Her Family For Keeps

Duncan gave a snort as the elevator doors whooshed open. “I think you’ve had quite an introduction already. The entire staff knows who you are by now, so just go home. I’ll tell Herm.”

“If you’re sure it’s going to be okay…”

“It’ll be fine.” The elevators took them to the first floor, and they exited. “Today is an admin day for me, so I’m going to do the bare essentials and head to the gym. Always helps me blow off the stress of the day.”

“My apartment complex has a pool. Maybe I’ll take a swim.”

“Good idea. Don’t forget the sunscreen. At this elevation the rays are more intense. See you tomorrow.” He’d hate to see all that luscious skin damaged by the sun. It was beautiful and she obviously worked to keep it that way.

Rebel turned and held out her hand. Duncan took it. “I’d like to say it was a pleasure to meet you, but I’m not sure that’s the right thing to say.” She met his eyes and held his gaze. This was a very interesting man. Unfortunately, she hadn’t come here to be sidetracked by gorgeous doctors. Men and emotional relationships didn’t go with her long-term goals, so there was no use in establishing a short-term one either. Men were fine as friends and the occasional lover. Too many times she’d counted on a man and had been disappointed. She needed to be in control and if she were in a relationship, she lost that. Plain and simple.

“How about ‘See you tomorrow’?”

“Good enough.” They shook hands, and Rebel untangled her sunglasses from on top of her head and walked out into the bright June sunlight, determined to make it to her car before another disaster happened.

Hitching her backpack across one shoulder, she tried not to look at the scene of where they had found Eric. That, like so many other bad memories, already had a permanent place in her brain.

Thoughts of Duncan, however, lingered. How would it be to work side by side with such a dynamic man? She’d worked in many types of hospitals and clinics, and there had been plenty of handsome doctors to be had, but this one was different. Somehow, deep in her gut, she knew something was different about Duncan, and she itched to know what it was. Could it be that the intensity of the situation they’d just been through was making her see things that weren’t there?

She didn’t think so, as she’d been through many tough situations with many doctors in the past. Today, however, made her think more about what it would be like to have a man like that around her more often.

Those dark, dangerous eyes of his remained in her mind.

CHAPTER THREE (#u2e71ae3d-769c-5d0b-b5b0-403fb0b1a3a1)

THE NEXT DAY dawned as bright and shiny as any she’d ever seen.

Until she arrived just before her morning shift to find the ER in complete chaos. This ER was shaping up to be just like most of the ones she’d worked in. Either it was complete bedlam, or the staff were falling asleep from sheer boredom.

She took a deep breath, shoved her backpack beneath the desk and hurried to the first busy room she found. “I’m your new traveler. Someone give me a job.”

A Hispanic man strode over to her with his glasses perched precariously on top of his graying hair and shoved a clipboard into her hands. “Here. Run the code. I’ll be back in ten minutes.”

Gulp. Running a code within thirty seconds of arriving. That was a record, but this was something she was fully capable of managing. She squeezed behind staff members who were performing all kinds of tasks around a patient who had been in a traumatic accident.

She looked at the clipboard. Pedestrian. Hit by a high-speed vehicle, thrown forty feet in the air. Possible neck and spine injuries. Probable head injury. Punctured one lung. Blood in the abdomen.

If he survived, he’d spend the next year in rehab all because someone hadn’t looked both ways. She read the cardiac monitor. His heart rate was fast, rhythm good.

“What do you need next, Doctor?” She hadn’t met any of the physicians yet, so she didn’t know who she was working with.

“Glad you’re here, Rebel. Call Radiology. Need a chest X-ray, abdominal films.” She knew the voice and a little bit of her relaxed, and a little of her got excited at the compliment. Although she couldn’t see his face behind the mask and goggles, she knew Duncan was in charge of this case. The sound of his voice was reassuring and made a funny squiggle in the pit of her stomach at the same time. The man had definitely made an impact on her senses yesterday.

“Got it.” She turned to the phone on the wall. Fortunately, there was an extensive phone list posted nearby. After the first call, she checked the monitor again. The heart rhythm had changed. Not looking good.

“Doctor. He’s had a rhythm change.”

Duncan twisted around and looked at it for himself. “Dammit. I was hoping we could get him to the OR before he crashed. Get a chest tube set up.”

She set the clipboard down. “Where are they?”

“There. One of the other nurses pointed to a cabinet right behind Duncan. Rebel squished her way through the bodies in the room to fetch the sterile tray, dropped it onto a portable tray table, opened it, and donned sterile gloves.

“I’m back.” The man who had given her the clipboard returned to take over.

“We’re putting a chest tube in on the left.” Rebel called out the information so he could catch up to where they were in the situation and record it. “Rhythm is V-tach. Rate one-eighty.” She prepared to assist Duncan with the procedure. Duncan removed his gloves, and she held out a new, sterile pair for him. A collapsed lung would be deadly along with all of his other injuries.

After insertion, blood poured through the tubing into the collection container and the heart monitor settled down. Rebel drew a deep breath. Yet another save before eight in the morning by a doctor she was coming to have confidence in very rapidly. “Good going, Doc.”

The only response was a connecting of glances and a nod. The tension of the code dwindled as the patient stabilized and was being prepared for transfer to the operating room for surgery.

“Rebel, right? What a name. I’m Hermano Vega, but call me Herm. I’m the charge nurse in this madhouse for today. You’re with me for orientation. The others can get him upstairs.”

Rebel shook his hand, liking his gentle, fatherly demeanor immediately. “Nice to meet you.”

“Quite the first day, no?” He echoed Duncan’s statement from earlier. “Come on. Let’s get you settled.” He turned and motioned for her to follow. Though she looked back as Duncan removed his protective gear, she went along with Herm. Somehow that man had gotten under her skin, and they’d only met yesterday.

“Great. What sort of torture do you have planned for me this morning?” There was always torture involved at the beginning of a new assignment.

Herm gave her a stern look over his glasses, and her gut twisted a little. Maybe she was being too flip too soon. Eek.

“The evil policy and procedure manual.”

Rebel relaxed. Yep. This was going to be just like every other ER she’d worked in. Torture with orientation material then release her to the wild.

“You’ve got the expedited orientation training to go through for travelers. Fire safety, infection control, HIPPA, etcetera. All online now. I’ll set you up with a computer terminal then we can talk about your schedule.” Schedule. The most important thing to keep staff happy. Aside from payday. And good coffee.

“Got it.” She looked around the station. “Is there by chance a cup of coffee somewhere I could snag first?”

“Oh, sure.” He gave a nod down the hall. “Grab what you need, then back here for the mind-meld the rest of the day. If you get it all done today, you can go home early.”

“Awesome.”

Rebel wandered down the hall to the staff-only area and the crazed energy of the main unit eased a bit until she opened the door to the small lounge. Then her heart fluttered when she saw Duncan in his blue scrubs, coffee in hand, leaning against the counter.

His eyes were closed, and he seemed lost in his thoughts. She paused a moment, uncertain whether or not to disturb him, but the smell of coffee called to her.

“Come in. I know someone’s there. I’m just perfecting my sleeping while standing up technique.”

With a little smile, Rebel entered the lounge. “I thought that’s what you were doing. Maybe you can give me some pointers for the next time I work a stretch of night shifts.”

Duncan opened his eyes a little, glad to hear her voice free of tension. Obviously she’d been able to let the stress of yesterday go. That was a good thing. Today she looked as gorgeous as she had yesterday. But her hair was up in a clip with little strands handing down to tease her face. He had to resist the urge to push some of that mass back behind her ear. Those weren’t the kinds of thoughts he should be having about a new coworker, but he seemed powerless to resist. He cleared his throat. “Not scared off after yesterday and walking into that trauma today?”

“Nope. You?”

“Nah.” His smile was self-deprecating. “I grew up with four sisters, four brothers and twenty-five cousins. I saw more trauma and drama than you’d guess by the time I was twelve.”

“I see. That’s a huge family.” Indeed. Hers had dwindled down to just her mother and herself, with a few cousins in the Mid-West somewhere.