Seattle General - Chapter 22

Disclaimer: I don't own Twilight, but I'm grateful to Stephenie Meyer for her dream! A special shout-out to my friend, Stephanie, for helping to name the Cheney's son!!

BPOV

Even though Edward and I had been married a couple of months now, we hadn't slowed down in the lovemaking department. In fact, it seemed we desired each other more than ever before. We normally went to bed in pajamas in case Sweetpea needed us, but Edward usually found a way to divest me of my nightgown before the morning light crept int o our bedroom. He said he preferred sleeping next to me naked – and truthfully, I liked feeling his naked form next to me as well. He took such good care of me, both in bed and out. Not that sometimes he didn't leave me gasping for air in bed, but that was so incredibly pleasurable, I could hardly fault him.

It was nearly the end of May and we were looking forward to visiting Charlie and Sue for the Memorial Day holiday. Sweetpea regularly received items in the mail from them – they were spoiling her terribly. My mother sent things as well, but hers were a bit more random. She didn't feel as close to my mom as she did her relatives in Forks.

I had taken Sweetpea to kindergarten this morning after we saw Edward off to work with many kisses. That was our favorite part of the day – being able to be there for him as he went off to work. I didn't know if we'd be able to keep the same schedule once she was enrolled in first grade.

I was working on scrapbooking our wedding and reception photos when a wave of nausea hit me. I ran to the bathroom and got there just in time. As I lost my breakfast, I thought about the conversation Edward and I had a couple of weeks ago about me getting off the birth control pills so we could give Sweetpea a baby brother or sister. I had agreed and stopped taking them. Now it wasn't sounding like such a great idea. I had forgotten how badly my body responded to medication changes. Augh – will the horror ever end? My stomach stopped heaving and I cleaned myself up.

The phone rang just then. It was Ben Cheney. He was calling to let me know Angela had her baby during the night. How exciting! She had a boy and they decided to name him Eric Lucas. She wouldn't be released until much later, so if I had some time today, I could come by the hospital and see them. I told them I just might do that as I didn't have much going on. I didn't tell them I'd just given up my breakfast to the porcelain god in the bathroom, but Ben didn't need to know that.

I grabbed a package of saltine crackers from the cupboard in the kitchen after I hung up from Ben's phone call. The phone rang again. "Hello?" I said.

"Hi!" came the enthusiastic reply from my best friend, Alice.

"How are you?" I asked.

"I'm doing good," she replied. "How about you?" She was really looking pregnant now and happy as a clam about it. She truly was the most adorable pregnant woman I'd ever seen!

"Oh, I'm ok."

"What's wrong, sweetie?" Alice could tell right away when something wasn't right in my little world.

"Oh, Alice, I've just finished giving up my breakfast to the porcelain god. Augh! I should never have agreed to go off the birth control pills. You know how any medication changes really screw with my body."

"Are you sure it's the medication change and you're not pregnant?" she asked.

"Are you crazy? It's only been a couple of weeks. I certainly couldn't be pregnant that soon. Geez!"

Alice continued, "Bella, you never know. How about we get together for lunch tomorrow? I miss you and need to see you! We can go shopping for some baby clothes!"

I agreed and hung up. Leave it to Alice to turn lunch into a shopping expedition. It looked like my stomach would hold on for awhile now that the crackers were settling in nicely. I went back to my craft room to work on more photos.

I worked for about another hour when the phone rang again. It was turning into Grand Central Station around the house this morning. "Hello?" I spoke into the receiver.

"Bella Masen?" the voice on the other end of the line asked. I secretly thrilled at hearing myself referred to as that instead of Bella Swan. My heart may have even skipped a few beats.

Concentrating now, I replied, "Yes?"

"This is Leah Clearwater from your daughter, Victoria's, kindergarten."

"Yes? Is there a problem?"

"Yes. Mrs. Masen, could you please come pick your daughter up? She's fallen off the swings on the playground and the nurse believes she has broken her arm."

"I will be right there," I said. I hung up the phone quickly.

I grabbed my keys, my purse and my cell phone. I called Edward right away, but his cell phone went right to voice mail. Where the hell was he? Fuck! I really needed him to answer right now.

I called Mrs. Cope. She answered on the second ring.

"Mrs. Cope, this is Bella. I really need to get in touch with Edward. Do you know where he is?"

She responded, "Yes, dear. He's meeting with Dr. Cullen at the moment. I will let him know as soon as I see him that you need him to call you back."

"Thank you. I appreciate that so much. Could you let him know I'm bringing Victoria into the hospital? Apparently she broke her arm at school."

Mrs. Cope said, "Oh my goodness. Of course, dear – right away. As soon as I see him."

I hung up from my phone call with Mrs. Cope, still incredibly frustrated that I couldn't get in touch with my husband immediately when I needed him the most. I wasn't going to take my frustration out on her, though. People had done that very thing to me in the past, when there was nothing in my power I could do about it. I'd just attempt to be patient in that regard. Besides, right now, I needed to be strong for our little girl.

When I got to the school, Sweetpea was crying her eyes out. The poor thing. As soon as she saw me, she just started screaming, "Mama!" over and over, along with her crying. My heart was breaking in a million pieces. This was the very first time she'd actually referred to me as "Mama" without "Bella" being attached to it, but I didn't have time to dwell on that right now. I'd file that away in my heart to think about at a later time.

I got Sweetpea installed in her car seat, after hugging her gently to me all the way out to the car. I loved holding her, but seeing her broken was breaking me as well. I kept repeating over and over, "I know, Sweetpea, I'm sorry." I kept trying Edward's cell phone, but it still was going to voice mail. Dammit!

In between her cries, Sweetpea kept saying, "Mama, it hurts so bad." I kept looking into the backseat from my seat in the front, holding onto her foot with my hand and attempting to console her. I was glad we weren't that far from the hospital now. Tears were forming in my eyes as well, although I was trying to keep it together so I could drive in a straight line.

We finally made it to the hospital. I picked my daughter up gingerly and ran with her into the emergency room. Thankfully, one of the nurses I knew was working at the intake desk. She saw Sweetpea's distress and immediately took us back into an exam room. She told me she'd page Edward overhead and see if he could get to the ER stat. I told her "good luck" as he was supposedly in a meeting with the Chief of Staff.

A doctor came in just then – someone I didn't recognize – and he set to work right away. Sweetpea clung to me with her good arm as the doctor proceeded with his examination. She didn't want her "mama" very far away at all. I hoped I was somewhat comforting.

Carlisle POV

I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose as I waited outside the Human Resources office. This was one part of my job I absolutely hated – but it needed to be done. The evidence was too incriminating. Dr. Snow had worked at Seattle General a long time. But recently it appeared as though several narcotics had gone missing through the Pyxis machine that were never administered to patients. His name was the only one attached to them. Dr. Snow technically worked for Edward, and this was his first firing, so I was assisting him with it. Knowing how compassionate Edward was, I'm sure he was more on edge than I was.

The Human Resources office was on the second floor of the hospital and from where I stood, I could see the comings and goings through the main entrance, although the people could not necessarily see me unless they were truly looking my direction. One female form in particular caught my attention. What was she doing here – coming here unannounced? That wasn't like her.

Then my attention was focused on Edward, striding down the hallway toward me, and we entered the Human Resources office together.

EPOV

My day had started off so well – waking up way before the alarm went off and making love to my beautiful wife – that part was fabulous. I grew more in love with her every day. I loved how our bodies responded to each other. I loved our goodbye ritual of all those kisses before I had to leave for work from her and Sweetpea – absolutely delicious. Every morning, it made me want to stay in our warm cocoon at home, but I knew I was the breadwinner and I took that responsibility very seriously. I wanted to provide the best for my girls.

Now I was going through this nightmare of firing one of our physicians who'd been around a lot longer than me. I was grateful for Carlisle's help on this one. Stealing narcotics was a very serious accusation. I was wondering what his response would be. I had all the print-out's from the Pyxis machines. The medications were never administered to the patients. I had signed statements from the nurses working the various shifts Dr. Snow had been working. I ran my hand through my hair in frustration as I caught up with Carlisle in the hallway outside Human Resources.

"Are you ready?" he asked.

"No, but I suppose I'll get the hang of it," I responded. He clapped a hand on my shoulder in support and we entered the office together.

Lauren, our Chief Human Resources Officer, went over the various forms that needed to be filled out for terminating an employee and the procedures that needed to be followed. That part seemed simple enough. Meeting with Dr. Snow was going to be more difficult. We decided to meet with him in Carlisle's office.

I smiled briefly at Kate on my way through to Carlisle's office as we waited for Dr. Snow. She seemed to be working out great in Bella's place. I could tell he still missed Bella's presence, but I was glad to have her all to myself at home. I know – I'm a selfish bastard at times. Everything she'd done in the office just magnified itself hundredfold at home and I knew I was the luckiest bastard on the planet. Speaking of which, I was going to have to send her some flowers again, just to tell her how much I loved her. But enough about that – Dr. Snow was arriving.

"You gentlemen wanted to see me?" he started.

"Yes," Carlisle said. "Won't you sit down?"

Dr. Snow sat opposite of us and said, "So what's this big meeting about, that I have to meet with the Chief of Staff and Chief of Medicine at the same time?"

Carlisle looked at me and I said, "Well, Dr. Snow, it appears there are some narcotics missing from the Pyxis machines. According to the computerized records, you were the last one to access them. The medications were never given to the patients."

Dr. Snow got red in the face and said, "That's a lie! All those patients received the meds!"

Surprisingly, I didn't rise to the occasion and mimic his outburst. I was just sticking to the facts here. "I have signed statements from the nurses who were on the shifts you were working who verify the medications were never given," I stated calmly. I felt my cell phone vibrate in my pocket. Who could be calling me now? I couldn't answer it now, whoever it was. I would just have to check it later.

"Those nurses are liars!" he stated.

Carlisle interjected, "Dr. Snow, I find it difficult to believe that 10 different nurses would be lying."

Dr. Snow spat, "Fuck!"

"So, Dr. Snow," I continued, "as of today, we'll be terminating your employment with Seattle General. We'll give you until the end of the day to clean your office out. You'll be paid through today. You have the option to resign, of course – which would look better on your record than a termination."

Dr. Snow stared both of us down as my cell phone vibrated again – whoever it was, I'd give them points for persistency. They'd just have to wait. I would hope they'd contact Mrs. Cope and get in touch with me through my office.

In the end, Dr. Snow chose to resign. Records of his case would be kept on file in the Human Resources office in case the hospital ever mistakenly considered hiring him again in the future. Carlisle called someone in the Facilities Management department for them to bring some boxes to Dr. Snow's office within the hour. I escorted him back to his office, then took his office keys from him and return them to Security.

I looked at my watch – holy hell – it wasn't even lunch yet and I felt like I'd been through the wringer! I needed to get back to my office and see if I had any pressing issues.

Mrs. Cope wasn't at her desk. I went into my office and sat at my desk. I turned my chair around to look out at the sunshine streaming outside my windows. Then I took out my cell phone to listen to my messages.

? POV

Of course I knew my way around this hospital. I'd certainly been here often enough. Things had just been so busy and I hadn't been here recently.

My husband wouldn't mind this one little indiscretion with Edward. He was practically family. That thought brought a little smile to my face.

There was the Chief of Medicine's office now. And thankfully, his secretary wasn't in at the moment. Even better. I could see Edward sitting at his desk, listening to his cell phone, pressed to his ear as he looked out at the bright, sunny day. I shut his office door with barely an audible click.

I moved quickly to Edward's side to surprise him. I was certain he'd be glad to see me. I leaned down and kissed his neck. Oh please, Edward, I silently begged, take me. Take me right over your desk.

I heard his breath intake sharply and then his hand gained purchase in my hair…