I Believe in You

Rude Awakenings and the Raptor

"Meghan! Bradley just crashed through the boardroom skylight." Conrad called to me as he ran through the hallway towards the emergency room.
I didn't have time to think. I just ran after him.
Bradley Jenkins was a surgical resident in his second year. He was the one who Bell benched after he fell asleep during the three concurrent surgeries "causing" Bell to amputate the wrong testicle. To be fair Bradley had turned a thirty hour shift when Bell called him back into the OR.
"What the hell happened?" I asked working alongside him.
"I wish I knew Meg. He's been sleep deprived but I don't know. Did he fall asleep on the roof lounge and fall over the railing? Did he jump? We don't know." He sighed as they wheeled Bradley into the elevator to go up to surgery.
"Conrad! Meghan! This is Dr. AJ Austin. He's going to be Chastain's new Cardiothoracic surgeon." Mina said as she walked up to us with a tall African American man with a full beard wearing a fedora.
"It's a pleasure, Dr. Austin." I smiled shaking his hand.
"You can call me AJ." He smiled taking his hat off.
Conrad slid his arm around me.
"I'm Dr. Conrad Hawkins." He interjected.
"A pleasure, Dr. Hawkins." AJ responded with a smirk.
"If you'll excuse me. I think Mina still has more to show me. Dr. Hawkins. Meghan." He nodded and walked away.
I laughed once he was out of earshot.
"What?" Conrad asked exasperated.
"You're jealous of the new surgeon." I teased him.
"Did you not see how he was talking to you?"
"He was fucking with you. It's obvious that we're together. I wear our engagement ring all the time." I laughed again.
"Are you sure?" He pouted.
"Of course I'm sure. Even if he was seriously attracted to me you wouldn't have anything to be jealous about."
"Is that so?" He teased smiling again.
"Of course. I'm yours. Forever." I kissed him.
"I have to meet with dad." I sighed catching sight of my father in the lobby.
"Of course. Let me know how it goes." He kissed my temple.
"Of course. Keep me updated on Bradley?"
He nodded and I walked out into the lobby.
"Hi daddy." I sighed hugging him.
"Hey, Meggie. What's going on?" He asked.
"Not here. Come walk with me." I insisted looking up at Lane who was watching me again.
"Okay." He followed me out of the hospital.
We sat at a table outside of a nearby coffeehouse.
"What's wrong, Meghan?" He asked again.
"I think Dr. Hunter is purposely overdosing patients on chemotherapy for pharmaceutical profit." I sighed.
"Your mom died of a chemotherapy overdose." He looked at me.
"I know."
"You think she killed your mom?" He asked.
I nodded.
"Mom, Lily Kendall, possibly others." I looking at him.
He kind of stared off into the road.
"Dad. I'm a doctor. I treated Lily for two years. She started complaining about the severity of her chemotherapy treatments, started looking at a second opinion then ended up dead despite mine and Conrad's best efforts. She framed Nic Nevin for a potassium overdose. I need help. She can't get away with this." I urged.
"Okay, Meghan. Okay." He nodded.
"I have a close friend at Chastain's Fraudulent Behavior Officials. I'll ask him to start an official investigation into Lane Hunter. If she's responsible for any deaths we'll find it." He assured me.
"I just don't want her to have the opportunity to hurt anyone else." I sighed.
"We'll figure it out. One way or the other."
I returned to Chastain roughly an hour later to find new CEO Randolph Bell waiting for me.
"You were gone an awfully long while." He glared at me.
"My father wanted to meet for lunch. I took my normal hour. Same as everyday." I answered as calmly as I could manage.
I don't know how he and Lane could possibly think no one knew about their affair but it was obvious.
"Meghan! I need you!" Conrad called from the doorway to the emergency room.
I looked at Bell who nodded.
I raced over into the emergency room where Conrad waited calmly.
"You are a bad man." I teased rushing passed him.
There was no medical emergency. I knew it when I saw Conrad's face. I knew him a thousand times better than anyone else in that hospital.
"I did want to talk to you about Bradley's care. Mostly though I just wanted to get you away from him." He smiled at me once we came to a stop near the doorway to the intensive care unit.
"Bradley is in a medically induced coma to help relieve some of the pressure built up around his cervical spine. He crashed through the skylight almost completely horizontally. A lot of the damage is to his spine and internal organs. There was no indication of any drugs or alcohol but he had a high level of caffeine." He explained as we walked into Bradley's room.
"He could have just fallen asleep. You know as well as I do that in cases of extreme sleep deprivation and stress that the brain will start taking micro naps. If he was up there trying to force himself awake and his brain shut off the he could have easily fallen over the railing." I sighed looking down at him.
"We won't know until he wakes up."
I nodded. I hated the idea that another hospital resident was being pushed so hard that he was falling asleep in the OR and possibly falling off the roof.
Dr. Austin was pacing around the cafeteria when Conrad and I walked in later that night.
"I don't trust Bell." He stated sitting down with us.
"Wow. I think that's a record." I laughed.
"No. You knew he was trouble when you first laid eyes on him." Conrad reminded me.
"Why don't you trust Bell?" I asked looking at AJ.
"His energy is slimy." He answered.
"I can agree with that." I sighed leaning into Conrad.
"How long have you two been together?" He asked.
"Just over four years now." Conrad answered hugging me.
"I really was just messing with you earlier, man. It's obvious you two belong together."
"That's what Meghan said too." Conrad laughed.
"You made it so easy when you wrapped your arm around her." He chuckled.
"He's protective." I smiled.
"As he should be."
AJ nodded at us and got back up walking away from us.
"He's an odd one." Conrad muttered.
"He is, but he'll be a very important ally going forward."