Help me carry on, assure me it’s okay to
Use my heart and not my eyes to navigate the darkness
Will the ending be ever coming suddenly?
Will I ever get to see the ending to my story?
– Crawling in the Dark, Hoobastank
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
General Hospital: Nurse’s Station
Elizabeth set the file down with a heavy sigh. “I hate that the choices are sabotage or sudden cardiac arrest with no warning. I mean, obviously one of them is better for the hospital, but…” she trailed off.
Epiphany nodded, but mercifully didn’t mention why Elizabeth didn’t want to think about the possibility that Jolene, a relatively stable long-term cardiac coma patient had just suddenly died. Not when Sonny had only just been transferred.
“It’s not just what’s in the file,” Epiphany said, “but it was what I saw with my own eyes.” She gestured towards the elevators, though no one was there today. “Matt said Nadine didn’t want to call anyone, but Johnny Zacchara was here anyway. I don’t think there was enough time for her to change her mind. And then I saw the look on his face—” Troubled, she returned to her computer screen. “I don’t like it.”
“I get it. I set Spinelli up in the conference room to go over the tech stuff. I just hope we get answers sooner rather than later.” Elizabeth closed the file, set it on the counter. “Did they say how long it would be?”
“Prelim sometime tomorrow probably. Longer for toxicology. Junior Drake put a rush on it, so hopefully—” Epiphany closed her mouth when Matt came up to the counter, a scowl on his face. “That’s not your nickname, so don’t make that face at me.”
Matt scowled. “Why do you have the Crowell chart? I’ve been looking everywhere for it. Who gave you the right to sign it out?”
“Who are you talking to that way?” Epiphany demanded, fisting a hand at her hip. “I will send you into next Tuesday if you don’t fix your tone and that look on your face.”
“You have no right—”
“I signed it out for Patrick,” Elizabeth interrupted before the head nurse could slap the grimace from Matt’s face. “He wanted to put a rush on the autopsy—”
“Well, he has no damn right to do that either,” Matt said. “I didn’t do anything wrong—”
“No one said you did. Patrick’s thinking about the hospital and about Nadine. Jolene was his patient, and Nadine’s a friend. As well as a co-worker, and before you open your mouth to complain again, you don’t have the pull to put a rush on a cup of coffee,” Elizabeth retorted. Matt made a face, looked away. “The faster Nadine gets answers, the better she’ll be. And that’s before we even talk about who Jolene was. There are pending lawsuits, you know. The hospital attorney needed to be looped in. These are all things you would not know being new to the hospital.”
Matt shoved the file under his arm. “Well, he could have told me. Anyone one of you could have,” he accused. “I’m the doctor on the file, and I damn well shouldn’t be last to know.” He stalked off.
“You know, a good friend would warn Dr. Drake that little angry man is on his way to be a pain in the butt,” Epiphany noted.
Elizabeth smirked. “Yeah, but a best friend knows they need to yell at each other so the rest of us can stop being annoyed. Trust me, putting Patrick on Matt’s shit list is the best thing I can do for them both.”
Coffee House: Office
“Hey, Cody said I should—” Carly froze at the threshold of the office when she saw Jason sitting with Jake on the sofa, an open book spread out on Jake’s lap. “Oh. I’m sorry, I didn’t—”
“It’s okay. Come on in—” Jason helped an already squirming Jake off the sofa, and he rushed towards the now familiar blonde.
“Hey, honey.” Carly swept him up in her arms, squeezed him tight. “You hanging out with Daddy?”
“Jake time,” Jake told her, then squirmed to get down again. “Mommy go work. Me and Daddy have Jake time. Then Cam ‘n Jake time.” He flashed his tiny baby teeth at her, then clambered back towards the sofa. Carly watched as he easily settled back in his spot, curled up next to his father.
Had Michael been that happy at Jake’s age? He’d been six months into his new life as AJ’s son, and Carly hadn’t spent nearly as much time with him after they moved into the mansion. How much of her son’s life had she wasted?
Swallowing the bitter thought, Carly cleared her throat. “I won’t take up much of your time, but thanks again for taking Morgan. It’s…it’s such a relief to know he’s in such good hands when I’m not here. I mean, Pilar’s great, but she’s still…” She rubbed her arm. “We’re still getting used to each other, and I’m not ready for overnights without me, so you really made that easier.”
“You made it easier for me last month,” Jason told her simply. “You handled everything so I could focus on them. I appreciate that. And we like Morgan, don’t we?” he asked Jake who grinned at her.
“My best cousin,” Jake said. He giggled, looking at his father. “Only cousin.”
Jason flinched just slightly, then tousled Jake’s hair and got to his feet. “Sit here for a minute, I need to talk to Aunt Carly,” he told Jake. “Look at the rest of the pictures.”
He took Carly aside as she grappled with the sad truth of Jake’s statement. Morgan was Jake’s only cousin. Alexis wasn’t bringing Kristina around anymore, and…
Jake had never known Michael.
“Cam used that on him last night,” Jason told her in a hushed voice. “Said Jake was his favorite brother, but then laughed, because there’s only one brother, so it doesn’t count, and Jake got upset, so we had to explain, and now he’s okay with the joke which is probably why he remembered—”
“No, no—” Carly exhaled a short breath. “No. Of course. And you don’t have to explain. You don’t. He’s a child. A baby. I’m so happy he loves Morgan, so happy they have each other. I never had anyone, and you don’t remember being a kid, but you only had AJ then—” She closed her eyes. “I’m babbling because it hurts. It hurts, and I wasn’t expecting it, and it’s no one’s fault. Least of all that perfect child over there. So, I’m here to thank you, and to apologize for losing my cool when Robin came around. She just—” Carly made a face. “It was too much, okay? Just too much.”
“Yeah, it’s fine—I wasn’t even thinking about it anymore.” He squeezed her elbow. “Relax.”
He was letting her off the hook because of the cousin comment, so she seized it. “Great. Great. Good. Um, I’ll go so you can have your Jake time—”
Jason caught her elbow again. “Hey. Elizabeth wanted to know if we could have Morgan again one night this weekend. There’s some movie they all want to watch, and Morgan was making paper chains with us for Christmas—”
She wanted this for him. She absolutely wanted this happy version of her best friend, who had his son and a real life at home, and there was the bonus of Cameron who was the best friend her little boy could ever want—
Except she wanted to scream and throw something out the window.
Instead, Carly pasted a smile on her face. “Yeah, sure. That’s fine. And I’ll take them next weekend. We’ll start a tradition. It’ll be great.”
Drake Condo: Bathroom
Robin rinsed the remnants of diaper cream from her hands, dried her hands, and left the bathroom, heading down the short hallway that connected the two bedrooms to the main living area. Just before she turned the corner that would reveal her presence to Patrick and her mother, she heard her mother’s voice.
“Is everything all right at the hospital? You seemed a bit frazzled when you came in.”
Robin leaned against the wall, hoping it was just an idle question from her mother, or maybe a reminder that Patrick wasn’t supposed to be going into the hospital at all. Anything other than being right about the flare of curiosity she’d seen in her mother’s eyes earlier.
“Oh, no, it’s all good.” Patrick’s voice sounded vaguely distracted, which was a dual-edged sword. He wasn’t paying attention to her mother and wouldn’t say much — but he also wasn’t paying attention and didn’t know her mother well enough to recognize the warning signs.
She ought to reveal herself right away, Robin thought. Nip the conversation in the bud. But there was a voice in the back of her head remembering all the times Anna had chosen work rather than motherhood. Anna hadn’t seemed interested in shifting her home base from London for the duration of Robin’s pregnancy, so why now?
And even if it was just a coincidence, would her mother seize an opportunity to get back into the field? What if Anna started investigating and tipped off less friendly authorities?
Was her question idle curiosity or a foreboding omen?
“It still seems impossible to me, I suppose, that anyone other than Steve would ever be running GH. He seemed like such an immortal figure.”
“Yeah, he casts a long shadow. So does Alan. A lot to live up to.”
“You seem to be doing admirably enough, but I was surprised when Robin told me you’d taken the position. I’d think with the baby coming along, you’d want to spend less time at work.”
Okay, so that could be criticism, Robin thought. Personal criticism, which was good, meant Anna was just looking out for her daughter. As long as Patrick didn’t feed the flickering embers—
“I felt a responsibility to the hospital,” Patrick said. “The hospital’s important to the community, and to Robin.”
Robin nodded. Okay, that was a good answer. It was a safe response and had the added benefit of being true.
“General Hospital has always been the shining crown jewel of Port Charles. It was such a shame last year, when I read about that nurse who caused trouble. Oh, what was her name? It’s on the tip of my tongue. It must have been quite the mess to clean up.”
Robin pressed her lips together, closed her eyes. Anna was fishing for information, for Patrick to fill in the blanks. Oh, this was not good.
Patrick muttered something Robin couldn’t quite hear, then his voice became more audible. “Uh, well, it wasn’t that bad, um—”
“Emma’s down for her nap,” Robin said breezing around the corner, plastering a bright smile on her face. “What are my other two favorite people up to?” She kissed Patrick’s face and looked at her mother. “Hey, did you ever get hold of Dad? Please tell me he’s on his way.”
“I did. He expects to be extracted by Thanksgiving. He’s sorry, but—”
“It’s just the way things are, I’m used to it. But at least I have you.” Robin turned away, reached for the door of the fridge, ignoring the clear irritation in her mother’s eyes at the interruption.
“Always, darling. Well, I suppose I should get going and let you two enjoy the rest of your dinner.” Anna got to her feet, kissed Robin’s cheek. “I’ll call you tomorrow. We’ll do lunch.”
General Hospital: Conference Room
Spinelli dutifully wrote down every single person who walked past Jolene Crowell’s hospital room, noting the time frame and their manner of dress. He ignored the vibrating phone to his side with Maxie’s name illuminated on the notification screen, and also deliberately refused to let him associate the name on the file with the woman he’d fallen for so hard the previous summer.
Ignoring Maxie and the specter of Jolene might have been difficult tasks on their own, but somehow they cancelled each other out, and Spinelli happily focused on nothing more than times and people. He was under strict orders to keep Maxie in the cold as much as possible because there was no telling what she’d do with the information. Commiserate with Nadine about lost sisters or throw it in the nurse’s face.
Hence the ignoring.
Spinelli clicked the arrows to move through the footage frame by frame, noting the time that Nadine had ducked in to visit with her sister. He’d spied the nurse in earlier footage, speaking with Elizabeth. What a terrible, sad day, he thought, for Nadine to lose her sister so tragically, and for his beloved Stone Cold to have said goodbye to Sonny.
Another pair of legs in scrubs came into frame, and Spinelli clicked forward watching a nurse clad in the familiar uniform come fully into frame, carrying a bag of fluids he remembered well.
Then the nurse stopped, paused for a few frames—
And went into Jolene’s room.
Spinelli scribbled the information down, then continued to click through the frames. She’d stayed only a few minutes — just long enough to change out the bag because when she’d emerged, she had only the deflated remains of a previous bag.
She left the way she came, disappearing out of focus.
Spinelli wanted to send up the smoke signal immediately, but Stone Cold would want more information. Would want to be sure that no one else went into the room before Nadine emerged, calling for the Code Blue.
No one else came near the room. Spinelli reached for the list of expected people that had been in and out of Jolene’s room, though he knew it by heart already. He just wanted that confirmation. He wanted to be wrong. Wanted the Falsely Fair Jolene to have simply died suddenly, but naturally. No mystery for Nadine, who’d been through enough. No guilt for the Septic Son whose family was insane. No chaos for Stone Cold and the family—
But he wasn’t wrong.
The nurse that had changed Jolene’s IV fluids just before the code, while Noble Nurse Nadine was in the room, had not been on the schedule — and she did not match any nurse that was authorized to be on the floor.
And Spinelli couldn’t be positive — would need to consult the notes — but he’d studied the profiles of the nurses when the Fair Elizabeth had been in danger. He didn’t think he’d find their possible assassin anywhere in the file.
Tragedy had struck them again.
With a heavy heart, he picked up the cell, flicked aside Maxie’s messages, and dialed Stone Cold.
Drake Condo: Living Room
Patrick carefully laid Emma back in her bassinet, wrinkling his nose. “I’ve smelled a lot of things,” he told his newborn daughter, “but the stuff that comes out of you is a new category of nasty. You’re lucky you’ve got my dimples.”
Emma fluttered her eyes, batted her hand still tucked in their protective mittens, then closed her eyes and fell asleep. “Yeah, your mother ignores me, too,” he murmured, stroking the back of his knuckle against her cheek, overwhelmed suddenly by the life Robin had created, nurtured, and delivered into the world.
There was a knock at the door, and Patrick hoped it wasn’t Robin’s mother again. He liked Anna well enough, but she never seemed settled. Always up and moving, trying to clean things, moving files around — didn’t she ever hit the pause button?”
Patrick flipped open the deadbolt, and tugged the door open, startled when Matt shoved his way past the threshold, stalked inside. “Hey, what—”
“Where do you get off going anywhere near my patient files?” Matt demanded. “I could have you hauled up before the ethics committee on HIPAA violations—”
Patrick grabbed Matt’s arm and dragged him across the room, far from Emma’s bassinet. “Hey, jackass, there’s a baby here, so maybe you watch your volume, because whatever problem you have, it’s gonna be double if you wake her. Now, what the hell crawled up your ass?”
Matt’s cheeks colored and he looked over at the bassinet. “I—I didn’t think—I’m sorry—”
“Yeah, well, now you’re thinking. What’s the problem?” Patrick repeated. “Because I’m running on three hours of sleep and if you want to keep pushing me, I’ve got a biological weapon or two in that diaper pail—”
“Oh, ew.” Matt wrinkled his nose, then seemed to find his irritation again. “You don’t have the right order a damn thing for any of my patients—”
“Yeah, yeah, I heard that part. Skip to the end or next chapter.” Patrick swirled a finger in the air. “And put it on double speed. I wanna sleep when she does.”
“Jolene Crowell. You put a rush on her autopsy and when I looked at the rest of the file, you ordered a full toxicology report. What the hell is that—”
“She was my patient first, and she’s a former employee of the hospital. I didn’t look at her file so there’s no HIPAA violations or anything. I just put a rush on the autopsy.” Patrick folded his arms. “She’s also the subject of several pending lawsuits, so it’s in the hospital’s best interests to do a full investigation and workup. I don’t want any insurance companies or their mouthpieces accusing me of anything. Anything else?”
“You should have run it past me. If anyone went over your head like this, you’d be ticked off, too, and you know that.”
Patrick dragged a hand down his face, counted to five in his head, then doubled it. “No, you’re mad because I went over your head. Not your chief of staff, but me, Patrick son of Noah. If you’re gonna stomp over here like a toddler, use your big words and be honest.”
Matt’s scowl deepened. “That’s bullshit. This isn’t the first time you’ve gotten involved in a case that should have been mine. Elizabeth Webber was scheduled to come onto my service with her concussion protocol, but you kept her on yours. What, I’m good enough for random strangers but not your friends?”
“No—”
“Because if it was just about covering your ass with the board and the lawyers, you’d have just told me to order the damn extra testing. You also added yourself to the report — you don’t have a right to see that report. That’s a violation—”
“You really think Nadine’s going to give a damn?”
“She wouldn’t if you asked her. But, hey, you’re a big shot chief. You don’t need to ask anyone for everything. You just walk around doing whatever you want to whoever want, and who gives a damn about the rest of us—”
Patrick scrubbed his hands through his hair, squeezed his eyes shut. This was the last thing he needed. It really was. Running on almost no sleep for the last week, a possible murder in his hospital— “Shut up. This has nothing to do with you. You’re not the center of my universe. Three months ago, I didn’t even know you existed, okay? I don’t give a damn about you or your patients.”
Some of the fury faded from Matt’s expression, and there was a flash of something in his eyes that almost looked like hurt. But then they went flat and cool. “Then you won’t care if I take you off the report and you don’t get shit about Jolene’s cause of death.”
Damn it. Patrick exhaled. “Look, I didn’t mean that the way it came out. I just meant—”
“Yeah, I know what you meant. You walked around life thinking you’re an only child. Don’t worry, that’s not changing. You keep your hands off my patients and we can go back to ignoring each other—”
Patrick grabbed Matt’s arm as he turned away, but the younger man yanked himself out of Patrick’s grasp. “Give me a minute okay? Because there’s a reason that I need those results, and I don’t know how much I want to tell you.”
Matt frowned. “What does that mean? If I’m not under investigation for screwing up her case, then why can’t I know? Don’t jerk me around—”
“I’m not. But if I tell you, you can’t go back to not knowing. And I don’t—” Patrick looked past him, cleared his throat. “I don’t know what you’ll do with what you know. You just got here, so GH—it doesn’t mean as much to you as it does to me. Hell, maybe you’ll want to see it go down in flames.”
He pressed the heels of both hands against his eyes. “It’s a mess, and it was supposed to be over. I thought I fixed it. I thought we were done, but it’ll never be over.”
Matt furrowed his brow, seemed to hesitate before he spoke again. “Is this about the dispensary problems we were having? The nurses haven’t complained in weeks. I thought you fixed them.”
“We did. I thought I did. But it’s also about what might have caused those dispensary problems.” Patrick looked up, and met his brother’s eyes. “This hospital, it’s not just a place. A building. It’s…it matters, okay? This place — what it means to Robin, to our family. To Elizabeth and her family. It’s not just a place,” he repeated. “It’s in trouble. Financial, sure. That’s not a surprise. But—”
“You think because I just got here, I can’t care?” Matt asked. “Or because of you? You think I hate you that much—”
“I don’t think you hate me at all, which is the problem, isn’t it?” Patrick waited, but Matt just looked away. “Look, this is your chance to get out of this and not know anything. Just go home, wait for the results. I promise it’s nothing illegal. But if you stay, if I tell you what’s going on, you don’t get to go back to not knowing. There’s no closing the door, Matt. So either you’re in or you’re out.”
Matt dropped his eyes to the floor, remaining quiet for a long moment, realizing Patrick was asking for more than just his trust. Then he raised his dark eyes, so similar to the father they shared. “It’s my hospital, too, and if it’s in trouble, I want to help.” If you’re telling me that you need Jolene’s autopsy report to fix things, I can let it go. I just don’t understand why. If the problem is the dispensary, this should get the board to fix it—”
“The problem was the dispensary. We fixed that. Now it’s whoever caused those problems in the first place—” Patrick’s eyes were grim. “And what they might have done to Jolene Crowell. Someone is sabotaging General Hospital. I don’t know why or who. Only the how. And if I tell you more than that, you’ll be in the middle of the mess, too.” He straightened. “I don’t know much about being an older brother, but I don’t think my first act should be putting your license at risk.”
“Then I guess I’m going to be the stereotypical annoying little brother. Because I’m not walking out of here until you tell me what’s going on and how I can help.”
Patrick opened his mouth, but a door creaked open down the hall and Robin came out a minute later. “Hey, I thought you were going to try to take a nap—”
“I was, but I heard the two of you idiots yelling,” Robin said. “Then my phone rang. Um—” She glanced at Matt, then looked back at Patrick. “Jason and Elizabeth are on their way over.”
“Both of them?” Patrick dragged a hand through his hair. “That can’t be good. Damn it.” He returned his attention to Matt. “This is your last chance, Matt.”
“I told you,” Matt said. “I’m not going anywhere.”
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