By Rachel
Disclaimer: I am not in any way affiliated with NBC, ER,
or any of the characters, much as I wish I was. I’m almost 14 years old, and a
huge ER fan, this is my first ER fanfic ever. I have very little knowledge on
the medical aspect of stories; any constructive criticism and comments would be
appreciated as I would like to write more in the future. E-mail:
queenbee910@yahoo.com
Emily is just a character I made up but I think she’s as good as real (I mean on the show). What do you think?
Dr. Dave Malucci scratched his head and put down the patient’s chart. He was itching to pummel the guy, who, as Carter advised, was difficult to please.
Dave was extremely tired. Although he had fallen asleep reading the annals again, he had subconsciously been worrying about his apartment. He checked to see if Weaver didn’t need him, and sat down in the lounge to grab a couple of minutes' worth of shut-eye.
Dr. Weaver was outraged. Why can’t anyone find that Malucci when you need him, she said to herself furiously. She had to admit that he had straightened up somewhat after Elizabeth’s lecture nearly two months ago, but it looked like Malucci was slipping back to his old self.
“Hey, Malik,” she yelled, “seen Dr. Malucci?”
“Yeah. He went into the lounge five minutes ago.”
“Thanks.” Kerry grunted and hobbled inside. There, on one of the couches, was Malucci, asleep. Mark Greene walked in for coffee.
“Damn it, Mark, I could just pour the whole pot on him,” Kerry said. “Dr. Malucci! Get up!”
Dave opened his eyes and shook himself awake. This definitely wasn’t as bad as the time she had used a whistle to arouse him from well-deserved slumber. “Yeah, okay, Chief.”
Kerry turned around and barked, “That’s five minutes you owe before leaving.” She marched out.
Dr. Greene watched as Dave mumbled, “Yeah, whatever, Chief” and
closed his eyes again.
Emily paid the cab driver, thanked him, and carried her two bags with her. She looked around. Yes, this certainly was Cook County General Hospital. She took a deep breath. Won’t Dave be surprised to see me, she thought. I’m going in.
Emily followed some EMT’s wheeling in a patient.
“Randi, have my labs come back yet?” asked Dr. Kovac.
“No, Sir, still waiting.”
“Well, I’ll just wait a couple of minutes then.” Luka opened a chart and began reviewing it.
“Dr. Chen!” Randi yelled. “Lily says your patient in curtain two is dressed. You want to discharge her yet?”
“Yes, Randi, could you check on my labs? Thanks.” She turned to Luka. “Hey.”
“Hello. Waiting on labs?”
“Yup. There’s a woman upstairs with kidney stones.”
“Oh.” Suddenly Deb became aware of a teenage girl who had just wandered in after a trauma. She was standing awkwardly to the side. After a second, the girl walked up to her.
“Hi,” said the girl to Deb and Luka.
“Hi. Can I help you?” Deb asked.
“I’m looking for Dr. Malucci,” said the girl unhesitatingly.
“Dr. Malucci?” Randi had overheard that. “Listen, if you’re going to be living with him, he just made new sleeping arrangements.” She snapped her gum at Deb and walked off.
“I’m looking for Dr. Malucci,” the girl repeated. “He is on today, isn’t he?”
“Why?” asked Luka.
“He’s my brother,” said the girl.
Luka looked up. “That asshole?” He said to Deb, “I’m checking on a patient. Be back in a minute.”
Deb nodded and turned back to the girl. “Excuse Dr. Kovac. He’s not terribly fond of your brother.”
“I can tell,” replied the girl emphatically. “By the way, I’m Emily. Emily Malucci.”
“I’m Dr. Chen,” Deb answered. “But you can call me Deb (she’s wincing). Emily, wait here, I’ll see if he’s busy.”
Wow, Deb thought. Won’t Dave be pleased. She bumped smack into Dr. Weaver.
“Dr. Weaver?”
“Oh, good, Dr. Chen, are you busy? I have a guy waiting in -”
“Dr. Weaver, Malucci’s sister is here.”
“What? Why? He never said anything about her coming.” Kerry picked up an x-ray folder. “I suppose he’ll want the day off. Well, give it to him before I change my mind.”
“Are you sure?”
“Do it now, do you hear me?” Kerry stepped on the elevator, leaving Deb in the hall.
“What about his patients?” Deb asked, but Dr. Weaver had already landed upstairs. She turned around and ran to Exam 2, where she had last seen him.
*******
Dave walked out of Trauma, and nearly collided with Deb.
“Sorry,” he mumbled.
“Dave! I’ve been looking all over for you,” Deb exclaimed. “Come on. She’s here.”
“Who?” Dave was no longer tired, just maybe pissed of at Weaver. “Chief?”
Deb led him to the front lobby.
“Emily?!”
“Dave, I can explain, but you’ve got to listen to me first,” Emily pleaded.
“What are you doing here, anyway? I knew you were coming, but I was not expecting you this early.” Dave gave his sister a long, hard stare that made her look down at the floor. “I haven’t talked about this to Chief, either. Haven’t had the chance, and judging by how much she’s got it in for me, I’ll be on call for the rest of my residency here.”
“It’s all right,” Deb interrupted. “Dr. Weaver said to give you the day off.”
“Good one, yeah, did Carter by any chance pass you some needles, too?” Dave joked. “Oh, my God, you’re not kidding. Chief gave me the day off?”
That remark hurt Deb’s feelings; sometimes Malucci just had no idea what he was saying. “I can get her if you still want to work.”
“Nope.” He went to the lounge.
“Dr. Chen!” yelled Randi. “Your labs are back.”
Deb winked at Emily, who grinned back at her, and left.
******
I couldn’t work anyway, Dave reflected happily, and shut his locker. Emily picked up her bags and followed him to get his bike.
“I am so outta here,” he said. Emily made no reply but slapped his face, hard, as he bent down to unchain his bike. “Hey, what was that for?”
“You’re terrible, Dave,” she said. “I fly all the way over here from Texas, and you look at me like this? You’d better tell this Chief of yours to put you back on.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re not.”
“You’re right. How sorry do you intend to make me in the next few days?” Dave sighed. Emily didn’t look at him. He hated that. “C’mon, Em,” he coaxed. “I’ll take your bags and you can ride my bike.”
She shook her head. “I’m too short.”
“You’re too mad. C’mon. I’ll even push you.”
“Push me?!” Emily stiffly put down her bags and allowed her brother to help her on the bike.
“You can ride two wheels, right? Just making sure,” Dave added hastily, looking behind him. “And what’re you doing in Texas? I thought Dad said -”
“Dave, cut the small talk,” she replied crisply. “I hope you’re not this bad at asking girls out.”
“I’m not.”
“You’re lying.”
“Whatever.” He shrugged. “Watch out for that curb.”
******
Dave smiled to himself as Emily called her parents. So far, it hadn’t been a bad day. Chief had given him the day off, so he no longer had to deal with that obnoxious patient he had seen earlier, and he was three jokes up on Emily. Sort of.
During the mini-trek back to his apartment, he had warned her against a few other “curbs” and heroically tried not to smile when she worriedly hit the brakes. He prided himself on that until she had “accidentally” bumped the front tire on his heel.
“Emily!” he yelled. “Cut it short.” He shuddered at the thought of having to pay the long distance phone bill to Granada.
Emily was almost grown up. Dave had noticed that and lamented the fact that he had started college when she practically entered grade school. Why, that would make her, oh, a high schooler now. (Screw Mom for running off with that other guy, he thought. But then Dad wouldn’t have hooked up with the lady who would become Emily’s mother.) He wondered what she liked to do now and what she liked to read and eat. He decided he would find out as soon as he could thaw her out of the trademark Malucci stubbornness.
“Dave, Dad wants to talk to you.” She gave him the phone, and he took it.
“Hello? Hi, Dad.”
“Hello, David. You don’t mind Emily staying with you for a few days, do you?” asked his father.
“Exactly how long will she be here?” Dave wanted to know how long he had to patch things up with the sister he hadn’t seen since entering med school.
His father seemed surprised. “She hasn’t told you yet?”
“No, Dad. How long?”
“Four days.”
“Four days?” Dave nearly fell over the chair he was leaning on. Four days would be enough to start repairing his relationship with Emily; on the other hand, he didn’t think Chief would give him so much time off duty.
“Everything all right?” Mr. Malucci wanted to know.
“Nothing’s wrong, Dad. I’m just kinda surprised, that’s all.” Four days. Switching to a business-like, more professional tone, he said, “She’ll be all right, Dad. I’ll give her the key and my schedule and everything.”
“I trust you,” Dave’s father said. “And, David, make sure her diabetes doesn’t send her out in the ER.”
“Diabetes?” He was briefly puzzled, then remembered vaguely something he’d heard about her being diagnosed when he was in med school. “Will do. Want to speak to her again?”
“No, thanks. Tell her to call if she needs anything. Goodbye, David.”
David. Ugh. “Bye, Dad.” He glanced at Emily as he hung up and wasn’t pleased to see a smirk on her face.
“Honestly, what was that? ‘Diabetes?’ Come on, Dave, get real here.”
“Emily, you are my responsibility for the next five days, from now until the minute your plane reaches Texas,” Dave told her.
“All right. Naturally what do you want to know? Here’s my medicine, and my insulin kit, and a note from my doctor.” Emily dug them all out and showed them to him.
“You know you have to take your medicine, and you can test your insulin, correct?” he affirmed. “If you run out, I can grab some at work.”
She brushed it off. “I know.”
He put the note on the refrigerator. “Well, I don’t want you to get sick and have to go to the hospital.” Emily was thawing out all right. “I’m hungry. You want me to fix you something?” he offered.
“What have you got?” She peered into the refrigerator. After a few minutes, she turned around and giggled.
“What?”
“Your milk has been spoiled for a week, and there are molds all over
the bread.”
Dave pocketed his keys. “Come on. Let’s go out for an early lunch.”
******
He had taken her out to a Mexican restaurant near the airport. Then they had gone home, where she had taken a nap, and now, a shower. Dave put down the med journal he was reading and got up.
“Emily!” he yelled. “You can not stay in the shower forever.”
“Yeah, okay, all right.”
“Sure,” he said sarcastically to himself. A couple of minutes later he screamed, “EMILY!”
“DAVE!” she yelled back.
“I’m paying the bill here, you know,” he reminded her. The phone rang. “Hello?”
“Malucci!” He groaned under his breath. Oh, no. Chief. “It’s Dr. Weaver.”
“Yes, Chief?” This is it, he thought, bracing himself. I’m fired.
“I got Dr. Chen and Dr. Finch to take your patients this afternoon. You’re coming in early tomorrow, okay?”
Whew. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Well, then, we’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Good night, Dr. Weaver.”
“What was that?” Emily appeared, wearing one of his old shirts.
“My boss,” he answered.
“You’re scared of her, aren’t you?” She started drying her hair.
“I am not. She just doesn’t like me. I don’t know why.” Really, Dave said to himself.
But his sister had a solution. “It’s your mouth.”
“What?”
“I heard you this morning. You were talking to Dr. Chen. Something about needles,” Emily noted. “That’s not very nice, Dave, especially when you’re trying to hit on her.”
Dave straightened up. Either that kid sister of his was quick, or Randi had broached it.
“I was looking for you, and some lady said you’d just made new sleeping arrangements,” Emily continued, “and she aimed that towards Dr. Chen.”
Dave sighed. “Was this lady chewing gum?”
“Yeah.”
Thank you very much, Randi, he fumed.
“What’s wrong?” Emily pressed.
“I bet you know; you’re too intuitive,” Dave retorted.
“This is driving me CRAZY!” Emily screamed suddenly.
“What?”
“That. Can we just please put away this whole goddamn Malucci pride for a while?”
“No problem.” He smiled. Emily was good.
“What are you smiling about?”
“Nothing. I swear.”
This time, Emily giggled. The two of them kept laughing.
******
The next morning, Dave walked back in the ER, where he first encountered a somewhat satisfied, if tired, Deb Chen.
“Hey.” He flashed her his most winning smile. “Thanks for covering for me.”
“You’re welcome. Weaver wasn’t too pleased, but Cleo and I said we could take care of everything.” Deb smiled back. “How’s Emily?”
“She’s fine. I’m going to call her in a second.”
“Okay.” Deb made for the lounge.
“Deb—wait,” he called.
She stopped.
“Listen, I’m sorry for what I said to you yesterday, you know, about Carter and his needles,” Dave said.
“Apology accepted.” She grinned.
“Right. I won’t keep you any longer. Get out of here.”
“I will.”
“Thanks, Deb.” Now for Emily. He dialed his number. She picked up.
“Hello?” Emily was sort of groggy. “Dave, is that you? God, you scared me to death.”
“Emily? Good, you’re up. I don’t have much time, now if you want to go out, the key’s in the blue mug in the cupboard. And then you can just poke around, in the apartment if you want. Bye.” Weaver was approaching.
“Dave -”
“Have fun.” He hung up and faced Dr. Weaver. “’Morning, Chief.”
“Dr. Malucci, brown-nosing is not easily convertible into your paycheck. And also, Dr. Malucci, let me remind you that if anything like this ever happens again, you’ll be working everyone’s shifts, not just those who covered for you. I also suggest that you thank Dr. Chen and Dr. Finch for taking on your responsibilities in addition to their own. Now let’s get you assigned.”
Dave lingered behind the front desk.
“MALUCCI!” Weaver bellowed.
“In a minute, Chief.”
“There’s no minute. Get over here now.” Her voice held more than a warning. Dave left.
******
Emily was eating breakfast at 11:52 when she heard a knock on the door.
“Emily? It’s Dr. Chen,” Deb called.
Emily immediately opened the door. “Hi! Come in. I’m sorry -” she gestured apologetically at her breakfast.
“Don’t worry.” Deb grinned. These Malucci’s were crazy, but sometimes it was all right.
Emily was busy playing hostess. “You want anything to eat? I could fix you something.”
“That’s fine. I just sort of wanted to check on you, take you out somewhere if you want. We could sneak out and you wouldn’t have to tell Dave.”
“I wish I could go clubbing,” Emily mourned. “I’m too young, and besides, it’s nearly noon….He said he’s not taking me out to one. I think he just doesn’t want me to see him in action.” Both of them giggled.
“So where to? I’m ready when you are,” Deb told her.
******
Dave snuck behind the front desk counter. “Randi, can you just move, stand right here for a second?”
“What are you doing?” Randi wanted to know, but she stood in front of him.
He dialed his phone number. Two rings. No Emily. Three. Four. Five. Still no Emily. Don’t worry, he told himself. She could be in the bathroom (raising the bill), or blasting Rage Against the Machine on the cd player.
“What, is your kid sister not picking up?”
“Yeah, that reminds me, Randi,” Dave said casually, “I heard you mentioned some new sleeping arrangements at my place?”
“Oh.” She grimaced, then smirked. “It’s so obvious, Malucci. You look at her, and everyone can see sparks. She looks right back at you, and I tell you there’s only one explanation.” Randi rescued herself by answering another phone call. “ER. Yeah, he’s right here. Uh-oh, Malucci, this is for you.”
“Hello?” Dave kept an eye out for Chief.
“Dave, this is Jing-Mei.”
“Jing-Mei….Deb. Hey, what’s going on?
“Emily’s just passed out…I’m calling from the ambulance, we’re turning the corner at -”
“Shit, Deb, what happened?” He panicked.
“You know, we’re almost there, we were going to the mall when she passed out….Dave does she have any complications? Something we need to know about?”
“Oh, God….” He racked his brains. “Not that I know of….”
“Nothing? Are you sure? No viruses, or cardiac problems, diabetes, allergies, cancers, asthma, anything like that?”
“Oh my God…Deb, she’s got diabetes. I just remembered -”
“Got it. See you in a few minutes.” She hung up.
******
Emily had
just been rolled in, and Chief just had to pick that moment to assign Dave to
another patient.
“It’s all right, we’ve got her,” Deb had assured him.
He worked as quickly as possible on this patient, who had just fallen off his bicycle. His fingers flew as he stitched the boy’s hand, his mind on Emily. As soon as he could tear himself away, he ran upstairs to pediatric trauma.
“Dave, we’ve got her.” Cleo said firmly. “She’s going to be all right. Now what medication does she take?”
He rattled them off. “That’s all I know.”
“Good. Emily will be all taken care of. Deb, go out, you’re not on yet. You just got off. Now.”
“I’m her brother, I’m her only relative in the whole country,” Dave began. “I’m staying here.”
“Yes, and you don’t know her any better than I do,” Cleo pointed out. “No offense. Now move.”
Dave allowed Deb to lead him out.
“I’m sorry,” she said.
He stared down at the floor. “It’s not your fault. It’s mine. I was too busy growing up and moving on, without taking time out for her,” Dave admitted bitterly.
“You couldn’t help that,” Deb reminded him gently. “She adores you, Dave. It’s written all over her, she worships you even though she expresses it the way she does.”
“You sound like our dad.”
“Do you honestly know how much she’s missed you? And that she means to follow your medical career? You didn’t know that,” she noted the look of surprise on his face. “There are lots of things you don’t know.”
“Which way was that headed – did you mean about you or Emily?”
“Both.”
“You wanna grab a bite or something? If Weaver doesn’t need me, that is.”
Deb smiled. “Sure, that would be great.”
******
“Look, hey, she’s awake, Dr. Finch,” a voice called. Someone bent over Emly.
Emily blinked her eyes, slowly trying to bring the speaker into focus. Another figure appeared, a black doctor this time. She was pretty. She looks like a Barbie doll, Emily thought.
“Emily? I’m Dr. Finch, you’re here in the ER, Dr. Chen got an ambulance to get you here when you passed out. Don’t worry about these monitors, we need to see how you’re doing, and we’ll let you know what happens, a nurse will be here to check on you since I have a new case coming in.”
“I want Dave,” she mumbled.
Cleo looked worried. “We’re paging him but he’s not responding.”
“Tell him I don’t care; I’ll rat on him and tell Dad,” Emily said, stronger now. “Please get him>”
“Dr. Finch?” Lily stuck her head around the door. “Kovac has this case, you can stay here until the next one comes.”
“Thanks.” Cleo nodded. “Lily, have you seen Malucci? Could you please tell him to get over here?”
"Sure.”
Cleo turned back to Emily.
******
“Yes? She just woke up?” Dave breathed quickly. “Yeah, thanks, Cleo, I’ll be there right away.”
“I hope I’m not interrupting anything,” Cleo said.
“No….just a date,” Dave returned sarcastically and hung up. He turned to Deb. “Next time I promise it won’t be this short.”
“That’s all right,” she conceded. “Family first, I won’t be here forever.” Deb made a face. “Besides, I just got paged.”
“All right, then. I’ll see you later,” Dave sighed. Emily had the most convenient timing.
“Yeah, okay” agreed Deb and started on her way to the elevator. Suddenly she stopped, ran back to Dave, and on tiptoe, gave him a small peck on the cheek.
******
“Oh, here comes your brother,” Cleo announced. “I’ll step out.” Dave almost ran into her in his hurry to get at Emily.
“Sorry, Cleo.”
“Malucci, I don’t know where you get all your problems from, but they can’t be from her,” she said as she walked away, shaking her head.
“Hey.” Dave sat down on the edge of Emily’s bed. She said nothing and stared straight at the wall. There was an awkward silence. “I’m sorry.”
“Why should you be?” Emily still didn’t look at him. “This had nothing to do with you.”
“I’m sorry anyway. Emily, I really screwed up -”
“You can say that again” was her crisp reply.
“ –Okay, I totally fucked up this time, when you were giving me a second chance,” he resumed.
“I agree.” She was looking him in the face now. “I’m sorry, too. I’ve been such a bitch.”
“You’re not as bad as Chief, though,” Dave pointed out, smiling.
Emily waved it aside. “Do you think you could give me a second chance, too? We both equally deserve one. I think you’ll agree with me when I say we also haven’t been entirely honest with each other.”
“That’s true,” he admitted. “I wouldn’t mind starting over.”
She smiled back. “Neither would I.”
THREE DAYS LATER……
Dave hurried through the ER in search of Deb. He spotted her, finishing some charts.
“Hey,” he said nervously. It was their first real encounter since the kiss.
She turned scarlet. “Hi, Dave,” she returned a bit too carelessly.
“Listen, are you off soon? Because this is Emily’s last night in Chicago, and we’d like you to have dinner with us,” said Dave.
“Are you sure, I’m not going to be intruding? This is, after all, her last night here and she might want to spend it with you,” Deb countered.
“She wants you to come, Deb. She already considers you family.”
Deb found herself grinning in spite of herself. “What time?”
“Ten. I’ve gotta go.” He walked out to get his bike.
“Isn’t that late?” she yelled.
“No, are you kidding? It’s perfectly normal.”
“I’ll be there!”
******
“I’ve got the noodles ready, the bread’s in the oven, and I’m melting cheese,” Emily informed Dave shen he entered the kitchen.
“Thanks. Is there anything for dessert? –No, duh, there’s that chocolate cake that needs to be baked.” He slapped himself on the head.
“Don’t do that,” admonished Emily, “you’re whacking your brain out, and you’ll have no brain cells before long.”
“I thought it was a little too late for that,” Dave joked, pouring the chocolate batter into a baking tin. “You can take a break. Aw, shit, I haven’t got the sauce ready.” He got to work mixing sauce.
“Forget my break, then.” Emily sniffed the air. “Oh, my God, I’ve burned the bread!” She threw the oven door open and snatched the bread out. The smoke alarm went off.
“Damn it!” Dave cursed. The alarm had startled him and he dropped an open can of tomato paste on the floor. He cleaned up the mess as Emily stuffed the cake into the oven.
There was a knock, Deb.
“Sorry, I’m early,” she apologized.
“That’s fine,” Dave glared at the smoke alarm.
“Oh, Italian,” she gushed. “I haven’t had spaghetti forever.”
“Burned Italian is more like it,” quipped Emily. She and Deb giggled.
******
Dave helped his sister out of the cab the next morning and accompanied her inside the airport. They sat down in the terminal, waiting for her flight to be called.
“So are you glad you came?” he asked, but she wasn’t listening.
“My boarding pass….” Emily was frantically searching through her jacket pockets.
“Is this it?” Dave plucked it out of her backpack.
“Thanks.” She took a deep breath. “And I don’t mean only for finding that.”
“I know.”
“Thanks for everything, Dave. Really. I’ve appreciated it,” said Emily earnestly.
“Sure, anytime. We’re family, remember?” Dave reminded her.
“It runs with Italians, doesn’t it?”
Just then: “All passengers on US Airlines Flight 2143, we will now begin boarding at Gate 4C.”
“This is it, I guess.” They stood up. “Next time, you tell me when you want to come, okay?”
“All right.”
“Take care of yourself,” he warned.
“I will. Tell Deb thanks, too.”
“Sure,” Dave promised, He watched Emily fall in line, getting her
boarding pass and ticket checked. He marveled again about how grown up she
looked. They could still patch things up, he thought. Wait, what was she doing?
Emily ran back to him. “I love you, Dave,” she whispered, just like
she used to and gave him a hug.
“I love you too, Emily.” He clung to her for a second.
“Flight 2143 to Houston, Texas is now boarding,” repeated the intercom lady.
“You better go,” he told her.
“Yeah. Thanks, Dave. Bye.” Emily ran back inside the gate, but stopped to wave at him one more time. He waved back and watched until her plane was out of sight.
******
“Did Emily make it back on the plane all right?” Deb asked him when he showed up.
“Yeah. She’ll call me when she gets back.” Dave sighed, preparing himself for some back-breaking work.
Randi looked up from the phone. “She planning on coming back?”
“Uh-huh.” He grabbed his charts and glanced briefly at the first one.
“Well, what do you know, maybe next time your daughter will show up,” Randi remarked.
Dave jumped uneasily. “What was that, Randi?”
“Oh, nothing. Just a crack.” She got busy with the phones.
“Good.” Dave went to examine his first patient.