DESTINED AFFECTION

ONE

"Come find me when you're settled, and I'll give you a brief rundown of our operation." Lauren turned and walked away. She had been opposed to hiring Camila Cabello, but it had been a fait accompli before she'd even had a chance to cast a vote. She had not wanted a surgeon on her staff, especially one she didn't know anything about. Now she'd just have to make the best of it.

Camila watched Lauren stride purposefully down the hall, wondering at the hint of animosity she'd felt from the other woman. Usually it takes me more than half an hour to piss someone off.

Camila sighed. This was not where she'd imagined herself being a year ago. But then, nothing in her life had turned out the way she'd expected. She was lucky to have gotten this position, and now she'd just have to make the best of it.



* * * * *

"So what's the story?" Ally Brooke's asked as she settled onto a stool next to Lauren in the nurses' station.

"Huh?" Lauren looked up blankly from the paperwork that she was completing on the GSW victim, presently known as UMV— unidentified male victim. "Story...?"

"Dr. Brunette, Big bum and Gorgeous."

Lauren stifled a sharp retort, uncertain as to why the question aggravated her. She'd known Ally for almost eight years, ever since they'd met when Lauren was a medical student and could barely figure out how to start an intravenous line. She'd lost count of the number of times that Ally had bailed her out of difficult situations, and in the course of their professional association, they'd become close personal friends as well.

"I told you that we were getting a new attending," Lauren replied, tapping her pen restlessly on the counter top in a completely uncharacteristic fashion. Why am I so bothered? God, I hate feeling off balance.

"Yeah, but she's not the usual ER doc, now, is she?"

"No," Lauren admitted pensively, thinking about those talented hands, "she's not."

"How could you hire someone for my department while I was on vacation? " Lauren was so incensed she could barely stay in her seat. "I never even had a chance to interview her."

Normani Kordei looked honestly contrite. "It came up unexpectedly, and I knew that you had a position open. I had to make the decision quickly to get the salary approved for the upcoming fiscal year."

"You could have called me to discuss it. Ally Brooke's knew where we were."

"You know how these things go, Lauren." The chief of medicine shrugged. "The chief of surgery contacted me and asked me to interview Dr. Cabello that very day. Her credentials were impeccable, and...I owed Hansen a favor."

"Great Politics," Lauren said in disgust "I need a full-time ER doc, not a prima donna surgeon who probably can't tell a heart attack from heartburn."

"It won't hurt to have a surgeon permanently on staff in the emergency room," Normani pointed out. "It will be very good for the residency program, and it will cut down on the number of surgery consults you'll need to request. That will make the HMOs happy."

"Did it ever occur to you to wonder why a surgeon would want to be an emergency room physician ? " Lauren shook her head. "What's wrong with her?"

"Nothing that I could see. Undergraduate at Duke, med school and general surgery at NYU, and one of the premier trauma fellowships in the country at St. Michael's."

"I ask again, what's wrong with her? A substance abuse problem, mental instability? " Lauren leaned forward, her displeasure evident "Come on, Normani. No surgeon would take this position if there weren 't some kind of problem in their background. It doesn 't offer either the status or the salary of surgery."

The chief of medicine lifted her shoulders helplessly. "I honestly can't shed any light on why she wanted this job. She comes highly recommended with absolutely nothing in her files to besmirch a stellar record. I was delighted to get her, and since she s officially a joint surgery and medicine hire, their department has to do all the work of credentialing her."  

  "More politics. I'm telling you, someone's hiding something." Lauren stood, still furious. "As far as I'm concerned, she's on probation in my department. If she makes one mistake or steps out of line, she's gone."

"Of course," Normani said. "I won't stand in your way if you have cause for dismissal. Just give her a fair chance."

That had been three weeks ago.. In the interim, Lauren had reviewed Camila's CV and made a few discreet calls to friends from medical school and residency who had contacts at St. Michael's where Camila had trained. Unfortunately, she didn't know much more about Camila now than when she'd first been told to expect a surgeon as the newest member of her department. All anyone could tell her was that Camila was rumored to be a rising young star, and if her star had burned out, no one knew why.

"If there is a story, I haven't heard it," Lauren said with a sigh.

"She was slick this morning in that trauma," Ally pointed out mildly.

"Yes."

"And she's so hot the air around her sizzles."

"God, Ally, Will shouldn't let you out of the house without a chaperone."

The small blond laughed. "After twelve years and two kids, Will knows she doesn't have to worry. I was just remarking."

"You have drool in the corner of your mouth."'

Ally started to raise a hand to her lips, then snorted. "Ha ha. And I suppose you didn't notice?"

Lauren grew very still, disconcerted when Camila's intense brown eyes and easy grin came instantly to mind. "No."

"Laur, come on," Ally said gently, resting her fingers on her friend's forearm. "Sooner or later—-"

Abruptly, Lauren stood. "Let's not go there again, okay? Please."

"I'm sorry." Ally rose and gave Lauren a quick hug. "You know me, just can't mind my own business."

"It's okay." Lauren forced a smile. "Now, which room did you put the guy with the chest pain in?"

"Number four. The EKG is by the bedside. The T-waves are peaked, but they're not flipped, so I think it's just angina."

"Did he respond to that nitroglycerin?"

"Yep. Felt better in thirty seconds."

"Good," Lauren said absently, glancing down the hall toward the locker room. "I'll be in with him for a while. Keep your eye on Dr. Cabello. She might have good hands, but she probably doesn't know anything about medicine. Don't let her go killing anyone."

"Yes, boss," Ally murmured softly, wondering as she watched her friend disappear into one of the curtained rooms just what it was about Camila Cabello that bothered Lauren quite so much. She doubted that in the small world of the hospital and the intimate environment in which they spent much of their day that it would take very long for the answer to become apparent.  

AN: This book really's my real interest in life. I work in the respiratory department that's why I fell in love in an instant upon reading this how are you liking it so far?