Lincoln Hospital (Trauma #1) (20 page)

“What? Why?  What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong?  What’s wrong?  I’ll tell you what’s wrong. Why does every fucking thing have to be about you all the damn time?  Maybe some of us studied their asses off for that surgery too so that they could have a shot to scrub in.  Maybe some of us have things in our personal lives that could use some attention now and then or a shoulder to lean on.  You’re so focused on Dr. Dark & Mysterious that you’ve forgotten you’re not the only fucking intern in this hospital and you sure as hell aren’t the only one with problems!  Just because you’re sleeping with your boss, none of us get seen and I’m getting really sick and tired of it.  I earned my spot here just as much as you did.”  Without another word, she turned and left Athena standing in the hallway completely flabbergasted at her outburst.

People whispered and stared and pointed as she walked by.  Sabine’s yelling had been heard by everyone and her face burned in embarrassment.  Thankfully, Smith took pity on her and sent her into Bay 1 with a patient that needed sutures so she could hide from the prying eyes and low whispers.

“Hi, I’m Dr. Payne.  I’ll be sewing up your arm today,” she said to the teenage girl laying on the gurney.

“You’re the doctor that just got yelled at by that other doctor.  I saw.  Boy, she really let you have it,” she commented. Athena frowned at her but didn’t say anything.

“When I’m mad at my best friend, I just send her a text message with the mad face emoji.  Yours...wow she really is pissed at you.”

“I know.  I know she is, okay? Can we not talk about this? What happened to your arm?” she asked, changing the subject.  She already knew from reviewing the chart, but needed to distract the inquisitive girl.

“Oh my friend dared me that I wouldn’t cut my arm with a swiss army knife.  She lost.  She doesn’t believe how tough I am.”

“That’s not tough, that’s stupid.  You could have really done some serious nerve damage.”

“Well you’re stupid for not realizing that your friend needed you.”

“I’m not stupid, she didn’t tell me she had things going on.”

“You’re her best friend, you should have known.”

“Yeah, well your best friend should have known that you could have really hurt yourself with this stunt.  Don’t do something like this again.”

“Don’t be so self-involved next time that you forget who your friends are.”

The two stared at each other for a few minutes, before having to grudgingly admit that the other had a point.

“Fine,” they said at the same time.

“Now shut up and let me get these stitches in so you can go home.”

Athena spent the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon seeing patients that came into the ER.  Sabine glared at her every chance she got and each time she felt worse and worse.  She needed to get her alone so that they could hash everything out.

Her pager went off and it was time to head to Sebastian’s room to get him prepped for surgery.  They’d both been called and the walk to his room was a stony one.  Unable to stand the tension, she tried to reach out.

“Sab I—”

“Don’t, Thene.  Not here.  We’ll do this after work.”  Athena frowned.  So it was okay for her to scream at her in front of everyone at work, but not for her to try to set things right.  Sighing, she let it go.

Sebastian kept up the chatter as they got him ready and Mrs. Harris hovered, unsure what to do with herself.  Once it was time to wheel him away she burst into tears and threw herself on top of him.

“Oh, God, Sebastian, Mommy loves you so much.  My brave, brave boy.  Daddy loves you too and he’d be so proud of you if he was here.  You be strong in there and I’ll be right here when you come out.”

“Don’t worry, Mom.  I got this.  Grand slam! I love you too!” he called out as they started to wheel him out the door.  Athena looked back at Mrs. Harris as she all but collapsed in the chair, her body wracked with sobs and knew what she had to do.

“Sab,” she motioned her forward.  “Go with Sebastian.  I’m staying here.”

“What?  No, Thene.  If this is about what I—”

“It’s not.  It’s just the right thing to do.  Go and scrub in, you can do this, I know you can.  There’s no one else I trust more. I need to be here with Mrs. Harris.”

Together they watched until they could no longer see them down the hall and then began the torturous act of waiting.

Several hours later, Mrs. Harris finally spoke, having sat quietly for most of the time. “Jay and I were high school sweethearts.  We got married right after we graduated which pissed off both of our parents’,” she said with a chuckle.  “He went into trade work so that I could go to college and get my degree to become a teacher.  He was always putting my needs above his.”

Athena reached out and took her hand, recognizing that she needed to talk.

“I found out I was pregnant on the first day of my new job as a teacher.  We were counting on me working for a few years before we started a family so that we could get caught up on some bills and create a little nest egg for ourselves.  I remember being so scared to tell him, afraid that he might leave me.” She took a deep breath before continuing.

“When I finally did tell him, you know what he did?  He took an ad out in the paper to announce that we were expecting.  He worked three jobs during my mat leave so that we could make ends meet.  He was the best man I’ve ever met.” Tears rolled down both their faces now as she shared her very personal memories with Athena.

“It sounds like he loved you very much, Mrs. Harris.”

“Please, call me, Mara.  We’re sharing one of the worst experiences of my life together after all.”

She smiled and nodded. “Okay, Mara.  I’d like that.”

“When we found out Sebastian was sick, I got the news first.  I called him in a panic, bawling my eyes out.  He was so worried about me, about us, that he rushed home.  Rushed so bad that he got in that car wreck and he died.  He died, Athena, and it’s all my fault,” she buried her head in her shoulder and let all the grief flow out of her.  The months and months of stress worrying if her son was going to be alright.  The all-consuming loss over losing the love of her life; all of it.  It all came out in those tears that now soaked through Athena’s shirt.

“No, Mara.  No.  It’s not your fault.  It was a horrible, tragic accident.  Do you think that Jay would have wanted to be anywhere else once you got that news?  No, of course not.  He loved you, he loved Sebastian and he just wanted to be there for you.  To be with his family.”

“What am I going to do if I lose both of them, Athena?”

She didn’t get to respond as at that moment, Cian and Sabine rounded the corner, headed their way. One look at Cian’s face and the dried tears on Sabine’s face and she knew.  Dread filled her, sadness enveloped her and all she wanted to do was hold Mara forever to spare her the pain that was inevitably coming her way.

The tears started to fall silently and she could literally feel her heart crack in two.  Sebastian’s little face swam in front of her.  The light in his blue eyes as they played cards, his excitement when his team won.  They way he liked to tell jokes.  It wasn’t fucking fair.  He was just a child.

“Mara.” Cian called her name. She pulled out of Athena’s arms and glanced up, seeing them there and freezing.  Like Athena, she took one look at their faces and knew.

“No.” she whispered.  And then she screamed it. “Nooooo!  My baby!  Not my baby boy, please God, no, no, no.  Sebastian!”  Her wails grew louder and Athena couldn’t keep it together as she grabbed her and wrapped her in her arms.

“No! You promised!  You said if we got a heart he would be okay.  That it would fix him.  You promised!” she raged at Cian, pinning him with a hateful glare. “My son...oh, God, Jay not our son too.”

“I said it was our best chance for him, Mara.  He was very sick and we wanted to give him every opportunity we could to come out of this.  I—” his voice cracked, an unusual occurrence for him. “I wanted him to come out of this.”

Looking up at him, she saw how he too was devastated by the news.  Saw the doctor that had been by her son’s side day in and day out for months, working to find solutions to better his health.  All the anger drained from her body and just her grief remained.  She launched herself into his arms and sobbed into his chest.

“H—H—He was only f—f—four years old. He never got to live.  My baby, oh, God. No, Sebastian.” Cian led her away to have a private moment, leaving Athena alone with Sabine.  As soon as they were out of earshot, she too let her tears fall, sobbing over the loss of such a precious little boy with so much love to give.

Sabine stepped forward and they embraced, the comfort they both needed trumping the fight they’d had.

“Thene, about what I said...”

“It’s okay.  You were right about most of what you said.  I should have been there for you to lean on. You sure as hell could have picked a better venue for your little outburst, but I understand where you’re coming from.”

Sabine looked embarrassed but before they could get into it any further Athena told her she wanted to check on Mara, see what they could do for her.  Sebastian’s death was a large lead rock sitting in her chest.  She couldn’t believe such a sweet boy had been taken so young and yet assholes like those two serial killers were still walking around. Life really wasn’t fucking fair.

C
IAN HAD BEEN filled with rage ever since losing Sebastian on the table.  That little boy had looked up to him; trusted him to get it right and he’d failed him just like he’d failed Hannah.  Waiting for the twenty-third day had been torture as he needed some sort of an outlet to channel all his pent up fury.  He’d been taking things slow with Athena, the death had hit them both hard and they needed time to process their feelings.  Plus, that fucking Detective was still hanging around and that was really starting to piss him off.  She was off the market, claimed, taken,
his
. They may not have made anything official, but he shouldn’t have to tell her that he was not a man that shared nicely with others.

He was sitting in the living room watching the news, before leaving to pick up his target and heading into work.  Mornings were his thing, he liked to drink his coffee and peruse the paper and news channels for more criminals to add to his portfolio. He looked up as that idiot, Rae Kelley came on screen.

“Good morning! I’m Rae Kelley, here with your morning update from Channel 15.  New York City is still baffled by our reports of
The Watcher
. Is he friend or foe?  The body count keeps rising, but suspiciously each victim linked to him is a hardened criminal that escaped prosecution.  If I were someone thinking about going on a crime spree in this city, I’d beware.  You just never know if
The Watcher
will end up with you in his sights!  Be sure to tune in daily to Channel 15 for updates on this developing story and check out my blog,
Rae’s Ramblings
for up to the minute news.”

Cian swore and switched the TV off.  He’d thought the vigilante reports had died down, but obviously he was wrong.  The more media attention that stayed on this, the more difficult it was going to be to keep it going.  He’d have to sit down at some point and think up a strategy to get the heat off him and his team.

Downing his last sip of coffee, he headed out the door to pick up his newest patient.  His dark excitement to get this fucker on his table put an extra spring in his step as he walked to his car.

Damien Lock, age 36

59 West 32nd, Upper West Side

Accused of date rape, serial rape, murder, attempted murder, assault and battery

Witnesses failed to testify, insufficient evidence to convict

Damien Lock was one cold-hearted son-of-a-bitch.  He had a real, deep-seeded hate for females and it showed in every one of his victims.  He’d brutally rape and beat them repeatedly, either leaving them battered beyond recognition or he just killed them altogether.  A wealthy corporate type, he thought he was untouchable.  Until he messed with the wrong victim who reported his ass.  After that, women started coming out of the woodwork, telling their stories.  Unfortunately, as fast as they appeared, they disappeared, some never to be heard from again.  It was obvious he was having them silenced, but with no proof, there was nothing the authorities could do.  In the end, like so many other criminals, he’d walked.  But now came the time for him to pay the price.  His price; his way.

Getting him to the hospital was going to be tricky since he was a corporate executive, but with some creative genius, he was able to set up a lunch meeting at a high-end restaurant with a fictitious client looking to invest in the company.  That got Damien alone, which was exactly what Cian needed.  While seated at the table, Cian walked by and casually dropped a tablet into his Damien’s glass of water and then kept right on moving.  It dissolved instantly and it didn’t take long for the commotion to start as he collapsed onto the floor in convulsions.

As soon as the ambulance was called, he rushed off to the hospital to arrive before it, thus avoiding any suspicion. He couldn’t have been more thrilled with how smoothly it had gone. His one and only hiccup was Athena.  She materialized from nowhere, hinting around that she’d like to scrub in on a surgery to start off her day.  He tried to dodge her and pretend that he didn’t catch her meaning but he wasn’t sure if she bought it.  In the end, he managed to wheel Damien away and leave Athena behind, but he knew he’d have major damage control to do later.