Chapter 14: An Unexpected Turn of Events

February 6, 2001, Chicago, Illinois

🎤 Steve

“Any changes?” Liz asked when I walked into her office on Tuesday morning.

“No. Care to take my temperature and do a full exam?”

Liz laughed, “Neither of us would violate that rule, and for good reason.”

“True. And I’m glad you found someone who can fulfill all of your needs.”

Liz smiled, “And that is just one more thing I love about you! Are you still planning to fly up to Mayo on Sunday evening?”

“Yes. I’ll leave the house as soon as the Rap Session ends. I’m flying out of Midway, and I’ll be back late on Tuesday evening.”

“No sleep study this time, right?”

“Right. Basically it’ll just be the full physical and meet with the psychologist. Anything going on here I need to be aware of?”

“No changes since last week. You didn’t talk to your sister at dinner on Sunday?”

“We have a strict ‘no shop talk’ rule that someone put in place! The same is true when I see you at the Rap Sessions.”

Liz laughed softly, “Just checking!”

“And I know you’ve warned Penny about what she’s allowed to say, too!”

“Because I love you, Steve.”

I smiled, “I know. And you know I love you, too. See you at the ‘Kitchen Cabinet’ meeting, Consigliere. I need to do my usual Tuesday morning walk-around to talk to the staff and show that I’m still alive and involved!”

I left Liz’s office and went across the sky bridge to the development building where I joined Tasha, Alonzo, and several of their team members for ‘morning tea and cakes’, a tradition started by those who liked to start work early in the morning. Most of them had arrived by 6:00am and were now taking a break after a couple of hours of work. These were the coders after my own heart - ones who did their best work early in the morning while drinking tea, rather than at midnight while eating Cheetos and drinking Mountain Dew. Both groups did excellent work, but were about as compatible as oil and water in terms of when they were most productive. We accommodated both groups, along with the few who preferred the usual 8:00am to 5:00pm workday.

“I didn’t know you’d be in town, Skye,” I said when she came into the very comfortable development break room.

“That’s what happens when you work from home!”

“How’s Colorado?” I asked, sitting down on the couch next to Skye.

“Still there when I left on Sunday afternoon! We have quite a bit more snow than you do here.”

“And the team?”

“Pretty good. We had a ‘Spa Weekend’ last weekend, and even got Mick to join us!”

“Manicure? Pedicure?”

“Both! And a massage AND the facial treatment!”

“Next up, a perm?” I chuckled.

“That might be pushing it, but he admitted he had a great time and felt really good afterwards. He did complain he wasn’t allowed in the steam room with us!”

“I bet!”

“Nellie would have kicked his ass from Colorado Springs to Calgary!” Skye declared.

Nellie was Mick’s fiancée, and according to Kajri, she was extremely possessive and suspicious of the fact that Mick was the only guy on the Colorado development team.

“That’s what happens when you ask a former Marine to marry you!” I said. “They tend not to be subtle, and female Marines are fiercer than the men! How are things in your life?”

“Good. I’ll be taking maternity leave starting in late June or early July.”

“Congratulations!”

“Kajri just announced her third on Friday!”

“I missed the memo! I’ll give her a call later this morning. You would think she’d have figured out what caused that by now.”

“We all know,” Tasha said with a smirk. “We like it, and that’s the problem! And besides, Alonzo has FOUR!”

“What can I say?” he asked with a smirk. “I like it, too!”

“And, somewhere, Bob’s ears are burning right now,” Jodie declared.

“Bob can go fuck himself!” Claire said sotto voce.

“Would that constitute sexual harassment?” Skye asked.

Everyone laughed.

“How are you feeling, Steve?” Jodie asked.

“Really good. I have a checkup at Mayo next week, and if everything is good, then I’ll be back in the office more starting in April.”

“So the drugs are working?” Tasha asked.

I nodded, “So far, so good.”

“You know everyone was worried, right?” Skye asked.

“I do. But what I said is true - I feel really good and the doctors agree.”

“Oh I BET they do!” Claire smirked.

“Get your mind out of the gutter!” I admonished good-naturedly. “Both Mary and Alejandra are married!”

“The gutter is WAY more fun!” Claire declared.

“Not for long!” Tasha declared.

“Oh shut up!” Claire hissed.

“What did I miss?” I asked.

“Somebody is head-over-heels in luuuuv!” Tasha teased.

“I’m going to kill you!” Claire said fiercely.

“Who’s the very, very lucky guy?” I asked.

“Larry Underwood.”

“Well, well, well,” I grinned. “A very interesting development!”

“I cleared it with Bob,” Tasha said.

“Now tell me that Becka and Mattie are settling down and you’ll convince me the universe has spun off its axis!”

“Mattie actually has a serious boyfriend,” Claire replied. “She’s going to ask you about bringing him to the Rap Sessions.”

“Bob did have a condition,” Tasha said.

“Shit,” I sighed. “Let me guess - Larry can’t come to the Rap Sessions?”

“Correct.”

“I might need to drop out because of that,” Claire said. “I’m sorry.”

“There are days when I come close to regretting my decision to hire Bob,” I said, “but then I remember just how badly the government can fuck us if we don’t toe the line.”

“And that is about the only way I don’t want to be fucked!” Tasha declared causing everyone else to laugh.

“Aren’t you guys worried about Bob coming here?” Skye asked.

“Bob doesn’t dare cross the sky bridge,” Claire said. “This is enemy territory and he knows it! If he wants to talk to us he invites us to a conference room in the main building.”

“Just remember,” I counseled, “he serves a useful function that helps ensure we get to keep a significant portion of the filthy lucre NIKA earns! Not to mention negotiating decent rates for the gold-plated benefits I give all of you!”

“Is that really sustainable long-term?” Alonzo asked.

I shrugged, “All I can say is that we’ll do our best, and we won’t make changes without talking to the team. Healthcare premiums are rising faster than revenues, which presents a serious challenge. I know you all know that because Elyse makes the financials available, but it has to be said out loud.”

“What gives first?” Skye asked.

“I think that’s the point of the conversation,” Jodie said. “Right, Steve?”

“Yes. I don’t want to speculate now; we’ll know better where we stand in September. Obviously if we could grow revenues faster, it would help, but I have a sneaking suspicion that in the long term, we can’t grow as fast as the trend in premiums for health insurance. One of our biggest problems is that we have to negotiate plans in each state in which we operate. If we were consolidated in Chicago, we could be more creative. Anyway, you know I will do everything in my power to keep our best-in-the-industry benefits.”

“What do you think of a nationalized health care system?” Skye asked.

“Are you kidding?” Claire asked before I could respond.

“In the end,” I said, “someone has to ration available care because we don’t have infinite resources. Any system which prohibits me from receiving care for which I am able to pay is a non-starter because it puts some bureaucrat, either government or insurance company, in the position as final decision-maker. That should never be the case. And before you make the argument that I have an advantage that others don’t, I’ll agree, but I’ll also point out there are options for charity care, though the government has actively worked against private charity since the beginning of FDR’s New Deal, so they aren’t as available as they once were, and the insanity that is malpractice insurance reduces the amount of charity care available significantly.”

“You want malpractice caps?” Skye asked.

“I want reasonable payments for medical errors and a proper public review of errors such that bad doctors get black marks in their records for all to see. Just publish that information, once a proper review has been done and any appeals decided. And by error I mean for someone who actually makes a true error, not just for a bad outcome due to choice of treatment options. The fact is, some people are going to die under medical care no matter what choices are made, and that will include babies or mothers in childbirth. Those are tragedies, but they are not, by default, malpractice. And there are a lot of other ways we can reduce costs as well, but I’m going for the low-hanging fruit. Pretty soon, Illinois will have few, if any, OB/GYN practitioners outside Chicago because their practices cannot sustain the malpractice insurance costs. How does THAT help anyone?”

“You’re serious about that?”

“If an OB’s practice earns less than about $160,000 a year in Illinois, outside Chicagoland, he or she can’t afford the malpractice costs. That number rises to well over $300,000 in Chicagoland. Jessica pays less in malpractice insurance as a trauma surgeon than the average OB/GYN. Right now, in Illinois, an OB/GYN pays about $90,000 in Chicagoland, and around $50,000 in the rest of the state. That’s about 30% of the earnings number I gave. Jess pays less than the downstate number and she makes more than an OB/GYN.”

“That’s flat out insane!” Jodie exclaimed.

“Everyone assumes that every pregnancy will result in a healthy baby and that if anything happens, it has to be the doctor’s fault, and juries basically always agree. In the ER, people don’t expect a positive outcome in every instance, and juries, while still unreasonable from Jessica’s perspective, are way more rational about a sixty-year-old guy who dies of a heart attack than a twenty-two year old woman or a newborn dying or being injured during childbirth.”

“That Chicago malpractice number is more than most people at NIKA earn for a year!” Claire said, shaking her head. “Well, not counting bonus and benefits.”

“Talk to your state legislators,” I said. “They are the only ones who can fix this.”

“Fat chance of that,” Alonzo said, earning nods from everyone.

They finished their ‘tea and cakes’ and I went back across the sky bridge to my office.

“Anything special you need today?” Kimmy asked.

“Not that I can think of,” I replied. “Is the loft apartment free on Saturday?”

“Yes. Skye leaves on Thursday. Lunch at noon today?”

“Sounds good.”

“Me at 1:00pm?” she teased invitingly.

“That sounds even better!” I replied. “Just let me make a call to Gary to check.”

“Never mind!” she huffed theatrically, rolling her eyes for effect.

I winked, she smiled, and I went into my office and sat down next to Penny. I opened Outlook to check my email, then the bug tracker to see what my tasks for the day would be. My instant messaging client dinged and I switched to it.

Bonita83: Hola!
NIKASteve: Hola! How are you?
Bonita83: Great! I took the ACT yesterday and I think I did well.
NIKASteve: That’s good to hear. When do you get the results?
Bonita83: In about six weeks, and they will go to IIT. I sent all my materials, and I spoke to someone at the Embassy about a student visa. I have to fill out paperwork, have a medical exam, have three interviews, and then have an acceptance letter from the school.
NIKASteve: Don’t forget to study and do your homework.
Bonita83: Of course! But there is a lot to do to go to university in the US.
NIKASteve: Is there anything I can do to help?
Bonita83: Not right now, unless you can come to visit!
NIKASteve: That would be fun, but unfortunately I can’t.
Bonita83: I understand, it was just a wish. I need to go! Talk soon?
NIKASteve: Yes! Bye!
Bonita83: Bye!

“How’s your little Argentinian girl?”

“Just fine. She took her ACT, but she has a lot of work to do to get a student visa.”

“Think she’ll get it?”

“Alejandra is advising her, so I’m sure she will. She’s using Alejandra as a reference, too, which is a major plus.”

“Not you?”

“Consider what THAT might look like to the State Department if they investigated me!”

“That might be an issue,” Penny replied, laughing. “What did Terry assign you?”

“A couple of bugs in the web interface for retrieving encrypted data. You?”

“A bug which we can’t reproduce, but which has been reported by three beta testers. I spoke to Sam and we think it has to be an install problem, but we can’t for the life of us figure out what it is. There’s something different about those systems which we haven’t found yet.”

“Welcome to the wonderful world of Windows.”

“TELL me about it,” Penny groused, shaking her head.

February 8, 2001, Chicago, Illinois

🎤 Jesse

“What’s up with Mia walking here with us, Jesse?” Rachel asked as we sat down to study Spanish.

“Do you really have to ask?”

Rachel frowned, “God, I hate my mom!”

“Birgit said you had an argument with her.”

“Remember what I said at lunch about Kenny?”

“Sure.”

“I told mom I’d do it with him and then everyone else on the team!”

“Not going to happen,” I chuckled. “Mia is straight, Neil is gay, and I’m not available.”

“It wasn’t a real threat, but she thought it was. She tried to get your dad to help, but she was her usual crazy self, I guess, because when she came home she was even more out of her mind than usual.”

“You won’t like it, but I know how to fix it.”

“How?”

“Tell her you don’t want to have sex with my dad and convince her it’s true. She’ll totally chill.”

“She’ll never believe me!”

“Are there any guys you like besides Kenny? I mean, I’m totally cool with that, but it wouldn’t help my idea.”

“Charlie is really nice. What’s your idea?”

“After you tell your mom you don’t want to sleep with my dad, invite him over after school for homework! Just make sure he’s there when your mom gets home. Do that for a few days. She’ll suddenly be worried you’re sleeping with HIM!”

“You are devious!” Rachel laughed. “But you know she thinks you and I do it when I’m here helping you with Spanish, so I’m not sure that’s going to help.”

“Seriously?”

“She told your dad that she’s sure we’re having sex.”

“We don’t even flirt! You’re like a sister, almost.”

“Minus the teasing for which I am grateful! But you tease Mia a lot...”

“Also like a sister, so that is not happening. She was super-easy to wind up, but then she learned how to tease back, so it’s more like kidding around now.”

“Why are we like sisters and Libby isn’t? I’m not complaining, mind you; just curious.”

“Well, Mia is on the hockey team which is a big thing. It’s like with Nicole. She’s really hot, but she was my teammate so it just didn’t seem right. Same with Mia.”

“And me?”

“You sure you want to know?”

“Yes.”

“Your mom is a special kind of crazy, and I want NO part of that. But it’s also because you were with my dad.”

“You don’t seem to agree with him.”

“Dad does what dad does, and it’s cool for him. I like having just one regular girl. You know Libby and I aren’t a couple, we’re just friends with benefits.”

“You said what you thought, so now I get to say what I think - that’s not even close to true. She’s your girlfriend, even if you refuse to admit it!”

“We’re just friends,” I protested.

“You’re steadier than most couples I know! And most of them aren’t sleeping together! You aren’t even looking for a girlfriend!”

“Because THAT worked out so well with Francesca and Kelly!”

“Francesca’s mom is crazier than mine, which is saying something, so that’s different. And the problem with Kelly was Cynthia. If she’d just kept her dumb mouth shut, you and Kelly would still be together. I think you and Libby are pretending to not be something you are.”

“We’re friends with benefits,” I said. “We like each other, we like to have sex together, but we’re not a couple. First of all, she’s Jewish and I’m Russian Orthodox, so it could never be anything serious in the long run.”

“Nobody said you were getting married!” Rachel protested.

“Of course not, but that means it can never get too serious, no matter what. We’re just friends, and eventually one of us will want to date someone else and we’ll just be friends without the benefits. Until then...”

Rachel laughed, “Yeah. I guess that makes sense.”

“Seriously, if your mom hadn’t gone completely nuts, you would have kept sleeping with my dad until you were ready to date someone, right?”

“If he would have, yes.”

“So?”

“You’re annoying, you know that?”

“Yep!” I replied smugly. “But, seriously, you should do what I said. Invite Charlie over a few times, and when your mom asks, just tell her you aren’t interested in my dad. It’ll work and it’ll end the crazy, at least mostly.”

“But I still want your dad!”

“I’m sure he promised your mom he wouldn’t, so until you’re eighteen, it’s not going to happen. Dad has rules and I’m pretty sure he sticks to them, even if it seems like he’ll have sex with anyone who asks. His most important rule is to keep his word.”

“Shall we practice Spanish? Libby will be here in forty minutes!”

I opened my Spanish book and we began reviewing the day’s lesson.

🎤 Steve

“I like this,” Mia said, snuggling back against me in the whirlpool.

“The whirlpool?” I asked. “Or my fingers?”

She moaned softly as she shuddered from another orgasm.

“Both,” she breathed.

I continued my slow, gentle ministrations, massaging her clit and left nipple as the water swirled around us.