The Fellowship

Chapter 10

Staring out into the early morning sky, the young woman sat motionless enjoying the crisp October air. She watched the hues of the sky turn to shades of red as the first hints of a new day dawned. Her mind wandered through a list of nursery rhymes and other assorted phrases that one kept from their childhood, looking for the reference of a red sky at morning. She thought for a few moments, then the fleeting phrases came to her mind. ‘Red sky in the morning shepherds take warning. Red sky at night shepherds’ delight.’ Chuckling to herself she thought aloud. "I wonder if there is any truth to that?"

"Any truth to what, Danni?" The motherly charge nurse was standing a few feet away from her, clutching at her lab jacket to keep the crisp air from invading the warmth of her clothing.

"Oh…Hi Mom! I didn’t realize you were standing there." Her voice was whimsical as she continued. "You know, about the red sky in the morning."

"Sailors take warning," Karen chimed in. "That one you mean?"

"Sailors?" The blonde shook her head. "I thought it was shepherds," she wrinkled her nose.

"Shepherds, sailors does it really make a difference? They are both waiting for the storm that’s starting to brew around them." Mom chuckled, "I guess it was what time period that you grew up in."

"Yeah, I guess so." She gazed out at the deepening hue of the sky, mesmerized by the changing patterns in the morning light. "Do you really think that they take warning?"

"I think there has to be some truth to it, otherwise why would it be passed down from one generation to the next?" Karen walked over to the bench that Danni was setting on. "Mind if I sit down?" She pointed to the other half of the bench.

"No, go right ahead."

The two women sat watching the ever-changing sky turn from night into dawn, each lost in they’re own thoughts. Mom looked intently at the petite nurse; her mood was very introspective. Karen had noticed a change in the vivacious woman. She seemed to keep a little more to herself these last few weeks. She wondered if there was something troubling her. Pondering the thought, she made her decision to act. "Danni, is there anything that you want to talk about? I’ve noticed that you have been in the doldrums lately."

The young woman sighed, leaning forward she worked her hands under her thighs, locking her elbows. She looked down to the ground in front of her and then back to the concerned friend beside her. "I wish there was," she whispered, "then I could do something to help."

Karen was puzzled. "I’m not following you."

"I’m worried about Garrett, Mom. There is something going on and it’s tormenting her. I just don’t know what it is or how to help her."

The charge nurse let the mother instinct in her take over. "You live with her, I’m sure that you would notice before any of us would. Has she given you any clue as to what it might be? Maybe she is just worried about her work or where she will be next year," she offered.

Danni looked at her, "I don’t think it’s her work, Mom. She’s one of the best Trauma Fellows that I’ve seen." The nurse became a little sullen at her next thought. "She could go anywhere she wants next year. A hospital would be crazy not to want someone like her on their staff."

Picking up a note of regret at the possible loss of a friend, Karen tried to change the subject. "What makes you think that something is tormenting her?"

Shrugging her shoulders, she looked back out to the sky’s first light. "I’ve noticed that she hasn’t been sleeping. Last weekend we were both off together. I could hear her mumbling and tossing and turning in her bed," she said showing signs of embarrassment. "It sounds like the same nightmare every time, all weekend long. I almost went and knocked on her bedroom door Sunday night to see if she was all right."

"Have you offered to talk about it?" She held up her hand in a halting motion, "forget that I asked that." Karen smiled, she knew that would be the first thing the young woman would do. She thought about how Danni always looked after her friends; always more concerned about their welfare than her own. ‘Just like the parable of the shepherd and his flock,’ she mused. Karen started to giggle as she thought about that. ‘What a match…the shepherd and the sailor.’

"She says that nothing is wrong. At least that’s what she said when I asked her over breakfast on Sunday morning. I tried to bring it up in the conversation but she just kept changing the subject." Pressing her lips tightly together and inhaling deeply she shook her head. "Mom, she’s been like this since that night she covered call for Rene, when his kids were born."

Karen placed her hand on Danni’s back, letting it move in a soothing circling motion. "Sometimes you have to let people work out their own problems first. All you can do is let her know that you are there for her, and wait." She paused to think about the talented surgeon. "She’s an intelligent woman, she’ll talk when she’s ready." Danni turned her head to look at Karen, her mouth opening to speak. "Shhh!" She whispered stopping the young woman. "Just be ready to listen when she is ready to talk."

Nodding, Danni wiped at the single tear that had escaped her eye, thinking about her beleaguered roommate.

Mom rubbed her arms feigning a shiver, "It’s too cold for me out here, I’m going in. Why don’t you take a minute to pull yourself together before you come back inside?"

Danni nodded, "Thanks, Mom."

The charge nurse got up and moved towards the door. Opening it, she turned and looked at the solitary figure. She thought about the question concerning the truth to the red sky in the morning and considered her two-pseudo daughters. "I hope this time, both the shepherd and the sailor will heed the warning," she muttered to herself as she went inside.

Sitting there in the cool air, the nurse looked up into the heavens and realized that she was just a speck in the workings of the universe. Sighing, she closed her eyes and offered a prayer for strength and the wisdom to be able to help her friend when the time came.

*****************

Sleep had not come easily to her this night. Her dreams filled with nightmarish visions of what she had hoped would be her forgotten past. She cursed her memory, begging for a night of amnesic bliss. Forcing her eyelids open, she searched the blackness of the room for the neon numbers of the digital clock on the nightstand. It read 0437. She snorted in disbelief, "Well, that’s a half an hour more than I had at 0400." She reached over and turned off the alarm before it went off at her usual wake up time: 0445. "No sense in trying to go back to sleep," she mumbled.

Throwing off her covers, she let her long legs slide over the edge of the bed. Pulling her torso up to a sitting position, she stared blurry-eyed into the darkness of the room, trying to get her thoughts organized for the day ahead. She shook her head in an attempt to clear her mind but it didn’t seem to help. She sat there motionless and for the first time since she moved in, she noticed how quiet the house was without the small blonde in the next room. It had felt so comfortable the past weekend with both of them home at the same time. The dead quiet was almost unnerving to her now, making her feel even more alone. ‘What I wouldn’t give to hear Danni stirring out in the kitchen right now.’ Sighing, she planted her feet on the floor, pushing herself up off of the bed and began to make her way to the bathroom down the hall.

Shivering, she felt her body reacting to the cooler temperature of the house, the goose bumps on her flesh reminding her of a plucked chicken. She smirked and thought about how much like a chicken she really was. She had always met any problem head-on, but this was something else. Problems, she could deal with, but the actions of the past jumping back into her life were more than she could contend with. Her mind drifted back to the past weekend. She had hoped for a relaxing one but those damn nightmares would not let up. She was going to have to do something about them, they evidently were not just keeping her from sleep, but Danni also. Garrett thought about the small blonde and how delicately she had tried to open the pathway for discussion about what was troubling the surgeon. ‘I can’t believe her, always worrying about everyone else.’ She remembered the concerned look on the face of the nurse as she sat across from her. ‘You’d think she would have more regard about her life than mine. I just don’t understand her.’ Garrett had remained the same toward Danni, stoic as ever. She didn’t need to pass her nightmares on to anyone. They were hers alone. "Alone," she mumbled under her breath. "It all stems back to the same thing." The surgeon could see no sense in burdening someone else with her demons. What good would that do anyway, except to allow them to haunt more than just her. ‘No, I did the right thing by evading her questions. She doesn’t need to know any of this.’ She tried to chase the image of the blonde imp out of her mind and get on with her morning ritual, but it kept fading into view like it never wanted to let her go. "I definitely need more sleep," as she stumbled into the bathroom doorway.

Squinting to shield her eyes, she flicked on the bathroom light. Slowly her eyes adjusted to the coruscating light bouncing off of the white walls and fixtures. Looking into the mirror she could not believe it was her image; her dark hair stood out from her head in a wild sleep-deprived manner, dark circles around her eyes. ‘Jeez, I’ve got to get some sleep tonight,’ she

thought. "Shit!" She hung her head with a sigh of disappointment, realizing that she was on-call for the next 24 hours. "I guess a little make-up might help me to look a little less zombie-like." She winced at the thought. She seldom wore make-up and was thankful for the good looks to pull it off.

She stepped into the shower and turned it on, hoping that the cold water would wake her body up and stimulate her mind. Realizing that she was hoping for the impossible, she pushed herself to complete her morning ritual.

Stopping in the middle of applying the finishing touches to her make-up, she looked into the mirror and cringed. "Why am I doing this?" It was as though the mirror had a life of its own. Suddenly she saw her own reflection talking back to her. ‘Because you look like a crazed lunatic without it. What do you think your patients would say if they saw you looking like that? Hmmm.’ The eyebrow of the image slowly raised in speculation, daring her to answer. She wrinkled her nose, sticking her tongue out at the mirror. "All right!" She continued the finishing touches mumbling, "but I don’t have to like it." Now she was really worried, the hallucination of her talking to herself only proved how much she desperately needed sleep. She looked in the mirror, appraising her efforts. Not too bad, if she had to admit it, at least she resembled a human being. "Satisfied?" She challenged her image to answer. She waited for a moment, then turned, shutting off the light and left to begin her day.

She paused at the door, taking stock of the possessions that filled her arms. Her mind was in such a disorganized quandary that she knew she would have to make a determined effort with any task she did. She ran down the list of items necessary to sustain her for the next 24 to 36 hours, checking to make sure that they were packed. "Daily planner, toiletries, change of clothes, money, car keys, house key, pager, I.D. badge. Check!" She sighed, "Now, all I have to do is to get through the next day without any trouble." She crossed her fingers, figuring that it couldn’t hurt, and made a silent wish. She then left the house and made her way to the Chevy Blazer parked at the curb. Loading her necessities into the open tailgate, she marveled at the gorgeous red hues of the morning sky. ‘Just my luck, looks like there is a storm brewing on the horizon. It figures.’ "So much for a good day." With that thought in mind, she climbed into the driver’s seat and set her course for the inner city trauma center.

*******************

The daylight shift had begun to receive report on the remaining patients in the emergency room when the loud shrill beeps of the trauma pager went off. With a sigh of relief, Rosie handed Steve the pager saying, "Here’s your report. It’s the only thing I was handling last night." She smiled and began to walk away.

"Trauma page, trauma page. Level 1 trauma, MVA car into pole. Female unrestrained driver complaining of shortness of breath. ETA to your facility is 4 minutes. Level 1 trauma page."

Steve closed his eyes murmuring, "It’s going to be one of those days, I can tell." His eyes drifted over to the assignment board to see whom he would be working with. "Dr. Trivoli! Well, it can’t be that bad now." He took off down the hall to the trauma room to get ready.

Rosie waited for her friend to finish giving report to the oncoming nurse as she watched the activity around the desk. Out of the corner of her eye, the nurse saw a flurry of excitement. In the center of it was the E.R. Attending, Ian McCormick. He was trying to fight his way through the gathering of staff clogging the hallway. Without warning, he stopped, throwing his hands up in the air. "Will everyone please clear the hallway!" His face grew red as the decibels raised with his thundering voice. As if by magic, the sea of human bodies parted and a clear path was made the entire length of the hallway leading to the trauma rooms in the rear. Seeing that his words were heeded and a little embarrassed about the fact that he yelled, Ian sheepishly repeated his appreciation for the path as he made his way hurriedly to the trauma room. Reaching the area, he quickly searched for the formidable Dr. Trivoli. He had made his mind up after that first day never to let her beat him to the O.R. without seeing a trauma patient in his emergency room first.

The door at the end of the hall opened and the tall surgeon emerged, her presence immediately was felt in the hallway. The hectic ritual of dressing for the trauma became a relaxed routine when she was there. The staff had come to respect and appreciate her quiet but commanding demeanor.

Ian eyed her closely as she made her way towards him, flustered that he had been caught wiping his baldhead with a handkerchief. He thought of her as strikingly beautiful as well as a damn good surgeon. She definitely didn’t need to be someone’s ‘little woman’ to feel good about herself. He thought about that for a moment and considered his own choices in the women that had adorned his past. None had been strong or self-sufficient like Garrett Trivoli. Instead, they had all looked up to him as the great and all-knowing doctor. Well, that was until they divorced him. He frowned as he thought about his three failed marriages and the huge amount that was missing from his paychecks each month as it was divided between the alimony payments and child support. The only thing he had to show for the few short years of combined marriages was a son, Jonathan who lived with his third wife in New Jersey and a daughter, Elaine, in Florida now attending college. He hadn’t been a strong fixture in her life but was proud that she was following in his footsteps with a major in Pre-Med.

He thought about his first wife and how she had been so frail and quiet until the night she caught him with another woman, walking into his office at the hospital. She had packed and taken the small baby girl with her before he could get off of his shift. He closed his eyes and breathed deeply. Perhaps, if he were different, he would not be a three-time loser in love. You learn from your mistakes, and now, Ian realized that marriage for him was nothing but that, a mistake. What he needed was someone who didn’t need to be in a committed relationship, or who didn’t have time to worry about the infidelities of a partner. He wondered about the tall surgeon, his mind questioning if she played just as hard as she worked. His eyes twinkled with delight at that thought, and he decided to find out the answer for himself.

She strode past the Chairman of the Emergency Department and over to the rack of lead aprons. Choosing one, she began putting it on as she walked over in his direction. She said, smiling coyly at him, "So, I see you come a little faster these days, Dr. McCormick." She adjusted the Velcro closure to secure the apron in place.

He tipped his head in her direction, a slight smile tugging at his lips. "I like to get the most out of my efforts, Dr. Trivoli. Sometimes that means you have to adjust your approach." He watched her pick up a gown and thrust her arms down into the sleeves. "Perhaps we could discuss it over lunch."

She looked at him with an eyebrow hovering upwards, as her hands secured the gown. She opened her mouth to speak, but the overhead page alerting everyone that the trauma was in the department broke the silence. "Maybe another time, I’m a little busy at the moment."

He watched her smile become masked by the protective shield that she tied in place. He was fascinated by the agility with which her hands eased into the gloves, his mind wondering what they would feel like on his body. He looked around to see if anyone had noticed the smirk on his face, but the arrival of the trauma patient had captured all of their attention.

*************

Steve sat blurry-eyed, staring down at the papers in front of him. It was late afternoon but he felt as though he had been there in the trauma room for days on end. The constant bombardment of injured patients from various scenarios of accidents was taking its toll on him. He was glad that his shift would soon be over and the remainder of the night would be his for rest and relaxation.

The nurse looked over to the tall woman leaning against the wall. Her body begging for its support to keep her upright. She had seen every patient that Steve had taken care of and the four others that had been picked up by the back-up trauma nurse, Lori, when he was unavailable. It seemed to be taking its toll on her as she started to be a little on edge and quick to snap with a reply when asked a question. He wondered what made her do it, to willingly punish her body with the long hours and grueling conditions. Then he remembered the look on her face when she was able to tell the patient that the injuries would heal and not to worry. That was the driving force behind the surgeon, the patient’s recovery. He admired her for her unselfishness, her urge to put the welfare of others above her own.

Steve rubbed his eyes in an attempt to see the writing better, to complete his paper work before yet another trauma patient could come in. The beeper was engaged in alerting the team again before he could finish compiling all of the needed paperwork into the trauma folder. It was as though some god was playing a cruel joke on them. The nurse dropped his head, breathed in deeply, and then with an exaggerated sigh, pushed himself into an upright position. He staggered over to the rack of lead aprons and began the process all over again.

Steve spun around to see Dr. Trivoli next to him, reaching for a lead apron. "Looks like we are going for a record today."

The surgeon looked at him, her eyebrow raising, "Just my luck, too." She was tired from lack of sleep and by the looks of things, the prospect of her getting any shut-eye tonight was nonexistent. For once in her life, Garrett wished that there would be nothing more to do; no patients in need of her skills. Mindlessly she dressed in the gown, mask, and gloves, waiting for the traumatized patient to arrive.

"Trauma’s in the department, Trauma’s in the department."

The squawking of the overhead voice brought her back to the present. The surgeon shot a questioning look at the nurse next to her.

Noting the bewildered look on her face, Steve leaned in toward her jogging her memory with the whispered words. "Multiple stab wounds."

She nodded her head, now remembering the report that was given with the trauma alert. Mentally she prepared herself for another grueling session in the O.R. suite. She looked up at the clock on the wall, it was only 1752. ‘Only twelve more hours to go,’ she thought. ‘How many more can we possibly get?’

*****************

Danni lingered at her computer, reading through her E-mails. It was close to the time that she should be leaving for work, but she wanted to leave a note for Garrett just in case the night became too hectic. She thought about her roommate and her troubled sleep, wanting to help her in any way that she could.

Garrett,

I’m off on the weekend and would like to spend some time relaxing. If you are able to, we could take in a movie or go for a drive out in the country to look at the fall foliage. I know some great roads that offer wonderful scenery this time of the year. I’d love to show them to you. Let me know if this is possible.

Danni

"There, that should make it sound like I need the rest and relaxation." Her nose wrinkled as she smiled. "The only way to get her to take it easy is to make her think that I need it. Well, so be it." With only her friend’s best interest at heart, she struck the enter key, sending the E-mail on its way.

Danni noticed the time on her computer, it was 1815. "Damn, I’m going to be late if I don’t hurry." She quickly shut down her terminal and gathered her knapsack and keys. She walked briskly through the house as she pulled her coat on. Opening the door, her eyes scanned the horizon. ‘Well, it doesn’t look like any storm hit today while I slept. Hmmm…I wonder if it passed us by.’ The small woman shrugged her shoulders, then made her way to her car parked several spaces down the street. She entered it, and turned the key in the ignition. Using the moment to check her appearance in the vanity mirror, she let the engine warm up. Securing her seatbelt in place, the young woman looked up and down the street then hastily pulled out of the parking space on her way to work.

*************

Rosie stood adjusting her scrubs as the door opened and a small blonde figure darted in hurriedly, making her way to the locker that housed her apparel for work. The nurse had finished putting the stethoscope around her neck when she eyed her friend’s rushed mannerisms. "You running late or just that anxious to get in to work?" She shook her head. "You got time. Besides, I understand that Garrett just took a trauma patient up to surgery about a half an hour ago."

"Oh!" She cleared her throat. "You are just coming on, right?" Danni wondered how Rosie had known about Garrett’s whereabouts.

"Yep, but I ducked in and looked at the assignment board first. That’s when I heard them talking about how bad it’s been with traumas today." She closed her locker door and turned to face her friend. "You and me in trauma, it should be a good night," she smiled.

The petite nurse quickly dressed, pulled her necessary accessories off of the shelf, and closed the locker. "So, I guess I’m Trauma One, huh?"

Rosie laughed, "You better believe it. I was that last night, remember?"

Danni slide into her shoes. "Yeah, I hope the night isn’t too busy." She hoped with all her heart for her friend’s sake. She stood upright and made a final adjustment to her pants, "Well, let’s get out there."

The taller nurse sauntered over to the door, holding it open she motioned for the woman to advance through it. "Age before beauty…er…I mean…after you," she joked. Danni just smiled and shook her head.

They went down the hall through the main entrance of the E.R. where a stern-looking charge nurse met them. Karen sat at the desk peering over her reading glasses at the two nurses. She motioned to her watch and gave a dissatisfied frown. That was all she did, words were not necessary to convey her meaning.

"We must be a minute late," Rosie whispered.

"Shh! She’ll hear you," Danni turned and whispered back. "Sorry, Mom." Her face full of innocence as she watched Karen begin to smile, causing them all to giggle.

"You two like to push it to the last second, don’t you?" Karen shuffled the papers on the desk. "I’ve been waiting to see you two."

The bewildered nurses looked at each other, each one trying to think of what they could have possibly done wrong. They approached the older nurse cautiously. "You wanted to see us about what, Mom?" Rosie always used the term of endearment, hoping that it would lessen any possible problems.

The charge nurse sighed. "Why do you always think that it’s something bad? Hmmm? Is there something you need to worry about?" She eyeballed the taller nurse, waiting to see if she offered any information.

"No, nothing to worry about. Honest!" The answer came back quickly from the small blonde.

"Yeah, right. What she said," the auburn-haired nurse said, pointing to the blonde. The look on her face was one of complete, forced innocence.

Karen rolled her eyes, "You two are going to be the death of me." Each of the nurses smiled trying her best not to laugh. "I just wanted you to help Steve finish up his paperwork on the traumas, so that he can get out of here at a reasonable time. He’s had a pretty busy day." She used her hands to shoo them along. "He’s in the back, now go. Danni…"

"I know, Mom, I’m Trauma One, I’ll get report too." She smiled at the older nurse, then turned and headed down the hall.

Karen winked, "That’s my girls!" She watched them with the loving eyes of a mother.

They rounded the corner to see Steve sitting at the long desk, mounds of papers stacked in neat piles lining its length. The male nurse looked as though he had waged a long and tiring battle with the gods that controlled the flow of traumas. The expression on his face was one of relief when he saw his co-workers coming over to him. "Thank god!" He clasped his hands together in mock prayer. "My prayers have been answered. Finally this day from hell is over." He made no attempt to conceal his disdain for the last 12 hours of work.

"I’m your actual relief. Anything I need to know about?" The petite blonde studied his face. It was drawn and tired looking. Danni wondered how badly her roommate looked at this point. She accepted the trauma team pager from him and clipped it to her scrub pants after she cleared the previously issued pages.

Exhausted, Steve shook his head. "Nothing coming in at this time. I just have to send off all of the paper work." He motioned to the desk full of piled papers. "It’s been so busy, I haven’t had the time to get to it." He sighed deeply. "I hate to stick you with it."

Holding her hand up, Danni spoke. "We’ll take care of it. You just go and head home."

Steve got up to leave. "Thanks, I appreciate it." He slowly started down the hall to the locker room.

"Hey, Steve! Be careful on your way home, we wouldn’t want you coming in as a trauma now, would we?" Rosie yelled after him to get his attention. The tired man just kept on walking, glad to have a chance to go home to relax. She turned to her fellow nurse, "I guess he can’t take a joke." They laughed openly and started in on the task at hand.

***************

The tall surgeon trudged from the doctor’s lounge with a cup of dark, black coffee in her hand. She slowly brought it up to her mouth, praying with each sip that it would keep her awake. She was amused that last night when she could sleep, she hadn’t been able to, and now when it was imperative that she be awake, able to function at a moment’s notice, she could barely keep her eyes open. She could try for some shut-eye but she was afraid that she would not wake up when the trauma pager went off. "By the gods!" She looked down at the beeping pager. "Not again!"

The crackling voice began its recital. "Trauma page, Trauma page. Twenty-year-old male patient unrestrained passenger involved in a minor MVA. Level 2 trauma page. ETA 5 minutes to your facility via ambulance."

Glancing at her watch, she shook her head and wondered when it would all stop. It was only 1953 and already she had seen a total of 15 traumas since 0600. She could feel herself becoming tired and irritable. ‘Perhaps this night will be over soon,’ she thought. ‘Yeah, fat chance of that.’ With that thought in mind she chugged down the remainder of the coffee, praying that it would do the job. She paused only long enough to dispose of the now empty Styrofoam cup before making her way down to the Trauma Room to await the next patient’s arrival.

The team was moving sluggishly as they donned the trauma apparel. The lead aprons seemed to weigh twice as much as when they had started thirteen hours ago. The medical school students appeared to be the ones showing the lack of energy the worst. It was their inexperience with the long grueling hours that was their undoing.

Garrett had dressed at her usual pace, and took her position on the left side of the empty stretcher. She leaned stiff-armed on the bed, trying to take some of the weight off of her back and legs. She closed her eyes in an effort to summon all of her strength to make it through the remainder of the night. She could hear the lively talking and joking of the fresh set of nurses as they waited for the patient to arrive. The only energy in any abundance seemed to be held by them. She thanked the gods for sending her a team of nurses that she knew and worked well with. As she saw it, this would be the only saving grace to the rest of the night.

Danni studied the surgeon intently as the patient was wheeled into the room, the medics giving their hasty report. She could see the deeply furrowed brow that shadowed the lusterless blue orbs of her roommate. This was so unlike her friend. Her eyes had always held an air of excitement about them. She thought back to the first time she had gazed into those crystal blue pools of emotion and the feeling of Déjà vu that had come over her. For some reason, the spark in those eyes had set off a feeling so powerful that it had caused the young nurse to stand in awe of the figure in front of her. Somewhere in time she had known this woman before. Where or when, it didn’t matter. What did matter was that there was an undeniable bond between them, a bond that would become recognizant to them both in time. Danni put aside her thoughts when she heard the familiar tones of the surgeon signaling the transference of the patient to the hospital stretcher.

"Ready? On my count, one, two, three." The tall woman stepped back allowing the ambulance stretcher enough clearance to be removed, as the rest of the team converged on the patient, each with their own task to perform. The initial examination assuring the patient’s airway, breathing, and circulation was completed to the surgeon’s satisfaction. She then began her secondary survey of the young man before her. She explained what she was doing to him as she moved from body part to body part to ascertain whether or not he had sustained any injuries in the minor MVA. Working her way down his long body, it became obvious to her that the medical student on the right side was standing motionless with his hands resting on the young man’s groin. She followed the arms up until the face of the student was clearly visible. His eyes were closed and if she didn’t know better, she would have to say that he was asleep. It couldn’t have been worse if he had been a sentry caught sleeping on guard duty. He was going to be made an example of. There was no sleeping when duty called! No, not in her book there wasn’t.

"You," she pointed to the resident standing next to the dozing team member.

"Take him out into the hallway." Her voice was low as it rumbled across the room, commanding immediate obedience. "Then step in here and take his place."

The surgeon finished her examination of the injured man, finding only a few broken ribs to be the reason for his breathing problem. The chest x-ray had confirmed it. She felt justified in ordering the patient a twenty-three hour observation bed. She wanted to watch him overnight just to make sure that a pneumothorax did not develop.

Danni called in a report on the patient to the assigned floor that would watch him. Then the nurse readied his chart and made arrangements for him to be transported to his designated bed while Garrett addressed the medical student.

The raven-haired woman removed her mask, gloves, and gown as she stormed out of the room. The rest of the team had disbursed, leaving the lonely-looking figure standing in the hall. His face grew pale as the surgeon came closer to him. She motioned for him to enter the conference room ahead of her. She followed him in and closed the door. Pacing back and forth as she removed the lead apron, she gathered her thoughts. Relieved of its weight, the surgeon stood to her full height, slowly inhaling before she spoke. Her eyes surveyed the form before her.

"I’m sorry…I was trying to concentrate…" his thoughts were in pieces as he nervously tried to excuse his actions. "I didn’t mean to…I haven’t stopped all day."

Her brow raised as she listened to his jumbled attempt to justify his action. Each attempt only adding to her anger. Her feelings were screaming deep inside of her to rid the medical profession of this poor excuse for a doctor wannabe before he truly endangered a patient’s life. She held up her hand trying to put an end to his ramblings. "You’d do yourself more of a service if you would stop talking now." Her voice was low and unwavering.

His mouth dropped open as he stared at her menacing form.

"And just what field of specialty is it that you propose to be interested in, when and if you become a physician?" Her steel blue eyes were narrowed at him.

He gulped. His throat was dry, and he found it hard to speak. "Radiology, like my…my father," he stammered.

"I should have guessed as much!" She thought about the cushy job of a radiologist, where, once out of residency and fellowship years, the only tough subspecialty was that of an angiographer. They were often referred to as the "bankers" of medicine in their comfortable 9 to 5 work hours, where every night was filled with sleep. "You’ve got a long way to go before you can enjoy that life style. I suggest that you not fall asleep again in my presence during a trauma or I’ll personally see to it that you never get that title of Doctor." Her words were harsh and without feeling, like the metal of a sword cutting deep to the bone.

He opened his mouth but thought more wisely not to meet her threat with a rebuttal, simply nodding his head in understanding. Disgustedly, she waved her hand, dismissing him from her presence. After he had left, the tall surgeon leaned on the conference table, hanging her head in disbelief.

The petite blonde nurse had kept a cautious watch of her friend through the large glass panels that lined the hallway, allowing her a view of the conference room. She could see the tension on the surgeon’s face and in the movements of her body as she addressed the medical student. She waited until the confrontation was over before getting her patient underway to his final destination for the remainder of the night.

***************

Danni arrived back to the trauma room to see Rosie restocking the supplies that were greatly depleted from the overabundance of trauma patients. She put the stretcher in place and readied it with fresh linen. By the time she had replaced the heart monitor batteries with new ones, the trauma pager was again crying for attention.

"Trauma page, trauma page. Twenty-five year old female assaulted with a brick. Severe facial damage. The patient has an unsecured airway at this time. ETA four minutes via helicopter. This is a Level One trauma page."

The two nurses flew out of the room, grabbing lead aprons and securing them quickly to their bodies. It was as though the two were in a race, as each moved efficiently to dress in the trauma gowns and masks. The overhead page now was breaking their concentration. "The Flight Crew is requesting a Physician on the helipad for intubation."

Danni grabbed a set of gloves and made for the door leading to the helipad. Converging on the door from the opposite end of the hall was the E.R. Attending for the evening, Dr. Potter, with her coat tails trailing behind her. Marianne, the Aide, had met them at the door with the bright orange intubation supply bag that they would need. Without hesitation, the door slid open and the trio stood outside, watching the helicopter gently touch down on the ground. Crouched over and shielding their eyes from the dust and debris that the propeller blades kicked up, they made their way to the aircraft. The long, red hair of the physician whipped wildly about her head as the crew door opened to the ship. Battling to keep the hair out of her face, Dr. Potter quickly climbed onboard.

The blood-soaked, swollen face of the women was barely recognizable as that of a human. The nurse and aide worked hastily to assemble the necessary equipment out of the bag. Jamie positioned herself as she pulled on a pair of gloves. She held out her hand in anticipation of the laryngoscope and the endotracheal tube. The blade on the handle was snapped into place producing a bright white ray of light to guide her once inside of the patient’s mouth. The welled-up pool of blood visualized inside of the oral cavity was making it impossible to place the tube.

"Give me some suction," the physician yelled above the noise of the slowing overhead blades. The flight medic immediately complied, evacuating the bright red liquid.

Knowing that time would be short before the build-up would occur again, Dr. Potter acted with confidence as she positioned the tube into the woman’s trachea and inflated the cuff at the end of it, securing the patient’s lungs from further liquid impingement. The flight medic attached the ambu bag to the end of the tube, enabling the patient to be oxygenated with artificial breaths. Danni offered the physician her stethoscope to assure the proper placement of the tube inside of the patient’s trachea. Jamie listened intently for the sound of air rushing in and out of the patient’s lungs. Checking both sides of her chest, the physician gave a thumbs-up sign and the tube was secured in place.

Marianne hastily repacked the equipment into the orange bag and found herself breathing a little bit easier now. She was relieved that the patient was successfully intubated but she was even more ecstatic that the blades of the helicopter’s propeller were slowing down to a stop. The whirling "blades of death", as she thought of them, had always scared her from the first day of the flight safety class. She loved the emergency medical setting but she didn’t want to lose her head over it either.

The physician climbed out of the crew area. She was concerned about the patient and the possible long-term effects the difficult intubation could have further down the road in the patient’s recovery. She handed the stethoscope back to Danni as they made their way to the rear of the helicopter to assist with the unloading of the patient. The pilot had already opened the doors and begun the removal of the stretcher onto the hospital gurney, which the security people had standing by. Dr. Potter quickly fell into the position at the head of the patient and accepted the ambu bag as it was handed out to her. Falling in step as the flight crew made their way to the trauma doors with their precious cargo, Danni offered up a silent prayer on the injured woman’s behalf.

Inside, the team of trauma personnel awaited the arrival of the patient, each going over the duties of their positions and praying that they would be able to do everything right. It was evident to them that the night was going to be a long hard battle of conscious effort if the traumas continued to come in the way they had all day long.

Once again, the blaring of the overhead speakers broke the silence of the emergency room. "Trauma’s in the department, Trauma’s in the department."

The Trauma Fellow rolled her head from shoulder to shoulder, trying her best to loosen the tense muscles of her neck and upper back. "Okay, people, let’s just do our jobs and sooner or later this night will be over." Her gaze passed from one to the next around the roomful of people. As if on cue, she turned and looked at the entrance to the trauma room just as the assembly of Flight Crew and E.R. staff came into sight. An arched eyebrow appeared on her face at the sight of the unruly red hair of Dr. Potter.

Looking up from her position at the patient’s head, their eyes met in a moment of silent communication, transmitting the concern that Jamie had for the patient she was administering to. As fast as the gaze had locked with the surgeon, it was now gone, as the Flight Crew turned the stretcher to advance into the trauma room headfirst.

The well-rehearsed ease with which the patient was transferred onto the trauma room gurney was not lost on the unsuspecting eyes of the social worker, which waited patiently outside of the room in the hall. It would be her job to try to find the family or a friend of the battered woman. Alex sighed as she thought about the pain and suffering that the patient would go through to recover from the assault. Absent-mindedly she shook her head at the sight of the intubated woman as her clothing was efficiently removed to allow the trauma team to examine her body for any further injuries.

Alex quietly accepted the remnants of discarded clothing and began rummaging through them with her gloved hands in search of any form of identification. The only clue to the woman’s identity was the small nametag that simply read, ‘Sunshine’. The social worker closed her eyes and sighed in disappointment, then turned to find the members of the Flight Crew.

"Do any of you know her name?" Alex prayed that they could help her find a starting ground for the search into the woman’s relatives or friends.

They looked at each other and slowly shrugged their shoulders, almost in unison. "All we can tell you is that she was found next to a building in a small alley in Washington County. We picked her up at an "LZ" a couple of blocks away. Sorry, but there was nobody that recognized her and we didn’t find a purse either." The Flight Medic hung his head slightly, "They were questioning whether it was a simple assault or a possible rape at the scene."

The social worker’s eyes opened wide at this last revelation. "Thanks for you help," she hastily returned and propelled her body back toward the trauma room. "Dr. Trivoli…Dr.Trivoli!" She gasped for a breath as she waited for the surgeon to look her way. In a low voice that was professionally driven, Alex stated, "There is a question of rape at the scene."

The tall surgeon closed her eyes momentarily, in self-condemnation. ‘Damn, I should have thought of that possibility!’ Regrouping her thoughts, Garrett began firing off orders. "Can you put each article of clothing in a separate bag?" The social worker nodded in agreement. "Thanks, Alex." The surgeon turned to the right getting the attention of the nurses, "Rosie, Danni, we’ll need to bag her hands for possible evidence. Mom, we’ll need a rape kit and camera."

"Gotcha one already coming," Karen replied.

"Dr. Potter, did you suction her mouth before you intubated?" The surgeon was looking steely-eyed at the E.R. Attending.

"Why…yes, there was too much blood and fluids to see the cords." The look of realization flashed across her face. "It could have contained possible evidence," Jamie rubbed her forehead in thought. "I’d better get the Flight Crew to retrieve it from the helicopter and label it." She left to find the Flight Medic who had handled the task of suctioning for her.

Garrett’s attention now turned back to the exposed body before her. The skilled eyes of the observant surgeon slowly studied the woman’s body, noting any small scrapes, lacerations, or signs of discoloration that she could find. Burning into her memory anything that could possibly be a sign of force, she verbalized what she saw for the videotape that recorded the events in the trauma room. The upper torso appeared to be pristine until she gently raised the woman’s voluptuous left breast to see all aspects of it.

"Shine that light over here." The surgeon motioned with her head to the lateral aspect of the body. Rosie quickly reached up and positioned the large operating room light to illuminate the area. Moving closer to get a better look, Garrett began to describe what she saw. "There appears to be a faint purple discoloration in the shape of a semi-circle…no, make that two semi-circles opening to each other. I get the impression of a possible human bite mark with no visible opening in the skin." Out of the corner of her eye she could see the medical student fussing with his gloves as he began to go toward the patient’s upper thigh. "Everybody freeze right where you are!" Her low, throaty growl was ominous. She straightened to her full height as she turned to stare directly at the medical student, "And what are you about to do?" Her eyes were like a swirling blue ocean readying to unleash a raging storm at the thought of a man invading this patient’s private area once more. "Answer me!" The anger in her voice was evident as the people around the medical student now edged away from him, trying as they might not to evoke her rage on them also.

His eyes grew big, as he became aware of the attention he had drawn to himself once again. He had pissed her off but good this time. He tried to swallow, but he was so scared that his mouth could produce no saliva. He looked down at his hands, then back up to the surgeon. "I…I …was just going to put in the …the Foley Catheter," he stuttered meekly. Then he defended his action, "It’s my job."

"Get out of my eyesight! I want you to think about what you were about to do!" Her voice was cold and edged with disgust. Her steely-eyed gaze followed him as he slowly retreated out of the trauma room. Once out in the hallway, he snapped off his gloves and reached for the mask covering his face, ripping it off in anger. Then, grabbing the gown with both hands at his chest, tore it from his body, and cast it to the floor as he strode down the hall, away from the menacing surgeon.

"Any more bright ideas here?" Garrett looked around the room at the shocked team.

"Rape kit is here, Dr. Trivoli," Karen’s soft-spoken words seemed to put an end to the tense situation. She handed the package to Danni.

The surgeon paused to review the electronic monitoring devices showing the patient’s vital signs. The woman was holding her own. "Karen, call CT Scan and see how long before we can get in. We’ll need a head and abdomen scan." She let out a breath as she tried to calm herself.

"Already did. It will be another 20 minutes before there is an open scanner."

Garrett nodded her head, "Danni, set up the Rape Kit." She stripped the gloves from her hands, and walked over to the waste receptacle for hazardous materials by the entrance where she disposed of them. Reaching for the curtain that shielded the trauma room from the rest of the E.R., she bowed slightly, showing the way out, "Now, if you will excuse us…." The team of medical people filed out into the hallway, not wanting to see a replay of the surgeon’s wrath.

The last one in line was the intern who paused and questioned the dismissal. "How are we supposed to learn, this way?" He motioned to the group standing in the hall.

The surgeon’s eyebrow raised in warning, "By reviewing the tape at Trauma Conference," her voice barely above a whisper. She looked down on the smaller stature of the man, "Think about how you would feel if this were your mother, daughter, or significant other. Hmmm?"

His eyes registered the terror of the thought as he looked back to the patient lying on the gurney, then, nodding to the surgeon, he joined the group in the hall.

The trio of nurses and the surgeon proceeded to take samples from the various orifices of the patient’s body, making sure to label them appropriately. Each one was silently standing vigil to the serious nature of their job. The act of the rape alone was degrading and demoralizing to a woman, but now, to have to emphasize each area of possible contact or penetration for clinical inspection and sampling could be just as traumatic. The surgeon kept a professional demeanor in her voice as she stated her findings for the videotape to record.

The entire time Danni spoke softly into the injured woman’s ear, advising her of what they were doing and soothing her of any fears of a repeated attack. It seemed to be working, as the monitors showing the vital signs never wavered from the her normal with each new probing of her exposed body. She watched intently at the actions of her friends. She could see the tired and drawn look in the surgeon’s face.

The last intrusion into the patient’s privacy was the combing of any body hair for stray pieces of evidence. The surgeon carefully ran the comb over the sensitive body parts, gathering any loose strands of hair or fibers into the plastic bags that Rosie held open. The nurse sealed the bag and marked it with the site of the collection. Having completed the examination and evidence gathering, Garrett finished the trauma protocol by placing a urinary catheter and probing the patient’s rectum with her gloved and lubricated digit for any signs of internal bowel trauma and bleeding.

"Hemoccult negative," she reported for the record as she disposed of the soiled gloves and testing kit. She turned to see Rosie unfolding a fresh, warmed blanket over the patient’s body as the sound of the respirator kept a steady rhythm in the background. The curtain had been opened and the exiled trauma team now ventured into the room. The touch on her arm caught her attention, turning to see the petite nurse standing next to her.

"Don’t you think you were a little rough on that medical student?" She wrinkled her nose and looked up into the blue pools of the surgeon’s eyes. "He was only doing what he thought you wanted him to do..." the nurse was trying to smooth over the earlier confrontation, "…after all, it’s not like he fell asleep again."

All eyes were on the pair, watching for the tall surgeon’s response. Garrett finished removing her mask and gown, letting the full impact of Danni’s speech sink in. Graciously looking around the room at the many shocked faces staring back at her in awe, the surgeon smiled politely. "Ah…Danni, could I see you in the conference room, please?" Her voice was sickeningly sweet, as the smile never left her face. "Rosie, can you keep an eye on the patient?" Garrett looked over to Rosie enlisting her approval.

"Yeah, go ahead. I got you covered here." The nurse made herself busy, preparing the patient for the upcoming CT Scan.

"Thank you." The surgeon started out of the trauma room into the hall, only to stop suddenly and lean back into the room, "You know where I’ll be if you need me for anything. This should really only take a minute or two." Turning briskly, her determined stride carried her into the conference room.

The petite nurse stood, looking dumfounded. She quickly gazed from Karen to Rosie, as if looking for some kind of answer to Garrett’s behavior. Each one shrugged at the other as their eyes made contact, not knowing what to expect from the surgeon. ‘Why do I feel like I’m a sheep being lead to the slaughter?’ Taking a deep breath, Danni walked into the conference room as she quietly exhaled, trying as she might to settle her nerves.

The surgeon stood facing the large audio-visual cart at the opposite end of the room, her face, a stoic mask, as she looked blankly out of one of the windows that lined the hallway. Sensing that the young nurse had stepped into the room, the surgeon turned just slightly, "Come in. Oh, and close the door will you?" The nurse obliged and moved further into the room, her eyes never leaving the tall woman’s figure.

Garrett didn’t like what she was going to have to do, but she could not afford a breach in command, not in front of the team. She sniffed as she thought of how military her thoughts were. ‘By the gods, I guess some of the Navy actually rubbed off on me over the last three years.’ She swept her tongue over the front of her teeth as she readied herself, her eyes closing momentarily at the thought of disciplining a friend.

"Danni," she started then turned to face the nurse. "What were you doing in there just now?" Her face remained a stoic mask as she waited for an answer.

The petite nurse looked into the face of the woman in front of her. "I…I just thought that maybe…" she now stared at the floor, "…maybe you were a little tired and didn’t realize how the medical student felt."

"No, what you don’t realize is you tried to use our friendship in a professional setting." Garrett sighed, and positioned herself on the opposite side of the conference table. "I can’t have that outside bond invade and undermine my chain of command."

Danni looked at her friend in a different light as she locked on to the steely gaze coming at her.

Each time, the surgeon emphasized her involvement and responsibility by stressing the singular pronoun louder than the last one. "I’m dealing with a patient’s life in that room and my words have to stand as the bottom line. Not only does that one single patient rely on me to make the correct decisions now, but every patient that any member of that team treats in a latter trauma setting depends on me, and what I was able to teach them in there today."

Her crystal orbs had not left the shimmering green eyes of the nurse. Garrett leaned over the table with both her tightly fisted hands resting on it. The hard lines of her face gave her stare even more intensity to the words that she spoke. "If you were in the Navy, I’d be having you up on charges of insubordination. Damn it! I’d have to do it, too! You questioned my authority in front of my team."

At first Danni had tried to make excuses for the actions of her friend, but with each new acclamation of total responsibility, the nurse became more defensive with both her posture and thinking. This was not the friend and roommate that she knew, but rather some egotistical tyrant that had descended from some lofty throne to lay claim to her territory. ‘How dare she think that without her, we would not be able to treat this patient or the ones to follow. By the gods, how does she think we took care of the patients before she came here?’

Garrett sighed heavily. "Do you think I like the idea of singling out that medical student for his actions? Someone has to show them what the reality of this profession is. If they can’t handle the job now, then they need to think about getting out before they waste their lives and a lot of everyone else’s time trying to teach them. And let’s not forget about the patients and the lives that they could really screw-up now can we? It’s easier to get a bad seed out now, than to wait until they become a licensed physician. I can’t see him going into debt, trying to be something that he was never cut out to be."

By now the young nurse had crossed her arms over her chest and begun tapping her foot nervously, waiting for the verbal rampage to end. She bit the inside of her lip so as not to blurt out a rebuttal, until the surgeon had ended her litany of self-exoneration for her earlier actions.

Momentarily, Danni’s gaze had been distracted by the figure of Dr. Potter as she walked down the hall past the window behind Garrett. It had given her enough pause to think of her co-workers over the years and of all the people who had been seen as patients through the trauma suite. She was more determined than ever to let this newcomer know just how she thought. Her green eyes turned into a churning sea of emotions as she narrowed her gaze into the surgeon’s blue pools.

Not being one to yell and scream in anger, Danni initiated her rebuttal in a calm, orderly fashion. Letting her hands go down to her sides, the young nurse asked, "Can you spell the word ‘trauma’ for me?"

This had completely taken the surgeon off her guard. "What?" Her eyes expressing a puzzled look as she regarded the nurse.

The petite woman smiled coyly at her adversary; "I asked how you spell the word ‘trauma’." She paused waiting to hear the answer.

"What does that have to do with…"

"No, I want to see if you spell it the same way as we do. Please, humor me."

The tall woman grimaced, rolling her eyes and curtly replied, "T-R-A-U-M-A. But I don’t see…."

"HMMM, just as I thought." The nurse crossed her abdomen with one arm as she allowed her chin to rest in a thoughtful pose with the other arm. "You know how to spell the word, but you really don’t see what it’s all about, now, do you?" Her pose once again relaxed at the startled look on the surgeon’s face.

"What do you mean by that? I know all about…." The surgeon’s gaze narrowed as her eyes took on an ice-like appearance.

"NO! You think you know all about trauma, but let me tell you what trauma really means." The nurse placed her hands on her hips in a defiant manner. "Let me spell the word out for you in the manner that we understand it here." Her right hand began ticking off the letters as she said them. "T stands for Teamwork in a tense setting. R stands for Respect of not only the patient’s life and privacy, but also that of the staff you’re teamed with. A takes into consideration the feeling of Achievement in the patient’s physical and emotional outcome. U reminds us of our need to be in Unison when dealing with the matters at hand. M brings to mind that the Mortality of the patient is as fragile as our own." Her right hand being completely used she brought her left one up extending her thumb. "And finally A leads us to Anticipate the needs of the family in response to the patient’s injured state." The young woman’s face tightened into a hard and calculating stare. She had gradually made her way closer to the table as she had spelled out the list of letters in the word.

"There doesn’t seem to be any ‘I’ in the word trauma when you think of it in that respect, hmmm, is there?" Before she knew it, the nurse was leaning on the table giving the appearance of a mirror image of Garrett’s aggressive stance.

The face-off arrived much to the surgeon’s surprise. She had never considered that the young woman would be so adamant about the surgeon’s possessive and controlling nature. It was something that had always come so naturally to her that she had never given it very much thought. Besides, everyone had always assumed that she would take charge just by her physical appearance alone. ‘What is it about this slip of a girl that makes her think she can stand up to me?’ She fought hard to control her raging anger at her friend. ‘No. Friendship had no place in this argument,’ she thought, ‘this is totally on a professional level.’ The ice blue of her eyes turned even colder as she smashed her fist against the table. "Damn it, Danni. You’re going to make me do this, aren’t you?"

The nurse caught the motion of the surgeon’s arm as it brought all the force that it could muster into the downward slam, impacting the table. She never flinched at the sound or the vibrations that emanated throughout the piece of furniture advancing up into her hands. She had made her stand. There would be no backing down now. She thought of how her mother had always warned her when she was growing up that her stubbornness, in the defense of others, would be her downfall.

"Do what you have to…You will anyway." The spitfire of a nurse spat back at the menacing figure before her, the turmoil of emotions building deep within her small frame.

Garrett’s voice lowered an octave and the rumble of it over her lips caused the hair to raise on the young woman’s neck. "You’re out of my traumas starting now!" She inched even closer to the blonde’s face with her own. "I don’t care if you go home, go to lunch, or just hang out for the rest of your shift." She audibly filled her lungs with air. "I…don’t…want…to… see…you," saying each word singularly for emphasis, "in my trauma rooms for the rest of the night." She paused. "Do you…" she drew the word out,

"understand me?"

The electricity of the moment charged the air around the pair, as they faced nose to nose across the table. The hair on their arms was standing on end as if they had been in close proximity to a lightning strike. They were in their own microcosm, unaware of the stunned expressions on the faces of the people that lined the hall outside of the trauma room, staring in at them through the window.

The Charge Nurse made the sign of the cross on her body, praying that one of her pseudo-daughters would not be the next trauma as she headed toward the conference room’s closed door. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing, especially from her non-confrontational friend.

As if to add further emphasis to her proclamation, the raven-haired woman gritted her teeth showing the stark whiteness of them saying, "I call the shots here, not the nurses."

Seeing that they had reached a standoff, Danni acquiesced, "Fine!" Then turned with the speed of a tornado and stormed out of the now opened conference room door.

Karen stepped back releasing the doorknob, her mouth agape. She watched as the blonde spitfire brushed past her and headed down the hall, cutting a wide path from all that she passed by.

Without stopping or slowing down, the young nurse called back, "I’ll be going to lunch now, Mom." The tasseled blonde locks of hair moved with the shaking of her head. She had left, walked right out of the area before she would regret anything she may do. She needed time to think and definitely to cool down her hot temper. It didn’t manifest itself often, but when it did…well, she’d rather not think about that. She may be small but her mind could hold its own against the likes of anyone ten times her size, whether that was stature or ego.

Garrett knew that the older nurse was quietly studying her solemn figure, which still occupied the room. The drain of energy from the surgeon’s spent emotions was evident as she hung her head in disbelief at what had just transpired between her and the person she had thought of as a friend. ‘If only she hadn’t pushed me so hard.’ The surgeon closed her eyes and shook her head; ‘It wouldn’t have come to this.’ The woman brought her eyes up to see Karen standing in the doorway. "Yes?" she inquired distractedly.

"They’re ready for your patient in CT Scan now," she struggled to keep her voice calm.

Garrett nodded her head, "Tell Rosie that she’s now Trauma One for the rest of the night. Oh, …and Mom," she paused to look directly at the Charge Nurse. "You’re going to have to find someone else to take up the Trauma Two position."

"Okay," the nurse speculated for a moment. "Dr. Trivoli," the older nurse deliberated about offering help, but then thought better of it as she saw the distant look in the surgeon’s eye. "We’ll take the patient down to CT, you can meet up with us there."

The tall woman raised her hand in a motion of her approval, and then stood with her eyes closed, just trying to reign in her feelings toward the emotional outburst that she had just been a part of. She knew that the sleep-deprived state she was in had helped to set her on edge. Her furry had rapidly turned into a full-fledged, "batten down your hatches" storm front. Now, she would just have to ride out the swell of the waves that were sure to be gathering around her. It would be imperative for her to keep on course, especially in the state she was in. "By the gods, I hate emotions!" She mused, ‘I never felt like this when I didn’t let anyone get close to me.’ Then she sighed.

The Charge Nurse looked down at her wrist, noticing the time, she smiled in recognition as she jotted down 2210 in the patient’s chart as the time of departure for the scanner. It was still the same day as when she and Danni had watched the magnificent red hues in the morning sky. ‘I guess neither one heeded the warning,’ she mused, as if in answer to the earlier question.