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ER
"The Dad Thing"
Part Two
As soon as Doug had examined the baby and wrote a prescription he headed to
the chairs where Jacqui and Nick were waiting.
"Hey." He said sitting down by Jacqui.
"Hey." Jacqui and Nick said.
"How're ya' feelin' bud?" Doug asked Nick.
"A lot better." Nick replied, "Food poisoning is the pits."
"Yeah." Doug said. He gave Jacqui a questioning look. Nick, being also a very
observant kid, noticed it.
"She already told me you're my dad." He said. Doug looked at Nick for a
minute.
"And?" Doug said.
"And I think it's pretty cool." Nick said, "I mean I'd much rather my dad be a
doctor than a janitor or something like that. Unless he was the janitor of the
Bulls' stadium. That I wouldn't mind."
"OK." Doug said, "Let me go get changed and we'll leave." He got up and went
to the doctor's lounge. He returned a few minutes later dressed in a black polo
shirt and brown pants.
"Doug?" Nick said as they walked out to the parking lot.
"Yeah?" Doug said.
"Do you want me to call you dad?" Nick asked.
"Let's just stick with Doug for now." Doug said. Doug, Jacqui, and Nick spent
the rest of the afternoon and much of the night at an amusement park. Doug and
Nick rode all of the rollercoasters, they were only able to convince Jacqui to
ride the smallest one. They also played tons of video games and ate ice cream,
sno cones, hot dogs, and cotton candy. When they finally headed out to their
cars all of them were exhausted.
"Hey Doug?" Nick said just as Doug was about to get into his car. Doug turned
to him. "I never really knew what it was like to have a dad so I never really felt
like I was missing out. But now that I know what it's like, I'll kinda miss it, you
know?" Nick said.
Doug smiled. "I'm new at this too. From what I can tell, I like it. But uh you're
gonna have to help me out OK?" Doug said.
Nick shook his head, "You don't need any help." And before Doug could reply
Nick had hopped into Jacqui's Ford Taurus.
"You're great Doug." Jacqui said.
"I want my son to have a good father." Doug said, "Because I know what it's
like not to." Jacqui reached up and kissed Doug softly before getting in her car.
Doug stood there till they were out of sight. He sighed and got in his car, he had
no idea how to be a good dad.
The next day when Doug arrived at the ER he was glad to find Mark in the
doctor's lounge alone.
"Hey Mark?" Doug said sitting down across the table from Mark who was
eating a candy bar.
"How'd your date go?" Mark asked.
"Date?" Doug repeated.
"Yeah. Carol said you left with some lady." Mark said.
"Oh. Well it wasn't exactly a date." Doug said.
"What was it then?" Mark said.
"Me and Jacqui were uh engaged a long time ago then she got pregnant, moved
to New York, and I haven't seen her since." Doug explained.
"Till now." Mark added.
"Yeah." Doug said, "And I have a son."
"Whoa." Mark said. Doug nodded. "How old is he?" Mark asked.
"He's ten." Doug replied.
"Man you're gonna have fun." Mark said half-serious half-sarcastic.
"But I don't know how to be a dad." Doug said.
"And you want my advice." Mark said.
"Yeah." Doug said.
"All I can say is do what feels right. You're the only one who knows how to be
a good dad to your son." Mark said.
Doug just looked at Mark for a minute. "You're a big help." He said with a
smile.
"Hey Doug." Jerry interupted their conversation, "There's a kid out here who
wants to see you." Doug raised his eyebrows, got up, and followed Jerry out
into the hall where Nick was sitting in a chair not looking good at all.
"Are you two related?" Jerry asked Doug, "You look a lot alike."
"He's my son." Doug said over his shoulder as he went to see Nick.
"Your son?" Jerry repeated. Carol, who was working on the computer at the
nurses' station's head jerked up when she heard Doug say that. She looked at
Nick. He did look a lot like Doug.
"Hey Doug." Nick said seeing Doug walking towards him.
"What's wrong?" Doug asked.
"I got sick in school. I hurled all over my teacher." Nick said.
"Was it a good one or a bad one?" Doug asked reffering to the teacher.
"Bad." Nick said.
"Good for you." Doug said, "So why are you here?"
"The school nurse wanted to call Mom, but I've already made Mom miss four
days of work so I told her I'd come to you." Nick said.
"How'd you get here?" Doug asked.
"The bus." Nick replied.
"The school nurse let you take a bus by yourself?" Doug asked giving Nick an
unbelieving look.
"Well, I sorta fibbed a little." Nick smiled.
"How'd you work that?" Doug said.
"I called time and acted like I was asking you to come get me." Nick explained.
Doug chuckled. "Are you feeling better now?" He asked.
"Yeah." Nick said, "And I'm ready for some action."
"I'm afraid the only action you're going to get around here is calling your mom
and telling her where you are." Doug said leading Nick over to the phone at the
nurses' station.
"Do I have to tell her how I got here?" Nick asked picking up the phone and
dialing Jacqui's office number.
"If she asks, I picked you up." Doug said. Nick grinned.
"Seems to me like you're doing OK." Mark remarked as he walked past. Doug
shrugged.
After Nick had called Jacqui and assured her he was ok and Doug had assured
her that it was ok for Nick to stay with him till she got off work, Doug and Nick
went to the doctors' lounge since Doug didn't have any patients.
"So you like the Bulls huh?" Doug said as him and Nick sat down on the
couch and propped their feet up on the coffee table.
"Bulls rule." Nick answered.
"What about the Knicks?" Doug asked.
"I don't know, something about a basketball team with the same name as me
just doesn't feel right." Nick said. Doug laughed. "Doug?" Nick said getting
serious. Doug raised his eyebrows. "Nevermind." Nick said shaking his head.
"Hey Doug. There's a truama coming in and I could use your help." Dr. Kerry
Weaver stuck her head in the room.
"OK." Doug said standing up, "I'll be back as soon as Ican." He said to Nick as
he went out the door after Kerry.
"OK." Nick said. Nick sat on the couch for a minute and then got up and
started wondering around the room. He jumped when the door opened and
Carol came in.
"Hey." Carol said.
"Hi." Nick said.
"I'm Carol." Carol said.
"I'm Nick. Doug Ross is my dad." Nick said, "Are you a doctor?"
"No." Carol said, "I'm just a nurse."
"Man there's no 'just' about that! From what I can tell being a nurse is hard
work." Nick said.
"Yeah." Carol smiled, "It is." Nick was every bit as charming as his father. "So
how'd you get out of school today?" Carol asked.
"I hurled on a teacher." Nick replied.
"That's a really good way." Carol said.
Nick nodded, "It worked for me."
"Is your mom coming to pick you up?" Carol said.
"Nope. I get to stay with my dad today." Nick said happily. Obviously he
already loved Doug very much. "Know what?" Nick said thoughfully.
"What?" Carol said.
"I think I'm gonna be a doctor just like Doug." Nick said.
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