking about the grapevine that he so often ignored until it was brought home to him.  “Even without that I probably still couldn’t do it, but sometimes I wish it was different.  That we didn’t have to worry about rumors or getting hung up at the hospital.”

“Dr. Early to the base station. Stat,”  the overhead speaker announced.

“It’s the thought that counts,” Joe said, rising from the table.  “And if I know you and Dix, that’s what matters now.”

Kel watched him hurry out then stood to leave thinking,  Sure.  But all the thought I’m putting into tonight doesn’t mean that it will come off without a hitch.

***

“You know Roy, I still can’t get over it,” Johnny Gage informed his partner as they walked toward the base station after depositing a serious case of “road rash” in a treatment room.  A man motorcycling his way to his girlfriend’s house had hit a pothole then lost control of his bike.  With him holding onto the handlebars, the Harley had drug him along the pavement until it came to a stop.

“We’re on a twenty-four hour shift today so there’s nothing you could do about it anyway,” Roy commented, trying to walk faster through the hospital’s corridor.

“Yeah but that guy on the bike has me thinking.  It’s kinda romantic to want to take your girl out for a ride in the mountains on a motorcycle.”

“Sure it is.  Pack a picnic lunch and the fishing gear and you’ve got a great day ahead of you but if you’re working it’s impossible.”

Johnny reached out to stop the other paramedic.  “So what did you do for Joanne today since you’re at work?” he asked the married man who was facing him.

“I put a box of fresh strawberries, some chocolate to dip them in, and a bottle of champagne on the table when I left for work this morning,” Roy answered reluctantly. Sooner or later the ever-inquisitive man who shared his job would drag it out of him so he might as well get it over with.

“Whew! That’s rather impressive,” Johnny commented. Reaching the base station, he released a heavy sigh when he sat the drug kit down on the counter.  “Me,” he woefully lamented, “well there isn’t anything that special waiting.”

“Special what?” Dixie asked them, catching the tail end of their conversation from where she sat behind the desk filling out a form.

“Don’t get him started Dix,” Roy groaned, leaning against the shelf that held the equipment that monitored the paramedics in the field.

“Well, Dix,” Johnny said grimly, “you know what today is.”

“Wednesday,” she answered dryly.

“Besides that.”

“The middle of the month and we’ve only got one more day left until payday.  My checkbook can hardly wait.”

Shaking his head in exasperation, Johnny favored her with a frown.  “What else?”

“You’ve got me there,” she replied with an innocent smile.

“February 14th, Valentine’s Day,” he admonished her.

“Oh yes, so I’ve heard.”

“Bingo!  And this is the first time since I was in high school that I haven’t had a date.”

“Well, can’t you pull out that bachelor’s little black book of yours?” Dixie replied looking over at Roy whose appearance was beginning to show some strain at the resulting conversation. “And aren’t you on a twenty-four hour shift so you’re stuck with the guys at the station anyway?”

Johnny’s brown eyes narrowed in frustration as he peered down at her.  “Dix, I’m surprised that you, of all people, would believe in the myth of such a book.”  His eyelids sinking further, he added, “Besides, you can run out of entries in it.”

Dixie’s expression became one of mock seriousness as she patted his shoulder in sympathy.  “I’m sorry to hear that Johnny and with so many cuts in staffing here, I’m afraid there aren’t any new, young, single nurses that I can point in your direction.  Just us old ladies manning the place.  Guess you’re stuck with being entertained by your fellow firemen. ”

“And with Chet making dinner tonight, I’m wishing I had something to look forward to tomorrow.  Like Roy here,” he said, looking thoughtfully over his shoulder at the man behind him then back to the nurse.  “He gave a gift that can wait until later.  I mean any woman’s gotta love --”

The clearing of a throat behind him had him stopping.  “Well, you get the picture.”

“Yes I do,” Dixie smiled, glancing over at Roy whose cheeks had taken on a red tinge of embarrassment.

Leaning an arm against the counter so that his mischievous eyes were level with hers, Johnny’s mouth took on its characteristic tilted smile as he asked, “So Dix, what does an ‘old lady’ like you have planned for the holiday?”

Dixie’s eyes met his, a scowl spreading across her features.  “Johnny!  I’m surprised and hurt that you’d say that I’m old.” 

“Uh . . . I’m sorry Dix.  That’s not really what I meant . . . you just said it was you ‘old ladies’  here. . . and I was wondering . . ..”

Roy listened to Johnny try to squirm his way out of the hole he was digging himself into with the nurse.  Dixie had led him into it with her earlier statement and had used it against him to maneuver the conversation away from anything she may be doing tonight.  She tended to be somewhat guarded when it came to her personal life, even with the paramedics who she considered work place friends. 

“We’d better be getting the squad over to the garage for the alignment that’s scheduled,” Roy said, intervening on behalf of the younger man who was still trying to stutter out an apology.

“Yeah, we probably should,” Johnny replied straightening from the counter.  “Dix . . . I’m really sorry . . .”

Dixie grinned up at him.  “It’s okay and don’t worry about it.  Age is only a number that I refuse to recognize.  I just had to have a little fun with you.”

Smiling back at her in relief, Johnny left the base station.

As the paramedics drove away from the hospital, Johnny asked,  “So what do you suppose Dr. Brackett is doing tonight?”

“Brackett?  Why on earth are you thinking about him?”

“Well, you know, he’s a good looking single guy who’s probably got a list of women waiting for him as long as his arm.  I’m just wondering if maybe he’s getting more action than I am.”

Roy took a deep breath then slowly exhaled it.  Despite the fact that he had recently gone through a difficult period where he had questioned his role as a paramedic program and had also withdrawn from his coworkers, Johnny had managed to keep a light finger on the hospital’s pulse.  The resurrection of an old rumor and the possibilities it contained hadn’t escaped him.

“Who knows.  You wanna have something to eat while we’re waiting to pick up the squad?” he asked, trying to steer away the conversation he could see looming on the horizon.  “It’s early but I’m kind of hungry.  I think there’s a burger place by the garage.  Let me see, I think it’s . . .”

“Crown Burgers and they’ve probably just opened,” Johnny filled in, looking at his watch but not easily distracted from his train of thought.  “Now, hypothetically . . . if what you hear about him and Dix is true then . . . then that might have something to do with why Dix won’t talk about what she’s doing tonight.”

“It’s really none of our business,” Roy interrupted, guiding the squad into the street’s right lane as they approached the Fire Department’s garage.  “You know, I’ve got a cousin who’s going to be visiting next weekend from Stockton.  Maybe you’d like to meet her.”

This caught Johnny’s attention but he had also been the victim of Roy and Joanne’s attempts at introducing him to single women before. 

“Have you met her?” he cautiously asked.

“She’s my cousin so of course I have.”

When the truck was parked in a bay, Johnny impatiently waited while Roy handed over the keys to a mechanic and signed the work order.

As they began to walk toward the hamburger stand, he asked, “So what’s she like?”

“Marjorie?  Well, she’s pretty good looking.  A brown-eyed blond, kinda tall and thin.  She teaches high school history and she’s very intelligent.”

“Hmmm . . . I think I might like to meet her.  Maybe you, Joanne, her and I could try to plan something while she’s here.”

Good.  At least for a little while I’ve got him thinking about something else.  Later I’ll worry about the fact that Marjorie rules her life and her classroom with an iron fist.   If she doesn’t eat him alive they’ll probably get along about as well as a couple of rattlesnakes. 

Roy studied the menu hanging above them, listening to Johnny prattle on about the possibilities of dinner out, Joanne cooking or perhaps a casual trip to the marina.  Ordering a cheeseburger with Crown’s special fries, Roy realized that he had created a new monster that would easily take them through lunch.

Brackett and Dix owe me one, he thought ruefully, dropping some napkins and utensils onto his tray as he prepared to move it down the counter to the pick-up window.

***

Dixie passed the syringe containing tetanus serum to Dr. Morton then swabbed down an area on the patient’s left arm.  The young man sitting on the table had stepped in some broken glass while running barefoot down his driveway to collect the morning paper.  When the cut on the ball of his foot had refused to stop bleeding, a roommate had dropped him off at the emergency room to have it examined.  It wasn’t deep, requiring only cleansing and a set of butterfly bandages, but his medical history indicated that he was long over due for a tetanus booster.

“This is going to sting a little and you’ll probably experience some muscular stiffness afterward,” Morton said, preparing to administer the injection.

“Easy for him to say,” the patient told Dixie with a wink then winced as the needle met his flesh, feeling her gentle but firm hand on his shoulder steady him.

When the doctor walked away from the table to complete the chart that had been started on him, the patient turned to study the nurse who was applying another antiseptic swab against the puncture mark in his arm.  She was wearing the reassuring smile that had been present when she had led him limping and bleeding into the treatment room.

Leaning toward her as she adhered the adhesive ends of a Band-Aide against his biceps, he whispered, “You know, you’re real good lookin.’”

Dixie rolled down the sleeve of his T-shirt then stepped back from the table.  It wasn’t unusual for an ER victim to sometimes latch onto the empathetic presence they associated with nurses.

Behind them Dr. Morton flipped the chart shut, the meeting of its metal edges ringing through the room.  “Okay, I think that does it.  You’re ready to go home, Mr. Carter.”

Scott Carter reluctantly turned his attention away from Dixie to the doctor.  “That could be a problem.  My roommate won’t be back for a couple more hours to pick me up.  He’s meeting his girlfriend for lunch before he goes to work at the record store.  Picking me up is his stop in between.”

Morton nodded in understanding.  “That’s not a problem.  We’ll try to make you comfortable in the waiting area until he gets here.  Can you take care of that Dix?”

“Uh huh,” she answered, cleaning up the instrument tray that sat on a dolly close to the table.  Hearing the door close behind the doctor, she looked up from her task and said, “If you don’t mind waiting a minute, I’ll put in a call for a wheelchair then see if I can find you some magazines that aren’t two or three months old.”

Finding a more comfortable position against the examining table’s padding, Scott grinned down at her. 

“I can wait.  I like watching you work,” he said, familiarizing himself with the soft contours of an oval face and the dark blond hair that was clasped within a black barrette.  A fading suntan that stood out against the stark whiteness of her uniform only added to how attractive he was finding her.  Putting it all together with the dark blue eyes, a wonderful smile and somewhat husky but sultry voice, he was more than a little intrigued with her.

“I’m gonna be here for a while,” he said, tapping her shoulder, “so would you like to have lunch?”

Dixie stopped what she was doing to look at the twenty-two year old face that wore a neat mustache and was surrounded by long dark curly hair.  Scott Carter was a very nice looking young man.   But while she might be flattered by his attention, she was well beyond the point where it could cause more than a momentary pause.

With age comes wisdom.  Maybe if I were younger, he might make my heart flutter a little, she thought going to the phone on the wall to call for an attendant.

“Thanks but I’m pretty busy,” she said over her shoulder.

“Well, since it’s Valentine’s Day, how ‘bout tonight?” he eagerly asked.

She ignored him, hearing someone pickup on the other end of the line. 

“Sylvia, this is Dixie.  I’ve got a patient in treatment room two that needs to be moved to the waiting area.  Is there anybody around to bring in a wheelchair?”  Nodding slowly, she listened to the woman explain that the few orderlies on duty were already occupied -- it was another staff position that had been radically reduced to save money.  “That’s okay.  I’ll take care of it.”

Hanging up the phone, her lips pursed in momentary frustration.  Routine patient transfer was not something she had time for but it was increasingly becoming part of her job.  She had clamped down on her slow to burn temper when it became apparent that layoffs were inevitable, only quietly adding to Kel’s opinion that the ER was already functioning at a level of personnel well below that of many neighboring hospitals.  But at moments such as this, she wished she had given her Irish heritage a little more free rein.  If she had, Rampart’s administrator would have little doubt when it came to what Emergency’s head nurse thought of his priorities, budgeting and planning.

Turning toward the patient, she mustered a slight smile.  “All right, you just sit tight and I’ll be right back after I get a chair to move you in.”

Scott flirtatiously grinned back at her.  “Hey, I’m not hurt that bad.  Maybe I could go along with you while you’re looking for that wheelchair.  Might give us a chance to talk a little more.”

“Uh uh,” Dixie said sharply, putting a hand to his chest when she saw him preparing to leave the table and follow her.  “You stay right where you are.  Hospital policy until you’re discharged Mr. Carter and that hasn’t quite happened yet.”

Scott’s fingers went around the small hand that firmly held him in place.  Among other things, he had noticed that she was short but with the fuller figure he liked in a woman.  His eyes briefly shifted from her face to the name-tag pinned to her uniform.  He had memorized it earlier but wanted to make sure that he had it right.

“Sure Dixie,” he said, dropping his hand from hers while still wearing a charming smile.  “And call me Scott.  I’ll be right here waiting whenever you get back.  You haven’t told me yet if you’ve got any plans for tonight.”

Oh brother, Dixie thought, turning away from him and rolling her eyes as she opened the door to step onto the emergency room floor.

***

Dixie dropped a tray onto the railing that ran along the counters bearing food in the hospital’s cafeteria.  The rumblings in her stomach told her that she had already waited too long for lunch and it was time for sustenance.  For a Wednesday, the emergency room had been unusually busy.  While none of it was serious, it had been time consuming. 

Briefly debating the merits of roast beef versus turkey, she decided in favor of poultry and put a sandwich on her tray.  Years of eating institutional fare had most of it tasting basically the same.  Adding an apple and iced tea, she paid for the meal then scanned the room for a seat.  Seeing Kel and Joe sitting together over the remains of their lunch, she made her way toward them.

“Mind if I join you?” she asked.

“Not at all,” Kel replied pushing back the chair next to him for her to sit in then began to help her place her lunch on the table.  When her tray was clear, he put it on the empty table behind them. 

Dixie felt herself smile.  The little things that made him a gentleman would always touch her.  But her smile quickly faded when she heard a voice that was becoming familiar ask if there was room at their table.

“Sure,” Joe responded, making room for the young man between himself and Dixie.

“Thanks, I appreciate it,” he said, pulling a chair over from a table that had just been vacated by two student nurses.  “You know, there’s plenty of places to sit in here but I hate to eat alone.  Especially when there’s a pretty woman that I could be sitting beside.”  Turning in his chair, he admired Dixie.

Kel arched an eyebrow in her direction and her shoulders lifted in a slight shrug. 

For her, Scott Carter had become a mild irritant -- his interest in her went beyond the empathetic presence she had been when he was being treated. 

***

He had first found her during a momentary respite she was having between patients.  She had been taking a moment to restock a hallway cabinet with the sheets that had been sitting on its counter for over an hour.  Lifting the bundle toward an upper shelf, she saw an arm cross her field of vision and a hand put the bedding in its place.  Turning, she saw the tall handsome man that Dr. Morton had treated for a lacerated foot. 

His even white teeth were shining below the dark hair covering his upper lip and his gray-blue eyes held a twinkle as he explained to her the discomfort he was experiencing in his left arm.  Dixie pushed back the sleeve of his T-shirt, momentarily thinking that the yellow and black smiley face that adorned his chest also seemed to be an appropriate reflection of the man wearing it, and examined the area where he had received the injection.

Finding nothing out of the ordinary, she reassured him, “Muscle stiffness and a dull ache are often associated with a tetanus shot, Mr. . . ..”  She broke off, unable to remember his name among the patients she had seen that morning.

“Scott, just call me Scott.” 

“All right, Scott.  Keep an eye on it and if you see any redness or swelling let me or one of the other nurses know and we’ll have a doctor take a look at it.”

Wearing a disarming smile, he looked down at her.  “Nah, I think I’ll be okay -- it really doesn’t hurt that bad.  I just wanted to help you out and talk to you some more, Dixie.” 

“Dix, can you help me get the crash cart back together?” a nurse asked urgently, rushing over to where they stood.  “They brought it into three for a possible cardiac and now everything’s a mess.”

Dixie heard Gayle’s obvious frustration and felt the imploring tug at her arm. 

“Scott, you should probably take a seat in the waiting room,” she said, going with Gayle to reassemble the possible disaster the treatment room had become.

Later, she had looked up from the desk at the base station to see him limping toward her carrying a wilted rose.

“Sorry, but the florist here leaves a lot to be desired,” he proclaimed, presenting her with the red flower.   “The kid running the place told me it’s because of the holiday so this is the best they had.  But I can do better when I get out of here.  Something very nice delivered to your desk.”

Dixie set the rose aside, doubting that even submersion in water would revive it.  “Thanks Scott, it’s very nice of you but --”

“Rampart this is Squad 18.”

“I’ve got to get back to work,” she informed him, shooing him away before her index finger pressed a button on the radio.  “Go ahead 18.”

***

Scott had nodded in understanding, having spent enough hours watching medical dramas on television to know that now was not the time to try influence her in his direction.  But sitting in the hospital’s cafeteria with her, there was nothing to inhibit him from delving further into his quest.

Inspecting the other men sitting with them at the table, he quickly summed them up.  One had gray hair and kindly features; the other was younger with thick, dark, neatly cropped hair that formed a natural wave.  Scott surmised him to be a handsome man such as himself, but very uptight when it came to his appearance.  He doubted that either of them posed a threat when it came to his pursuit of the woman.

Glancing from one doctor to the other before gazing at Dixie in pure adoration, he asked, “So can either of you guys tell me if this lovely lady has a date tonight?  She hasn’t told me yet and I get the feeling she needs a night out on the town.  She works way too hard.”

Kel groaned, knowing that it wasn’t unusual for a male patient to become attracted to Dixie’s beautiful features and gentle manner.  But today, he could have lived without it.  He was standing on the threshold of making his own statement to her without any unwelcome interference -- which was how he was beginning to perceive the stranger sitting with him.

“Funny you should mention that,” Joe said with a wry, irreverent smile.  “There are probably some other people wondering about that too.  But my lips are sealed.”

Flushing slightly Dixie turned to him, knowing that he was subtly kidding her and Kel about the gossip that was once again going around about their possible relationship.  Before she could verbalize how irritated she was with Joe for bringing that up now Kel’s hand, hidden beneath the table, grasped her knee and squeezed it.  It was a reminder of where they were and Joe’s teasing only came from the fact that he knew them both so well.

“There is a mystery about Nurse McCall and her plans tonight,” Kel said affectionately, feeling her hand cover his own beneath the shelter of the table. 

“So true,” Joe concurred.  “But it’s only part of some old hospital rumors that I really know nothing about.”

Scott thoughtfully stirred the bowl of soup in front him then pecked his fork at the salad accompanying it, without eating either. 

“Sure.  But you guys talking doesn’t mean she’s got a date,” he eventually said, thinking that the men were sharing an inside joke.  Turning to the nurse beside him, he gave her a beseeching look as he said,  “Dixie, I’d still like to take you to dinner tonight.  Maybe some far out place on Venice Beach.”

Picking up a wedge of her sandwich, Dixie shot those seated on either side of her a quick glance.   The younger man wore an inviting smile while the doctor looked uncomfortable and his hand tightened around her knee. She knew there was no decision to make between someplace out of the ordinary with a man she was accustomed to and the possible exotic location an admirer was trying to entice her into.  But biting into the turkey sandwich, she decided their male egos could wait -- she was currently first and foremost a hungry female who needed some lunch.

***

Reaching the bottom of the flight of stairs, Dixie carefully began to maneuver her way around the scaffolding and building materials that lined the narrow alcove in the hospital’s basement.  She had been sent to check on some blood work a doctor was waiting for but getting to the rooms housing the technicians amounted to crossing a minor obstacle course. 

A county inspection into structural cracking had revealed that Rampart’s lowest level suffered from swelling soil fill.  She didn’t understand all the details of the phenomena of dirt that expanded when wet causing foundation movement but knew the renovation was a costly measure that had played a role in the ER’s scaled down staff.  The construction had also been going on for over a week, causing some problems in efficiency, but had been quiet for the last two days.  The workers had run out of something necessary to their continuing the project (one of them had told her what it was but it was Greek to her ears) and had moved on to another job until the supplies arrived.

Hearing the clatter of feet behind her, she looked over her shoulder to find Scott Carter descending the staircase.

“Scott, you shouldn’t be here.  It’s a restricted area anyway and with the construction . . . it’s worse.”

Gingerly placing his injured foot against the final step, he watched her walk in his direction until she stood slightly below him. “Yeah but seeing you head down the stairs, I thought it might be an excellent opportunity to talk to you . . . you’re a very busy woman.  But I like you,Dixie.  I like you a lot.”

Hooking her thumbs into her uniform pockets, Dixie shook her head, knowing that the time had come to rid herself of the pest that been following her most of the day.  “Scott, I’m old enough to be your . . . well, let’s just say much older sister,” she told him.

“I like older women.  They’re not shallow like the girls my own age,” he replied with sincerity, reaching a tentative hand toward the long hair that had fallen over her shoulder.  “You’re an interesting woman and I’d like to get know you, if you’d let me.  Flowers and dinner someplace cool.”

Looking up at the young face alight with infatuation, she suppressed a cynical smile, her lips instead curving into a serious even line and her voice was firm when she said, “That’s very nice of you to say but Scott . . . I’ve never been one for younger men.  And I’ve got plans tonight.  Since it seems to be taking a while for your roommate to pick you up, maybe when I get done here I can call --”

She broke off as she felt the floor shake and heave beneath her. 

Seeing her eyes become wide with alarm and quickly noting the lumber that was falling from where it had been neatly stacked against a wall, Scott didn’t hesitate for instant before he threw himself away from the stairs to cover her body with his own.

***

Kel Brackett stood at the base station with Carol, one of the ER nurses, talking Squad 36 through an acute case of the mumps.  It’s adult recipient was more than a little anxious, suspecting something fatal when she considered her swollen glands, but everything indicated that she would be all right.  Kel smiled at the nurse as they listened to the patient complain through the open mike.

“Rampart, the ambulance is at the scene and we’re ready to transport,” a paramedic’s flustered voice crackled through the speaker.  “ETA, fifteen minutes.”

“10-4 36, we’ll be waiting,” Kel responded ending the transmission.  Looking over at the nurse, he emitted a slight chuckle.  “It’s going to be a long fifteen minutes for 36.”

Carol nodded, wearing a smile of her own as she thought of Bob Bellingham trapped within the close confines of an ambulance compartment while a middle-aged woman told him that she could not be suffering from a mere childhood malady.  But the nurse’s smile quickly became one of puzzled disbelief when the tile beneath her feet began to shift.

Kel grasped her shoulder and placed a steadying hand on the base station desk while for a short time everything around them trembled.

When the churning stopped, she caught her breath and looked up at the doctor.  “Did you feel it?  Earthquake?”

Kel nodded, picking up a pad to begin making some notes of what was needed in moments of unforeseen crisis.  “Yeah, that would be my guess. Get somebody to help you check the treatment rooms for damage and to see how the patients are doing.”

“I’m on it,” Carol said, moving away from the desk.

“And get Dixie down here,” he called to the white back that was hurrying away from him.  “We’ll need her for triage if this is serious.”

***

The men of Station 51 sat gathered around the day room’s table, Chet Kelly chiding Johnny over his lack of a Valentine’s Day date.

“Gage, I’m really surprised at you,” Kelly needled the paramedic.  “I mean really . . . of all of us, I did expect you to come through today.”

Johnny shook his head, but maintained his characteristic good humor.  “Why?  I don’t see you pining away about anybody.  It’s not like you’re Roy or the Cap . . . what’s waiting for you after we’re stuck here together?”

Chet considered it then began, “Married is one thing . . .” The table beginning to vibrate had him clutching his coffee cup as it tried to move away from him.

For a while, everything was quiet as they rode out the earth beneath them stretching itself along the fault lines of Southern California. 

When the resonating quiver stopped, Marco Lopez broke the silence that hung over them asking, “Quake?”

“Sure felt like one,” Captain Stanley said, rising from his seat to go to his office and check with dispatch on what could be a natural disaster.

Through the long minutes while they waited for his return, each man filled his thoughts with the many outcomes that could exist.  A city devastated by seismic activity; wives, friends and loved ones who may have fallen victim to it; and the general mayhem that could be created by the circumstances.

Slowly, Roy removed himself from the table to go the pay phone that stood in a corner of the day room.  Dropping a dime into its slot, he dialed home and heard Joanne tell him that nothing more had happened there than a couple of pictures falling from a wall.  Closing his eyes, he told her that he loved her and the children who were clamoring for her attention while she talked to him.  Hanging up, he breathed a little easier when he resumed his seat among his brothers in the Fire Department.

“Good news.”

All of them looked up from their private thoughts to the captain’s lanky frame standing in the doorway.

“Cal Tech is reporting it as a minor quake, 3.5 on the Richter scale so the damage should be minimal,” he reported.  “But there’s still probably going to be some damage, panic and injuries.  We’d better get ready.”

Heaving a collective sigh of relief, the rest of the Station’s crew pushed away from the table to prepare for the call that would soon come.  The scrape of their chairs against the floor had barely finished filling the air when the speaker mounted on the wall announced that their services were required.

“Station 51.  People trapped in basement.  Rampart General Hospital. Rampart and Fremont.  Rampart General Hospital.  Time out 14:26.”

Johnny and Roy exchanged glances before climbing into the squad.  Their destination was a familiar one.

“The construction?” Johnny questioned his partner with a lifted eyebrow.

Roy thought about it.  The renovation of the hospital’s basement had, in the last week, become a fixture he had grown accustomed to since it didn’t directly affect the paramedics’ operations there.  However, he had a recollection of recently inquiring about the echo of hammering and a nurse informing him that the rooms below a stairwell were being refurbished to meet a new building code.

“Probably,” he answered with a nod, pressing his foot harder against the gas pedal.  His family was safe but there were several people at the hospital he had to come to care about through their years of working together and those lives might now be jeopardy.

***

Dixie blinked and shook her head, trying to remove the film of dust that was covering her face.  Finding that it was not easily dislodged, she wiped a hand against her eyes then ran it across her cheeks.  Her palm came away with dark smear across it.

With a groan, she tried to move from beneath the weight that pinned her to the floor.

“What happened?” Scott Carter moaned, feeling someone wiggling beneath him.  Forcing his eyelids to part despite the fear he felt, he found his face lying against the swell of a woman’s breasts.  Lifting his head slightly, he stared into the sapphire irises of the nurse he had been pursuing most of the day.   Had she not been grubby and wearing a look of concern while his right shoulder began to scream an internal message of pain, he might have thought his following her down the stairs had brought him around the bases to home plate.

“I don’t know,” she answered, trying to maneuver her way out from under him without causing his body to shift -- the timber scattered across him had her worried about the possibility of a serious injury.

“Ugh,” he winced when he tried to lift himself away from her.

Having gotten her chest clear of him, she put a gentle hand upon the back of his head to indicate that he shouldn’t try to move against her.  “Lie still.  I’m all right so let me do all the work.”

Seeing him nod, she inched her way past him until her legs were clear. 

Looking around, she found the stairway filled with scaffolding and ceiling tiles.    Behind them a similar effect was apparent in the hallway.  She and Scott seemed to be trapped in a bubble of wreckage that left them unable to reach the phone that she knew was but few feet away.

Removing the two by fours that had fallen across his shoulders and back, she said, “Tell me where it hurts.”

“Just my shoulder -- the right one,” he grimaced when a piece of timber fell away from the throbbing that was beginning to make itself known throughout his anatomy.

Clearing away the remaining timber, Dixie emitted an involuntary squeak of pain as the rough edge of a board connected with the side of her hand. 

“Are you all right?” Scott asked, lifting his face away from the floor and turning his head toward her.

“Uh huh, it’s nothing,” she answered calmly, briefly clasping the fingers that were struggling to reach back in her direction.

With his back free of the debris that had been covering it, she examined him for any injuries his chivalrous gesture in covering her might have had caused.  The right shoulder was a problem but his reflexes and reaction to stimulation of the extremities was normal.

“I think you’ve got a dislocated shoulder and a whole lot of black and blue marks to go with it,” she informed him.  “I’m going to help you sit up so it’s easier for you to breath but let me know if you feel pain anywhere else.”

Scott grunted when she carefully turned him over then eased him into a sitting position, his left side coming to rest against her

“Dix,” he whispered, unknowingly becoming part of her nickname in the ER, “I’d still love to go to Venice Beach with you tonight.  But did you say that you’ve got plans . . . or was that just part of this nightmare?”

Dixie bent her head so that she could see his wistful smile then added her own to it.  Settling her back against a short container holding some kind of sealant, she said, “Yes, I did have plans tonight . . . but who knows what will happen now.”   When both of them were somewhat comfortable, she added more to herself than Scott, “But as long as he’s safe, we’ve still got tomorrow or the next day.”

***

The members of Station 51 made their way through the corridors of Rampart General Hospital until they met its administrator pacing outside the doors of a stairwell in the emergency department.  Dr. Kelly Brackett was taking a break from his duties and falling into step beside Nathan O’Brien.  A small group of hospital personnel stood together a few feet away, quietly talking about what had transpired.

“Good, you’re here,” O’Brien said with relief when Captain Stanley approached him.  “We’ve had a cave in.  The lab technicians made it out up a back stairway but they thought they heard people talking in the entryway before the earthquake.  The ceiling and scaffolding fell through at both ends so we can’t be sure.”

“Any idea how many people?  Were there a lot of construction workers down there?” the captain asked.  The paramedics had filled him in on the hospital’s basement undergoing a transformation.

“No.  They had to stop because they ran out of something . . . I can’t remember what.  To be quite honest, we can’t be sure if there’s anyone down there at all.  You can’t get past the debris that’s piled up two feet beyond the door and the other end’s the same.  No one answers when we’ve tried calling to them.”

“That’s because they probably can’t hear us,” Kel growled.  Seeing the six firemen looking at him expectantly, he elaborated, “There’s every reason to believe Dixie is down there.  She hasn’t answered her page and when last seen she was going to see about some blood work.  There’s also a patient who might have followed her.  He didn’t check out at the desk that his ride had come,” the doctor stopped, his jaws grinding briefly together before he went on, “ . . . and since he seems to be a very persistent yet conscientious person . . . he could be down there too.”

The A-Shift exchanged glances among themselves.  All of them had at some point in their career come into contact with Dixie and were startled to learn that she could be the victim of a minor earthquake.  But for the paramedics, who had daily contact with the hospital, she was also a friend.

“How much of the basement is torn up?” Roy asked, stepping forward.  “Is there any chance that the ceiling or walls could have collapsed?”

Nathan O’Brien shook his head.  “The ceiling and walls in the little room at the bottom of the stairs were torn out earlier.  It’s the beginning of the project.  There’s only bare boards, plumbing and electrical.  But there’s a lot building materials stored in there before you get to the hallway that leads to the labs.”

Captain Stanley turned to his men.  “All right.  Roy, John and Mike, you start at this end.  Chet, Marco and I’ll take the other.  But be careful and take it easy, we don’t know how unstable any of it is.  We don’t want to send it down on them or us.”

Watching the rescuers give a collective nod of agreement then begin their work, Kel Brackett looked angrily at Nathan O’Brien.  He bit back the words he wanted to say because they would reveal to all that were present something very personal to him. But his mind silently screamed: You took the staff down to nothing . . . to where a head nurse had to run errands . . . maybe one the got her killed . . . so you could meet a building code.  You couldn’t live with the grace period to begin repairs . . . but had to start now.  You couldn’t wait for it to be budgeted . . . you had to look like the great administrator in the eyes of the county . . . God help you and me if anything’s happened to Dixie.

O’Brien saw the doctor glaring at him.  Knowing well the chief of emergency’s temperament, he interpreted the gray eyes glacial glare to be yet another igniting of a short fuse when it came to much of the policy that was being implemented. 

“Don’t worry Kel, I’m sure everything’s going to be all right now that the Fire Department’s here,” the bureaucrat said in a voice of calm of assurance. 

“Maybe, but what if it isn’t?” Kel growled, his voice holding an undertone of the rage he was trying to control.  He could hear the PA summoning him to a treatment room but he was reluctant to tear himself away from both Nathan O’Brien and what the basement might hold.

“They’re playing your song,” O’Brien said, placing a hand against his arm and turning him in the direction of the ER’s activity.  “I’ll wait here and let you know of any developments.”

Kel felt himself pulled by the duty of a waiting patient and the uncertainty of Dixie’s well being.  He looked over his shoulder at the doors that were now propped open to reveal firemen beginning to remove the wreckage.  As he fought against the indecision he felt, a hand came to rest against his shoulder.

“I’ll take care of it Kel,” a gentle voice said.  “You stay here as long as you can.  I can probably get Morton and Lazarin to cover some too.”

Joe Early squeezed his friend’s arm before walking briskly down the hall to treatment room two.

Kel heaved a sigh of relief and once again began an uneasy pacing beside the hospital’s administrator.  Joe had come through and bought him some time until he would have to go back to being a doctor.

***

They had managed to easily clear the landing and first few steps but after that it had been slow going through piles of drywall.  A pipe had also broken and was sprinkling not only them but also the rubble they were trying to remove.

Mike Stoker grasped a strip of insulation that hung before him and tugged at it.  Lowering his head to shield his eyes against the pink fibers that had come loose, he saw some of the stiff strands bounce when they hit the stairs and the puddles of water around them begin to shimmer. 

“Aftershock,” he said, backing away from the wall of wreckage in front of him.  “We gotta get outta here.”

The paramedics working beside him followed suit, until they found themselves standing within the hospital.

***

With water trickling towards them and the bare bulbs of the overhead lighting occasionally flickering when their circuit became disrupted, Dixie and Scott talked in an effort to pass the time until someone found them.  He had gotten his wish to be alone with her but was coming to the conclusion that she was her own woman -- who also had someone in her life that she had cared about for a longtime. 

Dixie found out that he was a part-time student, who was currently majoring in political science, although he was unsure if it was his true calling, and worked several hours a week at an office supply store.  He had grown up in the South Bay area, where his family ran a small but successful business in charter boats.  He spent his weekends ferrying tourists along the coastline and he loved it.

“Did you hear that?” he asked her, glancing toward the clutter that blocked their exit.  “Sounds like there’s some movement up there.”

“I didn’t hear anything but someone should be looking for us by now.”

Straining his ears for any sign that a rescue effort might be in place, Scott felt the floor beneath them move again.   Grasping her hand tightly in his good left one, he on impulse kissed her cheek. 

It’s probably the only chance I’m ever going to get.  We’re gonna die down here, he thought turning his face away from the disaster he saw coming.

Dixie watched in horror as a tall pile of bags containing plaster, that had withstood the initial upheaval, began to sway toward them.  Shifting her position so that her body partially shielded his, she closed her eyes and waited for the heavy sacks to hit them.

***

Waiting had never been one of Kelly Brackett’s stronger points and he soon found himself growing impatient with the firemen’s methodical progress.  Fighting back an urge to bark out orders that might speed things up or start clearing away the debris himself, the doctor finally tore himself away to make a cursory round through his department.  At least performing that action, he didn’t feel as impotent as he did when standing in the hall by the stairway. 

LA’s latest calamity had yet to directly impact the emergency room but had shaken its structure.  Several of the treatment rooms had suffered minor damage along with frightened patients and staff.   But for the most part it was functioning at its usual level of competency. 

Pausing at the base station to listen in on the activity there, two paramedic squads were at different locations and beginning to treat some of the earthquake’s fallout, the unpredictable nature of the planet once again made itself known to him. 

When he no longer felt the earth below him fighting a minor battle with itself, Kel looked at the doctors manning the radios.  “Kent, Mike, can you handle this?”

Mike Morton’s head tilted in an affirmative response, the gossip that existed about the doctor and Dixie had never escaped him so he could take an educated guess as to where Dr. Brackett wanted to be now. 

“We’ve got it Kel.  Why don’t you go see how things are going when it comes to getting Dix and the patient out of the basement?  We’ll let you know if we need you.”

Pressing a finger down on the call button of the radio, Kent Peterson exchanged a shrewd glance with his fellow intern before asking, “Squad 36, are you still with us?”

“10-4 Rampart.  We’re still here and everything continues to be stable.  We’re only waiting for the ambulance, then we’ll transport.”

Hurrying down the hall toward the disaster area he had momentarily tried to leave behind, Kel looked at his watch to see its second hand tick through a little more than thirty minutes since he had first wondered about the uncharacteristic disappearance of the ER’s head nurse.  It felt more like hours.

His step slowed when he saw Johnny and Roy carry out new wreckage.  The once intact walls at the top of the stairs had collapsed after being weakened by the water running down them.

Oh God, Dix.  What if you’re hurt?  I can’t get to you . . . and now it’s going to take even longer. 

Silently, he offered up a prayer to the higher being that he knew must exist.  Waiting was now something he would be forced to endure even longer than he had thought possible.

Coming to stand beside an anxious Nathan O’Brien, whose once calm façade was disappearing given the recent development, Kel resolved to stay there no matter how long it took for him to know what had happened to Dixie.  It was where he belonged -- the hospital and its patients could wait.  In the grand scheme of his life, they mattered very little right now. 

***

“Dixie?” Johnny called, heaving away a piece of drywall.  Pausing to wipe away the sweat that was threatening to make its way into his eyes, he thought he heard a muffled reply.  Holding up a hand to stop the men working beside him, he shouted the nurse’s name again and this time there was no mistaking a response coming from the other side of the barrier. 

Roy heard it too.  Whether it was the nurse or not, he couldn’t be sure.  The words themselves were lost in the buffer created by the debris but there was someone alive in the area at the bottom of the stairs.  The voice could also be weak from injury

“Let’s go,” he said, helping Johnny to shoulder away a heavy ceiling beam that was barring their way.

***

Johnny pushed away the last of the rubble and looked past the threaded rods that blocked his path into Rampart’s basement.  The room was heavy with dust, a bag of cement had burst open, but through it he could make out two figures.  They sat together, neither moving, amidst a jumble of lumber and other building materials.

Reaching for the handy talkie, he informed the men working against the opposite wall, “HT 51, we’ve broken through at this end.” 

When Captain Stanley acknowledge the call, the paramedic hurriedly climbed through the square in the piece of scaffolding that had fallen across the bottom of the stairwell.

Hearing Roy splash through the puddles behind him, Johnny reached Dixie and knelt down to touch her shoulder.  “Dix?  Are you hurt?”

Her eyes opened and she nodded, blinking away the tears she felt gathering due to paramedics’ appearance in the room she had begun to consider a little slice of hell on earth. 

“Scott?  Is he all right?” she asked, her voice faltering somewhat.

“He’s okay,” Roy assured her, easing away the man who had been resting against her and seeing him respond to their presence.

With Johnny’s help she stood up, feeling her legs tingle with the return of the circulation that had been cut off from being bent under Scott’s weight. 

“You sure you’re all right, Dix?” Johnny asked, reaching out a hand to steady her wobbly figure.

“I’m fine.  I just need to get some blood flowing back to my feet.  My friend got a little heavy toward the end.  Scott?”

Turning she saw Roy helping him to his feet.

“I’m fine too Dix,” he told her with a slight grimace.  Looking at the paramedic he added, “I cut my foot this morning and she thinks I’ve got a dislocated shoulder . . . and it hurts like you wouldn’t believe, but I’d like to get the hell out of here.  The company was great but this is not a cool place to be.”

“We’re gonna get you out of here,” Roy said moving into a position to help Scott through the litter that cluttered the floor.  “But you’re both gonna have to be patient.  That stairways still got a lot of junk in it and we’ll get you through it.”

“Mike,” Johnny called up the stairwell.  When the engineer’s face was framed within the scaffolding, he said, “We’ve got them and we’re gonna bring them out.  But we’re going to take it slow.  The male victim has a probable dislocated shoulder.”

Mike nodded.  Seeing dried blood covering the hand that was held out to him, he took Dixie’s wrist to begin extricating her while the paramedics assisted Scott. 

***

Mike Stoker guided Dixie until she stood in the hospital’s hallway.  Among the elated whistles, shouts and backslapping of the assembled staff who had been awaiting the outcome of the rescue, she saw Kel Brackett watching her from where he stood with Nathan O’Brien. 

The water leaking from the ruptured pipe had caused the dust that streaked her face and uniform to become grimy.  There was also an ugly bloody scrape marring her left cheek, but she was steadily walking toward him on her own.  Kel felt himself exhale heavily, as if he had been holding his breath since the ordeal had begun.  She was alive. 

Briefly he glanced at the administrator who stood clapping with the others at the emergence of Dixie and the male patient.  Today’s events had led him to believe that it was time to resume his war against the red tape created by the administrative intellect.  But it could wait for another day -- right now there was a woman whom he wanted take care of.

Taking a firm hold of Dixie’s arm and placing his free hand against the small of her back, the hospital gossips be damned when it came to his display of concern, he began to lead her down the hall toward a treatment room. 

“Come on, I want to have a look at you.”

“No,” she stated matter-of-factly, placing her feet firmly against the floor to stop their progress.  Looking back to the basement’s entrance she saw Scott Carter standing between the paramedics and watching the doctor try to take her away.  “He’s hurt a lot worse than I am and needs somebody to look at his shoulder . . . and Kel, he probably saved my life.”

The last was said softly, but it was something he could not ignore. 

Glancing from her to Scott Carter, he felt his gaze settle upon gray-blue eyes that were much like his own and revealed a comprehension of how important the nurse was to him.  Breaking away from them, he noticed Joe Early standing at the fringe of the crowd that had gathered in the hallway.

“Joe, can you take care of him?  He’s had a rough time of it when it comes to being a patient at Rampart today.”

Seeing Early nod, Kel once again began to lead Dixie away, asking, “What happened Dix?”

***

When she was seated on the table of treatment room four, Kel conducted his examination while he listened to her tell the story of what had taken place.  His thoughts offered up a silent “thank you” to the God that had spared her from nothing more than some cuts and bruises.

Wrapping gauze around the pads he had placed on her lacerated right hand, he said teasingly, “You know I’m going to tell you to get out of here and go home.”

“And you know that I’m stubborn so I’ll keep working because other than being a little shaken up, I’m fit for duty,” Dixie grinned back at him. “Besides with everything that’s gone on, you’re probably going to need every pair of nursing hands you can get . . . even if one of them has a bandage on it.”

Kel laughed, seeing the mischief in her blue eyes.  There was no way he could argue with her about that point and she was already dedicated to returning to work -- she would have it her own way no matter what he said.  But as he took in the scraped cheek that he had disinfected and the dirty uniform she wore, he became somber.

He pushed away some damp strands of hair that had come loose from the barrette that normally confined them.  A room that anyone could walk into was probably not the best place for him to find an outlet for the emotions that he had held in check for so long, but he knew he couldn’t leave it until later and he put his hands on her shoulders.

“Oh my God, Dix . . . I was so afraid of what might have happened to you down in the basement . . . I wanted to get in there with the firemen and dig you out and strangle O’Brien all at the same time . . . But all I could do was wait.”

Sitting in front of him, Dixie buried her head against his chest.  “I was afraid too . . . I didn’t know what was going on upstairs and I was worried you could have been hurt or killed,” she said, her arms going around him.

For a moment they held each other then Kel lifted her face to see the tears that were running down it.  He carefully wiped them away then cupped her chin in his palm.  “We both survived LA’s latest earthquake.  We’re all right.”

Dixie lips curved into a smile that he knew so well: the one that did not belong to patients, other doctors or paramedics, but to him alone. 

“I love you Kel . . . and by the grace of God, we can still be together tonight.”

Leaning toward her, he thought of his Valentine’s Day plans.  Tonight he would make all of it up to her: what had happened to her today along with the years that they had kept each other at arms length because of the mistakes that had been made in the past.

With her mouth nearing his own, he heard his presence urgently being requested at the base station.

“Damn,” he muttered giving her lips a quick peck before helping her down from the table.

“I’m going to clean up and change into my spare uniform,” she said, squeezing his arm as they walked together toward the door that when opened would take them back to their professional roles of a doctor and nurse, “but it won’t take long.  I’ll see you again in a few minutes, Doctor.”

Their paths diverging when they entered the hall, Kel glanced back at her and seeing her look over her shoulder at him, he flashed her a parting smile.  They were now the team they formed as colleagues.

***

A man in his early twenties, dressed in polyester slacks and a shirt made of the shiny material favored by rock stars entered Rampart Emergency looking for the roommate that he had earlier dropped off.  Spying the man in question sitting in a corner chair of the waiting room, thumbing through a magazine with his right arm firmly strapped to his side, the visitor rushed up to him. 

“Man, what happened?  When I left you here, I thought it was your foot not your arm that was hurt!”

Scott Carter dropped the magazine at the sound of the voice he had been waiting to hear for longer than he could remember and said icily, “Anthony, where the hell have you been?  I’ve had to hang around here for hours and I’ve gotta say it isn’t the best place to be kept waiting in.”

Anthony’s curious expression became one of pure guilt and he ran a nervous hand through his auburn hair.  “Well, it’s like this . . . Ramona and I had lunch then I called Peaches.  The store was so slow that they didn’t want me to come in, so her and I went to her place for a while . . . then there was a little rock ‘n roll that made the freeway a parking lot so . . .”

“Whatever,” Scott said, going to the desk to sign his name against the line that for the time being would set him free of the hospital.  He would need to come back for a follow-up examination to see how his shoulder was healing but at least it was a week away.  He had already come to the conclusion that he would take a bus or a cab to that appointment.  His roommate was not to be trusted when it came to shuttle service.

“But man, what happened to your arm?” Anthony asked.

Scott dropped the pen he had awkwardly held in his left hand, hearing a nurse behind the counter wish him well, before he turned a hostile gaze toward Anthony. 

“That ‘rock ‘n roll’ you felt was an earthquake and I had an accident here during it so now I’ve got a dislocated shoulder to go along with a tetanus shot and my sore foot.  Because I was waiting for you,” he bitterly informed his friend.

Anthony’s eyes widened in surprise.  “Holy shit!  What happened?”

Nearing his office that was located at the edge of the waiting room Kel Brackett saw the patient who had joined him for lunch and had also been with Dixie in the basement preparing to leave. Although he knew it was foolish, the doctor felt some relief that there would no longer be someone else in the hospital vying for the nurse’s attention when it came to the romantic.  He had to admit to a certain amount of jealousy when he learned that the wilted rose she was trying to revive in a glass of water on the base station desk had been brought to her by the young man.  He had wanted to do the same but had instead left the flowers for later so that the ER’s staff couldn’t speculate about them. 

But he also felt a deep a sense of gratitude and came to a quick decision.

“Scott,” he called out to the figure that was walking as quickly as he could toward the exit. 

Hearing his name echoing a few decibels above the hubbub of the waiting area that was rapidly becoming crowded, Scott turned to see a man wearing a long white coat descending upon him.  Warily he approached the doctor, thinking that he might not have been released from the hospital’s clutches after all.

When they stood facing each other, Kel crossed his arms over his chest while his mind struggled to get right the words he wanted to say.  These were the kind of moments that he was always the most uncomfortable with, when he had let down his tough professional mask in front of a total stranger. 

Seeing Scott uneasily waiting for him to say something, he finally stammered out, “I just wanted . . . I just wanted to thank you for protecting Dixie . . . She could have been badly hurt or killed if . . . if you hadn’t thrown yourself over her.”

The features surrounded by long dark hair lost their apprehension and the mouth beneath the mustache spread into a wide grin.  “It was no problem Doc.  I get the distinct impression that you would’ve done the same.  We both know she’s quite a lady who probably every now and then needs some looking after.”

Yes, she is and sometimes . . . she needs that little bit of extra attention, Kel said to himself, shaking the left hand that was held out to him before turning toward his office.

“What was that all about?” Anthony asked when his friend limped back to him.

“Well, you see there was this nurse that made all of this bearable . . . a very hot woman.  I tell you man, she’s not only good lookin’ but also a real sweetheart.  But I think she’s got this thing going with --,” Scott began as he stepped through the door and it closed behind him.

***

Looking for Dixie, Nurse Betty Farrington made her way through the mayhem that was currently reigning in Rampart’s emergency department.  When the head nurse had asked if she could cover the last part of her shift, Betty had agreed to it.  Although she did not partake in the daily gossip that was churned out within the hospital, she could guess at the reason behind the request.  Lately, Dixie and Dr. Brackett were more like the people she had first started working with, something more than friends or colleagues passing between them.

And it is Valentine’s Day, the nurse thought as she caught sight of Dixie helping to steer a gurney toward the elevator.

“I’ve got it Dix, you get out of here,” Betty said, falling into step beside her.

It had taken a little while for the effects of the minor earthquake to catch up with the hospital, but when they did the emergency room became filled with those wanting treatment, for both the minor and the severe.  With their steady demands, Dixie had forgotten that she had asked Betty to fill in later for her today.

When the gurney halted to wait for the elevator, Dixie turned to the other nurse.  “Betty, am I ever glad to see you.”

Betty started to smile but instead took a step back from her superior.  “Dix, what happened to you?”

Dixie’s features became puzzled for an instant before she remembered the scrape on her cheek, under which she could sometimes feel a bruise beginning swell.  “I had a little accident in the basement during the earthquake.”

“But I thought the quake was minor.  When it woke me up and I called in here they said everything was under control.”

“It probably was at that point except for the basement under this part of the hospital is a disaster area.  If you have to go down there, use the back stairs.”

Seeing the silver elevator doors open, Dixie began to push the gurney forward while the attendant backed it into the enclosure.

“I can handle it from here, Ms. McCall.  Thanks for helping me get her through the crowd,” he told her as she stepped inside to push the button for the third floor.

Nodding and slipping through the closing doors, Dixie turned back to Betty who was saying, “The basement, our beloved administrator’s brain child . . . just goes to show you what kind of minds are running this place.”

Dixie laughed and gave the nurse she occasionally shared a “gripe session” with an understanding nod. “Uh huh.  And given its current state, the project has probably exceeded its budget before it even got started.  I can see them trying to figure a way to keep the entire hospital running with one nurse, one doctor and maybe an orderly.”

 “Well, I’m here and ready to take over for you.  So why don’t you get take off.”

Dixie saw the crush of people filling the hall and shook her head.  “Betty, look around you.  Do you really think I can leave right now?”

“But Dix . . .”

Dixie began to walk with her toward the base station, saying, “But it’s a good thing you came in early.  We’re under staffed so the extra help is welcome.  And I’ll make sure that O’Brien pays you for the overtime.”

***

Loosening his tie and prying the top button of his shirt away from its hole, Kel walked out of the hospital with Dixie.  Passing just beyond the ambulance bay doors, he stopped to turn over his wrist for a look at his watch and he felt his shoulders sag in defeat.  Dixie stood beside him, waiting for him to take her out on the date that he had meticulously planned for tonight until Rampart had gotten the best of him.

“Dix, it’s about 6:55.  We’re supposed to be at Strings in a few minutes, but I don’t think either of us are dressed for it,” he said fingering her uniform collar while considering his own limp shirt and tie.  “And the florist closed over an hour ago.  The bottle of wine’s sitting at home . . . Antonin Rodet, one of your favorites.  Maybe you should have taken that kid up on his invitation to Venice Beach . . . he probably could have gotten it right.”

She looked up at him, seeing a man who was tired from the grueling hours he spent managing patient care, a department, supervising residents and interns, along with the paperwork that continually stacked up on his desk.  And who had today tried to plan something special for her until Mother Nature had interfered.

“Scott wasn’t my type,” she told him. “I prefer my men a little older.  They’ve got more experience when it comes to planning a night of romance.” 

The parking areas’ lights illuminated the grin that was spreading across her features and she placed her hand in his.  He could feel his own lips twitching toward a faint smile.  Her words and the warmth of her hand in his, mitigating some of the disappointment he felt.

“You know what?  I’ve got an idea,” she informed him.

“And what is that?”

“Why don’t you take me home?  We can stop by the Red Corral and pick up some dinner if you don’t mind Chinese.  I’ve got a bottle of wine and maybe we both can just relax for a while.”

Looking down at her, Kel knew she was waiting for him to make the final decision of how they would spend the evening and he felt himself once again growing frustrated by what their work sometimes demanded of them.  Shaking his head, he thought, Why couldn’t it allow us one special night out on a special day . . . a “date” rather overtime?

“Damn it, Rae,” he finally said, using her middle name that had long ago become his affectionate label when they were alone, and he tore himself away from the blue eyes that did not hold any expectations.  “It’s Valentine’s Day.  You deserve better from me . . . we’ve gone through so much to get here.  I wanted to it to be a night with some class . . . something different than you just deciding between red or green chili on a burrito . . . or take out Chinese versus take out pizza . . . because I love you and always have.”

Dixie’s hand tightened its hold on his.  “February 14th is just another day on the calendar.  When you love somebody, Valentine’s Day can come at any time.  I can surprise you any day of the week with the new dress that’s hanging in my closet.”

Listening to her, Kel felt himself begin to smile and the disenchantment he felt over the day’s outcome slip away.  She had a way of turning it all around into something that could be looked forward to tomorrow or maybe even the next day.  Disregarding the fact that they were clearly visible to anyone who may be watching from the hospital, he took her in his arms and kissed her.

“I love you D,” she whispered against his ear, falling into her own pet name for him -- the middle initial of Dr. Kelly David Brackett.

“I love you too,” he said, feeling her bandaged hand graze his cheek. Tonight would never be as he planned it, but the gauze that met his face served as a simple reminder of how differently the day might have gone.    To be able to spend time with her was what really mattered.

“Come on, let me take you away from Rampart for a while.  I’ll buy us some dinner from the Red Corral,” he said dropping an arm around her shoulders and steering her away from the hospital. 

***

Roy and Johnny stood at opposite sides of the squad, preparing to climb through its doors but their attention was diverted to the couple that stood in the distance.  The lights illuminating the area around the emergency room entrance captured Dr. Brackett and Dixie in a moment that was quite different from their professional personas.  When they turned to walk away from the hospital, Johnny finally slid into his seat.

“Do you have any doubts about how Brackett and Dix are spending tonight?” he asked his partner who had climbed behind the wheel and was starting the truck.

“No.”

“But nobody needs to know about this but you and me,” Johnny said firmly.  “Whatever there is between them doesn’t need anybody adding any more rumors to it.”

Roy looked over at the shadow of Johnny’s features, then grasped the hand that was held out to him.  They were in agreement when it came to what they had inadvertently witnessed and it was secret that would never go further than the two of them. 

***

Kel Bracket opened his eyes to the gray light of dawn, finding himself in a room that he hadn’t been invited into for years. 

He remembered eating dinner and splitting a bottle of wine with Dixie, after which she had taken his hand to lead him down the hall toward her bedroom.  Helping each other undress, they had only been two tired people who sought rest under the thick comforter that was spread across her bed.  He had quickly fallen asleep within her circling arms, his head on her shoulder.

Sometime during the night they had reversed positions and her head now lay upon his chest, her long dark blond hair cascading over the arm he had around her.  She wore a nightgown that had been laundered many times; its small blue flowers against a white background beginning to fade.  But in the murky light that spread through the room, he found it to be quite lovely.  He marveled at the fact that she was actually asleep beside him.

Dixie felt someone holding her and instinctively drew to closer to the body that lay next to hers, feeling a drowsy contentment she had only really known when sleeping with one person.  For a moment she wondered if she was dreaming and that she might truly wake up to find herself alone.  But beneath her cheek, she could feel the gentle rise and fall of someone breathing; the strong arm that embraced her was not a product of her imagination but very real. 

Slowly she opened her eyes, raising them so that she could see him.  Kel was lying awake in bed with her.

“Good morning,” he said, kissing the top of her head.

“Mmm, this is nice,” she murmured, stretching slightly so that her cheek came to rest next to his.   Her hand found its way beneath the T-shirt he wore and began to caress the hair that covered his chest, while her lips moved across the five o’clock shadow his jaw wore. 

Kel’s mouth sought out hers, but he could also feel himself becoming aroused by her touch. It was not all that long ago that he had expressed a desire for physical contact that did not consist merely of a kiss or an embrace.  However Dixie’s refusal, her desire to wait until she felt it wouldn’t complicate matters more, had caused them to fight.  The argument had proven to be the catalyst for the realization that they must work together in order to succeed when it came being more than friends or colleagues.  But lying in bed with her now, feeling her hands touch him in a way that they hadn’t in such a longtime, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to deny his reaction much longer.

With a groan, he broke away from her and propped himself up on an elbow so that he could see her.  In her expression, he saw surprise that he had pulled away from her.

“Rae,” he said tenderly, running a finger lightly over the contours of her face. “What do you want right now?  I don’t want to lose you . . . because of what I might be feeling.  I can very easily get out of bed and go make us some coffee.”

She looked at his tousled hair that leant a certain boyish charm to his usually weary features.  His voice was also filled with a consideration that put whatever she might need ahead of his own desires.  Slowly her lips lost the slight frown they were wearing and became one of pure delight. 

“I don’t want you to go make coffee right now,” she told him lovingly, her right hand reaching out to him.  “I’d rather have the true touch of romance.”

Kel took the bandaged hand and kissed its fingers.  Reestablishing their relationship had sometimes been a struggle but it had brought about a better one than they had before.  They had come together as a couple -- this romantic interlude was a gift that did not require planning but only loving someone.

“Well, like you said, when cupid strikes I guess it doesn’t matter what day of the week it is. I love you.”

“And I love you, D,” she murmured before she pressed her mouth against his and their bodies began a passionate rediscovery of each other.

***

When Dixie returned to the hospital on Saturday, she found very little had changed since she had left it forty-eight hours ago.  The ER was still understaffed and the basement remained a mess. 

Par for the course, she said to herself, the complaints of nurses reaching her ears while she was changing in the locker room.  It would take time for all that to sort itself out but after her days off, the only downside she could find in returning to work was the fact that she and Kel had opposite shifts.  She was beginning a night duty schedule while he was still working the day shift rotation.  Their time together in the coming week would be minimal.

Approaching the base station desk, she saw a vase filled with flowers sitting on it.  The card’s corner held the name of a florist who was well known for beautiful but expensive bouquets.

Somebody has excellent taste in flowers, she thought, assuming that they had been delivered for a patient.  Nobody’s probably had time to take them to whatever room they belong in.

Since the ER was quiet, she decided she’d run them upstairs herself.  Removing the card from the prongs that held it within the array of pink, lavender and white lilies, her favorite flowers, she looked for a room number.  Her eyes opened wide in amazement when she saw her own name printed across the envelope.

Tearing it open, she read the short note it contained.

Dixie felt herself blushing and wearing what she knew must be a silly grin when she slid the card into her uniform pocket so that she could read it again later.  The doctor’s romantic, not to mention bold, gesture had not only surprised but touched her.  She had no doubt that Rampart Emergency was probably buzzing with rumors of who might have sent her flowers.   But she could live with any speculation there -- she always had and probably always would.    What they might think, she knew. Dr. Kelly David Brackett could be a very suave, sophisticated and romantic man.

Author’s Note: What story could be complete without thanking those who helped the author through it?  So here is my heart felt gratitude to those who went through this process with me.  AJM, for reading it along the way while suffering through my fun and frustration when it comes to my creative writing.  God love ya, for staying with me through the best of times and the worst of times!  MSC, for your thoughts and comments that made the story better.  Your insight into the characters was invaluable!  Audrey, for providing a place to post and read Kel/Dix stories which is wonderful unto itself!  And last but by no way least, Alexandra and Terri.  Throughout the years, the two of you are always wonderful!