So I wasn’t expecting it. Her.
It had been years and years since I had seen Grace.
I wasn’t expecting her to be… fuck, everything that she is. Smart. Beautiful. An insanely talented doctor. Funny. Sarcastic. Beautiful. I might have mentioned that once already, but hell does it bear repeating. As someone who has already been down the road of wanting someone you know you can never have, craving her the way I do is like a kick in the teeth.
On a daily basis.
“And Tony doesn’t care that you’re having this girls’ night?” I try to keep all the bitterness from my voice. I try very hard, but Margot’s head flies sharply in my direction, her gaze discerning as she cocks an eyebrow, so I’m not sure I quite hit my mark.
Tony is Grace’s fiancé, so yeah, again, never gonna happen between me and her.
“He’s got some work dinner thing he’s going to.”
“Right. Of course he does. Can’t make partner without putting in all the hours.”
Grace rolls her eyes at me, but it’s true. The bastard is never around. At least not that I’ve noticed.
“Uh-huh. What time did your shift end this evening, Doctor? Fifteen minutes ago, is it now? And you’re, oh look, heading into surgery.”
“Different. Medicine is a noble profession. Chasing ambulances, and then going after the doctors who saved the life of the injured, isn’t.”
Before she can lay into me for that, the elevator doors open and now we’re back in game-on mode. We race down the hall while the OR nurses take the patient and prep her for surgery. By the time we walk into that OR, she’ll be under anesthesia because we don’t have time to wait for an epidural or spinal block to take effect.
Grace and I don scrub caps and boots before going about the process of scrubbing in.
“Do you feel you’re ready to take point on this?” I ask, lathering my hands with antiseptic soap, washing every inch.
“Without a doubt,” she answers confidently, scrubbing vigorously beside me and refusing to meet my eyes.
She’s pissed at me for the Tony comment, but I don’t care. I don’t have to. I’m the attending and she’s the resident and that’s how our dynamic works. If we weren’t in the hospital, she’d mouth off back to me until her face was red, but not here.
“I can have that baby out in under ninety seconds.”
“I’m going to time you.”
Now she meets my eyes, glaring blue fire into me. I smirk before I can stop it, thankfully she can’t see it behind my mask.
“You do that, Carter.” She presses her foot onto the pedal, rinsing off the soap.
“If you can do it safely in eighty seconds, I’ll buy you something special for your birthday.”
She shakes her head, her arms bent at the elbow, sterile hands held up and out in front of her. “You’re such a condescending dick,” she murmurs under her breath as she plows past me, headed for the OR.
“What was that? I’m not sure I heard you correctly.”
“I said you’re such a considerate doctor,” she yells at me over her shoulder, and now I can’t stop my laugh.
But the second we meet the OR floor, all humor is gone from my lips.
“Hi, Dr. Fritz,” Angelica, one of the nurses, says to me, batting her long lashes at me flirtatiously as she goes about tying my gown and helping me with my sterile gloves. “I’m so glad you’re in here performing this surgery. I know the patient is in the best of hands with you as her doctor.”
“Actually, I’m the one doing the surgery, Angelica,” Grace smoothly interjects. “Dr. Fritz is simply here to supervise me. So, if you’re ready to get back to work, I’d like to start.” With the patient fully prepped and ready, Grace gets into position, holding out her hand. “Ten blade, please.”
The scrub nurse obliges, and all other commentary ceases as Grace sets to work while I watch on, here to jump in at any time if needed, but I already know I won’t be. Grace, while only heading into her third year of residency, is as competent as any fourth year or attending. She’s by far the best OB-GYN resident in the hospital.
Just as she makes the incision, the pediatrics and NICU teams roll in. The patient is holding her own, getting another unit of type-specific blood while Grace works diligently and methodically to get the baby out. That’s actually the easy part. The fastest part. After that is where the real work for us begins.
Especially with a case like this. We have to remove the placenta without causing more damage or further bleeding.
“How’s my patient doing, Larry?” Grace asks the anesthesiologist just as we get a couple of beeps on the monitor.
“Blood pressure dipped a little, but I’ll get it back up.”
“That would be greatly appreciated.” Grace locates the fetus, working with skilled, precise movements. “If you’re not too bored over there, Carter, maybe you could cauterize that bleeder for me?”
“I’ve got it,” the nurse says, doing her job.
“I think Dr. Fritz is well beyond cauterizing bleeders,” Angelica simpers. “I’ve seen him perform the most complex of surgeries with ease.”
“Hey, Larry?” Grace cuts in once again, completely ignoring Angelica who has always been a flirty kiss ass. “Did Dr. Fritz ever tell you why he decided to become an OB-GYN when the field is predominantly female providers?”
“Here we go…” I mutter.
“Yes. Here we go.” Grace extracts the baby, blue and wet, handing him directly to the waiting pediatric team. They immediately start working on him. “Time of delivery, nineteen-thirty-two.” She glances up at me. “Seventy-eight seconds, Carter. I believe you owe me one hell of a birthday present.”
“I’ll let you use the robot in my next surgery.”
She shakes her head. “No way. I want something better from you, Doctor. Something real I can sink my teeth into.”
So do I, I think and then quickly shut that bitch up. “A steak then?” I offer. “Since we know Tony won’t be around to take you to dinner.”
I get a death glare for that.
“Wait, back up,” Larry jumps in, before Grace can unleash more of her wrath. “Why are you an OB-GYN, Carter? You that into pregnant chicks and pussy?”
Grace, as well as every nurse in here, throws Larry a scathing look.
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t just say that, because it makes you sound like a total misogynistic asshole,” Grace barks while she goes about removing the placenta and tying off any active bleeding vessels. “But no. He actually walked in the room when his mother was in the throes of delivering Rina and after that decided birthing babies was his life’s calling.”
I hate that story.
It always makes me sound like such a pussy—pun intended.
Plus, Rina works in this hospital as an ICU nurse, so I know this will somehow funnel back to her, which never fails to make her laugh at my expense.
Speaking of… all the nurses, right on cue, start oohing and awing, humor dancing in their eyes. The NICU team who have an umbilical line placed and are giving the baby—who is pinking up and half crying—oxygen to help him along, are also joining in on the dig my resident just took at me.