Beginning Anew

Dependable

Barbara sighed as she watched her most recent patient, a young man who'd tripped and sprained his ankle while far too drunk. He staggered out the door, supported by his girlfriend.

She sat down, pulled off her glasses and rubbed her eyes. Night shifts were the worst.

I would be wonderful if Walt got the Museum job. Then she could stop taking these crazy shifts.

Barbara shook her head, scolding herself. She shouldn't be so selfish. Walt did what he could, and he was wonderful caring for Emil and keeping everything in order at the house. Her job would be so much harder without him.

"Doctor Lake!" one of the nurses burst into the room.

Great... an emergency, just what Barbara needed. She sighed, standing up. "Yes, what is it?"

"Your husband is here!" the woman exclaimed.

"What?" Barbara blinked, surprised.

"He's really roughed up – said he got into it with some robbers," the nurse supplied.

"What!" Barbara exclaimed. "Where is he?"

"He's down in the ER, room three." The nurse didn't get another word in as Barbara rushed past her, flying across the hospital to Walter's room.

"Walt!" She pushed open the door, shoving aside the ER nurse in her haste. Inside were three people, a doctor – Jonathan, the oldest doctor on the payroll – Toby, and Emil, asleep in the teen's arms.

Walter sat on the bed. His face was bruised, his hand and arm splinted, a cold compress and cloth laying over his left hand, hiding it from Barbara's eyes. Part of her husband's torso was exposed, already turning stunning shades of black and blue.

Barbara gasped.

Walter sighed in relief at the sight of her. "Thank God..." he breathed.

"Walt!" Barbara rushed to him. "What – what happened?"

"Sounds like someone tried to break into your house," the old doctor said. "Your husband acted to protect your son. Clearly that must have been some confrontation."

Barbara stared at the other doctor, dumbfounded. Walter, even in his human form, would have easily handled a couple of thugs. She knew immediately that was a lie, fabricated for the sake of the hospital. "I'll take it from here. Thank you for your help, Jonathan."

The old man shrugged. "Okay. The left wrist is broken in two places. The hand has four broken bones. Two of his ribs are sprained, but there doesn't appear to be any internal bleeding. He was lucky. Other than that, there's a possible concussion, but I haven't verified that yet. Looks like he got hit in the face pretty hard." Jonathan stood to leave. "X-rays are on the wall."

"Thank you. See you later," she smiled half-heartedly at the other doctor.

"See you, Barbara." Jonathan left.

The instant he was gone, Barbara hovered over Walter, worry etched in every inch of her face.

"So, what really happened?" Barbara asked, gently picking up Walter's swollen hand and taking off the compress and cloth to get a better look. She winced when she saw it, swollen and purple.

"Alberto," Walter replied. "He followed us all the way from Prague."

"That other Changeling?" Barbara gasped. "He's still trying to kill you?"

"No. Worse..." Walter shook his head. "He's trying to kill you, and Emil. He thinks that would be a better punishment for me."

"That's just messed up," Toby commented.