"No wonder the Board gave us cart blanche for this program. They knew that the paperwork would be insurmountable." Garrett looked over to her brother’s image that was now perched in its frame on top of the monitor where it could be seen. ‘Luc, I’m not going to let this get me down.’ She was more determined than ever to get the group going. ‘Not after what Danni went through to get us here. I’m not letting this foil me now.’
The surgeon started shifting through the stacks of papers, looking for the necessary forms, in triplicate no less, to reserve the meeting room. She let her mind go about its logical thinking, "First things first, a room to meet in."
Garrett’s mind was so focused that she didn’t hear Rene open the door. The tall, thin man crossed his arms over his chest and stood staring at the mound of white where the empty desk used to be. Shaking his head, the man thought out loud. "First the coffee cups and now all this." He held his arms out to emphasize. "My friend, if you wanted to be buried alive in a snowdrift I could give you the location of several nice ones in Canada. You’d have a better view at least than in here…eh?" Dr. Chabot let his eyes sweep across the small room. "Not much more air to breathe, mind you." He made a comical face as he tipped his head from side to side.
"Sorry, Rene. I didn’t mean to…" Garrett looked around her, "take over the office. I’ll have this all cleared up by the time I leave today."
Her colleague let a low laugh escape his lips.
"What?" Garrett’s eyes riveted back up to him. "What are you laughing at now?"
"You!" Rene shook his head. "I know how you are, Dr. Trivoli. You will get so caught up in everything," he motioned at the mounds of paperwork, "that you could be here for days and not realize it. I don’t even think that you would stop for nourishment. Coffee…" he wiggled his fingers in indecision, "maybe."
Seeing the small blonde figure that was partially hidden by Rene’s taller frame, Garrett commented. "Rene, haven’t you heard, I’m part of a team now? One thing that I’ve learned this last month is that everything is for the good of the team."
The tall Canadian felt a tapping at his shoulder and turned to see who it was. "Nurse Bossard!" Chabot nodded at her with a smile.
"And I’m in charge of keeping this team running with a full tank." Danni held up the take-out bag from the fast food place down the street. "Season’s Greetings to you, Dr. Chabot. Care to join us?" The nurse smiled up at him and dangled the bag out before her in an enticing manner. "I’ve got more than enough." The petite woman moved around him and into the room. Once behind the desk, she looked for a place to set the food down. Finding none, she pulled open a desk drawer and placed the package there.
"No, thanks. I’m still trying to get rid of all the food that my wife stuffed me with on Christmas." Rene patted his stomach. "I take it that you both had a nice holiday?" His eyes went back and forth between the two women searching for any subtle exchanges.
Garrett rolled her eyes. "What is this…everybody needs to have a nice holiday with you? Of course mine was nice, I got to operate for the first time in over a month."
"Gar, I think he meant with friends and family." The petite nurse looked over to Rene.
Rene put his hands up in mock defense. "Hey, coming from her, that’s more than I expected."
"Well, I for one had a nice holiday," Danni nudged the woman next to her, "Unlike some people."
The closeness of the team was evident by the relaxed attitude the two had. Rene could see it in their faces. ‘Perhaps this team is what you needed, my friend.’ He could see the change that had taken place in his colleague and liked it. No one would ever call the tall surgeon cute to her face but that was the only word that Rene could think of to describe how Danni and Garrett were together. There was something about the growing friendship that he could sense was timeless in its nature, as if they had known one another for an eternity.
"Come on, I had fun, too." Garrett reached for the offered burger that was gradually being held just out of her reach. "Okay, so I ate almost all of your sugar cookies."
"Stole is more like it…and from a child too." Danni laughed and then handed her the sought-after prize. "Dr. Chabot, you have two children, would you do that?" Her gaze turned to him.
The smile grew on his face as the thought crossed his mind. "If it were my favorite kind, I might be tempted. I’d better leave now and let you two get back to more important matters…eh?" He looked at the paper-filled desk. "Like finding the desk so that I’ll be able to use it later tonight when I’m on call." He waved and backed out of the doorway, closing the door behind him.
Garrett turned a worried eye toward the petite blonde. "Do you think he’s serious about finding the desk?"
Danni rolled her eyes and smirked, "Yeah, I guess so."
"That’s what I was afraid of." The tall woman bit into her burger and started sorting through the mounds of paperwork.
Things were finally settling down into a nice routine of preparation for the upcoming programs to be inaugurated. First would be the official flight of the Surgical Team at midnight on New Year’s Eve to kick off the year 2001, followed by the initial meeting of the support group that Saturday. Everything was going as planned until three days before the end of the year.
McMurray paced in his office, worried about the reception he would get from his next meeting with the Board of Directors. They needed proof that the nurse could indeed fly and didn’t care what it took to prove it. As hospital tradition dictated it, the last meeting of the calendar year would be on December 31 at noon. That left him with only a day and half to work miracles. Finally his mind was made up. He had to do it. He walked over to his desk and summoned his secretary informing her to get his Surgical Flight Team, STAT! There was little time left, and he was going to make the most of it.
Without delay, the two curious women found themselves ushered into the Chief of Trauma Services’ office upon their arrival. There on the desk were several large manila envelopes, each one with the name of an outlying hospital on it, and the name of the Head of Emergency Services. The envelopes seemed to hold a special interest to Danni as she craned her neck trying to read the writing that was on them, while Garrett looked around the office for the Ol’ Cutter. The surgeon thought that it was strange to be requested to come to his office and he was nowhere to be found once they had arrived.
"Hey, Gar, take a look at these." The nurse pointed to the envelopes. "It’s all the hospitals that send us trauma patients on a regular basis." She picked one up and turned it over. "Hmmph! It’s sealed."
"I don’t like…" her words were cut off at the sound of the door opening behind them. Slowly she turned to see who had entered the office. It was Dr. McMurray.
The man breezed into his office with another stack of envelopes, like those on the desk, underneath his arm. "Good to see you two here." He crossed behind them and strode to the other side of his desk. "I’ve got a mission for you, Nurse Bossard." McMurray looked up from his desk, a smirk beginning to show on his face. "Seems like you’re the personable one out of the two of you. Sorry, Dr. Trivoli but there was never really any question about this." He chuckled. "You’re a damn good surgeon. Everybody here knows it. What we need is a person who can get right next to someone and open their arms up to them in a loving embrace."