And So It Goes (Stevens Book 10)

Chapter 12

It was a week later. Agatha had tried to avoid Merrick whenever possible, and so far, they had only had a few run-ins with each other.

Today they were treating a particularly bad patient who had been in a car crash, and they had to stabilize him together due to a staffing shortage, and it was as if they were back on base again. They worked as a team, with words spoken between them only when it was necessary. A student nurse had made a minor mistake at one point, and Agatha noticed that Merrick was about to go off on her, so she sent her away as quickly as possible.

"It's a teaching hospital. Remember that, Dr. Merrick!" Agatha softly warned as they worked the patient without stopping. They eventually had him stable enough to go to the operating room, and it was the last she saw of Merrick that morning.

"You should have seen Aggie telling him off!" Mickey was telling Debby towards the end of the shift. "I swear she's the only one who can handle him."

Agatha felt Merrick come up behind her. She didn't need to turn around to know that it was him. She could feel the change in the air whenever he approached.

"I told you I could handle you better than you could handle me." Agatha looked over her shoulder and grinned at him. Unable to resist the barb.

Merrick's only response was to stare at her as if he had never seen her before. It was odd, and she frowned at him with concern. Perhaps the surgery hadn't gone well.

"How is the patient," she asked in a slightly raised voice, causing Debby and Mickey to turn around, their ponytails whipping out behind them before they turned red in the face for having been caught talking about him.

"He'll recover," Merrick grunted.

"Of course, he will, Dr. Merrick, because you're one of the best surgeons I've ever seen!" Maggy said, joining them.

Agatha looked between Debby and Maggy, noting how they were watching Merrick. Only Merrick could go from 0 to hero in less than a few weeks. They both had something between hero worship and desire chasing across their faces. Debby must have been talking badly about him to cover up how she felt.

"Don't you two have something to do?" Merrick insisted, watching them scuttle off in different directions at his reprimand.

"I'm glad the surgery was a success, Doctor, but as the girls said, we knew it would be with you handling it," Mickey said, giving him her sexiest smile before squeezing his arm as she swept by him, letting her chest brush his arm in an overt come on.

Agatha bit her lip to keep from laughing. "That's quite a cheerleading section you've developed, Dr. Merrick. I don't know why Sam was worried about you making friends."

"Perhaps they are so annoyingly perky and friendly because all of their names end in Y," he mumbled.

Agatha stopped and considered what he said. He was right. She had never noticed it before; Maggy, Debby, Mickey, Holly.

"Huh," was all she said at the realization that he was right. "Still, it's got to be nice to be liked finally, Dr. Merrick," Agatha said as she stood and walked towards him. She patted his arm before brushing it with her chest just as Mickey had done. She had meant it as a joke, but the sparks that shot between them were anything but funny. 

Agatha paused mid-motion and looked up at him. Merrick returned her stare, searching her gaze for something.

"It's still as strong as ever, isn't it, Roark?" she asked in a husky voice that she was surprised even worked.

What he might have said in return was cut off by Chloe Jurick, who had been a nurse but was now administration, moving through the E.R. and bringing a trail of people with her, including Sam.