David adjusted the large surgical spotlight above them as they looked to see the extent of the damage caused by the small 22mm bullet.


"I have the rib spreaders!" The aide came dashing back into the room as she tore open the sterile packaging.


Taking the intact spreaders, David worked to put them in place. "Okay, you can let go now, thanks." He watched as the hands of the nurses withdrew, making sure that the hands of the other surgeon were not encumbered in any way.


"Get an abdominal X-ray, there seems to be hardly any blood in this chest cavity. She looked over the muscle that pumped the blood throughout the body. Instead of a full, well-rounded and beating heart, there was a contracted and non-moving mass. "We’ve got to expand his volume. Give him two more units of blood and open up the other lines with Lactated Ringers’ going." She began to gently massage the firm muscle, trying to get the chambers to open up and accept the newly replenished volume of life giving fluid. A moment or two passed by until she could feel the muscle begin to beat of its own accord. She withdrew her hands as both surgeons bent over the opening, looking for any source of bleeding and injury.


"Here! It looks like a hole in the diaphragm." David saw it first.


"Suture, please." She responded immediately to his words. "Call the O.R. and tell them that we need a room, we’re coming up." The words rolled out of her mouth before she realized what she was saying. Her eyes flashed over to David, in hoping that he realized the critical nature of the patient. "Don’t you think, Dr. Beckman?"


"Yes, definitely." He hurried to assist her with clipping the suturing thread after it was knotted. "Get us an elevator to the O.R. Pack up, we’re moving in a minute." He threw down the surgical scissors onto the pile of utensils that they had used and draped a sterile blue towel over the still exposed chest.


He stepped back long enough for the nursing staff to attach the patient to a portable monitor and accumulate the bags of hanging intravenous fluids onto the one-wheeled pole that the blood infuser was on. The quantity of activity in the room was mind boggling as every person readied the patient for the trip to the operating theater.


"The elevator’s here," someone announced.


Garrett motioned to the surgeon across from her, "Lead on, I’m right behind you." She ripped off her gloves and grabbed a fresh pair as they left the room, David in the lead. She stopped momentarily as the X-ray of the patient’s abdomen was being hung on the view box. She sighed deeply, knowing all too well that the extent of the patient’s injuries lay within that area. She fell instep behind the entourage as it started into the elevator.


"Who else would end up in the O.R. assisting on a Trauma Case during an orientation?" She shook her head in disbelief, making a mental note to tell her roommate of her adventure. She could see her already, her mouth open and wanting to know why she wasn't along for the ride. A smile hid itself under her masked face as thoughts of the blonde nurse danced through her mind. She found that happening more and more. ‘Better learn to squelch that now, before it becomes a habit, Trivoli. She’ll be his dreams now.’ The tall woman looked ahead to David, slowly resigning herself to that fate.



* * *

Danni sat at the kitchen table without a single light on in the house. It was getting to be dusk and the light was fading from the day. So much like her life. Without the surgeon there with her, the nurse’s life seemed to pale in spirit. The petite woman didn’t like the feeling of loneliness that was creeping over her, nor did she enjoy the emptiness of the house around her.


And so she sat there, waiting for the dark to overshadow her, while that ill- begotten letter kept coming to the front of her mind. What the hell was her mother talking about? She took it out and read it once more in the fading light. Her mind searching for answers, she thought to call Brie then quickly decided against it. To call Brie would be like talking directly to Mother and Danni didn’t need that right now, not when her mind was on Garrett. Besides, wasn’t that what was making the whole letter of Mother’s a little confusing anyway? Why would Mother say that Garrett was flirting with a woman unless…did she know that Danni had feelings for her?



* * *

Tight-lipped and calculating, Mrs. Bossard sat waiting for her son to return her phone call. It had taken her several days if not almost a full week to come to terms with the idea of having her oldest daughter impregnated with twins, bastards as they were. Now, she was ready to deal with the fact and, after some drastic planning, she considered the legal issues to be her best bet here. Matt was a lawyer and would, of course, know just how to go about it. The matriarch was pleased with herself for pushing him in that direction. It was one part of her blueprints for her children’s lives that had seemed to be working as planned. Now, if she could only get Danni’s life on track like she wanted it to be, then life would be good again.


The phone rang and she hurriedly picked it up, caring to not waste another second in time before her daughter and the family’s good name would be vindicated. "Hello, Mrs. Bossard speaking."


"Hello, Mother."


"Matthew, I’ve been waiting for your call. What took so long for you to find time to return it?" The sternness of her voice was evident.


"Mother, I was in court when you called."


"I bet if that Judge knew that it was your mother, he’d…"


"Well, I’m here now, what do you need?" He tried to corral her assault on his ears.


Her eyes flashed red at being directed in her thoughts by her son, but he was a good lawyer and she knew it. "Matt, your sister Danielle has gotten herself into a bit of trouble. I need you to take care of it without dragging the family name through the mud."


"Danni?" He thought of his gentle sister. "What could Danni have possibly done to get in trouble?"


"I prefer to think that it was not her fault at all."


"Mother, if you don’t tell me what’s wrong, I can’t help her," Matt pleaded his case.


"Alright, but this is strictly between you and me." The matriarch continued on in a hushed tone so as not to be heard by anyone but her son. "That surgeon that your sister has been seeing has gotten her pregnant and with twins, no doubt."


"Danni’s pregnant? Why I…"


"Oh, it gets better, too. Dr. Garrett Trivoli is also referring to her as his mistress and laughing about it to all his friends at the hospital. Then, if that’s not enough, I saw him proposition a lovely young woman right before my eyes to have…" she paused momentarily, "to have ‘IT’ in his office." Her face became red with anger and her lips tightened to thin little lines.


Matt was shocked at what he’d just heard. Quite frankly, being a lawyer and all, it took a lot for him to be speechless and he was indeed.


"His friends are even lying to Danni about his activities with other women. Trying to cover for him. Matt are you still there?"


The question startled him. "Yes, Mother, I’m here. What is it that you want me to do?"


"I won’t stand for any bastards in this family. Do whatever you can to correct this situation and do it soon. Why, to see your sister, she’ll be ready to deliver those babies before the summer is over. I want the name on those birth certificates to be Trivoli and not Bossard." She sniffed, trying to once again establish her dignity. "Do I make myself understood?"


"Yes, Mother. I’ll get on that right away." He heard the click on the other end and slowly lowered the phone from his ear. "Danni, what do you have yourself into now?"


He sat down at his desk and thought about the sister that he had always looked up to. She’d always been a freer spirit than Brie or he when it came to Mother’s law. Now, look at where she was, unmarried, pregnant and with a man that didn’t respect women in the least. He closed his eyes and prayed for guidance.



* * *

The surgeon sat crumpled up in a ball on the armed chair in the Recovery Room. It had been a long afternoon spent in surgery and an even longer night spent by the patient’s bedside. Garrett stretched her long limbs trying to get some life back into them before getting out of the chair. She wasn’t unaccustomed to going that extra mile for her patients; in fact, she regarded it as her duty and not just a job. It was the likes unseen for some of the nurses here in this smaller hospital. Most cases of this severity would be transferred to larger better-equipped hospitals.


Wiping the sleep away from her eyes, the surgeon focused on her patient. Her groggy, sleep-filled voice broke the air. "Any change since the last time?"


"No, he’s holding his own," the efficient nurse answered as she checked the drops in the I.V. chamber. "Can I get you some coffee, Doctor?"


Garrett nodded as she continued to gradually allow the rest of her cramped body to wake up. "Thanks. Say, what time is it?"


"Why, it’s just about change of shifts, ten minutes to seven…in the morning."


‘Well, that’s one night down and only a few more to go.’ She accepted the offered cup of coffee and sipped at it slowly. ‘I wonder what today will bring with it?’