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

She was here to rebuild her life and that life didn’t include Dr. Sam Napier.

It couldn’t.

SAM SHOOK HIS head at the nurse in the OR, who was holding up his cellphone again so he could see that it was buzzing. Sam mouthed the words “Not important” and “Scrubbing in” to the nurse, who was annoyed that his phone on the sterile tray was the only one giving her an issue.

He cursed under his breath as the water washed over his arms. He knew exactly what those texts were about.

Darn Langley .

“What’s with all the texts? Is it from the woman you slept with last night?” Rebecca asked, as she came up beside him to scrub in.

“What?” Sam snapped.

Rebecca smirked. “Oh, come on. I’m not an idiot. Holly told me all about you. So who is the woman?”

“I don’t know what Holly has been telling you. Whatever it is, it’s not true. No one and it’s not her.”

“Aha, so you admit you got some action.”

Sam cursed under his breath. “Would you stop concerning yourself in my personal life?”

“Okay, I didn’t mean to tick you off.”

Sam rolled his eyes and lathered the soap over his hands. “If you must know, it’s my mother. She got wind that I’m on an OB/GYN service this week as a sort of a punishment.”

Rebecca frowned. “I wouldn’t call working with Dr. Walker a punishment. Have you read some of her papers? She’s a big deal.”

“I didn’t say it was punishment.” In fact, it wasn’t. He was enjoying his time on Dr. Walker’s service, but he knew his mother. Nothing was as worthy or extraordinary as neuro.

Sam rinsed and then shook his hands over the sink. He headed into the OR and was helped into a gown and gloves. He was hoping that they were just a precaution, that they wouldn’t have to be used to deliver the twins.

Out of the corner of his eyes he could see the neonatologist team, ready and waiting. Then he saw Mindy, attaching the monitors and watching as the babies’ heartbeats came online.

Please, let them stay in .

He knew the survival rate for infants so young was low.

“Dr. Napier?” a small voice called out to him.

Sam went over to Ms. Bayberry’s side. She was trembling, waiting for anesthesia, her arms strapped down.

“I’m here,” he said.

There was relief. “I’m glad you’re here.”

“Of course. Where else would I be?”

Ms. Bayberry smiled. “How are the babies?”

Sam glanced over at Mindy and the monitors. Mindy nodded and gave a thumbs-up.

“They’re doing really good, Ms. Bayberry.”

“Please, just call me Linda. I feel like an old lady when you call me that.”

Sam chuckled. “Deal. As long as you call me Sam, then.”

“Sam?” she said. “I would’ve never pegged you for a Sam. I thought you were Scottish.”

“I’m American too.” He winked.

“Is my husband on his way?” she asked.

“He’s in the waiting room. I’ll give him regular updates, I promise.” Sam glanced up as Dr. Ootaka entered the OR, with Rebecca trailing him. “I think they’re going to get started soon. I’m going to watch those babies like a hawk. I won’t let them out of my sight.”

Linda sighed and nodded, staring back up at the ceiling.

Sam stepped out of the way of the anesthesiologist and glanced up in the gallery. He could see Holly amongst the crowd of eager onlookers. Whenever Dr. Ootaka did a surgery he always garnered a lot of attention. Enzo and Kimberlyn would’ve been all over this. He missed them.

The room was filled with some of West Manhattan Saints’ finest surgeons.

His mother should be pleased with that, instead of harassing him with endless texts about wasting his time when he should be focusing on pediatrics. And if he’d changed his mind about pediatrics then he shouldn’t be slumming in OB/GYN when he could switch over to neuro. She could pull some strings.

Even though he hadn’t read the texts, he knew exactly what they said, because they were always the same.

Always. It annoyed him. As if he wanted her help. Sam didn’t want anything from her.

At least that was one thing his mother had going for her; she was a creature of habit.

Sam moved toward Mindy as Linda drifted off and they put the tube down her throat. Sam watched the monitor closely, keeping his distance.

“She can’t be under too long, Dr. Ootaka,” Mindy piped up as she took her seat next to the fetal monitor. The steady sound of the two heartbeats beat in time with his own.

“I’m well aware of that, Dr. Walker. Ten blade.”

The surgery began as laparoscopic incisions were made and the camera inserted to get a better look at the damage done to the spleen.

“You should really move closer,” Mindy whispered. “You could learn a lot from Dr. Ootaka.”

“I’m fine right here, Dr. Walker.” Sam eyed the monitor as the heartbeat of twin A began to rise, but just slightly.

“Are you sure?” Mindy asked.

“I promised her that I wouldn’t take my eyes off the babies. Even if it means they’re still inside her.”

“Okay, then.” There was a hint of admiration in her voice and it secretly pleased him that he had impressed her.

Don’t think about that .

All eyes in the gallery were focused on Dr. Ootaka and his team.

“Do you know what injection I gave Ms. Bayberry before we came in here?” Mindy asked casually.

“Is this a test?” Sam asked confused.

“Sort of. Just passing some time. So do you?”

“Since the risk of pre-term labor is high I would hope that you injected some corticosteroids into her, thus speeding along lung development of the babies.”

“Correct, Dr. Napier.”

“I’ve dealt with preemies before, Dr. Walker. I do work in pediatrics.”

“What about a micro-preemie? Have you ever delivered or worked on a micro-preemie before?”

Sam grinned behind his mask. He could never forget Maya, who was Enzo’s niece. He had been there when she’d come in. She had been his charge and he’d made it his personal mission to take care of her. Maya was alive because of him. “I have. In my first year.”

“You’ve seen a lot, then,” Mindy remarked.

“I have, and I hope to see more when I gain a fellowship spot with Dr. Chang.”

“No disrespect to Dr. Chang, but she’s not a neonatologist. If you want to work with preemies you should be working with Dr. Hall in the NICU.”

“Dr. Hall is a great surgeon, but I need a peds fellowship before I move into neonatology. Like you, I want many feathers in my cap.”

“You’re very sure of yourself.”

Sam didn’t respond. They’d had this discussion before and it didn’t bother him that she thought of him that way. In surgery that was a compliment. Suddenly an alarm went off and Mindy leapt to her feet.

“Dr. Walker, what is going on down there?” Dr. Ootaka demanded. “This is a delicate procedure.”

“I am well aware of that, Dr. Ootaka,” Mindy snapped. “One of the twins is distressed.”

“Is she in labor?”

Mindy shook her head. “No. Just the baby being active and jostling around.”

The general surgical team had stopped what they were doing so as not cause any more damage by the moving baby and because of that Linda’s blood pressure went down.

“Dammit,” Mindy cursed under her breath. “We have to get that baby to calm down. If it doesn’t, I’ll have to deliver or risk the mother bleeding out because they can’t repair her spleen.”

Sam thought back to when his stepmother had been pregnant with twins. The boys had been active and the only way his father had been able to get them to settle down had been to talk to them softly, in a deep, even voice.