Chapter 10 Margot
MARGOT
“Hello there. My name is Dr. Langley. I’ll be your attending for the next couple of hours. How are you feeling?”
“I’m Dr. Langley. Dr. Moreau had to step out for a while. I’m going to empty your urine catcher and draw some blood, then I’ll be back to read off your test results.”
“Dr. Langley is the name, and healing you up is my game! How ya feeling, bud spud?”
I made my usual rounds after being asked to stay on for a few hours into the day shift.
Which wasn’t odd for me to be asked, since I’d been paired with lazy-ass residents.
And while the lack of sleep wore me down, I also knew it looked good on me.
When the residents called out over stupid shit, I was the one stepping up and filling their positions.
More money in my pocket, more shining stars in my record as a resident, and I looked like the most dependable.
Which set me up well with the board. And I hoped to leverage that into a job.
While I had no intentions of staying in Redding after my residency, there was something about home that called me back.
Maybe it was the wafting of the ocean waves or the warmth of the sun.
Maybe it was the tepid humidity I enjoyed breathing in or the soft caresses of the summer breeze.
Whatever it was, it was strong. The pull to stay left me breathless sometimes.
So, I did everything I could to get in the hospital’s good graces.
“Good morning, Miss Tandy. My name is Dr. Langley, and I’m here to tickle those little feet of yours,” I said, smiling.
“No! Don’t tickle my feets,” the girl said, giggling.
“No? No tickling the feet? Well, what am I gonna do with you then?” I asked.
“Dr. Moreau said you were gonna draw blood and give me a sucker,” she said, smiling.
“Oh, really. Blood and a sucker. Sounds like a good time, if you ask me. Let me ask you this, do you like needles?”
The little girl shook her head no.
“That’s okay. No one likes needles. I don’t even like needles,” I said.
“You don’t?” she asked, her eyes wide.
“Nope. I don’t. But, if you can be a really big girl for me and not pull away when I draw this blood, I’ll get you two suckers,” I whispered.
“Yes!” she exclaimed.
I laughed as I made my way for her, reaching for the tray one of the nurses had already brought in.
I prepped the little girl for her blood draw, and I saw the fear in her eyes.
I tried to get her attention and kept talking with her.
I told her about the time I first went swimming in the ocean.
I told her about the time I first ate a bug thinking it was candy.
I even told her about the first time I fell out of a tree and had to go to the hospital.
It spiraled into the story I always tell people about why I wanted to become a doctor. And by the time I was done with story time, I was bandaging her up.
“Wait, you already did it?” she asked.
“I already did it,” I said, grinning.
“I didn’t even feel it!”
“Good. That was the point. Now, are you ready for those two suckers?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she said, giggling.
I pulled them out of my pocket and gave her a choice of colors.
I watched her pick yellow and pink, which warmed my heart as she unwrapped them both and held them each in her hands.
I saw the worry in her mother’s eyes. I knew why this little girl was here.
I walked over to her mother and pulled her off to the side, watching as her daughter ate the suckers.
“You really think she’ll be okay with those?” her mother asked.
“They’re sugar-free. I promise, she’ll be okay,” I said.
She sighed. “You really think my little girl is diabetic?”
“I think all the signs point that way. I’m going to get this blood down to the lab and see what her sugar and protein markers are.
We’re going to run a hormone test just to make sure something isn’t off with her thyroid.
But, at this point, it’s an elimination game.
If it’s nothing else, then yes. She’s more than likely already diabetic. ”
I comforted the mother as best as I could, but it was all I could do.
It was all I could give her. I hated seeing parents like this.
Worried over the health of their children.
It hurt deep down in a place I rarely touched.
I rubbed the mother’s arm until her daughter called for her.
Then, the mother drew in a deep breath and wiped at her tears.
“Thank you for helping us,” she said breathlessly.
“It’s what we’re here for, Mrs. Wyatt,” I said.
I walked out of the room and made some notes in the chart.
I handed off the blood samples to a passing nurse, then handed her the sheet of paper denoting the slew of tests needing to be run.
I put the finishing touches on the girl’s file and stuck it just outside her door.
Then, I closed it behind me to give them both some privacy.
“Morning, Dr. Langley,” Piper said.
“Morning, Dr. Jackson,” I said, smiling.
I watched her pass by, and her smile settled my heart.
I hadn’t gotten off my shift yet to get some sleep like she asked, much less go see how Bear was doing.
But her smile told me things were at least all right for now.
I continued on with my shift, checking on patients and making rounds with Dr. Jackson at the teaching helm. It was hard to focus, though.
Because when two o’clock rolled around, the only thing I could think about was how I should have been at Bear’s side.
I wondered how he was doing. How he was healing. How he was feeling. And the more I wondered about him, the more I wondered about other things. Like, whether or not the connection I still felt with him was real. Whether or not he felt the same way. Whether or not we could really work something out.
I tried to squash that hope as much as possible.
Hell no, we couldn't work things out.
I mean, even if we could, I had no idea if he felt the same way.
For all I knew, he simply wanted one more tumble around in bed.
Which he wouldn't get for a very long time. And anyway, it was ridiculous for me to feel the way I felt about him. Sure, it was love at first sight. When we were fucking teenagers! It’d been eight years since either of us had spoken to one another.
Or laid eyes on one another. Eight years changed a lot about a person.
For all I knew, he was an even bigger asshole now.
“Dr. Jackson, you’re needed in O.R. Prep. Dr. Jackson, you’re needed in O.R. Prep.”
The intercom came to life and Piper slapped her metal folder closed. She dismissed the residents gathered around her, instructing them to make their rounds before checking in with their advisors. She winked at me before she walked away, headed for the patient room where she was needed.
“Emergency surgery calls,” she said as she sung the words.
I broke off and went to go clock myself out. My long shift and a half at the hospital was done, especially now that two other residents had come in to relieve me. I walked over and clocked out, ready to get my ass back to my apartment so I could catch a few hours of sleep.
But I wanted to find Piper first. If I could. Just to ask her how Bear was doing personally.
“Dr. Jackson?” I called out.
I weaved my way down the hallway of singular rooms. O.R.
Prep was essentially a fancy term for a small room where the patient sat until the O.R.
was ready for them. Dr. Jackson’s job was to come in and prepare the patient and any family members there of the surgery and what it would entail.
And for an emergency surgery, everything was pretty quiet.
“Dr. Jackson, I just wanted to ask you about one of your pat—”
I came around the corner and heard Piper’s muffled voice. I heard her coughing. Choking. And I was instantly on alert. I reached out for the curtain and pulled it back, my eyes widening at the sight.
There was a very large man in the room. Dressed in all black. And he had Piper hoisted up into the air with nothing but his hand around her fucking neck.
“I’d let her go if I were you,” I said curtly.
The man quickly dropped Piper down to her feet and she hit the floor. The massive man slowly turned around, his eyes glaring at me from beyond a pair of thick sunglasses.
“We were just having a conversation, Doctor,” he said.
“Doesn’t look like any conversation I’ve had with a patient. And you sure as hell don’t look like a patient,” I said.
“Margot, stop,” Piper said, coughing.
“The woman’s right. You really should stop,” the man said.
I backed myself up against a tray of implements as the man came for me. I reached around slowly, gripping a scalpel in my hand. If that man came any closer, his carotid was fucking toast. But he paused halfway for me and snickered.
“See you later, Doctors,” he said, chuckling.
Then, he left the room without another word.
“Piper, holy shit. Are you all right?” I asked breathlessly.
I rushed to the floor with the scalpel in my hand in case that asshole came back.
“I’m fine,” she said, coughing.
“You don’t sound fine,” I said.
She struggled to breathe and I slowly peeled her hand away from her neck. Her skin was already bruised. The outline of the man’s hand was apparent against her white skin.
“I’m worried he crushed your trachea,” I said.
Piper shook her head. “He didn’t. Just—my phone. In my jacket pocket.”
“What about it?”
“Call. Rock,” she said, panting.
And I did what she asked without a second thought.