Roads
Chapther Three
By Ryan & Triggersaurus
triggersaurus@hotmail.com

The End Of The Road 

Sometime later that evening, a key turned in a lock. A coat landed on a bed and a TV was switched on, flicked relentlessly and then switched off again. A mini-bar was raided, although it had little to offer, a shower was used, used a bit too much - a yelp filled the room as the hot water ran out….and time ticked onward.

The double bed creaked as Doug sat down, with a towel round his neck. For some time he stared straight ahead, absent-mindedly rubbing his wet hair from time to time, until it stuck up in all directions. As he dropped the towel to the floor, he snapped out of his trance and got up, going to the small table by the door and picking up a directory of business telephone numbers in the central Chicago district. Heading back to the bed with this, he slipped past a mirror, returning a few seconds later after he passed it, patting at his head to try and organise the strange shapes and spikes that his hair had arranged itself into. He sat on the bed, having found that his hair wouldn’t be changing that night no matter how much he tried to persuade it, and opened the directory slowly, flicking through some pages and finally coming to rest under “Medical services”.

Across the other side of Chicago, an alarm clock was set and curtains were pulled. A light flicked off, a bed creaked, and a loud sigh of relief echoed through the room. A blanket was pulled up closer, a pillow plumped, and even after all that, the ceiling was stared at for some time...

Just as Carol began to feel her eyes closing, a cry emanated from the next room, and as hard as she tried to ignore it and as hard as she prayed for it to stop, it didn’t and she heaved herself out of bed, taking a glance at the alarm clock – 1.32am. She shuffled out into the hall and across to the small room serving as a nursery, lifted the wailing twin from her crib and shuffled back out to the hall and down the stairs, going as fast as was possible for 1.30 in the morning, so that Kate would not wake as well. She went into the kitchen and got a pre-prepared bottle from the fridge, then went back out into the lounge, sitting down on the couch with Tess, placing the bottle in her mouth, not so much as to feed her but to stop the noise. Carol yawned.

"Give me the bullet." Carter yelled as the paramedics brought in a boy of about 10 years old.

"Matthew Barnes 9 years old, fell on a tile floor when his crutch landed on some water, unconscious for about 3 minutes."

"Crutches?"

"Yeah, he's got CP."

"Ok, where are his parents?"

"Couldn't find them, neighbor called 911. It kind of looked like the parents had been gone for at least a couple of days."

Carter looked down at Matthew.

"Hi Matt, I'm Dr. Carter, we're gonna fix you up, ok?"

"Ok."

"Carter do you want me to page Cleo?"

"No thanks, I can handle this."

"This kid has enough problems." Carter said under his breath.

"Where do you want him Dr. Carter?" The paramedic asked.

"Exam 2."

They head for Exam 2.

Doug stood by the window, looking at the busy road below, fingering a scrap of paper. After some while, he went to the bed and pulled the phone over, stretching its cord as far as possible. He looked down at the paper and plugged in the first number.

“Hello, The Maycroft Practice, how can I help you?”

“Uh.” The receptionist had answered quickly, and thrown Doug off balance.

“Hello?”

“Err, hi, um, I was, I’m looking for a job in…”

“I’m sorry, we have no vacancies at the moment. But I can take your name and telephone number if you would like us to call when something comes up? What area of work were you interested in?”

“Uh, actually I’m a paediatrician.”

“Oh. Well, okay. It would be best if you sent us your resume then, and we’ll contact you from there, Dr….”

“Ross. Doug Ross.”

“Do you have our address?”

“Yeah, it’s right here in the directory…”

“Okay, well, hope to receive it soon. Have a nice day!”

“Sure”

He pressed down the receiver and sighed, ticked off the first number and started dialling the next.

"Tough case Carter?" Kerry asked

"Yeah, Matthew Barnes, slipped on water, unconscious for around 3 minutes. Oh, and he has CP."

"That doesn't sound so tough."

"Well, normally it wouldn't be but the parents are nowhere to be found."

"You think they abandoned him?"

"I'm not sure, I was just going to talk to Matt about it."

"Ok, well let me know how it turns out."

Carter walks off towards exam 2.

"Matt, ummm.....How are you feeling?"

"OK, I guess. I've got a headache."

"I know.....In a few minutes I'm gonna take you to see a friend of mine, he's gonna take some pictures of your head to make sure there's nothing wrong. Can I ask you some questions?"

"Okay."

"Do you know where your parents are?"

"They said they were going shopping and would be back in a while."

"Okay, and do they always leave you home alone?"

"No, this is the first time, and my neighbor was right next door, he came to check on me every 10 minutes."

"When did your parents leave?"

"Yesterday."

"You were alone last night when you went to bed?"

"No, my neighbor came over and stayed until this morning."

"Ok. I'll be back in a while."

Carol jerked awake, squinting into the bright light that was shining through the thin curtains. Someone was banging on the door. She sat up, suddenly aware of the fact that she had fallen asleep last night feeding Tess, who was still in her lap, and wide awake. She stood up, holding Tess, who was waving her arms around, strangely content. She went to the door and looked through the peephole, seeing an all too familiar balding head. She opened the door, and was about to greet Mark, but yawned instead.

“And good morning to you too!”

“Come on in, Mark.”

“I didn’t wake you up did I?”

“Well, erm…”

“Oh Carol, I’m so sorry! I know what it can be like, did someone,” he looked pointedly at Tess, “keep you up last night?”

“No, not really, I was just tired anyway. I actually fell asleep on the couch feeding her early this morning…anyway, don’t worry about it. Do you want a coffee of something?”

“Er, no, thanks. I was just checking by that you’re okay, you know…”

“I’m fine Mark. Really. Could you just hold Tess for a moment?”

“Sure…” Carol handed Mark the infant and went into the kitchen, where she got a glass of milk. She came back in and sat down, smirking at Mark trying to wrestle his glasses from an over-inquisitive Tess.

“She has a quite a grip…”

“Yeah, I noticed…Kate still asleep?”

“Yeah, thankfully. She’ll start screaming soon though.”

All was uncomfortably silent for a moment.

“So, uh, have you spoken to Doug?”

“No.”

“Me neither.”

Carol looked down into her glass and swirled the milk around a bit.

“I can’t believe he did that, Mark. How could he just…I mean, after everything…I thought he would have been above that. I thought, I guess I just hoped that he had changed.”

“We all did, Carol. But I think it’s between you and him now. Do you want him to stay?”

“I don’t know.” She looked up at him. He looked back, but broke the gaze to look at Tess. He stood up and passed her back to Carol, who also stood up.

“I think I’d better get going. I’m meeting Elizabeth for dinner, and I have some work to do…”

Carol nodded and followed him to the front door, holding it open as he stepped out.

“Mark?” He turned around. “Thanks for dropping by.”

He smiled, just as a wailing began from upstairs. Carol raised her eyes to the heavens and grinned at him, shutting the door behind her.

Back at County, Carter walked up to Kerry.

"Hi Kerry, can you do me a favor?"

"Sure."

"I need you to call every ER in the area, and ask if they've had any patients under the name of Barnes in the last couple of days."

"Sure, but why, his parents abandoned him, right?"

"I don't think so, he just told me that they went shopping and told him they'd be back in a while."

"When did they tell him that?"

"Yesterday."

"Has it been 24 hours?"

"I think so, I mean he said they left yesterday."

"Ok, I'll call."

"Let me know what you find out, I'm gonna go check on Matt."

"OK, but Carter if he's ready to be released, call DCFS."

Carter walks off to the exam room.

"Hey Matt, how's it going?"

"Ok I guess."

"That's good, I'm gonna check you over one more time then we're gonna get you a better room."

After checking Matt over he concluded that he didn't have a concussion, but he wanted a CT just in case.

"Ok, Matt I'm gonna send you up for a CT, that's where they take a picture of your brain."

"Will you be with me?"

"I'll be right in the next room."

Doug sat and swirled the coffee round in the mug, looking at the piece of paper with an address and time written on it. Finally, he finished the coffee and was just reaching for the telephone again when it rang. He jumped, but picked it up.

“Hello?”

“Call for you Dr. Ross”

“Thanks”

The phone clicked as the clerk switched lines.

“Hello? Doug?”

“Carol?”

“Yeah, hi. I’ve been thinking…”

“So have I, there’s something I need to tell you, I was just going to call y…”

“Wait, Doug. I hate to use a cliché, but we have to talk. If you want to come around now."

“Um, okay. If you’re sure.”

“Yes.”

“Well, I’ll see you in a few minutes then.”

“Bye."

“Bye.”

In the CT room, Carter’s voice echoed a bit, bouncing off the walls.

"OK, Matt in a minute we’re gonna start the CT. I won’t be in here with you but I’ll be right in the next room.”

"Ok. How long will it take?"

"I don’t know, umm around 25 or 30 minutes. You ready?"

"Yeah."

The lab technician starts the machine as soon as Carter leaves the room.

At the admit desk in the ER, the staff sit around, chatting, enjoying a short spell of peace and quiet. Until the phone rings. Randi picked up, stretching to get it.

"ER. Dr. Weaver, phone for you. It’s Mercy, I think it’s about the Barnes kid."

"Thanks Randi."

Kerry took the phone.

"This is Kerry Weaver. Ok, you say they were brought in when? How serious? Oh god. Ok thanks."

Doug slowly climbed the steps to Carol’s porch, noticing that the second step still creaked – he’d planned to fix that, before everything happened. Right now he was feeling like he was on the Walk Of Doom, just waiting for Carol to tell him to go back to Portland, Seattle, anywhere as long as it was miles from her and the girls. But he was determined not to go without a fight. Hell, he was the twins’ father. He had the right to see them.  It would certainly be unusual if Carol did stop him from seeing them – she was so open and happy about it before. But if it ever got to that point, he wasn’t about to let the girls grow up without their father. He’d screwed someone else’s life up like that already, and it wasn’t something he was going to let happen again.

With these thoughts in mind, he rang the doorbell, instantly cursing as he did when cries came from an upstairs window – hadn’t he done the same thing just a day or do ago? It was some time before Carol answered the door, screaming child in one arm, and a less than pleased expression on her face. If Doug wasn’t in trouble before, he certainly was now. He stepped in and closed the door quietly behind him, although there seemed little point in being quiet now. Carol was sitting on the couch, humming something to Tess, or was it Kate? Even though they were identical, Doug still felt guilty for some reason – their own father couldn’t tell them apart. He gestured towards a seat, and Carol nodded, so he sat down. As the cries subsided, Doug leant forward on his knees, wanting to bite the bullet.

“Carol? I wanted to let you kno…”

“No, wait Doug. Let me say what I have to say first.” She took a deep breath. “I have spent a year alone now, aside from the twins, trying to get over what happened. It has been far from an easy year. I certainly did not plan for you to get yourself sacked and just go to the other side of the country with no consideration, not for me, your friends, your family.”

“Carol…”

“NO, Doug, LISTEN. This is what you didn’t do before, you didn’t listen. You never did. All you cared about was your own interests. You wouldn’t listen to me, to Mark, to Kerry, to the hospital, Doug Ross was a law unto himself, and that was all that mattered. And now, here you are again, and I thought maybe you changed, but no, I was wrong. Wrong, just like I was for trusting you before. Trusting that you wouldn’t leave me, that when ever I woke up in the morning you would be there and not like old times when I’d wake up and you’d be gone, off out with someone else no doubt. I can’t believe I conned myself into believing that you cared!”

She gulped, wiping one cheek as she recovered her breath.

“Please, Carol…”

“For God’s sake Doug! Do you think I care anymore? You should have stayed in Seattle! Why did you have to come back and complicate everything??”

“Carol…”

“What?  What is it?"

“I got an interview. Here, in Chicago. At Naperville Pediatric Associates, it’s a private practice.”

Carter found Kerry at the admit desk, after he returned Matt to his exam room.

“Dr. Weaver good news. Matt Barnes’ CT came back negative, he can go home as soon as we find his parents.”

Kerry looked at Carter with a shocked and sad look on her face.

“Dr. Weaver what’s wrong?”

“It’s Matt’s parents....”

“You found them? That’s great! When are they coming?”

“They’re not.”

“Oh man....” Carter’s look turned to shock as soon as he realized what she was saying.