by K. Darblyne
"Yes, sir!" She started to turn towards the door, eager to tell Danni the news. "Permission to be excused, sir," she voiced in a military manner.
"Permission granted, sailor," he chuckled at her ingrained Navy background coming forth as she saluted before she realized what she was doing. The older man returned the salute, shaking his head at her evident enthusiasm for the project.
Embarrassed, Garrett just shook her head at her own incredible military reaction and hurriedly took off out the door.
For the first time since she had arrived at the hospital, McMurray saw new life come to her eyes. They weren’t condescending, angry, or even annoyed, as they were when she had been summoned into his office her first day. His plan was working. She was learning to be a real person and not just some robotic surgeon that only tolerated other humans. She cared about this project. He could see it in her demeanor towards him and the enthusiasm that carried over in her voice and eyes when she spoke of the ideas. Whatever it was that had spurred her into caring, he was sure that Nurse Bossard had a hand in it.
He looked down to the picture on the desk of his loving wife, the woman that had made him see life for the first time. ‘Maybe she’s found a nurse that will help her along the way, just like I found you.’ "Not bad at teaching, am I?" He asked the picture of his wife. He felt good that his hard work was paying off. He liked that stoic woman more than he cared to admit. There was just something about her that made him think of himself and his own start as a young surgeon when he looked at her. The Ol’Cutter was sure that his wife would see it too. After all, she was the one who had helped him realize what potential his life held.
"Mrs. Weber," he called out for his secretary through the open door. Within seconds she appeared in the doorway. "Get me Dr. McCormick, the E.R. Chief, would you, please? I need to talk to him about an important development."
"Yes, Dr. McMurray. Right away." Then, she set out to make contact with the requested physician.
The Chief of Trauma Services settled in to his high-backed leather chair. He sat there with his elbows resting on the padded arms of the chair, the fingertips of one hand pressed and flexing against the other. "Well, my dear Dr. McCormick, let’s see how you react to this idea. You always want to get your nose into my projects and grab some of the glory. I wonder how you’ll view this proposal?"
***************
The raven-haired woman let her long legs carry her down the hallway towards her office. The look of determination mixed with happiness was an unusual one, especially for her, drawing stares from those who she traveled by. As she made her way further down the hall, she was oblivious to the hushed whispers that came filtering back from the passing groups of nurses and residents. They were not used to seeing anything but the stoic façade that she had worn daily since her arrival, the first day of her Fellowship. The surgeon was eager to get started on the proposal, but she needed to get to Danni. ‘I can’t wait to tell her.’ She imagined the face of the petite nurse. She thought about Danni’s normally radiant glow of enthusiasm.
‘I bet it will be intensified ten…no, twenty times with the news I am going to tell her.’ Garrett was finding it hard not to let her mouth spread into that seldom seen brilliant smile of hers and her mind thought back to her father and his teasing.
It was a game that all parents and children play with each other, but Garrett loved it especially with her father. He was a tall man with enormous hands with which he would hold her and slowly start to tickle her until she produced a smile that was so brilliant it could outshine a light bulb. Well, at least that’s how her father described it. The best part of the game was not the tickling and squirming to get away, but rather the warm feeling that she would have once that smile was produced and her father would acknowledge it. Her usual response was to put her small arms around his neck and hug him until he would whisk her up in his arms, twirling her with him as they danced across the floor, her laughter mixing ever so sweetly with his.
Then as she grew older, the tickling was replaced by playful teasing and the making of faces as he tried hard to get her to laugh. Somehow he was always able to do it. No matter how hard she tried to keep that stoic mask in place, she could not do it when he was around. Now the reward for that smile would be a loving pat on the arm or a quick hug as he gently kissed her forehead, whispering words of encouragement to her. She had always thought of the game as something special between them.
She thought about her father, pulling from deep in her memory to conjure up an image of him in her head. Then the image began transforming, soon being replaced by the radiant smiling one of Danni. It was funny that one smile from out of her past lifetime could equal another in her present life today. She chuckled to herself as she entered her office. ‘I never thought I’d be able to smile in response to someone like that again.’
The small room didn’t seem to bother her today as she sat at her desk waiting for the computer booting up in front of her. She glanced at her watch, taking note of the time. It was 1500 hours. She drummed her fingers as she tried to make her mind up as what to do. Finally, she had made her decision. Pushing off of her desk with her out-stretched fingers, she swiveled the rickety chair away from the desk and moved fluidly to her feet. A step or two of her long strides brought her to the door that she readily opened. As she prepared to advance through the doorway, she looked up to see the thin build of her colleague who appeared out of nowhere.
"Rene!" Her voice sounded startled.
Looking at her with large eyes of surprise was Dr. Chabot. "Oh my dear…Garrett!" His feet started backing up to get out of her way. "Is there something wrong, some kind of emergency?" Concern filled his eyes.
"Sorry," she apologized as she reached out to stop his retreat. She paused only momentarily, then started edging her way down the hall towards the elevators. "No, nothing bad. In fact, you could say that it was something very right." That smile was spreading across her face again, with each word, as her mind thought about where she wanted to be right at that moment and with whom she wanted to be telling her news to.
Rene winked and called out. "Must be something pretty good to make you smile." ‘Maybe all of my prayers for this one have not been wasted, no?’ A sly smile came to Dr. Chabot’s face as he thoughtfully scratched his chin. ‘You don’t think…maybe.’ He watched her get into the elevator, noting the spring in her step and the anxiousness to get to her destination shown by her fidgety fingers tapping away at the button trying to hasten the slowly closing doors. ‘Perhaps she has opened her heart to someone.’ Rene smiled smugly satisfied that his attempts to get the stoic and reserved woman to embrace life had finally worked. He shrugged his shoulders and continued into his office. ‘Well, whoever or whatever it is…it sure is making her happy.’
**********************
The ride had only been a short one but still seemed too long. The trauma surgeon’s pace was quick but not rushed as she moved through the still opening doors of the elevator when it came to a stop. Her body language alone cleared a path in her intended direction as it always had. In the almost little over four months since her arrival, the staff had learn how best to stay out of her way. Today not being any exception to that rule. Only a few, slow moving visitors obscured her path, which she easily moved around, never altering the rhythm of her steps.
As her hands came in contact with the large Emergency Room doors, she remembered her first trip through them. Her eyes roved the hall on the other side, as they swung open, looking for the same three people in a Déjà vu effort of that first encounter. She sighed when she realized that the only occupants of the long hallway now, were an empty stretcher or two and an occasional I.V. pole that littered the way. Garrett turned her head in the direction of the nurse’s desk, her eyes moving constantly to find the familiar faces that she had come to rely on. Then she remembered. It was still the daylight shift. Two of the three faces that she was hoping to see would not be here. The only one that would be possible to find no
w was the petite blonde nurse, Danni.
Seeing the tall surgeon come into her E.R. with such enthusiasm in her step, Dr. Potter hurriedly ran through the list of patients, trying to find anyone that could possibly be a candidate for surgery. There was none. Jamie quickly checked the computer monitors for any indication of an impending trauma. Again, there was none. Resolving to find out why the surgeon was here, Dr. Potter leaned on the counter with her elbow and greeted the Trauma Fellow.
"Dr. Trivoli, anything that I can help you with or is this just a social call?"
Hearing the name of one of the women with whom he would love to get closer too, John peered up over the monitor screen that he was sitting at. The adventuresome nurse had to admit that with the smile on her face, Garrett Trivoli never looked more appealing to him. ‘Those blue eyes of hers are searching for someone…God if only it could be me.’ Then he heard her voice and his dream burst. Leaving him to deal with reality once again.
"Actually, Dr. Potter, I’m looking for one of your nurses, Danni to be exact." Garrett looked around. "Do you have any idea where I could find her?"
Jamie shrugged her shoulders, looking over to John for help. She knew that John had a habit of keeping tabs on the whereabouts of his potential conquests when they worked with him, just in case their need for him arose. "John, any idea where Danni might be?"
Resigning to the fact that he would probably never have either of his two most sought after women, the male nurse rolled his eyes and answered. "She’s in the back Conference Room working on some report or research of some kind." Garrett started moving in the direction of the Conference Room. "Hey, I wanted to help her but she said she didn’t need any help," he offered to the now disappearing back of the tall surgeon.
Garrett made her way down the long hallway, nodding acknowledgement to staff members that she encountered along the way. Her stride slowed as she came upon the bank of windows that lined the Conference Room. Inside she could see the lone, blond nurse mulling over the data on a computer screen. As she moved along the hall, closer to the door leading into the room itself, the surgeon could see the intense look on Danni’s face. She was now pointing to the screen and intent on the particular line that was being revealed to her. The tall surgeon stopped at the last window briefly, just to study the woman inside the room. She couldn’t help but be impressed by the dedication that this nurse showed to any task that she undertook. ‘Yes, she’ll make an excellent addition to this team.’ Garrett tried hard to fight back the full-face smile that was so desperately trying to be seen. She didn’t want to shock the poor woman. After all, she was known for her stoicism, not her glowing personality. Turning the doorknob with her outstretched hand, the surgeon toned down her excitement and the expression on her face.
The gentle sound of tapping came from the direction of the door as it drew the young blonde’s attention away from the monitor. Danni looked up in time to see the reserved face of her roommate as it peered into the room. "Hey, Dr. Trivoli, come on in." Her voice was smooth and welcoming.
Garrett looked around the room as if she was searching for something. "Is there a patient in there that I’m not seeing?"
Danni quickly looked around herself then shook her head. "No, why do you ask?" The curiosity of the woman was now peaked as she watched the tall surgeon enter the room advancing toward her.
"Oh, I don’t know…I thought you were only going to call me, Dr. Trivoli, when patients were around. I mean, Danni, we do live in the same house together. Besides, I thought that friends usually used first names when they talked to one another."
Danni smiled nodding her head in agreement. "You’re right. I guess I’m just used to that old Trauma Fellow who used to occupy that tall, dark form of yours." She chuckled at the thought. "That would never fly with her. I’ll see if I can’t remember that, Dr. Tri…Garrett, I mean." She winked at the surgeon and began laughing at the confusion showing on the face of the surgeon.
"That’s enough talking about me. Now, what were you so interested in on the computer screen when I disturbed you?" She made the motions of trying to see what was on the screen as a playful gesture to her friend’s interest in the information that was displayed. Garrett tried to change the subject, as she had always felt uncomfortable when any conversation revolved around her.
The nurse’s eyes flicked from the blue eyes of the surgeon to the monitor and back again. Cocking her head to the side, she wrinkled up her nose saying, "You’re not going to believe me when I tell you."
"Okay," Garrett nodded, "try me?" She let her leg drape over the end of the conference table as she halfway sat on it with her arms extended and her hands clasped on her scrub pants at the knee. The head tilt suggesting that she was daring Danni to continue.
"Okay, you asked for it." Danni warned her. "I was curious about the survival rate we have." She looked up at the puzzled face watching her, then quickly let her eyes return to the screen. Clearing her throat first, she continued. "It seems that when you pair up all of the Trauma Fellows with the different Trauma Nurses the different combinations all have varying percentages of survival rates."
"Oh!" Garrett’s eyebrow now edged upward with her interest, wondering just how well her percentages were. "So who is my best pairing…ah…I mean…what is the best survival rate team for the patients?" Her face flushed with embarrassment as she stumbled through her thoughts, not wanting to let on like she was personally interested.
"Well, that’s what I was just looking at when you came in. Give me a minute here and I’ll tell you."
The surgeon sat waiting, confident in herself that it surely would be her as the Trauma Fellow. She thought about Rene Chabot and knew that he would be close but the third Fellow in this year’s group was not even entering her mind as a source of competition. The question was which nurse was best with her. ‘By the gods, I hope its Danni.’ Garrett thought back over the last several months. Most of her nights on call she had found that the endlessly enthused blonde nurse in front of her seemed to pull the Trauma Nurse One position a lot. Her mind wondered if that was purely coincidence alone. She watched as the petite nurse slowly looked up to her,
Danni’s eyes grew wide in astonishment, the green seas of her soul, reflecting the churning thoughts in her mind as she stared at the screen. Blinking slowly several times, she raised her head to look at Garrett. "I don’t believe it," she muttered.
"What?" Concern edged through her voice. "What don’t you believe?" ‘Jeez, don’t tell me that Nathaniel Hostetler beat out both Rene and I? I don’t mind being second to Chabot but….’ The surgeon’s face grew very intense. "Let me see," she moved quickly around the corner of the table, standing behind the nurse. "Where?" Her eyes searched the screen frantically.
Danni lifted her hand and pointed to the line of deciphered information. She waited a moment then looked up at the face of the tall surgeon looming above her, as she quietly read the screen. ‘I can’t believe it. I knew that there was a good feeling, but never anything like that.’
Garrett’s mouth opened slightly as she let out a low whistle. It startled her to think that she had such an impact on the outcome of the patients. Her numbers were consistently higher with all of the nurses that were involved in trauma. One number stood out above the rest. Her gaze narrowed as she read over the line a second and then a third time.
"Can you believe that?" The nurse asked the tall woman who was still mesmerized by the numbers on the screen. "It’s got to be wrong. I bet someone forgot to add all of the data in to the equation."
"Hmmm…maybe it’s just reiterating the fact that we make a good team." She nodded in affirmation. "It does always feel kind of better when we work together, don’t you think?"
Danni thought for a moment. "Yeah, I’d have to say that you’re right. It does feel kind of natural, that way." The blonde pushed her chair back from the table. "So what do you think it means?"
The surgeon looked over to the blonde, studying her face for any misgivings.
"I think we shouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth." With that said, they both looked intently into each other’s eyes, trying to read the thoughts of the other. The clear blue crystals of truth shone forth like a beacon that had been lit for the first time. It had been more than half of her lifetime in coming, but now the openness to extend herself, allowed those chains that had bound her to loosen. Feeling slightly uncomfortable with the situation, Garrett chose to look back to the monitor screen. There was a moment of hushed stillness in the room as each woman came to grips with her own thoughts.
"I guess McMurray was right when he insisted that you and I work on the formal proposal for the support group." She used the information to tease at the nurse’s inquisitiveness.
"Support group?" Danni’s eyes riveted to the form of the surgeon as she stood looking over the information on the screen in a nonchalant manner.
The surgeon used her best poker face, playing with the nurse’s mind. When she felt she could contain her excitement no more, she slowly let her lopsided smile take hold. "Yeah," she nodded her head. "We have to have it in his hands the Monday before Thanksgiving. Then he’ll review it and present it at the Board of Directors meeting that Wednesday."
