TITLE: Ribbon of Glass

AUTHOR: Pebbles

FEEDBACK PLEASE! pebbles@ukgateway.net

RATING: Over 13? Some bad language.

DISCLAIMER: : ER and its characters are the property of Warner Bros.
Entertainment, Amblin Television, NBC, Michael Crichton and Constant C
Productions. There is no copyright infringement intended. This has been
written purely for the enjoyment of ER fans everywhere. I am receiving no
monetary compensation for my work. These ideas belong to this author and in
no way reflect the values or intentions of the creators and writers of ER.

: Sophie O’Neill & Simon Tweedale are my own inventions.

A huge ‘thank you’ to - Chris - for her help with beta reading this

Part 11

Christmas Day

7.45am

From his vantage point beside the board, Luka watched Sophie’s arrival in the ER with keen interest. It wasn’t just her incongruous appearance in Dolce & Gabbana sunglasses together with full-length winter coat and soft velvet hat pulled down hard. It was the way she was hugging the wall as she made her way cautiously from the entrance towards the doctor’s lounge. She had almost succeeded in passing him when he called out to her.

"Sophie!" He might have been amused to see the way that she started at his raised voice were it not that she was very late for her shift and obviously in no condition to start work. She altered course abruptly and weaved her way towards him, looking even less steady away from the support of the wall.

"Dr Kovac?" Her voice was a hoarse whisper.

"What time do you call this?" He allowed his voice to return to a normal level, noticing the way that she had winced at his first call.

"Late?" Sophie was swaying slightly as she stood before him, her head bowed.

"You could say that." He couldn’t believe that she had turned up for work in this state and was at a loss as how best to handle it. "It appears that you are also drunk."

"No!"

She had the nerve to deny it! Luka looked away as if something or someone could give him inspiration as to how to proceed. Looking back to Sophie again he abruptly took her elbow. "Come with me." He instructed and led her quickly to the nearest empty examination room. He closed the door behind them and turned to face Sophie who was now leaning against the bed for support.

"I think you’d better sit down before you fall down." He watched as she carefully unzipped her overcoat and deliberately laid it out over the end of the bed. She then took off her hat revealing an uncombed mop of ebony hair and placed it on top of the folded coat. He tried not to smile when he saw that the buttons of her blouse were all done up wrong leaving one side hanging down below the other.

"Take off the glasses." Just one thought of how she had probably gotten in this drunken condition took all the humour out of Luka’s mind. Sophie eased them carefully off her face and stood squinting in the bright fluorescent lighting. Dark circles under her eyes making them looked even larger in her small face than they normally did.

"And you tell me that you’re not drunk?" Luka scowled.

"No," She shook her head. "I can’t be. I only had two glasses of champagne!" Sophie swallowed, trying to force back the nausea that kept threatening to overwhelm her. "It’s probably just a migraine or some virus…"

"Have you ever had a migraine before?" Luka interrupted her.

"No - but…" Sophie faltered. This argument was just too much for her to handle, feeling as bad as she did. Ever since she had woken up to the screaming of her alarm clock she had felt like her head was going to explode. In fact she probably wouldn’t have even dragged herself into work if it hadn’t been that she didn’t have so much as one Tylenol in the house. And now Dr Kovac was shouting at her! It was too much. She leant over the bed trying to hold her pounding head together with her two hands.

Suddenly Dr Kovac’s large capable hands were helping her up onto the bed and arranging her comfortably upon it. She allowed herself to be manhandled and shut her eyes, only hearing his voice as if through a mound of cotton wool.

"I’d like to draw some blood and set up a drip to re-hydrate you… Sophie?" He seemed to be asking her something.

"OK." She murmured as the darkness came down again.

Luka was worried now. He had assumed that she was drunk but now it looked like it could be something more serious. There was certainly no aroma of alcohol on her breath and if what she said was true… Still, the first test he ordered was for blood alcohol just to be sure. Next he fixed up a saline drip and administered some IV pain medication. Nothing too strong until he had determined what was wrong. He asked Lydia to keep an eye on her and then tried to concentrate on his other patients.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

11.45am

Sophie’s second awakening that morning was marginally less painful than the first, only this time there was a distinctly irate Dr Kovac standing over her instead of a shrieking alarm clock.

"Look at these test results!" He was jabbing his forefinger at some closely printed figures on the chart he held. Sophie screwed up her eyes and tried to focus. As the figures finally registered, she sharply drew in her breath.

"Exactly!" He glared at her. "And you drove in this condition!"

She couldn’t bear to hold his gaze and dropped her eyes from his angry face to concentrate on the scuffmarks on the linoleum floor. She couldn’t think of anything to say either, other than reiterate that she had only had two small glasses of champagne. This was beginning to sound less than convincing even to herself. If only she could remember more about the evening.

"Don’t you realise that Dr Weaver could fail you for this?" Luka was struggling to understand why she had been so foolish. She was hardly a teenager after all. Perhaps he’d had too rosy a view of her up until now. God knows, she had been behaving like an idiot as far as that jerk, Tweedale was concerned. Why did he think she had any better judgement concerning alcohol? Her silence was annoying him. "Well?"

Sophie at last looked up, her head feeling a little more like her own. What she saw in Dr Kovac’s face made her feel like something that had crawled out from under a stone. His disgust was palpable.

"I can’t explain it. Apart from the champagne, I was drinking a fruit punch all evening." She anxiously watched his expression for some sign that he believed her.

"And how did you get home?"

Sophie frowned. "Um, I don’t remember." This was worrying. If only she could recall the end of the evening. "I - er - woke up in my own bed. I was fully dressed. I - er - don’t know how I got there." She realised how bad this must be sounding. It certainly sounded shocking to her.

"I see." Luka’s tone had softened. "Well I want you to stay here until that bag is empty. I’ll give you something stronger for your headache…"

"Dr Kovac." Sophie butted in.

"What?" He fixed her with those intoxicating blue eyes.

"I’m sorry." She mumbled. "I wouldn’t have… I mean - if I’d known…" She shook her head, not knowing how to go on.

"It’s OK. Get some rest now." She thought that he almost smiled before he turned and walked away.

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

6.30pm

Luka balanced his coffee cup on top of a pile of charts and made his way towards the admit desk. He needed the caffeine desperately as he was on a double shift but he also wanted to catch Abby the moment she arrived. Sophie had finally roused herself and had put in a credible performance over the past few hours. He was amazed at how quickly she had recovered once she was re-hydrated but he put that down to her youth. There was no way he could have gotten over a hangover so quickly. Not that he’d put himself to the test lately.

He almost missed Abby’s arrival as the desk clerk Frank was busy moaning loudly about something or other, distracting his attention. He just caught sight of the top of her head as she strode by, surrounded by a blast of cold air.

"Abby!" She stopped immediately at the sound of his distinctive voice. "Can I have a word?" He gestured towards a quiet corner and she followed him, a look of puzzlement on her face.

"Dr Kovac?" She peered up into his face, her forehead wrinkling.

He stared at her for a while, trying to figure out how to start. "I’m concerned about Sophie. She arrived here this morning in a hell of a state." When Abby failed to respond he added, dropping his voice to a near whisper. "She was drunk!"

"Oh!" Abby wasn’t sure what to make of this.

"She says she wasn’t drinking at the ball and she doesn’t remember how she got home." He put his hands on his hips, waiting for Abby to come up with a plausible explanation.

"Oh!" Abby repeated herself. "Um, well, she was drinking the same as me as far as I could tell. A non-alcoholic fruit punch." She frowned. "I can’t understand it. I did think she was acting a bit - er - strange. You know - kind of giggly."

Luka didn’t think he did know so he just pressed his lips together, waiting for more information. After a while he prompted Abby, who seemed lost in thought. "And how did she get home?"

"Er, Tweedale took her home in a cab." She winced at the glare he directed her way. She didn’t like Tweedale either but Dr Kovac looked like he could cheerfully kill the man. He abruptly walked off leaving Abby wondering what he was going to do. She shrugged and went off herself to look for Sophie.

It was some time later when Abby finally caught up with Sophie, who had been up to the lab, chasing up some results.

"Hey, you." She punched Sophie playfully on the arm. "I hear you were a bit under the weather this morning?"

Sophie cringed. "So everybody knows?"

"No, not everybody!" Abby steered Sophie towards a quiet area. "Kovac told me. He was concerned."

"He wasn’t ‘concerned’ this morning! He was really mad." Sophie paled at the memory of his eyes glaring at her. She sat down heavily on a hard plastic chair. Abby sat down beside her, patiently waiting for her friend to elaborate.

"I just can’t remember." Sophie shook her head. "One minute I was dancing with Simon and the next thing I’m waking up with a headache so bad I can hardly get out of bed."

"You were in your own bed?" Abby gently questioned.

"Yes!" Sophie balked at the implication. "And fully dressed. And alone!"

"Fine." Abby smiled at Sophie’s vehemence. "I’m just wondering what happened to Tweedale, that’s all."

"He had an early flight - to get home to his folks. I wasn’t expecting him to stay the night. But I don’t even remember the journey home. I hate that - it’s like a whole chunk of my life is missing. And how did I get to be so drunk?" She turned to Abby hoping that she might have some answers but she was shaking her head.

"I don’t know, Sophie. But I think Tweedale has some explaining to do. If you passed out, he shouldn’t have left you alone - even if it did mean missing his flight."

~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~

29^{th December}

10am.

When Simon Tweedale returned to work after his little Christmas vacation the last person he expected to see bowling down the surgical floor towards him was a very determined looking Dr Kovac. A sixth sense warned him that the Croatian doctor was looking for him and he glanced from side to side anxiously looking to see if there was an easy means of escape. There wasn’t and it was too late as his nemesis was already upon him.

"Dr Tweedale!" Kovac made it quite clear that Simon’s fears were correct as he stepped right into Tweedale's personal space, forcing the shorter man to back up against the wall to avoid bodily contact.

"Kovitch." Tweedale answered nervously. "You wanted to talk to me?" He grinned, his lips parting more in a grimace than in humour. Luka could detect the fear in his pale grey eyes.

"Yes!" Luka leaned in even closer so that he could even smell the cologne that the surgeon used liberally. "I want to know how Sophie O’Neill got to be so drunk on Christmas Eve that she was still way over the limit when she showed up for her shift the following morning!"

Simon was sure his heart had missed a beat. He had already had this conversation on the phone with Sophie but he didn’t think Kovac was going to swallow his explanation as easily as she had. It was amazing what a bouquet of a dozen red roses could do to the wrath of a woman. Somehow, he didn’t think flowers would cut any ice here. Trying to regain the offensive he retorted.

"It’s none of your fucking business!" That probably wasn’t the best choice of words.

Luka had not expected this and shook his head in disbelief. "It is my ‘fucking business’ when she’s not fit to work and when I suspect that you had been lacing her drinks with vodka." He spat back.

Tweedale swallowed painfully as his mouth had gone suddenly dry. "That’s not true." His voice came out a little hoarse. "She may have mistakenly drunk from my glass - but I certainly didn’t lace her drinks!"

Luka ignored this completely and went on to the other aspect of the whole affair that was bothering him. "And what were you thinking of when you left her alone in that state? She could have aspirated her own vomit!" He realised that their raised voices had begun to attract attention, but there was no way he was going to back off now. Not now that he could smell the guilt emanating from the man.

"She was fine when I left her." That was Simon’s version and he was sticking to it.

The sound of a pager’s insistent beeping began to register in both men’s consciousness and they fumbled in their pockets all the while keeping up the staring match.

"Damn!" Luka realised that he was going to have to let Tweedale off the hook for now. "I’m not done with you!" He glared at Tweedale, shoving the offending electronic gadget back in his pocket.

"Yes you are!" Tweedale felt his courage returning now he knew that the Croatian was being called back to the ER. "You’d better get used to it, Kovitch." He shouted after the taller man, "It’s me she fucking wants, not you!"

"Pus'i kurac!" Luka snarled as he broke into a run.

"What?" Tweedale caught the angry sounding curse then turned and went the other way.

~^^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^~^

Just as Luka reached the ER, a gurney crashed through the doors with a paramedic riding on top, administering CPR to the patient. A second, older man ran alongside.

"What have we got?" Luka demanded, slipping his arms into the gown that Abby was holding out for him, all the while keeping pace with the gurney.

"Approx. 20 year old male in full arrest. GSW to the chest." The older paramedic replied whist his colleague continued with compressions.

"How long has he been down?" Luka deftly snapped on his gloves.

"About twenty minutes."

Luka hesitated a moment, meeting the eyes of the experienced health worker before barking his orders to Abby and Sophie. "Give me four units ‘O neg.’. On my count: one, two three…"

"Flatline." Abby announced having connected up the monitor. She looked towards Luka for further instructions.

"Continue CPR," he instructed Sophie. "Let’s give him five more minutes." As Abby cut away the clothing, a huge wound to the chest was revealed.

"Jesus." Abby muttered under her breath. It looked like he’d been shot point blank by a shotgun.

Luka struggled for a while to stabilise the patient but it was obvious that it was futile. The man’s pupils were fixed and dilated and - Luka checked his watch - it had been twenty-five minutes now.

"You gonna call it?" Abby seemed to have read his mind.

"Yes. Time of death…10.38."

Just then there was a commotion in the hall and Tweedale burst in with two surgical students in tow. "This the GSW?" He barked, moving towards the patient.

"Yes." Luka looked up, hardly trusting himself to speak to the man. "But he’s dead already."

"You called it?" Tweedale queried.

Luka sighed. "He’d been down for twenty-five minutes."

Tweedale seemed to be deliberately challenging Luka. "We can bring him back! Sophie, start bagging him." Sophie hesitated, looking from one man to the other. The atmosphere in the trauma room was electric. Tentatively, she began to pump the bag-valve.

"Didn’t you hear me? He’s been down more than twenty minutes." Luka enunciated clearly and slowly as if talking to an imbecile. "His brain has been starved of oxygen."

Tweedale just ignored him, talking past Luka to Abby. "Give me a thoracotomy tray; two units ‘O neg. on the rapid infuser. Rib spreader."

Luka forced his way in between Tweedale and the patient. "Stop trying to play God!"

"Get out of my way!" Tweedale gestured angrily at Luka.

Luka stood his ground. "No! You get out of my trauma!"

Sophie and Abby looked at each other. Sophie continued to ventilate the patient half-heartedly whilst one of the surgical students persisted with CPR, albeit at a rate that was way below speed. Abby stood stock still, having not yet carried out a single one of Tweedale’s orders. She took her orders from Kovac and she would wait for his say so.

Tweedale tried to push Luka out of his way but Luka was really mad now. He grabbed hold of the surgeon buy his scrub-top and hurled him away towards the door. Tweedale staggered but was able to retain his footing. In a rage he rushed back at Luka throwing a miss-timed punch at the taller doctor’s face. It fell short as Luka ducked back and then retaliated with a short but effective jab to Tweedale’s solar plexus.

"Oh my God!" Abby finally found her voice. "Do something!" she shouted at the young men who were just watching the fray. Neither did a thing, not wishing perhaps to get caught in the crossfire. By now Luka had hold of Tweedale and was shaking him like a rag doll, muttering in Croatian.

"What the fuck is going on in here!" The voice of Romano, Chief of Staff finally broke it up.

Luka dropped Tweedale suddenly so the shorter man fell to the floor. There was a deathly silence.

Luka looked from the anger on Romano’s face to the horror written plainly in Sophie and Abby’s expressions. He realised that he had gone too far. His emotions had gotten out of control. Before anyone could say another word he spoke hoarsely. "I resign." He then drew himself up to his full height and stalked out of the room.

End of part 11

Pebbles@ukgateway.net

Notes:

"Pus'i kurac!" translates as "Kiss my dick!" ~ equating roughly to the English term "kiss my ass!"

A huge thank you to - Chris - for her help with beta reading this.