"Danni…" Garrett’s voice was barely above a whisper, but there was no response. The surgeon reached out to stroke the wildly arrayed blonde hair and spoke her name once more. "Danni."
The motion of her head was into the hand that touched her while her green eyes lifted to meet those of blue. Danni couldn’t believe that her prayers had been answered that quickly. It seemed like only a moment or two ago that she had prayed for love to come and find her. Now, suddenly, here was the woman whom she loved standing before her. She blinked back an irate tear as she willed her hands to wipe dry her swollen eyes. "Gar!" The word was more of a sigh then anything. "I didn’t wake you, did I?" The nurse sniffed as she wiped her hands against her nightgown.
"No, I needed to use the bathroom. That’s when I heard you down here."
"Oh!"
"Danni, how about I give David a call to come over. You need someone…"
Danni shook her head. "David doesn’t understand."
"Then talk to him." Garrett sat down beside the nurse. "I can see that he loves you." ‘He better love you!’ "Give him a chance to…"
"Gar, he’s just…" Danni was reduced to tears once more.
The surgeon walked over to the hall stand and took the portable phone from its cradle. "What’s David’s number? I’m calling him." ‘I’d like to give him a piece of my mind.’ She walked back into the living room and sat down on the couch.
"Please, Gar. Don’t call David, he’ll only think I’m foolish." Danni let the lie rattle over her hollowed heart while her mind screamed out her true feelings for only her to hear. ‘You! You’re the love that I’m waiting for. Can’t you see that? What do I have to do to make you realize that its you?’ Her pleading eyes darted to Garrett, their puffy redness looking more like anger than despair. "I really don’t want him to know what I’m feeling right now. I’m not sure anyone would understand what I’m feeling."
The surgeon wrapped her arm around the small frame of the woman and pulled her in close. Letting her cheek rest on top of the blonde’s head, she lightly patted Danni’s leg. "Alright then, but only if you get some rest."
‘Okay, David. You had your chance and you blew it.’ Garrett could feel her level of annoyance rise when she thought of someone not being able to understand her friend. ‘How can anyone not understand what a kind and loving person this woman is? Why, I can feel the warmth and tenderness of her even now while I’m just touching her.’
The warmth of the nurse had started to invade her heart even before she ever came in contact with her. Garrett thought back to their first meeting in the Trauma Room. Danni’s warmth had shown then, without knowing who the surgeon really was. Soon all of the times that they had encountered one another seemed to hold some kind of memory for the often thought of cold and demanding Dr. Trivoli. Garrett wondered if now it wasn’t this woman who was the one demanding more of her heart then the surgeon knew ever existed. ‘Perhaps I need to be thinking more about this than being angered with David.’
Danni thought for a moment then nodded her head, slowly allowing her body to resume a more humanly formed structure. In doing so, she felt the brush of Garrett’s face across her hair and the gentle planting of a kiss. Her body trembled with excitement as the strength of the surgeon’s arms flexed against her body making her feel the warmth of their embrace.
Danni let out a slow sigh as she tried to imagine what it would feel like to be held in a lover’s arms. What it would feel like to be loved by someone that could hold her heart captive for all of eternity. Right now it looked like she’d never be able to find out.
She remained seated like that until Garrett’s words brought her back to reality.
"Come on, let’s get you up to bed."
The low whispered words were like an elixir to her soul. Danni felt herself being helped from the couch and headed for the stairs. With each step they took together, it was as if they had been down this path before. Somewhere in time or in some other place, but she knew that it had been this way. It was like coming home after a long absence.
Garrett guided her precious cargo with the utmost of care as they rounded the corner at the top of the stairs. Her soothing voice helping to steady the nurse as they approached the door to her room. Stopping only long enough to remove the obstacle from their path, Garrett sidled through the doorway and over to the empty bed, helping to keep the momentum of the young woman from slowing.
Holding on to her friend with one hand, she reached to pick up the covers and waited for Danni to lay down. As soon as she had, Garrett pulled them up and tucked them neatly back into place. The surgeon ruffled the short blonde hair and bent down to kiss the woman like one would a child.
Danni felt the touch of the moist lips on her forehead and reached like a drowning woman for the lifeline that had been thrown to her. The nurse’s small hand clung to the arm of the surgeon. "Gar, don’t go."
"Danni you need your sleep."
The petite woman was glad for the dimly lit room. The light from the hall would not give her longing eyes away as she stared up at the woman she loved. "I don’t want to be alone tonight. Stay here with me."
"I…"
"I think that if you just hold me…" Danni could feel the bed shift as the weight of the surgeon sank down into the mattress. "I’ll fall asleep."
Garrett slid under the covers. She could feel the change of the body next to hers as the petite woman snuggled in close. With her arms tightly holding Danni in place, both spirits came to rest in a night that had brought them both accolades and sorrow, but most of all had brought them where they needed to be, together.
Chapter 8
Here it was the fifth of March and already it felt like Spring was in the air. Danni looked up to the blue sky above. She couldn’t believe that the weekend had already gone by and tomorrow would be their scheduled day in court for the rape trial of one of their patients. How fast the time was passing!
The weekend events danced through her mind. What a really different and unique weekend it had been. From the lows of losing a patient, to being honored at the Dinner on Friday night and then to the feeling of despair for not being able to verbalize your love for another human being. The epitome of Friday was waking up in that person’s arms on Saturday and feeling so right about it that she wished it could be like that every morning. The nurse felt her heart racing at the thought.
The corners of her mouth turned upward as she allowed her mind to move on with the weekend. It wasn’t anything special but rather just things that would be shared by good friends. Things like the slow-paced breakfast, the sharing of chores to once again rid the house of any speck of dust, or the quiet afternoon spent watching a movie with their feet up and sharing a huge bowl of popcorn. It was almost like there was something different from the night before with the raven-haired woman. Her mood was more open then she had ever seen it. It was nice to laugh and joke with a good friend.
Then, as the day progressed into the evening hours, Danni had noticed that Garrett started to sink back into her quiet ways. It was as if she was anticipating something going to happen, showing signs of dread as the hours advanced into night. The nurse thought back to that evening. Nothing happened, they had not even been paged out for any Flights and the world had forgotten that they even existed. There they were, lost in their own little world. Well, that was until David had called. The nurse concentrated on the time shortly after when Garrett had walked back into the kitchen as Danni was hanging up the phone. The surgeon had not said a single word, but the look on her face was one of disappointment. Danni remembered the look well. She had just said good-bye to David and that she would be waiting for him to arrive.