Heart Wars Part Two
Chapther Fifteen
By Triggersaurus
triggersaurus@hotmail.com

So here’s the continuation of the last fic, Heart Wars. I am beginning to struggle with alternative plot lines, if anyone has any ideas, please let me know soon! I have exams now for the next two weeks after New Year, so bear with me for the next one. I have it planned, but that is all I am saying! Ooh, and while I remember, this fic is for Jenn, who has been a true inspiration these past few weeks. Well, happy New Year everyone in the meantime, and behave yourselves! Triggersaurus

Previously: Scenes for a movie were shot in the ER, with the staff playing various extra roles, and Malik is asked to appear later in the film as well, and one of the Taylor children comes in with meningitis.

The sun rises over Chicago on a clear, warm, sunny day. The warmth filters into the hospital, but the sunlight fails to reach some rooms, and Doug stands at the door of one of them, watching as a machine throws out a deafening continuous peal and people crowd around a bed, and screams split the morning in two.

In the ER, the staff are feeling the pressure of being minus one nurse.

"Well, I’m not having them float someone down from the geriatric ward. We’ll manage better without Malik than we would with someone who needs their hand held all morning."

"Okay, I see your point. And there is no one we can get in early from the next shift?"

"I haven’t checked, I’ll call around now."

"Call in a moment, Carol, I need you in three now."

"What have you got?"

Carol comes out from behind the desk, following Mark down the corridor and leaving Kerry scrubbing names off the board.

"27 year old male with phobia of needles. Unfortunately, results just came back from the lab and he’s diabetic."

He pushes open the door, and Carol walks in with Mark behind her. "Mr. Tomkins? We have your results back from the lab, and I’m afraid that you have diabetes."

The man sitting on the bed brushes a piece of hair away from his face and Carol can see his wide and alarmed eyes.

"You have diabetes. Basically you have a blood sugar level deficiency and it means that you have to take a dosage of insulin twice daily, and your diet will also have to change. I want to introduce you to Nurse Hathaway here, she will be able to go through with you in detail what changes you will have to make. She runs a very successful clinic here."

Carol smiles at the man as he looks at her, and he smiles nervously back. Mark gets up from his chair to leave, but is stopped by the patient.

"Ur, Dr. Greene? Am I right in saying that this means I am going to have to…uh…. inject…myself?"

"Yes." Mark moves back to the bed. "Yes, I’m sorry, but that’s what it means."

"And there’s no other way…?"
"No, not with this particular strain I’m afraid. You may be able to get someone else to inject you, but either way it does have to be injected. I’m sorry Mr. Tomkins."

The man swallows and looks at the bed sheets, and Mark gets up and goes to the door, looking back at Carol who watches him, and then reaches over and pulls a sterile syringe out of a drawer.

Some time later, Carol is sitting in the lounge with Haleh, and Chuni. They are all on the verge of collapsing, tears in their eyes from all the laughing they have been doing.

"And then…then…" Carol splutters, "he went to leave the room and walked straight into the door post!"

They all cracked up again. Carter comes in and goes to the coffee pot, looking back, bemused, at the hysterical nurses.

"What happened?" He asks, smiling because just watching them laugh is funny in itself.

"Oh…. hey Carter…"

"Carol was just telling us…"

"A patient…"

"Complete klutz!"

"Such an accident prone…."

They collapse again, and Carter nods politely, still smiling, and sits down at the table with some papers. The door opens and Doug sticks his head around the door.

"Carol…Carol…"

"Mm hmm?" She mumbles, still giggling.

"Can we talk?"

She sees the expression on his face and sobers up a bit. "Back in a sec guys"

She goes to the door, wiping her eyes from all the laughter.

"Hey Doug, is there a problem?"

"Carol, Clark Taylor had meningitis. He flatlined in the PICU about two hours ago."
Carol covers her mouth with one hand, then lowers it to speak.

"I don’t know what to say, Doug."

"Me neither. His family were there when it happened. They’ve gone home now, but they want to collect the body for the funeral in the next few days."

He scratches the back of his head.

"Just thought you should know…"

"Yeah…"

He walks off to the board.

As Carol and Doug walk down their front path that evening, she asks him a question.

"Doug, have you been to see Ben at all, recently I mean?"

"I went a couple of days ago. He’s doing really well, without the crutches most of the time now. Doctors reckon that he may not need any further surgery."

"That’s great. But you haven’t seen him since then? I went up today while I was waiting for you, and he wanted to know where you’ve been."

"Well, I thought we agreed that we wouldn’t go up there that often anymore, break the ties gently you said."

"Yeah, I know. But he misses you. He asked me today if we’d go and visit him when he leaves hospital."

"Well, we will, but not very often."

"That’s what I said…"

They get into the house, and Doug takes Carol’s and his coat and hangs them up while Carol goes to check the answer phone.

"Any messages?"

"Yeah, two…one from that guy you met at the golf range…one from another number I don’t know…you know anyone on 362758?"

Doug comes into the lounge, and peers at the machine over Carol’s shoulders, which he rubs.

"Nope. Don’t know anyone with that number. Listen to it, I’ll go and put dinner in."

"Okay…two steaks in the fridge, don’t put them on higher than 4 or they’ll burn."

Doug, in the kitchen, takes the steaks out of the fridge and puts them on a tray and into the oven. He turns it on and wipes his hands on a towel, before tipping some pasta into a pan. Just as he flicks the kettle on, he hears Carol calling him. He goes to the kitchen door and looks out at her, still standing at the answering machine.

"Doug, come and listen quick."

He frowns and goes over, pressing the play button down.

"Hello? This is Karen Harding from the DCFS. We’ve had an unexpected situation with the fostering of Ben Doe, and the family who won the foster placement have called today to say they will not be able to foster him after all, due to unforeseen circumstances. Since you were the only other couple who applied, this means that you can now foster Ben, if you are still willing. We will have to run a home visit, and then we can sign all the paperwork, if that is okay. Well, if you want to get back to me as soon as possible to let me know your answer, the number is 362758, extension 245. Hope to hear from you soon."

The answer phone clicks and rewinds the tape. Carol looks at Doug, who is still staring at the machine.

"Carol, I don’t…I don’t…I don’t know what to say…"

A small smile appears on Carol’s face, and she moves closer and wraps her arms around him. "We have him Doug! Isn’t that great?"

"Well, yeah, I’m happy. But, I don’t know, a kid died today and it’s because he died that we have Ben. The Taylor’s lost a son, and, they don’t want Ben now, I don’t know, I just feel guilty I guess, I don’t know how I feel…"

Carol takes a step back as he says this and looks straight at him.

The following day, Doug wakes up with the sun shining through the curtains brightly. He squints, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. He swings out of bed, grabbing a sweater on his way out and downstairs. In the kitchen, he pours some cereal, reads the note from Carol on the worktop, and sifts through some mail. He goes into the lounge and sits at the small dining table, eating the cereal and flicking through the paper. He finishes and clears his bowl to the kitchen and checks Carol’s note again. He goes back upstairs, emerging a few minutes later dressed but missing a sock. He goes into the kitchen and returns with the matching one and puts it on with his shoes. He grabs his coat, wallet and house keys and leaves the house. Some time later, he arrives on the Peds ward at County. Noticing Ben’s bed is empty, he goes to the nurses station.

"Hi. I don’t suppose you’d know where Ben is?"

The young looking nurse behind the desk looks at him blankly.

"Ben? The kid in Bed 4?"

"Oh, sorry! Hang on, let me look…sorry, I’m new…okay, he’s in physical therapy right now…um, did you come to visit? He’ll be back in about an hour…"

"No, that’s okay, I’ll go down there." Before he can say anymore, he is disturbed by something pulling on his trouser leg. He looks down.

"Hello Doctor Ross! Look, my arm’s got a plaster!"

"Well, so it has! You want me to sign it, Anna?"

"Yes please! Here’s a pen, you have to find a space, there’s one here, or there…"

The girl points at various gaps on the cast, and Doug crouches down, picks his spot and writes something. He stands up again as the girl cranes her head to read it, and then looks at him, confused. "What does it say? I can’t read it…"

"You have to hold it up to a mirror, then you can read it. It’s like a secret code."

The girl’s face lights up and she runs off down the ward to her bed.

Doug turns and leaves the room, taking the elevator to physical therapy. He goes into the room that Ben is normally in, but finds it empty, equipment strewn around. A head pops out from behind a corner.

"Hi, can I help?"

"Yeah, I was looking for Ben?"

"Oh, he’s down the corridor in hydrotherapy today. Sarah and Mike are with him, they should be back in a minute or two I think."

"That’s okay, I’ll go and have a look."

He leaves again and goes down a few more doors before he looks through to see a pool. He opens the door and goes in, taking a seat quietly on a bench. He watches Ben in the pool, wearing a lifesaver and splashing the two physical therapists who are cowering at one end of the pool. It is some time until anyone notices him, just as Ben is coming out of the water. Sarah looks up to see Doug.

"Hey Ben, look who’s come to see you!"

Ben, from his standing position on the edge of the pool, turns around and sees Doug as well. He runs at him, grinning and throws himself at Doug who tries to back away but collides with the bench, and grimaces as the wet child wraps himself around his legs.

"Argh, Ben!! You’re all wet!! Get off!!"

Ben laughs and holds on tighter, until Doug prises him off and holds him at arm length. Sarah comes up from behind, grabbing Ben and tucking him under her arm.

"Let’s go get changed, then you can do what you want with this poor man. Here, go with Mike." She sends him to the changing room, and apologises to Doug before disappearing herself. Doug leaves and goes to wait in the corridor. A few minutes later, Ben and the two physical therapists meet him.

"Are you taking him back up to the ward?"

"Yeah, I will."

"Okay, thanks. Ben, I’ll see you tomorrow, and keep practising!"

"Okay! Bye bye!"

"Bye!"

He reaches up and takes Doug’s hand as they walk off down the corridor. Doug seems a little surprised, and looks down at him. He looks back up.

"Sarah said I should if I’m walking with anyone, I should hold hand because it’s easier to walk then and so I don’t fall over and hurt my knees."

"Sure, okay. I don’t mind."

They walk on for a while in silence, into the elevator and out again on the Peds floor. Before they reach the ward, Doug stops.

"Okay Ben, there’s something we need to talk about, something I need to tell you…. here…" He picks him up and sits him on a spare gurney that stands against the wall.

"Yesterday morning, I saw the Taylors…"

"I didn’t, why didn’t they come here?"

"They didn’t come up here Ben because Clark - you remember Clark?," Ben nods yes, "Clark was very ill, he was very sick and they brought him into hospital to see a doctor."

"Is he better now? Like I am?"

Doug sighs and rubs his head, looking at the floor.

"No. No, Ben, he’s not better. He died yesterday. He was just too ill, we couldn’t do anything." He looks at Ben, whose mouth has dropped open slightly.

"So he’s not coming back?"

"No, he’s not coming back."

"Oh." He looks down at the gurney, absent-mindedly fingering the sheets on it.

Doug takes a deep breath. "So, Mr and Mrs Taylor, and their daughter are very upset…"

"Did they cry?"

"Yeah, they cried."

"Did you cry?"

"Uh, no."

"Why?"

"Well, I didn’t really know Clark, I’m sure he was a great kid, but I didn’t know him."

"Oh."

"But, they are very upset, and they have decided that…well, you’re not going to live with them anymore."

"Oh…do I stay here instead?"

"No, you can’t do that Ben, you’re okay now so you don’t need to be here for much longer."

"Oh. So what happens then?"

"Well, we thought, if you want to, you can come and live with me and Carol. You think that’s a good idea?"

"Yeah…where is Carol?"

"She’s working at the moment."

"Did she say I can come too?"

"Yes, she did."

Ben’s face breaks out into a smile. "Okay!"

Doug smiles back, a mildly strained smile, and lifts him down to the floor again. He looks down at Ben, who is jumping around, takes his hand and they go back onto the ward.

After all this time, you finally got what you wanted, right?! Well, it was a bit predictable really! Anyway, please let me know what you thought of it etc. at triggersaurus@hotmail.com before I write the next one!