Rene put his hands up in mock defense. "Hey, coming from her, that’s more than I expected."


"Well, I for one had a nice holiday," Danni nudged the woman next to her, "Unlike some people."


The closeness of the team was evident by the relaxed attitude the two had. Rene could see it in their faces. ‘Perhaps this team is what you needed, my friend.’ He could see the change that had taken place in his colleague and liked it. No one would ever call the tall surgeon cute to her face but that was the only word that Rene could think of to describe how Danni and Garrett were together. There was something about the growing friendship that he could sense was timeless in its nature, as if they had known one another for an eternity.


"Come on, I had fun, too." Garrett reached for the offered burger that was gradually being held just out of her reach. "Okay, so I ate almost all of your sugar cookies."


"Stole is more like it…and from a child too." Danni laughed and then handed her the sought-after prize. "Dr. Chabot, you have two children, would you do that?" Her gaze turned to him.


The smile grew on his face as the thought crossed his mind. "If it were my favorite kind, I might be tempted. I’d better leave now and let you two get back to more important matters…eh?" He looked at the paper-filled desk. "Like finding the desk so that I’ll be able to use it later tonight when I’m on call." He waved and backed out of the doorway, closing the door behind him.


Garrett turned a worried eye toward the petite blonde. "Do you think he’s serious about finding the desk?"


Danni rolled her eyes and smirked, "Yeah, I guess so."


"That’s what I was afraid of." The tall woman bit into her burger and started sorting through the mounds of paperwork.



* * *

Things were finally settling down into a nice routine of preparation for the upcoming programs to be inaugurated. First would be the official flight of the Surgical Team at midnight on New Year’s Eve to kick off the year 2001, followed by the initial meeting of the support group that Saturday. Everything was going as planned until three days before the end of the year.


McMurray paced in his office, worried about the reception he would get from his next meeting with the Board of Directors. They needed proof that the nurse could indeed fly and didn’t care what it took to prove it. As hospital tradition dictated it, the last meeting of the calendar year would be on December 31 at noon. That left him with only a day and half to work miracles. Finally his mind was made up. He had to do it. He walked over to his desk and summoned his secretary informing her to get his Surgical Flight Team, STAT! There was little time left, and he was going to make the most of it.



* * *

Without delay, the two curious women found themselves ushered into the Chief of Trauma Services’ office upon their arrival. There on the desk were several large manila envelopes, each one with the name of an outlying hospital on it, and the name of the Head of Emergency Services. The envelopes seemed to hold a special interest to Danni as she craned her neck trying to read the writing that was on them, while Garrett looked around the office for the Ol’ Cutter. The surgeon thought that it was strange to be requested to come to his office and he was nowhere to be found once they had arrived.


"Hey, Gar, take a look at these." The nurse pointed to the envelopes. "It’s all the hospitals that send us trauma patients on a regular basis." She picked one up and turned it over. "Hmmph! It’s sealed."


"I don’t like…" her words were cut off at the sound of the door opening behind them. Slowly she turned to see who had entered the office. It was Dr. McMurray.


The man breezed into his office with another stack of envelopes, like those on the desk, underneath his arm. "Good to see you two here." He crossed behind them and strode to the other side of his desk. "I’ve got a mission for you, Nurse Bossard." McMurray looked up from his desk, a smirk beginning to show on his face. "Seems like you’re the personable one out of the two of you. Sorry, Dr. Trivoli but there was never really any question about this." He chuckled. "You’re a damn good surgeon. Everybody here knows it. What we need is a person who can get right next to someone and open their arms up to them in a loving embrace."


"I don’t understand…" Danni’s brows furrowed.


"He’s saying that I’m not a people person and you are." The dark-haired surgeon matter-of-factly stated. "In other words, Danni, you’re the lead in this next mission and not me."


"Lead! Lead in what? I’m not a doctor or a surgeon." The nurse’s head spun wildly from one to the other. "Will somebody please tell me what’s going on? I thought we were a team."


"You are." His voice was gruff as McMurray made his point. He didn’t want them to think any differently. "We…ah…we need to make sure that this program doesn’t fail. That’s all." The Ol’ Cutter’s tone smoothed out. "I’ve made up a packet of informational material for each of the outlying hospitals that send us patients on a consistent basis."


"What do you want us to do…hand deliver them?" Garrett’s voice was tinged with sarcasm.


McMurray grinned at the perception the Fellow had. "Why, yes! That’s it exactly."


Danni looked at the stack of envelopes that McMurray had piled one atop the other as he spoke to them. "But that would take days."


The man only chuckled.


"Not in the helicopter it won’t." Trivoli watched as the expression on her mentor changed to one of impressiveness at her logic. ‘That’s it, they want us up in that helicopter before Sunday night.’


"What is so important that it has to be hand delivered?" Danni’s eyes glared at the Chief of Trauma Services.


McMurray played with an envelope as he spoke. "Oh, it’s just a lot of information that the physicians will need to know when they utilize our service, besides a few other associated things." His eyes twinkled with delight. "I think that they will meet with your approval."


"And exactly how long are we going to be playing meet ‘n greet?" Garrett did not look enthused.


"I’d say a day…day and a half to be on the safe side. I’ve already requested that same pilot for you from the other day. I figured that you would feel more comfortable with him."


"Cowboy’s going to be our pilot?" The blonde was showing signs of relief.


The tall woman watched and hoped that she was right. ‘Please, let it be him. I think she could be a little more comfortable now.’


"You’ll leave bright and early tomorrow morning. My secretary is already contacting the people that you need to see at each hospital and will have an itinerary ready for you by five this evening. Any questions?"


Danni hesitantly spoke. "Dr. McMurray, what exactly are we supposed to do on these little meet ‘n greets?"


The Ol’ Cutter smiled. "Why, just be yourselves. Let the directors of the Emergency Rooms get to know you. Let them see who will be coming when they yell for help. Okay?"


"That doesn’t sound too bad, does it, Gar?" Danni looked to her teammate for support but was met with only a blank stare instead.


The surgeon never liked being put on display, like a pet retriever that was being sent out to bring back the stick each time. Garrett bit her tongue. She knew that it was another way for the nurse to get comfortable with flying and far be it from her to be the one to stop it. She wanted, no, needed this team to stick together, whatever it took.


Life came back to Garrett’s eyes when, finally after a minute or two, she chose to answer the question. "No, doesn’t sound bad at all." Her eyes came to rest upon her mentor and Trivoli made sure he knew that she was on to his little plan. "When do we start?"


McMurray read her right. She knew what he was up too. He nodded in acceptance of the situation. "Tomorrow morning at eight. I’ll have the pilot waiting for you to go." The Ol’ Cutter picked up an envelope, using it for emphasis. "I’ll even have these all loaded and ready to go, myself."


"Thanks!" Danni was eagerly waiting to get to work. Her hand reached out to touch Garrett’s arm as she turned to leave. The small gesture was caught before she made contact and corrected herself. ‘By the gods, I can’t seem to keep my hands off of her since that last flight. What’s gotten into me?’ Then she remembered what it had felt like in the tall surgeon’s arms when she had been carried out of the helicopter. It was a feeling that she had always craved but never had experienced before. ‘Could this be…? Nah, who are you kidding, she’s just a friend.’


Garrett looked down at the dazed nurse. "Danni are you all right?" She snapped her fingers and waved a hand in front of her face until the petite woman came back to reality.


"Huh?" She shook the thoughts from her head as she tried to clear her mind.


"Yeah, I was…was just thinking of something. I’m okay, really."


It was McMurray who spoke now, "You two should get a good night’s sleep tonight so you look all fresh and alive for tomorrow." The man waved his hands as if to shoo them out of his office. "Now go on, I’ve got work to get done."


The pair turned and walked out of the door, each one feeling as though something had been overlooked or missed completely. Once in the outer office, Danni knew what it was that was missing. "Gar, I wonder why he didn’t show us any photographs this time? I kind of missed hearing a story about one."