The Mafia's Babies by Kaycee Romano (little readers TXT) 📕

"I guess he will just have to bear with the pain, or lose consciousness on his own during the surgery." River shrugged as she pushed the door to the dressing room open, leaving a flabbergasted Ms. Cave behind.

Didn't see that coming now, did you? Her inner voice snickered.

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River scrubbed, gowned and gloved and walked into the operating room. The man was writhing on the table, glaring at the resident who tried to look anywhere but at him fearing he would pee in his scrubs if he met his eyes.

"Why the fuck are you just standing there? Do something, you son of a bitch!"

"Dr. Johnson!" The resident's eyes darted to his superior and he let out an audible sigh of relief.

I am here sucker, rest assured! Her inner voice grinned. River shook her head. She needed to get some sleep!

The man also turned to look at her. Glare at her. He had the most beautiful pair of caramel eyes and though his face was contorted in pain, they still held power, confidence and a will over others. An Alpha male species. And his eyes were so beautiful, his gaze intense, where had she seen them before?

SNAP OUT OF IT, RIVER!

"What the fuck are you waiting for?" He said in his thick Italian accent, his voice dripping with venom though one could hear his pain seep through it.

River took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. Activating badass surgeon mode.

"I assume you don't speak English?" She asked as she checked the monitor. She knew he probably did and even if he didn't, that was kind of rude but it had slipped out of her tired unfiltered lips and she was going to ignore the fact that it was, indeed rude.

High blood pressure and heart rate. Typical effects of cocaine. She noted.

"Of course I-"

"We need a unit of blood." She cut him off and turned to the resident who nodded and rushed away.

See, he does speak English.

"So how are you feeling?" River turned to the patient, smiling compassionately under her mask, forgetting as always that others could not interpret her expressions with the lower half of her face covered.

"Like I was shot in the fucking thigh!" He growled out, glaring more daggers at her.

Pretty blunt. And what a potty mouth!

River made a mental note to not let this guy anywhere near her children in the unlikely event of them bumping into each other.

River nodded and turned to a nurse. "Administer a mild dose of nitroprusside."

"How much is your pain tolerance?" She turned back to him as she pierced the needle into the vein on his arm while the resident – his name was Dr. Moore if River's memory was to be trusted – hung the blood bag onto the IV stand.

"Why the fuck do you want to know that?" He growled, looking like he wanted to rip out her throat right then.

Not the first time I am seeing the murderous glint in my patient's eyes. The inner voice chuckled. And River agreed. Ah, the struggle!

"Because we will have to do this without anesthetics thanks to the heavy dose of cocaine you took today." She shrugged; giving him a cheeky smile – again under her mask – which if he had seen would have resulted in another death glare or round of swearing.

He glared at her anyway. "Then do it!"

"Care to translate?" She checked the monitor again. His heart beat was too fast, it wasn't helping the bleeding and ruptured artery on the thigh. He needed another unit of blood.

"Then fucking do it, woman!" He growled out, wheezing as he tried to endure the pain.

River nodded and turned to the nurses and started to bark orders.

"Shave the area and sterilize the wound."

"Bring another unit of blood. We need it transfused, stat."

"Hold him in place."

The first hour was a struggle, with the patient writhing and her trying to repair the ruptured artery – she could do it but it was not her area of expertise. Dr. Erwin came in somewhere in between and she let him take over. He took care of it and by then the patient had lost consciousness. At least he wouldn't feel the pain as much. As soon as the drug effect went down, they could put him on analgesics and he would be fine, but until then he will have to bear the pain.

River took over again to remove the bullet. She dealt with the fractured bone and the whole surgery lasted approximately three hours.

That was thirty-six hours for her. She could go home in another nine hours.

She made her way out of the operating room and changed into her usual scrubs and put on her smart watch. Life rule: Never forget the fucking watch.

She had a missed call from the home line.

Why was one of my babies up at 3:27 a.m.?

Though she had an urge to, River decided to not call back just in case they were back in bed. But then she spent the whole early morning worrying about why they must have called until she called Mrs. Marley and confirmed everything was fine.

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It was twelve in the noon and River was done with her OP appointments. She just had to make her rounds and she could go home.

Her watch beeped.

Not another emergency! She prayed to dear god. She could really use some sleep.

She looked at it and her eyebrows furrowed.

[ VIP Room 07 ]

Who?

Him?

Not sure.

Whatever. At least it's not another emergency.

She walked over to the private elevators and swiped her ID before pressing the button for the VIP floor.

Commoners weren't allowed in this domain.

She rolled her chocolate brown eyes.

Hierarchy, hierarchy. Everywhere.

The ding of the elevator broke her train of thoughts and she walked out, striding towards room number 07.

She had just turned the corner when she saw Dr. Erwin walking towards her, an envelope in hand and a bright smile plastered on his face.