ER: Doug and Carol Series

Story #29 continued

Shelter

by: Courtney

“Your turn,” Maggie says to Carter as the two of them, along with Charlie, stand around their usual table at the pool hall that they always go to together. Carter nods and takes his turn, missing the shot.

“It looks like you’re out of practice, John,” Charlie giggles.

“You just wait,” he replies, “I’ll catch up.”

Charlie and Maggie both give each other a look that says, ‘Sure’ then they burst into laughter. “Hey,” Charlie says, motioning towards the bar, “isn’t that Anna Del Amico over there?” Maggie and John look.

“Sure looks like her,” Maggie nods.

“Yeah, I think it is,” Carter confirms.

“Looks like she’s here all by herself,” Charlie says.

“Should we ask her to join us?” John asks the girls.

Charlie and Maggie shrug. “Doesn't matter to me,” Maggie says.

“Me either,” Charlie says, adding, “I’m sure you could use the help if you plan to *not* lose miserably this time, John.” She and Maggie start giggling again.

Carter rolls his eyes and smiles at the two, then turns to head towards the bar and the lone Dr. Del Amico. “Anna?” he says as he approaches her.

She turns, surprised to hear her name. “Carter?” she asks as he comes closer.

“Yeah, hey,” he replies. “Mind if I sit?” he motions to an empty stool beside her.

“No, of course not, please,” she replies. Carter sits and smiles at Anna.

“So, you meeting someone?” he asks.

“No, actually I just moved in around the corner and I don’t know anyone around here yet. Do you live around here?” she asks.

“No, we just come here to play pool a lot,” he says.

“We?” she questions.

“Oh yeah. Me, Maggie, and Charlie. They’re over there,” he points to the table where Maggie and Charlie are standing, watching Carter and Anna chat. Anna turns to see them and both women smile at her and wave. She smiles and waves back. “We were actually wondering if you’d like to join us. That is, if you aren’t busy,” he asks.

“No. I mean, no I’m not busy. Sure, I’d love to join you. Are you sure they won’t mind?” she indicates Maggie and Charlie.

“Of course not. Besides, those two have been beating me all day. I need a partner,” he laughs. Anna smiles and gets up from her stool to follow Carter over to the table where his friends are waiting.

It is nearly 5 o’clock as Doug sits perched on the side of the bed, putting on his socks. Carol is still sound asleep. They have had quite an afternoon. Doug smiles as he thinks of it. Today of all days, he needed this afternoon alone with her. Being with Carol had made him feel a lot better, even though he had yet to share with her the news about Matthew. That can wait, Doug decides, standing to fetch his loafers from the closet.

He has on a pair of khaki pants and a white undershirt with a white oxford shirt over it, still opened. As he steps into his shoes, he begins buttoning up his shirt. He tucks it in, then grabs a navy blue stripped tie from the closet and slings it around his neck.

As Doug walks across the room to the bathroom, Carol opens her eyes and looks up to see him. “Hey,” she says, “you weren’t going to leave without saying good-bye were you?” She smiles coyly at him and he walks over to sit beside her on the bed.

Carol sits up as Doug sits down. He smiles at her and brings his hand up to cup the side of her face. He runs his thumb along her cheekbones and looks deeply into her green eyes. He leans in and places a slow kiss on her waiting lips. “I wish you could stay here,” she says as their lips part.

“Me, too,” Doug replies in a near whisper. “I really do need to get my paperwork caught up though. I’ll call you later on tonight, okay?” He gives her another quick kiss and gets up from the bed. Carol watches as he gathers his things for work and turns to leave.

“I’ll see you in the morning sweetheart,” he calls as he walks out the door. He smiles at her and she returns the grin with a nod.

“Eight ball, corner pocket,” Anna says as she prepares to take the shot. She has joined the pool game to help Carter out since he was losing miserably to Maggie and Charlie. Now, he and Anna are about to win their second straight game. Anna taps the cue ball and it flies across the felt and hits the eight ball, sinking into the exact pocket she called out. She and John cheer as Charlie and Maggie grumble about their defeat.

“You must play a lot,” Charlie says to her.

“Well, my brothers and I used to play a lot when we were growing up. I had lots of practice then.”

John just smiles at the blond doctor he barely knew before this afternoon. He had been attracted to Anna Del Amico from the start, but he had never really known much about her other than the fact that she was beautiful. Now he has found out they actually have quite a bit in common. Pool, for one thing. She also laughs at his jokes and seems very comfortable with him. Charlie and Maggie obviously sense something between their two opponents. They have been casting knowing glances at one another all afternoon.

“Should we rack em up again?” John asks as he sets the pool balls back onto the green table.

“No, I better get going,” Maggie says. It’s nearly seven o’clock. The afternoon has long been over.

“Yeah, me too,” Charlie says. “I have homework so I should get home.”

John nods, wondering if he should offer Anna a ride home. “You leaving John?” she asks, interrupting his thoughts.

“I don’t know. I guess if everyone else is . . .”

“I just wondered if you wanted to get something to eat. I’m starving,” she says. Maggie and Charlie exchange another look that Anna misses but John is in full view of.

“Sure,” he smiles.

“Well, it was fun. You two enjoy your dinner,” Maggie says as she and Charlie head for the door.

“You guys want to join us?” Anna asks.

“No, we need to get going. See you later,” Charlie says and she turns to follow Maggie to the car.

“Shoulders back, bat up, grip it a little higher. There, that’s it,” says the man on the pitchers mound to the boy standing beside home plate. “Keep your eye on the ball,” he calls out as he hurls the ball across the plate. The boy swings his bat and a crack is heard as the ball meets the bat. The man on the mound turns to see the ball sail over the left field fence. “Way to go, Danny!” The batter, Danny, still stands at the plate and awaits another pitch. This is only a batting practice. That’s why Danny is wearing an old cubs jersey and a pair of white baseball pants that are covered with the evidence of all of the slides he has attempted. The holes in the knees indicate they are not his game pants.

The pitcher, most likely the coach, begins talking to Danny once again, offering pointers and encouragement to his player. Danny listens and follows the instructions as a few more pitches come his way. He hits a few ground balls, misses a couple, and finally hits another one that flies through the air, only this time it falls just short of clearing the fence.

Doug watches from the sidelines amongst a small group of spectators. The ball park is fairly deserted today. It’s Sunday so no games are being played. There are two practice fields being used. One is full of tee ball players whose practice is just ending. The other field, the one Doug is watching, is being used by a 13 and 14 year old boys team. The Red Devils, if Doug had heard correctly.

Ray had called this morning while Carol was in the shower and he’d told Doug that Matthew would be practicing here from 4-6pm. Doug had told his father that he wasn’t sure this was the time for him to track the boy down, that he was still unsure of how he was going to handle this situation. Yet, here he was, at 5:45, watching the practice. The other parents have paid him no attention, no one questioning who he is. He’s thankful for this because he has no idea what kind of respond he would give.

So far, he’s pretty sure he has seen every player bat. It looks as though this Danny kid is the last one. The coach bends down to collect the balls on the mound at his feet as he prepares to bring practice to a close. Doug can’t believe it. He’s paid strict attention, catching the name of every boy. Yet, no Matthew has come up to bat. Could Ray have been wrong about his name? Or was this the wrong team? Or maybe Ray was just wrong about the whole entire thing. Was it impossible to think that Ray would make all of this up? Probably not. Ray probably never expected Doug to actually go looking for the boy. He had most likely just made the whole thing up. Doug sighs as this thought begins to sink in. Anger wells up within him as he gets up from the bleachers and turns to leave. He’s about 20 yards away when he hears something behind him that makes him stop in his tracks.

“Well Matt, nice of you to join us,” the coach calls out. Doug turns at the mention of this name. He sees a boy walk out onto the field. Doug walks back towards the bleachers to get a closer look at this young man.

“Sorry Coach,” the kid says. He’s about 5’6 with brown hair and weighs maybe 120lbs. His voice is deeper than Doug expected it to be from the looks of him. He tilts his head slightly and Doug’s eyes grow larger as he sees the boys face. The young man has exactly the same nose and mouth as Gwyn had. The resemblance is too striking to dismiss. And the grin on his face is the mirror image of the hang dog look Doug always gets when he’s trying to weasel his way out of trouble. Carol can definitely attest to knowing that look all too well. ‘That’s him,’ Doug thinks. There is no doubt in his mind.

He watches for a moment as the coach allows Matt to take his turn at bat. The boy is good. He hits two over the fence in a matter of minutes. Doug smiles slightly as he watches this. Then, practice ends and the kids begin filing out of the dugout and off the field to meet their parents. Matt passes directly in front of Doug. “Excuse me, sir,” he says as he edges by. Doug doesn’t respond, only watches after the boy. Matt notices the stare and turns to look back. Doug quickly looks away and begins walking back towards the parking lot and his car.

“Thanks Jer,” Carol says as she hangs up the phone. This is the second time in the past hour that Jerry has told her that Doug has yet to show up for work. She looks at the wall clock. It’s 7:15pm. Doug was due in at work just fifteen minutes ago, but it’s been two hours since he left. Where could he be? And why did he lie about going in early to catch up on paper work? Carol decides that it’s time to find out once and for all what’s going on. She gets up, grabs her keys off the hall table and heads out the door.

“Doug, you’re late,” Mark says as Doug comes through the doors. He’s moving surprisingly slow for someone who was supposed to start his shift nearly half an hour ago.

“Yeah, I know, sorry,” Doug responds. He signs in and heads for the lockers. Mark looks quizzically after him, makes a few notes on the chart in his hand, then sets it on the counter and follows after Doug.

“Something wrong?” he asks as he walks in and sees Doug standing in front of his locker, just staring into it.

“No,” he replies, breaking from the blank expression and closes the locker. “Everything’s fine,” he says as he begins to brush past Mark.

Mark catches his arm. “Not so fast,” he says. “Something’s up. What is it?”

“I said nothing,” Doug repeats and pulls his arm free. Doug hurries out and Mark is left alone by the lockers, wondering what just happened.

“Mark, have you seen Doug?” Carol asks as she approaches the front desk to find Mark scribbling something on one of the charts before him.

“Yeah, he just came in. Hey, what’s wrong with him anyway?”

“That’s exactly what I’m here to find out,” she says. “Would you mind telling me where he is?”

Mark shrugs. “He just got here about 15 minutes ago and I know he hasn’t taken any patients yet. If he’s not in the lounge or the locker room, I’d say try his usual haunt.”

Carol smiles. “Thanks Mark,” she says then she turns to go find Doug.

“I figured I’d find you here,” Carol says as she walks out onto the roof. Doug is sitting on an old bench with his shoulders slumped forward and his head in his hands. He looks up at the sound of her voice.

“When will I ever learn this is the world’s worst hiding place?”

“Do you have a reason to hide?” she asks as she sits next to him.

“I don’t know, maybe.” He looks down and shuffles his feet.

“What’s going on?” she asks, not wanting to sit here and dance around the issue any longer than they already have.

“Nothing. I don’t know wha . . .”

She cuts him off. “Don’t even finish that sentence. Something’s wrong. Something’s been bothering you since last night when you saw Ray. Please talk to me. I hate to see you going through this all alone.”

Doug looks out towards the dark Chicago sky and sighs. “Something did happen last night,” he finally says. “Ray told me something, some news I never expected in a million years. Least of all from him.”

Carol moves closer and places her arm around Doug’s shoulder. He slowly continues, telling her the whole story about Gwyn, Matthew, everything. She had know he had a son, but they had never talked about the details before. Then, Doug tells her how he went to see the boy today. “Carol, he was nothing like I pictured him and yet everything I imagined. Does that make any sense? No, I guess it doesn’t,” he says, his face breaking into a pained grin.

“He’s growing up. My son is out there in this world, in this city, and he’s getting older everyday and I’m missing all of it. He’s never going to be my son, Carol. I’ve wasted so much time and now I’ve waited too long. I don’t think I’ll ever even be able to introduce myself to him. It’s just too late.” Doug drops his head into his hands and sighs heavily. Carol wraps her arms around him and tries to comfort him as best she can.

“I know this has to be rough, sweetie. I know you love him. And I know it’s hard for you to know he’s out there and not be able to go to him. But, Doug,” she takes his chin and turns him to face her, “I think you’re doing the right thing for Matthew by giving it a little more time before you tell him about yourself. He’s young, he may not even know he’s adopted. What he needs most from you right now is for you to be patient enough to let him grow up before you tell him something that could change his whole world.”

Doug nods sadly, agreeing completely with Carol but still hating that she’s right. He sucks in a labored breath and tries to compose himself. Finally, after a couple of minutes, he turns to Carol and takes both of her hands. “I’m so sorry I waited so long to tell you. I should have talked to you last night, it was just . . .”

“I know, you weren’t sure how I would take a discussion about your son. I understand, Doug. But, I want you to know that you can always talk to me. I’m always here for you, no matter what.” Carol squeezes her arms even tighter around Doug. “Hey, we’re going to get through this, just like we’ve gotten through everything else. Together.”

Doug looks at her a moment then smiles slightly. He gets up from the bench and takes Carol by the hand. Arm in arm, they head back down to the ER, together.

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