Danni pulled herself together before she spoke. The words were soft and reverent in nature. "I’d rather you let your heart rule your fate than the wind."


Garrett sat up, startled by the voice. Turning her head, she could see that same hopeful look on Danni’s face that had been haunting her for sometime now. "I…I didn’t know that you were up yet."


"I’m sorry, Gar, but I thought you were asking me a question. I didn’t mean to disturb you."


The blonde crossed the room toward the kitchen. The entire time blue eyes were on her, watching each step and savoring it. The surgeon could feel her own pulse quicken when she focused in on the gentle swaying movement of the nurse’s anatomy from side to side with each stride. Garrett closed her eyes as Danni turned the corner into the other room. ‘Was that lawyer right? Gosh, what would Danni say if she knew I was looking at her like that?’


The surgeon hung her head in disbelief. ‘Face it, Trivoli, you’re gay. You always thought that you might be. Hell, you even tried having sex with women when you were in college.’ She breathed in a cleansing breath and opened her eyes. ‘Now what do you do?’


She ran her hand through her hair as her mind brought forth scenarios of Danni interacting with the surgeon, one of denial, one of rejection, one of acceptance and one of avoiding the issue all together. The surgeon looked back down to the handful of job offers. The thought of what being involved in a gay relationship might mean to the nurse with her career and family came running through her mind until it smacked her in the face. ‘Then again, I could always just run.’


The sound of the beeper put an end to the thoughts as Garrett reached for her pager. The message scrolled across the screen, "Call command immediately." And she did.


Coming into the kitchen, Garrett looked sheepishly at the blonde woman as she was coming away from the refrigerator. "Danni, we’ll be driving in separately this morning."


"Huh?" The confusion was evident on her face. "W…why?"


"That was the Command Desk calling for Dr. McMurray. Seems like he has plans for me today. I’m not sure of what it’s all about but he wanted to make sure that you had a way home tonight."


"You don’t think something happened to Nathan or Rene do you?" Danni’s heart was quick to show its concern.


"They didn’t say." Garrett bit at her lip, "I hope not. They just told me to report to McMurray’s office as soon as I can get in."


Danni nodded her head. "I’ll drive myself in. You’d better go get your shower."


"Thanks, I’m kind of curious as to what’s up." She turned and started for the doorway into the living room.


"Gar…" Danni’s voice was soft and quivering, "you’ll let me know what’s up, won’t you?" She watched the surgeon nod in agreement then head toward the shower.



* * *

Garrett stood in the outer office waiting to be seen by Dr. McMurray. It was his summons that had brought her here. Waiting patiently, she moved along from one wall to the other gazing at the photographs of the man’s life and career. It always intrigued her how he had managed to have some pictorial archive from every aspect of his illustrious tenure in the capacity of Chief of Trauma Services. Even the fact that most of the photographs were also taken with his wife in them, kept her more in awe than she cared to openly admit.


‘I bet it’s wonderful to know that someone stands by you no matter what. I can see why he loves his wife so much.’ Garrett moved on to study the next picture in the line up and stood tilting her head from side to side, deciding just what it was about the picture that caught her eye. Absorbed in it, the surgeon hadn’t noticed the opening of the door or the advancement of her mentor into the reception area.


"I was a young snipper when that one was taken." The Ol’ Cutter stood next to her and studied the picture for the zillionth time in his life. "I was fresh out of my transitional year and ready to take on the world of surgery." He chuckled slightly. "I had a new shiny scalpel in my bag, back then we still carried them, and two dollars in my pocket. You would have thought I was a king." McMurray leaned in toward her. "Do you see anything out of place about that picture? Go on," he nudged her, "take a good look at it."


Garrett stepped closer and studied it intently. "Why, isn’t that your wife in the background?"


He smiled and shook his head. "No, technically not. I hadn’t even met her yet, let alone married to her. She just happened to be there, like she was in all of the rest of the pictures. It was like fate had dictated that we would meet and spend the rest of our lives together."


The tall woman stepped back slightly, shaken at what he had said. The surgeon’s mind jumped to the loop of her memory where she had come barreling through the front E.R. doors at the beginning of her shift on that first day, nearly running smack into Danni.


"Do you believe in fate, Dr. Trivoli?"


"I’m beginning to think so, sir. Why do you ask?"


"I think that our fates are planned out for us even before we are born. They write our story in the sands of time and it’s our obligation to live them out here on earth."


"Excuse me, Dr. McMurray," his secretary spoke up. "You have that Board Meeting at eight o’clock, remember?"


"Yes, the Board. Thank you, Stella, for reminding me." His voice was now more business-like than mystical. "Come on into the office Garrett and I’ll tell you why I asked you to stop by."


Garrett followed him in and sat in the chair that he offered to her. She didn’t know why she was there and right now she didn’t really care. All that kept running through her mind was the young "snipper" photograph and the thought of someone else being in control of her life.


The Ol' Cutter rounded his desk and sat down. Leaning forward, he began to speak. "I won't beat around the bush, Trivoli. I don't have time for that. I have a favor to ask of you."


"Anything, sir, just ask." Garrett respected her mentor and would do anything to help him out. "I’m getting kind of bored, not being able to fly and all."


"Good, I was hoping that you would be eager to help. I figured that you’d be pretty tired of doing rounds and the clinic by now. You having any trouble with that ankle…I mean…standing on it for a while?"


"I’m not using the crutches if that’s what you mean." She tested her ankle and smiled. "I think that I could manage a round of surgery or two a day. Of course, that’s without jumping up and down." She teased him to make her point.


"That’s good then. One of our former Chief Resident's is in a bind and needs some surgical bail out." He looked at her coyly. "You wouldn’t mind doing a few emergent appendectomies or anything like that, would you? I mean that if you would, I could always send somebody else…"


The woman's eyes lit up as thoughts of O.R. time was being dangled in front of her. "Me, mind a few appy’s? Never, just tell me where to go and who to talk to. I’m on my way."


"I believe you know him, too. It's David Beckman." McMurray watched the expression on her face turn cold. "Is there some problem between you and he that I'm not aware of?"


"No, sir. No problem professionally." The woman's body tensed, as she was becoming more defensive.


"Personally, then?" He eyed her suspiciously as he watched her eyebrow raise in challenge. "Did something happen the night of the dinner that I don’t know about?"


"No! I…I…it’s nothing. I assure you that nothing will get in my way of treating the patients."


"Alright then, I made arrangements for you to stay at the hospital in a call room of your own. While you are there, all of your meals will be covered by the Department of Surgery."


She nodded. "When do I start and for how long?"


The Ol’ Cutter smiled at her, pleased that he could count on the talented surgeon. "I told them you’d be there by noon." He winked and nodded. "Stella will have the directions for you and anything else that you might need. Who knows, maybe this is something that the fates have had in store for you all along." He teased.


She smiled wryly at his remark. "If that’s all, I’ll get my things, along with a few changes of clothing and be on my way." She watched him, nodded, and rose from the chair to leave.


"Trivoli," he called out as she came to the door.


Turning back to him she answered. "Yes?"


"Thanks."



* * *

There was no need to leave the house, not just yet anyway. Garrett had taken her own car and Danni really did want to address the pile of mail that was left on the desk in her slot. She hadn’t had time to do any of the normal things that her life used to consist of since the tall, raven-haired woman came into her life. ‘Normal? How can anything be normal when I’m gay?’


The petite blonde thought about the topsy-turvy way that her life was spinning out of the realm of control. ‘I can hear it now when Mother finds out that I’m gay. She’s going to have a stroke.’ Danni shook her head as she sorted through the mail. ‘She’ll disown me and throw me right out of the…’


Danni put the rest of the mail down and hastily opened the one with the familiar writing. The delicate paper from some rich looking stationery set fell neatly open with little help from her. The nurse’s eyes quickly skimmed down the page until she came to the last line. It was now that she began coughing and hitting her chest with her empty, open hand. The nurse’s eyes got bigger, "Mother," she sighed. "How did you find out already when the woman of my dreams shares a house with me, works with me, and she still doesn’t know it yet?"