The door to the Ol’ Cutter’s office opened and members of the Board of Directors filed out, each one with a grim look on their face. Bringing up the end of the line was Ian McCormick himself. He cast his eyes down and just kept walking. Obviously he was not getting what he was after. The scowl on his face was pretty evident.


Danni nudged Garrett’s arm with her shoulder. Even sitting, the surgeon was still taller than the nurse. The quick shift of her eyes and the subtle nod of her head were all that was necessary for the surgeon to understand.


Garrett took in a deep cleansing breath as she tried to calm her already edgy nerves. It had been a tough day. Tougher than she had ever imagined that it might be. She had been troubled by the prospects of a Middle East conflict, terrified when her teammate suffered from catatonia, put on display then subjected to the belittling tantrum of Dr. McCormick, and then thrust into a real life rescue that nearly got her team killed. The kicker of it all was that today was only supposed to be a dry run, a test of their preparedness as a team. Well, by the looks of it, her team was prepared for just about anything that life could throw at them. The surgeon closed her eyes to help further instill her calming thoughts.


The feather light touch of the small hand on hers was all that Garrett needed. The soft tingles of electricity coursed through her body, chasing out the last remnants of anger or apprehension for the upcoming meeting with her mentor. As the calmness overtook her body, the beginning hints of that lopsided smile of hers came to the surface. The two women glanced at each other and began to chuckle.


McMurray stood in his doorway observing the subtleties about the interaction between the surgeon and the nurse. He could actually see that the two were now closer than ever, both in mind and body. He reveled in his keen insight and made a mental note to talk to his wife about it when he got home.


The Ol’ Cutter cleared his throat and called out crankily. "Trivoli! Bossard! In my office now!" Then he turned and walked back to his desk.


The two slowly got up from their seats and then filed into the office, Danni taking the lead.


‘Now that’s a switch.’ McMurray sat down and motioned for them to do the same. He watched them closely for a minute and then began to speak. "I understand that you two have had a pretty rough day. Seems to me that all you were supposed to do was go for a little ride in that helicopter of ours and show your faces at an outlying facility." He paused studiously then added. "Isn’t that correct?"


Garrett’s thoughts were in a quandary now. ‘He’s way too calm for all that happened today. I wonder what’s up.’


They both nodded and answered meekly, "Yes."


"You didn’t do that, did you?"


"Sir, if you would allow me to explain…" The surgeon leaned forward to talk.


McMurray threw up his hand in a halting motion. "When it’s your turn to talk, I’ll tell you." The man peered at them over top of his glasses.


The women sat quietly and nodded.


"Let me tell you what you did manage to do today." He looked directly at Danni now. "You, Nurse Bossard, should have told us of your problem with flying. But you didn’t and therefore put the entire helicopter crew in a high-risk situation. The confined space of a ship such as that is no place to lose it and go berserk."


"Yes, sir." Danni answered weakly.


Now, McMurray turned his gaze to the Fellow. "Did you know about that phobia of hers, Trivoli?"


"I suspected she might."


"Don’t you think that it might have been a good idea to let us know about it?" He snorted and then coughed. "I guess not…eh?"


"I was looking out for her." The surgeon stated.


The man looked sternly at the tall woman then cleared his throat. "You are the only two that I know of who could totally botch up a simple little exercise to the point of embarrassment on the part of the entire hospital. McCormick wants your heads on a platter and has the whole Board of Directors in an uproar." The Ol’ Cutter paused to watch their reaction. Watching the uniform slumping of their shoulders told him that they both were taking responsibility for their actions.


"You get grounded, Nurse Bossard," he paused then shifted his glance to the other. "Then you go barging right in and ground yourself along with her."


The woman both nodded in agreement.


"Hmmm…" He sniffed and then scratched at his chin. "Then, when an emergency call for a helicopter comes in, you two just up and decide to take it. Oh, let me correct that. First you argue about not letting her ride in a helicopter again." He points to Danni. "Then miraculously you overcome your phobia of flying and ungrounded yourself only to have her," now pointing to Garrett, "follow right along and commandeer the airship."


McMurray looked questioningly at them both. "I’ve gotten everything right so far, haven’t I?" He waited a minute. "I thought so."


He got up and walked behind his chair. "Then you put yourselves in a damn near suicidal rescue, thinking that you’re going to have to amputate a man’s foot to save his life. Now if that’s not enough, things go drastically wrong fairly quickly and nobody gets hurt. The logging crews are your biggest fans and the media had gotten wind of the botched up training flight and is now clambering at our doorsteps to do a human-interest piece on the new Surgical Flight Team. A team that is already saving lives in heroic rescues and they aren’t even fully trained yet."


There was dead silence as the Chief of Trauma Services glared down at them from his standing position.


Danni spoke first. "We’re sorry. We didn’t…"


"Sorry, hell!" The voice was loud and strong. Then he walked over to them and smiled. "It was the best damn PR that this hospital has ever gotten. All the news stations want to know about the two women who overcame adversity to save a public works employee."


"So," Danni wrinkled up her nose and asked shyly. "Does that mean you’re not mad at us?"


"Damn right. Now, go and have a Merry Christmas." He shooed them out of his office.


"Thanks, Sir." "Thanks," was their slightly off beat reply.


"Oh, and Trivoli, you are allowed in the operating room for the next two days. I can’t have my holiday Trauma Fellow standing outside looking in. Now, can I?"


Her eyes immediately perked up. The slump of her shoulders was now leaving, causing her to stand proud and tall. She looked to her friend and saw the mirror of her own self-realization taking affect in her, too.


They went through the door and McMurray could hear the bantering of close friends start. Yes, they had bonded well into a team and he knew that they could go even further if they would only put their hearts and souls into it.


"Yes, it’s going to be a very good Christmas after all." The Ol’ Cutter sat down in his chair and picked up his phone. He suddenly felt the need to tell his wife how much he loved her.


Chapter 4


The day started early for Danni. There were a lot of things to be done and little time to do them in. It was the morning of Christmas Eve and she still needed to wrap presents, decorate the tree that she and Garrett had picked out last night on their way home, and bake cookies. It was going to be a big task, but Christmas was her holiday and she considered it a labor of love.


She crept out of her room with the biggest grin on her face. She had awakened before Garrett this morning. That in itself was something to be happy about. There were times she thought the surgeon never slept.


She noticed that the door to her friend’s room was slightly ajar. Tiptoeing over to it, she opened it just enough to look in. By the lumpiness of the covers and the soft rhythmic sounds of breathing, the woman was asleep and probably would be for a while longer. ‘Gar’s probably beat after all that we went through yesterday. I can’t believe how she stuck by me. I’m sure that anybody else would never have set foot into a helicopter with me again, after witnessing first hand my terrible performance on that initial flight.’ She thought to herself as she closed the door and then rested her forehead against it.


Danni remembered how it felt to be in Garrett’s arms when she came out of her phobia-induced stupor. The leathery scent of the surgeon’s flight jacket and the warmth of the body that she was being held against were so comforting to her soul. It was as though, somewhere in the expanse of time, she had experienced it before. The nurse closed her eyes, then made a wish that she would experience them again some day sans her stupor. She sighed heavily, then pushed off the door trying to get her thoughts back on track.


Within minutes of taking care of her morning toilet, the young woman was eagerly sorting through her favorite recipes, looking for just the right one. Christmas came once a year and therefore dictated that everything be special. She had a certain recipe in mind. It was just a matter of finding where she had placed it for safekeeping.


Danni’s mother had always made a fuss over her daughters’ effort in the kitchen. To her, it was one of the mandatory skills for a good mother and wife. In that spirit, Brie and Danni liked to show off their culinary advances each year as one tried to outdo the other. Christmas was always the big showdown. The older daughter now considered herself to have the edge this year. What, with Brie being pregnant she wouldn’t have the energy to go all out as in previous years.