Page 69 of Sinful in Scrubs

MARCUS

Icouldn’t believe Emma was back. It was honestly an unexpected shock to see her. A good shock, because I hadn’t let myself even hope that she would come back. Did this mean I had another chance to have her in my life?

I turned as I headed toward the trauma room. She was practically running as she hurried away. I needed to keep my head and focus on my work, but Emma was a pleasant distraction. I had kept her face in my memory, but gazing into her eyes, it was as if I had forgotten exactly how beautiful her eyes really were.

Slowly, the ER calmed and the chaos quieted down. I was no longer needed, patients were cared for, and now they had to move forward with the recovery part of their treatment. Before I headed home, I wanted to ask Emma for coffee or dinner. She wasn’t around, or at least I couldn’t find her, and I didn’t bother to pester the nursing staff to ask after her.

Emma was back. I’d see her again. I had to.

The next morning, I headed straight into James Collins’s office.

“Marcus, how can I help you this morning?” he said as I stepped into his office.

“Emma was back on the floor last night,” I mentioned.

“That’s not going to be a problem for you, is it?” he immediately asked me.

“Not at all. I just wanted to say that her presence yesterday made all the difference and I was coming to make sure that you had plans on offering her a position back with the hospital.”

He let out a chuckle as I let my demands be known.

“What?” I asked.

“You aren’t the first one in my office this morning to let me know,” he said.

“Seriously?” I asked.

He nodded. “Seriously. Her coordination efforts last night made the difference in the lives of several people. I’ve had other surgeons blowing up my email, and Rosa Hernandez was up here as I came in. She wanted to make sure she told me in person before going home after her shift. She wanted me to know that we needed Dr. Chen back, immediately. We will definitely be extending her an offer to return. Well, while I’ve got you here, I have a question about this triage protocol that was being used. What can you tell me about it?” he asked again.

I shook my head. I had no idea what strategy Emma used to work her magic last night. “What I can tell you is that we don’t have an official triage protocol in place.”

James’s face twisted up with concern.

“On a day to day basis, what work processes we currently have in place are working out fine. They could be improved upon. However, last night was an extreme situation. If we didn’t have Emma keeping tabs on patients and available doctors, last night could have been problematic. If we have another situation come up like last night, we absolutely need to have a protocol to fall back on and a point person to be properly trained. We need Emma in surgery, but we also need someone who can take control in that kind of situation.”

“I was under the impression that she had put one together and made a presentation to our board,” he said.

“Well, you’re familiar with Dr. Kevin Thompson, right?” I asked, not hiding my exasperation.

James nodded.

“Well, Dr. Chen and I had only been kicking around the idea of establishing an intake protocol. We had nothing concrete, and nothing was discussed when she was requested to make that presentation. It didn’t go well simply because there was nothing for her to present. I am very much under the impression that he was pushing for that presentation to be made before there was anything to present as a personal vendetta against Dr. Chen.”

I continued to lay out my opinion on the entire situation, regardless of whether James was actually interested or not. My intention was to make the point that Emma had basically been caught unaware and unprepared and that, with actual preparation time and a bit more of a heads-up than forty-eight hours, she would definitely have a working protocol. The two of us would definitely have a presentable working protocol.

James’s brows continued to pull together, and the furrows in his brow grew deeper as he thought about what I had said.

“So, you think if I gave you two some time, you could come up with a viable triage protocol?” he finally asked.

I nodded. “That’s what I just said.”

He nodded almost absentmindedly, but I could sense he was working it over and over again in his mind. “Okay, let’s do that,” he said. “Can I count on you to coordinate with Dr. Chen? I’ll reach out to Emma and let her know.”

“You’re going to have to give her time. After all, this need for an incoming protocol started as a random idea.”

“But what about her previous presentation?”

“As you pointed out, it did not go well. She had, what? Two days to pull it together. I gave her some of my thoughts on it, but clearly, that wasn’t enough. Besides, she needs to be able to take what she successfully implemented last night and distill it down into understandable sound bites of information that the board can comprehend. She’ll be translating ER and surgical terms into a vocabulary that a bunch of men and women who wear business suits for a living will understand,” I explained.

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