ER: Doug and Carol Series

Story #26

Each Other’s Arms

by: Courtney

Carol curls tightly into Doug’s arms as they lie together in bed. It’s 3:30pm on Sunday afternoon and they have spent most of the day in this bed. Doug has just fallen back to sleep and Carol smiles a little as he begins to snore softly. She lays her head on his chest and closes her eyes. Just then, the phone rings and Carol reaches quickly to answer it so that it will not disturb Doug’s sleep.

“Hello?” she says quietly into the receiver.

“Carol, hi sweetheart, I’m glad I caught you.”

“Oh, hi Ma,” she says as she recognizes the voice on the other end of the line. “What’s going on?”

“Well, since your sisters are in town, I thought maybe you, Douglas and Charlie would like to come over for dinner so everyone can get acquainted.”

“Sure, when?”

“How about tonight? Are you and Douglas working?”

“No, we both have the day off. I’ll have to be sure that Charlie hasn’t made other plans, but I’m pretty sure we’ll all be there. What time should we come over?”

“Whenever you like. I’ll have dinner ready at seven, but you can come before then if you want. I’m sure everyone will want to get to know each other anyway.”

“Okay, we’ll be there as soon as we can. Bye.”

“Okay, see you soon then. Bye dear,” Helen hangs up the phone.

“Doug,” Carol says, shaking him a little. He twitches, still snoring. “Come on Doug, wake up,” she says, louder this time.

“Hmm, what? What is it?” he opens his eyes and squints at Carol, still half asleep.

“Get up,” she commands. “My mother just called and invited us to dinner tonight. We need to leave soon.”

“You sure you want to leave?” he asks, waking up a little more. “I mean, I was having a great time right where we were. Where were we anyway?” he grins and begins kissing her neck.

“Would you stop,” she giggles. “Really, don’t you want to meet my sisters and my brother-in-laws? And both of Kate’s girls are here. I haven’t seen them in ages. Come on, get dressed,” she says and with that she gets off of the bed and heads for the shower. Doug gets up to follow.

She turns as he enters the bathroom. “I thought you were getting dressed,” she raises her eyebrows at him.

“Well, I decided I need a shower first,” he smirks.

“Too bad I beat you to it,” she grins.

“Oh, I think we can learn to share, don’t you?” he walks over and kisses her neck.

“Um, maybe,” she replies. They step together into the shower and a flurry of giggles can be heard from beyond the curtain.

It’s just before five that evening when Doug pulls his black Jeep Cherokee away from the curb. “You look very nice,” Carol tells him as they drive away.

He turns back to Charlie, who is seated behind him, and says, “She only says that because she made me wear this tie.” Charlie grins and Carol rolls her eyes and smirks. Carol is wearing a knee-length, navy blue dress and Charlie has on an off white sweater and a long, cream-colored skirt with a print of small pink flowers on it. “Well,” Doug says, “at least I get to escort two beautiful women.”

“You’re just full of compliments tonight,” Charlie says.

“He’s full of something, that’s for sure,” Carol replies and she and Charlie burst into giggles.

“Hey, hey, enough Doug bashing,” he says with a grin.

“Oh, honey, you know we love you,” Carol says, reaching over to touch his cheek. Charlie smiles from the backseat at the light-hearted mood that seems to surround them. She’s glad to see things getting back to the way they used to be.

“So,” Doug says to Charlie, “tell me about this guy, Josh.”

“You told him already?” Charlie asks Carol.

“Sorry, I didn’t know it was a secret,” Carol replies.

“Well, it’s not. It’s really no big deal,” she tells them. “He’s just my lab partner for French class.”

“So, this is not the same guy you were at the football game with last night?” Doug continues.

Charlie gives Carol another look and Carol shrugs and smiles. Charlie had told her about the previous night while they got ready for their dinner tonight. Carol is happy that Charlie finally feels like she can open up to her again.

“Yeah,” Charlie says, “it’s the same guy.”

“So, there *is* more to this than just lab partners?” Doug grins.

“I guess. Well, Michelle could be behind this whole thing,” Charlie comments.

“What do you mean?” Carol turns slightly to look at her.

“Michelle’s boyfriend, Jeremy, is one of Josh’s best friends. She could have just talked him into being nice to me.”

“Is that really what you think?” Carol asks.

“No, not really,” Charlie admits.

“So, tell me about Josh,” Doug says.

“Why?” Charlie asks.

“I don’t know, because I’m nosy. Just humor me, Charlie,” he replies.

“Alright,” she sighs, “he’s a nice guy. He plays a lot of sports, he works at the movie theatre, he’s 16. I really don’t know him all that well, but he seems like a nice guy,” she says. Then she adds, “He asked me to the movies next Friday night.”

“Really? Well, I’m off next Friday so maybe I’ll get to meet this Josh sooner than I thought,” Doug replies with a sly smile.

Charlie gives Carol a helpless look. Carol sighs and shakes her head. Charlie can already see that Friday will be very eventful.

At about 5:30pm, Charlie, Doug, and Carol step onto the front porch at Helen Hathaway’s house. Doug rings the doorbell and it is answered almost instantly by a little girl in a pink dress with two long brown pigtails in either side of her head. “Aunt Carol!” she yells and flings her arms around Carol’s legs. Carol grins and bends down to the child.

“Hi Marybeth! I’m surprised you still remember me. I haven’t seen you in a long time.” She smiles at the little girl.

“Oh, it’s only been about a year,” says a voice in front of Carol. She looks up to see her brother-in-law, Rick Morris.

“Try two years in December,” Carol says. She stands up and hugs Rick. “It’s so good to see you,” she tells him. “How have you been?”

“I’ve been pretty good. How are you doing? Things going okay?” his voice is tinged with concern.

“We’re doing okay. The last few days have been a lot better,” Carol tells him. Rick nods and smiles at her, then he looks back to Doug and Charlie who are standing just inside the doorway. “Oh, God, where is my head,” she says, realizing she hasn’t introduced Rick to the rest of her family. “Rick Morris, this is Doug Ross.” Rick smiles and steps forward to shake Doug’s hand.

“Good to meet you, Doug. I’ve heard a lot about you,” Rick tells him as they shake.

“Really? Nothing too bad I hope,” Doug smiles.

“No,” Rick grins. “You’ve been the hot topic of conversation among these women lately though. Don’t worry,” he adds, “they always have to evaluate the new guy.” Doug smiles at this. “And, you must be Charlie,” Rick says, turning to the girl. She nods her head and smiles. Rick smiles back and says, “Helen has been talking nonstop about you. She’s been telling me all about the wonderful artwork you do,” he says. Charlie blushes and widens her grin.

“So, Rick, where is everyone?” Carol asks.

“Mom, Kate, and Lauren are in the kitchen. I think Phil went out back. He’s probably smoking, Mom won’t let him smoke in the house,” Rick adds, grinning. “Doug, would you like to walk out back with me and see if we can find him? I know he wants to meet you.”

“Sure,” Doug replies and he and Rick head towards the back door to search for Phil.

Carol and Charlie make their way into the kitchen. Bonny and Marybeth are sitting in the living room playing with their dolls. They both look at Charlie, curious as to who she is. Charlie smiles at the girls and continues following Carol into the kitchen.

“Hi guys,” Carol says as she and Charlie enter the kitchen and see her mother and sisters busily preparing dinner.

“Oh good, you’re here,” Helen says. She walks over to hug Carol, then Charlie. “How are the art classes, dear?” Helen asks the girl.

“Pretty good,” Charlie replies, smiling.

“Charlie is so talented,” Helen tells Kate and Lauren.

“Oh, Charlie, I’d like you to meet my sisters,” Carol says. Charlie turns to the two women. “This is Kate and this is Lauren.” Charlie smiles at both women and they all exchange hellos. The dinner preparations are soon underway again and Carol and Charlie join in to help.

“Phil!” Rick calls as he and Doug step onto the back porch. Phil Roberts turns to see them approach. He is smoking a cigar. He smiles as the men approach. “This is Doug Ross,” Rick says as they near Phil.

Phil extends his hand and Doug takes it, “Nice to meet you, Doug. Welcome to the family,” he says. Doug smiles.

“So, Doug, Helen tells us you’re a doctor?” Rick says.

“Yes, a pediatrician,” he replies.

“Must be a tough job,” Rick says. “I know my two girls are a handful when they’re sick,” he smiles.

“Yeah, but I love it,” Doug tells them. “Besides, I met Carol at work so I can’t complain.”

Phil grins, “Carol’s a great lady. Lauren and I started dating when Carol was only 14. It seems like I’ve known her my whole life. I’m glad she’s finally found someone. We were beginning to worry about her.”

Doug grins, “Well, I’m the lucky one. She is great.”

Phil smiles sadly and his tone changes, “I’m really sorry about what happened. That’s just awful.”

“Yeah, thanks,” Doug says.

“How’s Carol doing?”

“She’s much better. I think that talk with her sisters last night really helped,” he says.

“Yeah, those three women always seem to know what to say to each other,” Rick says.

“Well, Phil, I couldn’t believe it when Carol told me that her brother-in-law was Philip Roberts the writer. I’ve read several of your books. They’re very good,” Doug says.

“Thanks,” Phil says. The men get into a discussion about Phil’s next book. He writes psychological thrillers and he tells the men that he’s been in contact with a production company in Hollywood. “They want to make a movie out of ‘The Midnight Hour’,” he tells them. Doug says he’s read that book and they congratulate Phil.

The discussion then turns to other topics. They discuss sports. Doug tells the men they’ll have to get together and go to a Cubs game one night. “Hey, you know, I have season tickets to the Braves games,” Rick says. “One weekend you two should come down and go with me. They’ll probably make it to the series again this year.” Phil and Doug agree that this is a great idea and the men continue their discussion on the back porch for a while longer before deciding to go inside find out what the ladies are up to.

The dinner conversation is continuous. By the end of the evening, it’s as though Doug and Charlie have been a part of this family all their lives. Carol’s sisters can’t say enough about how great Doug is. Charlie seems to be accepted rather quickly as well. She and Lauren have a long discussion about art. Lauren tells Charlie about her computer company and all of the wonderful things that are happening in the world of computer aided design. Charlie is very interested in the conversation and Lauren tells her to come back over one day during the week and they can take a look at some things on her computer that she brought with her.

Charlie also seems to have made fast friends with both of Carol’s young nieces. Bonny spends most of the night in Charlie’s lap and Marybeth asks her a new question every five minutes. Charlie has a good time with the kids. She never realized how much she missed being around children. She had been around a lot of kids in her days as a foster child. After spending time with Marybeth and Bonny, she begins to realize just how much she regrets missing out on her chance to be a big sister to Doug and Carol’s daughter. But, she decides not to dwell on it and instead she spends the evening enjoying the two little girls who seem enchanted by her.

Before the night is over, Doug, Rick, and Phil make plans to attend a Cubs game later that week. “I’ll get back to you both soon about those Braves tickets,” Rick says. “Maybe if I can get some with enough advance notice you’ll both be able to fly down.”

Carol is pleased by the fact that her family seems to accept Doug and Charlie so openly. They are the two most important people in her life, and it’s nice to know the other people in her life are learning to love them as much as she does.

By 11 o’clock, everyone is very tired. It’s been a long day and both Doug and Carol have early shifts the next day and Charlie has school. Since everyone leaves to go back home next Sunday, they make plans to have another dinner together on Saturday night. This time, it will be at Doug and Carol’s house. The men reconfirm their plans to attend the Cubs game on Wednesday afternoon, Charlie tells Lauren she will be back over on Thursday to talk to her about the computer, and Kate, Lauren, Helen, and Carol decide to plan a shopping trip for Tuesday since Carol has the day off. They all say their good-byes.

On the way home, Carol turns to Doug, “I had a lot of fun tonight,” she smiles.

“Yeah, me too. They were great, all of them,” he tells her. She reaches across the seat and laces her fingers through his as they continue their journey home.

“Dr. Ross, you have a three year old in exam four with a fever,” Wendy says, handing him a chart.

“I’m on it,” Doug takes the chart from her hand and makes his way to exam four. “Hi,” he smiles at the woman sitting with the small boy. “I’m Dr. Ross, what seems to be the problem with . . .,” he looks at the chart, “Kevin today?”

“He’s had a fever for the last two days,” says the worried mother. “I thought it was just a cold. There’s been a lot of stuff going around the preschool lately,” she explains. “But, he just doesn’t seem to be getting any better. When his fever got up to 103 this morning, well, I thought I should bring him in.”

“You did the right thing ma’am,” Doug says reassuringly. He takes out his stethoscope and listens to the boy’s chest. Just then, Carol walks in.

“Wendy said you were in here,” she says. “Need any assistance?”

“Sure,” Doug smiles. “Mrs. Perkins, this is Nurse Hathaway,” he informs the mother who smiles at Carol then looks worriedly back to young Kevin. Doug quickly explains the case to Carol and continues the exam. Throughout the examination, Doug is able to keep Kevin calm as well as his mother. Carol watches this and is very impressed by his bedside manner. She’s always known Doug was a good doctor, but lately she’s come to see just how good he really is at what he does.

Kevin is admitted with a blood infection. It isn’t too severe, but it definitely could have been if it had gone untreated. A few hours later, Kevin’s mom comes back to the ER to thank Doug for all he did for her son. “You’re a very good doctor, sir. And you’re wonderful with children. Do you have kids?” Doug thinks about this for a moment. He closes his eyes for just a moment as he thinks of Sarah, then his mind turns to his son, and finally to Charlie.

“Yes,” he says to Mrs. Perkins, “yes I do.”

“They are very lucky,” she says. She hugs him, thanks him again, and heads for the elevators to return to Kevin.

Doug walks over to the nurses station and finds Carol. She turns and smiles at him, unaware of what just took place with Mrs. Perkins. Doug wraps her in his arms and holds her for a moment. “I love you,” he says quietly.

She looks surprised and a little concerned at his sudden mood swing, but she moves her arms to his back and holds him close. “I love you, too.”

Tuesday is a very busy day for Carol. She gets up and meets her mother and sisters at the mall by 10am. They spend the entire day together shopping and talking and just being together. Her sisters both want to buy some new clothes while they are in Chicago so they go in almost every store.

“Hey Care-bear, what do you think?” Lauren asks as she emerges from one of the dressing rooms in a long black velvet gown.

“Wow,” Carol says. “You meeting the president or something?”

“No,” Lauren laughs, “but if Phil’s book gets made into a movie I’ll need something for the premiere, right?” she grins.

Carol smiles, “That’s really great about the movie deal and all. I hope it goes through. Phil’s such a good writer. He deserves the recognition.”

“I’m sure he’d be thrilled to hear you think so,” Lauren says. “You were always his favorite proofreader,” she smiles. When Carol was a teenager and Phil was just getting started as a writer, he used to let her read his work. She remembers spending hours caught up in his stories. They fascinated her. He still sends her an advance copy of every book he writes. They have always been very good friends. Phil is like the older brother she never had.

Lauren comes out of the dressing room with the dress on her arm. She returns it to the rack. “You changed your mind?” Carol asks. “It really looked great on you, Laur.”

Lauren shrugs, “I don’t want to jinx it.” Carol smiles, Lauren has always been the superstitious type. Sometimes she still looks down and steps over the cracks in the sidewalk.

The women have lunch at a busy restaurant near the mall. As Carol is eating her chicken sandwich and talking to these women who have made up the biggest part of her life, a lot of things enter her mind. She’s happy that, after all these years, she and her sisters and her mom can go out and spend a day together like this and it seems just like old times. Carol can almost see them all picking out school clothes together like they used to do so long ago. Those days don’t seem quite so long ago today. She smiles to herself at this thought.

Later, as Kate is discussing the girls school and their teachers, Carol feels a twinge of sorrow. She realizes just how much Sarah missed out on by not getting to know these women. She can just imagine what would be going on here if things had happened a little differently. They’d probably be at the mall buying toys and baby clothes. Carol smiles sadly. Lauren notices this and reaches under the table to squeeze Carol’s hand. They look at each other and both smile. Lauren may not ever want to be a mom but she certainly understands Carol’s pain. It hurts her almost as much to know what her sister is going through as it would if she had lost a child herself. Just knowing she has this kind of support makes Carol feel a little better.

Doug has to work late that night, so it’s after 11pm when he finally comes home. When he sees the lights are off downstairs, he expects to find Carol in bed. But, when he enters the dark bedroom, the bed is still neatly made. He sees a soft glow coming from under the bathroom door. He walks over and pushes it gently. The lights are off but several candles are lit all around the room. Carol is sitting in the big bathtub. The tub is full of bubbles and she is sitting quietly with her head leaning against the nearby wall and her eyes closed. She opens her eyes as she hears Doug enter.

“Hey,” he whispers.

“Hey,” she says back.

“Everything okay?” he kneels down beside the tub and takes hold of her hand. Carol shrugs. “You feel like talking?” She shrugs again.

Doug nods sadly and gets up to leave, but Carol reaches out and catches his arm before he can go. “Yeah,” she says, “maybe I do.”

Doug turns to her and sees the small smile on her lips, then smiles back.

“Why don’t you join me?” Carol suggests.

Doug nods. He undresses quickly and slips into the large tub on the opposite end as Carol. She has her hair pulled up in a French twist and a few strands have fallen down and curl around her face. Doug reaches over to brush the loose strands aside and the corners of his mouth turn up in a sad smile that causes the creases in his eyes and brow to be more prominent. Doug sees that something is on Carol’s mind. He grabs a wash cloth that is draped over the edge of the tube and picks up the bar of soap nearby. “Turn around,” he instructs Carol.

“Huh?” she replies.

“Turn around,” Doug repeats. Carol does so and Doug begins to gently wash her back. “Now, tell me what’s on your mind,” he says quietly.

Carol sighs. “I’ve just been thinking a lot lately,” she says.

“About?”

“About God,” Carol tells him.

“God?” Doug’s not sure where this is leading. He continues to wash her back as she explains further.

“Yeah, you know, I went to a Catholic church the whole time I was a kid. We went every Sunday. We were very involved in religion. It was important in our family and it was a big part of our lives.”

She grows quiet for a moment, then continues, “After I had the abortion, I stopped going to church. I felt like I’d let God down. I knew what I’d done was a sin. Momma was the same way. She felt it was the right thing for me, but she also knew it was a sin. She reacted differently than me though. While I stayed away from the church, she went twice as much. I guess I just didn’t feel like I had a right to be there after what I’d done,” Carol says. Doug rubs her shoulders gently as she continues to speak. “Lately, I’ve been wondering, do you think maybe the accident was God’s way of punishing me? I mean, I killed my child when I was young, maybe he didn’t think I deserved another chance after that,” Carol looks down at the water below.

Doug wraps his arms around her. “Carol, I went to Catholic church as a kid, too. I remember all the speeches about fire and brimstone, about sins and repenting. I know that, in your heart, you haven’t forgiven yourself for what happened so many years ago. But, I also know how sorry you are for it and I know you’ve spent countless hours asking God to forgive you. Maybe you didn’t go to the church and confess your sins to a priest, but religion isn’t all in the church. Part of it, the most important part, is in you. You can go into any church and speech to God, but if it doesn’t come from your heart, I’m not so sure he’s listening. God knows what’s really inside you, Carol. He knows how much you regret what happened back then. He wouldn’t punish you for that.

“Tragedy is a part of life. I think, in our line of work, we’ve learned that all too well over the years. What happened with Sarah was a tragedy. It was probably the worst thing that will ever happen to either of us. But, I don’t believe it was anyone’s fault. I don’t blame God, and I certainly don’t blame you.” He turns Carol’s face to look at him. “I have faith in God now, maybe for the first time in my life. When I was a kid, I always thought that if God couldn’t keep Ray from leaving us, he wasn’t looking out for me. But, what I didn’t realize back then, was that God probably knew I was better off with just me and mom. We made it okay. And now, I know that God’s looking out for me. Otherwise, how would I have ever won you back?” he bends down to kiss her gently and she kisses him back.

Doug scoots to the far end of the tub and Carol lays her head on his chest and closes her eyes. He rubs her back gently as they sit together in the warm water and retreat into the only place they both feel truly safe: each other’s arms.

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Created by Courtney Stovall © 1998

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