Heaven and Hell on Earth
When Lucy and Carter walked into the hotel it seemed as if the ceiling were made of crystals. Lucy loved the beauty of crystals and diamonds but that was a little too much. Carter thought it to be too far fetched decoration wise as well. He wasn't too thrilled by the whole ceiling being glass or whatever it was. He had a right. A small Florida Tropics storm had started when they were on there way. Nothing too serious, Florida was constantly experiencing these things. One second it could be sunny and 90 degrees the next thunder lightening and maybe even hale. Literally that was the way things go in Florida so nobody seemed to worry. The two followed the rest of the crowd headed for the ball assuming by their fancy clothing, and entered a large room with a jazz band playing loudly in the background. Lucy suddenly remembered for some odd reason that John loved Jazz. That always seemed to happen, Lucy would think of him when something he liked, disliked, or even remind!
ed her of him, happened or showed up. 'Stop it Lucy thats gonna drive you crazy!' she told herself. She was right. Soon everything would be related to him in one way or another. He interrupted her thoughts.
"Luce, you ok?" he noticed her mind was lost in thought somewhere
"Yea, just fine" they found the assigned table and sat down. They both soon found the other staring at the couples dancing. Lucy made the first move. "You wanna go out there?"
"I haven't danced in years"
"Oh come on you can't be that bad" her eyes were begging him. Lucy loved to dance. She had taken a dance class all through high school and partly through med school until she got into shifts at the hospital.
"Trust me I can be." he realized she wanted to and he decided if it would make her happy he'd do it. "You know, it couldn't hurt to try again though" Lucy began to stand but he motioned her to sit down. "Hold on one second, my mom wouldn't have me do this any other way," He reached out his hand "May I have this dance Ms. Knight?" he hadn't called her that since she was his student. Even then it was only when he first met her and when he talked about her professionally to the board or someone else.
"Why yes you may Mr. Carter" they both decided to be relieved of their titles for if only one night something they could be relaxed about. The newest addition to the dancing crowd made their way to the dance floor smiling hand in hand. They found a spot on the floor and swayed to the music. He was an amazing dancer, Lucy couldn't imagine how he'd doubt himself at that. "Where'd you learn to dance like this?" she asked him.
"My mom had me take classes when I was younger. We went to so many of these types of things, she noticed I was a horrible dancer so she signed me up"
"They must've paid off you're an amazing dancer"
"Thank you. You're pretty good yourself how 'bout you any classes?"
"No, I loved to dance when I was younger, I just never had the time"
"Oh, well you taught yourself well"
"Thank you" the conversation stopped there. For the rest of the song all they did was stare at each other's eyes. Lucy suddenly realized why she had fallen in love with him again. He remembered why he had been attracted to his student and how had she not lived he would have never forgiven himself for not saying how much he had fallen in love with her. A perfect match. The song ended. Neither wanted it to though, Lucy didn't want an excuse to have him take his arms off her. As did he.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN PLEASE TAKE YOUR SEATS AS YOUR DINNER HAS BEEN SERVED" announced a loud voice over the microphone. When they sat down they soon found out that nearly everyone else at the table was a doctor. Most of the men though the women were mainly stay at home people and when they learned Lucy was a doctor they seemed to develop a sort of hostile attitude towards her. However when the rest of the women left for the powder room they invited Lucy with them.
"Lucy, would you care to join us?" Charline a polite little red head asked.
"Sure, I'll be back John"
"Ok" he resumed talk with the other men. the few that weren't doctors shared their stories of illness and John found that he fit in more with these men than he did with his friends out of the ER at home. They were fascinated that he worked in the ER the rest of they physicians had practices of their own or were not in emergency medicine.
------------------------- Ladies Room --------------------
"Lucy, how do you like working?" one of the women finally spoke up about what the rest of the women wanted to know.
"I love it I couldn't be happier"
"Really?" the woman looked surprised
"Yea its pretty enjoyable on my good days"
"Good days?" she was now interested and the tension between the rest of the women and Lucy seemed to diminish.
"Yes, when I save lives not loose them"
"I have to say its pretty admirable that you can actually get up at......what time does your work start?"
"Depends sometimes around 9:00 am or earlier if I'm lucky 11:00"
"Wow how long do your hours go?" another woman chimed in. They all seemed pretty intrigued that a woman would work.
"Um, anywhere from 12 to 20 hours"
"Oh my goodness I couldn't do work for that long. I only get up at 10:00"
"I would never be able to do that, let me sleep that long and I'll be in bed all day!" Lucy replied.
"Well I still think a woman's place is in the house. Looking good for her husband." The one woman in particular still stood her ground. She was by far the most hostile person toward Lucy.
"Don't you think that that's a little 50'ish?" Lucy asked while she touched up her makeup.
"No, I don't are you getting at something Lassie?"
"It's Lucy"
"Whatever it is are you getting at something?"
"Just that I find it offensive that you think I shouldn't do what makes me happy simply because I'm a woman dating a man"
"So you and Dr. Carter aren't married?" she asked intrigued.
"No, but he's pretty satisfied with me so leave your seduction for someone like your husband" Lucy knew this game all too well. It made her feel good to know she had someone many women envied......Carter. The woman was embarrassed someone had discovered her plan before she could put it into action.
"Ladies, we should be leaving, Lucy is quite the strong person, I imagine she can find her way back to the table by herself" only one of the women followed but stopped when she saw the rest of the women not following her. "Well come on girls" the woman insisted.
"Pauline, look you may not believe in working women but I believe in being faithful to my husband and so should you, that wasn't a smart idea right there" The woman who Lucy learned was named Jaqueline, who had been intrigued by Lucy's occupation and willingness to work started to speak up.
"Jackie, I'd hate to see you fall for Ms. Knight's games"
"It's Dr. Knight to you" The quiet one corrected. Lucy felt like she was gaining alliances by the second.
"For heavens sake, Margie you too? well, I should leave before you poison me with your crazy ideas. Good evening ladies excuse me"
"Your behavior definately." Jackie stated. Pauline walked off with a 'hmph' and her head held high Lucy didn't know how a woman could be so arrogant and snobby.
"Thanks you guys, um.... we should be getting back" Lucy was right. The women followed their new 'leader' but Lucy would change that. "Well you don't have to follow me go on, walk next to me or something" she laughed. 'were these women slaves or something?' Lucy wondered when she saw the shock on their faces of this change. Together they walked to the table.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Table 1 hour later~~~~~~~~~~~
At about 12:00 Lucy felt a little tired. She figured though she could have a little more fun. The 3 women exchanged phone numbers and all promised to call each other if they didn't see each other for the rest of the night when the dancing resumed.
"It was wonderful meeting you Lucy"
"You too Charline"
"Oh Lucy it was a pleasure" one of the men from the bunch said hugging Lucy.
"it was all mine Dr. Graymore" Lucy and Arnold Graymore and John had a very interesting debate on medical discoveries like the L-VAD which Lucy had seen in action. At the end of a slower song towards 1:30 am Lucy and John decided to leave.
"Wow, that was fun" she commented.
"I've never met more laid back people in my life" he added. For being rich none of the men seemed to care about their money. They appreciated it but they loved the job not the money.
"It's a shame though" Lucy stopped
"What is?"
"Of all the phone numbers I got not one of them was a mans" she joked. He put his hand over his heart jokingly.
"I'm hurt" he joked back. "But I have to tell you I feel the same way"
"Really who's number did you get?"
"The doctors but, I was hoping at least one woman would be interested in me!"
"Believe me, there are" he put his hand around her waist and pulled her to his side. She laid her head on his shoulder and sighed a relieved sigh. They had a good vacation, it was over tomorrow though...........
