by Ali Vali
"Harry you have to head over to Mercy right now," said Sally. The Land Rover was waiting right outside after Sally moved it, and she was pulling the tired doctor toward the door.
"No way, I’m going home. Desi will kill me if I take another call instead of heading back home."
"Believe me honey, she’ll kill you if you don’t show up in that ER in the next fifteen minutes. Your parents are on their way over there with her Harry. Desi’s in labor," said Sally along with some more pulling.
"Yeah right, Desi’s not due yet, she can’t be in labor."
"Harry this is your kid right?" asked Sally. They stopped for only a moment by the desk.
"Yeah," answered Harry bringing her eyebrows together.
"And you are so well known for your patience and calm demeanor. I’ll bet twenty-five years from this date my youngest, who wants to be a nurse, will be having this conversation with someone who looks just like you. He or she, God forbid, will have the same exasperating personality," explained Sally. Harry’s phone and pager went off simultaneously as the color drained from her face.
"Hello."
"Just so you know, I don’t hate you JUST YET, but the night is young and if you don’t get your ass moving right now, all bets are off," said Desi in a deceptively calm voice. Labor, she had figured out, was now tops on her list of most unpleasant ways to be brought out of a deep sleep.
"Desiree Basantes, you cannot be in labor. That does not happen for another two weeks," said Harry pointing a finger in the air for emphasis. She pulled the phone away from her ear with the same confused look she had just given Sally and handed the phone to the nurse. "Here she wants to talk to you."
"Yes Desi, she’s standing right next to me. Are you sure? Well ok," said Sally as she whacked Harry on the back of the head before giving her the phone back.
"Move your ass Harry," was the last thing Harry heard before Desi disconnected the call.
Springing to the door like someone had lit her feet on fire, Harry left the chaos of the Charity Emergency Room and headed uptown. Even the distraught parents Harry had just spoken to had to laugh at the exchange between doctor, phone and nurse. "That resident has a lot to learn about children," the young mother told Sally.
"That resident, is the head of orthopedic surgery here at the hospital ma’am. The most important lesson she’s going to learn tonight though has nothing to do with children. It will have to do with women and labor. Hopefully Desi, her partner, will stay away from those talented hands."
"We thought Dr. Franklin was in charge," said Bob, the young boy’s father.
"No sir, Dr. Franklin works for her." Sally pointed toward the swinging doors Harry had just run out of. Since Harry wasn’t there to do it, Sally let a little laugh escape at the man’s assumptions. Sally’s laugh died just as quickly when she heard the crash outside. Oh, it couldn’t be, thought the nurse.
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All It Took Was You
by
Ali Vali
Part 3
"What happened to your head?" Desi had been set to page Harry again when her partner came walking into the cubicle she had been assigned to. The hour since their last conversation had passed with no further labor pains for Desi, and the placement of four stitches into Harry’s left eyebrow.
"Trust me you don’t want to know, but I did try to move my ass here as quickly as possible." Harry teased her partner with a smile on her face. The surgeon was still trying to convince her bruised ego that the accident that had resulted in stitches was because of the excitement of the moment, and not because of clumsiness.
"Harry please tell me, and I didn’t mean to scream at you honey. It was the pain talking." The bandage that covered the cut was small enough for Desi to still see the black sutures. In a move meant to convey comfort, Desi ran the pad of her index finger lightly over the white tape.
"I was running out to my car to get here, when I tripped over my feet and smashed my face into the side view mirror of an ambulance parked outside the emergency room. Nurse Ratchet wouldn’t let me leave until she stitched me up. Told me to tell you, she botched the job on purpose so I’d have a scar to remember the occasion by. Tell me again why you are here?" Harry kissed the fingertip Desi had just run over her brow. The drive to Mercy Emergency had been the longest of her life, and Harry was sure she had run every light between Charity and uptown. She was going to leave with just a tissue pressed over the cut, but Sally had other ideas when she sat Harry down and did a quick patch job. The nurse’s threats were still ringing in her ears.
"Somebody woke me up earlier from a sound sleep to tour the ER at Mercy in anticipation of making a grand entrance into the world. I should have known this kid would have your sense of timing honey. But now, unlike you, the kid is showing reluctance. Does your brow hurt?" The contractions had indeed stopped, as if the baby knew Harry wasn’t there. Having Harry so close had dispelled Desi’s fears of the impending birth of their child and she relaxed into the pillow behind her.
"My kid reluctant, never. Let’s just say they figured out that it wasn’t time yet," said Harry.
"No, your baby is just taking a break cause Miss Desi is three centimeters dilated," said Ellie. For the second time in the weekend, Desi had interrupted a movie she and Sam were watching. This time they were curled up in front of the television set in their den when her pager went off. If given a choice, the doctor would have liked at least another week before Desi delivered, but they would have to sit and wait. "Desi we gave you some medication to try and stop the contractions, but get used to the idea of spending some time with us. No matter what, we are admitting you for at least tonight." Ellie saw the pout forming on the blonde’s face and turned to Harry for help.
"Don’t worry sweetheart, I’m sure Ellie is having another bed delivered for me and it should be arriving any time now." The OB doctor disappeared before Harry finished her statement. Desi’s quivering lip was too much for Harry so she lowered the bedrail and climbed in beside Desi. Her parents quietly followed Ellie giving the couple some time alone.
"I did something wrong didn’t I?" Desi’s worst nightmare throughout the pregnancy, to go the whole term then lose the baby in the end. "I’m sorry Harry."
"Shh, baby." Harry gathered the crying woman in her arms. As much as Harry wanted children with Desi, she would never trade Desi’s life or health for it. "You didn’t do anything wrong my love, babies are just temperamental beings. This one weighs over six pounds and has all the pertinent parts so don’t worry about it, you are both going to be fine."
"Harry I just want this with you so bad," started Desi before two long fingers were pressed against her lips.
"Desi, you and the baby are both fine. Just look at the heart monitor sweetheart. The little guy is just chugging along. Even if he comes tonight there isn’t going to be any problems," said Harry pointing to the box near the bed. The nurse walked in to find the long body stretched out next to her patient. With the low lighting and the fact the person’s back was to her, Mitzy made her second mistake with Harry. The first had been months ago when the young nurse wouldn’t stop hitting on her as Harry checked Desi into a room in the hospital.
"You can’t be up there." Harry recognized the voice right off, as did Desi. The woman being held by the tall surgeon wouldn’t soon forget the nurse that had blazingly flirted with Harry as she laid on a gurney with a broken leg, waiting to be put into her hospital room. Mitzy was etched into the small woman’s memory. After that little display and after Harry’s meeting with the nursing director, Mitzy had lost her cushy ward job to the less desired emergency room post. While there was nowhere near the volume of the Charity ER, Mitzy spent the graveyard shift dealing with more stomachaches than she had her whole career.
"Since when is it against hospital policy to comfort an upset patient, Nurse ‘I Am Dying To Be Transferred To The Psychiatric Unit’?" asked Harry. The question made one woman stiffen at th
e deep voice of her nemesis, while the other burrowed deeper into her lover’s embrace with a smile.
"Dr. Basantes, I didn’t realize that was you and your little friend. What is it this time sweetheart, the husband leave you with a child to raise alone?" Desi grabbed hold of Harry’s shirt to keep her from bolting from the hospital bed. There had been only one other encounter with the bitter nurse before this, and the comments had been similar. She had ignored them the day she was looking for Harry to take her shopping, and she would ignore her now.
"I promise I’ll be good baby so let me go a second, there’s something I have to do." Harry looked Desi in the eye to show she was sincere.
"You promise?" Desi was skeptical knowing how Harry could be when it came to Desi’s feelings being hurt.
"I won’t even talk to her baby, I swear." Harry rolled off the bed and stormed out of the room. One short phone call later, she was back by Desi’s side.
"Where’d you go honey?" Desi smiled at the raspberry sherbet in Harry’s hand. The only thing she craved more than Moan’s chicken salad was raspberry sherbet.
"I just called the chief of surgery at home and told him I resigned from the staff here. Stan lives three blocks from the hospital so I give him less than five minutes to get here." The memory of the sputtering Stan Rising on the phone made Harry laugh as she fed a spoonful of the frozen treat to Desi. By the fourth spoonful, a robe clad Dr. Rising was standing in their cubicle.
"Harry this isn’t fucking funny."
"Not meant to be a joke Stan." When she gave her explanation for leaving, Stan reached for the phone himself. He was not about to lose one of the finest surgeon’s in the country to the rudeness of a spurned ER nurse. At the end of the shift, both the sleeping women missed the very public firing as they were being wheeled to their room.
"Harry wake up," said Ellie softly. It was nine in the morning and Desi had made it through the night without another contraction. Their friend found it sweet to find the two wrapped around each other sleeping in the room Desi had been assigned to.
"Mona go away," mumbled Harry. The deep voice rumbling under her ear made Desi shift further into the middle of the bed, sending Harry over the side of the bed onto the floor. Ellie was about to laugh when she remembered the stitches on the surgeon’s eyebrow.
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"Are you all right?"
"Does it fucking look like I’m all right, you piece of shit?"
"Forget I asked cracker. We are about a mile from the main road so y’all have a decision to make here. Either get out and keep heading in that direction," said Tyrell pointing ahead of them. "Or stay in the boat and go that way with me," he said pointing to the left.
"What’s in that direction?" asked Byron as he scratched his chest. The rash they all noticed at daybreak was progressively getting worse till the itch was becoming almost maddening.
"The river, scank. I’m waiting until dark, and then I’m going for a little swim downstream. I’m thinking thirty miles ought to give me a good head start. You stupid shits can do whatever you want." Tyrell had been the only one that had pushed them to this point since the other four had been too busy scratching to help.
"More water?" Gazette had his hands clamped to the sides of the boat since Tyrell had told him not scratching would make it go away faster. Not one of them had made a move to stop Tyrell when he punched the elder Byron unconscious. The man was complaining so loudly, police could have heard them five miles away. Two more hits had taken care of the only other times he had come to. Byron Sr. and Gazette still had the Nutria Itch rash, but it was nowhere as severe as Byron and Mike’s.
"Any fool could figure out the road is being highly patrolled and you’d be caught within the hour. The river is your only chance if you want to make it out. I’ll take you that far then you are free to go on your own." Tyrell had no burning desire to help the three other men, but he needed time to formulate his plans. Having any of these idiots in custody singing his escape plans wasn’t on his agenda.
"So we take the boat?" asked Mike. He heard his father starting to come to again from beside him. There would be hell to pay once he did and realized neither him nor Byron had helped him against Tyrell.
"Sure Mike, we take the boat. I’m sure the water patrol out here will completely ignore five men in their underwear out on the river. We can tell them we fish with our dicks and they’ll just wave us along," said Tyrell. The fact this boy had ended up in prison didn’t really shock him. "Did you two smart asses really kidnap a judge’s wife one night?"
"Shut the fuck up, before I do it for you," hissed Byron. He was still pissed that Desi had just slipped through his fingers, that and the fact the ache in his jaw never really went away. No one said anything when Tyrell put his finger to his lips and cocked his head to the side to listen. Like a giant snake he went over the side and into the water. It was the quiet of the trees that first alerted him as he paddled through the swamp. The area had been alive with the sounds of its inhabitants all morning, but now it was still.
Mike and Byron grabbed their father and followed Tyrell into the cover of the trees, both thinking that Gazette would follow. The almost black water was a perfect camouflage and in moments Gazette lost sight of the four men that had just been with him. A ripple in the water came across the bow so Gazette reached for the push pole to protect himself. The silence closed in on him and Gazette stood frozen with fear. He faced in the direction the men had gone hoping to see a way out.
It happened so fast, Gazette didn’t really register it all at once. One moment he was standing there straining to see a way out when a snake dropped from an overhead branch. When he swung around with the pole in his hand, an overzealous deputy in a boat in the distance shot him. One clean shot through the chest cavity slammed the escaped convict back into the water. The water swallowed the gurgle of Gazette’s last breath as he died with his eyes opened and a stunned look on his face. The men on the boat hadn’t really seen him at first, it was only the quick movement Gazette had made that had caught the sleepy deputy’s attention. His first reflex had been to shoot.
"Why do you suppose they left him?" asked Deputy Voisin. The police officer was still shaking after the excitement of the morning. He had never taken his weapon out of his holster except at the firing range, and now, the first time he had done it on duty, he had killed a man. Gary was young and relatively inexperienced, but he could tell that Warden Miller was not pleased with the morning’s events.
"I guess he can’t tell us that now, can he Gary? My guess is they aren’t too far off." Garrett now had two dead inmates on his hands, and no signs of the other five anywhere. The portly man scanned the area slowly hoping to see something that didn’t belong, but the swamp looked just like it had forever. The only thing Garrett could see that didn’t belong there was the FBI Agent in the boat that had just floated up next to his.
"I say they headed for the river last night and are long gone downstream by now. Pull your men off the road and reposition them," Agent Richard Kind paused before continuing. He asked a question of the other FBI agent he had on the phone then readdressed the local law enforcement that was present. "Twenty miles downstream. With the speed of the current, placing them in the water around four this morning, that’s where you’ll find them," said Richard with authority. His clear voice carried well past their assembled group to the four men submerged up to their chins in the water.
"Agent Dick, how in the hell did you come up with that conclusion? The boys left you a note or something before they hit the water in the river?" asked Garrett. When more than twenty-four hours had past with no new leads as to the location of the escaped inmates. Garret had had to call in the feds. To do what the hip boot clad man was suggesting, surmounted to a huge mistake in the warden’s mind. His instincts and experience told him the men were still in the area. This terrain was not that easy to get through that quickly, there was no way the in
mates had made it to the river in the time they had been running.
"My name is Richard, Warden Miller, please use it. This is our investigation now warden, so either cooperate or go back to the prison. We are widening our net because you have allowed our fish to swim through the one you set up. Now get me out of this hellhole before the mosquitoes do it for you," said Richard swatting the side of his head. When he got home he was going to burn his clothes.
Three boat lengths from him, Tyrell smiled at the first good news they had gotten since they had waded out here. All they had to do now was wait out the day and move to the river after dark. He would get out before twenty miles and head inland. "Let’s move out," ordered Richard.
"Stay put deputy." Garrett pulled out his rod and reel pulling back and making his first cast. The sound of the reel spinning out line and the drop of the lure made Gary drift off to seep. Garrett didn’t disturb him; wanting to spend the afternoon at the spot where they had found Gazette.
Behind him, a ten-foot water moccasin glided from his perch into the water toward an oblivious Byron. Tyrell moved slowly behind him and clamped his hand over the man’s mouth. Byron was about to struggle when the pit viper coiled around his arm and rested its head on his shoulder. Instinct made him stand still, the only part of his body that wasn’t cooperating was the pulse point at his neck. The forked tongue flicked out as if to taste his fear causing Byron to close his eyes. Mike looked on and couldn’t help whispering out a soft exclamation.
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"Oh my God." The green eyes peering over the side of the bed made the anger of having been dumped on the floor evaporate. "You didn’t tear those open did you?" Desi asked pointing to the Harry’s eyebrow.