Charity entered the hospital to meet Elijah before they went to pick his mother up from the airport. It felt odd being at the place where she had spent so much time. In a sense, she had abandoned the hospital. Did I let down my father once again? Did the door to being a physician close forever? The questions were like a battering ram against her skull. She returned to her residency shortly after Jamie was born, but hated leaving the baby in the hospital nursery so she could work. She wanted to be a mother a hundred percent of the time and that meant she couldn’t be an effective physician. Elijah had supported her decision and encouraged her to spend the time with Jamie.

“Hey Max. Is Elijah out of surgery yet? He’s supposed to meet me here.”

Charity may as well have been invisible as Sara and a number of nurses swarmed around Jamie.

“She’s gorgeous.”

“She looks just like Dr. Bennet!” Charity knew she wasn’t the Dr. Bennet they were referring to.

“Look at her teeth.”

“She has blonde hair. Not like Dr. Bennet’s. I wonder where she gets that.”

What do they think, I have a dye job? Charity loved when people cooed over Jamie, she just couldn’t stand when her husband’s staff ignored her. She was being silly. She knew it, but it didn’t stop the sarcastic inner conversation going on in her head.

“I bet she’ll be a doctor like her father.”

Yes, because her mother isn’t a doctor.

“Do you think she’ll have a Kiwi accent?”

Charity couldn’t take it anymore. “Sara, is it o.k. if I leave Jamie in your capable hands for a few minutes?” Sara was sweet. Charity liked her.

Sara nodded and gave her an empathetic smile. “He should be getting out of surgery, if he’s not already.”

Charity nodded and walked out into the hallway to find chaos ensuing all around. She spotted Mandy, who had a panicked look on her face.

An announcement carried on the intercom system, “Paging Dr. Kentner, Dr. Lourdes, Dr. Kaminski, report to the emergency burn unit stat. Code Blue. Dr. Mass, Paging Dr. Mass.”

Charity was familiar with the code system and Dr. Mass was called when mass casualties were anticipated. Mandy came rushing towards Charity.

“I don’t know what the hell you’re doing here Charity, but you have to be my shadow. There was a chemical explosion at the electronics manufacturing plant – hydrofluoric acid. We’re short staffed already and we can’t handle the emergency. Follow me and avoid eye contact with the other doctors, except your husband and your dad. They might recognize you and you look scared as hell.”

Adrenaline started coursing through Charity’s body. She had no idea where Elijah was. He probably whisked a patient into emergency surgery. She was sure Sara would take good care of Jamie. Charity knew where the scrubs were kept and quickly suited up and placed her visitor’s badge under her shirt. She took off her rings and headed for the sink. It had been months since she scrubbed up, and yet it seemed like only yesterday. Charity turned on the valve and squirted the pink solution of chlorhexidine gluconate into the palms of her hands. She vigorously scrubbed her nail beds and washed her arms up to her elbows. She flicked off the water with her bicep.

No one recognized her as she continued to follow Mandy through the mayhem.

“Dr. Cantor, you need to get this woman’s wounds irrigated, start her on a saline drip and throw in some morphine while you’re at it,” Dr. Kentner snapped and Mandy jumped into action. All the physicians present were capable, but she knew the orders were miscalculated.

“Mandy, I suspect this patient’s experiencing systemic toxicity. She’s going to arrest if we waste time treating her burns. They can wait or get someone’s help so you can treat everything at once and for Pete’s sake find out her name!”

Charity couldn’t touch the patient because of the burns. That didn’t mean she couldn’t help the poor girl.

She was afraid to even give her name. She touched the patient’s toe, which seemed to be the only unaffected area of her body. “I’m Dr. Thompson-Bennet.” She looked at a defibrillator, which was made by the Zoll Corporation and wondered if she should have made up a name. Dr. Zoll sounded decent. Next time. “Give me your name.”

The woman lay close to losing consciousness. “I can’t feel my hands. Do I still have my hands?”

“What’s your name, sweetie?” Charity moved closer to hear the woman’s hoarse voice.

“I want to be able to change my daughter’s diaper. I don’t want my two year old to have a freak for a mother.”

“Your hands are intact. What’s your name?”

“Janey.” The woman coughed.

“Janey, you’re at Scott Thompson Hospital. You’ve an excellent team of doctors taking care of you. I want you to focus on your little girl. She needs you, Janey. What’s her name?”

“Lacey. She means everything to me. You have very calming eyes. Thank you.” Poor Janey screamed out as someone touched a spot where her skin had been burned.

Charity could do little for Janey except look into her soft brown eyes when she opened them. Charity waited as Mandy and the others did their job.

She spotted Dr. Fulton rush into the room. He knew who she was and would most certainly kick her out, and tattletale on her. She ducked her head and leaned toward Mandy. “Fulton’s here.”

“Get out, quick!” Mandy continued working on irrigating poor Janey’s skin.

“Oke-Dokey.” Charity snuck out and ripped off her scrubs. She tossed them in a nearby bin. Having just risked losing her medical license and breaking several laws, she hurried back to Elijah’s office and her daughter. She had no idea how this was going to go down.

She smiled when she found Sara playing on her hands and knees with Jamie. “I see Jamie’s throng of admirers have dispersed. Is Elijah caught up in the mess caused by the chemical leak?”

“Temporarily. He got pulled away, not exactly sure how long. Many of the injuries involve the dermis. There is a patient with systemic injuries and he’s stabilizing her. Hopefully he’ll be done after that.”

“I hope Janey’s okay.” Charity shut her mouth quickly, regretting her words. Sara was a by the books kind of person. She would frown on Charity working on any patients.

“Who’s Janey?” Sara asked.

Charity ignored the question as she scooped up Jamie. Elijah walked in and saved her from any further discussion. “Elijah!” she said over enthusiastically.

He wore blue hospital scrubs that made his eyes even brighter than usual. He always looked hot, just hotter in his doctor gear. “I think I’ve just been transported from Hell into heaven.” He picked up Jamie and pulled Charity close to drop a quick kiss on her lips. “You heard we had a chemical explosion or leak, whatever they call it? A lot of people were exposed to some nasty shit.”

“Earmuffs,” Charity reminded him. They used the word to caution each other when they swore. Jamie had the incredible ability to pick up words she shouldn’t be saying. A few weeks ago she was calling everything and everything ‘ash-hole’.  Earmuffs was the word they decided to use to correct themselves. They’d seen it on a movie and it seemed perfect.

“Whoops. Sorry!” Elijah nuzzled Jamie before setting her down with his flashlight pen. “I had to stabilize a woman who was closest to the leak. Not only was her entire torso and her upper limbs exposed but she ended up with heart complications. She was barely conscious when I got her and she kept mumbling for Doctor Bennet. I told her over and over again that I was Doctor Bennet. She said Thomas Bennet had treated her.” He raised an eyebrow, waiting for Charity to say something.

“Sounds like she was delusional.”

He wasn’t taking the bait. “Apparently this mystery doctor calmed her in the ER with words of kindness. Wish I could meet this blue-eyed angel because she probably saved Mrs. Hebert’s life.”

“I thought you said Thomas Bennet. That would make the mystery doctor a male.” Charity glanced at Sara, who was sitting behind her desk working on something while chatting to Jamie at the same time.

Elijah leaned close to her and quickly kissed her. “Thomas Bennet, Thompson-Bennet. Pretty close. Good job and thanks for helping,” he whispered. He straightened and raised his voice so Sara would hear him. “What time did my mother say she was arriving?”

“Hold on a sec,” Sara said. “I’m just looking it up on the web.” She pulled up Margaret’s flight on the computer. “Looks like there’s a fifty minute delay.”

Charity checked her watch. It only took twenty minutes to get to the airport. They had almost two hours now before Margaret would arrive. “Do you need to head back downstairs for an hour or so?”

Elijah smiled.

Sara closed a drawer loudly and turned to them. “Your space in the emergency room is already covered. They have plenty of helping hands down there now. I just spoke with the nurse in the ER. You won’t be needed.” She smiled pleasantly, but her face said, ‘Don’t argue with me’.

“If things are covered, then I guess I’m not needed?” Elijah’s statement came out more like a question.

Charity laughed. She really liked Sara. “We have time to grab a bite to eat then. Jamie should probably eat. She’s going to be starving soon.”

Elijah shoved his hands in his pocket. “I’ll grab my stuff from my office and we can go.”

“I’ll wait here with Jamie.” Charity watched Jamie help Sara line up a pack of markers and laugh every time one rolled off the desk.

Elijah disappeared and returned a few moments later, now dressed in jeans and a grey t-shirt. “I just spoke to your dad.”

Charity set the magazine she’d been flipping through down. “He’s here?”

Elijah nodded. “He’s heading into surgery, just came by his office to change his top. He mentioned that if my Mum wanted to stay in his guest room, she was more than welcome. I know we planned to leave it up to her, but let’s push her in that direction. We have the new room over the garage for her if she doesn’t want to stay at Scott’s.” He tilted his head as he watched her. “You seem stressed babe. You okay?”

Charity’s thoughts had been half lost to the short time she’d been in the ER. She missed it and part of her wished she was back in there. Her father wanted her back operating. She just wasn’t sure she wanted Jamie in daycare or with a babysitter. “I’m fine. I don’t have much going on besides a new job, Jamie, my father’s party, your mother’s visit. Oh! And being your wife.”

“You handle it all with grace. I love you for it, Dr. Thompson-Bennet and I’m here to help as best I can.”

She didn’t feel like she was handling it with grace. She felt like a floundering duck, unsure if she wanted to sink or swim.

Jamie broke her silence. “I pooped!” No wonder she had been quiet, she’d been busy.

Elijah reached for the pull-up travel bag. “I’ll change her quick. Then we can go grab a bite before we pick up my Mum from the airport.” He picked her up and disappeared into the patient bathroom to change her.

Charity listened as the hospital pager called for Dr. Thompson to the ER. She glanced longingly at the door, wishing it was her name they were calling. She would love to be down there at the moment. She sighed. This was one of the reasons she didn’t come to the hospital much the past year. It made her want to work. Her hands itched to do surgeries and save people. Hopefully her soon-to-be new job would leave her just as satisfied.