DESTINED AFFECTION

TWO

Camila stuffed her street clothes into an empty locker, pulled on a pair of navy blue scrubs and Nikes, and, hoping to get on better footing with her new chief, she went in search of Lauren. She found her reading through a stack of papers in the staff lounge, a small, windowless room tucked into a rear corner of the emergency room. The space was unadorned and starkly fictional—the only decorations were a bulletin board with the obligatory rules and regulations covering everything from waste disposal to bomb threats, and a large erasable 12-month calendar showing the staff's shift assignments. The furnishings consisted of a single grouping of end tables and chairs along one wall and a central table that looked as if it had been pilfered from the hospital cafeteria,

"You said you wanted to go over some things," Camila said as she helped herself to coffee from the warmer on the counter. It was her first and only cup of the day, and she fervently prayed it would be decent. She took a cautious sip. Not bad at all. Maybe that's a good sign. She and Lauren were alone, and Camila waited for an invitation before sitting down. "Is this a good time to talk?"

"Any time that it's quiet for five minutes in a row is a good time," Lauren said with a sort sigh, pushing the messages aside. Most of the time, she enjoyed the administrative aspects of her position, but the paperwork was never-ending. She gestured to the chair opposite her at the stained gray Formica-topped table. "I'm sorry that I didn't get to meet with you when you were here to interview in June."

"So am I." Camila kept her voice neutral and her face expressionless, wondering if they had met if Lauren would have hired her. At the moment, the ER chief didn't seem too happy to have her on board. She'd been lucky that her previous chief had been able to pull some strings and get her an interview at one of the few university hospitals that still had an ER handling trauma. Most hospitals, like St. Michael's, had both a trauma unit to handle acute injuries and a separate emergency room for the treatment of medical illness. At PMC, however, the ER docs evaluated and stabilized even the level one traumas, only calling upon the surgeons for consultation or when the patient was ready to go up to the OR. It was as close as Camila was going to get to an operating room for a while. Face it. Maybe forever. She pushed away that thought as well as the faint nausea that accompanied it. "It was kind of a rush deal."

"Yes, the way you were hired was a bit unusual." Lauren studied Camila's deep brown eyes, searching for some suggestion of evasion or discomfort. The surgeon's gaze was direct and surprisingly serene. The tranquility was not something Lauren would have expected of any surgeon, but particularly not of this one, especially not after having witnessed Camila's aggressive handling of the trauma alert earlier. What an interesting mix of contradictions she is. Or else she's a great poker player.

Annoyed to discover that she had lost her focus, Lauren spoke more sharply than she intended. "I'm not sure what you were led to believe, but it's not going to be possible for you to see only surgical problems down here. We're—"

"I wasn't led to believe anything except that I had a job." Camila tilted her head with the barest flicker of a grin. "Is that still true?"

Despite herself, Lauren laughed. "Well, considering that you passed your practical exam this morning with high marks, I'd have to say yes."

"Good, because I've already put down first and last months' rent on an apartment."

Lauren caught herself as she was about to ask where Camila was living. For some reason, she couldn't seem to keep her mind from wandering from professional into personal areas, which was distinctly unusual for her. She was friendly with all of her colleagues, but, for the most part, her time was spent on administrative responsibilities or patient care. She didn't socialize very much with any of her colleagues other than Ally, and she almost never saw her fellow attendings' outside of work except at departmental functions. I'm probably curious because she just appeared out of nowhere. It's not like there's really any great mystery about her. So, I'll just get this little introductory talk out of the way, and we can all get back to routine.