frustrating. She'd even tried stopping by Riley's office in the evening hoping to
catch her between patients. The office had been empty each time. She'd paged
her three times in three days. The same OR nurse had answered her each time
informing her that Riley was in surgery and would get back to her. The third time
the same woman answered her page Sam could hear the amusement in her
voice when she promised her Riley would call her back. Sam had finally given
up not wanting embarrass Riley with her persistent calls.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Riley felt like she was slowly being driven insane. She hadn't had a frenzied
week like this since she was a Fellow. It seemed like the whole world was
conspiring against her to keep her from seeing Sam. The ER had been just
crazy; then Denny's wife, Carol had gone into premature labor and he'd called
asking her to cover his call and patients. They'd been friends since med school
there was no way she could refuse.
Paula one of the OR nurses had been razzing her about Sam's pages. Every
time Sam had paged her she'd been in the middle of an operation. It was just
her continued bad luck Paula had been the head nurse all three times. Riley
didn't want to ignore Sam so had been forced to ask Paula to call her and let her
know why she hadn't answered her page. Paula was one of the few OR nurses
Riley was friendly with.
Riley forced her attention back to the patient on the table. This was the last one
from an earlier MVA. She'd been in the OR off and on for the last 12 hours. She
was starving and her bladder was about to pop. As she was finishing up the last
of the sutures, her pager went off.
Paula was again the head nurse. She stepped behind Riley and slid her hands
under her gown to take her pager off her pants.
"Do I even need to look to know who this is?" She teased. She leaned close to
Riley so no one could overhear. Being careful not to touch her, she whispered in
her ear. "So when're you going to tell me who this Sam with the incredibly sexy
voice is?"
Riley ground her teeth together. "See who it is and answer the damn page
Paula." Riley ground out as her pager shrilly beeped again.
Paula laughed not the least bit put off by Riley's response. Paula looked down at
the display. "Sorry Doc... It's the ER again."
"No not again!" Riley groaned.
She'd finished closing the incision and the patient was ready to go to the
recovery room. She quickly shucked her gloves and gown then grabbed the
pager out of Paula's hand. "Call and tell them I'll be right down. I have to make a
quick pit stop. Get this woman into the recovery room and I'll come back up and
write post-op orders on her as soon as I can. Page me if there's a problem."
Riley was out the door before Paula could respond.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Riley stumbled into her condo early Sunday morning. Denny's son was holding
his own and he'd come back to take over from Riley. He'd helped her clear out
the rest of the patients from a gang fight. After hearing what her week had been
like he'd told her to go home, telling her he'd cover the rest of Sunday and not to
come in until Noon Monday. Riley made him promise to call if there was a
problem and she'd come back in. She gratefully made her way home and
promptly fell into her bed fully clothed. She was asleep before her head hit the
pillow.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Riley rolled over with a groan. She glanced at the clock on the nightstand it
almost 10 am. Her bladder was screaming for relief and her empty stomach
wasn't far behind in its protests. She rolled out of bed to take care of her bladder
first. After grabbing a quick shower she felt almost human. She headed for the
kitchen to see what she could scrounge to eat. She hadn't had time to do any
shopping recently so she knew the cupboards were pretty bare. She started
opening cabinets wondering where the hell the cleaning lady put the coffee
maker this time. Riley had repeatedly told the woman to leave it on the counter
but every time Riley came back after she'd been there she'd put it away
somewhere else. Finally finding it under the counter she got a pot of much
needed coffee brewing. She managed to find some orange juice in the fridge but
not much else.
Leaning against the counter sipping her coffee she contemplated her options.
She could go grocery shopping. That idea was quickly squashed she had no
interest in that. She could go out to eat but the idea of eating alone in some
restaurant didn't appeal. Come on Riley, she chided herself, make a decision
already before you starve. Suddenly a third option came to her... Sam. I wonder if I could interest her in lunch somewhere. We never did get to eat the lunch she
brought to my office. Riley smiled at the memory of Sam at her door with the
over loaded tray. Then her body flushed as she remembered the feel of Sam
pressing her against the desk and her hand between her legs stroking her. She
felt herself get wet and begin to throb. Enough of that! She told herself forcing
the thoughts away.
She headed for the phone.
"Hello."
"Hi Sam, how's it going?"
"Who is this? Do I know you?" Sam asked teasingly.
Riley could hear the smile in her voice. "Well I sure hope so, you seemed to
know me pretty well when you had your hand down my pants." Riley slapped her
hand over her mouth. She didn't know what made her say these things to Sam.
She'd never made sexual comments like that to anyone before. Her base side
just seemed to take over every time she was around the woman.
There was a moment of shocked silence then Sam roared with laughter. "Hi
Riley... I missed you too." Her libido flared to life as she remembered the feel of
Riley under her hand. Sam had been careful not to make any overtly sexual
comments worried she might scare Riley off. Guess that's not gonna be a
problem, she snickered.
Riley was mortified, her face turned bright red.
"God Sam I'm sorry I just don't know what comes over me when I'm around you.
My mouth just runs away from me." She apologized.
Sam just laughed harder. "Don't worry about it Riley. I like it." Sam laughingly
told her. "So you finally got a break huh? Have you gotten any rest?"
"Yeah. Denny came back last night. His son is doing well. I got home about 2am
and just got up. I haven't had a week like this in a long time and hope I don't
again any time soon."
"Glad to hear you got some rest at least. When do you have to go back?"
"Not 'til Noon on Monday thank goodness." Riley said sighing in relief. "I was wondering could I interest you in lunch? I'm starving and the cupboards are bare
here."
"That sounds great." Sam enthused. "Any place special you'd like to go?"
"Want to come up here and then we'll decide?"
Sam immediately flashed to an image of Riley's condo. She didn't want to go
back there if she could help it. "Umm, how about we met somewhere in the
middle?"
Riley caught Sam's hesitation thinking maybe she didn't want to meet after all.
"It's okay Sam maybe some other time."
Sam cursed herself. She just didn't want to go to Riley's condo. Good going,