Participants:
| Scene Title | A Sorry State Of Affairs. |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Megan takes a chance and catches up with Brennan to see about a little pro-bono work. She leaves with more than she expected. |
| Date | November 23, 2009 |
Financial District - Brennan Medical Practice
Brennan Medical Practice is quiet. A receptionist at the front in case patients come in that didn't get the message about rescheduling, shuffling of important patients to friends who are physicians. Brennan's in his office, sorting out things, arm out of the sling and pushing it a bit. Michelle's home, her Mother flown in so that she can be by her daughters side. Kids are in daycare. It was here that Megan when she called, was told to meet the Doctor if she wanted to talk. A cup of hot coffee is steaming at his elbow and waiting to be consumed.
As she lets herself in the door, the redheaded woman has an air of business about her. "I'm here to see Dr. Brennan," she tells the receptionist. "I'm Megan Young, I called earlier."
"Second door on the left through the door. Go on in, it's unlocked. He's been expecting you" The blonde woman at the desk offers up cheerily.
With a faint smile, Megan heads down the hall. She's dressed casually in a pair of jeans and a US Air Force hoodie sweatshirt. Tapping on the door, she pokes her head in quickly and says, "Doctor Brennan?" Only then does she step in, taking a moment to look over the man that she's only met briefly in passing both at St. Luke's and at Suresh. "Thanks for taking the time to see me," she offers.
Red head at the appointed time. Check. Familiar face. Check. "Nurse Young" Brennan does the semi-rise from his seat at the desk. "I had some things to do in here before heading off. Sorry that I couldn't meet you at the center, you were welcome to approach me at St. Lukes. What seems to be the problem? Do one of your girls need me?" He offers her a tired smile, the beyond five o'clock shadow rough on his jawline.
Megan closes the door behind her, and she looks more serious. "Actually, Dr. Brennan… it's more of a … private matter. I don't' know if you know that I've done a good deal of volunteering over at St. John the Divine's homeless shelter. The Suresh Center is there to help Evolved members of the community, but… I know you're aware that there are some who are just afraid to make themselves part of the Registry for a variety of reasons. Some are illegals, some are… well, just afraid. I'm …." She hesitates.
"I'm …. stepping out on a limb here to come talk to you. One of those people that I've helped has a daughter who has been stricken in an outbreak of scarlet fever. Both before and since, she's evidenced several symptoms that concern me greatly. I'm starting to think she may have an underlying heart problem that's compromising her body's ability to cope. And with complications of the scarlet fever cropping up now…. " She shakes her head. "It's beyond my skill. And while I normally… wouldn't ask you to go beyond the bounds of your professional ethics here… I don't' know where else to turn."
"People who aren't registered can still come to the Suresh Center, just, like everything else, they'll be encouraged to. It's not the end of the world and it is the law" But somehow they're not here to discuss registration as Brennan levers his attention to the redhead. Brows deepen, pulled to the center when she starts on about a girl. "If she does have a heart issue, Nurse Young, then she's going to need to go into a hospital, receive some sort of care. Is she herself evolved, or are the parents evolved?" He's not making a move to pick up a phone and start babbling to cops. If anything, he's getting a notepad out so he can start taking notes.
"As of this moment, Dr. Brennan, the parents are. The child hasn't been tested. They are … in the process of moving out of the area, and they cannot afford to be held up for very long," Megan says quietly. "I'd like to bring her here… to you personally, to let her be checked out. Whatever it is that you find, her parents are going to need all the information you can give them for their new doctor. I'm just … concerned about letting the child travel until someone looks at her."
There's a wetting of lips. "Bringing her here is better, I can keep it off the books, pro-bono. If she needs blood testing which likely, she will, I can do it in house and we can make sure there's no testing for the gene. Or I can have it tested for and they can get the results. It's up to them." If Megan hasn't figured this out, that's a yes, bring her in.
"It's a sorry state of affairs when you can't your kid proper medical help because you're afraid of what everyone else will think" There's a sigh from him. "Any of your other … kids, sick? I have time this week for them to be snuck in. If you're willing to be nurse"
There's a long pause, and Megan says calmly, "The rest of my scarlet fever outbreak patients are under control at this time, Dr. Brennan." She studies the man and says quietly, "You know…. for a man who worked with Doctors Without Borders, you're terribly judgmental about what these parents are facing. None of them particularly give a shit about what other people think, Dr. Brennan."
Her voice is just barely shy of the whipcrack tone that she's used in the ER any number of times on residents and interns who are botching a simple procedure. "They're just struggling along as best they can in a world they barely understand. And while I'm not anti-Registration per se, I can see where some of them are coming from. We've got cops killing Evo kids in the middle of demonstration protests and anti-Evo hate groups kidnapping Evo cops and ministers and burning them in effigy. I think right about now, if I were Evolved? I'd be ducking and covering too."
"I probably worded that very wrong" Brennan sits still through the calm lecture from the nurse. "I apologize. I'm not judging the parents. They're doing the best they can for the system that's in place. When I say state of affairs Nurse Young, I mean that it's pretty shitty that they can take their kid in, chance the test being done and then on top of a possible heart problem, have to deal with registration, and the stigma's and fears that come with it, involuntarily"
He's probably still wording it wrong, but his last few days have been topsy turvy. "I am evolved, and I'm not ducking and covering, and I'm trying, my family is trying to be role models. But not everyone is perfect and not everyone gets given the genetic gifts that we have. We haven't even tested our own children yet and we're not going to until they're old enough to understand what it means, not at least for another few years. I sympathize with these parents, of this girl. If I didn't, I wouldn't be saying bring her by and let me see what I can do for her, I'd have been picking up the phone and reporting unregistered evolveds"
Brennan lifts a hand to pause Megan if she starts to talk. "THe sorry state of affairs is the world, the government and the bigots who make it a scary thing, for parents to bring their sick child in for attention, or have to move. That Nurse young, is what I mean"
Megan gets off her soapbox, running a hand through her dark red hair. "I'm sorry," she says, eyes on the man. "You're absolutely right. I hope you'll forgive my soapbox. You didn't deserve a lecture from me." In point of fact, she did a lot of research before she came to him, knowing that doing this was going to be taking a chance with Lucy. There's a heavy sigh. "A lot of the people I've seen have been good people. I spent 20 years fighting for this country in the world's hellholes, and I didn't expect to deal with so much of the same bullshit in New York City," she says quietly. "If you're … willing to see them, I have a few others who could use a second look. Thank God so far we haven't lost anyone to the flu." She grimaces a bit. "But it's only a matter of time, I'm afraid."
"I've been in hell holes too Nurse young. It's not as bad as there but when people can't get in line for some vaccines and end up hurting people instead of asking for some help" There's a shake of his head. Not another judgment on the people, it's once again just about the state of things. His family was hit hard by the very act that's gonna help with the very kids that Megan is going to probably walk through his clinic. "It's going to be just me for the next few months here, unless I can find someone else to come and temporarily take my wife's patients, but, bring you're little girl in tomorrow if you can. If you can't, I can come to you. And drop me a call, if you have others, and I can come in on Sunday's, see a couple. Better they see someone, than not and possibly get worse. I can give an hour or two on Sundays, till your kids are all seen. If you want."
There's a hesitation there, and Megan finally says quietly, "It's really sad when there's no help to be had unless you put your name on some list where they can keep track of you and maybe take your kids away if they decide you're 'too dangerous' or something." There are any number of reasons people flee, but that's definitely high on the list. "I'll bring Lucy in, just tell me when to be here." A pause. "She's my most serious, but… I'll keep your offer in mind." And run it past Grace before she moves on it.
"Tomorrow, eleven. Have her, bring her parents too if they want. We'll deal with logistics once they're here" Brennan offers, a nod to her words. They're not seeing eye to completely eye, just because you go in and get a blood test doesn't meant they're gonna look for the gene, or do the evolved test. Paranoia is a bitch, and a very real thing these days. "Anything else nurse young? There any supplies that you could use that I can write off from the supply closet here? god knows, we get enough pharmaceutical reps to choke a horse with all the pills."
Megan nods slightly. And then she raises her eyebrows. "You…. seriously? You'd let me raid your pharmaceuticals for the homeless shelters?" That was far, far more than she thought she'd get from him. She'd been merely hoping he'd see the one child.
"Come on, lets go see what my wife took as samples this time. Is wear, she collects them for the patients like she does shoes for herself. They'll just get unused and it's not like they won't give me more when the latest greatest drug they want me to push comes out." Brennan's pushing back from his desk, slipping arm back into the black sling. "Long as it's used for the kids, if the adults need help" Well, they can come ask. Children can't speak for themselves. "Tell them to come in. I'm not a cold hearted bastard. Though let me tell you, there's someone out there who thinks I am, i'm sure of it"
There's a soft laugh, and Megan promises, "Anything I take, I'll take for the children." As she walks with him, the redhead says quietly, "I didn't spare time for the more social niceties when I came in… I'm sorry to hear what happened to your wife the day of the big vaccine clinic. I heard through the grapevine that she was hurt as well."
The keys from his pocket are fetched, singling out the one necessary for the medical supplies. "We're pulling through. She broke a couple bones but nothing that will keep her from practicing" Unspoken is the loss of the baby. That's a given if she's heard through the grapevine. "She'll be up in no time, back to looking after her patients. She's already complaining about needing a walking cast and that her wrist won't stop her. She's looking for a focus" There's the door marked supplies and it's not long after that it's unlocked and Megan is given entrance.
There's simply a nod. "There just aren't adequate words for the loss you've had," Megan says sympathetically. She doesn't offer him platitudes, merely saying leaving the offer on the table, "I'm sorry. Keeping busy does help; at least, it helped me." It's about the only thing that does. When the redhead steps in, she can't help the faint smile. "I can't possibly thank you enough for the drugs," she admits. "They'll help." A quick mental sorting of her worst cases, and Megan starts making small piles of what she needs, primarily antibiotics. The reps are always generous with the stuff that's coming out.
And he's digging out a cooler, the one he uses when he makes the odd home visit. boxes of week antibiotic pills, this, that, all in small boxes and perhaps a day or two's worth of medicine usually doled out for patients who are alone and can't get to the pharmacy right off the bat or just can't afford the medicine till the next paycheck is given to Megan, making sure to make a physical list of what's been taken. For their own inventory tally. "You need hypodermics and gauze and all that Young?" He's dropped the nurse thing.
"Good on the gauze, can always use needles," Megan replies. She runs an expert eye over what he's adding to the box — he giving her far more than she'd take on her own — and studies him. "This is enough, thank you." She doesn't object to dropping the nurse part. She's used to being called by her last name, honestly. "I'll be here with Lucy at 11; and in the meantime, I'll run a triage to see if there's anything exigent that needs dealing with immediately." She pauses, but she doesn't ask whatever's on her mind at the moment. Not until she talks to some people.
"I'll be here" he assures her after a box of sealed hypodermics is dropped in and alcohol wipes. All in all chunk, but nothing too dent making in his own supplies. What's a box of needles when you charge a persons insurance 25 bucks to use it when that's pretty much pays for the box itself after four syringes are used. "Now get. I need to get home. Pick up Chinese on the way and the girls."
Megan takes her box and makes tracks, pondering the idea that just by accident she may have run across an actual doctor for the Ferrymen. But she'll run that thought past Grace and her cadre before even considering it more closely.