DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT own these characters of ER. Even though I do share a lot of Lucy’s qualitiess and have her knack when it comes tochildren, these characters belong to Warner Bros and NBC.
“A Knight Of Faith”
It had been a very long and slow-moving night at County General. I was just about to shove the last bit of paperwork out the window, when I heard the sound that is pure music to any doctor’s ears when a slow night creeps up on her when she’d rather be saving someone’s life or helping out in a really massive trauma case that requires the whole team plus some to make it turn out positively in the end. It was an ambulance. And from the look of things, it seemed like it was one of those traumas that could possibly take all night to finish up. Those kind of traumas were the kind that I normally regretted, but not tonight. Tonight I thanked God for making my wish come true. Not that I was thanking him for people being injured, mind you, it was just that now I wouldn’t have to be sitting in the lounge doing paperwork after paperwork for what seemed like forever. Now, I would be able to feel the adrenelin pumping as I raced aginst the clock to save a person’s life. Every new doctor’s thrill. And since I had only been a doctor for a year and a couple of months, it was like going to a potluck dinner everytime a new massive trauma rolled in on the spir of the moment during a slow night such as this one.
“Lucy, we need your help!” Dr. Greene said as he ran into the lounge and shoved the stack of papers aside.
As he pulled me to my feet and started out the door, he explained what I was about to get myself into.
“We’ve got a little girl about the age of 4 or 5 coming in with abdominal pain, and persisted vomiting, and high fever. Might be a possible poisoning or abuse by the parents.”
“Oh, great!” I said with a sigh as I followed Dr. Greene out of the ambulance bay where an ambulance was in the process of unloading sick and otherwise injured passengers.
From all the screaming, crying, and commotion that was brewing, I could hear someone calling my name. It didn’t sound like one of my co-workers, or my boyfriend, John Carter. It sounded more like a frightened parent.
“I need Dr. Knight!” the frantic woman was saying to Jeanie, who was trying to take charge of the situation. “My baby girl is dying! Please get Dr. Knight! Please! She helped me when I needed a heart transplant, I-I’m sure she can help my little Kirsten feel better. Please! Get Dr. Knight! Just get Dr. Knight!”
“All right, ma’am. Just relax and I’ll see if I can find her. Lydia, can you find Lucy for me and tell her to come here right away, please?”
“Sure thing, Jeanie.”
“Meanwhile, let’s get you and Kirsten into an available exam room until Dr. Knight can examine her, okay?”
The woman nodded and follwed Jeanie into the hospital entrace. As they came around the side, I noticed who the woman was and stopped her right away. “Valerie, is that you?” I replied with a half smile of amazement as to what my handywork had done a couple months ago when she so desperately needed a heart transplant in order to survive. “You look great!”
“Lucy, good thing I found you. This woman requested that you take a look at her daughter. She’s been vomiting for two days straight and can’t keep anything down. She’s had a fever of 103.6 since 9:43 last night.”
“Okay, let’s take a look. Follow me, please.”
“Sh-she’s my niece actually. I-I’m babysitting her until my sister, Karen, comees back from the Bahamas.”
“Don’t worry, Valerie. I’m gonna do everything in my power to help her get better. I promise.”
“After what you’ve done for me, Dr. Knight, I have no doubt that you will be able to help my little Kirsten feel better again.”
“So that’s her name?”
“Yeah, I helped Karen pick it out.”
“It’s very pretty. HI, Kirsten. My name is Dr. Knight, or you can call me Lucy if you like. I’m gonna try and help your tummy feel better, okay?” The small child nodded and squeezed Valerie’s hand tighter as I began listening to her heart with the gold and pink stethoscope that John had given me two Christmases ago.
“Lucy’s your first name, right?” Valerie asked as she tried to start a small conversation to keep her mind off what was going on with her niece.
“Yup. It’s actually Lucy Chasity Knight, but I prefer Lucy Knight. Even thought I like my middle name a lot. I just think it’s kind of weird.”
“I think it’s very pretty.” Valerie replied as she stood up to stretch her legs.
“Why thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Her stomach feels a little tender on the right side and also her skin color looks a little off.”
“Is that bad?” Valerie asked as she sat back down and pulled a piece of gum out of her pocket.
“Sort of, but not really. I have to draw some blood first and run a few tests before I can determine anything specific or even get to the root of the problem, okay?
“I-I guess. Isn’t that going to hurt?”
“I’ll be extra gentle, Valerie. I promise. I’ll be right back.”
“All right. We’ll be here.”
I smiled as I walked out of the room and down the hall towards the lab to get CBC kit and Kirsten’s old chart if there were any.
“Hey, Luce!” Carter replied as he ran up beside me and gave me a kiss on the cheek.
“Hey, John. What’s up?”
“Nothing much. You got a lot of patients, sweetheart?”
“No. Not really. I have one. A little girl with abdominal pain, fever, and vomiting in exam 4, and Jesse’s wating for me to go up to de-tox with him after I get done with this case, but that’s about it. Why?”
“Oh, I was just wondering.”
“Oh, okay. I’ll see you later then.”
“You bet.”
* * * * * * ** * * *
As I walked back down the hall towards exam room 4, I smiled to myself. I was feeling pretty good despite everything that was going on. For one thing, I was getting more chances than ever to chanve people’s lives for the better, and from the stand-point of Valerie coming to for help a second time and trusting me with her niece, made me feel like I was one of a kind. I entered the room to find Valerie reading one of Aurora’s Little Mermaid books to Kirsten as the young child tried to fall asleep. “I’m back,” I whispered as I closed th door gently and took a seat next to Valerie.
“I was just trying to help her get some rest. She hasn’t slept well since this bug or whatever it is hit her.”
“I understand. I’ve had my share of the flu and stomach bugs, and let me tell you, their not fun.”
“Do you have to do those blood tests now?”
“Yup. I’m sorry you have to wake her up.” I replied sincerely as I prepared to do the CBC. “Aw, it’s all right. I’d rather see her get better than stay the way she is and possibly get worse.”
“That’s the way you have to look at it,” I replied as I gently took Kirsten away from Valerie and put her on the exam table so that I could get the CBC over with as quickly as possible. “All right, Kirsten,” I said gently as I began to stroke her hair to calm her down, “I need you to relax and not pull away when the needle goes in, okay?”
The girl nodded and tried to be brave.
“That’s a girl,” I replied as I stuck the needle in her arm and began to pump the blood out into a little cylinder tube so that the lab wouldn’t have a problem when they checked it for any viruses. “You’re doin’ great!” I replied as I grinned down at her. “Just a couple more seconds, sweetie. There! It’s done. You were so brave.” I replied as I capped the tube and threw the needle away in the waste basket.
“Is there a phone I could use?” Valerie asked as she gave Kristen a kiss and hugged her close.
“Yeah, there’s a phone right out there.”
“Kirsten, it’s okay. Aunt Valerie will be right back. Can you stay with her, Lucy?”
“Sure. That’s fine. Take as long as you need. The results of the blood tests won’t be back for at least two and a half hours, so you have plenty of time.”
“Two and a half hours!” Valerie gasped. “Wh-what if she gets worse by then?”
“She won’t. I won’t let that happen. I’m gonna give her fluids through an IV, which I”ll put in, and that will keep her hydrated until I find out what’s going on. Or until she can keep some juice down. Whichever comes first.”
“I cannot thank you enough, Dr. Knight. You’ve done so much for us.”
“It’s really my pleasure to help, Valerie. That’s why I became a doctor. So I could make a difference in people’s lives for the better.”
“Well, you’ve certainly done that.” Valerie replied as she smiled fondly at me.
“Go and make your phone call,” I told her woth a caring smile.
“She’ll be fine here with me. I promise.”
“Okay, I’ll be right back.”
I nodded as I watched Valerie go down the hall. A few minutes later, Dr. Kovac came into the room and smiled at Kirsten, then turned to me.
“Uh, Lucy, do you want me to go up with Jesse to de-tox since you are in the middle of taking care of this case.”
“Would you, Dr. Kovac? That would mean so much to me if you could help me out.”
“No problem. I’m glad to help. Have you seen Carol anywhere?”
“Yeah, As a matter of fact, I saw her in the lounge just before the ambulance pulled up.”
“Thanks a lot, Lucy.”
“Yup. No problem.” I waved to Luka as he left n search of Carol and then turned back to Kirsten who was half asleep on the hospital bed.
* * * * * * * * * *
After I got Kirsten settled and checked on Valerie in chairs, I went to take a break. It had been quite a long day and night ,and I was ready to go to drop. A few minutes after I had reached the lounge, Dr. Chen came in and glared at me.
“What did I do?” I asked as I tried not to glare back. “Did I forgetto co-sign a chart?”
“No. You just left a patient waiting out in chairs for two and a half hours.”
“That’s not a patient. Tha’s Valerie Page. Her niece is in exam 5, and Jeanie’s staying with her until the lab results come back. Valerie’s her aunt.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Lucy. I-I didn’t know.”
“That’s right, you didn’t know. So, next time don’t make assumptions about my patients or accuse me of doing something I didn’t do. It’s really not right.”
“Sorry. I’ll check next time.”
“You do that.” I replied as I glared at her as she left. After Dr. Chen had left the room, I closed my eyes and tried to catch a few minutes worth of sleep before the next patient came in.
The End