“Let’s go.”
The first few hours of the evening were pretty calm. Isabella tended to a few lacerations, broken bones, and high fevers. She managed to patch up her patients with ease and only had to admit a couple of patients. It was simple. In fact, as quickly as they were treating patients and discharging them, it looked like they might get some sleep after all. Justin and Isabella sat on an empty gurney, relaxing for the first time in days.
“What time is it?” James asked the interns.
“A little after one,” Justin replied.
“Wow, a slow night in the ER. That’s a first. I’m going to take a nap. Call me if anything happens.”
No more than twenty minutes later, a nurse came rushing inside.
“Two-vehicle accident coming in,” she said breathlessly. “Two injuries. One appears to have minor injuries, and the other is bleeding pretty badly.”
Once she finished talking, the paramedics brought them in on stretchers. Isabella rushed toward the first. Justin followed to tend to the second. Isabella had drawn the short straw. Her patient was losing a lot of blood, and his vital signs were nearly nonexistent.
“I need some O Negative, she said, looking for the sources of blood. One nurse pressed gauze on a head wound. Isabella took scissors and snipped away at the man’s shirt. He had bruising—definitely broken ribs, maybe internal damage. She cut away at his pants, and the floodgates opened. Blood was pouring from a deep cut in his leg. His pants had restricted some of the flow from his femoral artery, but there was nothing to stop the bleeding.
Suddenly, it occurred to her that in the panic, she forgot all about James.
“Call Dr. Johnson immediately,” she yelled to a nurse.
She wrapped a towel around the man’s leg, putting strong pressure on the wound. Luckily, the nurse came back with bags of blood and started the transfusion.
Amidst the chaos, Isabella was inexplicably calm. She had never been in control in a situation like this, always just a bystander. Now, she knew what to do and gave directions in a clear and calm voice.
She was so in the zone that she didn’t even hear footsteps running up behind her.
“Justin,” James called out. “What’s the status on your patient?”
“Stable,” he responded. “Possible head injury. I’ve ordered a CT scan.”
“Good. Isabella?”
“He’s bleeding out. We’re losing his vitals.”
James put his hand on top of Isabella’s to see the laceration.
“You’re right. He’s nicked his femoral.”
He pressed his hand back onto hers.
“Let’s take him to OR 1. Isabella, keep doing what you’re doing.”
They wheeled the patient into the operating room as the life slowly drained from his body. James expertly clamped down on the severed artery and started repairing it. Isabella monitored his vitals and assisted James with his work. Once they stopped the bleeding, James cauterized and closed the wound while Isabella tended to the more minor injuries. After another hour, the patient was wheeled out and taken to a room to recover.
Covered in blood from their patient, Isabella and James went to the doctor’s lounge to get changed before the next patients arrived. Isabella was on a high. She controlled the ER and assisted in surgery. Nothing could stop her.
“You were great in there,” James said as they stripped off their soiled scrubs. “Honestly.”
There was a fire inside her. Without thinking twice about what she was doing, she grabbed him by the arms and pulled him in, kissing him hard on the lips.
James was understandably caught off guard, but he kissed back, grabbing Isabella around the waist. She pinned him up against the wall, hips pressing against his. Weeks of flirtation and tension between them melted as they grabbed at each other’s body.
She dug her tongue into his open mouth and he cupped one of her breasts in his hand, gently squeezing. He had one hand grasping the drawstring of her scrubs when he was paged to the ER over the loudspeaker.
They broke apart, and he quickly tugged on a clean top and ran out the door. Isabella plopped down on the bench and leaned against the cool locker. Every inch of her body was buzzing. She wanted more.
Chapter Five
The rest of Isabella’s first night on call was uneventful, especially compared to the previous events. James hung around the ER for long enough to make sure he wasn’t needed, then he went back to the doctor’s lounge. Isabella treated a toddler with strep throat and a man with chest pain that just turned out to be gas cramps.
She caught Justin nodding off in an unused exam area.
“Dude, you can go to the lounge if you want to,” she said after watching him nearly fall off the table.
“You sure?”
“Yeah, I can always page you if things pick up.”
In another hour, it would be daylight, and the interns would be joining the other doctors for morning rounds. Sleep would have done her body good, but she couldn’t have slept if she tried. She couldn’t get James out of her mind.
She was exhausted but still felt pretty good. She had gotten more medical experience in one night than she had during her four years of medical school. She had successfully saved one person’s life and treated several more.
She watched the sunrise through the sliding glass doors at the front of the emergency room. The fluorescent lights buzzed above her, and every so often, she heard a nurse walk down the hall, but otherwise, it was silent.
While her time alone with James in the locker room was nice, Isabella knew that she had to put a stop to it. Before, when she sensed his interest in her, she completely avoided him, and that didn’t do her any favors. This time, she had a renewed sense of confidence from working alongside him as an equal and was going to be direct with him. It would be awkward at first, but she thought that eventually, they’d both forget all about it.
Slowly, more staff members began to arrive, and the hospital livened up. Patients came in for appointments, and there were more doctors on staff to see the sick and injured. At a quarter until seven, Isabella finally ditched her post and went to the cafeteria for a large coffee and a bagel. Her sleepy brain craved the carbs, and she was about to toast a second one when Jordan walked in.
“Morning,” she yawned. “How was the ER? Did you get any sleep?”
“Not a second,” Isabella bragged. “How about you?”
“Luckily,” Jordan said, selecting the donut with the mo
st sprinkles, “my patient was in a medically-induced coma. I slept on the recliner in the room, set my alarm for two-hour intervals, did my checks, and went back to sleep. It was pretty easy.”
“I helped reattach an artery in a car crash victim. He lost a ton of blood, but he should heal up quite nicely.”
Jordan’s jaw dropped. “You have got to be kidding me. How was it?”
Isabella grinned. “It was incredible. You have no idea.”
“Damn, all along, I thought you were stuck with the worst job. That sounds amazing.”
Isabella gave her friend a play-by-play of the surgery. Jordan listened intently, as if she were taking mental notes.
“Oh,” Jordan added. “How were things with everyone’s favorite hot attending?”
Isabella turned a bright shade of red and choked on her mouthful of coffee.
“Fine,” she sputtered.
“Bullshit,” Jordan said. “Spill the beans.”
“Well, after the surgery, we were both covered in blood, so we went back to the doctor’s lounge. I don’t know what came over me—I was feeling exhilarated from saving that guy’s life, and we were alone in the locker room. I wasn’t even thinking. I just jumped him.”
Jordan gasped, wide eyed. “You had sex?” she whisper-screamed.
“No, no, definitely not,” Isabella hissed, trying to keep her coworker from creating a scene. “We made out. That’s all. He got a page about a minute later, and that was it.”
“Wow,” Jordan marveled. “Your night was infinitely more exciting than mine. Good for you, honestly. I knew you couldn’t be celibate for your whole residency.”
“This will not be happening again. It was a one-time mistake. I lost my head. Everyone, including you, will forget that this little incident ever happened. Do you understand?”
“Relax, Isabella. Don’t act like you’re the first intern to hook up with another doctor. I’m sure it happens more than you think. If I were you, I’d go for it. It’s not often a beefcake like James is single and willing.”
“I can assure you, whatever happened was a fluke and will never happen again.”