Carol Marinelli - Hot Docs On Call - Surgeon's Seduction

Mindy pulled out her pager. “I wasn’t paged…” And then trailed off when she saw that she had indeed been paged over ten minutes ago by Sam, but the darned thing was on silent mode.

Dammit .

When she had her private practice, she was only dealing with her patients. She wasn’t on a rotation at a hospital. She wasn’t called in to deal with traumatic events to pregnant mothers. When she was needed in the hospital it was because she scheduled her time there. She was not used to working in a busy hospital, not used to dealing with trauma patients or residents who were in her service.

She was not off to a good start.

“My apologies, Dr. Napier.” The blood rushed to her cheeks.

“There’s no need to apologize, Dr. Walker. Now that you’re here I’d like to show you the results of Ms. Bayberry’s ultrasound.”

“Of course.” Mindy followed him into the consult room, where they sat down in front of the computer.

Sam brought up the ultrasounds of the twins. “As you can see, there is no fluid or blood pooling anywhere. The placenta is attached and no obvious tears.”

“She’s lucky. When she was rammed by the car behind her and pushed into the car in front of her the steering-wheel pushed into her abdomen.”

“Well, that’s it exactly. I know it’s not your field of surgery.” Sam did some more clicks. “But there’s lots of blood in her spleen. I think she’s damaged her spleen and it could rupture.”

Mindy leaned forward. “I think you’re right, Dr. Napier.”

Dammit .

Taking a ruptured spleen out of a woman who was not so far into her pregnancy was going to be tricky. Not impossible, but tricky. It could send her patient into pre-term labor and that’s not something she wanted.

They needed to keep those babies in utero for as long as possible.

“We’re going to need a consult from someone who is used to repairing and or removing spleens in high-pressure situations. Page Dr. Ootaka for a consult.”

Sam nodded. “Of course, Dr. Walker.”

“Good catch, Sam. Thanks for looking at the bigger picture.”

Sam shrugged. “In pediatrics we sometimes have to look at the bigger picture when it comes to kids.”

He left the consult room and Mindy leaned back in her chair, but only for a moment. She got up and entered the exam room where Dr. Alexander was just dressing his handiwork.

“There, all done.” He grinned down at Ms. Bayberry. “Now, when those babies are born, there won’t be any sign of a scar.”

“Thank you, Dr. Alexander,” Mindy said.

Dr. Alexander shrugged. “Sam’s my girlfriend’s roommate. It was the least I could do.” He collected up his things and left.

Mindy turned to her patient. “Your babies are fine, Ms. Bayberry. There is no sign of injury to your uterus or your placenta. Things with the babies look stable. However, your spleen was damaged in the accident.”

“What does that mean?” Ms. Bayberry asked, her voice rising an octave. The monitors on her alerted Mindy to the up-kick in blood pressure.

“It means we have to go in and repair your spleen.” Mindy moved toward the bed. “May I look?”

Ms. Bayberry nodded and Mindy lifted the blanket, to see the bruising on the left side of her abdomen. The patient winced.

“Yes, we need to go and repair the damage,” Mindy said gently.

“How are you going to do that?”

“Laparoscopically,” Dr. Ootaka said, coming into the room, trailed by two of his residents. “I’m Dr. Takeo Ootaka. I have done this procedure countless times. You are in good hands.”

“What about my babies?” Ms. Bayberry asked nervously, her eyes instantly darting to Sam, who stood by the door. She’d obviously latched onto Sam as a bit of a safety blanket, which often happened in traumatic situations.

“Dr. Napier and I will be in the OR the entire time. We’ll monitor your babies and make sure they stay right where they belong.”

Dr. Ootaka grunted in approval and then turned to the male resident with him. “Prep this woman for a CT and then surgery. May I look?”

Dr. Ootaka didn’t wait for permission as he leaned over Ms. Bayberry’s left side.

“Yes. Yes. We’ll take care of this, Ms. Bayberry,” Dr. Ootaka said.

Mindy gave her a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder as Dr. Ootaka’s residents began to prep Ms. Bayberry and Mindy walked with Dr. Ootaka to the hall, with Sam trailing behind.

“I plan to have your patient down to the OR in the next hour, maybe less. I don’t need to tell you that massive internal bleeding will put those babies in jeopardy.”

Mindy nodded. “My resident and I will be ready, scrubbed in and waiting.”

Dr. Ootaka nodded. “Good.”

“Let’s go, Dr. Napier.”

“I thought you wanted me to stay with Ms. Bayberry?” Sam asked.

“She’s in good hands with Dr. Ootaka’s residents. They can monitor her. Right now we have to get a neonatal team ready and on standby in case Ms. Bayberry goes into premature labor.”

“You think that will happen?”

“I hope it won’t,” Mindy said quickly as they moved down the hall to gather their team and ready them for surgery. She stopped and stretched her back, groaning.

“What’s wrong?” Sam asked.

“Just a sore spot. It’s been a while since I’ve been on a long rotation in a hospital.”

Sam grunted. “What, they don’t have long rotations at the hospitals in California?”

“For your information, Dr. Napier, I had a private practice, or did you not hear a word Dr. Chang said when she introduced me?”

“You told me in no uncertain terms that your personal life was not my concern. I’m just your resident.” There was a devilish twinkle to his eyes as he said it.

Darn him .

He was proving to be a challenge.

“You’re right. I did. So why don’t you go back to Ms. Bayberry and continue to monitor her until she’s brought down to the OR. Also, make sure her next of kin is updated on the situation.”

“Of course, Dr. Walker.” Then he did a little bow of his head and headed back to the exam room where Ms. Bayberry was.

Mindy sighed. He was a pain, but he was a good physician. The way he was with Ms. Bayberry, reassuring her, taking care of her.

She’d seen the look of longing when he’d been watching Dr. Chang working on patients. The drive, that look of ambition, she knew it well. When she had been in her obstetrics fellowship she and Dean had worked side by side to gain the attention of one the most noted maternal-fetal specialists on the West Coast, Dr. Guild.

The spark of competition and rivalry. That’s what had driven her and Dean closer together, why the attraction had grown. At least, that’s what she’d thought. Now she wasn’t so sure.

It wasn’t competition or rivalry with Sam, but he was trying to show his self-worth. He was trying to prove to her that he was tough, that he didn’t have a soft underbelly when it came to his patients.

Or to her .

And then an image of their night together flashed through her mind. Of Sam and her together, his arms around her, his hands in her hair and his lips against her skin. It caused her blood to burn.

Mindy took a deep, calming breath. She couldn’t think of Sam that way. He was a resident. She wasn’t looking for a relationship. She didn’t want one. They were too much trouble.

Sam was here to learn from her. That’s all.

And Mindy had to keep telling herself that to get through the rotation, heck, the next week while he was on her service. When he was off her service and back in Peds then there would be a safe, comfortable distance between the two of them.

He was after a pediatric fellowship, not OB/GYN, and she didn’t have any room to mentor a fellow. OB/GYN fellows went through Dr. Finn. All she was here for was maternal-fetal medicine and infertility issues. She was here to bring in big cases, to bring in money for West Manhattan Saints.