Stuck With You
Part One
By Céindreadh
ceindreadh@eircom.net

This contains slight spoilers for ‘Viable Options’, ‘Match made in Heaven’

Cleo could see the doors to the elevator start to close. Although she was in no particular hurry to finish her break and get back to the ER she instinctively started sprinting towards them. Gracefully she squeezed through the shrinking space and barely stopped herself from colliding with the rear of the car. With a sigh of satisfaction she turned to hit the controls then jumped when a voice from the side of the car said “Are you always in this much of a hurry Dr Finch?”

Dr. Romano was standing unobtrusively at the side of the car. 

Cleo inwardly cursed at the whim that had driven her to run for the elevator.

You could have had a leisurely stroll down the stairs she told herself, but oh no, you had to show off your speed and now you’re stuck with the little weasel.  Still at least it’s only a short ride down.

Cleo had managed to avoid him since he had revoked her prescription writing privileges. Oh it was so humiliating to have to ask other people to write out scripts for her. It was all right for Peter, he wrote fewer prescriptions in a week than she did in a single shift. She had been so furious with him over the incident not to mention his half-assed apology. But when she saw him standing in her apartment looking so sheepish she had relented.

“Are you going down?” Romano’s voice broke into her thoughts. 

“Just to the ER.”

 He pressed the button. They stood in uncomfortable silence. At least Cleo was uncomfortable. Romano was enjoying her discomfort. He was about to made a caustic comment when suddenly the elevator lurched to a stop and the lights went out.

Cleo was flung into Romano’s arms by the force of the jolt. A few seconds later the emergency lights came on. “Why Cleo this is so sudden,” said Romano. He had instinctively grabbed her to stop her falling further. Where he had grabbed her had been a happy accident. That was his story and he was sticking to it.

“Let go of me you…,” said Cleo angrily. 

“Careful what you say. After all I am your boss.” He let go of her abruptly and she almost lost her balance.

“There must have been a power failure or something,” said Romano.

He picked up the emergency phone. A technician on the other end informed him that yes there was indeed a power failure, no there was no danger, and yes they were working to get people out the lifts. “We’ll get to you as soon as possible, but lifts with patients in them have priority.”

“Do you know who you’re talking to?  I’m the chief of staff for this hospital. I have an important surgery scheduled to start in thirty minutes. I need to be out of here in ten. Do you understand?”

In spite of Romano’s rantings the technician was unable to offer him any reassurances.

Finally he hung up the phone and turned to Cleo. 

“Well looks like we’re going to be stuck here for a while,” he glowered.

“I’m sure Dr. Corday will be able to cover for you,” said Cleo. 

Romano noticed the slight sneer in her voice at the mention of Lizzie. “Hmm,” he thought to himself. “This could be interesting.”

Out loud he said, “The ‘surgery’ involves the delicate sectioning and ingestion of a fillet steak, lubricated with vintage champagne and the careful application of a selection of desserts. I have no intention of allowing <anyone> to cover for me,”

Cleo looked puzzled for a moment. “You’re going out to dinner,”

“Got it in one.”

“But you told the technician you had surgery,”

“Duh. These guys have their own priorities. If I told them anything else we’d be the last ones to be let out. Do you want to be stuck here all night?”

“Hell no,”

“I admire your honesty. Now we can either make ourselves comfortable and have some civilised conversation or you can stand there and ignore me. Either way is fine by me.”

As he spoke he removed his coat and sat down. 

Cleo considered the two options. Neither was particularly to her liking. A third option, that of picking Romano up by his ankles and banging his head on the floor, while likely to be more satisfying, would probably not do a lot for her career. She sighed as she removed her lab coat and used it to cushion from the hard floor, wishing as she did so that she had worn a less low cut top. But then she had been expecting to be spending time with Peter rather than Romano.

"Isn’t this pleasant,” said Romano

“Yeah I guess,”

“Don’t be so negative.  I’m the one who’s missing out on dinner.  Although I must admit this has its compensations.”

Cleo glared at him.

Romano continued “So what’s this animosity I sense between you and Lizzie Corday.”

“I think my professional relationships are none of your business.”

“Everything, and I mean everything that happens in this hospital is my business. But if it makes you feel better about telling tales, I promise that what you say in this elevator will stay in this elevator. All I ask is that you promise the same.”

Cleo looked doubtful. Most of what she knew of Romano came via Peter, and he was a bit biased towards the man. Oh what the hell she thought.

“Ok.”

“So I ask again, what’s the deal with you and Lizzie?”

“There’s no deal. I didn’t agree with her assessment of a patient of mine, so I got a second opinion, which differed, from hers.   She got annoyed and that’s the end of it.”

Romano considered this for a few moments. According to the OR reports Dr. Benton had been all ready to operate on an ER patient when Lizzie took over. This could be interesting he thought.

Out loud he said “So do you always get Dr. Benton when you need a ‘second opinion’?”

Cleo could hear the leer in his voice. Damm she thought. She hadn’t wanted to bring Peter into the conversation.

“If Dr Benton is on call, then yes I would call on him. We work well together.”

I’ll bet you do thought Romano. He had had his suspicions regarding the two of them for a while. 

He was about to make a comment when the elevator lurched and the full lights came on. 

“About time,” said Cleo, relieved that her inquisition was over.

The elevator reached the next floor down and stopped.

“Well Dr Finch, I would say it’s been an enjoyable ride, but I pride myself on my honesty. Of course anything you’ve said will be blotted from my mind as soon as part company.”

The doors finally opened.

“Good night Dr. Romano,” said Cleo barely able to suppress her irritation at him.

“Good night Dr. Finch. Enjoy the rest of your shift.”

They went their separate ways. Cleo hoping that no one would find out that she had been stuck in the elevator with Romano.

Romano thought to himself as he headed for the stairs. “Lets see, Cleo and Lizzie hate each other. Cleo is dating Benton who used to date Lizzie. Oh I’m going to get a lot of mileage out of this. La la la la do dee do .. happy happy.” He whistled as he walked.

THE END

Author’s note:
Ok thanks to Bizwoman on alt.tv.er for her contribution to the list of things we’ll never hear Romano say.