Chapter 33 - Cat
Cat
For the first time since I started working here, the hallways feel foreign to me.
The smell unfamiliar, the sounds new, the atmosphere unknown.
I feel like a little girl visiting my new school for the very first time, having to find out which kids are bullies and which kids I want to befriend.
It’s not that far off from the truth, either.
Even though these meetings take place behind closed doors and are private, the walls have ears.
And some people have big mouths. The rumors will already have spread.
I can only imagine the whispers. Did you hear about the Chief? She slept with a patient. She only got away with it because Abbott likes her, but if you ask me… the ice queen has fallen. A chill runs down my spine, and I shudder.
Daniel’s intervention came as a complete surprise. I thought that he was sitting in to put an end to my career, but he wanted to exercise his speaking rights. To defend me. No. To defend Mary.
“I’ve met the woman in question at the gala,” he said, smiling. “To me, she seems far from a woman bending to an unwanted power dynamic. If anything, she seemed self-assured and confident enough to be herself around Doctor Durand. Even in the moments when Durand might not agree with her.”
He had not said much, but any more would have been unnecessary.
Perry had made it no secret that they wanted to add a note to my file and keep me under observation for two months, but Abbott’s statement had convinced them otherwise.
It solidified their belief that Mary was not pressured into this relationship, and that I had not abused my position.
But now she walks silently beside me, with her head bowed and her usual spark dimmed.
Her hands are pressed against her sides again, fingers curled inward.
And I can see her shying away from the glances and cold whispers of my co-workers.
Nurses bend their necks, and surgeons keep their gazes straight ahead but regard her through their lashes.
And she shrinks a little more with every step.
I reach for her hand and lace my fingers with hers, tugging slightly until she raises her chin. Her eyes find me, and I see the hint of that soft smile break through.
“It will get better,” I murmur.
And it’s true. They will scrutinize me for a while, talk about me behind my back, maybe even try to avoid working with me, but things will return to normal within a few months.
Mostly, anyway. I guess I’ll always remain the doctor who slept with her patient, but that will be the worst of it. Dios mío, that will be the worst.
We enter the ER, and the moment we step through those doors, the screaming of children and the droning of voices fill the air.
Mary shrinks a little more, but I just smile.
I love this place. Always have, and always will.
It’s not for everyone, but it is for me.
The thrill of it, the promise that I can make a difference, gets to me every single time.
But today I’m just visiting, just passing through. I let my hand glide to the small of Mary’s back as we navigate through the packed hallways. We step out into the intake bay when a sharp gaze catches my attention.
Wilder stares at me from the desk. Her dark and cold eyes remind me of a shark, and I wonder if she smells blood.
She says something to the nurse beside her and then tilts her chin in my direction.
The nurse, a new guy, frowns and rakes his eyes over us.
He slowly shakes his head and says something to the surgeon behind him.
Wilder just grins as the three of them stare us down. Stare me down.
?Basta!
“Do you have something to say, Nurse Wilder?”
She blinks at my sudden confrontation, and the sharp tone makes her recoil a hair before she regains her composure. Her grin turns into a snarl, and her eyes narrow into small, hateful slits.
“I don’t know, Doctor,” she taunts, and Mary’s hand twitches in mine at the tone. “Do I?”
“You seem to have a lot of opinions on situations that are none of your business,” I deadpan, my voice low but cutting.
“When you start sleeping with patients, you make it my business,” she snaps now.
Our sharp words have drawn the attention of multiple staff members, but fortunately, there are no patients nearby who can hear us. The blood in my veins turns to ice at her words, and I feel a flash of pure, unadulterated rage rush through me.
“?Cómo?” I hiss heatedly, but Mary’s fingers press against my forearm, pulling my attention toward her instead.
“Don’t, Cat. This is what she wants you to do. Don’t let her tempt you.”
I stare at her. Not because she is wrong, but because she is right.
Wilder threw down the gauntlet, and if I don’t address it directly, it will seriously affect my position.
Hospital politics are petty like that. But how this plays out depends on how I handle it.
I don’t have to play her game. I take a deep breath in through my nose as I look into Mary’s blue eyes. My world, my anchor.
“Yeah,” I say, smiling softly, and raise my hand to cup her cheek. “Thank you, mi amor.”
She blushes a little when I run my thumb over her bottom lip, and the sight of it has me smiling fully.
Before I can stop myself, I lean forward and press my mouth against hers.
Our lips brush, and I breathe in the smell of her.
Mary’s hand instinctively comes up to my hip, and she curls her fingers in the fabric before sighing softly.
The moment ends far too soon for my liking, and I press my forehead against hers for another beat, wanting to prolong it.
When my eyes blink open again, the reality of what I just did dawns on me. It should frighten me because I just made things so much harder on myself. But it doesn’t. It only makes me feel more certain. I will never hide Mary again. Ever.
Neither of us bothers looking back, even though the gasps are loud and Wilder storms off in a huff. Mary just laces her fingers with mine again, and we walk toward the exit. Together.
“I can’t believe you did that,” Carmen howls the moment she enters the apartment, with Isa hot on her tail. Did they ride in together?
Riley and Celeste exchange a quick glance, a glint of amusement sparking between them as they silently pass the same question back and forth. But Carmen is completely oblivious to it, or she simply doesn’t care.
“Wilder was furious. You were all she could talk about. For hours!”
“I didn’t do it for Wilder,” I say calmly, finding Mary’s knee under the table and softly squeezing it.
“Sí, sí, pero it was highly entertaining for me.”
“?Cómo?”
“Claro, Kitty Cat. The other staff members who saw the whole thing… Well, they say you were smiling. That you looked happy. There are more people rooting for you than you know.”
She raises an eyebrow at me and wiggles it. I roll my eyes, but can’t help letting a huffed laugh escape me. She did warn you about the smiles.
“Wilder tried to call it perverse and blow it up. Reginald, the new guy, told her to zip it since she was the one provoking you. And guess what, Cat?”
She grins like a cat that got the cream as her eyes glide from me to Mary, then to Riley, and finally to Celeste, her face beaming with unadulterated joy.
“Every single person walked away from her after that.”
She pulls back her chair and grins at me some more before turning her head toward Isa and nodding softly.
A light pink blush crosses the woman’s features, but she slides into the seat.
Carmen helps adjust it before she sits down next to her like it’s any other day.
None of us say a word. We don’t need to.
“You are aware that you’re going to have a rough time, yes?” Celeste turns to me, her voice calm and steady. “There might be people on your side, but there will also be people who think that you should’ve stepped down. There will be friction because people like that will challenge your authority.”
I tilt my head a bit. Every surgeon knows this. We’ve all seen cases where it happens, but there is something else in her tone that draws my attention. Celeste holds my eyes for a long beat, and everyone stays quiet. When her wife squeezes her bicep, she nods once without breaking her gaze.
“When Riley and I just started dating, she worked at the hospital. We tried to keep things professional, but we were in each other’s space so much…” She trails off. “Well, you know how it is.”
I smile because I do. Mary puts her hand over mine, lacing our fingers, and my smile widens. I really do know.
“That’s when Riley decided to take another job.”
“God, that was stupid,” her wife murmurs.
“It only drew the attention of the board, and although relationships between staff happen, like, all the freaking time,” she says, exasperated, “ours was suddenly under scrutiny. Everyone just had to have an opinion. I couldn’t show my face in there for well over four months without somebody talking behind my back. ”
I feel Mary shudder beside me, her grip suddenly tightening.
“Four months?” she asks quietly, and I can hear the fear in it.
Her eyes are big as she stares at Riley, and she is a bit white around the nose. She holds on to me like I am the only thing keeping her from spiraling, so I run my thumb gently over her pinky.
“Give or take. Hospital staff is like one big toxic family. Some of them pretend to celebrate your wins while they secretly wish it was them. So, when something bad happens, they are the first to point and scream, ‘I told you so’.” Riley says with a shrug.
“But honestly, most of them just want to have a calm workspace with no drama. Especially in the critical departments like Cat’s. ”
Celeste’s eyes gleam as she looks at her wife, and she nods.
“Those departments are built on trust and connection. People’s lives literally depend on it. That is not a risk any of us is willing to take over some petty gossip.”
Her lips tick up in a brief smile at Mary, who relaxes a little before Celeste turns her face back toward mine.
I find that I appreciate that small gesture, her care.
Especially since she doesn’t have to do it.
She doesn’t have to share any of this with us.
She is being your friend, Katherina. Cherish it.
“They will test you, and you’ll have to be cutthroat about it. Never allow it to reach the OR.”
She doesn’t need to say more. I know she is right. If I allow even the slightest speck of doubt into those rooms, my authority will crumble, and with it, my reputation. My father had warned me about this as well.
‘Hija, people you thought you could trust will now turn against you, like sharks smelling blood. Be prepared to make it theirs.”
“They would be stupid for even trying,” Carmen mumbles under her breath, and her eyes catch mine. Mi hermana.
“They are stupid for thinking there ever was a power imbalance between Cat and Mary,” Isa instantly huffs in response.
The words hit me harder than they should, and I gasp for air.
All their heads instantly turn to me, while my eyes start to brim.
So embarrassing. Especially since Mary told me over and over again that she chose me.
I didn’t coerce her or force her hand. She had already decided when she bumped into me.
If anything, she was the one overpowering me.
But hearing it validated by a person other than her or my best friend brings peace to my mind.
“Gracias, Isa,” I whisper, and she shrugs.
“De nada.”
“God, I need a drink,” Mary finally murmurs, the color back on her cheeks. “Who wants margaritas? I finally learned to make something decent.”
All hands shoot up, and laughter fills the dining room. Carmen starts a story about a patient with a weird foreign object in their rectum while Mary slips out to get the drinks. I follow her to pull the stew from the stove, but slip my arms around her waist before either of us touches anything.
“Te amo, Maria,” I whisper as my lips brush the shell of her ear, and she shudders against me.
“I love you, too.”
She turns in my arms and presses her lips against mine. And in that moment, the rest of the world is a nuisance. I’ll find a way, as long as I have her at my side.