TOUCH by merletto
Chapter TWO
"The patient had a sudden drop of blood pressure, and his pulse was gone for more than one minute, and you're saying that you have no idea as to how his heart began beating on its own again?" Dr. David Wright narrowed his eyes at Hermione as she sat before a panel of staff physicians.
Two days had passed since the surgery, and a panel was called to critique the surgery. They had been in the meeting room since early morning, and Hermione had answered all questions as directly as possible.
She didn't know what exactly had happened herself. The entire scene had haunted her an entire night, yet she could not quite understand how the man's heart, after it had stopped beating suddenly began to beat as if nothing had happened. And all she could think of was how she loved the feel of his hand in hers.
She held onto his hand as she dropped to her knees, tears trickling off her cheeks. "Please, start beating! Breathe! I can't stand to see you like this!" her heart cried silently. She could feel the surprised gazes from everyone present in the room, but she didn't care at the moment. All she knew was that she wanted this man to live, and she prayed, cried in her heart that a miracle or something magical would happen.
After a moment, she heard the ECK monitor beginning to beep again.
She looked up. The man's chest was beginning to rise and drop with each breath. Without dropping his hand, she stood up and checked his stats. Miraculously, they were slowly climbing back to normal levels. She murmured in relief and wiped her tears. Then she turned to her chief resident and gave him a thumbs-up sign. The entire room soon burst into cheers and loud whoops..
But she was still crying, and that confused her. Why was she feeling this emotional towards a complete stranger? She was still holding onto his hand tightly, but this time, she felt a tingle wriggling down her spine. She had felt a slight movement in his hand.
"Dr. Granger?" the voice of the head of the department of surgery, Dr. Wilbur Carlton startled her from her reminiscing. She shook her head before finding her voice.
"Sorry." She coughed before continuing. "As was written in my report, the patient had suffered much blood loss even before entering surgery. We did our best to prevent him from losing any more blood, and we were quite successful. But the wound itself was lodged at his lung. There was nothing we could do except removing the bullet and maintaining intubation in case he began to bleed again. The entire process of surgery went smoothly, and we were confident that every precaution was taken. What contributed to him dropping BP and losing pulse, well, I'm afraid I can't tell you because I don't know. As far as I know, we had done nothing wrong."
Dr. Wright kept his steel cold eyes boring into hers. "Dr. Granger, your chief resident surgeon told us that you held onto the patient's hand and cried. Do I have to remind you that such emotional attachment with a patient is not very favorable??"
Hermione felt her cheeks grow hot, but forced herself to remain calm. "Dr. Wright, I can assure you, that none of this emotional attachment that you refer to occurred at all. Surely there is nothing wrong with praying that a patient survives extensive surgery? After all, we did swear on the Hippocratic oath, didn't we?"
Dr. Wright did not protest, but Hermione knew he was seething inside. She sighed as she thought, another reason for him to hate women doctors. The other doctors meshed their heads close together and whispered. Hermione watched them as she patiently waited for their conclusion. Then Dr. Carlton turned to her and said, "Thank you, Dr. Granger. I believe that we have our questions answered. You may go."
Hermione nodded as she stood and bowed slightly. She turned to leave, but she had caught the cold glare that Dr. Wright sent her. Don't be so sure you're so lucky, Granger, his eyes seem to say. She smirked and returned with a defiant look.
***
Ron stood in front of the glass doors of the Royal Hospital of London, in a blue polo shirt and khakis. He scratched his arm irritably, cursing under his breath.
After he had left his brothers' store, he had returned to his flat for a shower. An hour later, he noticed a purple spot off the right side of his umbilicus. He didn't give it too much thought and decided that it was just a small bruise. The next day, he noticed that there were a few more spots on his torso. Odd, why am I suddenly getting purple freckles on my chest? He'd shrugged it off again and went on with his day. This morning, however, after he had stepped out of the shower and was dressing in front of his mirror, he screamed. The purple spots had spread allover his body, including his legs, arms, and even his face!
He quickly finished dressing and left his flat. Fred and George had warned him against apparating. After hailing a cab outside his flat building, he told the driver to get to the hospital as fast as he could. During the entire ride, Ron couldn't help but scratch himself all over. These damn spots were unbelievably itchy!
He pushed through the glass doors and asked the receptionist for Dr. Ginny Weasley.*** The receptionist looked at him peculiarly but forwarded him to his sister's office. As he walked pass nurses and doctors in the hallways, he wished he could hide from their incredulous stares.
Ron found Ginny in her office in the pediatrics ward. She was cleaning off her desk, just about ready to leave when he suddenly rushed into her office. He grinned at his sister as she glared back at him. "Hi, Ginny."
Ginny Weasley dropped her files as she took two big steps toward her brother and landed him a punch on his chest. He winced in pain as she yelled, "Don't you ever dare do that again! Oh my God! What's wrong with your face!!?? "
Ron rubbed his chest as he yelped, "Bugger, Ginny, can't you be a little more girly with that thing? That bloody hurts! And I bloody can't just walk into the hospital looking like this! I look like …."
Ginny shrugged as she stooped down to pick up her folders. "So what did they do to you this time?"
Ron snarled as he pulled up the Muggle shirt he was wearing. Ginny failed to suppress a laugh, as she recognized a Weasley prank right before her eyes. Ron rolled his eyes impatiently. "So you knew, didn't you?"
Ginny didn't bother keeping her laughter in any more. "Oh, Ron, you should know by now that you're not supposed to take anything edible from the twins!"
"How did you know it was Fred and George?"
"Well, isn't it obvious? You're always too dense to see their tricks."
"Oh, sod off already! Gin, help me? I have purple spots all over my body! And they won't come off!!"
Ginny giggled as she walked over to her desk. She placed her things down and began searching through her drawers. She found a small packet and placed it on her desk. "Here. This should help. Just mix with water and down it."
Ron sighed in relief. "Thanks, Gin. I always thought you were the much better sibling."
Gin rolled her eyes. "Right."
Ron took a seat in front of her desk. "Well, I didn't come here for this."
"Then what are you here for?"
"Harry's here."
"Here? What's he doing here?" Ginny opened the door, but saw only a few nurses passing by. Disappointed, she closed the door and turned to face Ron again.
Ron smirked. "Not here, Gin. He was hurt. Remus found him in an alley shot a couple of times, but a Muggle ambulance took him away before he could get him to St. Mungo's."
Ginny nodded. "So he's here. They took him to ER probably."
"ER?" Ron asked, confused.
"Oh, and you call yourself my brother? EMERGENCY ROOM, you idiot!"
"WHATEVER! JUST SOCK IT! I just want to know if you can find out where he is, so we can take him back to get proper healing."
"AND HE CAN'T GET THE SAME TREATMENT HERE?"
Ginny glowered over Ron menacingly. Ooh boy, I sure did it again, Ron thought darkly. Never insult the sister on Muggle medicine.
"Come on, Gin, you know what I mean."
Ginny shook his head. "No, I know exactly what you mean. Look, I don't know where Harry is. I'm in pediatrics remember? And if he's wounded as badly as you say he was, I'm guessing that no one is allowed to see him anyway." She saw her brother's head drop. "Alright, I'll try to found out where he is, okay?" She turned to her bulletin behind her and flipped through a few hand-outs that were hanging. "Hmm, he was brought in, two days ago?" She traced a sheet with her finger. "Hmm, Hermione was on duty then. Oh! I just talked with her this morning in the locker rooms. Said something about a panel regarding her case with the mysteriously shot man. I bet you anything that that's Harry!"
Ron smiled widely as he tried to hug his sister with a desk in between them. "Thanks, Ginny! That's great! So, where IS he?"
Ginny pushed him away. "I'll see if I can catch her on my rounds. Let you know tonight." She grabbed her things again as she headed for the door. "Now get out of here before someone sees you!"
Ron grinned as he disapparated.
Ginny sighed as she exited her office. Grabbing the messages that the receptionist had left in her box, she rummaged through each of them. She paused at one such note.
Don't forget tonight.
She angrily wrinkled the paper in her hand. How dare that bastard call her at the hospital and leave messages as if nothing had gone wrong between them! Tonight. It was exactly one whole year since they had met. And within that year they had experienced many joys and disappointments.
Suddenly, she did not feel like personally checking her rounds. Instead, she called out to Claire McLain to take over and she left for the cardiac surgery department.
***
Hermione was clearing the paperwork that had been piling up on her desk for the past week. She groaned inwardly as she thought of the stack of paperwork that would exist when she came back from her discharge for the week. There were so many charts she needed to review and reports to write, and she now did not have the opportunity to finish them before the end of the week.
She was not surprised when Dr. Henry Harding called her to tell her that she was off for the week. In fact, she knew that Wright wanted to replace her off the staff... Though she did not understand the why and wherefore, but she knew that Wright had a displeasure with women, especially women directly on his staff. And she being the number one pick during residency match certainly did nothing to encourage him to like her any more.
When Wright was promoted as director of the department, he made sure that Hermione's life in the hospital was hell for her. While her colleagues who were male and had entered the program after she did were promoted, she was still acting as resident. Had one of the male staff physicians resigned to pursue a doctorate in Harvard, she would have never been promoted to staff. Wright reluctantly gave her the position seeing that there were no other male residents that were familiar with the work enough to be promoted.
She turned to see Charles Jourdan leaning against the doorway to her office, with a coy smile on his face. She tried to smile, but she was too tired and all she could was fall back into her chair as he walked over to her side and held her hand.
"I heard about what happened. Sorry to hear that," he spoke softly, stroking her hand gently.
Hermione nodded as she tried to pull her hand away so she could distract herself with paperwork. "Doesn't matter. My schedule'll be fairly lax. Maybe work on my cooking or something."
Charles nodded thoughtfully. "Or maybe I can take a few days off, and we can go somewhere together this weekend, to Grasmere, maybe? You've always said you had wanted to rent a cottage and go away for a few days."
Hermione shook her head. "I don't think that it's a good time, Charles. I mean, I'm off from the surgery schedule, but look at my desk."
Charles glanced at her trays nonchalantly. "What about it?"
Hermione groaned. "Please, Charles, can't you see? I have a bothersome load of paperwork to go through. And I'm still working on my thesis, for crying out loud! Ever since Wright got me stuck in ER I had no time to work on it, and I've already put it off for months now." She stormed away from her desk to the sofa and poured herself a cup of water.
"Just like you have no time for us?" he asked quietly as he followed her.
Hermione stared at him. He still thinks that we have something, doesn't he? "Charles…."
Charles held out his hand to stop her. "Look, I know that things have been weird between us lately. But you and I, we're great together. People look at us together and they know we match. We even know that we're perfect together. Come on, can't you see? We're both doctors, and we both think alike. We're also both workaholics." He grinned in amusement. "And we match up against each other perfectly as well. I'm a great cook; you don't even know where the switch to your oven is. I'm hardly what you call clean and organized; look at your office! Your books are alphabetized, even categorized!" He took her hands again. "Everyone seems to think that we ought to be together, and so do I. You know how I feel about you, Herm. Please. Please don't say no to me again."
As Charles gazed deeply at her, searching her eyes for the answer he was looking for, Hermione stared off as she thought of their past. Sure, they had wonderful times together. They had traveled together during their breaks, and they had kissed occasionally. She knew that he was in love with her, but she could hardly label her feelings for him as anything romantic. But he did love her, and he was handsome, smart, sexy, and attentive, caring… maybe she should try to love him.
But she suddenly thought of the man with the black hair and the hand that she held yesterday. What does he have to do with anything? She thought inwardly to herself. She tried to shake off that image, but failed miserably.
Charles seemed to notice her predicament as he dropped her hands. He stood up to leave. "Herm, let me know, okay? I'm not going to pressure you."
She smiled appreciatively at him and watched him leave. She fell back against the sofa and sighed, just as she heard another knock on her door. It was Ginny Weasley. She motioned for her to come in, and Ginny sat beside her.
"I saw Charles leaving your office. He asked you again?"
Hermione nodded. "I didn't say yes, if that's what you're wondering."
"I know. He looked dejected. So tell me, Herm, how is it that you can have all the good-looking single male doctors in the entire Royal Hospital ogling after you in a white coat and still have no interest in picking one of them to be your lucky man?"
Hermione laughed. "I could hardly call Charles all the good-looking single doctors in this hospital, Gin. Besides, you know I'm not interested in men like that."
Ginny smirked. "Really." She flipped a mug over and began making herself tea. "So, what did Charles want anyway?"
Hermione shrugged. "I don't know. He wants us to go away to Grasmere for the weekend, possibly hinting that he wants us to be more than just…you know?"
"Oh really? You're saying that you two actually have NEVER done it?"
Hermione glared at her friend. "Really, Ginny. We did it many times, and he has sent me to the uttermost, most exhilarating pleasures many times. No, we have never DONE it."
Ginny grimaced. "Why? He's nice, good-looking, and has such a cute arse to top it off."
"You know why, Ginny."
"Yeah, I know."
The two sat quietly sipping their tea. They looked at each other for two solid minutes before speaking at the same time.
"Draco left a message for me today."
"I got put off for the week."
Ginny giggled. "We did it again, Herms!"
Hermione laughed, sincerely for the first time all day. "Yes we did! Well, mine's short and simple. I got laid off for the week after my panel. Wright finally found something to wedge in my reputation as a surgeon as well. Whoopee, my reputation down the drain it goes."
Ginny placed her hand on her friend's thigh. "The man is a bastard. You and I both know it. And the rest of the female population in this hospital knows it as well. You're the best damn surgeon in the hospital and he's too concern about his own dick to see it."
"Thanks Gin. I could hardly see why that would be any more appealing to him." She squeezed her friend's hand. "So what's this about Draco?"
Ginny shook her head. "It's nothing. Tonight is supposed to be our anniversary, but I don't want to see him. After seeing him with that bitch, I just don't know why I can't break it off with him."
"Maybe because you love him?"
Ginny sighed. "Too much." She showed Hermione the note. "I guess I shouldn't go, huh? I can already predict what will happen. Draco takes me to the Ritz for a champagne dinner. Then we go for a walk around the gardens. And then he apologizes for his damn stupid affair, and then he'll kiss me senseless and we end up in a room for the night and finish the evening off in bed."
"Maybe you should hex him."
Ginny's eyes grew wide. "Hex him? Like with a spell?"
Hermione laughed. "Just kidding. How can you hex him with a spell when magic doesn't exist?"
Ginny grimaced. Hermione was just joking, she knew. "Haha, I know." But the mention of magic reminded of her brother's visit earlier. "Oh, Hermione, what happened to that patient of yours?"
Hermione's eyes lit up. "Oh yes! He's in a private room now, though he's still unconscious." She looked at Ginny plaintively. "You know, it's strange. His heart stopped beating. He wasn't responding to CPR or the paddles. But when I grabbed his hand, I sort of felt a kind of energy within me that, well, transferred to him." She winced. "No, it couldn't be. There's no way that could have happened. I must be losing it."
Ginny's eyebrow lifted in curiosity. "Well, what did it feel like?"
Hermione peered at Ginny peculiarly. "What did what feel like?"
Ginny shrugged. "You know, that `energy' you said you felt."
Hermione stood up and began slowly pacing around the office as she recalled the day of the surgery. Her forehead creased slightly. "Well," she began, "I don't know. It's very peculiar, you know. It was very brief, I remember. When I held onto his hand, I felt a warm tingle that traveled from my heart, through my arm and into his." She shook her head violently in frustration. "This is outrageous! How can I even validate something as preposterous as this?"
Ginny went to her friend and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Calm down, Hermione." She pulled her friend back to the sofa. "Well, I don't think it's preposterous Hermione. It sounded like magic to me."
"Magic, huh?" Hermione scoffed. "Really, Ginny," she eyed her friend skeptically. "How can you believe something like that?" She raised her hands in the air in frustration. "You know, I'm not really comfortable talking about this. Let's just drop it, all right?"
Ginny sighed disappointingly. "All right."
Hermione picked up her mug of tea again. "So what did you want to know about our mysterious stranger?"
Ginny shrugged. "My brother's friend was shot two days ago and he heard that he may have been brought here. So he asked me to find out. You were on ER that time."
Hermione nodded. "I see. Well, we don't know who he is. There wasn't any identification on him."
"Do you think my brother can go see him?"
"Sorry. Not until he regains consciousness."
Ginny chewed on her lower lip as she nodded. "I understand. Tell me when he wakes up?"
"Sure." Hermione glanced at her watch. "Oh, I have to go. Rounds check." She smiled apologetically at her friend. "Sorry Gin."
Ginny stood up and headed toward the door. "No, it's okay." She turned around. "So, since I'm not going on my anniversary date, what, should we do a girls' night out again?"
Hermione shook her head. "Sorry. Even though I'm laid off my surgery schedule, I still have night shift."
"Oh well."
Hermione slowly walked toward the door, but turned back again to face Ginny. "Oh, Gin? What was your brother's friend's name?"
Ginny, who was following her out the door, stopped in her steps. "Harry Potter."
***
Though she had told Ginny that she had rounds, the truth was, she was laid off those as well. Instead, she headed off to the IC ward. She greeted the residents behind the counter and let herself into the private room quietly. A nurse was checking his stats. Hermione waited patiently for the nurse to finish and instructed her to leave them alone for a while. The nurse nodded and left quietly.
Hermione pulled a chair by the bed. She kept her hand folded in her lap. Her eyes were fixed on his face. She wondered about the man. She thought about his name. Maybe he was that friend of Ginny's brother. So, he's not totally a stranger, now that she knew his name, Harry Potter. Hermione ran the name through her mind. Yes, he did look like a Harry.
But what about him? Did he have a family? Was he married? She glanced at his left hand that was resting by his side. No ring, but he probably had many girlfriends, she thought sourly. She didn't want to admit it, but the man was extremely good-looking. What color were his eyes? With his raven black hair, he would look astounding with blue or even green eyes. A strand of hair fell over his face. She hesitantly brushed it back, only to see a light scar visible on his forehead. Lightning shape? She thought. That was odd. She wondered about it. What was it about this scar that looked familiar? Or did she only think about in her dreams?
Now that she was thinking about dreams, she recalled the night before the surgery a strange dream that woke her up in the middle of the night. She was walking in the middle of what looked like a game pitch, and there were stands built really high surrounding the entire field of green. The clothes that she was wearing were peculiar and shapeless, very unlike the style she usually wore. She was staring up in the sky, watching a flying object, no, make that a man flying on the broom. He dropped altitude and began flying in circles around her before slowing down to a stop. He held out his hand toward her, his green eyes dancing with pleasure as he helped her sit in front of him. Then he kicked off the ground and sped them up in the sky in rocket speed. She remembered laughing and giggling like a silly schoolgirl. When they reached the clouds, he slowed down and hovered in the sky. He turned her face towards him with one hand. She blushed under his gaze, but did not hesitate to brush back the hair that kept falling over his beautiful eyes. He slowly inched his face closer to her for a kiss. Just as their lips were about to meet, they started falling at break-neck speed, and she woke up.
Hermione gazed at those lips. They were full and looked very kissable. She wanted to feel them, to see if they were as soft as she had imagined. She leaned closer to his face. He was beautiful, she thought, and unable to resist the urge, she closed her eyes and kissed him.
--------------------------------
And now for author notes .
First of all, standard disclaimers apply. Most of the characters belong to JK Rowling. The others are my own creation. This is an alternate universe fiction based on the movie City of Angels.
Second of all, thank you, Szaranea, for taking the time to beta. I really appreciate you doing this.
Thirdly, thank you for leaving reviews for me! I was greatly encouraged by all of the positive comments and that you loved Chapter One!
To Nerdypurdy, Missy, and Caroline Delacour: No. I do not watch ER. I've only seen the show once, but I'm pleased to say that the show was written by two Harvard Medical School graduates. I'm also not a doctor, but hopefully will be if I successfully finish my 7-year medical program.
To CreepieSusie: Yes, Hermione is a witch; however, she is not aware that she is one. Why she doesn't know will come later in the story.
To Ren, Nerdypurdy (again :P), Caroline once more, and Chariot: Well, Hermione's not going to die for sure. That's all I' m going to say for now.
Lastly, I'm sorry for not updating any sooner. With all my coursework, it takes a while to write and revise before sending it to my beta, who's swamped with studies as well.
Oh, yes, to clarify the surgery scene. :P Hermione wasn't checking out Harry on the operating table. She just couldn't help it :P The guy's hot! At least to my feeble imagination.
One more clarification: Ginny Weasley is a doctor. I originally planned for her to be a nurse, but she wouldn't have as much liberty to chat with Hermione when needed. So, just in case chapter one doesn't point that out, just to clear things up.
Anyhow, hope you all enjoy TOUCH Chapter TWO as well, and please look forward to Chapter THREE, coming soon.
~merletto