The young nurse was weighing in her own mind about how wise of an idea it was to be in the small supply room with John. "You know that Nan is looking for you," she stated. "Don’t you?" She kept her distance from the man, relieved that the room was on a well-traveled hallway and that the door had an unshaded window in it that brought her into view of anyone outside of it.
"Yeah, I got that impression." He paused to look out of the window again. "I just wanted to give you report."
"Is there a reason for being in this supply closet, other than you trying to avoid Nan?" ‘Don’t even think of trying anything, mister. I may be small, but I can be tough when I have too.’
The man swallowed hard shaking his head. Stammering he started, "There’s… There’s nothing going on in Trauma right now. Hasn’t been all day in fact." He handed over the beeper to his relief. "That’s why I was asking everyone if they would like to get in on making the baby pool."
"Making the baby pool?" She looked at him with raised eyebrows, her arms protectively crossing over her chest. She was leery of any thing having to do in any way with sex where this man was involved. ‘Jeez! I knew it!’
"Come on, Danni, join in on the fun." He smiled sweetly, "I’ve already got Garrett pencilled in for nine fifteen…" leaning in towards the smaller nurse he confided, "…and she’s hoping for a girl."
The young woman’s mind was thrown into a quandary. Images of her tall dark-haired friend in the arms of this man raced through her head. ‘No, Garrett would never. She hates his sexist attitude as much as I do. There has to be something that I’m missing.’ She let her eyes stare directly into his, hoping for some sign to disprove what he had implied. Her mind raced with a little green-eyed monster darting recklessly around it. ‘Why would she choose him? She could have anyone. She could even have…’ then her thoughts were interrupted.
"You know, I realize that you two are close, so why don’t I just put you down for nine fifteen also. I figure, being a doctor that she will probably have the best time." He winked at the blonde woman; "You’re roommates. I know that you’re okay with sharing. I guess you’ll want a boy, that way all your bases will be covered." His look was one of hopefulness.
Stunned, Danni blurted out, "I can’t believe Garrett," she reiterated, "Garrett Trivoli is going along with this."
"Sure, why not? It’s a 50/50 deal. Everybody can walk away happy." He smiled at her. "It makes you feel good, it makes a deposit towards the baby bank, and me," his smile broadened. "I just walk away feeling damn good about the whole thing for doing my part."
She was appalled at the ease with which this man talked about the intimate acts that he was suggesting to her. ‘He acts as if it’s nothing to bring a life into the world. This is disgusting, and he wants me to do it with him and Garrett at the same time. He has finally crossed over that imaginary line of good taste and not to mention the code of roommates.’ Her eyes darted from him to the door and back again. She had all she was going to take. Danni stepped in the direction of the door, reaching for the handle.
Before she could grasp the knob, the door flung open. It was Rosie. "Have you seen John?" the well-relaxed nurse asked.
Danni’s eye riveted to the tall male nurse standing off to one side. "He’s in here," she spat out.
"Great! Hey, John, put me down for nine twenty-eight and it better be a boy." The auburn-haired nurse held out her hand with two crisp dollar bills in it. "I can’t believe that I made it back in time for the birth of Rene’s baby." The bubbly nurse looked at her friend, "So, what time did you guess the baby’s delivery would be?"
The young blonde nurse stood looking from Rosie to John and back again. Her mouth opened several times trying to form words but couldn’t. Suddenly it hit her. She thought about the phone conversation with Garrett earlier that morning and remembered the duffel bag in her locker. ‘Jeez, he’s been talking about Rene’s baby. That’s what the baby pool is about.’ She mentally chastised herself. Nervously she gulped and reached into the back pocket of her scrub pants. Retrieving her money, she meekly held out two-rumpled dollar bills to John. Smiling weakly and scrunching up her nose she said, "Put me down for that roommate thing. Okay?"
John took the money, "Sure!" He noticed the puzzled look on Rosie’s face and shrugged his shoulders as the embarrassed nurse slinked out of the room.
Karen sat at the desk studying the computer screen that listed the patient assignments. She marveled at how good it felt to have all of her girls together again. It was like having the pieces of a puzzle all in the right spots. The charge nurse had acted like a second mother for both Danni and Rosie for so long that she felt the symptoms of the "empty nest" syndrome when either of them was on vacation. She smiled at the concept of enlarging her family with the addition of the strong and brilliant surgeon, Garrett Trivoli. The doctor that had started out as Danni’s "Amazon" very easily became just one of the daughters in the older nurses’ extended family. There was something about the interaction between the young nurse and the trauma surgeon that complemented the other. It was going to be a fine night with all of her girls here together, the older woman thought. Resigning herself to the fact that there was business to attend to, she sighed and willed her mind back to the task of running the emergency room.
"Well, Mom, did you miss me?" Rosie stood peering over the desk at the older nurse.
Putting her hand on her hip, Karen cocked her head to a side and gave the nurse an uninterested look. "I can’t say that I did. You went somewhere?"
Rosie was thrown by what the older nurse said. Her mouth dropped open as she stood there. Looking over the desk at Karen, she studied the facial expression. Suddenly the tight-lipped nurse broke into laughter. It was truly a work of art the way she was able to tease and elicit the young nurse into believing that she was not missed.
"You did miss me," the nurse proclaimed. "Mom, you really know how to hurt a nurse, now don’t you?"
"Miss you, Rosie, she was counting the days until you got back. She said that it was too quiet with you gone." Dr. Potter said as she came up behind Karen. "Now, enough of this joking around." The red-haired physician was teasing both of the nurses. She winked at Rosie as she tapped the charge nurse on the shoulder.
"Hey, did I miss something?" Danni seated herself in a chair and slid it over to the desk.
"Nothing special, Dan, just these two being their normal selves," as Jamie pushed her glasses up on her nose and tossed her head in the direction of the other nurses at the desk. "Hey, has anyone heard how the delivery is going for Rene and his wife?"
Rosie looked down at her watch; it was almost 8 o’clock in the evening. "Yeah, how is that baby coming? I hope it waits for my time."
Everyone at the desk began to chuckle. Danni reached over picking up the phone and punching in a sequence of numbers. "Maybe Dr. Trivoli will know. I’ll ask her when she calls back," as she settled the phone back into its cradle.
"I’m glad that Garrett is covering for Rene tonight. I like it when she is on my shift. It makes the traumas more bearable." The E.R. attending physician was confiding in the small group of friends. "She’d be the one that I would want to see working on me if I ever woke up in the trauma room."