Part Seven

 

Harmony walked happily into the hospital. Everything in her life seemed to be going right. It was the middle of December, and her relationship with Luka was getting better by the moment. She was seeing snow for the first time in a long while – a big event for her. She hummed a little tune to herself and smiled a greeting to Frank who was at the front desk. She reached into her mailbox out of habit: she never got anything. But today was different.

 

She found in the box a card envelope, about the size of a Christmas card. She smiled. It must be a card from one of her friends in Kenya who didn’t know her real address yet. She glanced excitedly at the postmark, and grinned when she saw that it was from Nairobi. She walked into the doctors’ lounge and tore open the letter.

 

Dear Harmony,

          I’m glad to hear that you are getting situated in Chicago. We all miss you here in Nairobi and no one likes your replacement. I hope your Christmas is a joyous one and I hope you can come down to see us soon.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year,

Jerri

 

Harmony smiled and replaced the card in its envelope.

 

“Good morning Doctor Morris,” Abby said, walking into the lounge.

 

“Morning.”

 

“Have you heard about the epidemic going around?” Abby asked.

 

Harmony shook her head. “No.”

 

“It’s like the flu, except five times worse,” Abby explained quickly.

 

Harmony frowned. “Weird. Have any cases of it come in yet?” she asked. She had been off for a few days, decorating her house for Christmas and Christmas shopping.

 

“A few yesterday. Doctor Weaver wanted the entire trauma area quarantined, but Romano wouldn’t let her. I think it had something to do with it just getting messed up again.”

 

“Will our flu shots cover for it? I mean if its like the flu, then our shots should keep us safe, right?” Harmony asked, growing concerned.

 

“Not from what I’ve heard. Everyone’s at risk.”

 

“Great. We’ll see what happens.” Harmony put on her lab coat and walked to the board. “I’ll take the kid in exam four,” she said, though no one was listening. She quickly wrote her name on the board and went into the exam room. “Trey Plyker?” she asked.

 

“Over here,” said a man in his mid forties.

 

“What seems to be the problem?”

 

“Well, I have a lot of the same symptoms as the flu but some other ones too. Nausea, headaches, uh sore joints. That type stuff.”

 

Harmony nodded. “Okay Mr. Plyker. I’ll be right back with a prescription. It seems you’ve caught the bug that’s going around.”

 

“You make it sound nice.”

 

“That’s my job.” She smiled. “I’ll be right back.” Harmony went back to the admit. “Hey Frank, where’s Kerry?”

 

“Don’t know. I think she called in sick.”

 

“Damn. What’s the script she’s been using for these patients with the flu like thing?”

 

“Script?”

 

Harmony sighed. “Forget it. Do you know where Mark went?”

 

“I think he’s up in neurology.”

 

“God, what is this? A world shortage of doctors?”

 

Carter walked by, pulling down the board.

 

“Thank God, Carter! What’s the script on the people with that thing that’s going around?”

 

“I think we’re just giving the ibuprofen. Last I heard Weaver was looking for some other type of medication.”

 

Harmony grimaced. “How about sylamedine? I think that’s what I gave my niece Sara when she had the flu.”

 

“It’s worth a shot. It can’t hurt anyone,” Carter said knitting his brow. “By the way, where is Weaver?”

 

“The chief when home sick,” Malucci said, walking by.

 

Harmony and Carter exchanged glances. Both knew the worst was yet to come.

 

------------------------

 

“Morning Luka,” Harmony said the next day when she saw him outside the hospital.

 

“Morning,” he replied sleepily.

 

“Are you okay?” she asked, studying her friend closely.

 

“Sleepy, that’s all,” Luka said, brushing her away.

 

Harmony sighed. Luka looked pale, he had circles under his eyes, and he was sluggish. “Let me take your temperature,” she said.

 

“Later,” Luka walked into the hospital leaving Harmony in his tracks.

 

“Hard nosed Europeans,” she muttered, brushing some snow from her hair and following him into the hospital.

 

------------------------

 

By the next day, the E.R. was in a state of total chaos. Kerry was sick, Luka had been hospitalized with the strange illness, and Mark was with Elizabeth in New York for treatment of what turned out to be a brain tumor. Harmony was the only attending left in the hospital, in charge of a bevy of residents, med students and nurses. And she was receiving little help from Romano who was still very upset that she had embarrassed him during the interview. The illness was still claming victims, including Chuny and Abby. Three people had died at County from it, and more people were coming in by the minute. Luka had passes out yesterday in the middle of a trauma and was now unstable in the ICU. Harmony tried to get up there as often as she could but that wasn’t very often. It seemed like every minute, someone was yelling at her to get another trauma, or open up another room, or just for help. She hardly got any sleep that night and could only foresee many more sleepless nights.

 

------------------------

 

“Phone for you Doctor Morris,” Randi said

 

Harmony gripped it, happy for a few moments of rest. “Hello?”

 

“I’m sorry to disturb you at work, Doctor Morris, but this is really important.”

 

“Who is it?”

 

“Cara Johnson.”

 

Harmony felt the blood drain from her face. “One moment please.” She turned to Randi. “Please transfer this call to Doctor Weaver’s office,” she whispered.

 

“Is everything all right?”

 

Harmony considered Randi for a moment. “No. It’s not,” she said finally, walking towards Kerry’s office. She picked up the phone in there. “Yes?”

 

“Well, it’s about Jessi. She wants to know who her real mother is.”

 

Harmony felt as if someone had just smacked her in the stomach with a baseball bat. “Don’t bring her to Chicago. You can show her pictures of me, I don’t care. I just am not ready to see her right now.”

 

“Is that being fair?”

 

“Is this fair? I asked you never to come in contact with me. I have a life you know!”

 

“Doctor Morris…”

 

“Look, my life is very, very complicated right now. I don’t have time to see her, not the physical stamina,” Harmony said, trying to control her temper.

 

“What do you mean, ‘you don’t have time’?”

 

“Have you been reading the papers? Chicago had been hit very hard by some mystery disease, the hospital is dangerously understaffed, I haven’t slept in four days, and someone very dear to me is basically dying. Does that explain my predicament to you, Mrs. Johnson?”

 

“I’m sorry that I caught you at a bad time, Doctor Morris. Good-bye.” 

 

Harmony hung up the phone. “My god, why the hell am I here?” she muttered, returning to the main E.R.

 

“Doctor Morris?”

 

Harmony turned to see Madeleine, a nurse from the ICU. “Yes?”

 

“You told me to contact you when there was any change in Doctor Kovac’s stats.”

 

“Oh, god.” Harmony ran up to the ICU as fast as she could. She dashed into Luka’s room.

 

Madeleine caught up with Harmony. “His charts.”

 

Harmony glanced through the chart. “Pressure’s down. Some more madligine and call me if he gets any worse.”

 

------------------------

 

Harmony sighed and lit a cigarette outside the hospital. She sunk down on a bench.

 

“Smoking is bad, you know,” Carter said sitting down next to her. 

 

“Hypocrite. Abby told me that you smoke too.”

 

“It’s bad. That’s why I quit.”

 

“Sure nicotine breath. And I only smoke when I have a lot on my mind,” Harmony explained.

 

“Surprised I haven’t started up again,” Carter commented.

 

Harmony tried to smile, but failed horribly. “Have you ever made a mistake that seemed so logical at the time of the event but now is…”

 

“So stupid you can’t believe that you were yourself?”

 

“Exactly.”

 

“Many times. The most recent? Drug addiction, Lucy, the list goes on.”

 

“What was that like? The attack I mean.”

 

Carter sighed, leaning back. “It’s hard to explain. I don’t remember much. I just remember a sharp pain in my back, then falling to the floor. I might have called out something. There was really loud music on. I think there was some sort of party going on. And I remember Lucy on the floor behind another bed. I passed out, and when I came back, I was in the same position zillions of patients had been in. People were asking me questions, and yelling your basic trauma stuff, and all I could think about was my back and Lucy. I saw her in the trauma next to mine, and that was the last time I ever saw her. They rolled me into the elevator, and people were telling me to stay awake. I went into surgery, and when I came out, Lucy was dead. That’s about all.”

 

“Wow. God, I have no idea what I would do if I were in that position,” Harmony said. “But here’s one you’ll never get into. When I was fifteen, I made quite a few mistakes and I got pregnant. The father disappeared without a trace right after I told him. Just about everyone I knew urged me to get an abortion. But I didn’t. I had the child and put her up for adoption. All I’ve known for the past thirteen years is that her name is Jessi Johnson and lives in Albany, New York. Until today. I got a call from the adoptive mother, telling me that Jessi wants to meet me.”

 

“What did you say?”

 

“Look at me. I’m a wreck, about to lose Luka, and there would be no way I could see her. I said I couldn’t see her yet.” Harmony looked at Carter painfully. “Was that right?”

 

“You followed your heart. It was right.”

 

Harmony smiled sadly. “I hope you’re right.”

 

------------------------

 

Kerry came back at the end of the week. Finding Harmony in the state that she was, she ordered her to go home immediately. Harmony instead went up to the ICU and sat by Luka’s bed. She kept a constant watch over her lover, trying not to fall sleep. She was worried that the moment that she fell asleep, Luka would slip into the next world. A total of five people had died from the illness, and Harmony was slightly uplifted by the fact that Kerry was all right. But then again Kerry hadn’t been hospitalized. And Luka was deteriorating quickly. Harmony cried softly to herself, praying every prayer she knew in Luka’s favor until she fell asleep.

 

------------------------

 

“Thank god, the fever turned. He’ll be all right.”

 

“Do we want to wake her, Carter?”

 

“No. She needs to sleep.”

 

“You’re right, I suppose. Why didn’t you call and tell me how she was working herself?”

 

“You were sick. You would have chewed the hell out of me.”

 

“I suppose so. We better go.”

 

“Yeah…”

 

------------------------

 

“Hey, wake up.”

 

Harmony shook her head, unable to accept that the owned of that beautiful Croatian accent had spoken to her.

 

Luka rubbed her back. “Come on, I know you’re up.”

 

Harmony looked up, blinking. “Ummm?”

 

“How are you?”

 

She gazed at him. “Are you really awake?”

 

“You were probably out as long as I was. Carter said not to wake you.”

 

“Pinch me. I’m dreaming.”

 

“You are strange,” Luka said, grinning.

 

“Fine, I’ll pinch myself.”

 

“This isn’t a dream. I’m going to be fine.”

 

Harmony smiled, sighing with relief. “I am so glad. I don’t know what I would have done with out you.”

 

“I’m glad I’m alive too, things like this really give you respect for life.”

 

“Yes, they do.”