ER: Doug and Carol Series

Story #18

Heart’s Desire

by: Courtney

Carol wakes up to the sound of the bedroom door being pushed open. She looks to see Doug enter with a tray of breakfast. “Good morning, beautiful! Happy Valentine’s Day,” he says as he sets the tray on the bedside table and gives her a good morning kiss.

“Good morning,” she says sleepily as their lips part. “What’s all this?” she indicates the tray.

“Breakfast,” Doug tells her. From his seat on the edge of the bed, he picks up the tray and hands it to her. It contains eggs, toast, coffee and orange juice and there is also a small vase containing a single red rose. The portion on the plate is only enough for one.

“Aren’t you going to eat?” she asks him.

“I already ate,” he tells her. “I made breakfast for me and Charlie before I took her in to the hospital this morning.”

“You’ve had time to do all of that already?” she asks, surprised. She checks the clock and sees that it is only 9:45am.

“Yeah, Charlie had to be in at nine o’clock this morning so we got an early start.”

“I didn’t even hear you get up. You should have woke me and I would have ridden with you,” she tells him.

“No, that wasn’t necessary. You need your rest. Besides, Charlie and I got to talk a little, it was okay.”

“I didn’t know she was working today,” Carol comments.

“She wasn’t supposed to but Kerry had some kind of project she needed her help with. She’s working until seven tonight so it must be something pretty big,” he tells her.

“Sounds like a long day. That’s weird that she would volunteer to work that long on a Saturday, huh?”

“Not so weird,” Doug smirks. “I saw Carter’s car in the lot when I dropped her off. I think he’s on all day, too.”

Carol nods and grins. “Well, thanks for making me breakfast,” she smiles at him and begin to eat. He sits with her, making her finish every last bite. ‘You need your nourishment,’ he tells her when she starts to protest.

“You’re going to drive me crazy for the next six months, aren’t you?” she grins.

“Yep,” he says as he sets the empty tray in the floor and moves closer to kiss her. “So,” he says as their lips slowly part, “what would you like to do today?”

“This is just fine with me,” she says and draws him to her for another kiss.

“Hey, Charlie!” she hears behind her. Charlie turns around to see John Carter approaching. She smiles.

“Hey John,” she greets him.

“I thought you were off today,” he says as he nears her.

“I was, but Kerry needed me to help her get a presentation ready. Besides, it’s Valentine’s Day, I thought I should get out of the house and give the happy couple some time alone,” she smiles.

“I see,” John replies with a smile of his own. “So, how long are you here till?” It is now one o’clock in the afternoon.

“Doug said he’d pick me up at seven tonight. Kerry thought we’d need the time for the presentation, but the truth is, it looks like we’ll be done early so I’ll probably have to call Doug to come and get me at about 5:30 or so.”

“Do you have plans for lunch?” he asks.

“No, I was just headed for the cafeteria,” she tells him.

“Well, I’m on my way there, too. Mind if I join you?”

“Not at all,” she tells him with a smile and they head towards the elevators together.

They enter the cafeteria which is decked out with holiday decorations. There are red and white streamers hanging from the ceilings and heart shaped balloons everywhere. “Looks like there’s a Jerry on the cafeteria staff, too,” Carter remarks with a smile.

“Huh?” Charlie wrinkles her forehead at him.

“You know Jerry, right? From the admissions desk? Well, he’s the one that really gets involved in all of the holiday stuff. He decorates for everything! Last year, he even hung this garland of little paper trees all around the ER on Arbor Day!” They both laugh.

“He is quite a character,” Charlie says. “I would figure E-Ray more for that kind of stuff though,” she remarks as they get in line.

“Nay, he’s more into spiritual enlightenment. You ever seen him do Thai-Chi or whatever it is he calls it? Quite a sight! Just take my advice, steer clear of him when he’s on one of his aroma therapy kicks. That stuff is lethal!” Carter wrinkles his nose and chuckles and Charlie responds with another laugh.

Finally, they reach the front of the line. Charlie gets the vegetable soup and turkey sandwich and Carter opts for the grilled cheese and chili. They also both get a cupcake, which the cafeteria staff has made especially for today. They have red sugar crystals sprinkled on top and a pink plastic pick in the center that says Happy Valentine’s Day. They head to the cashier with their lunch, pay for their food, and go off to find a table.

They sit at an empty table close to the elevators. They have been there for about fifteen minutes and are about halfway through with their lunch, when they spot Maggie Doyle as she is getting off of the elevators. Carter waves her over. “Hey you two,” she says as she approaches.

“Hey, you on lunch? How about joining us?” Carter says.

“No, just a break, but I have time for a quick cup of coffee,” she says.

“Great,” Carter replies.

‘Yeah, great,’ Charlie thinks as Maggie goes to get her coffee and returns to join them. Charlie didn’t like Maggie at all when she first started volunteering here at County. She wanted to hate Maggie because of the way she and John always were together. But, Maggie was just so nice to her, and she seemed like such a cool person, Charlie was finding it harder and harder to dislike her. This was, perhaps, the most annoying aspect of Maggie Doyle.

“So, you two both here all day?” she asks as she sips her coffee.

“I’m on till six,” Carter tells her. “Charlie says she’s leaving a little before that, right?” he looks to her for confirmation and she nods.

“Yeah, I’m off at six, too,” Maggie says. “Either of you have big Valentine’s plans?” she asks.

“Nope, just thought I’d go home,” Carter says between bites of grilled cheese.

“What about you, Charlie?” Maggie turns to her.

“Not really. I’ll probably just try to avoid the sap-fest Doug has planned for the night. He and Carol can be totally disgusting,” she grimaces then smirks.

Carter and Doyle laugh. “Those two are like that around here, I’d hate to see what happens in the privacy of their own home,” Maggie chuckles.

“It only gets worse,” Charlie tells them. She rolls her eyes playfully. “If they start in with the pet names tonight, I may just barf.”

Maggie, laughing, “My night won’t be much better. Just me and my cat, Barney, and an old black and white movie on TV,” she tells them.

“Hey, I have an idea that will save you from Barney and Charlie here from a bad rendition of the Love Connection,” Carter says.

“What?” Charlie and Maggie ask at the same time. They look at each other and grin, then look back to Carter.

“How about you both be my dates tonight?”

“Your dates? I don’t know about that,” Maggie says, cocking one of her eyebrows at him.

“Aw, come on, we can go out to dinner, my treat. And, I even know of a place we can go afterwards. It’ll be fun. What do you have to lose? Another screening of ‘An Affair To Remember’ with Barney?” Carter smirks and looks expectantly at Doyle.

She sighs and looks at Charlie, “What do you think? Think he’s safe?”

“Look’s pretty harmless,” she says. “Besides, if he tries any funny stuff, we can take him.”

Maggie laughs and says, “Yeah, he is pretty wimpy. I guess we’ll be safe enough.”

“Hey! I invite you two to dinner and a night on the town and you insult me? That’s gratitude for you!” Carter looks at the two in mock indignation.

“Take it or leave it buster,” Maggie tells him.

He looks at them both then sighs, “Alright, I’ll meet you by the admit desk at six.”

“Okay, see you both then, I have to get back to work,” Maggie says. She gets up to leave. They both wave good-bye as she heads for the elevators.

“We better get back soon, too,” Carter comments, looking at his watch.

“Yeah, I need to call Doug and tell him about tonight,” she says as they get up and carry their trays towards the garbage cans.

It is 1:30pm when the phone rings. Doug and Carol are somewhere beneath the pile of covers atop their bed, but neither can be seen. A flurry of giggles is heard from Carol from within the mountain of covers as the phone rings a second time. A hand reaches out and retrieves the phone. “Hello,” Doug says, laughing a little and catching his breath.

“Hey Doug, it’s Charlie.”

“Oh, hi,” he says, his head peeking out from beneath the blankets. “What’s going on?”

“Not much. I just wanted to call and see if it’s alright if I go out to dinner after work? John and Maggie want to and I figured you’d be busy anyway . . .”

“Yeah, that’s fine. Don’t stay out too late though. Remember, we’re having lunch with Sarah tomorrow.”

“I won’t. We’re leaving here around six. I shouldn’t be any later than ten or so.”

“Okay, that’s fine. Have fun.” She thanks him and they exchange good-byes then hang up. Doug reaches over and replaces the receiver.

“What was that about?” Carol asks, sitting up a little, a sheet wrapped around her.

“Charlie. She’s going out for dinner with Carter and Doyle after work so it looks like we’ll have to entertain ourselves this evening.” He grins slyly at Carol.

“I think that can be arranged.” She wraps her arms around his neck and they retreat back under the covers.

Charlie cradles the phone at the nurses station and laughs to herself. “What’s so funny?” Mark Greene asks from his position at the nearby counter,

“Huh? Oh, nothing, just Doug and Carol,” Charlie says.

“What are they up to today?” Mark asks, his eyes on the chart in front of him.

“Well, from the sound of it, they’re still in the bed,” she grins.

“I see,” Mark checks his watch and sees that it is a little after 1:30pm. “Yeah, sounds about right to me.” He chuckles as does Charlie and they both go back to their work.

Doug and Carol finally emerge from the bedroom around two o’clock because they are both famished. They decide to head for the kitchen and have a late lunch. Carol is standing at the counter making sandwiches. She has a pink robe wrapped around her. Doug is at the opposite counter pouring them each a glass of iced tea. He has on a dark green robe that is open to reveal a pair of boxer shorts and no shirt. They gather their lunch together and sit together at the kitchen table to eat.

“So, where were we?” Carol asks.

“We left off yesterday with the A’s.” They are back to their discussion of baby names.

“Did we write any of those down?”

“I don’t think so. Did we ever agree on any?”

“A few, I think. Let’s get some paper and really start a list this time,” she says.

Doug nods and gets up to grab a small notepad from the kitchen cabinet. “Okay, starting with A . . .”

“We liked Andrew,” she says. He nods and writes that down. “Anthony,” she continues and he writes that as well. “What else?” she asks.

“I don’t know. I don’t think you liked any of my suggestions.”

“Doug, we aren’t naming our child after any famous basketball players!”

“Baseball,” he corrects her.

“Whatever, the answer is still no,” she insists with a smirk and a shake of her head. “I still like Aubrey,” she says.

“That sounds like Batman’s butler,” he says.

“Batman’s butler’s name was Alfred,” Carol tells him, taking a bite of her sandwich.

“Yeah, like *I* didn’t know that,” he says. “I’m just saying, it’s too formal.”

“Alright, you pick one. And no sport’s heroes. I’m putting a stop to this right now before I end up with a kid named Yogi or Mickey,” she grins.

“You laugh, but they were great men,” he says, hiding a grin.

“Get serious!” she kicks him lightly under the table.

“Hey!” he grins. “Okay, okay, let’s see, we both agreed on Alex, right?”

“Yeah, write that one,” she instructs. “Okay, how about we move on to B?”

He nods and puts the pen to his lips as he thinks. “Brandon?”

“Yeah,” Carol gives an unsure nod, “that’s okay. Put it down as a maybe. We might use it as a middle name. What about Beau?”

“Beau Ross? It needs to be a longer name,” he tells her.

She nods her agreement. “Broderick?”

He makes a face, “How about Bradley?”

“I don’t know, I don’t like that much.” She thinks, then says, “How about Benjamin?”

This name conjures up many images in Doug’s mind. He thinks back to that day a few years ago with Ben Larson and about how brave the boy was. When he talked to Ben later in the hospital, he remembers thinking what a remarkable kid this was. “Yeah,” he tells Carol, “I like that.” He writes down the name. He puts down the pen and eats the last bite of his sandwich. “That’s enough for now,” he tells her. “We’ll pick back up with the B’s later tonight.”

“Okay,” she says, finishing her sandwich as well. “So, what should we do know?”

“Well, I have dinner reservations for us if you feel like getting dressed and going out.”

Carol grins, “Not really, unless you had your heart set on it.”

“No, I’d be just as happy to stay here with you. It’s not often we have the house to ourselves like this. We better enjoy the peace while we can. I have a feeling it will come to a screeching halt in about six months,” he grins.

“Yep, we better make the most of it,” she agrees.

“On that note,” Doug says, getting up, “I say we return to bed.” He smiles and takes her hand. She eagerly follows him up the stairs and they return to their cozy spot under the covers.

Maggie and Charlie get out of the car and follow Carter into the pool hall. They have just come from having dinner at a local restaurant. All through the meal, Maggie and Carter were making wisecracks to one another and Charlie was none too thrilled. Now, as they enter the pool hall, Maggie says, “So, Charlie, you shoot pool?”

“Yeah, I have. I’m not that good though. What about you?”

“I can hold my own. I have a feeling I can kick John’s butt anyway,” she smirks and looks towards Carter.

“You want to put some money on that?” he asks her.

“I couldn’t take your money, John,” she tells him.

“Chicken?” he chides her.

“Oh, I’ll show you chicken! Twenty bucks says I wipe the floor with you!” She picks up a pool que and begins to chalk the tip. John gets a que of his own and follows suit. Charlie watches this display in silence.

“You playing?” John asks Charlie.

“No, you two go ahead. I’ll just watch.” He shrugs and they begin the game.

An hour later, Maggie is handing him twenty dollars. “Keep your money,” Carter tells her.

“No, I lost, fair and square.” She insists that he take the money. “Jeez, John, where’d you learn to play pool like that anyway?” Maggie asks as they make their way back to his Jeep.

“My dad used to compete in tournaments. We had a couple of pool tables at home and he’d give me pointers.”

“Your dad? The rich Mr. Carter who’s always out jet setting?”

“Yeah, why are you so surprised?”

“I don’t know,” Maggie shrugs. “I guess it just doesn’t seem like the guy you are always describing,” she tells him as they pull away from the curb.

“Well, we Carter men are full of surprises,” he grins. She smirks and shakes her head without responding. It is all Charlie can do not to roll her eyes into the back of her head.

They drop Maggie off at 9:30 that night and Charlie climbs into the front seat with Carter. “I had a really good time tonight,” she tells him. "Thanks for having me along.”

“Yeah, it was fun. We’ll all have to go out again sometime,” he replies.

“Are you ever going to get up the courage to ask her out without me as a chaperone?” she asks.

Carter looks at her, “What’s that supposed to mean?” he wonders.

“I know you like her, John,” she tries to hide how much this bothers her. “Anyone can tell by the way you two flirt and stuff.”

“Me and Maggie? Charlie, you have it all wrong, trust me,” he laughs.

“Oh come on! You mean to tell me you aren’t at all attracted to Maggie?”

“I didn’t say that. But, believe me, Maggie doesn’t like me. I’m . . .not her type.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Charlie says. “She sure seems like she likes you.”

“We’re just friends,” he insists. He sees that Charlie doesn’t believe him. “You don’t know about her do you?”

“What do you mean?” she wants to know.

“Maggie is . . . well, don’t go spreading this around or anything, and don’t tell her I said anything because she might get mad that I was talking about her behind her back . .”

“John, just say it,” Charlie says.

“Maggie’s gay.”

“What? Really? Are you sure?” Charlie is quite surprised by this.

“Yep. I went out with her somewhere one night and we ran into her ex-girlfriend. She told me about it. Plus, we’ve talked about it since. Keep it kind of quiet, okay? She’s a good friend and I would hate to get her mad at me.”

“Sure, no problem, I won’t say a word.” Charlie sits back in her seat. She suppresses a grin as she considers this latest piece of information.

Charlie enters the house and locks the door behind her. The downstairs is dark and everything is quiet. She makes her way upstairs. As she reaches the second floor landing, she hears a burst of giggles from Doug and Carol’s room. She laughs to herself and turns towards her own room, closing her bedroom door behind her.

“Did you hear that?” Carol asks as Charlie’s door shuts.

“Yeah, Charlie must be home,” Doug says.

“Imagine what she must think is going on in here,” Carol says. She is lying on the bed and Doug is sitting up beside her. He is massaging her feet, but it seems she is just a bit ticklish.

“If you’d stop laughing there’d be nothing for her to hear,” he kids her.

“I can’t help it, it tickles,” she says. She laughs again as he rubs her foot once more.

“Hmm, are you ticklish everywhere or just on your feet?” he asks with a wicked smile.

“I’m not telling,” she says with a grin.

“Guess I’ll just have to do some research and find out for myself, huh?” He grins at her and leans down to plant a passionate kiss on her lips. They celebrate Valentine's night in the same way they have spent the whole day.

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Created by Courtney Stovall © 1998

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