I would imagine it's pretty hard to see to your patients if you're constantly worried about seizing."
"Yeah." Eric glanced at his watch. The patient was scheduled to arrive in an hour and he wanted some quiet time with the chart and the films to be as well prepared as possible. "Hey Drew?"
Recognizing the look on his friend's face, Andrew put the chart down and grinned. "I know, I know. Princess needs her space to get in this zone."
Andrew ran for the door, closing it behind him as Eric chucked a pen at him. With his shift almost over he headed to the cafeteria in search of one more cup of coffee to see him through. He was sent reeling as a petite woman careened into him.
Reaching out he righted the woman. "Watch where you're....Sarah?"
Her eyes were almost wild with fear. Her normally meticulous appearance had been replaced with some kind of homage to dishevelment.
"Where is Eric?" Her breathing was ragged as she dragged her hand through her hair.
"Why? Here to spread your special brand of humorless cheer?"
"Shut up," she hissed angrily. "Where is he? I need to see him."
Bristling at her words, he pulled himself to his full height and studied her carefully. "Is something wrong with Jack?"
She shook her head wordlessly.
"Then what is it?"
"Where is he?"
Exasperated at her unwillingness to answer his question he exhaled slowly. "He's with a patient."
"Who?" She bit out as she reached out to grasp his arm for emphasis.
Shocked by her touch, Andrew glanced down to her hand grasping his forearm and was struck, not for the first time, by the contrast of her fair skin against his own deep olive tone.
"Drew, who is Eric's patient?" Her grip on his arm got tighter.
"Sarah, why does it matter who he is with? It is none of your business and if it isn't about Jack then you need to go. He doesn't need your sanctimonious, self-righteous, 'I am the keeper of all knowledge' crap. What he needs is-"
"It's Nathalie" she blurted.
Andrew said little for a moment as he tried to process what she had just said. "Wh-what? What do you mean it's Nathalie?"
"I mean his patient. His patient is Nathalie and I need to get to him....to her...to them before they see each other"
He shook his head. "His patient is some doctor from Africa whose name is definitely not Nathalie Grant."
"Is it Thabo?" she asked urgently.
He blanched. "How do you know that?"
"Because that's her doctor's name. Nathalie is...was...in Africa. She was sent here for treatment."
"Eric has no idea what he's about to walk into" Andrew said as much to himself as he did to her.
"Neither does Nat. Andrew....they can't just meet like this. Not after all these years, not after all that's happened."
Though his friend pretended he was tough he knew better than anyone that Nathalie was like kryptonite to him. The memory of her could still bring him to his knees; seeing her when he had no clue would be so much worse.
Grabbing hold of Sarah's hand, he tugged her along. "Let's go!"
#
Nathalie pulled at the hospital gown in a feeble attempt to ward off the chill. She was exhausted and incredibly cranky after her long flight and the unnaturally chilly air floating down from the vent was not helping her mood. All she had wanted to do when they landed was to check into the hotel and sleep off the jet lag. She had been non-plussed to discover Doctor Thabo had booked an appointment for her that very same day. Fearing she was going to say something to Keith she could not take back and just needing some time to herself, she had asked him to fill out the insurance paperwork for her.
She could see the small tremor in her leg and knew a seizure was bubbling up.. Between the headaches and the seizures she had reached the point where at least half of every day was spent trying to recover from or ward off an episode. She had dosed up on pain medication for the flight over but it did little to relieve the ever present headaches.
Keith, ever the investigative journalist, had researched almost every aspect of Doctor Freidman's career. He pulled journal articles, research awards and media announcements about his advances. He told her he felt confident she would be in good hands. He was taking such good care of her - or at least taking as much care of her as she would allow - and she felt terrible about it.
Her conversation