Beginning, Section II, Next Section

Chapter Seven

Posted on Friday, 14 January 2005

Lizzy woke up many, many hours later and found herself carefully and methodically tucked under her bed covers. It was a cocoon warmed by more than nine hours of her body heat. Her sleep had been so full and solid and artificial that it took her a few minutes to fully come alive and summon up memories of the very recent past.

She glanced at her alarm clock and tried to make sense of it. Her head felt better, but the confusion stemming from such a deep sleep made her slowly stretch a bit before moving too quickly.

She was waking up like a computer rebooting. Each movement brought her more memories. She remained foggy after Matt's sudden, deep slumber.

Elizabeth rubbed her upper arm where she felt a little knot. Memory of the injection Matt had given her returned. She contemplated the surprise of that shot. Lizzy the nurse vaguely remembered critiquing the injection; he was good. Fast and smooth. Both of her bruised and swollen arms were tender, but usable.

As much as she relished the warmth and security of her sheets and comforter, she wanted to use the restroom and brush her teeth. Lizzy hated that feeling when you woke up and felt like your teeth were wearing sweaters.

She reluctantly emerged from her wrappings. Did Matt tuck her in like that, or did Jane or Meegan? Any of them could have; she was betting on Matt. He was always tucking blankets around his patients. She had teased him mercilessly for it over the years.

The first few steps were shaky. She wasn't being hampered by her headache anymore; that pain appeared to have evaporated. Instead, her small self was recovering from a rather huge dose of Demerol. Lizzy couldn't remember how much he had given her. She wanted to make sure and ask him.

Brushing her teeth and washing her face brought her fully to the present. She found the hairclip she had been wearing most recently and pulled the sides of her hair into it and left the back down. She opened the door into the hallway and ambled into the living room.

She found her smile when she saw Meegan on the sectional, sleeping against Matt, who was being half-pushed off the edge. Lizzy hadn't even considered that they would still be here. Both of them must have called in and taken the day off.

Not wishing to wake them, she walked on slow, tired feet to the kitchen to pour herself some water. As thirsty as she was, she took her time and drank two small glasses. She glanced over at the plate of muffins on the table. Dr. Darcy and Dr. Bingley had sat there.

She returned to the living room and pulled a burgundy velour throw off a chair and placed it over Matt and Meegan. It wasn't very thick, but she herself valued it for its luxurious feel. Maybe they would wake up and enjoy its texture as she did.

Lizzy was unable just then to completely suppress a small cough and glanced at Matt and Meegan to see if she had startled them awake. Meegan was still out, but Matt opened one eye and pulled his eyes into focus.

"Hey, Chickie," he mumbled. "Sleep well?"

"Uh huh, you could say so. I think that kind of sleep could kill me. How much did you give me, anyway?"

"Well, I wanted to make sure I didn't under-medicate you," Matt muttered as he maneuvered himself into an upright position. He kissed a sleeping Meegan on the cheek, trying not to disturb her.

Elizabeth had slunk into the chair nearest the sectional and smiled. "Thanks for not under-medicating me, you goof-ball."

"That's Dr. Matthew Goof-ball, to you, Missy."

He walked the short distance over to Lizzie, took a seat on the floor and took a good, hard look at her. "So tell me, how's the morning treating you?"

"My head feels great, my forearms ache a bit, but otherwise, I'm no worse for wear. I do feel bad that you got stuck spending the night here. Was it horrible? I'm sorry you had to sleep on the couch."

"It was fine," he yawned.

"Were you supposed to be on today, Matt?" Lizzy quietly inquired.

"I switched with Kanagawa. Meegan swapped with another nurse; she likes the pediatric folks. I'm glad she came with me. She was like my little couch seatbelt...kept me from rolling off half the night."

They both laughed.

Lizzy gradually grew pensive and sighed, "I'm gonna have to find some way to make it up to you guys for coming over. I'm sorry about that."

Matt grabbed her foot and squeezed it. "Don't even start, Bennett. It's fine."

"I'll find a way to do something nice for you two."

Matt thought for a second. "I know...this will be perfect. The next time your mom comes into the ER, keep her away from me. Last time, she followed me out of the room and halfway down the hall, and insisted I order her an MRI. I have no problem ordering MRI's, but not for a bagel slicing injury."

Lizzy cringed and choked and giggled all at the same time. It felt so good to laugh with such a treasured comrade. Elizabeth sent up a little thank you prayer to Heaven for sending her a friend like Matt.

"It's been at least a month. We should be expecting her again anytime soon," Lizzy groaned, "and by the way, thanks for telling everyone she is my mother."

Matt excused himself for a minute and walked to the hall bath, still laughing at Mrs. Bennett. He came back and fumbled with his fanny pack.

"Hold it, buddy," Elizabeth said in mock terror, "Now I know to run away from you when you approach me with a fanny pack."

"Relax...I just want to look at your eyes and listen to you. I did give you quite a shot." Matt again put the stethoscope on Lizzy's back and looked satisfied with what he heard."

Lizzy smiled and said, "Actually, I think I'd like to avoid the light. I'm afraid it might rebound the headache."

"You might be right. But I do want you to see someone for the migraines. Seems like you've been getting more. I think we're going to bite the bullet and get a CT."

Lizzy interjected, "I'm pretty sure I know what sets me up for them, and this one...this headache was just...a migraine made... profoundly worse by the circumstances, wacky as they were"

Lizzy thought back to those circumstances for a moment. Meeting Matt's eyes, she asked, "What did Jane tell you, by the way?"

Lizzy watched as Matt looked at the floor. Turning his eyes to Lizzy, he spoke, "Collins came through the ER with the police."

"Did they want a pre-admit for the 5150?" Lizzy presumed they did.

Matt nodded his head. "I was still on the phone with Jane when Candace was writing his name on the board. She didn't know any particulars, and she asked me if I could do the pre-admit before he went to APU. I started to take the chart and go."

Lizzy eyes were intent. "Did you go?"

"I thought I would. But no, I didn't do it. Ollenberger did it."

"I'm glad you didn't do it, Matt. It's good you didn't. Too much water under that bridge, I'm afraid."

"So I asked Kanagawa to stay late, and I picked up Meegan and drove over. Jane gave me more information when we arrived."

"And, as we say in the ER, the rest is history." Lizzy rubbed her injection site for added effect. Matt chuckled softly at Lizzy's joke.

Jane shuffled into the room with a yawn and smiled, more than pleased to see Lizzy out of bed. She wrapped her arms around Lizzy from behind and rested her cheek against Elizabeth's. Jane didn't say anything. She didn't need to. Elizabeth knew her sister's heart from her embrace.

Jane said, "Well, how do you think my lovely sister is this morning?"

Matt replied, "I think your lovely sister is as lovely as ever, and will enjoy her week off."

Jane and Matt braced themselves for the inevitable. They were surprised when Lizzy's only reaction was to look at the floor briefly.

Matt calmly spoke, "It's already arranged. Done deal. I did it last night."

Lizzy felt her anxiety returning. "I don't know if that can work. I have to do holiday schedules and post them by Friday . It takes me three times as long to do the schedule for November and December. I have four performance reviews to finish and type up, plus reports to write for accreditation. Not only that, but I agreed to switch some days with a few people so Candace could swap some time for her honeymoon."

Matt was expecting all of this, as was Jane, and he replied, "Well, you actually don't have any say in it, Chickie. I gave up my nice bed, quite selflessly I might add, to spend the night taking care of you, and that puts me in the unique position to limit-set you, Lizzy. I have already taken care of it. Done."

He was waiting for the sarcastic wit... the flaming insult-arrows. Any other day, Lizzy would have been up to the challenge and her arsenal would be suitably armed for such a contest, but she allowed herself to fight that battle later. She laid back in her chair.

When Lizzy didn't continue to protest, he wondered if Lizzy's headache might be returning. She carefully pushed herself further back against the chair.

"What?" questioned Matt.

"Oh nothing," was Lizzy's response. "Tired. I'm still trying to detox myself after your fine and selfless care." The little she had done since waking had indeed tired her out; her body felt heavy and she closed her eyes for a moment."

"I'm thinking that you need something bland for breakfast, and then another rest. The migraine cycle might begin again, and I think we should be proactive with it. Do you concur, Missy?"

Lizzy looked back at Matt and said, "I concur."

"So do I," came a muffled response from the couch. Meegan had lifted her head from the couch pillow and rested it on her hands. Even bleary eyed and wearing wrinkled clothing, Meegan glowed. She smiled at Lizzy. "As soon as I stretch, I will make some breakfast for us. It's nice to not have to rush to work. I should sleep on your couch more often, Lizzy."

The four of them groaned in unison when the phone began to ring. Lizzy started to pick it up, but Jane took the phone from her hands and answered it. She continued to look at Elizabeth and continued her conversation. She searched Lizzy's face for an instant and asked, "Is it okay if we get some company. Just for a brief visit later on?"

Lizzy was still a bit heavy-lidded, "If it's okay to fall asleep."

Matt had rejoined Meegan on the sectional and shared a small, tender moment with her. He kissed her cheek again. Lizzy watched with satisfaction as Matt rested his head on Meegan's lap. Their happiness cheered her. She looked back at Jane to give them a bit of privacy.

When Jane hung up, she yawned again and said, "Looks like we are going to have some company, Lizzy. Dr. Bingley and Dr. Darcy want to come by after work and visit."

After Meegan and Jane shared the kitchen to make breakfast, Matt was summarily called back to work when they were slammed with patients, and Meegan was discharged by Lizzy herself. Meegan was too polite to complain about the sleeping arrangements, but Elizabeth could imagine what one couch for two people could do to someone's back.

As Lizzy retired to her bedroom, she planned to merely rest her eyes for fifteen minutes, but that was not to be. Her eyes fluttered open as Jane cracked the door. When she saw that Lizzy was awake, she announced that their anticipated visitors had, indeed, arrived.

Elizabeth made up her mind to seize as much lucidity as she could. She realized that she had been wearing the same clothes for almost twenty-four hours. Lizzy didn't excessively worry about such things, but she wanted to change, nonetheless. A change of clothes made her feel decidedly less like a patient.

Succeeding at that, she set about adding some color to her face and brushing her thick, dark brown curls. Satisfied that she had rejoined the land of the living once more, Elizabeth opened the door into the living room. Lizzie met the two visitors with a gracious smile and eyes that weren't up to sparkling yet, but impressive anyway.

Both of them rose as she came into the living room. Elizabeth shook Dr. Bingley's hand as he greeted her, and repeated herself with Dr. Darcy. She immediately added, "It was so nice of you to come and say hello. I hope that I am a bit better company than I was last time." Both gentleman assured her that she had been excellent company in spite of the unanticipated events.

Jane smiled, and noted, "I think my sister is feeling much better after many hours of sleep, are you not?"

"I am pleased to report that I am recovered, and more than ready to fight for truth, justice and the American way once again."

Lizzy couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculousness of what she had just said. Then, Jane and Dr. Bingley joined in her laughter, and even Dr. Darcy turned his gaze to the floor and softly chuckled.

Dr. Bingley asked Jane about her job at Cook county and her studies at Northwestern. Jane was becoming more animated as she spoke with Dr. Bingley and realized that they had many mutual friends. Dr. Darcy watched as Elizabeth tried to herd some wayward curls back into a low ponytail. She had forgotten about the stiffness of her arms, and as she lifted them up, discomfort stunned her.

Because Lizzie was thoroughly aware of Jane's growing interest in her conversation with Dr. Bingley, she didn't want anything to interrupt their developing ease with each other and she suppressed any hints of her discomfort. In addition, Elizabeth had her own reasons for concealing her soreness: it was not in her nature to focus on herself.

Dr. Bingley was amazed that Jane had such an interest in Chicago history, and Jane was equally ecstatic that he enjoyed kayaking on Lake Michigan. Jane had taken a kayaking class in college when she discovered she was one unit short of graduation requirements. Originally, she took the class just to graduate on time. It amazed her, and incensed her mother, when Jane found she loved it. As Mrs. Bennett squealed, "A beautiful girl like you has no business boating with fish. Spending time with trout will not get you anywhere!"

Lizzy allowed Dr. Bingley and Jane to assume responsibility for most of the conversation. As their conversation grew more animated, Dr. Darcy took the opportunity to ask Lizzy quietly about her evening.

"Did you have any problems with pain last night?" Dr. Darcy asked.

"Dr. Darcy, I can honestly say that at some point, my pain just seemed to vanish."

"Did you have any problems beside the injuries to your arms? Did you have difficulty falling asleep?"

"I had a number of things on my mind, but I fell asleep quite rapidly," Lizzy answered.

Dr. Darcy continued, "I hope that if you have any residual effects from the incident, that you will feel comfortable to avail yourself of any assistance I can provide. And please feel free to call me 'William.'"

"I shall call you 'William' if you would like," smiled Lizzy.

"I was asked to bring you this," he said, producing an ivory vellum envelope from his coat pocket.

Lizzy opened the small envelope addressed to "Miss Elizabeth Bennett" in an elegant script. She re-focused her eyes as she began reading.

Dear Elizabeth,

Please allow me to thank you for the kindness you have shared with me. I will remember it always. While words are difficult for me, know that you are often in my thoughts. Our world has become one in which there is far too little thought and concern for others; your integrity is refreshing in a world gone mad.

William visited with me today and we spoke of you. If you are available, would it be possible for you to attend Riley's Baptism on Saturday at 2:00 p.m.? It already had been scheduled for many weeks before Matt's death and I see no real reason to postpone it. I believe Matt would have wished us to carry on with it. It will be a small, family event and I would be so grateful to see you, and honored if you would attend.

With warmest regards,

Sharon Morgan

Lizzy looked intently at the note card, and gently placed it back in its distinctive envelope. Dr. Darcy had been watching her face for clues to her thoughts. Elizabeth broke the silence by asking, "Tell me, Dr. Darcy, does Sharon know any of what happened at the church with Collins?

"I didn't think that you would want her to know, considering what you went through to prevent Collins' unpleasantness from reaching her."

Elizabeth nodded her head in wordless agreement. She asked another question of Dr. Darcy, "Did you know Mark very well?"

Dr. Darcy clasped his hands in his lap. "Mark was the grandson of Stewart Morgan who founded Morgan, Darcy and Bailey along with my grandfather, Walter Darcy. Mark and I grew up in the same circles. Even though he was a few years younger, we found ourselves in many of the same places at the same time. We didn't see each other for a while until we reconnected at Columbia. He was in Law School then and I was finishing up my OB residency. By the time I did my fellowship at Johns Hopkins, he passed the bar and moved back to Chicago to MDB. Sharon actually was referred to me when she had a placenta previa at about six months with Riley. They were so grateful when she was delivered safely. They had tried for a number of years to have a child."

He had stopped talking. Elizabeth was running her fingers around the edges of Sharon's letter. She readjusted herself in her chair. "I am touched by her letter. When I spent time with her, she seemed like such a gentle and thoughtful person. I am heartbroken over what happened."

Dr. Darcy replied, "Sharon is a gracious woman, and I have grown to know her through both joyous and tragic events. I assure you that she wouldn't have invited you if she didn't have a sincere wish for you to attend."

After another moment, he continued, "What are your thoughts about the baptism?"

Lizzy sighed and rubbed her temple for a moment. "I would like to see Sharon again very much, and if you can assure me that I won't be intruding upon a family event, I would like to go."

William sat up a bit in his seat and exhaled. He looked Lizzy in the eye and said, "I'm glad to hear that you would be up to attending. The baptism will be held at St. Michael's and there will be a small reception following at Sharon's home." Dr. Darcy hesitated for an instant, "I was wondering if you would you be opposed to accompanying me?"

Lizzy hadn't expected his question and was surprised. She rubbed her eyes absent-mindedly and answered him in a soft voice, "That would be very nice, Dr. Darcy, er, William." Her expression became lighter as she remarked, "and since it is at St. Michael's, I would like you to accompany me very much."

Dr. Darcy was pleased that Elizabeth had consented. He was very, very pleased.

Chapter Eight

Posted on Friday, 21 January 2005

After Lizzie had accepted Dr. Darcy's offer to accompany her to Riley Morgan's baptism, she made polite small talk while she tried to analyze this latest unforeseen occurrence in a series of a thousand unforeseen occurrences that she loosely referred to as "the last week and a half of my life."

She couldn't really grasp with certainty why Dr. Darcy had asked to go with her to the baptism. She believed that, more than anything, he had asked to go with her as a courtesy to Sharon, who was still grieving, and to herself, perhaps as a gesture of closure in light of the Collins' business.

She figured that by taking Elizabeth, he was being a gentleman to both his old friend's widow and a new colleague at the hospital. That must be his reasoning.

After the incident with Collins, Elizabeth had slowly morphed a portion of her earlier impression of him. Whatever her opinion had been of him, she knew she was a liar if she hadn't been happy he led her away from a deranged Collins. She also conceded that he was an intuitive and intrepid sort of person to understand what was happening in the church from body-language clues alone. She laughed when she realized that was more a nursing skill than anything else. She really entertained herself when she congratulated him on being smart enough to be a good nurse!

Whereas she had originally thought of him as an out of control "big fat jerk with a God-complex" she now found a number of factors to erode her first impressions. Yes, he had thrown a loud, obnoxious fit in the ER the first day they met, but the fit had been over what he wanted for his patient, not himself. When Lizzy had met his fit with sarcasm, he had not lashed out vindictively, but showed a considerable degree of restraint.

He was a gentleman, as well as a physician, who had been of assistance to both Sharon in her loss, and to Lizzy in her distress with Collins. He did care about the welfare of those around him, and he continued that care after more than just the first instinct of it. Very honorable indeed.

That is the brush with which she painted Dr. Darcy. He was almost an anachronism. He was an old-fashioned gentleman "doing the right thing because it's the right thing to be doing." Lizzy knew that obligation was the motivator and reward for those types. He was as obligated to escort her to the baptism as on off-duty fireman was obligated to stop at a smoking house. Those thoughts were soon interrupted.

"Elizabeth? Elizabeth? Miss Bennett?" Dr. Darcy was trying to get her attention with little luck.

"Dr. Darcy, I'm so sorry. Apparently I didn't get enough sleep as I had thought and now my mind is wandering. So embarrassing. Please forgive me." Elizabeth leaned forward as if to prove her attention.

"I thought you and I should decide about Saturday's arrangements. I believe the baptism is at 2:00. That's actually perfect for me. I can check my patients early in the morning, and I'm not on call this weekend, so I have a day of leisure. Would it be okay if I pick you up at 1:10 or so, and then we won't have to worry about traffic?"

"That would be fine. I need to go into work for a few hours in the morning and take care of some things, as well."

"Well, until Saturday. I will phone Sharon and tell her that you are able to come. That will be good. She'll be happy."

"Then I am certainly delighted to attend," Lizzy gave a bright smile to Dr. Darcy and thanked him again for driving.

At that, Lizzy couldn't help but release a yawn, and while it was hard to interrupt Bingley and Jane's banter on Aztec art, Darcy suggested he and Bingley should be going. Dr. Bingley beamed a warm smile and thanked Jane for her part in a wonderful conversation about such a variety of subjects.

Both ladies rose while the gentleman made their way to the door. As he was stepping over the threshold, Dr. Darcy muttered, "Oh, I completely forgot. I stopped by my office in case you might want some toradol samples. I... didn't know." Dr. Darcy handed the foil and cardboard-wrapped samples into Elizabeth's hands. For just the briefest of moments, his index finger brushed her palm. For such a small gesture, it was amazing that both of them noticed it.

"I will definitely add these to the war-chest. Thank you." Lizzy was imagining her portable pharmacy growing to immense proportions. With two physicians trying to keep her pain-free, she was imagining what was to become of her medicine chest. She was becoming comically leery of both of them. She chuckled to herself as she next imagined Dr. Bingley bringing over some of his big guns from the anesthesiology department, probably just as an excuse to see Jane again.

Lizzy did decide to take the next day off, but she knew the luxury of a full week off was not an option. There were two reasons for this. The most concrete was that she had management obligations that directly affected almost two hundred other employees in the ER. The more nebulous reason was that shadowy rumors might be circulating by now about the Collins' issue; the longer she was away, the more outrageous they could become. Being roughed up was upsetting; confronting more colorful accounts would be worse.

After her day off, she got up on Friday, got dressed for work and made it to her office, sending her co-workers warm smiles and acceptably flippant greetings throughout the long main corridor that led to her office. Her first matter of business was to breeze through email. It amazed her how many emails she would receive after just a few days.

Next she organized the time-off requests for the holidays. This was a hard part of management. So many people wanted/needed days off, and yet some people would not be able to be accommodated. Those that didn't get their first pick were set on another pile. Those that always requested every holiday off were flagged, as well as those who hardly requested any time off. Lizzy's system of post-it flags made sense to no one but her and perhaps Charlotte. Matt liked to make fun of them. He was sure there was a less time-consuming computer program that could make it easier. Her low-tech approach was fine with her: they worked and helped her to be as fair as possible. She tried to do the best she could, but it took her two and a half hours of revising until she came up with a workable schedule.

Elizabeth made her way to the copy machine to duplicate the schedules. She rounded the door to the workroom and came face to face with Matt.

"Hi guy. Fancy meeting you here," she quipped while she flicked him with the schedules she was holding.

"Wait a minute. This is so strange. Feels like the Twilight Zone. I could have sworn you had some time off. Hmmmm. Who could have possibly set that up for you? Maybe I finally have lost my mind once and for all," Matt facetiously replied as he stared Lizzy down with hands on his hips.

"Yes, you are right. I did take some leisurely time off and I feel like a million bucks. Luckily, it takes very little to bring me up to perfect again, so I'm here, taking care of business. Isn't that great? If the hospital only knew how perfect I was, they would name a floor after me, or at least a room. Maybe you should work on that for me, Matt? It's high time I am honored for my efforts." Lizzy winked at him and made her copies. It felt really good to play-fight with Matt. It felt normal.

Matt didn't know if he was mad at her for not doing as he had said, or if he was happy that she seemed agonizingly Lizzy-esque again. He decided it was both.

"So, are you just doing the schedule stuff, or are you doing a full shift?" Matt asked in his interrogative style.

"I am here doing boring paperwork stuff. I won't make it out of my office to do any patient care." She replied.

"You didn't answer my question. Are you here just doing a few hours of schedules or are you here for a shift?" He knew how to get his questions answered.

"I am here to do a shift of boring paperwork stuff that will ultimately end up in the shredder, and then I am going to go home and relax and think of what a fantastic nurse I am."

"Well, I am here until five tonight. Do you think you will be here until then?" Matt eyed her intently.

"I imagine that the possibility exists that I will be here until then. Did you and Meegan want to grab dinner or something?" Lizzie wondered.

"Yep, that actually sounds good. Meegan has been asking about you, and it's been awhile since I've had Fratelli's. Does that sound good?"

"Matt, that sounds really good. I've been craving that place." Lizzy smiled. Why don't you knock on my door when you are ready?"

Matt walked over to a phone and smirked over his shoulder, "I'll take care of everything. I'll come get you."

Lizzy squeezed his elbow and walked back to her office. Schedules done, now, performance evaluations. She had four folks to evaluate, and all of them were excellent nurses. Since the hospital offered incentive bonuses for good work, she had kept notes on their performance. Filling in the bubbles marked, "exceeds standards" wasn't too hard. She had to add comments, of course, but that came easily to her.

Elizabeth had worried about finishing those evaluations before the close of the next pay period, and it felt wonderful that they, too, were crossed off her list. She pushed back her chair and heard a familiar chirp coming from her computer.

The chirp identified an incoming email, and since she had spent so much time cleaning out her "inbox" she wanted to read this one quickly so she could delete it promptly. It read:

To: Ebenne@CCAD.ORG

From: Kbeard@CCAD.ORG

RE: Confidential Employee Information, wps. attachment

Dear Elizabeth,

I have been made aware through Employee Health Services that one of our contracted employees has been involved in an unusual circumstance requiring hospitalization. Because of your knowledge of the incident, I am updating you on his status to the extent that I legally can. Be advised that I am bound by many contract requirements, legalities, and medical record issues.

What I can tell you is the following. Mr. Collins has requested, and been granted, a medical leave beginning last week and continuing for another two weeks. Because of the terms of his negotiated contract, the hospital is compelled to retain him in his current position, since his medical leave/illness cannot be used as grounds for dismissal and hospital counsel advises the hospital could be exposed legally for terminating any employee as a result of medical conditions. Any breech of hospital regulations could be attributed to medical issues and isn't grounds for termination.

Elizabeth, you have known me for a long time, and I know that you are an excellent administrator. I did want you to be aware of this latest development.

Keith Beard.
PS Please take care with this information. The opportunity for slander/defamation suits is immense in this type of circumstance. In addition, please delete this email in accordance with confidential email policy.

Elizabeth was numb. There was no feeling. She was aware of the hospital's position on these types of issues, yet surely, this one was different. She had the arms to prove that this was a different situation, yet the email was quite clear. She hadn't seen this coming at all. Unforeseen occurrence number one thousand and one. After two minutes of staring at the keyboard, she deleted the email. That's that. Deal with it later.

Lizzy didn't know what to do, but sitting at a computer looking like a statue didn't appeal to her. She went through more interdepartmental memos and read them quickly. She pulled in some part-time people and see if they wanted to stay part-time or go full-time. Those interviews took her mind off the ridiculousness of the Collins' fiasco. Before she knew it, Matt was poking his head in her office and asking if she was ready to take off.

"Matt, I am completely and utterly ready to take off. Trust me," Lizzy croaked as she rolled her eyes. Is Meegan ready to leave?"

"Meegan is waiting for us. Did you have a good shift, Bennett?"

"I got a lot of stuff done, and I am ready for dinner," Lizzy spoke the truth. She didn't know what to tell Matt and when to tell him and where to tell him about the email. "Where's Meegan?"

"She's waiting for us," Matt said. "You know, Lizzy, you really made me mad when you came in to work today, but I know you like to make me mad. It's how you show your affection."

"Yeah, right bucko. Whatever you say." Lizzy wasn't in any mood to spar. She was legitimately tired and sufficiently numb due to that idiotic message sent to her computer.

"So, as far as I see it, turnabout is fair play. Do you agree Lizzy?"

"Sure, go for it. What are you going to do? Throw darts, tell me I'm fat, insult my mother, compare me to my mother? What can I look forward to?" Lizzy scoffed.

Matt laughed, put his arm around her, gave her a squeeze, and spoke, "You should know better than to make me mad. I always win."

At that precise moment, Lizzy knew they were going up in the elevator instead of down to the parking level. Lizzy said, "Are we going to get Meegan, or do you just not know where our cars are parked?"

"Meegan is waiting for us." Matt muttered in his lowest voice. "Lizzy, what do the aliens in movies always say to the trembling humans right before they eat them?"

"I don't know, Leonard Nimoy, what do they say? Lizzy answered.

Matt put his hand on her shoulder, and whispered into her ear, "They say, 'Resistance is futile.' And he kept his hand on her shoulder as he pushed her through the door labeled, "CT."

Lizzy looked at him and said, "You are unbelievable. And I don't mean that in a nice way, Matt."

"Well, my sweet, I was pretty ticked to see you here when I arranged for a week off for you, and then I turned my anger into creativity. I figured, why not kill two birds with one stone? I can punish you for not listening to me, and maybe you listen to me next time, and I can also make good on the CT. The CT tech owes me, the radiologist is staying late as a favor to me. I worked fourteen hours of overtime last month that I forgot to bill the hospital for, so the expense the hospital incurs in the use of their machine distresses me not. Meegan is hanging out in case you refuse to put on a gown. I can sit on you while she dresses you. Or I can dress you while she pushes some Versed. Or I can get my fanny pack out again and we can forget the gown and just load you in the machine au naturel. Whatever you feel like. Just let me know." Matt knew he had her in a corner and he wasn't above gloating..

"Why don't we just go to dinner and we can get this done at a different time? Wouldn't you like some manicotti or penne with lobster? Mmmm. It's Friday! Fettuccini al carbonara. Let's get some food before it's too crowded and we have to wait for a long time for a table. My head is starting to hurt, probably a migraine. If I don't eat soon, it might get much worse. Oh. It's throbbing already. How about it? Give me a break."

"That's good strategy, Bennett. You deserve to be proud of that. Points for thinking on your feet."

He pulled out a patient gown out of the clean linen cabinet and threw it lightly at her. "I'll step out and talk to Lorenzo while he sets up. When did you eat last?"

Lizzy's eyes were little slits and didn't respond. Matt asked again with an annoyingly calm smile, "When did you eat last? Have you been NPO at least 4 hours?"

"Yes," she growled.

Meegan came in at that moment and looked like she would pick her words gingerly. "Hey, Lizzie. Fancy meeting you here."

Matt smiled at Meegan, "Reinforcements! She needs to be in a gown, oh, and Lizzy, you're not allergic to contrast, iodine or shellfish?"

"No," she growled again.

"Perfect. I think Lorenzo, our cruise director, is ready to begin. I don't think we need sedation for something so simple, but we do want this with and without contrast. Lizzy, we can have this done so fast and then Meegan and I will buy you such nice food at Fratelli's...I can feel the butter and garlic on that homemade bread already. I'll give you a sec, and then we'll finish and then on to Fratelli's. I haven't been this hungry in a long time." Matt went into the CT booth and spoke with a man Lizzy figured must be Lorenzo.

Lizzy took off her shoes and her bra and put her scrub top back on, without her photo id badge. Meegan didn't say anything, because she knew Lizzy was right: she didn't technically need a gown when she could wear her scrubs. Meegan wasn't going to push it. If Matt wanted to risk his life, he could, but as far as Meegan was concerned, Lizzy was about as close to being ready as she was going to get.

Lorenzo came out and Matt stayed in the CT booth. "Coward!" Lizzy cursed underneath her breath.

Lorenzo was very kind and endearing and had Lizzy lie down on the table he called the "gantry." Meegan patted her knee and said she'd see her soon, and joined Matt in the booth.

Lorenzo explained that the first scan would take no more than five minutes, and then either Matt or Meegan would be back for the IV contrast. His only request was that she stay as completely still as possible. As opposed to an MRI, this was a relatively quiet machine and much faster.

He joined the "evil ones" as Lizzy called them, and shut the lead-lined door to the booth. She closed her eyes and let the gantry do all the work. Instead of five minutes, it seemed more like three. Lorenzo zipped back into the exam room and said the first half was done. "The contrast part is simple and straightforward. I've been told to have you name your poison, the guy or the girl?"

Lizzy kept her eyes closed and said, "I really don't care. They are both terrible, conniving, useless human beings who deserve a horrible, disfiguring skin infection. They can flip for it."

She had no idea that there was a microphone into the booth and Lorenzo had failed to turn it off. Meegan and Matt widened their eyes and decided to flip for it. Matt lost...in other words, he had to go out and infuse the contrast. Instead of letting Lizzy think she had succeeded in letting her wrath be known, he decided to come out whistling quietly.

It was a perfect strategy, actually. Lizzy wanted it over with, and Matt could whistle without the pressure of dead silence.

The RN's did ninety-nine percent of all IV starts and draws, but every once in a while, a doc might do one. Just because he didn't do it everyday didn't mean he faltered at the idea.

With her eyes remaining closed, she mentioned, "You know, if there's any problem with this contrast or something, I never signed a consent. My estate will sue you for negligence, malfeasance, and you will lose your license. It will be in the newspapers. You'll become an over-educated dog groomer. I just wanted to make sure you knew that."

Not wanting to reply, he kept whistling "Fly Me to the Moon." He had the cannula in, connected it to the battery-operated infuser and watched it flow.

"You'll probably be feeling some heat in your arm. That's to be expected, with some people with contrast, but let me know if it gets bad or if you feel weird. I know you're homicidal right now, but that's not what I meant. I've seen you homicidal lots of times. I'm talking something out of the ordinary for you...swelling, difficulty breathing, anaphylaxis.... I'd hate to have your estate coming after me."

"Die, Myers."

Enough said, he thought.

Lorenzo started the last part of the scan, and after five minutes, he came out to help Lizzy off the gantry. "I'm going to send this over to Eric, and you can take off."

Lizzy thanked him for his time. Lorenzo hadn't done anything to tick her off. His biggest sin was being Matt's friend. She appreciated his staying after work and doing this on his own time. He wasn't the one she was irked with. She just didn't want to be forced into doing this when she didn't want to do it. She would have much preferred doing it when she felt like it. Lizzy liked to do things according to her agenda.

Matt and Meegan walked with Lizzy to the changing room, and Matt sounded very natural when he said, "Aren't you hungry? I can't wait for some pasta."

"Let me get my stuff, and I'll be out in a minute," Lizzy sighed. She wasn't going to be cranky all through dinner. There wasn't any point in that. Her mother did that when she didn't get her own way, and Lizzy prided herself on not being her mother. She simply wanted some good green salad and some manicotti and she wanted to go home and watch the DVD she bought and hadn't been able to see in three weeks. She suddenly smiled sarcastically. She rubbed the side of her temple, and told herself, "CT kidnapping. Unforeseen Occurrence number one thousand and two."

It took only a few minutes of driving time to arrive at Fratelli's and they waited less than that for a table. She was very hungry. There were lots of hospital people eating and she smiled at those she knew. She noticed Charlotte finishing her dinner with some of her friends at a small table near the kitchen. Charlotte came over and gave Lizzy a hug.

"How was the CT?" Charlotte asked.

"You knew?" Lizzy sputtered.

Charlotte grinned, "Of course I knew about it. Matt isn't going to get all the credit. He called me when he got the idea. As a fellow conspirator, am I welcome to sit at this table?"

"I'm glad you folks like me. I can only imagine what my life would be like if you hated me," Lizzy answered in a droll monotone.

Their food had arrived at this point and Lizzy ate with polite gusto. Even though she had had a long day, it felt nice to just sit and be with her self-chosen family and eat her manicotti.

On Saturday morning, Lizzy ate a quick bagel and drove back to the hospital to clear up a little bit more off of her desk. Her next shift was scheduled as patient care, and she didn't want anything unfinished on her desk. Those days were her favorites.

After being satisfied with the condition of her desk, she decided to go to the gift shop to see if they had anything suitable for Baby Riley's baptism. There was a religious store a few blocks away, but if she could find something nice at work, that would be perfectly fine with her.

Lizzy entered the gift shop and walked past the snacks and the magazines to the gift section. The guild that ran the gift shop stocked it with a variety of items, and some of them were quite gorgeous. Several artists had been asked to display their work.

It was hard to decide if there was something she thought would be appropriate for such an unusual baptism. Nothing really caught her eye at first, and then she saw some glass work from a local studio. She recognized the artist. People that make their living cutting glass are no strangers to emergency rooms.

This artist, whom Lizzy had met more than once, was a kind grandmother type that wore hip clothes and worked with glass in the same way gifted seamstresses work with beautiful fabric. There were large pieces and smaller ones, but each was made of different types and textures of glass.

Lizzy's eye spotted a small piece of clear, etched, and beveled glass. In the center, there was a figure of a small, smiling newborn. Surrounding the baby was the figure of a male angel smiling down at her. Elizabeth figured it was probably meant to depict a Guardian Angel sort of design, but it was perfect for Riley. It wasn't overdone, it wasn't showy, but it was sweet and tender. Maybe it would be hung in her bedroom and she could remember her dad.

She selected the piece and took it to the register. It was by far her most expensive gift shop purchase ever, but she was so pleased with it, the cost didn't matter. The guild lady wrapped it beautifully and spent extra time arranging the ribbons until she was happy with them. Lizzy carefully held the gift and passed through a section that was new to the gift shop. There was a display of tiny pink and blew newborn shirts, and each one had a screen print stork design on the front. There, with many other doctor's names, was a group of shirts that said," Kiss me! I was proudly delivered by Dr. Darcy!" Lizzy laughed out loud. Somehow she didn't know if Dr. Darcy would appreciate that a generation of newborns might be wearing shirts with his name on them.

While Lizzy was downstairs in her office, Dr. Darcy had arrived in L and D to check on six of his patients. All appeared stable, but he was growing particularly concerned about two of them. Mrs. Gaines' blood pressure had been high for two days, and Mrs. Fong's twins were not equally healthy. One was doing fine, and the other was struggling. He wanted to section them, but every week he could give them multiplied their chances of good health.

He knew that he wasn't on call this weekend, and he knew that the rules of taking call meant one of his partners would be checking on each of them, but he made it a rule to visit them first thing regardless. He sat at the dictation desk and made some calls to radiology to order a biophysical profile ultrasound for Mrs. Fong. Charlotte had come to do her share of holiday scheduling and greeted Dr. Darcy warmly. Dr. Darcy gave her a tight smile and returned to his charts.

Charlotte had her own share of post-its and time off requests in front of her, and Julie, a good friend and nurse, sat down next to her.

Julie asked, "So I'm hearing that Lizzy got hurt or something. Is everything okay? Candace mentioned that she had actually missed work! I panicked when I heard that! She doesn't take much time off, does she?

Charlotte replied, "I think she's taken off about two days since she graduated. She had a tough time of it. Nothing major, but Matt was beside himself and spent the night with her, and decided to give lightweight Lizzy 100/50 of Demerol when Lizzy's pain got so bad. I've never seen him leave this hospital so quickly as when Jane called him. Yesterday, he actually tricked her into CT and she was furious. I saw them afterwards at dinner and she looked a little "unhappy" at Matt. He didn't care. After all these years, he's used to her by now."

Julie had no problem imagining Lizzy's fury, "It's nice that Lizzy has someone that loves her so much. They are fun to watch when they're together. I just hope that everything is okay. Matt must have been worried for him to blast her with that much Demerol."

A patient's call light was blinking and Julie stood up to answer it. "I'll see you, Charlotte. Have fun with schedules...remember, that's why you make the big bucks. All these nice post-its that you enjoy so much."

Dr. Darcy had long since stopped writing orders. Clearly, he had heard what he had heard.

He felt like the world's biggest fool to think that a vivacious and beautiful and intelligent woman like Elizabeth Bennett wouldn't be attached. How he had hoped she wasn't.

She had done something no other woman had been able to do so easily or completely. She had impressed him with self-confidence and competence. She had made him want to do everything a little bit better. She had made him anxious to earn her good opinion. She affected him.

And why a CT scan? Her arm injuries didn't seem an indication for a CT. She had brushed off his questions about pain. She hadn't said anything about this to him.

Actually, one of the saddest thoughts for Darcy was this: if she had needed care, he wanted to give it to her. He had given her his cell, office and home numbers. He had answered every call on the first ring to see if it was Elizabeth Bennett.

Obviously, she didn't need his care. She had someone else wanting to do that.

He closed his eyes for a second when he realized that women were chasing him all the time and he hated it. Now, the woman he felt like chasing was already someone else's. It felt like a slash from a dull razor.

He carefully put the cap on his pen and put the charts back on the rack. He looked at the clock and knew he had to go home and get ready.

He had told her 1:10 pm. He would be there at 1:10 to take her to the ceremony and reception. Darcy hoped that Sharon would be happy that Lizzy was there. Sharon deserved that, at least. He deftly picked up his stethoscope and walked to the staff elevators, and clinched a "good morning" to Charlotte in as friendly a way as he could at the moment.

Glancing at her office clock, Lizzy decided that she had better return home and start getting ready for the baptism. She had an hour, and still didn't have any idea what to wear. She had three choices. Choice number one was a rich purple silk jacket with trousers. Choice number two was a pale blue shirt-dress with a Chanel scarf that Jane had given her. Choice number three was a gray boucle suit that she instantly vetoed. It was too hot for such a suit, and it had been designated her funeral suit. Absolutely not what she wanted to wear.

The best choice, she felt, was the purple silk jacket and trousers. She didn't know what the other guests would be wearing, but this suit was comfortable and she felt pretty in it. It would be perfect with the Prada purse and shoes Jane had given her for her birthday. They had sat in their boxes for over seven months. They would see the light of day at last.

As she stepped out of the shower, a little, surprising tingle of a question crept into her head for the first time. Did Dr. Darcy like purple? It was such a tiny little thought that she batted it away like an annoying spider web.

After a quick shower, she blew dry her hair so it fell down on her shoulders and she gathered a small portion of it into a rhinestone and amethyst colored clip. Lizzy spent a few minutes doing her make-up and she gave herself a brief top to bottom inspection. "That will have to work," she sighed.

With nothing else to do, she advanced the laundry from the washer to the dryer and she added fabric softener and garbage bags to the grocery list on the refrigerator. The door bell rang and she quickly answered it.

"Dr. Darcy, you are certainly punctual. When you say 1:10, you mean 1:10, don't you!" Elizabeth laughed and felt her eyes brighten.

"Yes, I guess I have been described as that before. My cousin Charles amazes me that he is ever on time to anything. I'm hoping to break him of that by osmosis soon. You look... very nice. That color is striking," he stammered.

"Thank you, very much. I do like to shop, and this suit asked me quite politely to take me home one day, and I did oblige."

He noticed her witty turn of a phrase and held the door for her as she exited the apartment. He wondered if this Matt person thought she was witty, too.

Chapter Nine

Posted on Monday, 24 January 2005

Dr. Darcy and Lizzy were relatively quiet in the elevator. Lizzy asked if he had, indeed, made it to the hospital to visit his patients. He nodded, and said, "I had six that I saw, two that are worrying me quite a bit, and my associate, Dr. Olivera, has seven of her own, so I am sure she won't leave. And that's not counting the other doctors' inpatients."

"Does your group usually share call by the day or the week?" Lizzy asked.

"It's usually by the day, but as you know, things change. There are eight of us that share call, and any deliveries or urgent problems during the day are handled by the patient's own physician of record. If there are two emergencies during the day at the same time, I call someone. That's rare. Usually it happens during a c-section. Night call during the week starts at 5 pm and goes until 8 am. During the weekends, it starts Friday at 5 and goes until Monday at 8 am."

"Well it's nice that there are eight of you sharing it. I have a friend that gets called in quite a bit. That can be upsetting."

Dr. Darcy looked at his cuff links and adjusted them. He tried to think of something intelligent to say. "Yes, that happens." "Now, that was verbal skill at the Olympic level," he chastised himself. He knew to whom she must be referring: Demerol/CT/Spend the night man.

The elevator door opened into the parking garage and Lizzy looked for the silver Mercedes she remembered from Mark's funeral. Darcy was leading her to a massive, white SUV with paper license plates.

"New car?" Lizzy chirped.

"Very new, actually. My family has had a cabin at the lake for a long time, and when I get the opportunity to go, which hasn't been often enough, the other car wasn't sufficiently...helpful."

"Well, it is definitely big enough! I'm sure it would hold just about everything you, or a high school football team, would need," she smirked.

He smiled self-consciously as she continued laughing about the size of the SUV and he opened the door for her. Dr. Darcy was a man of habit. His father had carefully taught him many things, and manners had been one of the first.

"Well, you are certainly tall enough to scamper up into this monster, this school bus of an automobile, but I think I might need a step-stool. Good grief, I've never felt so short in my life," Lizzy grinned.

Dr. Darcy looked a bit sheepish, "Can you make it? I never realized that this might be difficult. I imagine I should get something for the next time you...for my sister, Georgiana. She is about your height. I can imagine what she will say about this."

Elizabeth hefted herself up onto the seat. There was no really graceful way to do it, but she made a valiant attempt to make it look a bit more lady-like. He had wanted to get very close to her to assist her, but he was afraid of that. His heart was feeling too torn up to risk confusing it with more of her touches. He remembered how it had felt when their hands had brushed against each other for a portion of a second the other evening. It felt like electricity.

The supple gray leather seats smelled so new. The smell took her back to last year, when her anxiously awaited leather chair and ottoman had been delivered. She had waited so long for that chair.

In courteous silence, Darcy admired her choice of outfit. When selecting his own clothes, he sought well-made items. He felt that there was a certain exquisiteness in just a perfectly straight seam. He wasn't snooty about what he wore, but he did see in himself a compulsion to do good work. As he acknowledged his own pride in careful, quality work, he appreciated that there were tailors and seamstresses that were also compulsive about sharing their best work. He knew what that pride felt like. He understood it

In silence, he continued to approve of her couture; the color was just ideal. It looked as if that one shade of purple silk had been conceived by the weaver after having met Elizabeth.

She was wondering why Dr. Darcy had grown quiet. She tried to think of something to say that could fill up that big vehicle.

"So, Dr. Darcy, I'm hoping that Riley has a wonderful day today. When I saw her the first time, I thought she was an absolutely beautiful baby. I've seen a lot of babies, but Riley is incredible."

"Oh, yes. I, too, have seen quite a few, and she is just splendid. Mark was absolutely reduced to mush when she was born. He almost didn't make it to her birth and I knew Sharon was beside herself. He finally showed up and cried as hard as Sharon did when I showed her to them. He looked like he didn't know what to do first: kiss Sharon or get his hands on Riley. I remember that he looked a bit ashen when I asked him if he wanted to cut the cord. He really wanted to I think, but he stopped. I didn't push it."

Lizzy was brought back to the reality of today by Dr. Darcy's words. This day would be grueling for Sharon. She had planned it together with her husband, and surely never had dreamed that Mark wouldn't live to participate in it. She slowly shook her head. Such a shame. Such a shameful waste of life and love and family.

She held Riley's gift in her hands and traced the ribbon's picot edge from side to side. Darcy could almost feel her emotions reverberating in her. This would need to be a happy day wrapped around very altered lives. Everyone there would have to find a way to both concede the pain of the reality and celebrate the hope that this incredibly beautiful little child brought.

Dr. Darcy continued to think about how incredibly intelligent Sharon was to invite Elizabeth Bennett to this baptism. Without even knowing what Elizabeth had done in the Collins' business, Sharon still had felt the uncommon sincerity emanating from the person sharing his front seat. If any day merited the inclusion of an altruistic and clever and tenderly-caring soul, it was this one. It was right that she would be there. It was right for the sacrament, it was right for the adults, and it was keenly right for Riley.

He glanced at her hand rubbing the pink ribbons on the gift in her lap. She looked straight ahead at the quickly-moving scenery. "Miss Bennett, Elizabeth, are you feeling uncomfortable about another visit to St. Michael's. I was thinking you might. The last visit was certainly...draining, wasn't it?"

"You're right. It was very strange. You know, in the ER, we're never quite sure what might happen next, which for me, has always been part of the appeal. I enjoyed it as a student, and I still enjoy it. When I'm there, I am operating under the notion to expect almost anything. I just didn't expect anything to happen at a funeral. I think that the next time something like that happens, I would prefer it to be on my own turf." She sighed and slightly laughed at the same time.

"That whole thing is over. I'm not familiar enough with the corporate culture of Cook County, yet, but I'm sure that the proper steps will be taken, or probably already have been taken, to address the issue. I don't know how he came to be in his position in the first place, but they will remove him, if they haven't already." Dr. Darcy spoke thoughtfully and with reassurance.

"If you only knew what I knew," she thought disappointedly.

"At any rate, I am glad that he didn't harass Sharon. I'm very happy as far as that is concerned," Elizabeth half-muttered. This line of conversation wasn't pleasing to her and she decided to redirect it. "Now that I have told you that I am an adrenalin junkie lurking in the ER, you can tell me what made you pick your specialty. Was it hard to decide?"

"Actually, not hard. I just took a route that was a bit circuitous. I graduated from medical school and did one year of a general surgical residency. I enjoyed it, but when I re-examined my reasons for going to medical school in the first place, I knew that I wanted to switch to the OB/GYN program."

"What were your reasons for going to medical school?" Lizzy asked.

"My mother was very dear to me, and pregnancy and delivery was a battle for her. My younger sister's birth was very difficult and recovery was rocky. When she labored with her last child, neither she nor the baby survived. I think that was the biggest part of my decision to be a doctor, and then there is the fantastic benefit of being in a usually joyous part of the hospital. I never tire of seeing parents beholding their child for the first time. It never loses its excitement."

Lizzy waited a moment before commenting and said, "It is wonderful, when I see a child being born, and the excitement spreads throughout the room. We get quite a few downstairs that don't make it to L and D. When I did my OB rotation, I described it to Jane as the place with the greatest potential for ultimate joy and also the greatest potential for unbearable heartache. Such a dichotomy."

"I agree. Hopefully my years will be more of the "ultimate joy" variety. And I hope that when tragic things do happen, I handle them well, or as best as can be, for the families.

Elizabeth nodded and bit her cheek. Tragedies and children shouldn't ever meet.

They soon were very close to St. Michael's and Elizabeth made a point to look at the exquisite stained glass rising before her. She kept her mind occupied so that less pleasant memories didn't find a home in her. She was going to be fine. This was a new day and a new occasion and a new chance to see a beautiful infant and her thoughtful mother. She hoped that she had a chance to hold Riley for a good, long time.

When Dr. Darcy had finished parking, she delicately wrapped her hands around her gift and noticed that Dr. Darcy was holding a similarly wrapped gift. He put it back in the car, and she decided to leave hers in the car as well. She saw him rushing to open her door and waited politely for him to do so. She hadn't had her door opened for her in a long time, and she was cautiously allowing herself to enjoy it. She leaned her right foot out and misjudged the distance to the ground. She practically slid out of the truck like it was a sled, but was proud of herself for not landing in a heap. Dr. Darcy steadied her instantly with his hand and silently cursed himself for not bringing the Mercedes.

"I'm sorry, Dr. Darcy, but I really should have taken those ballet lessons my mother tried to force upon me in first grade. My sister, Jane, took those ballet lessons, and to my knowledge, has never fallen out of a car."

Dr. Darcy looked at her with silent, smiling approval of her joke but didn't say anything. He was content in having the briefest of opportunities to place his hand on her side when she was falling. He liked it, but he couldn't allow himself to love it, because this woman had someone else wanting to touch her.

He repeated this to himself four times as they walked to the entrance and he wanted those thoughts to be as sobering and final as a blast of icy cold water would be in the winter.

They walked together into the church and found seats behind the twelve or so people that had already arrived. Elizabeth vaguely recognized some of the faces from the funeral, but not all of them. Once seated, she glanced at her watch and saw that they had arrived exactly 10 minutes early. She pointed to the watch on her arm and whispered, "Perfectly punctual, again, Dr. Darcy."

He smiled at the watch and said quietly, "Yes, as my mother always said, 'Keep your promises and wear a watch.' She called it one of her little rules of good behavior. She was simple and direct."

"She was a smart woman," Elizabeth whispered.

"She was definitely a smart woman," he answered.

In a beautiful city park, surrounded by joggers who wished they had started jogging about thirty pounds ago, and funny little ducks fighting it out over crushed popcorn fragments, Matt held Meegan's hand and brought her over to a park bench.

Before he let her sit down, he wrapped first one of his arms around her waist and then the other, and pulled her close to give her a leisurely , breathtakingly enjoyable kiss. She tasted like toothpaste and she smelled like her favorite perfume.

Matt had planned this perfectly, timing was important, but he wasn't above spending a bit of time kissing his love like he meant it. She met his kisses perfectly with hers and he suddenly wished he wasn't standing in a city park, but it had been the spot where he had met he for the first time. It had to be here.

On that day long ago, Lizzy had arranged for him to meet her with her friend, and it was supposed to be an "accidental meeting." She was going to be casually eating lunch with her friend and Matt was going to just happen to pop by. She figured she would get paged back to work and just have to leave Matt and Meegan to fend for themselves. So much for the "impromptu meeting." Lizzy brought a beautiful picnic basket filled with food from Eddie's Bakery, one of her favorite restaurants. It was so heavy she could barely carry it by herself. Both Matt and Meegan knew Lizzy well enough to know that she never ate lunches this sumptuous...or huge! Lizzy laughed later when they criticized her overstuffed and outlandish picnic basket.

"Didn't you notice at some point in the morning that the lid wouldn't even shut?" Matt had asked her.

The "meeting" itself went perfectly, just as Elizabeth had known it would. They were born for each other.

Now Matt had Meegan sitting in his lap and rubbed her back while giving her soft little kisses in her hair. "Do you like this bench? he murmured.

"Oh yes, it is the bench of destiny!" she giggled.

"Uh, yes, that is true. Since it is the bench of destiny, as you call it, I was hoping that you would marry me and we can visit this bench for maybe fifty or sixty years or so? Would that be a possibility, Meegan?"

She didn't really answer, she just held him as tightly as she could and kissed him on the mouth with everything she had inside her.

He broke away from her as soon as he had a chance, and said, "I hope that I can assume you said 'yes' to my question, otherwise I will be very unhappy. Did you say "yes' to me, Meegan?"

"Oh, yes, definitely a big yes! The biggest of yeses."

He held her exceptionally close again on his lap and kissed her carefully and methodically and then gave a "thumbs up" sign to an arbor vitae bush across the sidewalk. At that, the person behind the arbor vitae bush pressed "play" on a cd player. Steve Wonder was singing,

"Isn't she lovely, isn't she wonderful...Isn't she pretty

Truly the angel's best "

It was an old song, but one of her favorite songs, and he sang it to her whenever he got the chance.

"Who's playing that song?" she wondered out loud.

"It's Jerome, from nights, I paid him ten bucks to sit in a bush and wait for me."

He kept one hand on her waist and continued kissing her, and reached inside his scrub pants with another and brought out a navy velvet box. Not wanting to stop his kiss and trying to open the box with one hand, he fumbled for a bit and found her ring finger. She slid a huge brilliant-cut solitaire on her hand. He broke away from her long enough to inhale and let her see what he had pushed on her hand. She cried for a little bit and eagerly went back to what they had been sharing.

Neither of them had ever been so exuberantly happy, and few couples had ever deserved it as much. Many people had walked past them and watched with enjoyment as Meegan and Matt kissed each other with great skill.

When they were temporarily kissed-out, he said, "I think we need to have a really good party. Let's call around and see who can come to Fratelli's. Does that sound like something you would like to do?"

Meegan smiled and said, "Let's do that, but first I think we should freshen up at my apartment first."

Matt's eyes danced at her, "Well, how long will it take us to freshen up?"

"It might take a long time, Matt."

Matt was certainly fine with freshening up. They left their bench and held hands all the way back to Meegan's apartment.

Elizabeth and Darcy watched as the baptism began and Sharon and Mark's brother, John, held baby Riley near the baptismal font. Mark's wife, Christine and Mark's good friend, Steve, served as Godparents and stood next to Sharon and Mark. The priest read from a small red book with a gold cross embossed on the front. The priest asked Sharon what she was seeking from the Church. She replied "Baptism." He continued, asking all of the formal questions about faith and soon the priest took a huge handful of water and said, "Riley Elizabeth Morgan, I baptize you in the name of the Father....and of the Son....and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. With each fragment of his blessing, he took another handful of water, and Baby Riley's head was drenched. Baby Riley was toweled off and looked extremely cute, though startled, with her baby hair drying into soft brown ringlets.

Next, he took Chrism, a special oil blessed just for sacraments, and made the sign of the cross on her bare chest after the Godparents had adjusted her Christening gown. The priest announced, "Since ancient times, oil has been a symbol of strength. I rub this Chrism on your chest as a sign of the strength that we hope you find in God."

After a few more prayers and blessings, the priest concluded with, "May God bless you and keep you, and may his words find a home in your heart."

Sharon kissed Riley and then hugged Mark's brother. As Sharon walked back to the front pew, family members lined up informally to embrace Sharon and fawn over the baby. Dr. Darcy walked with Elizabeth and smiled at Sharon. She looked very tired, but beautiful at the same time. Elizabeth thought that she had lost about ten pounds that she didn't need to lose. Dr. Darcy wrapped his arm around her and whispered something into her ear that Elizabeth couldn't hear, but Sharon smiled and rested her head on his chest for a moment.

Turning to Elizabeth, he said, "Sharon's home isn't very far from here. Are you ready?"

"Yes, I am. I am a very prompt person," Elizabeth said in a dry deadpan. He didn't know if she was teasing or if she was serious. Her eyes answered his question.

Driving up to Sharon's house, Lizzy was amazed that she had never seen this home before. As she was growing up, her mother had loved to drive or walk past all of the mansions in the area and tell Lizzy and Jane that this is where she expected them to live when they were married. It wasn't like Mrs. Bennett was trying to provide them with a dream to follow; it was more like an executive order.

The estate was large and grand, but it also had so many soft touches around it that it wasn't stuffy or musty. There were beautiful flowerbeds sprinkled with countless autumn blooms. The trees were huge, indicating they had been planted generations ago, but there was also a tree house that poked out of one of the trees nearest the house.

"What a wonderful tree house! I would have loved one of those!" Elizabeth exclaimed. "That's why I wouldn't take ballet; trees were much more interesting to me. I think that's why I first wanted to become a nurse."

"Because of trees?" Darcy asked.

"Because I kept falling out of them," she laughed. "I was the kid in the neighborhood most likely to have a cast or stitches."

"Somehow, I can picture that," Dr. Darcy nodded.

"Has the tree house been there for a long time?"

"As long as I remember. I spent a lot of time in that tree house...a lot of it with Mark. He was younger than I and was afraid of crawling up the ladder. I sort of looked after him, and then he looked after my sister when she was afraid of it. I guess it is a tradition. There was always a little Morgan or Darcy or Bailey that needed some bigger Morgan or Darcy or Bailey to watch over them at the tree house."

"That's nice that you took care of each other," Elizabeth replied.

"Well, we had our moments, but for the most part, we got along."

Dr. Darcy got out of the SUV again and walked to open her door. She vowed to do a better job of extricating herself. She didn't want to slide out again and embarrass herself.

"Perhaps if you pretend you are in a tree, it would be easier." Darcy couldn't help himself. The look on her face was a reward for his attempt at humor.

She found a way to get out of the vehicle and land nimbly on her new shoes and carried her purse and her gift up to the front door.

The door was answered by a butler who seemed to recognize Dr. Darcy. He said, "Dr. Darcy, it is a pleasure to see you again. Please come in."

He introduced Elizabeth to Mr. Bagley, the butler, and they were shown to one of larger family rooms that faced the rear of the house. The gardens in the back were equally as beautiful as the front with signs of fall everywhere.

Sharon came in the room with a sleeping Riley and greeted the guests that had already arrived. She started, "It looks like almost everyone is here now. If you don't mind Elizabeth, I will take this opportunity to introduce you to those you haven't met."

Sharon was gracious and serene as she helped Elizabeth make the acquaintance of those around her. They were kind and gracious, but they were also quiet and reserved. She was thankful that Sharon was affable and comfortable. The household staff that assisted with drinks and hors d'oeurves were also charming.

Elizabeth was looking at Riley and wanted so much to hold her. Sharon must have been a mind reader, because she asked Lizzy if she could help her with Riley while she spoke with Mr. Bagley about the guests that hadn't arrived. Sharon was surprised that the baby was still asleep, and hinted to Lizzy, "I wouldn't be upset at all if she happened to wake up. I would like to feed her soon."

Elizabeth was thrilled to hold Rile, and she held the sleeping baby close in her arms. She smelled of baby powder and her little eyelids fluttered occasionally. She was such a nice little package to hold.

Dr. Darcy was still standing near Elizabeth, but was talking to Mark's father. He tried to follow the conversation while nonchalantly watching Elizabeth. She walked over to an empty wing chair and pulled the baby closer to her. Her blanket was very light pink and possibly the softest fabric she had ever felt. Riley still breathed a little like a newborn, deep and full with occasional pauses. Elizabeth was kissing Riley's little fists and her little cheeks and neck. What she really looked like to Darcy was a lady on a mission to play with an awake baby. Yes, she was trying to guiltlessly wake up this baby without anyone else in the room knowing about it! He smiled inside and nodded agreement to something Mr. Morgan had just said.

Resuming his quiet surveillance of "Project Wake Up Sleeping Baby," Darcy had to repeat his mantra to himself, "She belongs to someone else. She belongs to someone else. You can't have her. You can't change it. Let it be. Let it be. You are only going to get trampled. Let it be. You are going to be hurt. Disconnect from this.

He heard Lizzy's quiet laugh and noticed that Riley had finally awoken and was giving a little yawn and stretching her back into a big "C" shape before drawing in her little arms and legs and rolling into "package" shape. Lizzy was thrilled and she opened her eyes as wide as she could to draw the baby's attention. She started to barely hum "You Are My Sunshine." Darcy thought that very few people could see this or hear this. He could watch the two of them for a long time.

Riley started to fuss for a moment, and Lizzy changed the baby's position and put her over her right shoulder and started to stand and walk her over to a large window. She talked to the baby constantly and asked her what she thought about her house and asked what tree was going to be the best for climbing. Riley settled down straight away.

Lizzy heard a loud gurgling, rumble from Riley's tiny stomach and before she knew it, Riley had spit up and left the former, impressively huge, contents of her stomach down the front of Elizabeth's suit and on one of her shoes.

How a tiny baby could produce such a big mess amazed Darcy. But he was still in awe that a six pound being could scream as loud as they could. They were minute beings, but mighty.

Elizabeth surveyed her damages, and smiled at Riley with a gleam in her eye. "Well, young Miss Morgan, if you didn't care for my outfit, you merely needed to tell me. Such a graphic condemnation was not necessary." She then proceeded to kiss Riley on the clean side of her face and look for a cocktail napkin or something to wipe the tiny baby's face clean. She continued to kiss and rub Riley's hair while she searched the room for something to dry the baby's mouth and cheek, unconcerned about the damage done to her own clothing. She whispered in the baby's ear, "Now don't you fret about all that spit up; that's why God invented dry cleaning. We'll just have to hang on for a bit until Mommy comes back and we can put you into a little outfit that is dry, mon cherie!"

Elizabeth sensed someone approaching her and thought it must be Sharon. She looked up and noticed Dr. Darcy reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out a pressed handkerchief. "Excuse me, I thought that you might be needing this."

She was hoping that he might appreciate the humor of Miss Riley's actions, but he left immediately without smiling. Elizabeth realized that he must have noticed the huge mess that used to be her favorite purple suit. He seemed to have something on his mind that was bothering him; maybe he was embarrassed that she was pretty much covered in ..well...stuff. He was most anxious to walk away. She had liked becoming acquainted with him. She was almost ready to call him "William" and feel natural doing it.

Her eyes had lost her twinkle, and she looked at Riley for a distraction. A little bit of...was it anger?...started to swirl around her. "Well, any doctor that doesn't understand baby vomit can...I don't know...well, I do know, but I'm not going to say it."

Lizzy stood with her back to the room and presently heard Sharon walking quickly over to her. She began, "Elizabeth, please come with me. Apparently, I know two young ladies that could do with a costume change. Come here, Miss Riley." Sharon scooped her daughter into her hands, and said, "Please follow me and I'll show you the nursery. Would you like to see it?"

"I'd love to. Riley was telling me all about it." The three of them were off.

Dr. Darcy knew he had been distant when he gave her his handkerchief, but he was feeling too much. He was aching every time he saw her or heard her voice. He needed to gain control of this. He was more than accomplished at being detached when the situation required it, and if he was going to get over his disappointment with heart intact, he would have to start building the wall. He was going to build it, he was aware he had to, but he hated it. She was in love with someone else. This Matt was obviously in love with her. He could hear his father and mother whispering into his heart, "William, be a gentleman at all times." He would.

Sharon led the way to Riley's nursery and Elizabeth was awestruck. It was the size of one of her old apartments, and it was frilly like a pink wedding cake! The window seat was huge and extra deep and Riley was already forming quite a stuffed animal collection. Someone had done a beautiful charcoal sketch of Riley already. It was a very good likeness.

The walls were painted in a pattern of twelve inch, alternating pink and white stripes. There was what appeared to be an antique table and chairs with a little tea set, waiting for Miss Riley to grow old enough to have a tea party. The table had been very well loved. It looked like generations of little girls had held court at these little pieces of furniture.

Lizzy continued to look around the room, secretly hoping that there would be a good spot for Riley's little gift. Maybe over the dresser over there. Sharon came back with two outfits that she thought might appeal to Lizzy. Both were originals, and both were the perfect size. "Are you sure you want to let me wear these? I didn't do too well with my own clothes. I'd hate to ruin your wardrobe as well!"

Sharon smiled and said, "Well, if someone did ruin my wardrobe, I would be honored if it was my friend, Elizabeth, that did the ruining. And if Riley has another 'eruption," than the cleaners will just have to get used to having many more clothes to tend to."

While Sharon changed Riley into a little linen, smocked dress, Lizzy slipped into a deep red, almost burgundy, satin blouse that was very fitted and a matching, equally fitted, skirt. The skirt was almost tea-length, but the fit of it required a rather drastic slit in the back to make movement more comfortable.

"Miss Riley, does this outfit appeal to you as well?" Elizabeth cooed at her. Sharon carefully gathered Lizzy's jacket and slacks and took them back to her sitting room. "I'll have Mr. Bagley attend to those for us. And in the time being, I think we both need one of these." Sharon had two embroidered cloth diapers that had been edged in satin. "A friend of mine made these for a baby shower. They are bona fide cloth diapers, but they are what Mark called 'fancy burp rags.' " He must have heard his mother call them that.

Sharon looked at them for a moment, and gathered Riley and the two of them descended the grand, carved staircase together.

At the bottom of the stairs, Mr. Bagley informed Sharon that the last couple had indeed arrived and were with the rest of the guests. Sharon thanked him. Two beautiful ladies and one beautiful infant walked into the room, and heads turned.

Darcy didn't think anything could be as becoming as the purple suit. This deep red satin ensemble made its wearer all the more luminescent. His job building a wall would be even more difficult now.

Sharon welcomed the last couple and invited everyone into the dining room for a celebratory early dinner. Lizzy hadn't seen a table like this in person. All twenty or so guests were seated at a long, long table that looked like something from a palace or a state dining room. Each place setting had a sterling charger, and multiple stemware and flatware for each diner. She felt as if she was at an embassy, not a private home. Sharon sat at the head of the table with Riley in her lap. A maid of some sort offered to take the baby so the lady could eat, but Sharon smiled and said thank you, but that she would manage.

Lizzy was seated at Sharon's right and Dr. Darcy was next to her. The priest from the church said a word of thanks, and servers began entering the dining room. Elizabeth noticed that Sharon moved food around her plate and took a few bites, but really didn't eat anything. She saw Dr. Darcy watching Sharon pretend to eat as well. Elizabeth would talk to her about that in private later. The calorie demands on a nursing mother were high. Sharon needed more than two bites of salad and one of bread.

After dessert had been served, they returned once more to the previous salon, and Sharon asked if Lizzy would like another turn with Riley. Elizabeth didn't even need to issue a response. She placed the embroidered cloth on her shoulder and held her close, hoping that no one could hear her singing, "You Are My Sunshine." Lizzy knew she couldn't sing, but that didn't stop her from singing to babies.

Sharon sat in a soft brown cigar chair and looked like she was a feeling the fatigue of the day. Guests began to hand her gifts for the baby. She asked if she should open them now or wait, and everyone wanted her to open them in their presence. The gifts were sweet and Sharon thanked each person sincerely. Riley now had three more monogrammed silver baby cups, bibles with her name stamped on the cover, a few more beautiful layette items, and antique toys from family members that handed them down as heirlooms.

The second to the last gift was from Lizzy, and Sharon carefully removed the ribbon and said that she'd save it in the event Riley ever had hair to speak of. The laughter from the other guests warmed the room. Sharon carefully picked up the cut glass hanging and held it up for all to see. She instantly understood why Elizabeth had picked it out. Sharon felt tears threatening, and thanked Lizzy for such a well-chosen gift. She mentioned that she had an ideal place to hang it.

She sat up to hug Lizzy and she whispered in her ear, "I know that Riley will keep that forever. She'll know her dad is watching over her. Thank you."

Darcy watched this with slightly wide eyes and was proud of Elizabeth for finding such an appropriate and sweet piece. His gift was the last to be opened.

Sharon unwrapped the same type of ribbon that had been tied around Lizzy's package and pulled out another piece of identical glass, apparently from the same studio. This piece was the same size and shape as Lizzy's, but it had text, whereas Lizzy's did not. Bordered with a quilt work pattern of faceted glass was etched glass that read,

This was almost too much for Sharon and she stood up to hug Dr. Darcy as well and again whispered into his ear. He murmured, "You're welcome. Oh, but there is something more I wanted her to have."

He pulled out a miniscule pink cotton t-shirt that said, "I was proudly delivered by Dr. Darcy!"

Sharon couldn't help but laugh in appreciation and held it up to Riley's neck to see how it looked. Riley made some sort of sudden guttural cheer that had the room rejoicing over such a smart baby.

Mr. Bagley approached Elizabeth and announced with one eyebrow raised and a warm smile, "Miss Bennett, I believe your purse is ringing."

Lizzy thanked him with her laughter and excused herself. She pulled out her cell phone and answered it. Jane was on the line.

"Lizzy, would it be possible for you to drop by Fratelli's about seven? Matt called and he wants us...demands us... to come and have dinner. He's been trying to call you for hours and he said he couldn't get you to pick up."

"I guess I was separated from my purse for awhile. I didn't even hear it ringing."

"You have got to come. He proposed to Meegan today and this is an impromptu engagement party that promises to be pretty festive. Do you think you will be able to come?"

"Probably, I'm not sure. I think the reception will be over soon. I'll go home and change first. If I don't come, I will never hear the end of it, and I want them both to grovel at my feet in appreciation for my stunningly well-done matchmaking!"

Jane was excited, "I knew that you would find a way to come just for that alone. I'll call Matt and tell him that I got a hold of you and I'll see you soon."

"Sounds good, Jane."

"Lizzy, um, Dr. Bingley dropped by my office earlier and he brought over some tickets to the Aztec art exhibit opening. When we were visiting, Matt came by and invited him to Fratelli's, too. What do you think of that?"

"If you two are that into Aztec art, than have fun." "I'm not talking about the museum, I'm talking about Fratelli's. What do you think about him coming with me?"

"I'd say that that would be absolutely perfect, Jane. I won't get much of a chance to talk to you, I'm sure, but good for you, Jane. Hooray! I think Dr. Bingley has pretty good taste."

"Love you, Lizzy. See you soon."

"Love you, too, Mrs. Bingley!"

"Lizzy STOP it. You are not even allowed to think such things, let alone say them. Is that understood, little sister?"

"Oh, yes. I'm quivering in your wake. Wear your new outfit. Bye."

Lizzy hung up the phone and saw Dr. Darcy walking towards her and he weakly smiled. "I think Sharon is fairly tired. Do you think it would be a good time to make our apologies and leave?" he asked.

"Yes, I noticed that she probably needs some peace and quiet, and I also think she needs to eat a bit of something," Lizzie responded.

"Yes. I already spoke to her about that."

Lizzy made her way to Sharon and held out her arms and hugged her like she hugged Jane. "I'm going to go now, but thank you for inviting me to come. I enjoyed it so much, and Riley is an angel. Thank you so much."

"Lizzy, thank you so much for the glasswork. It is perfect." Tears finally came to Sharon's tired eyes and Lizzy whispered into her ear with arms around her.

"Riley and I would like to remind you to get some soup and a glass of milk, or something stronge, when everyone leaves. Then, you both should take a nap together, if Riley cooperates. If not, have someone tend to her while you sleep. Lizzy's orders."

"William said pretty much the same thing. I promise. Goodbye for now, Lizzy. I'll call you soon, if you don't mind. I'd like to see you again."

"Absolutely. Goodbye."

"Bye, Elizabeth."

Lizzy walked out to the SUV with Dr. Darcy and as he opened the door for her, his phone began ringing. He answered, "Dr. Darcy. Hi Bingley."

"I'm afraid I can't. I'm sure it would be, but no. I can't. I have to...work."

"I'm sorry. I do not want to go. I don't feel like Italian. Goodbye."

Lizzy only heard one side of this conversation, but could fill in the blanks. Dr. Darcy had lied to his cousin about having to work. This wasn't his call weekend. He didn't have to work. Bingley had tried to get the two of them to Fratelli's, probably on Jane's suggestion.

Lizzy had too much pride to let on that she knew what Bingley's side of the phone call had been. She opened her purse and pretended to be looking for something. Clearly, this man had been operating on obligation alone and didn't want it to be mistaken for more.

Elizabeth never would have admitted it, not even to Jane, but she would have liked to go to Fratelli's with Dr. Darcy. It would have been much better than good, she thought.

The realist in Lizzy continued to pretend to sort through her purse while she tried to make peace with the obvious: Dr. Darcy did not want to spend any more time with her than necessary.
Assess and act, Lizzy. He wasn't interested.

Darcy was in hell. If he had gone to dinner with her, more of her would twine around him. He would feel worse than he already did, when he had to say goodbye at evening's end without the promise of more time together tomorrow.

The remainder of the drive was quiet, but polite. They spoke of Sharon's need for time and rest, and discussed the architecture of the Morgan estate. Both were painfully civil. Darcy drove into the parking garage at her apartment, and escorted her to her door. She reached for a smile deep within her, and thanked him for accompanying her. She was as good an actress as she possibly could be. He complimented her on her choice of gift, and she reciprocated. He wished her a good day at work tomorrow, and she wished him a good, relaxing rest of the weekend.

Lizzy locked the door behind her and made her way to her leather chair and sniffed it. Darcy went to his car and shut the door behind him and stared out the windshield. There was no joy in either of them.

Continued in Next Section