Until Forever
Part 1
By Lisa Brown
ERDrLewis@aol.com
Okay, number one in my new series. Normal disclaimer: I don't own anything, I'm not
making money off of this, so everyone at Warner Bros. and their whole menagerie of people
over there can just leave me alone. :) Again, I need to give total inspiration to a song;
this time "One True Friend" by Bette Midler. Thanks to Christine and Jenn for
that. Also, thanks to Michelle and Aly for editing. Feedback always welcome. Enjoy! Until
Forever
By Lisa, ERDrLewis@aol.com
"Good morning," I said to Kerry as I walked into the kitchen and poured a cup of coffee.
"Morning," she replied. "Why are you up so early? You aren't on for another two hours."
"I'm going out to breakfast with Lucy," I replied.
I saw Kerry get an odd look on her face before saying, "Carter, I know I've said this before, but I --"
"Don't worry, Lucy and I are just friends, just like you and I are friends," I replied, knowing where the conversation was headed.
Kerry smiled. "I wasn't even going to say that. I was just going to say to be careful. I would be willing to keep your secret, but don't expect everyone else to. Anyway, go, have fun. I'll see you later at work today."
I smiled back at her. "See you later also. Bye," I said, grabbing my coat and walking out the door.
It was only September, but fairly cold out. *Not really cold,* I thought. *I guess I've just been used to the warm summer weather.* It was only sixty degrees out but that was cold enough.
So, I hopped in my car and rode off to the dorms. My thoughts drifted to Lucy. Lucy and I had become friends lately. Throughout the last few weeks or so of her last ER rotation we had become close friends. I liked that. I was somewhat disappointed that when Lucy returned for the ER sub-I that she was assigned to Doyle. However, maybe that was one of the reasons we became better friends. I don't know. I had admitted to myself that I had a small crush on Lucy. Okay, scratch that. I have *quite a large* crush on Lucy. Nevertheless, I can settle for just friends. I can keep those thoughts under wraps. For now. I enjoy her company immensely and I think of her as a valued friend. Who knows what would happen later, but for now this was the way things were.
As I began to park the car, I saw Lucy waving to me from the sidewalk. She ran over to the car and hopped in.
"Hey!" she said.
"Hey yourself. What are you doing out here?"
"It was nice out. I decided to wait outside after your call," Lucy replied.
"Ahh, I see. So, where to? Not Doc Magoo's, we eat there enough."
"I don't care, any place with breakfast," Lucy joked.
We drove around a bit and finally found a place to eat. I pulled in and they went inside.
We sat down and ordered. As we waited for our food, I asked, "So, what did you do last night?"
"Nothing much. Sat at home, watched TV, enjoyed my night off. I talked to my mom for a bit," Lucy said, taking a sip of her coffee.
"She's down in Springfield, right?" I asked. I looked up and saw a distressed look on her face. "Everything okay?"
"Yep. I'm somewhat worried though. She's having exploratory surgery today on her stomach and liver--not quite sure what the problem was. She had a tough time explaining it to me. She used to drink a lot though, and I think that it has something to do with that. My aunt tried to explain too, but they're clueless in the medical field. I think they were both confused a bit. My uncle knew what was going on but he had gone somewhere. My mom sounded a little worried and that worries me a lot. She's never worried about anything," Lucy said.
"Well, I'm sure she'll be okay. If you want, I have tomorrow off and can drive you down there," I said. I hated to see her sad.
She smiled at me. "Thanks. Maybe. I'm on tomorrow night, so I'll have to see if I can get off."
Breakfast came and we ate. "You were on last night, right?" Lucy asked before taking a bite of her eggs.
"Yep. Didn't get off until midnight."
Lucy had a surprised look on her face. "Oh my gosh, if I would have known that, I wouldn't have suggested we go out this morning."
I chuckled a little bit. "Don't worry about it. Kerry was up and making noise anyway, so I didn't mind much. Anyway, I always enjoy having breakfast with you."
"Why is that?" Lucy asked.
"Because you're my friend and I'd like to keep it that way," I replied, smiling.
"Oh really? Until when?" she said, a playful smile across her lips.
"Until forever. You'll always be my friend, Luce. No matter what," I said. Even if we become 'more-than-friends,' we can still be friends. That didn't hurt anything.
She smiled. "That's sweet. You'll always be my friend too."
"Hey, Luce, what happened to the guy in trauma two? Kenzile?" I asked,
"They sent him up to surgery a while ago. I think he's done and in ICU now. Why?" she asked.
"His wife is here. Just wanted to know what direction to point her in," I replied.
"If you want, I can walk her up there. I wanted to check on a little boy I sent up there earlier. Promised I'd come back up and make sure he's okay," Lucy said. Seeing the look on my face, she added, "Don't worry, it's my break time."
"Well, looks like it'll be the three of us then. I have to run up to drop off this chart," I said. "Meet you at the elevators," I said, walking back to get Mrs. Kenzile.
The elevator ride was uneventful. Okay, that's a lie. We stepped into the elevator in silence. Then Mrs. Kenzile, who was shaken up, said, "He's going to be alright?"
Frankly, I wasn't sure. This guy came in with three GSWs, one came pretty close to his heart. Another in his leg and one in his shoulder. Some guys were trying to steal his car. People these days. Anyway, he was pretty critical when we sent him up. But, it wasn't my case, I had just helped. It was Maggie's trauma. Lucy and I exchanged a nervous glance.
Finally, Lucy said, "I'm sure he'll be fine," in her most comforting voice.
"I hope so," she said, nearing tears. "I just don't know what I'd do without him . . ." She trailed off. Then she lost it. This was the worst part of my job, seeing people cry over hurt loved ones. I hated it.
Lucy hugged the woman and tried to console her. Finally, we reached ICU. We got off the elevator and asked Lucy to take Mrs. Kenzile to her husband while I ran a chart down to another room. I told her that I'd meet up with her. I ran the chart down to the room, found out Mr. Kenzile's room number, and walked down there. I saw Lucy standing outside the room. "He pulled out of surgery well. He should make it," she said, smiling a little bit.
I smiled back. "I'm glad that everything worked out. Come on, we better get back downstairs."
"Hey, I haven't seen you in a while," I said later that day as I sat in the lounge. Lucy walked over to her locker.
"Yeah, I know. Doyle keeps me busy," Lucy said, turning to smile at me. "Arrgh, we're still on four more hours. I think I'll go nuts!" she said with a laugh.
"You okay? You sound a little bit tired," I commented.
"Yeah, fine," she said. She was lying, I could tell.
"Did you ever hear anything about your mom?"
"No, and it's driving me crazy!" she lashed out. "Sorry," she said, taking a deep breath.
"Hey, it's okay. Your mom said she'd call here?"
"Yeah, she or my aunt. I'm starting to get worried. I had almost forgotten until we took Mrs. Kenzile up."
I stood up and walked over to her. "Hey, everything will be okay," I said, giving her a hug.
"Thanks," she said. "You know, you really are a great friend."
"Thanks," I replied.
All of the sudden, Conni rushed in. "Three MVAs coming in, Lucy, you and Doyle are -- oh, sorry! ETA five minutes!" Then she rushed out just as fast as she rushed in.
We laughed. "Well, we might be in for an interesting afternoon of gossip now," Lucy commented.
"Ah, well, Conni's no Chuni. Maybe not. Come on, we better get going."
I looked at the computer screen. Coronary thrombosis. The blocking of a coronary artery of the heart by a thrombus. I knew that. I needed to check symptoms. I scrolled down and found just what I was looking for. Suddenly, I heard Lucy's voice seep into my mind.
"Dr. Doyle, here's Mrs. McGrath's chart. The one you were looking for?" Lucy said, walking up to the computers.
"Thanks, Lucy. I was about to issue a search warrant," Maggie said, turning away from the computer to grab the chart. "Where was it?"
"Mr. McGrath stole it to see if we were giving 'proper care' to Mrs. McGrath."
"Is he a doctor?" I asked.
Lucy chuckled a little bit. "No. Doesn't know a thing about medicine and questions everything."
The telephone suddenly rang. Again. And again. We all looked to Randi. "Oh, ya," she said, grabbing it. "ER. Sure, hold on. Lucy!" she called after her as Lucy turned to leave.
She walked up and grabbed the phone. "Hello? Oh, hi Aunt Lara. I was so worried, I hadn't heard from you . . . yeah, okay. Is everything okay? Well, just tell me -- okay. Hi, Uncle Mel," Lucy said. I could see the annoyance in her eyes. "Mel, can you just tell me -- yeah, go ahead." There was a long pause and suddenly I could see Lucy's annoyed eyes turn to ones of panic. "No, that can't be right. It's not right. No, Mel, that can't be --" Lucy said forcefully. I could see tears welling up in her eyes. "No. They're wrong, just wrong. Why didn't you call me earlier? I deserved to know! Do you think you were protecting me for not telling me?" she yelled into the phone. I could see her bottom lip start to quiver. "I can't believe it, I should have been there," she said, finally breaking down into tears. "I can't . . . no. Yeah. I'll be there soon, I suppose. Yeah, I will, Mel. Yeah," she said, hanging up the phone, tears still streaming down her face. She turned and ran to the ER exit. I hopped up and started to go after her. "No, just leave me alone!" she yelled back at me, running out. Everyone turned to me questioningly. I quickly explained how her mom had been in the hospital and she was expecting a call. It was obviously bad. I then ran out of the ER to find her.
I didn't have to go far. She was curled up in a ball against the wall of the building. I walked over to her silently and she stood up. I opened my arms and she fell into them, sobbing hysterically. We stood there for what seemed like an eternity. Finally, her sobs subsided and she whispered, "I just can't believe that she's . . . dead."
"I'm so sorry, Luce. I'm so sorry."
I turned to look at Lucy. Fast asleep in the seat next to me. Lucy needed to get to Springfield and was in no shape to drive herself. So, I took a few days off and offered to drive her down there. She had managed to take a week off, but I could only get four days. Better than nothing, I suppose. Lucy had told me a little bit about her family at breakfast this morning. She had two aunts, Lara, whom she talked to earlier, and Ashleigh. Lara was married to Mel and had a daughter, Julie. Julie was younger than Lucy. Still in high school. Ashleigh wasn't married to my knowledge. That was her whole family though. If I calculated right, we could be there in about three hours. I hoped that Lucy could sleep that whole time. She was exhausted and needed the sleep. I felt so bad for her. Lucy once told me that, besides me, her mom was her best friend. I just wished that there was something I could do. I hated to see people mourning the loss of a loved one, but I hated it even more when it was personal.
