five
years. Using her work as a balm to salvage her soul after the
divorce had helped distract her then, but it had also worn her out
physically. Maybe she'd put in for some time off, before she let
her tongue loose on her bastard of a boss and lost her job. Holding
her tongue was not in Terri's nature, and doing it made her brain
want to short circuit.
At the hospital fifteen minutes before her
shift began, Terri parked her car in the employee lot and breathed
a sigh of relief. All she needed was to get yelled at for being
late again. It didn't matter if it was one time, and only two
minutes, Dr. Gregory would be on her two-yard-line, because he
could call her into the doctor's lounge...alone.
Grabbing her sack lunch off the car seat,
Terri got out and locked the door, then hustled through the sliding
doors at the front of the hospital. The ER was on the first floor,
and not far inside the doors. Hanging a right, she almost jogged
toward the triage desk, taking a glance at the already full waiting
room she passed on the way. It was going to be one of those days, and Terri was hopeful that Dr. Gregory would be too busy to
give her a hard time.
The night nurse manning the triage desk looked
up when she got near "Doc Gregory says you're in the back today,"
she told her with sympathy in her eyes. Everyone knew how he was,
hated working with him, but nobody did anything. People talked
though and she'd heard whispers that a couple of the other nurses,
were having the same issues with him. They weren't going to say
anything either though and lose their jobs.
With a groan, Terri gave her a tight smile,
before walking toward the nurses station. After stashing her
sandwich in the mini-fridge, she pulled on her lab coat, clipped on
her name badge, then put her stethoscope around her neck. As if
he'd sensed her presence, Dr. Gregory walked out of an examining
room and headed her way.
"Terri, I need to see you in the lounge," he
told her without stopping to make eye contact. He strode down the
hall toward the lounge and Terri got a sick feeling in her stomach.
With her feet moving like she was wearing lead shoes, she rounded
the nurses station and followed him.
When she entered the lounge, he was leaned
back against a desk in the corner and had a smug smile on his
face.
"Good, girl," he drawled then his hands went
to the belt at the waist of his trousers.
Surprise and alarm shot through her, because
he'd never been this blatant before. Terri stopped halfway across
the room and asked, "Dr. Gregory, what are you doing?"
"What are you going to do is the question, my
dear. I reviewed the case file from that ten-year-old we treated
for the dog bite last week. I got word that he's in intensive care
now with rabies , and I determined it was because of a
nursing error he didn't receive the rabies treatment protocol. You
failed to tell me it was a dog bite. We can fix this of course, I can fix it, with the proper motivation ."
Terri searched back through her mind and
identified the child he was talking about. "That kid was fine when
he left here...I told you the wound was from a dog bite and you
determined the protocol wasn't necessary!"
The smarmy fifty-something doctor shook his
head and tsked a few times. "Your case notes are not indicative of
that, my dear. They simply state that it was a puncture and tear he
received while playing in his backyard."
"I put dog bite in there as clear as
day! And you know I told you that!" Terri shouted her hands
clenching into fists at her sides. The urge to punch him in the
nose was so strong, she had to fight to restrain
herself.
"No, I don't recall that at all...but maybe
you could refresh my memory. If I'm going to take the fall for your
incompetence, you're going to make it worth my while," he said and
finished unbuckling his belt, before he slid the zipper down his
fly.
"When pigs fly you dirty old bastard!" Terri
told him and spun on her heel then pushed through the door.
Standing in the
years. Using her work as a balm to salvage her soul after the
divorce had helped distract her then, but it had also worn her out
physically. Maybe she'd put in for some time off, before she let
her tongue loose on her bastard of a boss and lost her job. Holding
her tongue was not in Terri's nature, and doing it made her brain
want to short circuit.
At the hospital fifteen minutes before her
shift began, Terri parked her car in the employee lot and breathed
a sigh of relief. All she needed was to get yelled at for being
late again. It didn't matter if it was one time, and only two
minutes, Dr. Gregory would be on her two-yard-line, because he
could call her into the doctor's lounge...alone.
Grabbing her sack lunch off the car seat,
Terri got out and locked the door, then hustled through the sliding
doors at the front of the hospital. The ER was on the first floor,
and not far inside the doors. Hanging a right, she almost jogged
toward the triage desk, taking a glance at the already full waiting
room she passed on the way. It was going to be one of those days, and Terri was hopeful that Dr. Gregory would be too busy to
give her a hard time.
The night nurse manning the triage desk looked
up when she got near "Doc Gregory says you're in the back today,"
she told her with sympathy in her eyes. Everyone knew how he was,
hated working with him, but nobody did anything. People talked
though and she'd heard whispers that a couple of the other nurses,
were having the same issues with him. They weren't going to say
anything either though and lose their jobs.
With a groan, Terri gave her a tight smile,
before walking toward the nurses station. After stashing her
sandwich in the mini-fridge, she pulled on her lab coat, clipped on
her name badge, then put her stethoscope around her neck. As if
he'd sensed her presence, Dr. Gregory walked out of an examining
room and headed her way.
"Terri, I need to see you in the lounge," he
told her without stopping to make eye contact. He strode down the
hall toward the lounge and Terri got a sick feeling in her stomach.
With her feet moving like she was wearing lead shoes, she rounded
the nurses station and followed him.
When she entered the lounge, he was leaned
back against a desk in the corner and had a smug smile on his
face.
"Good, girl," he drawled then his hands went
to the belt at the waist of his trousers.
Surprise and alarm shot through her, because
he'd never been this blatant before. Terri stopped halfway across
the room and asked, "Dr. Gregory, what are you doing?"
"What are you going to do is the question, my
dear. I reviewed the case file from that ten-year-old we treated
for the dog bite last week. I got word that he's in intensive care
now with rabies , and I determined it was because of a
nursing error he didn't receive the rabies treatment protocol. You
failed to tell me it was a dog bite. We can fix this of course, I can fix it, with the proper motivation ."
Terri searched back through her mind and
identified the child he was talking about. "That kid was fine when
he left here...I told you the wound was from a dog bite and you
determined the protocol wasn't necessary!"
The smarmy fifty-something doctor shook his
head and tsked a few times. "Your case notes are not indicative of
that, my dear. They simply state that it was a puncture and tear he
received while playing in his backyard."
"I put dog bite in there as clear as
day! And you know I told you that!" Terri shouted her hands
clenching into fists at her sides. The urge to punch him in the
nose was so strong, she had to fight to restrain
herself.
"No, I don't recall that at all...but maybe
you could refresh my memory. If I'm going to take the fall for your
incompetence, you're going to make it worth my while," he said and
finished unbuckling his belt, before he slid the zipper down his
fly.
"When pigs fly you dirty old bastard!" Terri
told him and spun on her heel then pushed through the door.
Standing in the