Carrying The Surgeon's Baby. Amy Ruttan

but she didn’t want to go home just yet. Not that there was anything to go home to and she felt bad for trying to push Ryan away. It’s just that she’d never been able to rely on anyone other than her parents She’d got to where she was by working hard to overcome what her teachers had told her would hold her back. The only time she’d foolishly relied on someone else had been when she was with Robert.

      He’d belittled her and cheated on her.

      Why would it be any different with Ryan?

      So she’d given him an out.

      And he seemed to want it but said that he didn’t.

      He’d been so mad when she’d suggested that he didn’t need to be involved in his child’s life. They’d eaten their sandwiches in silence, until he’d got an urgent page about Jason and left to go to the ICU.

      Emily had finished the rest of her meal and then made her way back up to the ICU floor to do the last rounds on her patients before one of her residents took over to cover the night shift. Now she looked up from her charting to see Ryan by Jason’s bed and he was recording information into a computer.

      Ryan might move from hospital to hospital and never hold down a steady position, but he was passionate and caring when it came to his patients. Dr. Ruchi believed in him and wanted him to be the neurosurgeon on the conjoined twin case.

      Emily turned back to her computer and pulled up the chart information that Dr. Ruchi had sent over. She opened the MRI scan to take a look at the babies. There was a good chance that these babies could be successfully separated. They shared a liver and part of the colon and there were three kidneys, which meant one twin would only get one kidney, but they had four legs, four arms and two sets of genitals. It was a matter of trying to separate the liver and colon. And then there was the spine and the nerves that controlled the legs.

      The babies were partially back to back.

      Where they were joined it would be hard to separate them without paralyzing them. She scrubbed a hand over her face.

       You’ve done other separations. This is no different.

      And all those conjoined cases had been successful. The key to success was gathering a strong team and discussing the plan of attack.

      Now, if only Ryan would discuss the plans with her, instead of insisting on talking about their baby, who was healthy and fine.

      She closed the files and logged off the computer. She finished her charting and handed them to the nurse in charge. Emily knew that the resident in charge would know what to do. She wouldn’t have to talk to them.

      With one last look at Ryan, still by Jason’s bedside, she headed to the attendings’ lounge so that she could change before she headed for home. She needed rest if she was going to be ready to face the mother of the conjoined twins tomorrow with the OB/GYN assigned to deliver the babies.

      That was the first step, settling the mother into the hospital, before, in a few weeks, once the babies were bigger and stronger, safely delivering them by C-section and hoping they survived long enough to consider doing the separation surgery.

      She quickly changed and was just pulling on her coat when Ryan came into the lounge.

      “There you are,” he said.

      “I’m going home,” she answered, without looking at him. “I’m tired and I need rest before our patient arrives tomorrow.”

      “Good.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m sorry for snapping at you.”

      “It’s fine. It’s a lot. I get it.” Emily wrapped her scarf around her neck. “Try and get some sleep and we’ll talk tomorrow.”

      “How about we talk tonight?”

      “About what, Ryan? Our baby, or what I wanted to talk about?”

      “The conjoined twins case. It’s only seven and the resident on duty has my pager number. Why don’t we go and have a real meal? A sandwich is a pretty poor meal.”

       Say no. Just go home.

      “Fine. There’s a little bistro not far from here. That way, if you’re paged you can get back fairly fast and not get lost.”

      “Sounds good.”

      Emily nodded and stepped out of the lounge. It didn’t take him long before he was dressed. They walked in silence together out of the hospital. It was a cool night. It was the tail end of spring and soon it would be summer.

      It was her favorite season.

      She was not a fan of winter.

      “It’s just over there,” Emily said, pointing to the small bistro on the corner just across the street from the hospital. “It’s a favorite haunt of the chief of surgery in the morning. So if you’re ever looking to have some one-on-one time to schmooze with him, this is the place he’ll be.”

      Ryan chuckled. “Noted. Although I don’t have to schmooze. People are usually the ones schmoozing me.”

      Emily laughed.

      “What?” Ryan asked.

      “Oh, just...you know when you say a word over and over again it sounds funny, like it’s lost all meaning.”

      Ryan cocked an eyebrow and looked at her like she’d lost her mind, and maybe she had. She was tired and she was getting a bit silly from exhaustion.

      “I can’t say that I’ve noticed that.”

      “Say schmooze a few more times,” she teased. She had a sense of déjà vu and then she remembered the mojito talk during their wedding. She couldn’t help but smile.

      “I think not.” He opened the door to the small bistro.

      “Is it just the two of you tonight?” the maître d’ asked.

      “Yes,” Ryan said.

      “This way.” He lead them to the back to a corner booth that was tucked away and quiet. Emily slid in and the maître d’ set down a couple of menus. “Your waiter will be with you shortly.”

      “Thank you,” Emily said, as she picked up the menu.

      Ryan glanced at the menu briefly, but he didn’t look particularly interested in the food. “So, you wanted to talk about our patient.”