Resisting Her English Doc

Rick nodded. “Yeah. Got it.”

* * *

He waited with Fleur, keeping an appropriate distance when Cody came down to the day surgery waiting room to greet her. As he watched, Rick saw another side of the man he knew to be an excellent surgeon but had thought was a little distant at times. He was quiet, reassuring and measured, but there was a warmth there too. Just the kind of person that Rick wanted as a surgeon for Fleur.

Cody took his leave, a brief nod in Rick’s direction his only acknowledgement of his presence. Fleur walked over to him, taking his hand.

“Cody says that if you want to, you can go to the lobby of the operating room and watch. As long as you don’t pass out or anything.” She gave him a mischievous look.

The lobby had a full-height window, which looked straight into the room that was used for small procedures like this. Tinted, so that the activity behind it didn’t distract the doctors from their work, it gave an opportunity to observe. Rick sent up a private thank-you to Cody, realizing just how much he wanted Fleur to know that he was there, watching over her.

“I won’t pass out.”

“Right, then. Wish me luck.”

“You don’t need it. But good luck.” Rick squeezed her hand, and watched Fleur walk away from him.

* * *

It was natural to be a little concerned. Anyone in their right mind would feel a degree of tension when they saw someone they cared about surrounded by the high-tech equipment of the small surgeries room. Fleur was made comfortable on a couch, her arm stretched out to one side. Cody sat beside her on a stool, injecting the local anesthetic and preparing the area around the ganglion cyst carefully.

Then he switched on the screen above his head. The delicate arthroscopic surgery he was about to perform involved inserting a tiny camera via a small incision, and using it to guide the instruments he was using to remove the cyst.

Rick looked anxiously at Fleur, trying to see any signs that she might be under stress. But she was smiling at the nurse who sat on her other side, looking at her and not what Cody was doing. He knew that if she became distressed, it was this nurse who would calm her.

As luck would have it, the screen was tilted away from Fleur, in a position where it was visible from where he was standing. Rick winced as the incision was made but Fleur didn’t bat an eyelid. She couldn’t see or feel what was happening.

Carefully, Cody began to excise the cyst and then the stalk below it. It was precise work as the stalk was surrounded by nerves and blood vessels, but Cody didn’t falter. His concentration was absolute and the cyst and stalk came out in one piece.

It was the work of just a few minutes. Cody glanced up, and the nurse spoke to Fleur, obviously telling her that the cyst had been successfully removed because Fleur nodded and smiled. Cody stitched the small wound on her wrist carefully, and applied a dressing. A slim support was then strapped around her wrist to keep it immobile and allow healing.

Rick let out a breath. That hadn’t been too bad.

Cody exchanged a few words with Fleur and she smiled again. Then he left the operating theater, walking straight past Rick and then stopping as if he’d only just remembered that he was there.

“Very satisfactory. I don’t think that Fleur will be having any more trouble, and there will only be a small scar.”

“Thank you, Cody. I appreciate it.”

Cody nodded and went on his way again and Rick watched as the nurse helped Fleur up from the operating table. She inspected the support on her wrist and the nurse shepherded her out of the operating theater, disappearing when she saw Rick.

“There. All done.” She smiled up at him, and Rick resisted the temptation to hug her there and then. “Did you see it all?”

“Yes. Cody made a very fine job of it.”

“Of course he did. I thought you might like to make sure, though.”

“So it was you who turned the monitor around, was it?”

“I only moved it an inch. Before Cody arrived and when the nurse wasn’t looking.”

“That’s sophisticated medical equipment, you know. You’re not supposed to touch it.” The melting look in her eyes didn’t allow him to chide her anymore, even if it was just a joke. “Thank you.”

“So... Dad’ll be here in half an hour to take me home. We’ve got time to go and get some dessert if you wanted. I didn’t have any beforehand, in case it made me feel sick.”

Rick frowned. “A local anesthetic shouldn’t make you feel sick.”

She hugged him. “Maybe I was just a bit nervous. And I might have been very happy about knowing you were there for me.”