Nurse Jackie

Jack dressed for work; green scrubs, white sneakers, pager, wallet, watch, stethoscope. His cell phone had gone missing and he looked behind the dresser in case it fell down there, in the top drawer, under the bed. Trying a new tack he lifted the land line phone to dial his cell but instead of a dial tone he heard Liz talking.

"We can close the GSC deal this week maybe even by Wednesday, that would leave some time for golf and hanging out at the pool." he heard her say. Liz was a sales person for a large software company. Her customers were large firms, mainly manufacturers in the Mid-west and South. GSC was a big client and she had been working on this deal for months.

"Sounds like she will be heading back to New Orleans." Jack thought to himself as he hung up the phone.

As he walked into the kitchen, Liz held up his cell phone and waved it. Jack walked over and kissed her on the cheek as he took the cell phone and hooked it onto his belt.

"I will pick you up tonight on the way to the airport." Liz told the person on the phone, "OK bye."

"You probably heard, I have to go to New Orleans for a few days. Reg is coming to field any technical concerns but we are hoping to close GSC this week. I will probably be gone by the time you get home. Be ready to celebrate on the weekend." Liz rattled a mile a minute.

"I will be ready to rock when you get home. Great timing too. I will be switching off these afternoons to grave yards so I have a three day coming on the weekend." Jack replied cheerfully. However, he could detect a nervousness in Liz's voice and manner that disturbed him. "It's nothing" he told himself, "she is just excited about the deal." Nonetheless he did not like Reg. Reg was an asshole with a big mouth and a clear contempt for Jack.

Jack was half Reg's size for one thing. Reg was at least six foot six and 250 pounds. Jack was about five ten, 160. Then there was Jack's job. Reg never failed to make at least one joke about male nurses when Jack accompanied Liz to company functions. But Liz depended on Reg's technical know-how to make sales and they worked and traveled together a lot.

Jack headed off to work. His job as a nurse practitioner on a surgical team was demanding. Not only did he work in the operating theatre ensuring everything was as efficient as possible, it was Jack that surgeons often called on to counsel patients. Sometimes those outcomes were not great and he had to tell someone to prepare to die or that they had to live with an ostomy bag or would be confined to a wheel chair. Surgeons were not great at delivering that kind of news and they relied on Jack.

This morning as Jack prepared to scrub in for a routine hernia repair, he found Doctor Sundar dozing in the shower room. Knowing that Sundar was expected in OR #4 in five minutes, Jack gave the doctor a shake. It quickly became apparent that the good doctor was sleeping off some combination of booze and pills and would not be fit to handle his duties as anesthetist. Jack paged Doctor Ventrist the on-call and told him that Sundar was ill and that he was required. Then he called Doctor Hoffman and told him the surgery would be delayed a few minutes because Ventrist would be replacing Sundar.

Jack helped Sundar into an open on call room and left him to sleep it off. "Next time I will report that shit head." he thought to himself. A lot of doctors have problems with substance dependencies and Jack hoped Sundar would realize how close he had come to being fired.

The surgery went ahead and minutes later Jack was observing the patient as he came around. He let Mr. Walters know that everything went well and gave him ice chips to help with the dry mouth. In a couple of hours Walters would be up and walking another hour or so and he would be discharged to Mrs. Walters to drive him home.

An hour later Mr. Walters temperature started to rise. That could be infection, Jack knew and he alerted Hoffman. Hoffman could not come to the ward until that evening so he instructed Jack to have Walters admitted overnight. Jack made the arrangements and went looking for Mrs. Walters.

The ward nurse said she saw Mrs. Walters head for the cafeteria and described what she was wearing. It was time for a coffee break anyway so Jack headed down hoping to find her.

The ward nurse's description did not do her justice. Mrs. Walters was clearly a trophy wife. At least 20 years younger than her husband and dressed like she just walked off Rodeo Drive.

"Mrs. Walters" Jack called to her. "I am Jack, your husband's nurse. Can I talk to you back in your husband's room in a few minutes?"

"Of course, I will be up right away." She answered. "Please call me Sofie."

Jack let the couple know that Mr. Walters would be staying the night and given some antibiotics to combat the infection. Sofie said she would call the hotel and book another night.

"You are from out of town? " Jack asked.

"Yes, we are from New Orleans. Bret, my husband knows Dr. Hoffman and wanted him to do the job. Bret is the CEO of GSC." Explained Sophie.

"That's a coincidence. Do you know Liz Baxter? She is the rep for JCN Software. She is seeing your CIO this week." enquired Jack.

"Oh yes" replied Sophie, "She and her boyfriend, Reggie stayed at our house overnight one time after Reggie had a bit too much of Bret's single malt. How do you know Liz?"

"Sorry, I am being paged." muttered Jack and he quickly left the room. He was shaken and confused by this revelation. His worst fears were true. He went into a washroom and splashed water on his face. He knew he would have to face the Walters again and explain but he needed to compose himself first.

He returned to Walters' room when visiting hours were over and was relieved to see that Sophie had left and Bret was sitting up, obviously feeling better as the antibiotics kicked in. He prepared to give Bret Walters his evening meds.

As he took the pills Walters asked Jack to sit down. "I could see you were upset when you left earlier, care to explain?" he invited.

Jack choked up as he told Walters that Liz was his wife and he had no idea she was spending nights with Reg when she was on the road but he was always suspicious of Reg. He apologized for his earlier reaction and hoped Mr. Walters would forget the whole thing.

"Young man: you will not forget this and nor will I. I am very particular about whom I do business with and I have lost all respect for your wife and this Reg. I know the chairman of JCN. We sail together. I will be telling him that I need a new sales team and that the current order will be suspended until that is straightened out. I hope that meets with your approval because whether it does or not it's going to happen." said Walters decisively.

"OK Mr. Walters. Sorry for the trouble. At the moment I don't care what happens to my wife or that prick. I hope they both get fired." Jack responded.

The next morning Sophie was there to pick up her husband and Jack said goodbye before they left Bret gave Jack his card and told him to call anytime if there was anything he could do for him.

There was only one more day until Friday when Liz was due back. Jack had a plan in mind but it would require calling Mr. Walters and making some tricky arrangements. The last part of the plan was meeting Liz at the airport.

The couple walked through the automatic doors that lead from the gates to the baggage claim area at the airport where Jack awaited. They didn't see him right away and Reg had his arm around Liz. As they walked she gazed up at him and laughed at something he said. Anyone watching would say they were a couple in love.

When Liz saw Jack she reflexively moved away from Reg. Perhaps Jack hadn't seen them or didn't notice the intimate gestures. Jack grinned at her, not that he was happy to see her but rather that he knew what was coming; she did not. She smiled back and ran to greet her husband. Jack allowed a quick peck on the lips then held his hand out to Reg.

"Well, if it isn't Nurse Jackie," howled Reg "Any doctors pinch your ass these days?" Reg couldn't help it he really thought himself hilarious.

"Just a couple of cute female ones." replied Jack but his heart wasn't in the game of banter with Reg today.

"We still have some paperwork to do," Liz stated "and did you forget, I have my car here and I need to give Reg a ride?"

Jack smiled "You can catch up on paperwork at home. Reg, I called your wife and invited you both for a cookout tonight at our place. I had Scott from work drop me off here so we can all ride in Liz's car. Plus I have some surprise guests later that I think you will find interesting."

Jack had asked Reg's wife, Brenda over for dinner. He also asked his lawyer to deliver divorce papers to Liz right after the pre-arranged video conference call from Bret Walters and Larry Evans -- the CEO of GSC and the chairman of JCN but this would remain a surprise until after dinner.

Liz and Reg were a bit perplexed at the arrangement. They had hoped to enjoy each other privately for a couple more hours before heading home to their spouses. Given the situation they had little choice but to go along.

Arriving at Jack and Liz's home they found Brenda already in the family room. A chef was outside tending a roast on spit over charcoal and a waitress greeted them and took drink orders and served shrimp cocktail and bacon wrapped scallop appetizers.

The two couples enjoyed the roast beef dinner along with a nice pinot noir and followed by a light chocolate mousse and coffees. Even Reg refrained from his crude jokes although he consumed at least a bottle and a half of the dinner wine. Brenda's presence seemed to have a civilizing effect on him.

Jack announced that the surprise was in store in the family room and the couples moved to seats in front of the television which was showing a big JCN logo.

Jack pressed the connect button on the video system and Mr. Walters and Mr. Evans appeared by video conference.

"Hello Liz and Reginald" began Bret Walters, "I trust that you had a good visit to our offices. I was not able to attend because I was here in Chicago having some minor surgery where I met a very competent young man, Jack who certainly saved me from complications and may have saved my life. I was delighted to attend when Jack asked me to be on this call. Larry?" he turned to Evans.

"Relationships and trust: that is the foundation of the software business. I have seen the work you did Liz building a solid relationship with GSC." Larry Evans explained as Liz beamed with pride. She had never even met Evans previously. It seemed a great honor to be addressed by the chairman of a 100,000 employee company. "Unfortunately that relationship has been badly shaken and I have had to personally get involved to ensure that we do not lose GSC as a valued customer." Liz looked both concerned and shaken.

"Mr. Walters values loyalty and fidelity" he continued, "and your actions with Reg while traveling to this account are simply unacceptable to JCN, GSC, myself and Mr. Walters. When Bret learned that you were married to Jack and actually slept in his house with Reg, he called me and asked that you be replaced with another sales team. That is effective immediately. Liz and Reg, you are to report to HR Monday morning where you will be offered an opportunity to resign. If you do not cooperate in this you will both be terminated for violating our policy regarding ethical behaviour. Now Bret and I will be signing off and you can try to save your marriages. Good luck to all of you and especially Jack who brought this to our attention and arranged for both of us to address you tonight."

The screen went blank.

At that moment a man in a suit entered the family room from the front hall. He handed a large envelope to Liz. "I am Dave Flin, Jack has retained me in the matter of your divorce Mrs. Baxter. I think you will find the division of assets fair under the circumstances. Please retain your own council and review the documents with him or her."

Tears mixed with mascara streaked down Liz's cheeks. Brenda reached out to Flin as he was leaving and asked if she could retain him. He gave her his card. Reg swung at Jack but in his drunken state Jack easily dodged the blow and threw a right into Reg's solar plexus. Reg looked green and suddenly lost his dinner all over the light beige patterned area rug. "All that good pinot noir." thought Jack.

"Well it looks like everyone is ready to call it an early evening. Brenda are you OK to drive?" asked Jack.

Brenda shook Jack's hand and looking at Reg said "Don't come home, Reg. After you hear from my lawyer you can arrange to come by for your things." With that she stormed out the door.

"Liz I suggest that you and Reg find a hotel for the weekend and make more permanent arrangements next week." said Jack holding the door.

"This is my home too" said Liz still sobbing "and we need to talk."

"Well one of us has to go and I doubt Reggie wants to find a hotel with me." Jack said darkly. "We will talk Liz, just not tonight. Call me next week when you have seen a lawyer and give careful thought about what you will say. Now please leave before I have my own melt down and do something I will regret."

With that Liz and Reg left in her car and Jack faced his demons alone.

On Monday Jack found the rumour mill was buzzing at work. The hot gossip was that he was gay and had a male lover and that Liz had left him. Someone had delivered a dozen pink roses to Jack at the hospital. Jack knew that Liz and Reg were trying to get public opinion on their side and were launching a smear campaign.

When he checked his bank accounts he found that they had been cleaned out by Liz. Joint credit cards were cancelled and when he got home the door locks had been changed. He had clearly underestimated Liz. Not to worry, he had a Visa in his name only and payday was coming up Friday. Jack would be fine but this would look bad for Liz when the divorce came to court.

Jack found a boarding house suite near the hospital and called his lawyer to arrange to force Liz to allow him to pick up his things. When he arrived at his former home at the appointed time Liz was there with Reg. The pair glared at him as he removed personal things and loaded them into his car. As he was about to leave, Reg stood threateningly beside his car door and said "Watch your back Nurse Jackie."

The next day at the end of his shift Jack opened his car door but before he could get in two men grabbed his from behind. They beat the crap out of him beside the car and then dragged him into the belt of trees beyond the edge of the parking lot. There stood Reg. The two men dropped Jack and he fell to his knees. Reg hit Jack three times causing blood to gush from his nose and Jack could feel at least one tooth loosened in its socket. He fell face down in the dirt and the three assailants walked away.

Jack decided that setting up a retaliatory attack on Reg would only escalate things. So he stumbled into Emergency and told them he was attacked by men he didn't recognise. The police took his report but without an ID they just advised Jack to park closer to the building and walk out with other people.

Jack got pictures of his beaten face from the Emergency nurse and gave them to his lawyer. The court would likely take a dim view of Reg's actions, not to mention Liz's moving joint assets from their shared bank accounts.

Weeks went by without a word from Liz. No further threats from Reg. However, Jack's mind was restless. He needed to punish them, especially Reg after that beating. Then suddenly opportunity arose from nowhere.

There on the surgery schedule. Reg needed a hernia repair. On the same morning several other surgeries were scheduled: tubal ligation, biopsy of the bladder, heart bypass. Then Jack saw a couple of TURP's -- trans-urethral resection of the prostate. Looking up the charts he saw that one of the TURP's included removal of tissue from the base of the penis -- poor guy had very aggressive tumours that had spread from the prostate to his genitals.

On the appointed day Jack was off work but he came the hospital anyway. He found that idiot Sundar sleeping it off and lifted his security badge. That way there would be no record of Jack entering the pre-op area. Badging in Jack found Reg and Mr. Cummings -- the guy with the TURP. Both had been prepped and given a sedative. Jack switched the charts and wrist bands. He then swabbed Jack's penis with an orange anti-biotic solution so that he would appear to be prepared for a TURP. Then slipping out he went back to Sundar, replaced the badge and shook him awake. "Doctor, you are needed in OR #5" he told the groggy fool and pushed him out the door towards the OR's. Sundar would put Reg under before the surgeon arrived.

When Reg came to he had a lot more tubes sticking in him than he expected and a pretty young nurse observing he was awake said "How are you doing Mr. Cummings? You will need a drink of water but take it easy for the first while."

"Cummings? Who the hell is that? Why does my dick hurt so bad?" Reg thought to himself. He lifted the gown and saw the blood stained sheets. A catheter tube was stuck in his penis. His penis was half its normal size. Removal of the tissue from inside the base had shrunken his dick. It had no feeling except for the burning sensation even when he touched it -- nothing.

Reg recovered and even got $1 million in compensation for the surgical error but he would never have bladder control or ever have another erection. His days of cheating with other men's lives were over.

Jack got most of the shared money back and Liz was forced to sell the house and give half the proceeds after paying off the mortgage to Jack. Because of her actions and Reg's, even though they could never actually prove Reg had Jack beaten up, she was given no alimony. Liz landed on her feet; however, she got a job selling for another software company.

Jack is still nursing and is very popular with the single women at the hospital. It has been a long time since anyone called him Nurse Jackie.