I Believe in You

None the Wiser

Conrad and I sat with Devon and Nic at the hospital wide presentation of how the three concurrent surgeries was going to work the next day.
"This is a terrible idea." I sighed quietly.
"All they care about is the bottom line. Same as always." Conrad muttered taking my hand.
"It's dangerous. People are going to die." Devon added.
"What can we do?" Nic asked.
"I don't know. We'll think of something." I laid my head on Conrad's shoulder.
"Are we still meeting Elena and Justin for dinner?" He asked as we walked out of that dreadful meeting.
"Yeah. If we cancel again he'll probably think we don't want to give him a chance." I sighed.
"Home, shower, change, restaurant, home, sleep?" He asked hopefully.
"Definitely. I do wish we had time to nap." I chuckled.
I wore a navy cotton dress with black flats while Conrad wore dark jeans and a white button up shirt.
We arrived at the local restaurant right on time and found my sister standing with a man roughly her age with brown hair.
"Meghan!" She called my name.
"Hey! We're so sorry it's taken so long to meet up." I smiled at her as Conrad took my hand.
"Hospital life must be increased stressful." She chuckled.
"Yeah. Twenty four hour shifts are no joke." Conrad laughed.
"Meghan, Conrad, this is my boyfriend Justin Martin. Justin, this is my sister Meghan and her fiance Conrad Hawkins."
I reached forward to shake his hand.
"It's a pleasure. Again, Conrad and I are very sorry it's taken so long."
"I was starting to worry you didn't like me." He laughed anxiously.
"No. Not at all. Meghan and I work roughly fifteen twenty four hour shifts a month at the hospital so it's hard for us sometimes to do anything." Conrad said shaking his hand.
"I imagine that's very hard." He looked between us.
"It can be but were saving lives and that makes it worth it." I smiled.
"Shall we?" Conrad asked motioning to the restaurant.
"We haven't eaten since this morning." I laughed.
"Doctor life is crazy, huh?"
"More often than not." I laughed.
"Tell us more about you." I smiled at Justin after we were seated and had given our orders.
"I work in construction now but Elena and I met when we both worked at the fast food place downtown. I just got my driver's license with her help last month." He smiled at her.
I couldn't help but smile watching Justin with Elena. It was so different from when I'd confronted Alec in the hallway of our home. Honestly it reminded me of Conrad and myself.
I leaned my head onto Conrad's shoulder. He could sense my ease and squeezed my hand under the table in agreement. The rest of the evening went effortlessly.
"It's nice to see her so happy." I told my love while we got ready for bed.
"I can't imagine how hard it was to see her deal with that last asshole." He sighed thoughtfully.
"It killed me when I realized he was hitting her. Then he put her in a coma." I sighed.
"I'm sorry I wasn't here to help you." He reached for me.
"That's not where I was going with that." I sighed cuddling up against him.
"I know. I just feel bad. I left then your sister was put in a coma and your mom was diagnosed with cancer. I just hate that I wasn't there." He kissed my forehead.
"You're here now. That's what matters."
I woke up uneasily the next morning the concurrent surgeries weighing heavily on my mind.
"Meghan." Lane said my name shaking me from my concerns.
"Hi. What's up?" I asked focusing on her.
"Has Nurse Nevin talked to you about Lily's care at all?" She asked narrowing her eyes at me.
"No. Nothing out of the ordinary. Why?" I answered.
"I guess there's some talk about her believing I'm not caring for Lily properly." She sighed.
"I haven't heard anything of the sort. I'm sure it's a bunch of drama stirred up by someone who wants to see you two at odds. I wouldn't worry about Nic." I assured her.
I couldn't tell if I pushed too hard or laid it on too thick but she just smiled and nodded.
"You're probably right. Hospital drama. Thanks, Meghan." She smiled again and walked away.
I sighed heavily once she turned the corner out of sight.
"Dammit." I muttered turning on my heel to find Nic.
"There was a reason I asked you to lay low with Lane." I growled low at her glancing around to assure we were alone.
"What are you talking about?" She asked quietly.
"She knows you're looking into her treatment for Lily. You're giving her all she needs to pin something on you."
"Pin what on me?"
"Who knows? Theft medical supplies; something worse. That's what they do around here. You buy their narrative or they get rid of you. How do you think HODAD gets away with multiple patient deaths on his table?"
"So, what do I do?" She asked.
"You keep your head down and let me handle it discreetly." I answered with a sigh.
"I'll try. Meghan, I'm not the kind to sit back and watch."
"I know, but to save your job you're going to need to be."
I turned and walked away from her.
I found Conrad pacing in the sleeping quarters at the end of our shift.
"What happened?" I asked having heard the whispers of the doomed surgeries.
"Devon and I tried to get Jude to perform one of the surgeries but Bell replaced him leaving only him, Devon, Mina, and Bradley for three surgeries. Bradley turned a thirty hour shift and fell asleep causing pandemonium."
"Pandemonium? That's a big word, even for you." I teased.
"I'm serious though." He chuckled.
"Bell amputated a good testicle instead of the bad one leaving a newlywed sterile and blamed Mina so she's benched."
"That's horrible. To know that there's a doctor responsible for you being unable to have children naturally." I sighed leaning against the wall.
"Mina's a strong surgeon. She won't be down for long. I guarentee that."
"Undoubtedly." He laughed hugging me.
"Let's get out of here before he tries to blame you for something." I tugged on his arm playfully.
"That's a stellar idea."
"Stellar? Who are you and what have you done with my fiance?" I asked.
"I'm just tired." He chuckled again.
"What's going to happen to Bradley?" I asked as we walked out to the car.
"I have no idea. He'll probably get a slap on the wrist since Bell knows it's his fault that Bradley was pushing thirty six hours." He shrugged.
He opened the driver's side door for me and walked around to the passenger door.
"Do me a favor?" I asked as we drove off.
"For you? Anything." He said cautiously.
"Keep an eye on Nic. She's not being very discreet about investigating Lane. I asked her to keep her head down but I don't think she'll be able to. I just have this sick feeling that something's going to happen." I glanced at him.
"Lane said something to you?" He asked.
I nodded.
"I'm not sure she bought my response but we'll see." I sighed.
He took my hand.
"If she did it we'll get her, Meghan. I promise you."