"What?" Danni asked as her eyes searched his face.


Coughing to clear his throat. "Haven’t you wasted enough time in this office already?" He hoped that his face was not reflecting his lewd thoughts to be with the Trauma Fellow, but he couldn’t put her out of his mind.


"You’re right, Dr. McCormick. I better get going." She nodded at her Manager across from her and turned, leaving the office. Once on the other side of the door, Danni’s face was one of sheer joy.


She made her way back to the Conference Room where she had been talking to Garrett when the ominous overhead announcement had summoned her. The room was empty. ‘I guess she couldn’t wait that long.’ She glanced down at her watch noticing that a significant amount of time had passed. ‘Well, at least the day is almost over.’


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


The news traveled fast once the changes where made to the week’s work schedule. The occasional rude and unthoughtful comments were being made by some of the staff as to why Danni had been so privileged, until none other than Nan filtered the true reason down through the ranks herself. Once they found out that the project was to be in close workings with the perfectionistic surgeon, all bidders quickly stopped their grumbling. The staff liked the strong-willed Trauma Fellow, but not that much to be saddled solely with her for the next six days.


Danni waited for the last hour of her shift to pass, busying herself with the paperwork that seldom got attention. The nurse had not noticed her friend standing a few feet away, when her thoughts were interrupted.


"So, I hear that you got a big job during the next week." Rosie was teasing her. "Must be nice, not having to leave home to work."


"Rosie!" Danni sat shaking her head. "I wish it was going to be that easy. Everyone around here thinks that beside the fact that I have to work with Dr. Trivoli, it’s going to be a cinch job."


"Well, isn’t it? How hard can writing a project proposal be?"


The blonde nurse didn’t know what to say to that. ‘If you only knew why this proposal is so important, you would understand. I’d love to be able to tell you but I’m not sure Garrett wants the world to know, at least not yet.’ "I guess it could be worse. No, you’re right, with the two of us working on it, it shouldn’t be that difficult." She chose the easy way out, knowing that Rosie would never understand her allegiance with the Trauma Fellow. "Say, what are you doing in so early, anyway?"


"Early?" Rosie looked puzzled. "Danni, I hate to tell you this, but it’s just about time for you to head on home. Your shift’s just about done."


"Jeez, I must have lost track of all time." Her head turned from side to side as she scanned the visible parts of the E.R. "You haven’t seen Dr. Trivoli anywhere, have you?"


"Nope, all’s quiet on the trauma front." Rosie laughed. "Why? Did you misplace her?"


Danni made a silly face at the sassy nurse. "No, we drove in together. I’d better page her or she’ll forget all about going home." ‘Better yet, I think I’ll pick up some food in the cafeteria and maybe we can start to work on that proposal now.’ The nurse got up and headed toward the elevators. "I’ll see you later, Rosie."


"Hey, I thought you were going to page Garrett?"


"I’m not ready to go home just yet. Besides, I have a better idea." Danni waved and resumed her forward motion, only to be stopped by Karen as she came through the E.R.’s main doors. "Hey, Mom!"


"Hey, yourself." Karen sidestepped as the blonde made her way through the doorway. The older nurse turned and watched as Danni headed over to the first available elevator and got on. ‘Must be on a mission.’ She laughed and turned to face the auburn-haired nurse at the desk. "What’s up with the little one?" Karen motioned her head at Danni’s last sighting.


"She’s been reassigned for a week to work with Garrett on a special project, some kind of proposal for a joint venture between us and Trauma Services. Lucky, huh?"


Mom thought for a moment before even trying to answer Rosie’s question. ‘By the look on her face, that special project has more to do with Garrett than anyone else.’ "Yeah, well, I guess that all depends on how easy that project is to tackle. Somehow with Garrett involved…I wouldn’t exactly say lucky to be with her for a week." Mom ambled over to the Charge Nurse desk and sat down. "All right, now get to work." She looked sternly at Rosie, then began to laugh. It was going to be another night shift as usual but without two of her "daughters" at her side.


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


The soft knock followed by a slightly louder one gradually stirred the surgeon from her thoughts as she poured over the computer screen. "Come on in." She called out, not losing her place on the data filled screen. Upon hearing the door swing open she started talking, then only when she finished the line of data did she look up. "Rene, you don’t have to knock. It’s as much your office…" Seeing that it was Danni and not her colleague, she chuckled apologetically. "Sorry, you’re not Rene. Hi! Guess I forgot about going home, huh?"


The nurse shook her head and smiled. Holding up the tray of food, she offered. "I figured that you would be up to your elbows in research any way, so I picked us up some dinner." Setting the tray down on the desk, she looked over the jotted notes on the pad in front of the tall surgeon. "You found more lone survivors?" Danni’s eyes flashed up and caught the surgeon’s blue orbs.


"Yeah, and I’ve only gone back two years so far." Garrett sniffed at the air, a faintly familiar aroma drifted on the air. "You got any tea on that tray? I could sure go for some."


"Spiced apple or Mandarin Orange? I think maybe that orange might be just what you need to refresh you, Doc." Danni handed over the cup of tea. "I thought that we could finish up on some of the research tonight. I mean, since you are already wading through it all day, we could finish it off then move on to planning out the proposal tomorrow."


"Thanks." Garrett sipped at the warming liquid. "I’m almost done here, any ways. It shouldn’t take us too much longer."


"So, how many have you found so far?"


"Only three more, but if you think of all of the Trauma Centers in the state, that number could easily grow." The look on the woman’s face was one of pensiveness as she wondered why no one else had ever thought to look at the numbers. ‘I guess they only look at the accident victims themselves and not the families.’


Picking up on her friend’s sadness, the nurse tried to turn it into a positive thought. "Things happen for a reason. I think that you were meant to address this. You’re one of them and who else would have even thought about it?"


"I’m afraid that I’m not the one that thought of it…you were. For that, I’m grateful."


"Garrett, I truly believe that each of us are put on this earth with a direct mission in mind from some higher being. Sometimes it takes somebody else to make us aware of that plan and they help us achieve our goals. That’s all." Her voice became soft as her eyes cast down in a reflective manner. "I guess that I’m that person for you."


The surgeon thought about it for several minutes. The quiet office felt comfortable, as words were no longer a necessity between the two women. She had spent all of her adult life subconsciously looking for that feeling of home that had been ripped away from her as a teen. Now, here in this tiny office, in a town on the opposite side of the country, she was feeling very much at home with the nurse that was sharing her life with her, one thought at a time. ‘I’m going to have to give this more thought. Yes, after the proposal is written, I’ll think this whole thing over. She just may be right.’


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


Time passed quickly as both the nurse and the trauma surgeon worked diligently over the information they had gathered that first day. The labor of love was not lost on either of them as they put together the pieces of a project that would help those it was designed for, the lone survivors of traumatic injury. Garrett pouring her knowledge of what it was like to be the lone survivor and Danni absorbed in finding ways to help ease the wounds of a lifetime of desiring to belong.


As one day turned into the next, the two women found that not only were they working on the project together but also each was coming away from it with more insight into themselves and each other. Each new day brought with it a renewed sense of homecoming as the two worked side by side, the aloof and demanding surgeon finding it easier now to talk and share her life with the nurse. If ever a project had been designed for anyone specifically, it was this one for Danni and Garrett both.


Along the way, the small nurse began to understand her own repressed need for belonging that had been so evident, now that she looked back on her life. She found her circumstances much different from that of the surgeon’s, but still, she felt that she had never fit into her family’s mold. Although still alive and around her, they had never given her that sense of home. Never quite putting her finger on it, that was something she was in search of.


The time and effort that they had put forth to develop their brainchild into a successful program of recovery and support seemed to be working on them before it was even officially started. Now, with the task almost completed, each stood back and evaluated their own lives and their own needs to be whole.