The Right Match
Part Eight - Sick Day
By Lisa Brown
ERDrLewis@aol.com
A huge thanks to my editors, Christina, Kathy, and Zelia. You know the routine, I don't own anything that doesn't belong to me, namely the ER characters.
"Hey, Carter, Doyle. Good morning!" Dr. Greene said as he saw the two walk into the ER for their shifts.
"Good morning to you too, Dr. Greene," Carter said.
"Morning," Doyle said.
"Oh, Dr. Doyle, Lucy called in sick today. Something about the flu," Jerry said.
"Thanks for letting me know. Hope she's alright."
"Me too," Carter said, trying to act like he didn't know anything. He was fully aware of what was going on, but he didn't want to let on too much. He could remember his conversation with Lucy this morning . . .
"John, I will be fine! Go to work. Kerry has the day off, she's already looking after me, I don't need you too," Lucy said.
"I don't know . . . maybe I should take off work."
"John, then they'll get *really* suspicious. And we aren't letting anyone else know I'm pregnant for another three weeks. Just go to work, I'll be here when you get home. It is just a little morning sickness, I will be *fine*."
"Good morning you two," Kerry said, interrupting their argument in the living room.
"Kerry, will you explain to John that you will be here if anything happens and he should go to work!" Lucy said, exasperated.
"Carter, get out of here. Lucy'll be fine. Go to work before you get your ass fired," Kerry said, pushing Carter towards the door.
"Well . . . okay, but if anything happens, page me or call the ER, alright?"
"We will, John. Now get out of here, before you're late!"
"I'm going, I'm going," Carter said, leaning over to kiss Lucy.
"Carter. CARTER!"
Carter snapped out of his day dream to see Doyle waving a chart in front of his face. "What?"
"There's a weak and dizzy all over in three. Can you handle it?" Doyle said sarcastically.
"Sure," he said, grabbing the chart. He walked to exam room three and saw a girl, looked about sixteen, sitting on the bed. "Hi Miss," pause to look at the chart, "Lakewood, how are you doing?"
"Horrible. I was at basketball practice when I just fainted. Now I feel all dizzy. My coach made me come in. She's outside."
"Do you faint a lot?"
"No. Never."
"Okay, then, we're just going to run a few tests to make sure everything's okay." Carter turned to Lily and rattled off tests. "I'll come back in a few and check on you, okay?"
The girl nodded and Carter walked out the door. Just in time. Haleh ran up to him and threw a yellow plastic gown at him.
"Trauma coming in. MVA, auto versus pedestrian. ETA two minutes."
They ran to the ambulance bay, where they found Carol, Connie, Lydia, and Mark waiting.
"Two coming in. You take the first one, I'll get the next one, okay?" Mark said.
"You got it. Here they come now," Carter said as the ambulance pulled up.
"Hey, good job, Carter."
"You too, Dr. Greene." Mark's patient, who was the passenger in the car who wasn't wearing a seatbelt, suffered some head injuries. Something was wrong with his arm too, but Carter didn't quite catch on what it was He was sent up to surgery, along with the other accident victim, Carter's patient, who had some internal bleeding. Carter walked up to the admit desk. "Are those labs back on the girl in three yet?" he asked Lily.
"Nope, not yet."
"Okay then, I'm going to make a quick phone call. Be right back. Page me if you need me," Carter said. He walked out of the ER and over to the phone by Doc Magoo's. He'd get a little bit more privacy over there. He reached the phone and dialed the familiar number. Kerry answered the phone.
"Hello?"
"Hi," Carter said.
"Yes, she's fine. Hold on a sec, I'll put her on."
Carter could hear some talking in the background and then Lucy's voice over the phone. "Checking up on me, eh?"
Carter laughed. "I guess you could say that. You okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine. Busy today?"
"Not too bad. One trauma so far."
"Ahh. I guess I'm not missing out on much then."
"Nope. Just an MVA, some kids with the flu, et cetera."
"Was Doyle mad that I wasn't there?"
"No, concerned actually."
"Okay, well, I'm going to let you go back to work now."
"You don't have to . . ."
"Okay, let me rephrase that. John, go back to work now."
Carter laughed. "Okay, okay. Talk to you later."
"Okay. Bye," Lucy said, hanging up the phone. She put the portable back on the charger. "So, how often do you think he'll check up on me?"
"Knowing Carter? Every chance he gets, at least," Kerry responded. The two laughed.
"You're almost as bad, waiting on me hand and foot, not letting me get off the couch," Lucy said to Kerry.
"So, I'm allowed to pamper you. Can I get you anything? Food, drink? It's twelve, do you want any lunch?"
"No, I'm okay. I think I'm going to take a nap though."
"Okay, then, I'll leave you alone. Let me know if you need anything."
"I will, I will," she said, as Kerry walked into the kitchen. She then drifted off to sleep.
Carter glanced at his watch. Five thirty. He was off in half an hour. All of his patients were discharged, except for the old man in exam five who was waiting on labs. He decided to walk up to the admit desk to see if they came in.
"Oh, Dr. Carter, Dr. Weaver called twice while you were in that trauma. She said to call back on this number," Jerry said, handing him a piece of paper.
"Jerry, that trauma was over two hours ago!"
"Yeah, well, I couldn't find you!"
Carter sighed. He wasn't going to get anywhere with Jerry. "Where's a free phone?" Jerry pointed to one by the computers. Carter sat down and dialed the number. It looked vaguely familiar, possibly Kerry's cell phone. "Hi," he said when Kerry answered the phone. "Yeah, I don't know what we pay Jerry for either, he just told me now. Is everything okay . . . oh my god, what happened . . . aw, man . . . is she okay . . . yeah . . . yeah, I know . . . wow . . . okay, I'll be right there. Tell her I'll be right there. Bye," Carter said, hanging up the phone. Carter just sat there staring into space for a moment. He didn't even notice that a few people had been standing around, listening to his conversation.
"Hey, everything okay?" Dr. Greene asked, since Carter had just been sitting there, motionless for three minutes.
Carter stared into space for a moment longer, before shaking his head as if to shake thoughts from his head. "I don't know, I don't know," he said standing up. "Listen, I have to go. Family . . . family emergency. I'm only on for another half an hour. I gotta . . . I gotta go," he said as he walked to the lounge.
"Okay, Carter. Hope everything turns out okay," Dr. Greene said.
"Thanks," Carter said as he walked through the doors of the ER.
