The Ol’ Cutter cleared his throat and called out crankily. "Trivoli! Bossard! In my office now!" Then he turned and walked back to his desk.


The two slowly got up from their seats and then filed into the office, Danni taking the lead.


‘Now that’s a switch.’ McMurray sat down and motioned for them to do the same. He watched them closely for a minute and then began to speak. "I understand that you two have had a pretty rough day. Seems to me that all you were supposed to do was go for a little ride in that helicopter of ours and show your faces at an outlying facility." He paused studiously then added. "Isn’t that correct?"


Garrett’s thoughts were in a quandary now. ‘He’s way too calm for all that happened today. I wonder what’s up.’


They both nodded and answered meekly, "Yes."


"You didn’t do that, did you?"


"Sir, if you would allow me to explain…" The surgeon leaned forward to talk.


McMurray threw up his hand in a halting motion. "When it’s your turn to talk, I’ll tell you." The man peered at them over top of his glasses.


The women sat quietly and nodded.


"Let me tell you what you did manage to do today." He looked directly at Danni now. "You, Nurse Bossard, should have told us of your problem with flying. But you didn’t and therefore put the entire helicopter crew in a high-risk situation. The confined space of a ship such as that is no place to lose it and go berserk."


"Yes, sir." Danni answered weakly.


Now, McMurray turned his gaze to the Fellow. "Did you know about that phobia of hers, Trivoli?"


"I suspected she might."


"Don’t you think that it might have been a good idea to let us know about it?" He snorted and then coughed. "I guess not…eh?"


"I was looking out for her." The surgeon stated.


The man looked sternly at the tall woman then cleared his throat. "You are the only two that I know of who could totally botch up a simple little exercise to the point of embarrassment on the part of the entire hospital. McCormick wants your heads on a platter and has the whole Board of Directors in an uproar." The Ol’ Cutter paused to watch their reaction. Watching the uniform slumping of their shoulders told him that they both were taking responsibility for their actions.


"You get grounded, Nurse Bossard," he paused then shifted his glance to the other. "Then you go barging right in and ground yourself along with her."


The woman both nodded in agreement.


"Hmmm…" He sniffed and then scratched at his chin. "Then, when an emergency call for a helicopter comes in, you two just up and decide to take it. Oh, let me correct that. First you argue about not letting her ride in a helicopter again." He points to Danni. "Then miraculously you overcome your phobia of flying and ungrounded yourself only to have her," now pointing to Garrett, "follow right along and commandeer the airship."


McMurray looked questioningly at them both. "I’ve gotten everything right so far, haven’t I?" He waited a minute. "I thought so."


He got up and walked behind his chair. "Then you put yourselves in a damn near suicidal rescue, thinking that you’re going to have to amputate a man’s foot to save his life. Now if that’s not enough, things go drastically wrong fairly quickly and nobody gets hurt. The logging crews are your biggest fans and the media had gotten wind of the botched up training flight and is now clambering at our doorsteps to do a human-interest piece on the new Surgical Flight Team. A team that is already saving lives in heroic rescues and they aren’t even fully trained yet."


There was dead silence as the Chief of Trauma Services glared down at them from his standing position.


Danni spoke first. "We’re sorry. We didn’t…"


"Sorry, hell!" The voice was loud and strong. Then he walked over to them and smiled. "It was the best damn PR that this hospital has ever gotten. All the news stations want to know about the two women who overcame adversity to save a public works employee."


"So," Danni wrinkled up her nose and asked shyly. "Does that mean you’re not mad at us?"


"Damn right. Now, go and have a Merry Christmas." He shooed them out of his office.


"Thanks, Sir." "Thanks," was their slightly off beat reply.


"Oh, and Trivoli, you are allowed in the operating room for the next two days. I can’t have my holiday Trauma Fellow standing outside looking in. Now, can I?"


Her eyes immediately perked up. The slump of her shoulders was now leaving, causing her to stand proud and tall. She looked to her friend and saw the mirror of her own self-realization taking affect in her, too.


They went through the door and McMurray could hear the bantering of close friends start. Yes, they had bonded well into a team and he knew that they could go even further if they would only put their hearts and souls into it.


"Yes, it’s going to be a very good Christmas after all." The Ol’ Cutter sat down in his chair and picked up his phone. He suddenly felt the need to tell his wife how much he loved her.


Chapter 4


The day started early for Danni. There were a lot of things to be done and little time to do them in. It was the morning of Christmas Eve and she still needed to wrap presents, decorate the tree that she and Garrett had picked out last night on their way home, and bake cookies. It was going to be a big task, but Christmas was her holiday and she considered it a labor of love.


She crept out of her room with the biggest grin on her face. She had awakened before Garrett this morning. That in itself was something to be happy about. There were times she thought the surgeon never slept.


She noticed that the door to her friend’s room was slightly ajar. Tiptoeing over to it, she opened it just enough to look in. By the lumpiness of the covers and the soft rhythmic sounds of breathing, the woman was asleep and probably would be for a while longer. ‘Gar’s probably beat after all that we went through yesterday. I can’t believe how she stuck by me. I’m sure that anybody else would never have set foot into a helicopter with me again, after witnessing first hand my terrible performance on that initial flight.’ She thought to herself as she closed the door and then rested her forehead against it.


Danni remembered how it felt to be in Garrett’s arms when she came out of her phobia-induced stupor. The leathery scent of the surgeon’s flight jacket and the warmth of the body that she was being held against were so comforting to her soul. It was as though, somewhere in the expanse of time, she had experienced it before. The nurse closed her eyes, then made a wish that she would experience them again some day sans her stupor. She sighed heavily, then pushed off the door trying to get her thoughts back on track.


Within minutes of taking care of her morning toilet, the young woman was eagerly sorting through her favorite recipes, looking for just the right one. Christmas came once a year and therefore dictated that everything be special. She had a certain recipe in mind. It was just a matter of finding where she had placed it for safekeeping.


Danni’s mother had always made a fuss over her daughters’ effort in the kitchen. To her, it was one of the mandatory skills for a good mother and wife. In that spirit, Brie and Danni liked to show off their culinary advances each year as one tried to outdo the other. Christmas was always the big showdown. The older daughter now considered herself to have the edge this year. What, with Brie being pregnant she wouldn’t have the energy to go all out as in previous years.


Danni paged through the cookbook one last time. She had overlooked it on her first pass of the category but found it this time. It was a festive Stollen recipe that she had come across several months ago in a seldom-used book on her shelf. The dough was raised and the braiding of the layers gave it a very ornate appearance. ‘Now with just a little creative liberty for the filling, I’ll have something that looks and tastes like Christmas, as much as Santa himself.’ She chuckled and then tried to imitate the deep belly laugh of the old elf.


Moving quickly around the kitchen, the young woman set to work making her Christmas creation. The dough would need time to rise and that would allow her to pull together the rich nut and cranberry filling that would be used in conjunction with it. Danni was in her element with the soft music of Christmas carols and the smells of the holiday baking.


The time was passing quickly when she finally put the neatly braided Stollen into the oven. It was approaching 0700 and Garrett still hadn’t come out of her room. ‘I guess she was really tired.’ Danni set the timer on the stove and decided that now was as a good time to go wrap the few remaining presents in her room. There was one gift in particular that needed to be wrapped and soon. The small blonde thought about it and a sly smile came over her face. ‘I hope she’ll like it.’



* * *

The soft strains of seasonal music were filtering in under the door as the long limbs began to stir under the covers. Slowly, the woman became more in tune with the world around her as each of her senses began to come to life. The smooth, silky touch of the sheets stimulated parts of her body as they brushed against it, causing her to moan in a low throaty tone. She turned over and nestled her head into the pillow, a slight smile gracing her face. Garrett’s nosed twitched, trying to distinguish the scent that was wafting in around the door. The sweet smell of nuts and berries was causing her mouth to water.


One eyelid opened as her mind struggled to gain a foothold on waking up. The lone orb surveying the room as it tried to establish some sense of time. The muted light coming from around her blinds gave a soft appearance to the furniture in the room. ‘Damn!’


By the look of the day breaking outside, she knew that she had slept in. The surgeon was used to rising early, long before the first rays of daylight ever came on the horizon.


Garrett rolled onto her back, bringing both her hands up to scrub her face free of any last lingering remnants of sleep. Stifling a yawn, she momentarily drifted to the events of yesterday. Lost in her thoughts now, she closed her eyes and concentrated on the facial expression that Danni had shown her. The agony of seeing that emotionless face was making Garrett feel like her heart was being torn from her chest. It was as though the bubbly nurse had never existed except in statue form. The surgeon’s heart began to race with fear of never again experiencing the warmth and laughter that the young woman brought to her being.


Suddenly she felt short of breath, like the life was being drained out of her body. Her strong arms pushed her upper torso off the bed, her elbows locking to hold her steady. Before she knew what was happening, she could hear her own loud gasping for breath. Her mind flashed with the dump truck bed crashing down toward the small blonde nurse. Garrett’s eyes widened with terror. Then she realized just how close they had come.


‘Jeez, I nearly lost her yesterday.’


"Gar…are you awake?" The soft voice was coming from the other side of the door.


The surgeon’s eyes flashed with awareness at the sound of the voice. ‘By the gods, if this is hell, they really know how to torture me.’ Garrett tried to slow her breathing as she leaned forward, clutching the covers to her supple form. She took a deep breath in and out before she cleared her throat to answer. "Yeah…I’m up. I must have overslept." She could feel the surge of adrenaline that her system had been given dissipating.


"Well, when you’re ready, come on down and I’ll fix us both a good hot breakfast."


"Sounds like a plan to me. I think I’ll take a shower first and get dressed."


Garrett threw back the covers and let her long muscular legs gracefully drop over the side of the bed. She looked at her digital clock at the bedside. It was 0715. The surgeon sat on the edge of the bed trying to sort out her feelings or at least what day it was. Then she remembered. It was December 24, Christmas Eve. ‘I’d better get a move on, Danni will be headed out to her parents this afternoon.’ She thought about the large garment box that was so neatly wrapped in shiny gold paper and wondered about when to give it to her friend. "I bet she’ll never guess what it is."