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DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT own these characters of ER. Even though I do
share a lot of Lucy’s qualitiess and have her knack when it comes to
children, these characters belong to Warner Bros and NBC.
Title: “A Knight Of Faith”
Author: Sadira Jewelsten
Category: Lucy Knight
Summary: Lucy gets a chance to prove herself worthy as a doctor, when
an old friend seeks her help in saving a little girl’s life.
A Knight of Faith
It had been a very long and slow-moving night at County General. I was
just about to shove the last bit of paperwork out the window, when I
heard the sound that is pure music to any doctor’s ears when a slow
night creeps up on her when she’d rather be saving someone’s life or
helping out in a really massive trauma case that requires the whole team
plus some to make it turn out positively in the end. It was an
ambulance. And from the look of things, it seemed like it was one of
those traumas that could possibly take all night to finish up. Those
kind of traumas were the kind that I normally regretted, but not
tonight. Tonight I thanked God for making my wish come true. Not that
I was thanking him for people being injured, mind you, it was just that
now I wouldn’t have to be sitting in the lounge doing paperwork after
paperwork for what seemed like forever. Now, I would be able to feel
the adrenelin pumping as I raced aginst the clock to save a person’s
life. Every new doctor’s thrill. And since I had only been a doctor
for a year and a couple of months, it was like going to a potluck dinner
everytime a new massive trauma rolled in on the spir of the moment
during a slow night such as this one.
“Lucy, we need your help!” Dr. Greene said as he ran into the lounge
and shoved the stack of papers aside. As he pulled me to my feet and
started out the door, he explained what I was about to get myself into.
“We’ve got a little girl about the age of 4 or 5 coming in with
abdominal pain, and persisted vomiting, and high fever. Might be a
possible poisoning or abuse by the parents.”
“Oh, great!” I said with a sigh as I followed Dr. Greene out of the
ambulance bay where an ambulance was in the process of unloading sick
and otherwise injured passengers.
From all the screaming, crying, and commotion that was brewing, I could
hear someone calling my name. It didn’t sound like one of my
co-workers, or my boyfriend, John Carter. It sounded more like a
frightened parent.
“I need Dr. Knight!” the frantic woman was saying to Jeanie, who was
trying to take charge of the situation. “My baby girl is dying! Please
get Dr. Knight! Please! She helped me when I needed a heart
transplant, I-I’m sure she can help my little Kirsten feel better.
Please! Get Dr. Knight! Just get Dr. Knight!”
“All right, ma’am. Just relax and I’ll see if I can find her. Lydia,
can you find Lucy for me and tell her to come here right away, please?”
“Sure thing, Jeanie.”
“Meanwhile, let’s get you and Kirsten into an available exam room until
Dr. Knight can examine her, okay?”
The woman nodded and follwed Jeanie into the hospital entrace.
As they came around the side, I noticed who the woman was and stopped
her right away.
“Valerie, is that you?” I replied with a half smile of amazement as to
what my handywork had done a couple months ago when she so desperately
needed a heart transplant in order to survive. “You look great!”
“Lucy, good thing I found you. Thiss woman requested that you take a
look at her daughter. She’s been vomiting for two days straight and
can’t keep anything down. She’s had a fever of 103.6 since 9:43 last
night.”
“Okay, let’s take a look. Follow me, please.”
“Sh-she’s my niece actually. I-I’m babysitting her until my sister,
Karen, comees back from the Bahamas.”
“Don’t worry, Valerie. I’m gonna do everything in my power to help her
get better. I promise.”
“After what you’ve done for me, Dr. Knight, I have no doubt that you
will be able to help my little Kirsten feel better again.”
“So that’s her name?”
“Yeah, I helped Karen pick it out.”
“It’s very pretty. HI, Kirsten. My name is Dr. Knight, or you can
call me Lucy if you like. I’m gonna try and help your tummy feel
better, okay?”
The small child nodded and squeezed Valerie’s hand tighter as I began
listening to her heart with the gold and pink stethoscope that John had
given me two Christmases ago.
“Lucy’s your first name, right?” Valerie asked as she tried to start a
small conversation to keep her mind off what was going on with her
niece.
“Yup. It’s actually Lucy Chasity Knight, but I prefer Lucy Knight.
Even thought I like my middle name a lot. I just think it’s kind of
weird.”
“I think it’s very pretty.” Valerie replied as she stood up to stretch
her legs.
“Why thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Her stomach feels a little tender on the right side and also her skin
color looks a little off.”
“Is that bad?” Valerie asked as she sat back down and pulled a piece
of gum out of her pocket.
“Sort of, but not really. I have to draw some blood first and run a
few tests before I can determine anything specific or even get to the
root of the problem, okay?
“I-I guess. Isn’t that going to hurt?”
“I’ll be extra gentle, Valerie. I promise. I’ll be right back.”
“All right. We’ll be here.”
I smiled as I walked out of the room and down the hall towards the lab
to get CBC kit and Kirsten’s old chart if there were any.
“Hey, Luce!” Carter replied as he ran up beside me and gave me a kiss
on the cheek.
“Hey, John. What’s up?”
“Nothing much. You got a lot of patients, sweetheart?”
“No. Not really. I have one. A little girl with abdominal pain,
fever, and vomiting in exam 4, and Jesse’s wating for me to go up to
de-tox with him after I get done with this case, but that’s about it.
Why?”
“Oh, I was just wondering.”
“Oh, okay. I’ll see you later then.”
“You bet.”
* * * * * * ** * * *
As I walked back down the hall towards exam room 4, I smiled to myself.
I was feeling pretty good despite everything that was going on. For one
thing, I was getting more chances than ever to chanve people’s lives for
the better, and from the stand-point of Valerie coming to for help a
second time and trusting me with her niece, made me feel like I was one
of a kind.
I entered the room to find Valerie reading one of Aurora’s Little
Mermaid books to Kirsten as the young child tried to fall asleep.
“I’m back,” I whispered as I closed th door gently and took a seat
next to Valerie.
“I was just trying to help her get some rest. She hasn’t slept well
since this bug or whatever it is hit her.”
“I understand. I’ve had my share of the flu and stomach bugs, and let
me tell you, their not fun.”
“Do you have to do those blood tests now?”
“Yup. I’m sorry you have to wake her up.” I replied sincerely as I
prepared to do the CBC.
“Aw, it’s all right. I’d rather see her get better than stay the way
she is and possibly get worse.”
“That’s the way you have to look at it,” I replied as I gently took
Kirsten away from Valerie and put her on the exam table so that I could
get the CBC over with as quickly as possible. “All right, Kirsten,” I
said gently as I began to stroke her hair to calm her down, “I need you
to relax and not pull away when the needle goes in, okay?”
The girl nodded and tried to be brave.
“That’s a girl,” I replied as I stuck the needle in her arm and began
to pump the blood out into a little cylinder tube so that the lab
wouldn’t have a problem when they checked it for any viruses. “You’re
doin’ great!” I replied as I grinned down at her. “Just a couple more
seconds, sweetie. There! It’s done. You were so brave.” I replied as
I capped the tube and threw the needle away in the waste basket.
“Is there a phone I could use?” Valerie asked as she gave Kristen a
kiss and hugged her close.
“Yeah, there’s a phone right out there.”
“Kirsten, it’s okay. Aunt Valerie will be right back. Can you stay
with her, Lucy?”
“Sure. That’s fine. Take as long as you need. The results of the
blood tests won’t be back for at least two and a half hours, so you have
plenty of time.”
“Two and a half hours!” Valerie gasped. “Wh-what if she gets worse by
then?”
“She won’t. I won’t let that happen. I’m gonna give her fluids through
an IV, which I”ll put in, and that will keep her hydrated until I find
out what’s going on. Or until she can keep some juice down. Whichever
comes first.”
“I cannot thank you enough, Dr. Knight. You’ve done so much for us.”
“It’s really my pleasure to help, Valerie. That’s why I became a
doctor. So I could make a difference in people’s lives for the better.”
“Well, you’ve certainly done that.” Valerie replied as she smiled
fondly at me.
“Go and make your phone call,” I told her woth a caring smile.
“She’ll be fine here with me. I promise.”
“Okay, I’ll be right back.”
I nodded as I watched Valerie go down the hall. A few minutes later,
Dr. Kovac came into the room and smiled at Kirsten, then turned to me.
“Uh, Lucy, do you want me to go up with Jesse to de-tox since you are in
the middle of taking care of this case.”
“Would you, Dr. Kovac? That would mean so much to me if you could help
me out.”
“No problem. I’m glad to help. Have you seen Carol anywhere?”
“Yeah, As a matter of fact, I saw her in the lounge just before the
ambulance pulled up.”
“Thanks a lot, Lucy.”
“Yup. No problem.” I waved to Luka as he left n search of Carol and
then turned back to Kirsten who was half asleep on the hospital bed.
* * * * * * * * * *
After I got Kirsten settled and checked on Valerie in chairs, I went to
take a break. It had been quite a long day and night ,and I was ready
to go to drop.
A few minutes after I had reached the lounge, Dr. Chen came in and
glared at me.
“What did I do?” I asked as I tried not to glare back. “Did I forget
to co-sign a chart?”
“No. You just left a patient waiting out in chairs for two and a half
hours.”
“That’s not a patient. Tha’s Valerie Page. Her niece is in exam 5,
and Jeanie’s staying with her until the lab results come back.
Valerie’s her aunt.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Lucy. I-I didn’t know.”
“That’s right, you didn’t know. So, next time don’t make assumptions
about my patients or accuse me of doing something I didn’t do. It’s
really not right.”
“Sorry. I’ll check next time.”
“You do that.” I replied as I glared at her as she left. After Dr.
Chen had left the room, I closed my eyes and tried to catch a few
minutes worth of sleep before the next patient came in.
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