Robin Cook - Marker

"I hope you understand you can only stay a few minutes," Thea said. Her voice was as commanding as her physical presence.

"I appreciate you letting me come in at all," Jack said, showing uncharacteristic respect for the rules. Under more normal circumstances, he viewed bureaucratic edicts as mere guidelines, but with Laurie's potential care possibly dependent on his behavior, he was being particularly circumspect, as evidenced by his restraint in not having run down to Laurie's OR when her case had dragged on.

"You got a fine wife there, doctor," Thea said. "She's a charmer, even under the influence of the anesthesia." For a second, her attention switched to a monitor built in over the desk. One of the patients had had an extra heartbeat with a compensatory pause. Jack used the opportunity to glance at Laura, who flashed him an exaggerated expression of guilt, meaning she'd fibbed about marital status to get Jack invited into the PACU.

Thea redirected her attention back to the visitors. "What was I saying? Oh, yeah! Your wife is one amiable individual. Most of the people we see in here are just out of it, although some can be uncooperative and even belligerent. Not your wife. She's just as nice as pie."

"Thank you," Jack said. "I appreciate the attention you've given her."

"That's our job," Thea said.

Laura motioned for Jack to follow her, and they walked over to the bed farthest against the wall. A male nurse with an impressive tattoo of a mermaid on his left upper arm was adjusting Laurie's IV. She was also getting another unit of blood.

"How's she doing, Pete?" Laura asked. She glanced briefly at the clipboard before walking up along the right side of the bed.

"Smooth as silk," Pete said. "Blood pressure and pulse hanging in there just fine. She's putting out urine, and nothing has come out of the drain."

"Good," Laura said. She grasped Laurie's forearm, gave it a little shake, and called her name.

Laurie's eyes popped open, but only about halfway. Her forehead was wrinkled as if she was struggling keep them open. She looked at Laura, then over at Jack, who'd come up along the left side. She smiled placidly and reached out and laid a limp hand in Jack's.

"Do you remember me telling you that your operation is over?" Laura asked.

"Not really," Laurie admitted without taking her eyes off Jack.

"Well, it is," Laura said. "You're doing fine. The bleeding has been stopped. I'd tell you to relax, but you are already doing that."

Laurie turned her head slowly toward Laura. "Thank you for all you have done, and I'm sorry about your Saturday night."

"Don't you worry," Laura said. "It's been a blast."

"Am I in the PACU at the moment?"

"Yes, you are."

"And I'm going to stay here overnight."

"That's affirmative. I've asked for them to keep you here and monitor you until I come in and make my rounds. The intensive care unit happens to be full, but this is just as good and maybe better. I hope you don't mind. It might be hard to sleep with all the activity."

"I don't mind in the slightest," Laurie said, giving Jack's hand a squeeze.

"Now," Laura added. "I'm going to leave you two, and, Laurie, I'll see you in the morning at seven. I'm sure everything will be fine, and we can move you to a room on the OB-GYN floor, provided they have a bed. I know they are overbooked tonight, but we'll worry about that tomorrow. Okay?"

"Okay," Laurie responded.

With a final wave, Laura walked away.

Laurie turned back toward Jack. "What time is it?"

"Around midnight," Jack said.

"My gosh! Where did the evening go? Time really does fly when you're having fun."

Jack smiled. "It's good to hear you haven't lost your sense of humor. How do you feel?"

"Great. I know that sounds ridiculous, but I've got no discomfort whatsoever. The worst thing is a dry mouth. Whatever they gave me has me on cloud nine. And now that it's over, I can admit I was pretty darn scared. I was foolish to let the problem get out of hand."

"I don't think you should be blaming yourself."

"I do. My not reacting to incriminating symptoms is a prime example of one of my not-so-wonderful character traits: namely, putting out of my mind anything potentially unpleasant, physically or emotionally. I'm more of my mother's daughter than I'd ever cared to admit."

"You're starting to scare me with this kind of insight under the influence of anesthesia," Jack joked. "What did they give you, some kind of truth serum? Don't answer! Let's talk about something a bit more topical. Did they tell you had a ruptured ectopic pregnancy?"

"I'm sure they did, but my short-term memory is not up to speed."

"As soon as I heard you were all right, I felt a curious emotion."

"Now, that's a weird thing to say," Laurie said with a slight smile on her lips. "What were you, disappointed I was going to pull through?"

"That didn't come out right. What I meant to say was that when I didn't have to worry about you, I felt sad that we had lost a child."

Laurie didn't say anything for a moment, and her smile faded. She stared at Jack with a look of disbelief.

"Hello!" Jack called. "Are you still with me?"

In slow motion, Laurie lifted her free hand to her face and used a finger to wipe away a tear. She shook her head as if she still couldn't believe what Jack had said. "If I heard correctly, under the circumstances that might have been the dearest thing you've ever said to me. You're going to make me cry."

"Don't cry!" Jack said nervously as he noticed Laurie's pulse rate quicken on the LCD screen behind her bed. He certainly didn't want to be disturbing her in her fragile state. "Let's talk about something less emotional, provided we have time." He glanced first at Pete, who pretended he wasn't listening, and then back at Thea at the central desk to make sure she hadn't caught Laurie's reaction. Luckily, the charge nurse was momentarily preoccupied with another problem. With a sense of reprieve, Jack redirected his attention to Laurie. "I'm not going to be able to stay in here very long, and I might not be able to come back. Normally, I wouldn't be so restrained, but they have you as a hostage. I'm afraid if I step out of line, they'll take it out on you in some way. I know it's a ridiculous idea, but it seems to me this place is run by the Gestapo."

"What did you do with yourself for three hours?" Laurie asked.

"I had a ball," Jack said. "I…" He tried to think of something witty, but nothing came to mind. Embarrassed, he gave a short laugh. "I can't believe it. My sense of humor has abandoned me."

"You're bored and exhausted. Why don't you go home and get some sleep."

"Sleep?" Jack questioned. "That's out of the question. I had several cups of coffee in the surgical lounge. I'm not going to sleep until about Tuesday."

"You can't just sit here in the hospital," Laurie said. "If you really think you can't sleep, why don't you do what I suggested earlier and go back to my office? If you have to be awake, you might as well make use of the time."

"You know, I might just do that," Jack said. It crossed his mind that he could bring all that material back to the surgical lounge. After all, the night shift was in the hospital. It might help to pass the time if he tried to talk to a couple of the people on Roger's lists, although, when he thought about it again, he had to admit that Roger's fate took away some of his enthusiasm for the idea.

"Sorry to interrupt here," Thea said. She had appeared at the foot of the bed. "You people are going to have to wind things up. We've got a couple of cases coming in imminently."

"Just a moment longer," Jack said to Thea, who nodded and retreated back to her command post.

"Listen," Jack said to Laurie, bending over to be close to her ear. "Before I go, I want to be absolutely sure you feel comfortable here. Be honest! Otherwise, I'll just park myself right outside the door and refuse to budge."