Choices

Chapter 4: Dean Andrews

Three days felt like three months, I was only home for three days and it felt like I was going to crazy. The first day was better than I assumed it would be, I got to catch up on some well deserved sleep and I woke up on Tuesday morning feeling refreshed. Although, I woke up energized it all went down the drain when I realised that I had nothing to do. I resorted to watching some television but that didn’t last for long because my mind kept on drifting back to the hospital and my patients. It was on the second day when I realised that all I do is live and breathe medicine. Since I started med school all I have told myself to do was work hard to become a surgeon, I barely had time to do what normal kids my age did. Now that I look back on it, I come to a realisation that perhaps there is much more to life than just work. What ever it is, is still unknown to me. By the time Tuesday came to an end I was restless and on edge, Wednesday dragged. The minutes felt like hours and I was in bed before eight. I figured that the earlier I went to bed the quicker time would pass. Boy was I wrong. I tossed and turned all night and eventually found myself getting only three hours of sleep after falling off to sleep at three in the morning.

Thursday morning when I walk into the hospital all eyes are on me. It feels strange walking back into the hospital and having everyone stare at you, especially when you know that they all know how much of a bad doctor you are. I cannot believe that everybody at this hospital will forever know me as the resident who lost Lucas Parker right before the police officers paid him a visit. My phone buzzes as I pull the door open to my locker and a smile instantly finds it’s way to my face. 'Hey, I’m back. Dinner tonight?’ I read Drake’s text and suddenly a warmth settles in me. I’ve missed him and knowing that he is back just fills me up with that tiny bit of joy that vanished on Monday after the meeting.

‘Sounds like a plan. My treat.’ As soon as I send the text and lock my phone I become aware of my surroundings, I become more aware of a pair of eyes on me. I see him from the corner of my eyes before my eyes find his sparkling green ones which match mine. I’ve come across gorgeous men before, Lucas Parker for instance, but I have never come across a man like the one standing in front of me before. There is something about his beauty that knocks the wind out of me and leaves me absolutely breathless. I don’t know if it has something to do with his enchanting green eyes and raven black hair or his square jaw, pointed nose and soft pink lips.

“Are you Madison Evans?” He pushes back his thick raven black hair and for a second I am convinced that I just melted.

“Yes.” I manage to compose myself and offer him a questioning look.

“Great. Chief Saxton said that you would be able to show me around.” He strides over towards me and thrusts his hand forward for me to shake. “I Dean Andrews and I am new to the residency program.” His English accent is thick and it is incredibly sexy.

“Madison Evans, but you already knew that.” I shake his hand and the worse schoolgirl laugh escapes my lips. What is wrong with me?

Today I am in Neuro with Peterson and Dean Andrews seems excited to see a brain for the first time, almost too excited and I begin to wonder what James Lawson will think of him. I step into Peterson’s office and he looks up at Dean and I from his computer screen. “Just the doctor I was looking for.” He offers me a soft smile and I return it. “Go grab me Jamie Black and meet me in down the hall in room 325.” He grabs an envelope and a few scans before standing to his feet and I give him a swift nod before starting my search for the person I was hoping to avoid today.

“You paged.” Jamie walks into the Neuro ward with a nonchalant look on her face and I can’t help but wonder how much trouble I would get into if I just bashed her head against one of the perfect white walls of the Neuro ward.

“Peterson wants us.” I spin around and lead the way before she can say anything else that will trigger my urge to physically hurt her.

“Dean Andrews.” The new resident introduces himself to her behind me and I can just imagine her rolling her eyes at his introduction.

“Jamie Black.” She surprises me when she offers up her name and doesn’t say anything else. I was expecting a remark or even silence from her.

The three of us walk into the room that Peterson summoned us to and a middle aged women is seated on the bed with a middle aged man who has both her hands in his. A young girl, around about seventeen, is sitting on one of the chairs in the corner of the room with a worried look in her eyes. “This is Katherine Humphrey.”

Peterson introduces us as we all spread out in the room. “And in the next room is Peyton Humphrey, her mother will be giving her a kidney today and you three will be assisting Edwards with the surgery. Peyton fell a few weeks ago and bumped her head, she is fine but I will be there just in case something goes wrong.” He informs us before and the hairs at the back of my neck spike up at his words. Did he just say assist Doctor Edwards with a kidney transplant?

I look between Jamie and Dean and come to the conclusion that Jamie and I working together doesn’t sound like a good idea. “We head into surgery at two thirty, make sure you have a good lunch. We are going to be in there for a few hours.” He dismisses us with a look and Dean and I walk off without Jamie Black.

We’re not even in the elevator when Dean begins to address the elephant in the room. “So you and doctor Black don’t like each other then?” The door opens and I step into the room with him right behind me.

“She’s not the friendliest person around.” I lie as the doors close behind us. He doesn’t push the topic and I am glad because I don’t need to give Jamie Black a reason to hate me and the last thing I need is her hating me for bad mouthing her to the new guy.

Dean sits across from me in the cafeteria with an enthusiastic first day of work smile on his face. Jamie is at the table behind him and her eyes are on her phone the entire time as she sits alone. My pager goes off and it’s a page from the main front desk, a smile makes it’s way to my face as Lucinda’s face pops into my mind. She is probably having trouble with the computer again and needs my help with reprogramming it. Lucinda is a sweet old lady who works at reception and always manages to never know how to work a computer.

Sometimes I regret telling her to page me when ever she has a problem but it also has it’s perks. For example, every Friday she always bakes me a batch of brownies as repayment for my favour.

My excitement vanishes when I arrive to the front desk and find that Lucinda isn’t there. The disappointment is evident on my face when my eyes meet the red head who is sitting behind the desk and scanning the computer in front of her. “You paged?” I offer her my best fake smile but she doesn’t bother returning it.

“There is someone here to see you.” She picks up her perfectly manicured finger and points towards the direction of the door.

When my eyes find the destination she is pointing at my smile drops. Standing in front of the massive wall to wall window is Lucas Parker. He has his back to me but I already know that it is him judging by the ponytail. It’s almost like he sensed me because he turns around at that exact moment and picks up his hand to offer me a wave. He is wearing his usual black jeans and a black hoodie with the hood up and dark shades. I stride over towards him and grab his arm before dragging him away from the receptionists sight.

“What are you doing here?” I angrily whisper and he removes his shades before giving me a frown.

“That is no way to greet someone.” The amusement dances in his hazel brown eyes as he leans back against the wall and crosses his arms against his chest. “I come in peace, no bullet hole or bruises.” He holds his hands up in defence and I can’t help but notice how he flinches a little when he does. It must be the pain from the infection.

“Did you go to James Lawson?” I barely had time to speak to James before my shift started this morning.

“No, Jake Black helped me out.” He answers with a charming toothy grin and I bet that grin has got him the attention of many women in the past.

“What do you want?” I cross my arms against my chest and he throws me a smirk. Dear god, how can someone be this good looking? I am sure it is a sin to walk around looking this handsome.

“I am here to cash in on that favour. I have a proposition for you.” He casually announces like he walks around all day offering propositions to people. I raise a brow and urge him to continue. “I’m here to offer you a date.” I give him a blank look and his amused expression drops. “With me.” He adds after a few seconds, like I didn’t catch into the fact that he just offered me a date.

“So let me get this straight.” I try to make sense of his words before I end up saying something that I might regret. “You’re trying to tell me that you going on a date with me would be doing me a favour?”

“That is not what I said. You’re twisting my words. I said I am offering you a date.” Does he think before he opens his mouth?

“So are you here to offer me a date as part of the favour or are you here to ask me out on a date?” I give him a second to process my words before I speak again. “Because if it’s a favour then no thanks, I think I’ll pass.”

“Then I am here to ask you out on a date.” He quickly interjects and I take a step closer to him before placing my hand on his shoulder and giving him a soft pat.

“Yeah, it’s still a no from me.” I give him a fake sympathetic smile before spinning around and walking off.

I don’t manage to get far because his finger wrap around my wrist and he halts my step by force. I feel a rush run along my veins as he takes a step closer and suddenly I am finding it very hard to breathe when I feel his breath on my shoulder and his body pressed up against mine. I don’t think you understood my proposition, I was not asking.” He whispers and a shiver runs down my spine. The idea of a date with Lucas Parker sounds tempting but I see the darkness that surrounds him and that’s enough for me to not give into the temptations. I’ve been surrounded by darkness for almost all of my life, I know it when I see it and I know when to avoid it. “And I am not going to stop until you agree.”

Before anymore words are exchanged between us my pager goes off and it’s a 911 from Jamie in Neuro. “I need to go.” I pull away from his hold and the warmth of his touch vanishes.

“Feel free to show yourself out.” His laughter bounces off the walls at my words.

“I’ll see you around Doctor Evans.” He throws his shades back on and offers me a charming, knee shaking smile. I don’t wait around to see if he has left or not but I am a hundred percent sure that he waited back and watched me escape through the double doors and take the stairs up to Neuro two at a time. I could feel his stare piercing holes at the back of my head the entire time.

“Evans, she’s crashing.” Jamie shouts out the second I step into Peyton’s room in Neuro. The machine is beeping loudly which means her heart rate is slowing down and in a few seconds it will stop completely. “Grab a crash cart.” She instructs and I do as she is told because right now all disagreements between us are microscopic when a patient’s life is on the line.

I grab a crash cart and race over to Jamie before handing her the paddles.

“Evans, Black.” Peterson shouts from the doorway before rushing in towards us as I am about to charge to two hundred. “Andrews, go down to the O.R. and make sure we have a team ready for us and page Edwards.” Dean is out the door and down the hallway within seconds. “I’m going to get Katherine. You two make sure Peyton gets down there alive.” He races to the door but pauses for a few seconds before his eyes are back on Jamie and I. “I am counting on you to get this right. Don’t let me down.”

“Yes sir.” The both of us answer in sync and just like that he is out the door and bolts to Katherine’s room.

“I have a pulse. It’s week but it’s all we are getting.” Jamie hands me the paddles and pulls up the bars on either side of Peyton’s hospital bed. “We got this.” She states and just like that we are out the room and on the move. I just hope she is right this time around.

Jamie is quick to get to the elevator and into it effortlessly. The elevator ride is the worse but when the double doors open we the our hardest to race Peyton down the hall to the O.R. Just as we step out of the elevator and the double doors to the O.R. come into view a loud alarm goes off. The door is about to open in front of us but the green light turns red and the immediately shut closed and a voice comes through the intercoms. “Initiating lockdown.”

“No.” Jamie yells at the top of her lungs helplessly as her fingers try to pull the automatic doors open by force.

My blood runs cold and realisation seeps in. This lockdown is for one person only. Lucas Parker. Someone must have seen him on the surveillance cameras and called the police. My only concern is if someone saw him with me. The two of us were in a compromising position and anyone who saw those cameras would think that Lucas Parker and I are connected in some way. “Peterson.” Jamie yells out as she bangs on the door to get his attention on the other end. “We’re locked in.” She cries out and my eyes move from her to Peyton, who’s eyes is open. One second she is looking at me and the next her entire body jerks and her eyes roll back.