Broken Glass
Dixie juggled an armful of charts and scrambled for the ringing phone. She tripped over her stool and the charts went skittering across the desk. She sighed at the sheaf of scattered pages before fumbling with the reciever. "Ms. McCall," she answered low and calm. No one watching her would've attributed the voice on the phone to the fumbling woman at the desk.
"Who's in charge of the case in room 303?" Kel barked into her ear. "The Thompson girl," he added, as if she had no idea what went on in her emergency room.
Still, Dix kept her cool. Kel could be abrupt during the best of times, and she knew, though she knew precious little else, that something was very wrong with him. As much as his tone rankled her, she held her tongue and reached for her escaped files. "Let's see..." she said absently, and began flicking through the paperwork until she found the right one. "Here we go. Looks like Dr. Early is the physician on record," she said. "Why, what's wrong?"
She had to yank the phone from her ear as Kel barked his answer at top volume. "What's wrong is that she's got some pain in her left hand, and it must be severe, because she never came to during my examination, but she certainly protested my examination of that hand! I wanna know why he didn't have that hand looked at!"
Dix looked around, certain that everyone passing the base station could hear Dr. Brackett raging down the phone line. She breathed a sigh of relief as Joe came around the corner and paused to look at her - and the hollering phone - curiously. "Joe, I think Dr. Brackett has a question for y-"
She heard a definite slam from the phone, and could see people in the waiting area turn towards Kelly's office. "I'm asking YOU," could be heard clearly through the receiver still pulled away from her ear.
"Well I don't know," she barked back, tired of being shouted down for no reason. "If you want to ask Dr. Early about it, he's right here, so go ahead and bite his ear off!" She took a moment to gather herself, and looked at Joe. "He's reading me the riot act about one of those poor kids from yesterday. Would you please talk to him before I get myself written up?"
"Sure, Dix," he said with a slight, grim smile, and took the phone from her hand. She turned her attention to clearing up her dropped files and actively ignoring the growling coming from the phone by counting her way down to a more reasonable heart rate. She was nearly cool again when Joe's side of the conversation began to heat up. She paused to listen to him lecture. "You want a straight answer? Okay, Kel, we were swamped: we had a couple of bus loads of kids, almost as many chaperones, three firemen - one of whom is a) in critical condition, and b) a friend of ours - I'm sure we dropped several balls, Kel, especially since we weren't working with a full complement. But today is a new day, we can pick ‘em up and get back on track. If you'd like, we can start with the patient in 303. Do you want me to come to you, or would you like to meet in the patient’s room?"
Then Joe's face softened. "DeSoto," he said quietly after a moment. He sighed and looked up at Dix, shaking his head. "He's on the critical list," he said into the phone, "but it looks like he might make it."
Then Joe's eyebrows shot up, and he looked down the hall towards Kel's office in alarm. Dix leaned over the desk towards the telephone receiver, straining to hear any signs of life from Kel, who'd grown much quieter after Joe's slip of patience. "Kelly? You still there?" Joe looked at Dix, bewildered. "He doesn't answer. I think he might be crying..."
"Oh no," Dix said, and jumped off her stool. "Wait here," she said, and hurried down the hall.
"Not on your life," Joe said, and she could hear footsteps behind her as he closed the space between them. She didn't waste her breath protesting, even though she was pretty sure Joe's presence wasn't really the best idea. But the dance of social graces could wait until she saw for herself just how urgent Kel's situation was.
Dix burst through the door and pulled up short at the spectacle before her. Kelly looked for all the world like an abandoned child. His lab coat was missing, revealing a rumpled and wrinkled shirt with a half turned collar and a skipped button. His face was buried in his hands, and his whole body shook with the force of his sobs, sobs that filled the room. Dix slipped into the office and, after quietly ushering Joe in behind her, closed out the curious gazes in the waiting room. She crossed the room swiftly, and let her fingers ghost across his broad shoulders until she was gently rubbing his back. He gasped and tried to pull away, but Dix wasn't having any of it - she was an ER nurse, and was accustomed to manhandling frightened and reluctant patients into position for their own sakes. She just dug in and pulled harder until Kel was pressed to her breast. She feathered her fingers through his hair and shushed him gently, until he settled heavily against her, his breath heavy and damp.
Joe's voice wrecked what little calm had settled in the room. "Is everything alright? I didn't-"
"Give us a minute, Joe," Dixie said quickly, and she held on tighter when Kel flinched.
"Kel?"
"I'm fine," Kel said, his voice muffled by Dix's embrace. He pulled back a little and turned to face Joe. "Do me a favor - that girl we were discussing? Go check her left hand, okay?"
Joe took so long to answer that for a moment, Dix was afraid he'd try to stay and bully Kelly into talking about was really eating him. But he smiled and nodded and backed away, one hand reaching for the door. "Sure, Kel." Then he looked pointedly at Dixie, the smile no longer quite reaching his eyes. "Let me know, okay?" Dix nodded a little, though she wasn't really sure what exactly it was she was supposed to be letting him know about, and watched him back out of the office.
She thought Kel would settle in and relax again, but instead he pushed harder against her, until she found herself scrabbling at his shirtsleeves for purchase. "I'm fine now, Dixie," he said, and made a face that she figured was probably supposed to be a smile. "I'm okay," he said again, and hung up the abandoned phone receiver.
"Kelly Brackett, that's got to be the biggest crock of bullshit anyone has ever tried to serve me." She wanted to reach for him again and hold him close - maybe it was maternal, maybe it was sisterly, maybe it was something else entirely, but her affection for him was making her hands twitch and her arms ache and her heart sore. She wanted to cuddle him so badly she could taste it. But Dix knew when to coddle, and when to step back and let her patients get on their own feet. So, reluctantly, she scooted away from him and sat on the corner of his desk, giving him the room he needed to make his next move.
"You can stop staring," Kel said, and pushed out of his seat with a soft grunt. "I told you Dix, I'm fine."
She watched him limp towards the bookcase and frowned. "Yeah, I heard you."
He glanced back at her, and must have seen her doubt. "Alright, then I'll be fine," Kel snapped. "Stop hovering. It's embarrassing."
"There's nothing to be embarrassed about, Kel," Dix said. "You're having a crisis at home, you found out a close friend is having a crisis here at work, you got a little overwhelmed. It's completely understandable."
"Good," he said, and turned his back to her. "Do you understand that I really don't want to have this conversation right now, Dix?"
Dixie stared at the back of Kel's head. His usually glossy waves were dull frizzy curls that were plastered to the back of his head in some places, and sticking straight out in others. No brush, no hairspray, nothing to keep the ruckus in place. The shirt had been one thing, but the hair was something else. "You oversleep?"
Kel looked back at her in confusion. "What?"
She gestured to his shirt and pointed out his button snafu. "It looks like you got dressed in the dark."
His face turned bright red. He yanked his shirt tails out of the front of his trousers and started fumbling with the buttons. "This can happen to anyone."
"Sure. Happens to me all the time. Here." She gently swatted his hands out of the way, and begin rebuttoning. He protested through the whole process, whining one second and growling the next, but she just eased his grabby hands to one side until she was all done. "There," she said, smoothing his not-quite starch press shirt over his belly. "Nothing to it."
He jerked away like she'd touched him with a hot poker instead of her bare hands, and stuffed his shirt back into his pants. "Next time, couldn't you just point it out?"
"Oh don't be such a baby," Dixie said. She started to chuckle, but her laughter died in her throat at the sight of Kelly's baleful look. She leaned down and picked up his lab coat just as he begin to reach for it.
He snatched the coat from her hands and shook it out as if she'd been the one to crumple it. She stared in disbelief until she caught his eye. He looked sheepish. "Thanks," he said quietly.
She forced a smile and jammed her hands into her pockets, well away from Kelly's unkempt hair. "Don't worry, I'm done playing mother." They shared an awkward smile in awkward silence. "Hey," she tried. "You wanna get some coffee?"
His already pinched expression tightened so much he looked more like a death mask than a colleague sharing a laugh. "No."
"Oh..." She didn't know what to say to that. Kel never turned down coffee, no matter how unsociable he was feeling. "Well... Would you keep me company while-"
"I'm fine Dixie!"
She jumped, both startled and hurt. She could feel the edges of her temper fraying, but she reminded herself she come to Kelly's office to help, not to lecture. "Yeah, you already said that. I just thought maybe you'd want to hear about Roy's condition, and maybe I could tell you about the fire. It was pretty scary, Kel, and to be honest, I'm not sure that I'm fine." She winced - there was that lecture she hadn't meant to give. She tried again. "I'm sorry Kel. I know you've got a bunch of other things-"
"No, Dix. I apologize." He dropped down onto the couch and hung his head. "I'm sorry, Dixie, I just..." He trailed off and stared at the floor. He was so still, that for a minute, Dix thought he might cry again. Then he retched, jumped off the couch, and pushed past her, out of his office.
Dix followed him out in dazed amazement, but he'd already disappeared into thin air. She looked towards the admitting desk, where the receptionist was staring at the door that led to the 'back hall'. The hall connected the front entrance of the hospital to the emergency room in the back, and was where the legally parked walk-ins usually came from. That meant access to the gift shop, the main info booth, extra water fountains, phone booths, and public restrooms. There were plenty of phone booths and restrooms and water fountains inside emergency, but there was a certain amount of privacy to be had by going into the back hall - especially if you were shy about going to the bathroom for whatever reason. Like because you were about to lose your breakfast in front of your colleagues.
Dix watched the door for moment, uncertain if she should follow. But Kel was a big boy and knew perfectly well how to deal with nausea. Besides that, she'd already run to his rescue once this morning, and her effort was largely unappreciated. So, despite her misgivings, she turned back to the base station and promised herself she wouldn't interfere again without an invite. After all, Kelly was tough. He'd be alright.