Participants:
| Scene Title | It Took Everything |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Kaitlyn braves the Suresh Center so that she can get her arm stitched up and is actually nice to Brennan. |
| Date | March 5, 2010 |
It had been a long walk to the Suresh Center, three dogs trailing at her feet obediently, but Kaitlyn was now situated on a gurney in the medical section. Of course, her canine companions had to wait outside when she went in, all three laying down out of the way, eyes on the door.
The healer, sits at the edge of the bed, the old olive drab army jacket pealed off and dropped over the back of a chair. Brown paper towel, clutched to the oozing gash, held against her, her shoulders hunched over it, rocking slightly. Dark brown hair, falls around her head as she tilts down, hiding eyes that darting around wildly.
It's hard for her not to feel tugging in several different directions, the desire to go to these people all around her making her miserable. It was only years of fighting her ability that kept her from following that instinct, not that it would do any good at the moment.
Normally Brennan's out to greet the actual patient, but with the evo flu as some have called it, going around, he's doing less of that. Or maybe he's just busy and swamped. Regardless of what it is, the hint that someone's coming into the room besides the nurse who's been in and out, depositing a suture kit, seeing if the healer needed something to drink and to apologize for the wait, is the sound of the patient clipboard being picked up outside the door and Brennan easing into the room. "Miss Dooley. I saw your dogs outside. Beautiful animals" Brennan looks up from the board to offer the other woman a reassuring smile. "Josephine tells me… and the papers, that you have hurt yourself and are in need of stitches so we can get you back onto your feet, is that right? Would you like for me to get a nurse to be in the room with you?" Standard question really, coming from him.
"Miss Dooley. I saw your dogs outside. Beautiful animals" Brennan looks up from the board to offer the other woman a reassuring smile. "Josephine tells me… and the papers, that you have hurt yourself and are in need of stitches so we can get you back onto your feet, is that right? Would you like for me to get a nurse to be in the room with you?" Standard question really, coming from him.
When the nurse asks her if she needs anything, Kaitlyn gives a quick jerk of her head, brown eyes peering through a curtain of hair. "No.." the word croaks out, the healer unconsciously trying to scoot away from the nurse, hand gripped around her injured arm tightly, the pain from it is almost a relief next to what her ability is doing to her.
The male voice makes her jump, like a skittish dog. Eyes and expression giving away how nervous she is. Embarrassed by her own reactions, she looks down at the linoleum tiled floor. "Um… thanks."" The words are rough and a bit sharper then she means. "They ain't bothering no one are they? I — trained them better then that."
At the mention of a nurse, the healer looks past him to the door, her head gives a quick jerky shake of her head. "No.. less people is better." Kaitlyn murmurs, her hand finally moving to brush the slightly damp tangled mess from her face, swallowing nervously. "Lets… just get this done." The arm, bloody paper towel still clinging too it. Obviously, in a hurry to get out of there.
"I can tell that, I think one of the nurses is slipping them some ham from her sandwich." Gloves are taken from a box, carefully put on and tray rolled over. "Mind if I ask what it is that you can do Ms. Dooley? Is it something that will affect treatment?" Noting her nervousness. "I can temporarily negate you if you like, won't need to worry about accidentally burning me or oh.. I don't know acoustically concussing the wall out behind me" More humor, but the offer itself seems sincere. The stool is rolled over with a pull of his foot. "What's the name of your beasts, how long you had them?"
"Shepard is Jerry Lee. Big one is Hooch… Little one is Benny." Brown eyes flicker to the door and Kait shifts again uncomfortably. "Just.. don't let no one call animal control. They're my family." Only thing she has now.
Glancing back at Brennan now, "What I do ain't bad for anyone, just me." Kaitlyn murmurs, watching him suspiciously, her whole body tense as if preparing to run away if needed. Brows furrow as she studies the doctor, her head tilting slightly. "I… ah… What do you mean negate?" She has an idea.. but could it really be that? Eyes narrow as she considers what he says.
"Unless they bite someone or you're mistreating them, I don't think anyone's about to call the pound Ms. Dooley as for Negation" He's breaking open the kits, laying things out. "By negation I mean, you can't use your ability for the while that I'd concentrating on you. I do it for the ladies who come to Nurse Young's maternity classes. Birth can be stressful and a woman in labor might not necessarily be concentrating on her control while pushing out a seven pound child" He smiles at that, holding his hand out for her arm, his way of asking permission to touch the seemingly skittish woman. "I'm a negator"
The dogs are forgotten about for the moment as Kaitlyn stares at Dr. Brennan for sometime, as if she said the most surprising and interesting thing. Blinking, she looks down at his hand and then slowly offers her arm up to him. She's quiet for a long moment, eyes on her oozing arm. Finally…
"Do it…"
There is almost an eagerness to those two tiny words, as her eyes drift up to the man, "Do it.. negate me." Is that hope in her tone, her expression pleads with the doctor. "Please?" The word is said softly.
Okay. Well, there's a bit of surprise in harve's face before he does as she asks. His hand taking her forearm and guiding it towards a place to rest on the moving tray, wheels locked. Negation settles in easily with just the press of will from Brennan. One minute everything works and the next, abilities disappear, unable to be used, accessed, even brushed against. "How's that feel?" To the negation, obviously not the gash on her arm as he's settling in to irrigate the wound, clean it and start to numb the area gentle as he can.
As the negation settles over the healer, Kaitlyn's eyes go wide, mouth opening slightly in surprise. The tug… the itch to heal vanishes with it, her shoulders slumping, her spine relaxing and she gives a relieved sigh. Even as she works at her arm, the healer smiles, eyes closing as they become glassy with tears.
"Perfect." Her voice almost sounds dreamy. "Been years since I haven't…." Her mouth snaps shut, her head jerks slightly to look at him. Lips press tight, not wanting to say too much. "It's… better. Better then I've felt since Midtown."
Of course, reality sets in as he starts to numb it, there is a grimace from Kaitlyn at each poke, but not much more. "Thank you." The words are curt and strained, but the meaning is still there.
'That long huh?" He answers with a glance upwards. He can tell the signs that there's something negated. Not that he can feel it, but he can see it. Muscles that relax and lines that go away in a face that not even painkiller's can be the cause of. "So, just to satisfy my curiosity, what is it that you do? I'm not gonna ask if you're registered, I'm betting that's a no"
There is a quick glances at the doctor, before Kaitlyn's eyes drop to her arm again, watching with some sort of morbid fascination. "Healing.." Or maybe she's seen worse. The word said at barely a whisper is said with disgust and hate, which might be strange. Eyes on the floor. "And no… I'm not. It'll get out there and then… they'll all come looking for me." A fine tremor runs through her body.
"It took everything to get me to come here… but I can't…" Her head nods stiffly to what he's doing, Kait sighs softly, "I can't do it to myself and I can't just bandage that up." There is a soft huff, looking away and down.
'Empathic healing?" Not to say that he inwardly doesn't light up. healer would be a coup for this place. He just keeps on taking care of the arm, negating, start to stitch after the sterile field is laid over it. "It's good that you came for help with this. We can't all do things on our own. Hard as it is to ask for help, when you need it, you need it" He points out quietly. "No shame in coming in for stitches instead of risking sepsis. So what do you do for fun when you're not taking care of your dogs?"
"Empathic… what? I… guess?" Brows furrow a bit, Kaitlyn gives him a funny look. "I don't know all the terms for it. I just know. Midtown exploded and my…" She stops glancing at the door, her voice lowering. ".. my ability exploded on me.. the injured pulled my like a moth to a damn flame." This is the first time she's ever talked to anyone about her ability, so the word seem to trouble out on their own. She nods in the direction of the next room. "It's like an itch I want to scratch.. It's… almost painful in it's own way when I resist."
"I… I hate it. I don't like being a slave to my ability." Brown eyes move from to the floor to the doctor. "You can understand why I haven't said anything to no one.. People would start coming to me. All those injured people calling to my ability." Her head gives a quick shake. "I can't… I won't do it."
She lets out a long sigh. "My dogs are everything. I… take care of injured animals.. raise young ones now and then. Animals don't make my ability go haywire." A small smile tugs briefly at the corner of her mouth, the woman relaxing with the negation. "I… live in Midtown.. less people." She admits dryly, cause in a way she's admitting her status in life, if her clothing doesn't show it as well.
He hadn't decided to inquire on the housing situation, willing to save the woman her pride. "I can see how that'd be hard. Maybe sometimes, you might want to try and scratch that itch, if only just to give you some relief, no harm in that" He points out. "It's all in the discretion that you use. Have you tried heading out to Simmer Meadows. There might be some housing there." He flicks his eyes up to her with a slight shrug, tying off the stitches as he goes.
"We all hate being slaves to our abilities. In truth, most of us aren't. You only are if you let yourself be that slave. You control it, it doens't control you. How far midtown are you? I'm not asking so I can come visit and drag patients with me. I'm asking because there is still a great deal of residual radiation, and might be good for you to be given some medication for that"
"No…" The word is hissed angrily, Kait's shoulder twitching slightly as if she wants to jerk her arm away. Eyes closing, and taking a deep breath the healer takes time to let the air back out slowly. Once she knows she's not going to snap at the man, she continues much more calm , but there is a tightness to her voice. "Scratching the itch… doesn't work like you think." She frowns as she thinks of how to explain it. "I heal a person… but when I stop, I can't heal no more for a time, but I can still feel people." Eyes narrow at him some, uncertain.
"Does that make sense?"
There is a shake of her head and her lips press together. "Don't matter how far I live in anymore.. but I lived as far in as I could to keep people away.. So.. I might need some." Kait admits blandly. "It ain't standing anymore. It's how I got that." Her head gives a slow nod at his work. "The weight of the snow on the building, just fell apart. Rebar sliced through my arm when a large piece of wall landed near me."
"Matters till, radiation lingers" Brennan points out. "But I understand, about the healing" He carries on with the last stitch, tying it up carefully, cutting the thread then leaning back to explore his handiwork and make sure he's satisfied with them. He is it seems when he sets about to covering it up. "You have a limit to what you can heal, but not to what you can sense" Makes more than enough sense, healing comes in so many different flavors. "You have a place to stay Ms. Dooley, some place where you can take your dogs that will be safe?"
"Sounds about right." Kaitlyn agrees gruffly, with a short nod, at his summation of her ability.
"As for a place to stay. I'll find something, I've been surviving this long." The pride showing itself, in the woman. The shelters don't exactly take kindly to dogs, specially three of them. "Midtown is full of abandoned buildings without people around them."
Maybe it's because she's a healer and he'd be tremendously sad to see the woman make it on the news as another frozen homeless person. Who knwo what prompts him to do it. But after the last piece of medical tape secures a gauze cover over the gash, he's peeling off his gloves to start filling out papers. PRescription first for antibiotics and then painkillers. "You can fill these in at a pahrmacy on the island here. Just tell them Dr. Brennan sent you and they'll get it done fast. I send my patients who don't have homes or can't afford stuff they need there. This is charity by the way. If you can pay, then pay, if you can't, then you let them know"
He takes something else out, a business card to the Brennan medical group. "That's my private practice. If you get sick, go there. less people there than here" It's slid across on the small growing pile of papers. The last is just a blank piece of paper torn off an unused page in the file that will likely be started on her for ehre in the Suresh Center. The address of the Den is put down on it.
"This place is… Really not far from here. Go into the butcher shop, ask for Melissa. She can lodge you temporarily" He's oblivious to the fact of sick children there. "And she's got friends. They can find you a place to stay, where all you'll need to do is likely clean up after yourself, the dogs can stay and maybe wash some dishes for your meals and the like. Think you can handle that? They don't do charity either, but they help folks out, ones in teh evo way for no strings or deals or what have you"
Once he lets go of the arm, she pulls it close to herself letting it rest against her stomach, her other hand runs lightly over it, barely touching the bandage as she listens to him. Kaitlyn, opens her mouth to protest, but then closes it with a frown, lips pressed into a thin line of thought. Slowly she slides off the table.
"I….. thank you." Good hand reaches for the paperwork handed to her. "I'll… think about the place to stay." There is uncertainty from the woman who's been a recluse for so long. The papers are folded and stuffed in her back pocket before she reaches for the torn and bloodied jacket. Gingerly it's slide over the injured arm, the damp bloody sleeve cold against exposed skin.
"I'd appreciate it, if you keep what I can do a secret." There is a cautioning look given to the man, before sighing. "Speaking of which." There is a flash of something like pain on her face when she looks at the doctor, and the woman seems like she's bracing herself. "You can let it up now." She sounds a little scared to ask that.
"I"m not in the business to spilling secrets, i'm in the business of making people feel better." Everythings passed over and while she's getting her jacket on, his wallet is opened on the sly, a hundred taken out and slid in between papers. "You just make sure that you get what you need. I don't know how long the weathers gonna be like this, but you might want to consider a new jacket." Everythings passed over, waiting for her to take it. "How about, I walk you out to the front door and do it there? Might be a little less of a shock on you, not so many sick people then?"
With her ability off and her home destroyed, Kaitlyn finds herself unable to protest the money offered, there is a tug at the corner of her mouth a small smirk. "Yeah.. this one is pretty gone." The arm lifted and glancing at the patch of darkness on the sleeve. Papers in hand finally, she gives the doctor a real smile, it's small and barely there, but it's a smile… more then most have received.
"Thank you, Dr. Brennan. And your right.. best wait for outside." She moves towards the door. "I'll introduce you to the family… thier kinda like my kids really…" The healer makes it sound like an honor. "Just be careful getting too close to Hooch…. He slobbers."
"Sounds like my kids when they smell their mom making pancakes" He jokes, gathering up the file and popping it onto the rack at the desk of those people seen. "Back in five Josephine, walking her out" Letting them know he's not disappearing. There's a gesture to hit up the stairs instead of the elevator, he needs his exercise. Not really any conversation from Brennan, enjoying the silence that the other woman has been shown to give, making sure his attention is on her and assuring her that looking at her is a necessity of the ability. But eventually, to the door they get and the three dogs that someone has laid bowls of warm water out for and where dog biscuits were found, they were found.
There is almost something like relief as they step out into the cold crisp air, a sharp whistle given, though Jerry Lee is already on his feet, those radar dish ear set forward towards her, his tail giving a small wave. "My kids." The small brown and white dog gives a few sharp excited barks and is racing toward his owner, but he doesn't got to her. Benny instead starts snuffling around Brennan's shoes, that stub of a tail going a mile a minute.
Hooch seems content to sit with his water bowl, long lanky legs on both side, his jowls dripping water and saliva, apparently he was in the middle of inhaling the gift. But the old gray faced Jerry Lee simply moves to sit by Kaitlyn like a good guard dog, though dark brown orbs watch the doctor.
"My…. husband's family trained K9s and service dogs. It's how I met him." Her eyes are not on the doctor, but the dog at her side. "He brought me my partner." A ghost of a smile is given to the Shepard, who's brush of a tail slides across the cement. "Lost both in Midtown. But I still know how to train them."
Looking back at Brennan, Kaitlyn offers her hand to him, making sure to use the good arm. "Well.. I best get going. Thank you again, Doctor."
Brennan's hands closes around the other woman's, squeezing firm. No pansy limp wristed shake for a woman, nope. "You take it easy out there. You find you need some help changing the bandages, you call up the private practice and I'll make sure you get squeezed in. They should dissolve enough on their own though" He reaches down then, giving the dogs each respectively pets after letting them smell his hand first and with a small warning to Kaitlyn, drops the negation. "Be warm out here. Show up at that place if it gets too cold, tell them Brennan sent you. THey'll give you a room"
The woman's body stiffens as the ability comes back, but it's not so bad out here… fewer people around her, but she doesn't relax. Her eyes go to a woman who passes, the drop to her abdomen, which the woman clutches. "I'll keep that in mind." Her words just a stiff, a nod given as sh looks back at Brennan.
Another sharp whistle is given, this on a little different in its tone and shrillness, the dogs reluctantly leave their spots to mill around the woman's feet. "Good day to you, and best wishes for you and your family." With another small, if strained smile before she huddles into to her jacket and turns to move into the the foot traffic, dogs trotting along in her wake obediently.