"Excuse me, are you implying that Rosie and I…"
"Ah, Rosie, is she the one that smelled like a cheap…I mean, had that terrible perfume on. You know, she should really be more sensitive to the people that she subjects to her aroma."
"Yeah, well, she said that it was specially formulated for a man’s nose." Danni was chuckling at the thought. Then eyeing the tall surgeon she muttered under her breath, "and we sure know that’s not your gender."
"I sure hope she didn’t spend too much on that. I’d hate to be the cause of her bankruptcy." There, the ice was broken and Garrett was feeling that McMurray would be pleased by her attempt. Her soul contact with the E.R. staff was enjoying her. She could tell by the way that the young nurse was looking at her, green eyes twinkling in laughter. She never had a problem, winning people over always came easy to her, as long as they did things her way.
"Doc, don’t worry about Rosie, she’ll get over it. She always does."
"Gee, that’s what Karen said when I introduced myself to her."
The nurse shook her head in disbelief. Mom had set both of them up.
‘Rosie will be fit to be tied.’ "So, tell me Doctor Trivoli, how did you get the name Garrett?"
The surgeon eyed the young woman. She didn’t like talking about herself, at least not in context to her family life. She never enjoyed bringing up her past. "Why? Does it make a difference in how we treat the patient?"
The blonde looked puzzled. "I was just being curious, Doc." She wrinkled her nose and with a tilt to her head looked over at the tense looking surgeon. "You don’t have to tell me, if you’d rather not."
The raven-haired woman thought about it. It wasn’t a bad memory; in fact it was just a story that she herself had been told. ‘Ah, what the hell! McMurray better appreciate this.’ "My parents named me after a dead relative." She looked direly at the petite nurse.
"You sound like you have always had problems with it?"
"Let’s just say that it has surprised a few people along the way. People seem to think that I’m something other than who I am."
Danni rolled her eyes with that thought. ‘Yeah, and who wouldn’t want to climb off of their death bed to keep an appointment knowing that it’s with such a beautiful surgeon?’ Even in the dim lighting Garrett had a raw beauty in her angular well-defined features that were outlined by dark colored hair and eyes that were like giant pools of azure water inviting you in. The dark blue surgical scrubs acted more like a thin veil delicately covering the well-proportioned muscles of the surgeon. The bronze coloring of her skin added to her god-like appearance. The young nurse let her gaze take in all that was offered. "So, I take it that you are Irish and Italian by heritage."
"That’s right." Her tone was a reflective one. "But I don’t follow any of the customs."
"I’m curious, do you know what ‘Garrett’ means?" The nurse cocked her head to one side and looked over at the tall woman.
The surgeon thought for a moment and offered, "I have been told that it means brave spear man." She chuckled softly, "I guess that’s why I like those sharp cutting instruments, huh?"
The surgeon was now suddenly confused. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more agitated she became at the thought of letting so much of her personal life come to the surface. There was no need for this information to be known. After all, it had no bearing on the patient’s outcome or survival rate. How could she let this happen? Garrett closed her eyes trying to ward off any further investigation of her life from the impertinent nurse.
Suddenly a flash of memory bolted through Danni. The spear held in both hands, it reminded her of her dream earlier today. She shook her head trying hard to get her thoughts in order, to have them make some kind of sense. Could she have had a premonition of the events today? Or could it all just be coincidence? This was something that she was going to have to think long and hard about. ‘Coincidence, that’s it.’ There is no life to this woman’s eyes. No, sparkle of an underlying soul. Well at least not to the ordinary person. ‘I know that it’s there, it just has to be drawn out.’ Danni looked at Garrett and smiled politely. It was still something to think about.
"Danni…" the Technologist interrupted, "Danni, we’re done with the scan."
"Ah…yeah, thanks. Did you see anything?" She tried to regain her composure looking nervously at Garrett.
The radiologist rubbed his chin as he scrolled through the images quickly. "No, no bleed in the head, no fractures either. The abdominal images confirm the broken ribs and chest tube placed within the pneumothorax but there clearly is no evidence of any visceral injuries at this time." The radiologist made eye contact with the trauma surgeon who was now standing next to him. "Looks like he got lucky, just a lot of orthopedic injuries."
"Hmm…sounds like he gets a bed on a floor instead of a unit then. Thanks." Garrett shook her head in acknowledgement to the technologist. "Danni, get me the Doctor for Orthopedics? Let’s see what they have planned for our patient."
"Sure thing!" The familiarity and the inclusion of the nurse in the patient’s care by the surgeon excited Danni. Earlier she had thought there would be no hope of furthering a friendship and now everything was falling nicely into place.
Garrett stood pulling on her long white lab coat. She busied herself looking through the pockets for the key to her call room. The surgeon quickly considered the possibility of actually seeing it and getting some rest, but only after her patient was settled into his room or the operating suite if that was what the Ortho doctors wanted. ‘There it is.’ She thought as her fingers felt the familiar object.
"Doc, they want him to go to the floor now. They’ll operate first thing in the morning." The nurse hung up the phone and began to gather up all the paper work connected to her patient. "Will a room on the orthopedic floor be all right for tonight?"
Trivoli nodded her head in agreement; "I’ll want to make sure he gets settled in properly. I’m going up to the floor with you."
"You don’t have to, Doc, I’ve transported lots of trauma patients upstairs…" Her voice trailed off as the fire grew in the steely eyes of the Fellow. "But if you really want to, you’re more than welcome."
They seemed to complement each other’s action in the care of the patient as they readied him for transfer to the floor. It was obvious to all around them that they worked as a team, the blonde nurse and the Fellow. One anticipated the action of the other without words or looks. If one didn’t know better, one would think that the nurse and surgeon had been working together for many years. The two women found themselves completely at ease in the other’s company, when they didn’t think about it.
***********
The charge nurse was amused as she noticed the red scrub marks on Rosie’s neck and arms. She couldn’t help thinking about the shocked look on the flirtatious nurse when she realized her hopes had once again run aground. Mom could only hope that Rosie wouldn’t take it too hard. "So, Rosie, you’re smelling a little better." The older nurse sniffed softly to emphasize the change in her scent.
"It won’t do me any good, so why waste it on you people." There was a little bitterness in her tone of voice. "Damn, David." She muttered under her breath.
Karen tried hard not to laugh but lost the battle. "Serves you right, always trying to latch on to some unsuspecting doctor."
Rosie shot an icy glare in her direction but within seconds started to laugh.
"That’s what I get for trusting people to have the appropriate gender names, I guess."
"You have to admit, Trivoli is a good surgeon. Don’t you think?"
"Well, I guess you are right." The nurse self-consciously rubbed the red marks on her neck; "I bet Danni’s feeling pretty insignificant right about now at thinking of her as a med student."