Russian Roulette

I’m suddenly disturbed when I feel water droplets on me. I open my eyes and Geno is standing over me soaking wet.

“How’s the water?” I ask him.

“Is good. Come swim,” he tells me. After our three-day reception, we had spent the last two weeks in the Maldives. I sit up and Geno helps me stand. I walk down the deck and climb down the ladder into the water. Our hut was on a dock above the water so anytime you wanted to go swimming you just had to walk off the dock. Geno dives head first into the water and my hair was now wet. He surfaces and laughs.

“I'm sorry,” he says smiling.

“Are you sick of me yet?” I ask him.

“Never.” He leans down to kiss me and his tongue explores my mouth. I feel my stomach press up against his and I wrap my arms around his neck. He deepens the kiss and I feel the baby kick. I pull away quickly and he looks at me confused. I grab his hand and put it on my stomach. I see his face light up and I can’t help but smile.

“I think he likes water,” I tell him.

“You tell me you pregnant in water,” he replies and I smile at the memory.

“Maybe he’ll be the next Michael Phelps.”

“If him wants.”

“Do you want him to play hockey?”

“If him wants,” he repeats. We swim for a while but I felt tired so we get out. My favourite thing to do this honeymoon has been lounging in the shade and watching Geno do activities. I was starting to go through surgery withdrawal but managed to distract myself. It was our last night here and I was sad to leave. Me and Geno had been in our own perfect bubble for the past couple weeks, I wasn’t sure if I was ready to get back to the real world. We get to the room and I lay horizontally on the bed. Geno crawls on top of me and kisses me gently. Mentally I was tired, but physically my body wanted him. He undoes my bikini top and throws it on the floor. I feel his erection on my hip and I reach down and pet him over his shorts. He bites my neck and I stifle a moan. He takes my bottoms off and feels to see how ready I am and I feel him smile against my neck. He takes his shorts off and pulls me to the edge of the bed. He stands up and lines up with my center. In one swift motion he enters me and I moan. He starts thrusting and I grab my breasts. I wrap my legs around and feel him go deeper. My body temperature has sky rocketed and I feel the familiar tingling deep in my stomach.

“Come,” he tells me. A few thrusts later I obey and feel my body contract around him. He continues to thrust and I watch his face. He’s biting his lip and I know he’s close. I watch him come and he collapses on the bed beside me. I had this man multiple times a day for the past two weeks but I still couldn’t get enough of him. He was this drug and I was this strung out addict.
My phone starts ringing and I answer it on the third ring.

“Hello?” I answer breathless.

“Hey it’s Elias. I know you’re on your honeymoon but I have news,” he tells me.

“Okay?”

“So apparently Reid had to go into retirement early and they brought in that Jameson doctor to replace him.

“No!” I gasp and Geno gives me a weird look.

“Yeah. I don’t know if it’s permanent or what, but I thought you should know.”

“Well thanks. I’ll talk to you later.” I hang up and stand up and put a t-shirt on.

“Who on phone?” he asks.

“Elias. Remember I told you about that weird doctor that followed me around?”

“Da.”

“He’s trying to steal my job,” I say dramatically.

“Why?”

“I don’t know.” My perfect mood had now been officially ruined.

We spent the next two months in Moscow but preseason was nearing so we were finally leaving for Pittsburgh. I loved Russia but I needed to get back to Pitt to take my board exam.
We get to Pittsburgh and I spend the next two weeks drowning myself in reading. I rarely slept and I crammed as much info in my head as I could, I felt like I was a med student all over again.
A few days later me, Elias and Matt all board a plane and fly to Chicago.

I’m pacing in the hotel lobby wearing a fancy pantsuit with the guys and I feel like I’m going to throw up.

“Quinn you gotta chill,” Elias tells me.

“What if I fail? I’ll have to be a resident all over again and Dr. Jameson will have to be my attending. Oh my god that can’t happen,” I screech.

“Quinn breathe. That’s not going to happen. You’re a better doctor than Reid was. You’re going to pass. Elias on the other hand should be the nervous one,” Matt says smiling.

“Hey Hunter is a great teacher. I’m going to pass this no problem,” Elias replies.

“Elias Dixon,” an older balding man calls out. Elias gets up and fixes his suit and follows the man down a hallway.

“Matthew Chase,” a brunette woman calls standing beside a grey haired man. He gives my arm a reassuring squeeze and walks down the hallway with them. I hear my name being called and I turn around to find a short white-haired man with glasses. I follow him down a hallway and into a room where he spends the next three hours grilling me on everything from procedures to testing me on different kinds of scenarios. We finally finish and I’m mentally drained. Some of his questions felt like trick questions and I had no idea if I passed or not. I walk back into the lobby where Elias is waiting.

“How’d it go?” he asks.

“I’m not sure,” I reply.

“That’s how I feel. Man I was not prepared for that. I sit down and we wait for another hour for Matt. He finally comes out and I can’t read his face.

“Man that was rough,” he says shaking his head. We grab our stuff and head to the airport to catch our flight back home.

I wake up early the next morning and check my phone. I log into the online portal and it tells me that I passed.

“I passed!” I scream. Geno sits up confused and I hastily get out of bed.
I throw on leggings and a plain grey hoodie and head to the hospital.
I get there and I march straight to Collins office. I walk in and he’s on the computer.

“Dr. Eriksson, it’s good to see you. How was Russia?” he asks warmly.

“It was great. I heard Dr. Reid retired,” I say casually.

“Yeah he had some family things he needed to take care. We’re lucky Dr. Jameson has prolonged his visit to fill his spot.”

“Is he permanently?”

“Oh no, just until you’re back from maternity leave.” I thought hearing this would make me feel better but it didn’t. He was a highly ranked doctor from a good hospital. He was more experienced and had more knowledge than I did. What if Collins realizes he’s the better doctor to have?

“I would like to get back to work, sir,” I say sternly.

“I thought you were taking your maternity leave early?”

“The baby probably won’t be here for another month or so and I passed my board exam so I’d rather be here than sitting at home.”

“Well congratulations. I had no doubts of course, you’re one of our brightest surgeons here. And if you really want to, you can start back tomorrow. I think it would be good if you and Jameson worked together.”

“Okay great. I’ll be here tomorrow.” I leave the office and head home
thinking about how I’m going to deal with this.

I walk into the locker room the next day and I see the guys.

“You guys passed?!” I gasp.

“Hell yeah!” Elias replies.

“Of course we did. I’m guessing by the high octave of your voice that you did too?” Matt asks me.

“I did! I’m so happy you guys. We’re attending’s!” I yell. I throw away my light blue scrubs from when I was a resident and put on my new navy ones.
I put my hair in a ponytail and headed to Reid’s office. I get there and Jameson is in there writing in a chart.

“Dr. Eriksson, or did it change?” he asks smiling.

“It’s Dr. Malkin,” I reply. Whoa, that sounded weird.

“Malkin? As in Evgeni Malkin?” he asks stunned.

“Yes.”

“Cool. Too bad you’re married though.”

“Are you hitting on me?”

“No I just mean surgeons and marriages don’t really work out. Plus you got a kid on the way.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It just means surgeons are usually meant to be alone. Our job isn’t suited for those who want marriages or children.” I couldn’t believe I was hearing this.

“Well I think you’re wrong. Dr. Reid has been happily married with children for twenty years.”

“And now look at him. Being forced to retire.”

“Look why don’t we just focus on the medicine,” I suggest.

“Why were you so quick to think I was hitting on you?”

“That’s not relevant,” I respond annoyed.

“You’re attractive no doubt. But I’m sure you know that,” he says with a cocky smile. Who was this guy?

“Oh are we talking about people who are full of themselves, because I’m pretty sure someone else in this room would know about that better than I do.”

“You’re feisty. I like it. But unfortunately you’re not my type.”
I’m about to say something when our pagers go off. “After you.” I roll my eyes and head to the E.R.
We get to the basement and Cohen hands me the file and x-rays. I take extra long to read them then hand them off to Jameson. I open the curtain and a woman in her twenties is holding her wrist and the bone is sticking out

“I’m Dr. Erik-Malkin. Dr. Malkin and this is Dr. Jameson. It looks like you have a bad break,” I tell her. I
look at her and she’s blushing. I look at Jameson and he’s just standing there smiling.

“I was rollerblading and I fell,” she says quietly.

“Okay well we’re going to need to get you into surgery right away.
We’re going use internal fixation with plates and screws to make sure the bone heals in the right place okay?” She nods and signs the consent form. I tell Cohen to get her prepped for surgery and walk out of the E.R.

“If I were you I would temporarily apply an external fixator,” he tells me.

“The soft tissues around the fracture aren’t badly damaged. There’s literally no point in putting her through another unnecessary surgery,” I say annoyed. I head to the O.R. and of course he’s right behind me. I take my ring off and start scrubbing in.

“You know, for someone that wants people to know they’re married, you’re wearing your ring on the wrong hand.”

“Russia is an Orthodox country. We wear it on the right,” I say shortly. I finish scrubbing in so I put on a mask and head into the O.R. where a nurse puts on my gown and gloves. I step up to the table where the patient is already anesthetized. Jameson stands across from me and I shake my head.

“Ten blade.”

I’m sitting at a table when Matt and Elias finally find me.

“So you are back,” Matt says smiling.

“I can't stand him,” I say seriously.

“Who?” Elias asks concerned.

“Jameson. He’s driving me insane. He follows me everywhere and he’s sitting in my office. That’s supposed to be my office. And do you know what he said? He said surgeons can’t be married or have families,” I say angrily.

“Look you only have to put up with him until you give birth then he’s gone by the time you get back,” Matt says simply.

“Collins likes him. I can tell. This guy is going to steal my job.”

“Relax. Collins has made it clear that the position is yours. You’re acting neurotic,” Elias tells me.

“And he said I’m not his type?”

“What? That’s impossible. You’re everyone’s type,” Elias says with his mouth full.

“Why do you care if you’re his type or not?” Matt asks me.

“I don’t,” I reply. I didn’t know why this guy was getting under my skin so much. I change the topic of conversation and try to think of something that doesn’t raise my blood pressure.

Notes