Her pride and prejudice

"Did he just…"

"Yeah!" beamed Erica looking at the shocked face of Dr. Van.

"I mean, just from the inventory check?"

"Oh, Yes!" Erica replied and started the IV line after injecting the medicines brought by Morpheous.

"I mean, isn't he like a genius or …"

"Dr. Van, I think we can start the procedure," Caroline interrupted them and started wiping the patient's chest with Betadine again. It wasn't like she didn't think Morpheous's feat was impressive, she did. She found his feat beyond impressive. But more than that, she found it distinctively weird. Everything about him was off. The more she tried connecting the dots and finding a pattern about him, the more he threw her off track.

And Caroline Young didn't like to be thrown off track.

"Well… Dr. Caroline, don't you think that was impressive? I mean, we just avoided a disaster because of him!" Dr. Van said as he marked the section for incision. "Could you imagine the number of write-up and apology emails we just avoided? Not to mention a table death."

Drawing a deep breath, Caroline looked at the door through which Morpheous had just left. "Well, when someone screws up, someone else has to fix it right. That's how we work here." She shifted her gaze back to Dr. Van; her tone sounded quite blunt.

"Shouldn't you be happy that you got such a competent assistant? Why do you sound grumpy instead?"

"Because someone messed up from our team, and I don't like mess-ups. Not when someone's life is on the table." And a pin drop silence prevailed in the OT as Dr. Van sensed that he had touched a wrong nerve.

"Retractor."

"Gauze."

"0.5 mm blade."

.

.

.

"Cut!"

After a gruesome battle of three and a half hours, the CABG procedure was finally successfully completed.

A satisfactory smile etched on the face of everyone present in that OT, and Dr. Van and Caroline, did their customary shoulder bump to celebrate their success. It was their two hundred sixty-seventh procedure together. They were like Batman and Robin, who made even the most complicated procedure look simple.

"To 267th!" Cheered Dr. Van.

"And many more to come!" Said Caroline, and her eyes crinkled with a smile to see the vitals still stable.

"I am off to shower!" Caroline said and left the OT after giving the necessary instructions. 

Taking a quick shower, as Caroline came out, Dr. Van was waiting for her outside, his back leaning on the wall.

"Dr. Van!" Caroline exclaimed. Her body wash slipped from her hand and landed on the floor.

"Lavender it is!" Dr. Van commented while picking it up for her. 

"Thanks," she took the bottle from him, "I wasn't expecting you here."

"Can we talk? Like just for a moment?"

"Um, yeah!" she replied, pulling her hair down, only to knot it back properly.

"Is there something that's bothering you?" Dr. Van asked as they walked towards the Cardiology wing.

"Who me? No… No… What makes you think so?"

"Then what got into you in the OT? You sounded all terse and sour even though your assistant handled everything well?"

"Did I?" Caroline asked casually, trying to sound all normal.

"You didn't even thank him and that too on his Day One."

Biting her lips in contemplation, she looked down at her wet flip-flops as she walked. They squeaked a bit until they entered the carpeted area.

"Look, sometimes mistakes do happen. There is no need to be so hard on yourself or others. After all, we are just humans and not angels. So let me handle this. Will you?"

Caroline softly nodded.

"Ughh… I hate sending these warning letters!" and he gave out a fake whine, making her roll her eyes.

"So let's celebrate tonight. What say?" he asked, looking at her, just a few feet away from the nurse station.

"Celebrate what?"

"Oh, come on. Not every day a doctor gets a celebrity status."

"Erm…"

"Drink and chicken on me, stingy!" he said and gently patted her arm. "Come on! Say yes!"

"Fine! Just one beer, though."

"That's more like Carol. Now let me invite our nurses, else they will rip me apart!" With a smile, he walked towards the nursing station desk while Caroline walked to her chamber, locking the door  before changing her scrubs.

"Oh shit!"

She muttered, looking at the clock.

It was already 3 pm. And she was badly craving something good to eat. At first, she thought of going to the cafeteria but then decided to go to 'Primo Pizza Parlour' on the other side of the road.

Crossing the ER drug room, she tried to earn a fleeting glance of him, but he wasn't there. Carrying a sense of disappointment, she went down to the ground floor, her eyes searching for him, although in the back of her head, she was trying hard to wade off her suspicion. 

Maybe he is well versed in medicine. Maybe it was just a shot of luck.

Crossing the matt tiled floors of the reception as she was about to leave the hospital, her eyes traveled to her left towards the ambulance reception point. And there he was, applying pressure to stop a patient from bleeding out who had just been brought down in an ambulance.

'Ruptured abdomen?'

'Possible skull injury?'

But before she could react, she saw the ER doctor on duty, Dr. Rosie, the trauma specialist of Seattle High, rushing there along with her staff. They immediately switched the patient to a stretcher and pushed him toward the emergency lift.

As soon as the staff took over his place, she could see that he was probably instructing something to them as they pushed the stretcher.

'Why is he everywhere?'

Why does he have to meddle in everything?

And she walked towards him while he was completely unaware of the impending outburst that was to happen.

"I thought I gave you a task to complete!"

"What?" taken aback, he turned.

"The drug inventory list? Instead of completing it, why are you here at the ambulance reception? Wanting to pull another stunt? More media attention? I would probably try not to come under anyone's radar with a fake resume like yours. But no, you have to be everywhere. Maybe all this is just a gamble for you, but it's not for me."

His brows jot together, his expression clearly stating that he wasn't getting the why of her outburst.

"It's not just my reputation, but the lives of people at stake. Let me tell you one thing …"

"Dr. Caroline!" Their conversation was interrupted by the purchase department assistant.

"Hello, Patrick!" She greeted him changing the frown on her face into a plastered figment of a smile.

"Actually there is a small problem. From the list of medicines that your department gave, a few aren't covered by the GHC insurance. So I have mailed you some alternatives. If you approve, I will place the order."

Her face fell for a second. 'Darn it'

That means he had already cataloged the medicines and had put a request for the ones which were low in stock. Biting her lower lip for a second, she replied. "Sure, Patrick! Will reply post-lunch."

After Patrick, left, she turned towards Morpheous with a guilt-ridden face. 'Why do I have so much prejudice against him?'

"Erm… So you had already sent the list!" she spoke with a barely audible tone.

"Yes!" he said and threw the blood-soaked gauze pad into the bin next to the lift. He had a soft smile on his face and Caroline knew that it was not a smile of mockery but rather an attempt at a truce.

"You could have told me that you had already completed it. I was a bit stressed probably and …"

But he interrupted her.

"Congratulations! I heard the operation was a success."

"Erm … Thanks! I was… I was just going to grab a bite. You can join me. Actually, I should be taking you out for lunch since it's your first day here."

"I already had lunch, Dr. Caroline. Thanks for asking. I have also set your schedule for the next week, so just review it in case you want to have any changes."

"Already?"

He just nodded.

"So if it's OK, can I take leave for today? I need to move to the dorm and I have some stuff at the motel that I need to get, not much though!"

Her stomach churned hearing his words.

"How will you go there? It's like six miles from here and there are no bus stops nearby. Do you want me to…"

"No… No… please don't trouble yourself. Every minute of yours is more valuable than mine!"

He spoke with a smile on his face and walked away while she cursed herself for her pride and prejudice.