By Andrea
O.k. this was written just before Lucy died. I’m in the UK so I don’t know all the details, so I’m using
Poetic license, o.k. I just made up the whole thing! Please send feedback as this is my first ever ER
fanfic!
“O.k. my life officially sucks” Dave thought to himself as he sorted through an ever growing mountain
of Medical records, It was only his second day at County General and already the “Boss” was laying into
him for being about 15 minutes late. "Doing a great job there Dave,” Dr Carter smirked as he
sauntered past.
“Does anyone here actually like me? For Christ’s sake, they know I went to Med School in
Grenada and they judge me by that….” He turned to pick up a biro and as he did so a pile of
papers and files fell to the floor. “S***” he cursed.
“Oh great now the boss is coming to yell at me AGAIN…”
“Malucci, how many times have I told you not to swear in front of the patients, and tidy up those records. Jeez! It’s a simple enough job. Why is it always you I am yelling at?” Weaver stalked off.
“No doubt in search of someone else to yell at…” thought Dave, He looked up and saw that all the nurse
were staring at him, and Dr. Carter still had that stupid grin on his face. “Time for a break” he told
himself and walked off toward the vending machine…
He stood in front of the vending machine searching through his change for a quarter. A youngish girl
dressed in the official Dr. uniform of black trousers and a white lab coat stood behind him.
“Hi” she said smiling, “I don’t recognise the face, are you the new Med Student?” Dave’s eyes widened as he took in the blonde hair, the friendly smile and the beautiful brown eyes…
“Err…yeah Hi, I’m…ummm… Dave Malucci.”
“Lucy Knight.” They shook hands.
“So, I’ll guess I’ll see you around…” Lucy said as she headed towards Exam Room 3.
Dave caught his breath and stared after her “Nice one Dave, you just made yourself look like a complete
idiot” He bought a Coke from the vending machine and wandered back to reception “Maybe If I’m good they’ll
let me see a patient” He thought wryly…
“Malucci, where the hell have you been?” asked Weaver when he returned “You are supposed to inform ME, when
you are taking a break!”
“Here we go again…Blah blah blah blah…”
“MALUCCI! Are you even listening to what I am saying?”
Jolted back to reality. “Sorry Boss, it won’t happen again.”
“Good, Now get back to work!”
Something snapped inside him “Work? You call this work? I’m a Med Student; I’m supposed to be learning how to treat people that are ill and dying, not stuck HERE BEHIND A DESK DOING PAPERWORK!”
Everyone standing around reception went deadly silent, and Dave stared defiantly at Weaver, astonished by the
outburst.
“ Dr. Malucci, Please step into the office…”
Dave could feel all eyes on his back as he followed Weaver into the small cupboard they called an office.
“Dr Malucci, I’m sorry that you have not had more contact with the patients, I am assigning you to work
with Lucy Knight, I think you’ll like her…”
*****************************************************************
Dave smiled and went back to work, happy in the knowledge that he would be getting some experience the
next day….
He woke up at 6.00am “Great, early for once.” He watched Sesame Street, got ready for work and cycled
there leisurely as he didn’t have to in until 8am. The sun was shining (makes a change!) and he was in a
great mood.
“Morning Dave,” said Dr Greene who was sitting at reception drinking coffee.
“Morning Doc Greene” he replied “Great morning, huh?”
Dr Greene nodded, smiling.
“You seen Lucy this morning?”
“Yeah, she’s in Radiology, got a black eye from a mugger yesterday, and she even hasn’t been here that long, the City ain’t making a good impression on her.”
Dave thanked him and walked down the corridor. “Morning Lucy, Great day isn’t it? The sun’s is shining for a change…Lucy?”
She turned around and Dave saw the black eye and cut lip that Mark had mentioned. “That’s one hell of a bruise, Lucy!”
He was shocked when she began to cry. “What’s the matter? It was only a mugger, I’ve been mugged 4 times would you believe…”
“It wasn’t a mugger!” Lucy blurted out.
Dave was confused. “But Dr Greene said…”
“I told them that it was, so that they wouldn’t make a fuss.”
“Who was it then?”
“It was my boyfriend, he hit me because I wouldn’t…” her voice lowered “because I wouldn’t sleep with him.”
“That’s terrible.” Dave put his arm around her. “Did you call the police?”
“No…”
“You couldn’t get him arrested for assault you know. Why did you tell me the truth and not the other doctors?”
“I trust you Dave, I could tell that you were different the moment I met you.”
Thoughts raced through the young doctors mind. Maybe he had a hope after all? “So, you’d consider going on a date with me?” he asked hesitantly.
“Dave, I’m sorry, I’m still in love with Steve, my boyfriend.”
“Even after what he did to you?” he inquired incredulously.
“Yes, He does love me, he’s just…I don’t know…he can’t control his temper, he’s not a bad man, he’s not.”
Dave felt the anger rising inside him. “You can’t keep letting him do this to you Lucy. I care about you too much.” he shouted.
“Dave, I’m sorry… If things were different…”
“I don’t want to hear it, He doesn’t care about you, how could he do this to you if he did?”
He left the question hanging and he stormed out.
******************************************************************
They spent the rest of the day avoiding each other, but it was hard as they were supposed to be working
together under Weaver’s orders. So Dave bore it as best as he could, giving Lucy the silent treatment
wherever possible, he was sure that the patients noticed it, but he didn’t care.
The other doctors remarked on his mood, he snapped back at them, they left him alone.
He cycled home to his empty, cold apartment. He watched TV for the rest of the evening, couldn’t be
bothered to make dinner, and so he caught an early night.
The next morning as he strolled into the ER, looked at the board and was stunned to see Lucy being treated
for a broken arm in exam 3, he rushed in to find Cleo fixing her cast.
“What happened?”
“I fell down the stairs this morning, I was running, because I was late and I tripped…” Lucy’s pleading gaze told Dave to keep his mouth shut.
“I’ll finish up here if you want, Cleo?” Dave offered.
Cleo thanked him and went into the next-door examination room to see to a little girl who has swallowed a nail.
“Was it him again, Lucy?”
“Dave, I’m so sorry, I should have listened to you, he pushed me down the stairs last night, I spent the night it agonising pain then I told him that I was leaving him, he stormed out so I grabbed a bag of stuff and came here…” she began to cry.
“It’s o.k. Lucy, you can stay with me until you find somewhere else to live.”
“Thank you so much Dave, that would be great.” Lucy sniffed and wiped her eyes.
“You can go now if you like.” Dave gave her a spare set of keys “Weaver won’t expect you to work today. You know where I live right?”
“Yeah, I’ve been there before. Thanks again Dave.”
“No problem, I better go do some work otherwise Weaver will be on my back again. See you later!”
“Bye, Dave.”
Dave walked out of the exam room and saw Lucy leaving about 5 minutes later…
*******************************************************************
He was sent home from his shift early as it was a slow day, he let himself into his apartment quietly and
crept into his bedroom, he saw Lucy sleeping on his bed, Dave smiled and went back out into his kitchen,
shutting the door behind him. Dave sorted out his mail “More bills…and junk mail” he
observed. Watched part of a basketball game on the TV then lay down on the sofa and went to sleep.
The next morning a violent thumping on his apartment door woke him. “LUCY? I know you’re in there, if you don’t open the
door, I swear I’ll break it down!”
Dave fell off the sofa and stood up, rubbing his eyes. He looked at his watch, 5:30am. Lucy was standing in the doorway of his bedroom; she looked terrified, “Don’t let him in, Dave. He’ll kill me.”
Dave waved her back into the room, she ran, shutting the door behind her. Dave walked to the front door and opened it. A man, about 6’ 3” with angry, almost psychotic eyes pushed past him into his main living room area.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Dave asked angrily. The man punched him, Dave reeled back in surprise, and then his instinct took over, he hit the guy in the jaw, knocking him to the ground. The man tried to stand up, but Dave grabbed him and pinned him to the wall.
“Did you think you could get away with it? Huh?” Dave shouted. The man pushed back, but Dave smashed his head into the wall and he dropped to the floor unconscious. Lucy ran out into the main room of his apartment.
“I’d better call an ambulance.” Dave said despairingly.
About 20 minutes later Dave and Lucy arrived at the ER in an ambulance with the body of the Lucy’s
ex-boyfriend. Weaver limped up to them as then entered the main seating area. “What the hell did you do, Malucci?” she asked
furiously.
“It’s o.k. Dr. Weaver, he was protecting me,” Lucy pointed at the body, “He’s the reason my arm is like this. I didn’t fall down the stairs, he’s been beating me up for the last 2 weeks.”
Weaver looked at the two young doctors and she knew that Lucy was telling the truth.
She wheeled the gurney into a Trauma Room and Dr. Greene took Dave into Exam Room 2 to take a look at
the purple bruise forming on his left jaw…
“Doesn’t look too serious Dave, I think you’ll live.” Dr Greene smiled as he held an ice pack to the bruise.
Dave winced, “What happened to the guy that I punched, Doc?”
“He’s going to be fine, in prison, but… fine. He was just a little concussed.”
Dave nodded and grinned, “I obviously didn’t hit him hard enough then.”
Lucy entered the Exam Room. Dr Greene took this as his excuse to leave. “I can’t thank you enough Dave, You hardly know me, yet you offer me your apartment when I had nowhere else to go and then you protected me, getting yourself hurt in the process.” She sat down on the bed next to him.
Dave smiled gently, “I’m just glad that you didn’t get hurt Lucy, I can’t believe that he tracked you down
though.”
“He must have gone through my address book, I have the addresses and phone numbers of all the Doctors in it.”
“I guess that must be it. Anyway, he won’t be able to hurt you again, he’ll have a restraining order when he gets out of prison.”
Lucy smiled. “Yeah, thanks to you.”
“Well, are you going to stay in my apartment until your arm gets better? I mean, you are welcome to, if you want…”
“Thanks You Dave.” Lucy leaned over and kissed him.
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