Riley laughed her eyes regaining their sparkle. She was so happy Sam wasn't
angry. "You don't have to do that. I don't have in-house call but I'll still be on call."
She warned. "It could be late."
"Get in the shower Riley!"
Riley glanced at the clock. "Shit." She exclaimed when she realized ten minutes
had already passed. She jumped off the bed, grabbed some clothes, and
headed for the shower. She was back in less than ten minutes her short hair still
wet. Sam was already dressed and waiting.
"You really don't have to drive me in." Riley told Sam as she stopped to put on
her shoes.
"Riley I'm driving...let's go." Sam said turning and walking out of the room. Riley grinned and happily followed her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was a quick drive to the hospital. Sam pulled up outside the ER to drop Riley
off. "I'll call you as soon as I can." She leaned over the console giving Sam a
sweet kiss on the lips.
"I'll be waiting," Sam promised.
Riley headed for the ER at a fast jog, a silly grin plastered on her face.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Riley spotted Denny as soon as she stepped into the ER. "Hey Denny, what've
we got?"
The tall lanky blond turned at the sound of his friend's voice. "Oh my God Riley
what happened to you?" He asked in shock.
Riley was confused for a second wondering what he was talking about then her
hand went to her bruised cheek. She glanced around and noticed several people
listening intently to the conversation. She didn't want her personal life bandied
about the hospital. At times, it was like living in a fish bowl with everyone
knowing everyone else's business.
"Oh don't remind me," she laughed. "I tripped over my own feet and bashed into an open kitchen cabinet."
Denny narrowed his eyes looking at Riley suspiciously. Something wasn't right
here but seeing their audience, he decided to let it go. He'd get the truth out of
her later.
"What've we got?" Riley repeated.
They headed off together to take care of all the injured construction workers.
Chapter Ten
Denny finished his last surgery and headed to the lounge hoping to catch Riley
before she left. She'd headed into the OR just before he took in his last patient.
He found her in the surgical lounge her feet propped up on the table asleep. He
smiled fondly, he'd always felt like the big brother Riley never had.
"Hey Riley. How'd that last case go?"
Riley jerked awake, grumbling when she realized she'd dozed off. "Hi Denny."
Riley's face took on a pained expression. "There was nothing I could do; his arm
was too badly injured. I had to amputate. I was just waiting for them to get him
settled in recovery. I wanted to check him one more time before I head out."
"I'm sorry Kiddo, sometimes there's just nothing more we can do. He lost his arm
but you saved his life." Denny assured her.
"I know, but I'd be willing to bet he won't feel the same way." Riley said with a sigh.
"Maybe not at first but eventually he'll realize just how lucky he was. Enough
about patients, want to tell me what really happened to your face?"
Riley squirmed in her chair and refused to make eye contact. "I don't know what
you mean, I told you what happened."
Denny reached over and tilted Riley's head up until their eyes met. "Come on,
we've known each other since medical school. You know I can always tell when
you're not telling the truth."
Riley sighed dramatically. "It's nothing really. It's over and done with."
Denny reached out and stroked Riley's injured cheek. He could just make out a
hint of fingerprints in the bruises on her cheek. A thought suddenly occurred to
him and his eyes widened.
"It wasn't that woman was it? The one who's been hanging around looking for
you. Did she hurt you?" Denny asked in concern.
"Oh God No Denny, it wasn't Sam." Riley gasped in shock.
"Sam... who's Sam."
"She's my friend; well she's more than a friend." Riley said blushing. "Which leads us back to this." She said pointing to her bruised cheek.
"You remember my Uncle Rielly?"
"How could I forget that asshole," Denny muttered.
Riley chuckled, remembering several run-ins Denny had with her uncle when
they were in medical school. Denny had hated the way her uncle treated her and
had made his displeasure well known.
"Well I umm... I umm..."
"Spit it out Riley." Denny encouraged.
"I recently started dating her... Sam I mean. Stevens saw us kissing in the
parking lot."
Riley glanced up waiting for Denny's reaction. Denny snickered and Riley glared
at him.
"Sorry, go ahead."
"Stevens confronted me about it last week. I told him my personal life was none
of his business. Well he saw us again when Sam brought me lunch. Guess the
SOB took it upon himself to call my uncle. Anyway, my uncle was waiting for me
yesterday when I got home from lunch with Sam. He was less than happy about
me seeing a woman. I think his exact words were, 'No niece of mine is going to
be a queer'. Things escalated from there and he smacked me in the face...
twice." Riley blinked trying to keep the tears from falling.
Denny leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Riley. "I am so sorry Kiddo.
I always knew the guy was a real bastard but I never thought he'd hit you." Riley
couldn't help it, the tears started to leak out. "I'm so proud of you for finally being true to who you really are."
Riley pulled away from Denny and looked at him in shock. "What do you mean?"
Denny just smiled at her knowingly. "You knew? You knew I was gay! But how I
never..."
"Riley, Carol and I have always known. I know you and Linda thought it was this
great secret but it was pretty obvious to people who know you. You know I never
liked Linda but I just never understood why you insisted on dating guys. Now I
understand," he said softly stroking her injured cheek with his fingertips.
Riley just stared at him in shock. He'd known all this time and never said a word.
"Why didn't you say anything?"
"I wanted to but Carol convinced me it wasn't my place. You needed to accept
who you are. It wasn't for me to tell you. So are you happy with Sam? Is she
good to you?"
"Oh Denny, she's incredible. She makes me feel things I never thought were
possible." Riley enthused blushing lightly.
Denny hugged her. "I'm so happy for you. So when are you going to bring her
over? Carol and I want to meet her."
Riley's eyes went wide in panic and she started to stutter. She could just imagine
the grilling Carol would give Sam. Denny laughed at the look of total panic on
Riley's face.
"Relax Riley, I promise we won't give her the third degree. We're your friends;
we want you to be happy. Besides, you haven't met the newest member of our
family yet. He should get to come home in two weeks."
"That's wonderful. I'm so thrilled for you guys. And I did get to see Jeremy. I
snuck up to the PICU. He's adorable." Riley told him. She yawned and rubbed
her eyes trying to say alert.
"Get out of here and get some rest. I'll take care of the post-op orders on your
patient."
"Thanks Denny. I'll do it while I wait for Sam. She drove me in this morning. So I
need to call her to pick me up."
"Okay, I really am happy for you. Bring your girl by to meet us." Denny