Chapter Seven
When Bethany decided to make emergency medicine her specialty, she had been prepared for the more unglamorous aspects of the job—the hectic pace, the endless paperwork, the gross bodily fluids, the good, bad, and ugly. What she had not expected was to be thrown into the middle of a family soap opera like she was right now.
Yasmine Patterson, her sixteen-year-old patient, had come in complaining of various symptoms that didn’t quite add up. Following standard procedure, Bethany had ordered a blood test and the results had been surprising to say the least.
“I. Want. A. Name.” Yasmine’s mother Helene demanded through gritted teeth.
“There is no name! I keep telling you, they got my results mixed up with someone else. There is no way,” Yasmine shot back, almost close to tears.
“How could you? After all the talks we’ve had, how hard you’ve worked, we’ve worked. Do you realize what you’ve done?”
“I didn’t do anything!”
“So now you’re claiming this was divine intervention? You’re the victim of immaculate conception?” her mother tossed back, her voice full of derision. Bethany was not happy with Helene’s attitude and tone, but she saw fear and hurt in the mother’s face, not anger or disgust. And to be fair, no parent probably wanted to hear that their teen was about to make them a grandparent.
“There’s no way I’m pregnant!”
At this point, Bethany felt compelled to step in. “I know this probably wasn’t the news you were expecting,” she said in her best soothing tone, “but this isn’t an over-the-counter pregnancy test. The blood test we did is highly accurate. And no matter how careful you are, no form of contraception is one hundred percent effective.” At this point she expected Yasmine to break down, confess all, and cry about how she didn’t know the condom had broken until it was too late, and how they had tried to be so careful, but the teen stood firm.
“Dr. Lee, when I tell you there’s no way I’m pregnant, I mean there is no way. All due respect, you need to go back and check your work because you messed up somewhere,” Yasmine insisted.
“Yasmine, stop. Just stop. Don’t blame the doctor for your poor decisions. Take responsibility for your actions.”
Now Yasmine was near tears. “Why won’t anyone believe me? How the hell can I be pregnant if Justin and I never even had sex!” She put her hand to her mouth as soon as the words came out and she realized her mistake.
“Justin? Do you mean Justin Crawley? I’m going to kill that boy!” Helene started pacing back and forth, muttering threats.
“Mom, stop! I promise, Justin and I didn’t do anything. I told you we never had sex.” But Yasmine’s flaming cheeks told another story.
“Let me guess. You didn’t go ‘all the way’ but did…other stuff?” Bethany said, wanting to be vague and respectful. And not set off WWIII, given Helene’s current disposition.
Yasmine gave a small nod.
“Dr. Lee, I want you to run a full test for STDs,” Helene snapped.
She was already planning on suggesting it but then Yasmine had to go and make things worse.
“Mom, there’s no way I have an STD. Like I said, Justin and I didn’t really do anything.” She even had the nerve to roll her eyes. And suddenly, Bethany was back on Team Mom…slightly.
“Trust me, young lady, you can still get chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, herpes, and all sorts of fun, nasty diseases even if all you did was have that boy’s dick in your mouth,” Helen snapped back. “What the hell good are my tax dollars doing when your school won’t even teach you proper sex ed? How do you not know this?” she demanded, whirling to face her daughter again.
At that point, Yasmine broke down and sobbed. And just as quickly, Helene softened and the anger disappeared. She took a deep breath and gathered her daughter in her arms.
“It’s okay, sweetie. I’m not happy but I’m here for you. We’re going to work this out, okay?”
“But, Mom, we never did any of that. We’ve only ever made out. So how can I be pregnant?” Yasmine wailed.
Helene and Bethany’s eyes met, and it was clear the same thought had entered both their minds. The other woman gave a slight nod.
Bethany took a deep breath before she asked, “Yasmine, have you ever come home woozy after spending time with Justin, or lost consciousness? Or suddenly realize hours had passed you couldn’t quite account for? Anything like that?”
To her relief, the look on Yasmine’s face was more What the hell are you talking about woman? not Oh crap.
“I don’t know what you’re trying to get at Dr. Lee, but I swear, I am not having a baby.”
As much as Bethany hated to admit it, she was starting to believe the kid. Either Yasmine was telling the truth, or the teen was giving the performance of a lifetime and was missing her calling on the stage. But still, the test results didn’t lie. So how to make sense of this whole thing?
“I’m going to talk to the lab and look more into this to see what we can find out. We’ll get to the bottom of this, I promise,” she assured mom and daughter.
Bethany drew back the curtain of the bay and walked away, shaking her head.
What the hell was she supposed to do next? She could call down to the lab but there was no way she was getting on Desiree’s bad side by questioning her work. She sighed and resigned herself to the inevitable. Bethany found a quiet corner, opened up her phone and started logging into the hospital’s online medical library.
“Taking a break?”
All she had to do was see the polished shoes. She didn’t even have to lift her head to see who it was. As always, he was dressed impeccably. And as always, it irritated her to no end. But this was just a dress shirt and trousers, not a full-on suit like at the reception.
Bethany was still a little off stride now that she knew Ethan was officially her competition for the Fellowship. She should’ve known that if she’d set her sights on the fellowship, so would he. All it meant was that she had to be extra on point and bring her A++ game and show definitively she had what it took.
Not to mention his admission that he’d been flirting that day they’d first met. He’d been attracted to her, just as she’d been to him. Part of her was annoyed and frustrated that she’d misread their first interaction and been so wrong.
All of which was now moot of course. Bygones.
“I’m busy,” she said flatly. “What are you doing here anyway?”
“My shift is over, and I was on my way out.” He paused. “And I heard that one of your patients had caused quite a commotion and I was curious.”
So, the great Dr. Wu wasn’t immune to gossip.
“I have it under control,” Bethany assured him. As if she’d admit otherwise.
“I’ll leave you to your Candy Crush.”
“I was not playing on my phone,” she defended herself. “If you must know, I’m trying to solve a case of immaculate conception.”
His jaw dropped, bringing her no small measure of glee. “Immaculate conception?”
“Sixteen-year-old patient came in complaining of nausea, fatigue, and dizziness. Mom brought her in because she fainted. Did a blood panel and it turned up positive for pregnancy. And I’m trying to see what if anything can explain a false positive. Yes, the commotion patient,” she was forced to confess.
Once again, he raised an arrogant brow. “Why not go with the most obvious and likely explanation? The test was not at fault, and she was just trying to not get in trouble with her parents. I assume her mother or father was with her.”
Bethany shrugged. “Yes, her mother was, but I don’t know. Something tells me she’s telling the truth, so trying to cover all my bases. Call it intuition.”
Now it was her turn to give the side-eye as he sat down beside her. “What are you doing?!”
“I’m intrigued. Let me help.”
“If I can’t figure it out, what makes you think you can?”
“I said help. But if it came down to it, I’m sure I could solve this faster than you.” His smirk was infuriating and destined to manipulate her. Later, Bethany would berate herself for being such easy prey.
“You’re on,” she snapped. She went to grab the patient chart and he followed behind her. She threw a look at the exam room bay where Yasmine was still sobbing.
“Does security need to be called?” Ethan inquired politely.
“NO. Come on, let’s do this.”
The two of them made their way back to the quiet corner and started to dig in.
“Maybe she ate something,” Bethany muttered. “You know how some people get a false positive on a urine test because they had a poppy seed bagel. Let’s see if any foods can do that to a pregnancy test.”
“Something that would show up on a blood test?” he asked skeptically.
“It’s an idea,” she insisted.
Ethan’s eyes sharpened. “Maybe. Let’s see if there’s any literature on that.”
“Yasmine is a swimmer, an athlete. So we should focus on stuff that’d be in protein shakes, granola bars, and whatever else they’d eat. Do swimmers carb up? Bread, pasta may be the culprit here.”
“If she’s a swimmer, she’d be in contact with chlorine, yes? And other chemicals. Maybe she developed some sort of reaction.”
“Ohh that’s good. I’ll look up chlorine and pool chemicals; you check out the food angle.” Despite herself, a thrum of excitement began to flow through Bethany’s body. She was determined to solve this mystery and she loved nothing more than tackling a challenge. Even if she had to do it with him.
Ten minutes later, she looked up, disappointed. “Big fat zero.” She’d scoured and looked through every database, journal, the American College of Pediatricians, and any other source she could think of. Even WebMD, which had been a huge mistake. Only to come up empty.
“Same here. No leads.”
The two of them looked at each other. She was willing to bet the determined line of Ethan’s jaw and firm set of his mouth mirrored hers. Now it was getting personal.
“Let’s think this through,” she said. “Let’s start at the beginning.”
“Pregnancy tests and the blood test you ordered determine a positive based on hormone levels. So what affects hormone levels?”
“Diet, which we seem to have ruled out. Stress. Environment. Where does she live? Could she have been exposed to something?”
She flipped through Yasmine’s chart. “Looks like a normal neighborhood. She’s a teenager. By definition her hormones are crazy out of control,” Bethany said, almost to herself.
“Has she been to an endocrinologist?” Ethan asked. “Is there a family history?”
“Maybe a medication,” Bethany said, snapping her fingers. “Her mother said she bought over-the-counter meds for Yasmine’s nausea.”
“If she’s taking something it could be some sort of reaction. Or interaction,” Ethan suggested. He put his head down and began typing frantically.
“Look! On her medical history. You were right about the endocrinologist. She listed Kroloxin here. She must have a thyroid issue.”
Ethan’s head snapped up. “What anti-nausea medication did she take?”
“I’m going to ask them and find out.” Bethany sprinted back to Yasmine and Helene, who were clearly impatient to leave.
“What’s taking so long?” Helene demanded.
“The anti-nausea medicine you bought. What brand was it?” Bethany panted, slightly out of breath.
“What?”
“The over-the-counter stuff. What brand”
“I don’t know. I think it was the generic store brand.” Now confused, Helene looked at her as if she’d started speaking Icelandic.
“I need to know. This is important.”
“Wait.” Helene dug her phone out of her bag and made a quick call and Bethany tried to curb her impatience.
“Honey? I need you to go to Yasmine’s room and text me a picture of the bottle of anti-nausea pills from Rite Aid. The ER doctor says she needs it.”
“Not just the name, I also need the back with the ingredient list.”
“Is that Tash? She’s not allowed in my room!” Yasmine screeched, but a look from her mother quelled the protests.
“Did you hear that? Front and back. Right now, please.”
The Mom Tone did the job, and two minutes later Bethany had all the information she needed. She jotted it down on her own phone.
“Be right back,” she promised as she dashed off. Ethan was where she’d left him, still engrossed in research. He looked up expectantly.
“Well?”
“Perkolynde for anti-nausea.”
“That’s what I was hoping you’d say.” With an unmistakable look of triumph in his eyes, he thrust his phone at her. Quickly scanning the article he’d pulled up, Bethany resisted the urge to fist-pump. According to the study from two Mayo Clinic researchers, the main ingredient in Kroloxin, in rare cases, was capable of interacting with dextrose, common in anti-nausea meds. The two affected estrogen and other hormone levels, which could mistakenly trigger a false positive on a pregnancy test. Yasmine seemed to fall into the exception—lucky her.
“I have some good news to deliver.” She grinned. “Though not sure who’ll be happier to hear it: my patient or Mom.”
“By all means.”
Bethany turned on her heels, but something made her stop. Claiming victory was one of her very favorite things to do, but her conscience and sense of right and wrong (that annoying beeyotch) kept clamoring that taking full credit wouldn’t be fair. Without Ethan, she never would have solved the mystery.
Sometimes her conscience really sucked.
She took a deep breath and turned back.
“Problem?”
How was it possible for someone to pack so much arrogance in a word and brow arch? Nevertheless, she persisted.
“Do you want to come with me?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Don’t make me repeat myself. I couldn’t have figured out the issue with Yasmine’s meds without your help. They deserve to know who’s responsible. So, let’s tell them together.”
“Who are you and what have you done to Dr. Lee?” His bemused tone would have amused her under other circumstances.
Her cheeks flamed. “Oh shut up. You’re making me regret this.” Look what being the bigger person got her. Which was why she avoided it whenever possible.
“I better take you up on your generous offer before you change your mind. Lead the way.”
As they approached the examination bay again, Bethany had to stop herself from tugging at her lab coat and untwisting her stethoscope. As lowering as it was to admit, she didn’t want to appear outclassed next to Ethan. Who managed to look immaculate after a full shift. It was like he had some James Bond–like superpower where his suit and hair was still perfect even after a car chase and gunfight. Or in this case, a twelve-hour hospital shift while fighting sleep deprivation. Though maybe he didn’t need sleep like her and other mere mortals.
They approached the bay and threw back the curtains.
“Finally,” Helene huffed.
“We’ve been here forever,” Yasmine complained. “When can I get out of here?”
“I have good news,” Bethany began, then corrected herself. “We have good news.”
“Who are you?” Helene demanded.
“This is Dr. Ethan Wu, a fellow ER resident. I consulted with him about Yasmine’s false positive.”
The teen immediately pounced. “So, you believe me now?”
Bethany shot him a look, and he picked up the thread. “Yes, Dr. Lee and I did some research and figured out the cause for the test results. You aren’t pregnant.”
“It’s why I asked to look at the anti-nausea med you gave Yasmine,” Bethany explained. “You put in her chart that she’s on a thyroid medication. The two interacted and that’s why it showed positive for pregnancy.”
Helene’s eyes lit up, like a death row inmate who’d gotten a last-minute pardon. “Are you sure?”
“As close to one hundred percent certain as I can be,” Bethany assured the mother. “Wait a few days until the anti-nausea pills work their way out of Yasmine’s system and it should be fine. You can retest just to be safe.”
“I can show you the journal articles,” Ethan offered.
Helene waved off the offer, her shoulders now relaxed and her smile almost giddy.
Bethany turned to Yasmine. “You should thank Dr. Wu—he was the one who had the idea to check what could be affecting your hormone levels.” She better be earning so many brownie points for this.
“Dr. Lee was the one who remembered your thyroid medication and put the puzzle pieces together,” Ethan replied, in a very uncharacteristically modest tone. Bethany frowned. Who was this man?
Yasmine turned to her mother. “I told you so. I told you I wasn’t pregnant! And you refused to believe me.”
Helene gritted her teeth. “We’ll talk about this at home.” Then she turned back to the two physicians and was all smiles again. “Thank you both. I so appreciate all your hard work to get to the bottom of things.” She paused. “You two make a good team.”
A good team? Bethany blinked and gave an inner scoff. Maybe in this one particular instance, Ethan Wu had proved to be useful and wasn’t his usual insufferable self, but the idea of them working together regularly was laughable. She turned to Ethan, expecting a look of disdain and disgust. Instead, he remained stoically silent and merely gave a small nod of acknowledgment of the compliment.
But Yasmine wasn’t done. “I want an upgraded phone. That’s how you can make it up to me. And you buy my Blackpink concert tickets instead of making me pay for it myself.”
“You’ve lost your goddamn mind, young lady,” Helene sputtered. “Over my dead body.” As mother and daughter bickered their way out of the bay, Bethany and Ethan were left there alone.
“She wasn’t wrong,” he finally said.
“Excuse me?”
“We did good work. Teamwork paid off in this case.”
Seriously, who was this man?
Then he slid her a look. “Though obviously, I did the lion’s share of the work. You’ll have to pull your weight next time.” She saw the corners of his mouth kick up in a smirk.
And suddenly the world tilted back on its axis and everything made sense again. That random moment of humility and humanity from him was just that: a fluke. How could she have been fooled for even a nanosecond?
“The important thing is we treated the patient, and they left happy.”
Just then, a frantic couple came up to them. “Nurse, my mother’s been here for over two hours,” the man fussed. “She’s shivering. She needs a blanket.” But not before snapping his fingers to get her attention. Which was obviously designed to ensure her cooperation. Because everyone responded well to being treated like a dog being told to heel.
“I’m sure she’ll be seen soon,” Bethany said, doing her best to maintain a calm and professional demeanor. She’d like to say that this was the first time she’d been assumed to be a nurse instead of a doctor, and talked down to just because she was a woman, but it had been happening since her internship days. And every time a patient or a family member thought she could be bullied or pushed around set her teeth on edge.
“Listen,” the man said, looking down at her name tag, “Bethany, I think we’ve been more than patient. I know you nurses are busy, but you need to do your job. I demand you take care of my mother. Like I said she needs an extra blanket. How hard can that be?”
Bethany was ready to tell the man and his wife to go back to his mother and wait their turn in no uncertain terms when an unexpected voice interrupted.
“Excuse me? What did you just call my colleague?” Ethan’s voice was pure ice and disdain. He pulled himself to his full impressive height and looked down at the man. The edge in his voice made her skin prickle.
“Sorry, Doc.” The man immediately backed down and his tone changed. Bethany tried not to resent, deeply, how automatic that deference was for Ethan just because he was a man. “I’m just worried.”
“What is your name sir?”
“Harvey. Harvey Moore.”
“Mr. Moore, I imagine everyone who accompanies a family member here is worried. Yet, they manage not to be rude and disrespectful.”
“I’m just asking Bethany to do her job,” Harvey sputtered. “Believe me, I have the utmost respect for nurses and what they do.”
Bethany watched, fascinated as Ethan’s eyes hardened and narrowed, and if possible, he became even icier.
“First of all, you should address her as Dr. Lee. She is one of the best ER residents we have here. Your mother would be lucky to be seen by her. Show her the proper respect. And I don’t think you respect nurses at all. Even if she were a nurse, your tone and attitude is inappropriate. Nurses provide essential care to patients. They’re not servants to be ordered about. I believe you owe Dr. Lee an apology.”
To Harvey’s credit, he had the grace to look chagrined after such a dressing down.
“Very sorry, Dr. Lee. No disrespect intended.”
“It’s quite all right.” Really what else could she say? It wasn’t the first time she’d been spoken to that way and no doubt it wouldn’t be the last, but at least Mr. Moore had learned his lesson. This time.
Harvey, tail between his legs, went meekly back to his mother.
“Thank you,” Bethany murmured. It was nice to have someone defend her, and she would have never guessed it’d be Ethan Wu to have her back.
“Teamwork,” he said simply.
Maybe she had him wrong. Obviously, after peeling back the layers, Ethan was more than what she’d assumed and seen on the surface. And his help had been invaluable to solving Yasmine’s mysterious fake pregnancy.
“I owe you one. If you ever need a consult, feel free.” The Bethany Way mandated that one pay one’s debts. And having Ethan as an ally as opposed to enemy could prove helpful in the long run.
Obviously, The Bethany Way also approved of being strategic and killing two birds with one stone.
“I just might take you up on your offer. This was quite fun. I’m looking forward to it,” Ethan said with a nod.
Him being so nice really was going to take some getting used to.
“But don’t for one minute think this means I’m taking it easy on you with the Fellowship,” Bethany warned.
“Of course not. I’d be disappointed if you did,” he replied solemnly. Then he raised a brow. “Not that I’m worried. I’m still confident I’ll emerge victorious.”
And there was the Ethan Wu she knew.
“You’re really making me regret being nice to you,” she tossed back as she walked away. But she couldn’t help the smile that curved her lips.
It was nice for her world to make sense again.