Goodbye Kiss

24. If I Should Fall From Grace

If I Should Fall From Grace
Season 8 x 07
Late October/ early November 2001:

i let out a yawn.
"sorry" i smiled
i was teaching nicole how to bag a patient
"you put this over the patients mouth"
"and squeeze the balloon"
"but you can't squeeze too fast or it can give the patient neurological damage"
"neurological?"
"brain damage" i smiled
"so you squeeze and count"
"1"
"2"
"3"
"then squeeze again"
"wanna try?"
she nodded, grabbing the balloon.
"perfect" i smiled
"am i doing it right?"
"yeah, you're doing great"
"malik said he was gonna teach you how to do a bp"
"maybe some other time i can show you how to put in an iv"
"thank you, gianna"
"sorry to interrupt" abby said, coming around the gurney.
"do you know where carter is?"
i looked at my watch
"he'll be here in two minutes"
"well we got a med student waiting"
"i can handle it"
i walked over to the admit desk and approached the med student.
"i'm gianna coletti" i smiled
"i'm the nurse manager"
"dr. carter hasn't come in yet but i can show you around"
he nodded
"you're?"
"michael gallant"
"nice to meet you"
"here's the admit desk"
"where charts come in, all the patient information"
"the board is where we keep track of waiting patients"
"then we have the curtain area"
"usually these have minor cases"
"flu, infection, headache, lacs"
"down this hall we have the trauma rooms"
"and right across we have the drug lockup with different supplies"
"and that last room is the suturing room"
"you go down here and we have curtain three area, the elevators"
"its like one big circle" i smiled
"the exam rooms over there lead to the trauma rooms and to the suturing room and back around to the admit desk and lounge"
"wow" he smiled
"it's a lot"
"but not that complicated"
"it takes a few days but you'll get the hang of it"
i bent over and looked into the drawers of the admit desk.
"here we go" i smiled
"it's an orientation packet"
"you can read that while i find dr. carter for you"

i looked outside one of the exam rooms and found john.
gamma was back.
"she wants you to put in her iv"
"what happened?"
"she fainted"
"i'm sending her up to cardiology"
"okay"
he had a worried look on his face
"saline?"
he nodded
"maybe you should take the day off"
"i haven't clocked in yet" he shrugged
——
it was later, carters grandmother was brought upstairs and i had to keep carters med student busy.
we were walking down the hallway.
"dr. carter has a family emergency"
"oh"
"yeah, he's a little stressed out right now"
"i promise you he's a nice guy it's just that"
"i get it" gallant smiled
"your his?"
"girlfriend" i sighed
"well, why don't you find a patient"
"if you need any help just ask one of the doctors or nurses"
"okay" he smiled

"atherosclerosis?"
"yeah"
"i sent her home"
he shook his head "i didnt think she could drive"
"she's not supposed to"
"god, she begged me to stop bugging her about it"
i smiled
"i'm sorry, john" 
"don't be"
we stopped walking and i put my hands around his neck
"really, if there's anything i can do"
"she's not worried so i guess i shouldn't be"
"you know what you should be worried about?"
"hm?"
"your new med student"
he let out a groan and walked toward the admit desk.
——
"gianna, ready to go?"
"am i off?"
"thirty minutes ago" carter laughed
"let me clock out"
i went to the back doors and punched my time card in.
"susan's coming with us if that's okay"
"sure" i shrugged
"gam was driving around the city for three hours"
"to prove you wrong?"
"yeah"
i let out a laugh, so did carter.

we were outside back at johns place waiting for gamma to come back home.
"so i heard about that patient of yours"
"self harm?"
i sat down in between susan and john.
"yeah" carter sighed
"you told her that you understood what it was like to get help" susan said, raising an eyebrow 
"what was that about?"
i turned and looked at john.
"all this back pain and refusing to take ibuprofen wasn't from nothing"
"i was stabbed twice about two years ago" he nodded
"oh my god" susan scoffed
"by a patient in the hospital"
"a med student died"
"then, i developed a fentanyl addiction" he sighed
"im so sorry, carter"
i looked down
"yeah, well"
i was silent.
"i'm sober now"
he pat my thigh and got up, dipping his shoe in the pool.
"something tonight feels strange" susan said after a moment of silence
"reminds you of the old times?"
"yeah"
"back when we were all young" susan smiled
i paused
"what happened to your rumoured engagement?"
she cackled
"it was all a bad idea"
"i'll find someone one of these days"
"maybe you will" carter sighed
"there are plenty of fish in the sea" i smiled
"oh shut up you two"
then, a car pulled into the driveway
"looks like gamma's home" susan shrugged

a/n: happy belated easter! i hope you had a good holiday, and if you don't celebrate, i hope you had a enjoyable weekend. i hope you enjoyed this part & if you're new to this fic, welcome! i've seen more and more people start to read it and i am beyond thankful for that. even if you're not a fan of ER, i hope you enjoy.. as i said a few weeks ago, this story is really slow, but should be picking up by the end of this month!! i'll see you all on thursday<3