RJ Nolan - In A Heartbeat

were, piped up Sam's little voice . Shut-up, Sam told the voice.

Sam sighed in frustration admitting how attracted she was to the beautiful doctor. Forget it, she's straight . Remember her ex-BOYFRIEND shot you. Sam slowly drifted off to sleep visions of coppery red hair and soft violet eyes playing in her mind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following morning Sam's IV's and heart monitor were removed and she was

transferred to the surgical post-op floor. She'd hoped to see Riley before she was

transferred but she'd never shown. She sighed in disappointment settling down to get

some much-needed rest. The nurse told her they would be getting her up to walk later

and she dreaded it.

Chapter Three

Riley made her way down the hall to the sixth floor nurses station. She was

completing her afternoon rounds of all her post-op surgical patients; she only

had one left she hadn't seen. She'd checked her chart on morning rounds but

avoided going into Sam McKenna's room. She'd gone home last night and

thought long and hard about the beautiful police officer. She admitted to herself

she was very attracted to the woman but knew nothing could ever come of it.

Not only was the woman her patient but it was her fault the officer was even in

the hospital. She could never forgive herself for getting her shot. Determined to

present a professional demeanor, Riley headed for Sam's room.

Sam sat in her hospital bed waiting for Jess and Kim to arrive. They'd been there

during morning visiting hours and promised to return for the afternoon hours.

Now that she was allowed to eat solid food, Sam had begged Kim to bring her

something decent to eat. The door swung open revealing Riley Connolly.

"Hi Riley," Sam greeted with a smile.

"Good afternoon Officer McKenna. How are you feeling?"

Sam frowned at the crisp emotionless tone of voice. She noticed that Riley

refused to meet her eyes. The only thing Sam could think of that would cause

such a change in the woman's demeanor was last night's conversation. Oh

damn, Sam groaned to herself, maybe she's a homophobe and freaked that I

flirted with her.

Sam put on her best police officer voice and replied. "I'm doing well Dr.

Connolly."

Riley's head jerked up at Sam's tone of voice. Without meaning to, she stared

into Sam's eyes and her expression immediately softened. "I'm glad to hear that

Sam. Is there anything you need? Are the pain meds working well for you?"

Sam sighed with relief; maybe she'd misjudged the doctor. "No I'm good. Kim

promised to bring me something to eat. Hospital food leaves a LOT to be

desired." Sam said laughing. "I haven't been taking much of the pain meds. I

don't like to feel so out of it."

Riley's stomach had growled at the mention of food. She hadn't eaten anything

since early morning. She glanced at Sam in time to see a slight grin appear on

her face. She'd obviously heard her stomach. Riley blushed lightly and tried to

keep the conversation professional.

"Don't be stubborn about the pain meds. You need to rest and heal. If you're in

constant pain you can't do that. Have you been up walking yet?"

"No, but I have been up in the chair several times." Sam grimaced. "The nurse said they'd have me up walking this evening after dinner."

"Good, we don't want you getting pneumonia. Make sure you ask for your pain

med at least half an hour before they get you up. You have a good size incision

and lots of sutures inside as well as out. It's going to be painful but it's important

to not let the leg atrophy and use it as soon as possible. Speaking of that while

I'm here I need to check you out."

As soon as the words left her mouth, Riley realized how they sounded. She

glanced quickly at Sam. It was a mistake. Sam had one eyebrow raised with a

little half smirk on her face. Her eyes were twinkling with mischief. Riley blushed

hotly.

"Where would you like to start?" Sam purred pulling back the blankets and

chuckling lightly. Riley met Sam's sparkling gaze and growled at her. Sam

laughed outright.

"I can see what a trouble maker you're going to be McKenna." Riley teasingly

chided Sam. Sam never said a word just wiggled her eyebrows and grinned.

Riley pulled her stethoscope out of her pocket and placed the tips in her ears.

She motioned for Sam to lean forward. She opened the back of Sam's hospital

gown and placed the scope in several places instructing Sam to breathe deeply.

As she listened to her lungs she couldn't help but notice the well muscled back

under her hand. She wondered what it would feel like to run her hands along the

prominent muscles. Realizing her thoughts had drifted into dangerous territory

she quickly completed her exam. Having Sam sit back, she silently cursed

herself when her hand shook as she slid the stethoscope down the front of

Sam's gown to listen to her heart. Glancing up into Sam's grinning face hadn't

helped matters. She listened to her heart trying not to touch her breast any more

than necessary. Straightening up she assured Sam everything sounded fine.

She lowered the shoulder of Sam's gown to examine her shoulder. While the

bruising was extensive in places, the graze wound hadn't even required stitches

to close it. Riley couldn't help admiring the muscles her exam had uncovered.

Riley uncovered Sam's leg and positioned her gown to preserve as much of her

modesty as possible. Both women turned serious when Riley put on rubber

gloves and began to carefully remove the dressing from Sam's groin and leg.

The few times the nurses had changed the bandages Sam had still been pretty

out of it. Now she was awake and anxious about seeing the damage for the first

time. Riley looked up, making eye contact with Sam before removing the

dressing completely.

"Now remember, you're only three days post op. The incision is going to look

pretty rough but it will heal." She tried to reassure Sam.

Sam forced herself to look down as Riley completely removed the dressing. Her

breath whooshed out in relief. Riley glanced up at the sound smiling slightly at

Sam's look of relief. It wasn't as bad as she'd feared it was going to be from the

amount of pain she'd felt. There were two incision lines. One started right at the

hollow below her hipbone extending past the bend where her pelvis met her leg

and down to her upper thigh. There was a second suture line running right below

the bend where her leg met her pelvis to the right of the first one. It ran down the

inside of her upper thigh. Riley checked to make sure all the sutures were intact.

Sam grimaced in pain as Riley slowly rotated her leg to get a look at the sutures

high up on her inner thigh.

"Sorry," Riley said patting her hip in sympathy. The incision looked red and

swollen, which was normal. There were no signs of infection. "Everything looks

good Sam. No sign of infection and for the amount of suturing I did minimal

swelling. I know it hurts but you need to take the pain meds and use the leg as

much as possible without straining it. We'll get you a walker to start with then

you can work up to crutches." Riley said.

Sam relaxed as Riley gently applied a new dressing. She was just finishing up

putting on new tape and was so focused on not hurting Sam she didn't hear the

door to the room open.

Jess and Kim stepped in the doorway and took in the scene in the room. Sam

was lying back with one arm over her eyes as the small red-haired doctor