Chapter 18 - Mission Accomplished
900 Words
The Vice President wants to see me? Andrew thought. Lucy immediately came to his mind's eye, and he wondered if his plan had worked. “Did she say what it was about?”
“I believe you have already guessed, but it's about Miss Yates,” the nurse informed him. “I wouldn't keep her waiting if I were you.”
Andrew nodded and quickly made his way to Rosa's office. He knocked on the door once and heard her beckon him from inside. He opened the door with a smile on his face. “Miss Baker, what can I do you for?” he asked her.
Rosa glanced at Andrew before she returned her attention to the file in her hand. “Please have a seat.”
Andrew felt that something was wrong, so his smile faded slightly. He sat on the edge of the chair with his hands folded neatly in his lap. Neither of them said a word for over ten minutes, which only added to his anxiety. However, Andrew didn't dare speak first.
Rosa looked at Andrew again and was pleased with how composed he was. She set the file down on her desk and sighed. “Relax, Mr. Morrow. I just wanted to ask you a few things.”
Andrew snapped to attention. “About what?”
“What is your relationship with Louise?”
“Louise?” he echoed before he eventually shook his head. “I have never heard of her.”
“That is quite strange. I contacted Lucy's family, and they originally didn't want an intern to be her attending doctor, but after they heard your name, they agreed.”
Andrew was bewildered. Did he somehow know Lucy's stepmother, even though he didn't know Lucy herself until three days ago?
It didn't matter to Rosa if Andrew knew Louise or not. As long as the patient's family agreed to have an intern be the doctor, she would okay it. “I think you should be Lucy's attending doctor. What do you think?"
"Really? You mean I can become an official staff member here?" Andrew pretended to be surprised.
Rosa rolled her eyes. "Be realistic; of course you can't become a regular staff member so quickly!"
Andrew was taken aback, but he tried not to let his disappointment show.
“But...” Rosa went on. “I'll make an exception and allow you to be a full staff member only if you can help Lucy get better. That is the rule.”
“I understand. I will work hard to achieve just that, I promise,” Andrew vowed. He wanted to do a celebratory dance, but he did his best to appear neutral. After all, what could be easier than to help a normal person return to normal?
"Well, first you go to Dr. Turner to get Lucy's case history, and then familiarize yourself with the process and start the treatment as soon as possible,” Rosa instructed.
“I'm on it. I'll take my leave now.”
Andrew rushed over to Dr. Turner and got Lucy's case history, but that wasn't important to him. The most important thing right now was to tell Lucy the excellent news.
“Here,” Andrew encouraged as he passed Lucy a container of applesauce. “You need to eat this.”
Lucy no longer looked aloof and indifferent. She leaned against Andrew as they sat on her hospital bed and slowly dipped a spoon into the applesauce. She brought it to her mouth while Andrew watched her intently.
Ever since Andrew arrived, Lucy obediently took her medication and started to eat. She went along with her “treatment” plan as long as he was there. However, the moment he wasn't around, she would shut down again.
Lucy's situation frustrated Rosa, so she finally caved and gave Andrew a key to her room. That way, he could enter and leave her room whenever she needed to take her medication or eat.
“I don't know what Andrew has that makes him special, but he sure has made a lot of progress with Lucy in a short amount of time,” an intern commented in passing.
“Maybe his face reminds her of someone. Maybe it's comforting, in a way,” her co-intern guessed.
“Who knows. I'm just glad that she's doing what she's told, even if it means Andrew gets ahead of us.”
The two interns had worked at McLean Psychiatric Hospital longer than Andrew had, but they never got the opportunity to spend alone time with any of the patients in the second unit. While they remained interns, Andrew had already been promoted to be an attending doctor and soon become an official staff member.
Though there were some accolades in making a breakthrough with a difficult patient, the interns were unaware of how dangerous it was for Andrew to be so close to Lucy. If they were aware of the truth, they would think twice about feeling envious of him.
“Well, do you think that either of you could have gotten her to talk?” Leo asked the two interns after he eavesdropped on them. “If you believe that you couldn't have, then don't be jealous of Andrew's promotion.”
The interns felt embarrassed that they had been overheard, and they shook their heads before they scuttled away quickly.
- Writer
