Case by Case Love

Chapter 13: "Can we talk about it in the lounge?"

Will comes out of the room, slipping off the pair of blue gloves and putting them in the basket. He then walks over to the computer screen, letting out a sigh. 

He was glad a diagnosis for his latest ER patient had been found. When they came and the mix of symptoms, it seemed like it would be a crazy puzzle in trying to figure out what was the cause. However, the tests he had decided to run came back as he expected, and now with the right medicine, it seemed the patient was already feeling better. Mental check mark for the day in doing the job accordingly and healing somebody. 

"Hey Will, can I get your consult on a patient?" Connor asks as Will glances his fellow doctor's way. It was usually Ethan that Connor turned to when he needed someone to compare notes with. It seemed they were both usually treating patients along the same lines. It felt weird to hear him be the doctor of choice this time around. However, it was not weird enough that he was concerned. 

"Absolutely," Will answers, finishing up his notes before closing what he had opened on the computer screen. He knew there would be nothing to look at that there, set to look at any notes that would be on the Ipad in Connor's hands. Except he did not have one of those right now. Normally that was brought for consults to compare notes from tests. Perhaps there was a reason to be worried.

"Can we talk about it in the lounge?" Will was growing more confused by the passing second, as they never talked about things in the lounge. The only time anything got discussed there was if it was personal, or something nobody should hear about. What would be so important about a patient consult to not have anybody else hear it? Was there something he should know about this patient? Connor always got the special cases so perhaps this was one of those again.

"We can tal-"

"I think you should listen to Dr. Rhodes," Maddie suggests, only causing the worry and anxiety for Will to increase that much more. If Maggie was aware of something, that usually meant there was something else going on more than what it was on the surface. Normally doctors only made her aware of something if they had to pull someone away from patients or for a serious case. What if this wasn't a patient consult? What if something else was going on right now?

"What is going on?" Will finally breaks his silence, glancing between his fellow doctor and the Charge Nurse. There was nothing that felt right about this. The last time a similar situation like this occurred was when Crocket was facing legal charges, and detectives had visited from another state to speak to him. There was one time he was stuck in a similar situation, and it was when a patient was looking to lodge a complaint against him. "How about you tell me the truth as to what is going on, Connor? I am a big boy you know." 

"We know that you are a big boy and can handle anything. This is just very important. Please just listen to us..." Will knew Maddie was just trying to do her job in helping Connor with what he wanted to do, and her comforting voice and actions normally had everybody following exactly what she wanted. However, he couldn't help but feel his own nerves growing as he kept his eyes locked on Connor awaiting a response.

"Is this about the kid and the father I got into an argument with? Are they lodging a complaint in feeling that I crossed the line?" He remembered the argument from yesterday. The six-year-old was pretty sick and from something that could have been prevented by simply being vaccinated. However, the parents were against their children having any drugs of any kind utilized. Essentially, their wishes had gotten their child sick and were going to allow him to get sicker - which brought froth Will's strong response. While he had not been successful with his approach, Natalie was able to get them to change their mindset - leave it to his wife to use her motherly instincts well.  "Or is it about something else? There's nothing else that comes to my mind, so it has to be that. I thought we covered that I did not cross any lines. I didn't touch him or raise my voice - simply just stated my viewpoint, which in the end, saved that kid's life!" 

Will could tell by Connor and Maddie's reaction not changing to his comments that he was not getting anywhere with either of them. Therefore, he was probably wrong on the assumption. However, he could not think of any other patient scenario in the past week that could bring questions or a possible legal action. He also hadn't done much these past weeks, so there was nothing he could be questioned on outside of that. 

Knowing he wanted to get to the bottom of everything sooner than later as this felt like the biggest waste of time, he finally makes his way to the doctor's lounge, with Connor feeling him. He hears the door slip shut behind him as the pair of the doctors stand there face-to-face together. 

"Now can you tell me, please?" Will questions as Connor glances at the ground below his feet. The anger that was laced in the demand for answers seemingly began disappearing immediately as Will read the doctor's emotions before him. There was an emotional layer to this. There was something that was hard about the conversation they were about to have. Was that why Connor wanted to have it in the lounge? Was he connected to the patient?

"There was a bomb denotated downtown Chicago," Connor starts quietly, causing Will's jaw to drop. He was surprised he hadn't heard about this sooner. Why weren't they getting a wave of people that were injured by the blast? Why wasn't there an emergency plan put in place for those injured to be attended to? "Chicago PD had cleared the area so there was not a lot of people in the blast zone. I believe I heard there are 10 injured, which were taken to Mercy being closer. We did have one individual brought to Gaffney - your brother Jay."