Strangest Circumstances
Chapter 8
SMASH!
The alarm clock hit the wall and broke, landing on the floor in many pieces. It was mercifully silent at least, finally. Kat knew she should get up-but she really didn’t want to. After all, she’d gotten to bed not that many hours before and she had to be at work by 1:00.
And her car needed petrol. She groaned, thinking of the unwanted expense. In fact, reflecting, she was amazed she’d made it home last night. There hadn’t been that much gas in the tank. Wait, Kat thought. I didn’t drive home last night. Then how…
Realization dawned slowly; Marshall had driven her home last night. And he’d offered to take her to lunch. And he was picking her up… in less than half an hour!
Kat flew out of bed as she realised the time. It was already ten minutes past 11, and as out of it as she’d been last night, she was fairly sure she told Marshall to pick her up at 11:30. She dashed into the kitchen to grab some coffee, and as that was heating up, grabbed a bagel. Dashing around the kitchen, Kat decided she did need a shower.
The bathroom door slammed shut. It was 11:15-and Kat wasn’t known for short showers. Not long later, she was just praying Marshall wasn’t-
Knock knock.
Of course, he’d be early, Kat thought bitterly, shutting off the shower. She pulled her shower cap off, wrapped a towel around her dripping form, and darted out of the bathroom to open the front door. “Marshall! Hi! Uh…come in,” Kat said nervously, moving out of the way to let him into the small apartment.
Marshall’s eyes nearly bugged out of his head at the sight of Katya standing in front of him wearing nothing but a small towel that was getting wetter by the second. He entered the apartment, not noticing anything but the enticing woman in front of him. “I’m, uh, just gonna go and get dressed,” Kat stuttered, watching him watch her. He had an odd gleam in his eyes; a hungry look, almost, and it made Katya very nervous.“Aiight,” Marshall answered, not really taking note of her words. He admired her ass as she disappeared into what he presumed to be the bathroom.
Now that the distraction was gone, Marshall took a walk around the apartment. The first thing he noted was its size; it was tiny. It was also reasonably neat, but dirty and grimy, like the whole place was stained. What the hell was she doing living in a place like this? Marshall wondered. A crash from behind him caught his attention, and he noticed a crack in the bathroom door. Behind it he could hear a rather colourful array of swear words.
“Kat?” he called. “You aiight?”
“Fine!” she answered hastily. “Just fine! I’ll be right out!”
And a few minutes later she re-emerged. She was dressed now-the deep purple shirt dipped low, showing cleavage, and the black skirt fell just below her knees. She’d added a black jacket to complete the outfit, and to stop herself from freezing to death. “Ready to go?” Marshall asked, admiring what he could see of her legs. Damn, this woman had a body!
“Yep!” Kat said, mentally running through her list of things needed for today. Deciding she had them all, she grabbed her bag and indicated to the door. “After you,” she told him, flashing a bright smile. He smiled back, and headed out the door.
~*~
“So,” Marshall said. “What’s your deal?”
“My deal?” Kat raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by that?”
“Ya know, where do ya come from, who’s your family, why you have ‘em panic attacks,” Marshall spoke casually, not wanting to frighten her away-but he was really curious about this woman.
“I don’t have panic attacks!” Kat said, a touch indignantly. It was Marshall who raised an eyebrow now.
Kat slumped; trying to avoid this man’s questioning was exhausting. He’d been on at her for the last 20 minutes. And she really wanted to talk to someone. She didn’t have any friends; hadn’t had a boyfriend for a long time. All in all, she thought, her life was pretty lonely. She chose to have it that way, and she kept people at a distance deliberately. But Marshall seemed intent on chipping away at her defences.
“Fine, so I have panic attacks.” Kat reluctantly admitted. “But, they’re only minor!” she added defensively.
“So, what gave ‘em to ya?” Marshall leaned forward on the table. Finally, she was giving him an answer to something.
“Nothing gives you panic attacks, as such,” Kat explained. “Anybody can get them.”
“Why you got them?”
Kat gave a half shrug. “I’m not really sure.”
Seeing that he wasn’t going to get much further on this topic, Marshall tried another question. “So, what about your family? Where you come from?”
“I was born in Ireland,” Kat said slowly. “My mother was Irish, my father was half Latino. Hence, then skin/eyes/hair I have,” she smiled. “Mom was killed when I was very young, and Dad brought me over to America. We moved around a lot; lived everywhere from Ohio to Detroit and New York. I left home when I was 16, decided to become a doctor, and put myself through medical school. Got the job at Detroit General, and that’s pretty much all there is to it.”
All there is to it my ass, Marshall thought. “What bout your dad? He still alive?”
Kat visibly stiffened, but replied nonetheless. “My father and I have had no contact since I left home,”
“Why that be?”
Kat looked at Marshall’s face searchingly. He was prying into a past she’d rather forget, and it made her suspicious. “Why are you so interested?”
Marshall shrugged. She’d been honest; it was his turn. “I like you,” he said frankly. “I’m hopin’ that maybe-ya know, we could go out, or sumin’. But I gotta know sumin’ ‘boutchu you first.”
“Oh,” Kat blinked. “Uh, ok?”
“So, your dad?”
“Was abusive,” Kat had had enough of beating around the bush. He wanted to know; she’d tell him. And pray desperately that he wasn’t the same as the other men in her life.
“Oh,” Marshall realised. “I’m, uh…sorry,”
“Don’t be,” Kat responded casually. “It’s over, I’m never going to see him again. I put it behind me.”
“Things like that…” Marshall began, then stopped. He hesitated before continuing. “They ain’t ever really behind you, for good.”
Katya shrugged, but her gaze was contemplative as she watched him. “Your mother was an alcoholic, right?” she said suddenly.
Marshall tensed, as he always did when it came to his mother. “Yeah,”
“So was my father,” Kat said, softly.
“Oh,” Marshall said as understanding dawned. “He…he got drunk an’ beat you?”
Kat nodded; it was a painful subject. She loved her father, she really did. She just didn’t want anything to do with the man who’d stolen her childhood. “I…my mother’s death…destroyed him, I think. If she’d lived…”
“How’d she die?” Marshall asked, curious. Then he realized what he’d said. “Sorry…if ya don’t wanna talk about it…”
“It’s ok,” Kat smiled wryly. “It was a long time ago.” She stopped there, seeming to choose her next words very carefully. “There was…how much do you know about the situation in Ireland?”
This confused Marshall. “You mean the bombs and shit?”
Kat hid a smile at his terminology. She didn’t know anyone else who could so bluntly sum up the delicate political situation in Northern Ireland, and be so accurate. “Yeah, the bombs-the war-the terrorism. Basically-and stop me if you already know this-the IRA, the Catholics, are fighting, have been fighting, the Protestants and the British for control of Northern Ireland. It’s a war that’s been going on for centuries, sometimes more openly than other times. It’s much calmer now than it was, but when I was a baby, it was really violent. You with me?”
“Yeah,” Marshall nodded, not yet seeing the relevance, but knowing it was there.
“My father was a member of the IRA.”
“Oh,” Marshall got it. “They fighting for control, they’re Catholic, right?”
“Yep,” Kat affirmed. “My mother…my mother was murdered.”
“Holy shit,” Em breathed.
“My father always thought it was the RUC, the British police. There’s no proof, of course…and his opinion is rather biased.”
“That when he started drinking?”
“I…I think so. I’ve seen photos of him, before she died. He looks, I don’t know, different.”
Marshall just nodded. He wasn’t sure what to say; saying he was sorry seemed redundant.
“It was revenge, her death.” Kat spoke up suddenly. “And it happened because of him. Because he was involved in the conflict. They would have killed me too, if Mom hadn’t hidden me when she saw them at the door.”
“D’you…remember it?”
Kat shook her head. “Not consciously. I was too young.”
Marshall nodded again, absorbing what he’d been told. She’d opened up a lot today; but he got the feeling that he’d still only been told a part of the story. “Shit!” She looked at the time. “We have to get going, it’s already half past 12:00.”
“Aiight, I’ma just pay,” Marshall said.
“I’ll pay my half,” Kat said forcefully.
Marshall shook his head. “Nah, it’s on me.”
“I said I’d pay my half!” Kat insisted.
“No! This is my treat.”
“Marshall, I can pay my half.”
Em just rolled his eyes. “Look, I take a beautiful woman to lunch and she won’t even let me pay. You gonna damage my ego, jus’ lemme pay!”
Kat sighed in exasperation. She could see he wasn’t going to drop it. “Fine, this time you can pay. But only because I don’t wanna do irreparable damage to your fragile male psyche.”
Marshall grinned. “K, I’ma take care of this then we’re out of here.”
~*~
When they arrived at the hospital, they parted ways. It was only a 15-minute drive from the lunch bar Marshall had taken her to, so she had another quarter of an hour before her shift started. Getting into her coat, she found herself pondering her quasi-relationship with Marshall. Even though they’d parted ways not five minutes ago, she wanted to see him again. And she couldn’t help but wonder what it would be like to date him for real-be his…girlfriend, although she’d never liked the word. Deciding she might as well kill the time before she had to go on duty with someone she liked, she headed to the second to top floor.
It seemed that Hailie had a revolving set of visitors; sitting next to her bed was Dre, a file open on his lap as he chatted to Marshall, who was on the other side of Hai’s bed. She hesitated at the doorway-maybe this hadn’t been such a great idea. After all, she’d just said goodbye to Marshall, why would he want to see her again? And he had a friend here too, so…
“Kat?” Marshall asked, surprised.
“Uh, hi, I uh, just thought I’d stop by to…uh…. check on Hailie,” she stammered, glancing nervously at Dre who was looking at her, amused. While he wasn’t exactly threatening, she still got a funny feeling off him.
“That so? You wasn’t comin’ by to see lil’ ole me?” Marshall questioned teasingly. Seeing he wasn’t mad, Kat relaxed slightly. “Well, maybe that had something to do with it,” she admitted.
“Only somethin’? I’m hurt,” Marshall clutched his chest in mock agony.
Kat smirked, “Yeah, I’m sure you’ll cry yourself to sleep tonight,”
“Hey, Doc,” Dre finally interjected into the conversation.
“Hi, Dre,” Kat smiled briefly at the older man. She definitely wasn’t comfortable in his presence
“Admit it, you just couldn’t get enough of me,” Marshall said, returning to their banter.
“Oh yeah, I’m going crazy with wanting, that lunch wasn’t nearly enough,” sarcasm was dripping off Kat’s voice.
Dre raised an eyebrow. His boy was gettin’ it on with the hot doctor lady? “Marshall, you been up to somethin’ and ain’t tellin’ me about it?”
“I wish,” Marshall muttered under his breath. Out loud he said, “Kat an’ I went for lunch, coz I gave her a ride home last night, ain’t that right Doctor Morgan?”
Startled at his use of her title, she gave a small smile. “Yeah,”
“Rescuin’ damsels in distress now Slim?”
“He’s my own, personal Superman,” Kat answered for Em. He gave her a grin as he recognized the reference to his song. Dre grinned also; it wasn’t often they could have a normal conversation with a woman, especially if she was a fan.
“You gonna sit down, or just stand in the doorway?” Marshall asked.
Kat glanced at her watch. “Well, I can only stay a few minutes…”
“Have a seat,” Dre said, getting up.
“No, no, that’s ok. I’ll sit over there.” Kat indicated to a chair on the other side of the small table close to the door.
Dre nodded, as Kat went and sat down. Marshall moved his chair over so that it was opposite hers, and propped his elbows up on the table, so he was looking straight at her. His scrutiny made Kat nervous. “So…” he drawled.
She raised an eyebrow in response.
“I spoke to the board of administrators here this mornin’,” Em began casually. Kat tried to keep her expression blank. “Ok…why?”
“Coz I wanted to find out about Tomas the fag,” Marshall said bluntly. Hearing this, Dre came over to the small table. He was also curious as to the reasons behind the other doctor’s animosity.
“Oh?” Kat’s knuckles went a little white under the table, as she gripped her hands together.
“Yeah, they wouldn’t tell me nothin’…”
“Good,” Kat breathed a sigh of relief.
“But one of the nurses came and spoke to me, heard I’d been askin’ bout Tomas.” Marshall continued. Kat’s look of relief vanished.
“She said you were all closed up bout it, wouldn’t talk or anythin’. But rumor has it that fag attacked you!” Marshall began to get angry.
“That’s…uh…just a rumor?” Kat meant to sound confident, but her sentence came out sounding like a question.
“Oh? Just a rumor?” Marshall challenged.
Dre was watching the interaction between the two with some interest. Slim tended to be a jealous man, but only with women whom he was seeing. Only with women he cared about-and he didn’t know Katya that well yet. This display worried Dre a bit-if this was how Marshall reacted now, what would happen if the good doctor and Em actually started goin’ out?
“Well, maybe there’s some truth behind it.” Kat admitted, almost sheepishly.
“What?!”
“Don’t snap at me!” Katya said defensively.
“Fine, fine. You wanna tell me what the fuck happened?”
“I…I…ok.” The fight went out of Kat. It’d been so long since she’d talked to someone; and Marshall and Dre seemed like a sympathetic audience. Even if it were about something as minor as the skirmish with Tomas; at least it’d be talking.
“He…When I first started here, as a student, I was…young. Just out of med school, I didn’t have any friends, and I was suddenly working at this huge hospital where I knew no one. Tomas was…kind to me. He helped me out a bit, with diagnoses, asked how I was doing, looked out for me. I was only 22…” Kat shook her head. “Anyway-the year after I finished my internship, I got a job here. Tomas continued to assist me, and it wasn’t until I’d been here for six months that I realised his intentions weren’t entirely…honourable. To cut a long story short, he made several passes at me. He’d ask me to dinner, or to stay late and go over some files-then he’d try to kiss me or…I kept turning him down, and he’d get really angry. He’s got quite a temper,” Kat smiled ruefully.
“One night, I was staying late, catching up on some paper work. He came to my office-obviously intoxicated. I told him to leave, and he wouldn’t. He backed me into a corner, tried to kiss me, forcefully. Wouldn’t take no for an answer. I shoved him away and he got really angry; started yelling at me, calling me a slut, saying that I’d been leading him on. I tried to get past him but he grabbed my arm, threw me onto the table, and said he’d give me what I’d been asking for. At that point, I yelled for security. Mike, he’s one of the guards, was just passing by-he stopped Tomas, called the admin, dealt with everything really.”
Both Dre and Marshall were shocked, to say the least. She was very nonchalant about a guy who’d, in effect, tried to rape her. “Why the fuck ain’t the bastard in jail?” Marshall all but growled.
“Yeah, doc, I’ma have to agree with Slim. How the fuck’d the guy not go to jail?” Dre said.
“I…uh…” Kat knew they weren’t going to be happy with her answer. “I didn’t press charges.”
“What?!” They exclaimed simultaneously.
“The guy tried to fuckin’ rape you!” Dre said in amazement. Kat scowled at him, her naturally defensive side coming back out.
“I know that! But he’s a really good doctor, and he was drunk. And he was under a lot of personal stress at the time-and I know that doesn’t excuse it, but…I didn’t want to see a good doctor go to waste, they’re hard to come by.”
Both the men had to deflate at that. “Oh! I’ve gotta go,” Kat’s watch read five past one. She’d been here for a quarter of an hour already.
“Aiight…bye Doc,” Dre said, looking lost in thought.
“Will I see you later?” the second the words were out of his mouth, Marshall regretted them. They sounded so needy; and he’d sworn he’d never rely on anybody again.
“Yeah, I’ll stop by to see Hailie,” Kat said. As she walked out the door, she shot him a hesitant smile. “Later.”
It was several hours into her shift that Kat finally got the chance for a break. She knew where she wanted to go-she just wasn’t sure whether or not she should. Marshall seemed…nice. And he’d said that he liked her and…. for god’s sake! She thought, she was 25 years old; surely she’d gotten over this stupid high school insecurity by now!
But she hadn’t. Katya stood in front of the elevator for a minute, shifting with indecision. Finally she decided that she needed to start taking chances; even small ones like this.
“What the fuck you mean, she’s being discharged? She’s got a fucking hole in her side!” Marshall said, angrily.
The surgeon wasn’t intimidated. “I’m aware of that, Mr Mathers, but your daughter is doing very well, and she no longer needs to be in hospital. The chances are that she will recover more quickly at home anyway, and providing there is someone to care for her and deliver pain medication, I strongly recommend you take her home.”
“Oh…aiight…What’d Kat say?” Marshall asked. The doctor sounded sincere enough, but he didn’t really trust doctors. He was beginning to trust Dr Morgan, though. Marshall wondered if that was something that he should worry about, the fact he trusted someone whom he really didn’t know that well.
“Kat? Oh, you mean Doctor Morgan?” Surgeon Greenway asked.
“Yeah,”
“I don’t believe she knows yet.” Anthony Greenway informed the rapper.
“Why not?”
“She’s on duty now; too busy to be reached. She will be informed though, and I can ask her opinion if it would make you feel better,”
“Aiight, that’d be good.” Marshall nodded.
Anthony hid a smile. He was quite fond of the young doctor Morgan, though he rarely showed anything resembling emotion. But the girl, and indeed, she was only a couple of years older than his daughter; she was such an intriguing person. She radiated strength, and yet, was also oddly vulnerable. Greenway had never seen her with a man. It’d be good for her to find someone special, he thought. Shaking himself clear of his musings, the surgeon gave Marshall a brief smile, before turning and walking from the room.
“Daddy?”
“Yeah baby?”
“When can I go home?” The pleading note in Hailie’s voice was not lost on Marshall.
“Soon, baby, very soon.”
“Am I interrupting?” Kat asked quietly. Marshall and Hailie made a pretty picture; he was lying on the bed next to her, on her good side, and she’d just woken up, apparently. The two blonde heads caught the sunlight, and Kat had a brief pang of regret at her dark locks.
“Nah, Hailie was just asking when she could get home,” Marshall explained.
Kat smiled at the little girl. “Well, the good news is, you can go home later today Hailie,”
“Really?” the little girl’s eyes lit up.
“Really,” Kat confirmed.
“The other doctor talked to ya?” Marshall asked.
“Yeah, he caught me outside.”
“It’s ok for Hai to go home?”
“Yep, she’s recovering nicely. And patients almost always improve faster at home, so…”
“Awesome, you hear that Hailie?” Marshall asked his daughter. She nodded enthusiastically. But suddenly, a pout came over her face. Marshall knew this expression. “What’s wrong, baby?”
“Will I still get to see Doctor Kat after I get out of hospital?” Hailie liked the pretty doctor. The man she usually went to was old, and ugly, and he had cold hands. And he talked to her like a little kid, and never wanted to talk about cartoons, and he didn’t like her daddy.
“No Hailie, after you go home somebody else will be your doctor,” Katya explained gently. “But I’m sure they’ll be very nice.”
“I want you to be my doctor always!” Hailie scowled furiously.
“I can’t, honey, I’m an ER doctor chiefly. I’m not a regular doctor; not like the person you go to when you have a cold, or the flu.”
“But that’s not fair!” Apparently being on strong pain medication didn’t affect Hailie’s ability to argue.
“Hailie…” Marshall began warningly. She looked at him imploringly. Marshall groaned; he was lost the second she pulled her puppy dog look.
“I wanna see Doctor Kat,” Hailie said sadly.
“Well, maybe Doctor Kat could come for dinner some time, how bout that?” Marshall looked at Kat questioningly as he spoke. She nodded subtly, blushing a little, wishing that it could be a romantic dinner that he was talking about.
“This week? Tonight?” Hailie asked excitedly, perking up immediately.
“Hailie, I’m sure the doctor has plans,”
Kat smiled dryly; boy, how she wished she had plans.
“Please, daddy?” there was that look again.
“Well…are you busy this week?” Marshall asked Katya.
“Um…” she thought. “I’m working a couple of nights. I don’t know which ones yet.”
“How’s tomorrow, for dinner, my place?” Marshall checked.
“That works,” she nodded. Hailie beamed.
“I have to get back to work.” Kat turned to go. “Bye Hailie, Marshall,”
“I’ll walk witchu, be right back Hai-Hai,” Marshall hurried to the door.
They walk along in silence until they reached the lift. Then they faced each other, uncomfortably, avoiding eye contact.
“Look…” the both began at once, before laughing a little.
“You go,” Katya said.
“Aiight…I was just gonna say, if you don’t wanna come, I can tell Hailie somethin’.”
“No, I’d love to!” Kat said, shocked he’d think she wouldn’t want to have dinner with him.
“Good,” Marshall looked relieved. “What were you gonna say?”
“I just…I was just wondering…. d-did you mean it? Earlier? When you s-said you…liked m-me?” Kat stammered nervously, silently cursing that damn stammer.
Marshall looked at her searchingly for a minute. Then without a word, he yanked her head forward, bending as he smashed his lips against hers.
Kat was shocked. Marshall was kissing her. She opened her mouth to speak; she didn’t know what to say, she just wanted to say something . She didn’t get the chance to. Feeling her open her mouth, Marshall ran his tongue along her bottom lip, and then slipped it inside her mouth.
Getting over her shock, Katya finally started responding. Releasing an almost inaudible moan, she wound her own tongue around Marshall’s before sucking his further into her mouth. As a response, Marshall’s arm snaked around her waist, pulling her flush against him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, running her fingers through his short hair as he continued to plunder her mouth with his tongue. He groaned as she pressed their lower bodies together. This was going to get out of hand, he thought. But he couldn’t bring himself to pull away.
Kat moaned again, Marshall’s warm lips against her own felt better than anything she remembered. But, she was running out of oxygen and a giggle behind her reminded Kat that she was in a public place. Gasping, she pulled back. Marshall’s hold on her didn’t loosen, and he looked down at her, smirking. “That answer the question?” he asked, sounding smug.
“What?” Kat was dazed.
“You still think I don’t like you?”
“Oh,” Kat blushed as she remembered. “Uh, yeah, I guess?”
“You guess?” one of Marshall’s eyebrows raised. “I need to give an encore?”
“N-no,” Kat stammered.
“You’re cute when ya do that,” Marshall commented.
“What?”
“Your stammer, it’s cute,” he grinned.
She scowled in response. “No it’s not, it’s annoying.”
He chuckled. “Nah, it’s cute, trust me, ‘ey,”
“Doctor Morgan? They’re looking for you in ER,” a nurse said nervously, appearing behind Marshall’s left shoulder.
“Crap!” Kat said, pulling away from Marshall’s arms. “Shit, I really need to go,”
“Aiight,” Marshall agreed reluctantly. “Hey,” he dug in his pockets for something, pulling out a piece of paper. “Here’s my address…I’ll see you tomorrow night?”
“Yeah, what time?” Kat took the paper from him.
“Uh, bout 5:30? We eat dinner pretty early, coz of Hai,” Marshall said, smiling a little.
“K, I’ll see you then, bye,” she turned, about to step into the open lift.
Before she could take a step, she felt a hand grab her arm, and she was spun into a hard chest. Marshall’s mouth slammed into hers, and he gave her a long, punishing kiss. Finally he pulled back. Smirking at her swollen lips and flushed face, he said casually, “See ya tomorrow, doc,” before walking away.
This time, Kat stared after him.
Author: angelic_devil@shadyfiction.com
Disclaimer: These stories are for entertainment purposes only. They are completely fictitious, and the authors mean no harm to EMINEM, his family, friends, or anyone else that may have been depicted as a 'real life' character. No money was made on the fiction here, either directly or indirectly, i.e. paid advertising. In other words - it's just a bunch of shit we wrote for fun. Please don't take it seriously.