"If I Should Fall From Grace" Gap-Filler
By: Lori (SixteenOzs)

DISCLAIMER: "ER," the characters and situations depicted within are the property of Warner Brothers Television, Amblin Entertainment, Constant c Productions, NBC, etc. They are borrowed without permission, but without the intent of infringement. The story presented here is written solely for entertainment purposes, and the author is not making a profit.

SUMMARY: This scene begins after "If I Should Fall From Grace."

Feedback is welcome. Please send all questions, comments or criticisms to SixteenOzs02@yahoo.com

RATING: PG

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS: I would like to thank Ros, Cari and Megan for all of their help in looking over the drafts of this story and giving me such great feedback. Thank you so much!

Elizabeth's shoulders slumped slightly and a heavy sigh passed through her lips as she inserted her key into the lock and opened the front door. After hanging her coat in the foyer and sitting her bag on the floor, she slowly walked into the kitchen.

"Hey," she said quietly as she sat down at the island and watched while Mark sliced carrots for a salad.

He stopped what he was doing and studied her carefully. "What's wrong?"

She fought to keep her voice even. "I'm out of the OR until the health department finishes its investigation."

"What?" he questioned in disbelief as he sat down on the bar stool next to her.

"That was Robert's brilliant solution," she elaborated with a jaded expression. "Babcock and I are both off the service until the investigation is complete."

"You told him Babcock has been involved with all you post-op infections?"

With a tight nod, she replied, "Yeah. And he didn't want to resolve the issue himself, so he's leaving it to the health department."

Gently rubbing her back, he inquired, "Is there anything I can do?"

"Convince everyone at the hospital that I'm not killing my patients and that I should be allowed to do my job?" she suggested weakly.

Grinning, he replied, "I'll get on that first thing in the morning."

As she turned to look at him, she managed a faint smile. "Thanks."

"Anytime," he whispered while leaning closer to lightly kiss her forehead. "You want to talk about it?"

Drawing in a deep breath, she shook her head. "Not now. I just want to forget about it for a while."

"Okay," he nodded understandingly. "Let me know if you change your mind."

"I will," she promised. After a moment, she wondered, "How's Ella?"

"She was still asleep when I checked on her about fifteen minutes ago. Catherine said she didn't go down until after four."

"She hasn't been fed?"

He shook his head. "No. I was waiting until she woke up."

"That's okay. I'll take care of it." Reaching into the salad bowl, she picked up a carrot slice and popped it in her mouth. "What's for dinner? I just realized I didn't even have lunch today."

"Salad, filet mignon and baked potatoes. The steaks and potatoes are on the grill now."

She laughed softly. "Aren't you about two weeks early for Thanksgiving?"

"We did steaks last year. I thought we'd do turkey and all the trimmings again this year," he explained with a grin.

"So that's how it's going to work, huh?"

With a chuckle, he shrugged, "Sure. Why not?"

"Works for me. But what about Rachel? I don't see her as being exactly thrilled with steaks, or turkey, for that matter," she pointed out in reference to her step-daughter's vegetarianism.

Now it was his turn to sigh. "Right now, what Rachel wants really isn't one of my major concerns."

"Things went that well with the principal?" she concluded cautiously.

"The principal says she threatened another girl with a pair of scissors. Rachel's story is she only threatened to cut off the girl's dread locks to get her to stay way from Andrew. Either way, it was stupid and Rachel should have known better," he said in frustration.

"How long is the suspension?"

The disgust was evident in his voice as he replied, "A week. When it comes to weapons or threats against other students, the school has a zero-tolerance policy. After seeing victims from school shootings come through the ER, I can't say that I blame them."

Elizabeth knew Mark felt guilty for not being there for Rachel when she was younger, which made it harder for him to discipline her now. She hesitated a moment before asking, "Have you talked to Rachel about all this?"

Standing up, Mark walked over to the refrigerator. As he returned to the island and began slicing a tomato, he said, "Well, she's not speaking to me right now. She stayed in the car and sulked the entire time I went into the store to pick up the steaks. I laid down a few new ground rules as we were leaving the school. She's not exactly thrilled by the concept."

Arching an eyebrow, she questioned, "What new ground rules?"

"She's only getting rides to school from one of us, she's grounded for a month and she's going to have chores around here."

"Yeah, I'm sure she's going to love that," Elizabeth remarked with a laugh. "Where is she now?"

"In her room, doing homework."

A confused expression crossed Elizabeth's face. "Homework? How does she have homework if she's suspended?"

"I convinced the principal to get the assignments from her teachers so she won't be behind when she goes back. Unfortunately, she won't get credit for anything that's due while she's suspended. I told her I'll be checking her homework when she's done."

"Let me know if you need me to help," Elizabeth offered with a smile.

"Thanks," he smiled back as he slid the tomato slices off the cutting board and into the salad bowl.

Sighting softly, Elizabeth stood and stretched. "I'm going to head upstairs, change and feed Ella, then I'll be back down."

"Okay," Mark nodded. "Dinner should be ready by then."

"Good. I'm starving," she grinned while reaching into the salad bowl for another carrot before heading towards the stairs.

Elizabeth murmured appreciatively as she wiped the corners of her mouth with the napkin. "Mark, dinner was wonderful. Thank you."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," Mark smiled as he watched her. When she stood a moment later and began gathering the empty dishes, he instructed, "Don't do that. Rachel's going to clean up the kitchen tonight."

Elizabeth turned towards Rachel, who had a very surprised expression on her face. Looking back to Mark, Elizabeth was a bit surprised to see defiance in his eyes, almost as if he was daring Rachel to object.

Rachel appeared to weigh her options for a few moments, then seemed to realize that now would not be the best time to challenge her father. Grudgingly, she stood and began to stack the plates before carrying them to the dishwasher.

"Want to go out on the deck for a while?" Mark asked Elizabeth while he stood and pushed his chair back to the table.

"Sure," she answered hesitantly, feeling a bit guilty for leaving Rachel to clean up alone.

"I'll grab our jackets," Mark offered as he headed towards the foyer.

Elizabeth nodded absently as an awkward silence seemed to strain the air in the kitchen. Not wanting to stand idly by as Rachel worked, Elizabeth began to look for the baby monitor.

"Here you go," Mark said a few moments later when he returned to the kitchen and handed Elizabeth her sweater.

"Thanks," Elizabeth replied with a slight smile before pulling on the sweater and picking up the baby monitor from counter next to the stove.

Mark held the door open, and after Elizabeth started up the stairs, he turned back to Rachel. "Don't forget to wipe the counters and the sink when you're done."

Rachel looked up and glared at him for a moment, but remained silent as he pulled the door closed behind him.

Elizabeth was already seated when he reached the top of the stairs. "You're really taking this punishment seriously, aren't you?" she questioned with a chuckle.

Laughing as he sat down on the bench next to her, he said, "Like I told Rachel this afternoon, she can just think of herself as Cinderella, and I'm her wicked step-mother."

Elizabeth grinned. "I thought she already had one of those."

"You know, it's funny you should mention that. Rachel said the same thing. But I definitely don't think her step-mother is wicked," he smiled softly as he trailed his index finger along the side of her cheek.

She returned his smile, but there was a twinge of sadness in her eyes as she said, "At least there's someone on my side."

"I'm always on your side," he reminded her in a whisper. When she didn't reply after several moments, he gently prompted, "Want to tell me what happened with Romano and Babcock after I left?"

Elizabeth drew in a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. "I was going to talk to Romano when I went back upstairs, but he was scrubbing for a surgery with Babcock. I told him to page me when he was done. Since I had some time on my hands, I decided to look around Babcock's office and lab to see if I could figure out how he's been infecting my patients."

"Wait a minute," he interrupted. "You went to look in Babcock's office on your own?"

"Yes," she confirmed with a nod.

"You didn't tell the health department?"

"No," she answered irritably. He wanted to know what happened, but he wouldn't stop asking questions long enough for her to explain. "Anyway, the patient coded before surgery, so Babcock came back to his office while I was still there."

"Elizabeth, what were you hoping to prove?" he inquired carefully.

"What are you talking about?" she countered in frustration. "I was trying to find how he's been infecting my patients."

He hesitated a moment, but then began to explain, "Elizabeth, by going to Babcock's office on your own, you gave him the perfect defense. Now, he can say that he knows nothing about how your patients got infected, but he did see you in his office. According to him, you were planting evidence to shift the investigation away from yourself."

"Oh, God," she whispered with a heavy sigh as the full force of the realization hit her. "I-I didn't even consider that. What the hell was I thinking?"

Reaching out to gently rub her back, Mark offered, "You were just trying to get to the bottom of this so things can get back to normal."

"I'm not even sure that's possible anymore," she lamented. "When I walk down the hall, it's like the parting of the seas. You saw the way Kovac acted this morning, changing his mind as soon as he saw that I was the consult." With a warning look, she added, "And don't you dare say I'm being egocentric or paranoid."

He chuckled softly. "Actually, I wouldn't worry too much about Kovac. He's got the highest mortality rate in the department. I'm surprised he hasn't started getting kickbacks from funeral homes."

"Mark!" she tried to chide, even as she started laughing. "You're awful!"

"Maybe. But I made you laugh."

"Thank you," she whispered with a gentle smile. As her smile slowly faded, she admitted, "I don't know what I'm going to do, Mark. It feels like my entire career is slipping away, and there's nothing I can do but stand by and watch."

He considered this for a few minutes, then suggested, "Well, the first thing I think you should do is call the health department in the morning. Make sure they know that Babcock is also connected to all of the patients you've lost. Do you know when he was able to infect them?"

"I'm not completely sure, but I think it's when he takes out the central lines. I talked to Kit today, and she said that there are times when Babcock insists on doing that himself. I've checked the notations in the charts, from what I can tell, Babcock took out all of the lines and the patients started showing signs of sepsis shortly thereafter."

"A doctor removing central lines?" Mark questioned curiously. "How often do you do that?"

"Rarely ever," she admitted after a moment. "I usually just write the order and give it to the nurses or interns. If I happen to be checking on the patient when the nurse comes to do it, I might take care of it, but it's not a procedure I seek out to do myself."

"Something's not right there. There has to be a reason Babcock is suddenly insisting on doing all of his own follow-up."

Elizabeth drew in a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. "Okay. So I call the health department and alert them to Babcock. What do I do after that? I'm still off the service until they complete their investigation. The last week's been bad. I don't know if I can handle being out of an OR much longer."

"You're all caught up on your paperwork and dictation?" he inquired with a thoughtful expression.

"What do you think I've been doing the last week?" Elizabeth countered with a sarcastic grin.

"Since Romano won't let you operate, you shouldn't stick around the hospital just to do whatever administrative scut he feels like throwing your way," Mark concluded. "Take some time off. You could get a head start on your Christmas shopping, since I know how you hate waiting until the last minute. There's also a little girl upstairs who'd probably love the chance to spend some time with her Mom. You'd also be doing me a huge favor by keeping an eye on Rachel while she's suspended."

A smile slowly made it's way across Elizabeth's face as she pondered this. "That actually sounds like a wonderful idea. Between getting back into the swing of things at work and this investigation, it feels like the only time I've been spending with Ella lately are feedings and diaper changes. It'd be great to spend more time with her, especially since she's getting more active. Whenever I pick her up now, it seems like she immediately reaches for my hair."

Mark laughed softly as he wrapped his arm around Elizabeth's shoulders and drew her closer. "She always goes after my glasses."

With a contented sigh, Elizabeth slowly began to relax in her husband's arms. "It's a beautiful night," she remarked a few moments later.

"It is," he agreed softly while caressing the back of her hand with his thumb.

Several minutes passed before she quietly wondered, "Mark? Do you think I'll be able to make it through this investigation, and things will get back to normal at the hospital?"

"Yes, I do," he answered quietly, but seriously. "And I know that, because I know you haven't done anything wrong."

Elizabeth closed her eyes and rested her cheek against Mark's shoulder, enjoying the feel of the cool night air against her face.

When Ella's cries emanated from the baby monitor a short while later, Elizabeth sighed. "I knew this was too good to last."

"I'll go check on her," Mark offered.

Elizabeth smiled as she stood up and stretched. "That's okay. I'll go."

"Want me to wait for you out here?"

She crossed the deck to the stairs, then stopped and looked back. "Yeah, that'd be nice."

"Hey, Ella. What's wrong, Baby?" Rachel's voice flowed onto the deck through the monitor.

"Elizabeth, wait," Mark called out. "Come here. I think Rachel's got it."

"Rachel is voluntarily checking on Ella?" Elizabeth questioned suspiciously as she returned to her seat next to him. "Just what did you say to her this afternoon?"

"I wish I knew," Mark admitted with a laugh, "because I'd be sure to use it again!"

A moment later, they heard Rachel pick up Ella and move her to the changing table. "Well, judging from the smell, I'm going to guess you need a new diaper. Whoa! You don't even eat real food! How can you have this much poop?"

Mark and Elizabeth both laughed as they listened from the deck.

"Should we be eavesdropping like this?" Elizabeth thought to ask a second later.

He considered this, then concluded, "Why not? Rachel knows the baby monitor in the nursery is always on."

"If you say so," Elizabeth agreed, laughing warily.

Once Rachel finished changing Ella's diaper, she wondered, "So, are you in the mood for a lullaby or a story? How about you blink once for a lullaby, twice for a story?" Laughing as she picked up the little girl and sat down in the rocking chair, Rachel concluded, "Okay. Lullaby it is."

Softly, Rachel began to sing, "Hush little baby, don't say a word, Daddy's going to buy you a mocking bird. And if that mocking bird doesn't sing, Daddy's going to buy you a diamond ring..."

Mark smiled nostalgically as he confessed, "I used to sing that to her when she was little."

"It must have been one of her favorites," Elizabeth remarked.

When Rachel finished the song, she hesitated a bit before she softly told her sister, "I know Dad and Elizabeth don't think so, but I do know how to take care of you. I even made two hundred dollars babysitting last summer in Saint Louis. I guess I just get distracted by my friends and stuff sometimes. But you're actually pretty cool, well, as cool as a baby can get, considering all you really do is eat, sleep and poop. Maybe we could start spending more time together, especially since it looks like I'm going to be confined to the house for the foreseeable future. Of course, the way things are going, convincing Dad and Elizabeth that I can look after you is probably next to impossible" Laughing ruefully, she added, "You know, I'm actually surprised Elizabeth hasn't come up here now to make sure I haven't smothered you with a pillow."

A perplexed expression crossed Elizabeth's face as she turned to her husband. "I'm not that bad! Am I?"

"Not quite," he grinned, but his expression quickly turned more somber. "Do you think I'm being too hard on her?"

"No," Elizabeth answered thoughtfully. "You have to let her know that you're serious, that you care about her and you don't want to see her get hurt. I think you're doing that. Hopefully, she realizes this. And hopefully she's serious about wanting to spend time with Ella and take on more responsibility. But while it's nice to hear her say that, this is really one of those times where actions speak louder than words, and she's going to have to back up what she says."

"I know," he whispered, "I just... I just don't want to make anymore mistakes with her. I've already let her down too much."

Softly caressing his cheek, she reminded him, "You're here for her now, you love her and you want to do what's best for her. That's what really matters."

"Thanks," he smiled softly.

"Anytime."

Relaxing into his arms, they remained like that as they listened to Rachel sing another lullaby before tucking Ella back into her crib.

Finally, Elizabeth shivered slightly, then asked, "Ready to go in?"

Mark chuckled. "Yeah, it has gotten cooler out here."

Shifting in his arms, there was an enticing gleam in her eyes as she said, "I bet I could think of a way for you to get warm."

"Oh, really?" he grinned. "Just what do you have in mind?"

"Don't you owe me a rain-check for that bath Ella interrupted last week?"

"Yes, I believe I do. Did you want to cash that in tonight?"

Elizabeth slipped her hand behind his neck and pulled him closer, her warm breath brushing against his cheek as she replied, "That is exactly what I had in mind."

I'd love to know what you think. Please seed all comments and feedback to: SixteenOzs02@yahoo.com LLP

January 1, 2002

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