Recovery Period

Chapter 2

The next thing she remembered was the smell of something horrible, stabbing into her brain and jolting her awake. "Jesus Christ!" she snapped, swatting a hand through the space in front of her nose. She collided with someone's hand and she heard something tiny and glass hit the floor, all before she could even open her eyes. When she did, her eyes landed on slightly annoyed but definitely amused woman who had her arms crossed and her eyebrows raised.

"Uh..." she croaked, suddenly shy about the vulnerable position she was in. She quickly put things together and she sat up on the bed where she was laying. "I'm sorry about that. Just scared me. Plus that stuff stinks," she continued, nervously playing with her fingers in her lap. Her eyes naturally followed to her lap after she stopped talking and she could feel the woman looking at her. The weight of the doctor's stare and the thick silence nearly drove her insane. She could feel the blood (what remained inside her body) rushing up her neck and cheeks.

This visible reaction was not missed by the only other person in the room, and Dr. Casey couldn't help but smirk a little bit before she bit it back. Not the time, place, or circumstance. She bent down and picked up the vial that her patient had knocked from her hand, happy to see the glass hadn't broken. She put the lid back on and turned back to the young woman on her table, still perfectly frozen except for the consistent movement of her fingers in her lap.

"No harm done, love. They do smell really bad, that's kind of the whole point. They smell bad enough to make your nose angry to tell your brain that you need to wake up and move away. Or, in your case, make the smelling thing move away from you," she replied to the nervous girl, slowly decreasing the distance between them. "I'm Dr. Casey, can you tell me where you are?"

Her patient paused and seemed to chew on her words before swallowing hard, tilting her chin up to make direct eye contact with the doctor. "I'm at the Whitmore Urgent Care," she responded, suddenly flat in her affect.

"Yep. Okay, who brought you here?" 

"I did."

"That explains why we found you half in and half out of your car. Can you give me your name and date of birth?" Dr. Casey asked, turning a bit to pull a computer and keyboard on a moveable arm toward her.

"Nico Harris. November 10th, 1995," her patient answered in the same robotic voice, lowering her head again when the pressure for eye contact was no longer there.

The doctor suddenly paused after entering in the information she was given, looking at her patient with a slight head tilt. "How do you identify, love?" she asked, a bit more quietly than she had asked the other questions.

Nico looked up from her lap again, surprised by the question. She furrowed her eyebrows and considered the doctor for a second time, really taking her in now that some of the adrenaline was fading. She was tall with fair skin, light brown hair, and surprisingly intense green eyes. Despite their piercing nature, she saw no deceit or malice in the doctor's gaze. She didn't seem like she was trying to trick her.

"I...uh...female. Wait, I mean she/her," she said in a different tone, fading into a whisper as the words fumbled out clumsily. Dr. Casey kept her eyes on Nico until she saw the girl's hands starting to fidget again, this time with the loose ties on her pants. "I guess I surprised her with that question, she didn't have a script for that one," Dr. Casey noted to herself.

"Okay, Nico. Can you tell me what happened? Your cut wasn't too deep, but it is kind of long."

"Dropped a glass." Her words were back to their short, clipped tone and the doctor moved on.

"Do you have your ID with you?" Dr. Casey asked, going back to the screen in front of her. She didn't have anything else to put in right now, but she knew her patient was uncomfortable with extended eye contact. Easier to keep her gaze averted to see how much she could actually find out without forcing Nico back into her auto-responses.

"It's in my...wallet..." Nico trailed off, looking around as she pieced together that she didn't have her stuff.

"Oh, I've got that stuff, hang on," Dr. Casey replied, holding up 1 finger. She walked across the room to the sink, washing her hands before handling all of Nico's things. She walked over to the bed and set down Nico's wallet, phone, keys, and a ratty stuffed rabbit...which she saved for last and set down closest to Nico. "I wasn't sure if he was yours, but I figured better safe than sorry." 

Nico glanced toward the pile of things that Dr. Casey set by her right hip and spotted what she had been talking about. Mol was sitting beside her, pulling her in with his mere presence. She couldn't help but make eye contact with him. Her mouth went dry as she realized the uncomfortable position she was in: refuse that he's hers and lose the comfort, plus maybe they'd even throw him away...or accept and have the most awkward and terrifying doctor visit ever as if it's not scary enough.

Dr. Casey watched from her place back at the computer, immediately regretting introducing the rabbit. She didn't expect such a stressed reaction, she had been hoping for the opposite, but it was clear from the bloody line forming on Nico's lower lip as she chewed at it that she'd chosen poorly.  Nico was clearly struggling and the doctor was at her elbow before she could stop herself, reaching out to put a hand on her patient's shoulder, and hesitated there. Now what, genius? Dr. Casey growled in her mind.

Nico was oblivious to the woman now at her bedside or her hovering hand. She was staring into Mol's chocolate eyes and having a heated discussion in her head. The increasing pain in her foot and the pressure in her head eventually wore her down, she needed him more than she needed to save face. "He...is mine. Thanks," she finally whispered, so fast and so quiet that Dr. Casey almost missed it entirely. Nico's hands gently lifted the little rabbit from under his armpits and her slip was solidified before Mol was even settled into her lap.

The tone change, the body language, and the comfort item scratched at a familiar spot in the back of Dr. Casey's brain and she paused to feel it out. Why did this feel so familiar and why did she feel like an itch she'd forgotten about was being scratched just a little bit?

"You're welcome, Nico. Can you get your ID for me?" she asked, taking a half-step back and pulling her hand away before Nico noticed how close she'd been to touching her. 

Nico nodded and fumbled for her wallet, handing it over to the doctor without looking at her. Her attention was focused on the bunny and her fingers rubbed the edge of his long ears, marking the path that had been worked into the balding strip by years of the same motion. As Nico smiled, bringing Mol up to her face and taking a deep inhale, Dr. Casey took the opportunity to study her without being noticed. 

Nicole, as it stated on the ID that Dr. Casey had pulled out of her wallet, was 5'5", 130lbs. She lived close to the urgent care, thank goodness, and she was an organ donor. She slipped the card back into its previous spot and looked Nico up and down. 130lbs seemed a excessive, she looked much closer to 110, but maybe the ID was dated. She made a mental note to look for signs of dangerous weight loss and put the wallet back at Nico's feet.

"Okay, love, let's get you laid back. You'll feel better," Dr. Casey said calmly, reaching below the mattress to incline the bed to a lounging position. She cautiously reached forward, moving her hand into Nico's view well before making contact, and applied the lightest pressure she could on her chest. Nico didn't fight it and laid back against the bed, unable to resist the yawn that escaped.

"Now, let's talk about this foot," Dr. Casey continued, pulling up a rolling stool that had her at eye-level with Nico, "We went ahead and cleaned it up and got most of the blood out of your boot. But you need stitches and probably an IV to get some fluids in you. You lost a bit more blood than we would have liked."

Nico nodded, tightening her grip on Mol. She hadn't gotten the courage to look down at her foot, but now that she did, she was relieved to see a clean white bandage wrapping the middle of her foot. No blood, no gaping wound...but stitches were still to come. Her brain felt fuzzy as she tried to piece together the events that she was being prepped for. Eventually she just felt confused and put a hand over her eyes to ward off the headache she felt beginning.

"Can you knock me out for that?" Nico asked nervously from beneath her hand.

"Sorry, no. But we'll give you a local anesthetic that will make it so you don't feel your foot as much while we do it. I can't say it won't hurt at all, but I pro-" Dr. Casey began, only to be cut off by Nico's sudden movement.