"I guess you got me there." Her words were slow and thoughtful as she tried to find a way out of this. "I…I…" she tossed her head from side to side, "I guess I thought that she was being too hard on that poor medical student. I realize now that I let my self-righteous pride step into it, when she told me that it was her trauma to run as she saw fit." She shrugged her shoulders. "I just kept thinking that we had always done our best with the traumas, working as a team before she came. I assumed that I knew better and questioned her authority."


Raising a skeptical eyebrow at the young nurse, Karen waited.


"Okay, I was wrong. I flew off the handle and just let my emotions take control. I’m sorry, Mom." She sighed, "I know that it wasn’t very professional of me but…"


"But you were determined to show her just how strong-willed you were. Right?"


"Yeah, you’re right." Her fingers nervously played with the cord on the nearby phone. "Do you think she’ll listen to an apology?"


"I think that depends on what your apology will be for, stepping on her authority or your concern for her as a friend." ‘The way I saw it, you were right in trying to get her to admit that she wasn’t thinking clearly with that medical student.’ The older woman reached over and patted the small hand with her own. "If you believe your disagreement stemmed from something other than a personal nature, then treat it that way." She smiled at the thoughtful expression on Danni’s face. "She’s a professional, I’m sure she will listen to reason."


"I don’t know, Mom. We weren’t exactly on speaking terms when I left that room." The nurse shrugged her shoulders, "Maybe…"


Karen caught sight of the first daylight employees entering the doors to the emergency room. "Maybe," she interrupted, "you need to go home now and sleep on it for a while."


"Thanks Mom, I will." Danni pulled her emotionally drained body up from the chair and started making her way to the locker room, contemplating the thought of sleep. In a passing moment, she prayed that the gods would look after her sleepless friend for the rest of the day until Garrett also, made her way safely home.


*********************


The make-up did little to keep her dulled senses from showing to the Chief of Trauma Services. She blinked repeatedly, trying to keep from falling asleep as she assisted the burly "Ol’ Cutter" as he called himself. It was nearly 1100 and she still had the other O.R. case to assist him with.


"Rough night, Dr. Trivoli?" His speech was mellow, conversing with her as he continued to request instruments from the Scrub Nurse. "Hemostat. Thank you."


"I think we were trying for a record, Sir." She sucked in a mouthful of air trying to stimulate her mind. "Twenty-one in all, and we didn’t lose a single one."


"Suture." He sniffed loudly. "Thank you. Not any patients, but I understand that by midnight, you were down two members of you team. Care to tell me about those?" He looked over his half spectacles at the tall surgeon across from him. "Gauze. Thank you." His eyes shifted back to the opened abdomen that was before him.


She sighed as she considered that the medical student had probably waited for him at the door of his office this morning. ‘That would account for one that he would know about, but how did he find out about Danni? Surely she hadn’t….’


"Dr. Trivoli, if you are trying to figure out how I know about what goes on in my service after hours, I’ll tell you." He continued working on the patient. "After Mr. Keithe came to me this morning, you do know who Mr. Keithe is, don’t you?" He shifted his eyes to catch her nod of affirmation to his question. "I watched the tape from the trauma room. I noticed that after you asked to speak with Nurse Bossard, she never reappeared in the room for the rest of the night. Although I did hear her voice, quite loudly I must admit, state that she was going to lunch."


The tall woman prepared herself, waiting for the ranting and raving to start. Much to her surprise, it didn’t. The "Ol’ Cutter" just kept on course with the operation as they had previously discussed.


"Seems like you know just about everything already, Sir." She held the retractor steady as he finished examining the glistening junction of the small intestine with the larger bowel.


"Count," he demanded, signaling that he was ready to close. "Sometimes those nurses take care of us and our patients more than we care to think about."


Garrett thought about what Dr. McMurray was saying in his unique cryptic fashion. ‘That’s what Danni was trying to do last night…take care of me.’ It startled her to think that someone would be looking out for her.


The high pitched voice of the Circulating Nurse offered, "Sixteen gauze, and three needles."


The Scrub Nurse countered in response, "Correct, sixteen gauze and three needles used. Clear to close Dr. McMurray."


The gruff voice took command once again. "Okay," he winked at Garrett, "Let’s get this operation over with before I grow too old to sew in straight lines anymore, and have to turn it over to you young snips." He chuckled.


Garrett nodded in approval and thought about the interesting lesson that the wise "Ol’ Cutter" had taught her during this all but mundane appendectomy. She had heard him loud and clear, letting his words of wisdom impart upon her. She knew what she needed to do. "Thanks, Dr. McMurray." She looked at the surgeon busy at his work. "I’ve learned a lot from you today."


His eyes glanced up at her, "And the year’s not over yet." He winked and continued on with the suturing. "Wait until we get a really tough case, Dr. Trivoli, then we’ll see how quickly you can learn."


***********************


Her day was finally over. The tall surgeon slid the key into the lock on the office door and opened it. She walked around the desk and sat down in the chair. Gathering her things from her one allotted drawer that each of the Fellows were granted, she thought about the E-mail from Danni.


Looking up at the sound of the soft knocking, her eyes met the flash of blonde hair as it pushed in through the door that had been left ajar. A lopsided grin painted itself on her face as she recognized the features of the nurse that she had just been thinking about. "You’re in early, aren’t you?"


The small blonde wrinkled her nose up, "Yeah, I was hoping to catch you before you left for the day." She motioned to be allowed in, "May I?"


"Oh, excuse me…come on in. Have a seat, Danni." The surgeon was befuddled by her roommate’s appearance at her office.


There was a moment or two of uneasy silence, each of them trying to muster up the courage to address the issue of last night. Their eyes avoided each others gaze by looking all around the small room so as not to settle on the other. Without warning, they both started to speak at the same time.


"I want to…"


"About last night…"


Then both looked at each other as the nervous round of giggling began.


Garrett was the first to regain her composure, "Please, you first." She bowed to the nurse.


Danni held a single index finger up in the air as she drew her giggling to a halt. She thought about how different her roommate seemed now, as opposed to last night. It was almost as if the surgeon was two completely different people. This one was definitely the Garrett that the nurse had looked upon as a friend.


"I want to tell you that I’m sorry for questioning your judgement in front of the team last evening." The nurse held her hand up to stop any rebuttal from her friend. "I was wrong. I should have talked to you in private. I’m sorry for not doing that." She let her hand come down to rest at her side. "I’ll understand if you don’t want me to be on your team."


The azure pools searched the young blonde’s face until they met the quiet green orbs, locking on to them. The words came from her mouth, but the feeling was spoken directly from her heart. "If I had to pick only one Trauma Nurse to work with, Danni, it would be you." The surgeon shifted her gaze, not wanting the nurse to feel uncomfortable. "I guess I fell into the "God Trap" last night."


Squinting, she allowed the wrinkles to play across her nose, "God Trap? I don’t understand."


"In medical school they warned us about "The God Trap", it’s when the doctor feels that the world is revolving around him. That he is the center of all necessary attention." She dropped her head, feeling the guilt of her actions. "My lack of sleep made it easy for me to become confused about who was really the center of attention. It should have been the patient. I’m sorry for rattling my saber so loudly." Looking up into a sea of green, "I’m sorry for everything that I said to you. You didn’t deserve it."


"That’s okay, we both learned from our mistakes."

"Yeah, only I like your version of the word Trauma, more then the one that they taught us."


The blonde raised an eyebrow at this acknowledgement, "How was yours spelled?"


"Well, remember, they were teaching us to be doctors." The tall woman shrugged her shoulders and began, "Tyrannical, Rude, Abrupt, Ubermensch, Meticulous, and Arrogant. That’s what they told us we had to have in order to become a good Trauma Surgeon. Honest!" She quickly crossed her heart, then held her hand up with two fingers crossed.