Blooming Camellia: Doctor's Training Part Three

Prologue: Safe Houses and Separation

"Ah, but that would be telling," he told her with a wink.

* * * * *

Morrigan was in a bad mood, to say the least. She growled under her breath as she drank her coffee. Her shoulder hurt, and she missed Sherlock already. It hadn't even been a day since they were separated. She looked up as Dr. Sung, or Jae as he insisted they call him, came in.

"How's the pain?" he asked, sitting down beside her at the table.

"Manageable," she muttered, sipping the coffee. "I'm more pissed off at myself than anything."

Jae frowned. "Why's that?"

"Shoulda seen it coming. We shoulda been more careful. We shoulda known they would find us there. Somehow they connected us with that house, and we were too sure we were safe." She growled again and shook her head. "So fucking stupid."

"I doubt there was much you could have done. That place was safe from what the FBI said. I mean, I knew about it, but I knew about a lot of things thanks to Sarah. It would have taken some digging to get to the fact it belonged to you, and even more to make the Seath connection to O'Brien, and thus to Kieran and me."

Morrigan looked at him. "None of this woulda happened if it wasn't for that stupid book about your son."

Jae blinked, looking a little surprised. "I don't understand."

"It linked Kieran to Liam O'Brien as his grandfather," Morrigan explained. "It was that book that the kidnappers got hold of and used that link to decide to take him."

Jae was silent for a moment. "I didn't know that," he said softly. "I hadn't had time to even read what Thomas had written. I wouldn't have allowed that to be revealed had I know."

"Sounds like this Thomas guy is an idiot," Morrigan told him.

Jae looked at her for a moment. "I never thought he would do something like this. I've trusted him with Kieran since he was very young."

"I dunno that trusting someone that stupid was a good idea. I mean, he basically tried to sell more books by sensationalizing who Kieran was related to. Not too smart." Morrigan sipped her coffer and Jae didn't say anything else until Carmine's mother walked in.

"Ms. Deangelo," Jae smiled, standing and pulling out a chair for her.

"I'll tell you again, call me Natalia," she said with a gentle smile as she sat down.

"Natalia, then," Jae said, sitting back down. "Can I get you anything? Coffee or tea? Not really much else to choose from here," he said.

"Ah, thank you, if you don't mind, a cup of tea would be nice," she smiled at him.

Jae nodded, getting up and quickly preparing her a cup of tea. He sat it down in front of her and she thanked him. "You're a sweet man," she said. "I wish Carmine was here."

"I'm sure he's fine, Natalia," Morrigan said. "He wasn't hurt."

"Ah, I worry on that boy. Have ever since he was young. Had him at sixteen, you know. He was such a chubby baby when he was born," she said with a smile.

"Then you're not even fifty?" Morrigan said, frowning after doing a quick calculation of this woman's age. She seemed so fragile and infirm.

Natalia nodded. "I became diabetic not long after he was born. It was severe, enough that the insulin barely kept my blood sugars in check. I developed quite a few serious infections in my feet since then. I've lost my big toe on my right foot and my little toes on my left, but my neuropathy is bad. I have a hard time getting around. Kidneys aren't doing so well these days, either so it's a matter of time before I have to go to dialysis. One more infection, and I'll probably be on it," she shook her head. "It's affected my eyes a bit too, diabetic retinopathy. So, my vision is too poor to drive anymore."