Fic: Lying Down With Dogs
Oct. 2nd, 2009 08:50 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grav_ityMeta and Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter Two
Carson looked up in surprise as Jack hustled Daniel and Jonas through the door and back into the doctor’s office.
“Jack, I really think the lass deserves some privacy,” he protested.
“Daniel knows who she is,” Jack said.
“I don’t bloody care,” Carson declared. “Get out of my examination room.”
“Fine,” Jack said shortly. He opened the door to the back storage room, and gestured for the others to precede him.
Carson rolled his eyes and turned back to his patient as they left. She was a mess of blood and dirt and even tree litter. Her exposed skin was brown from exposure to the elements, but Carson could see pale skin where she would have typically been covered by a dress. He felt her head and detected no breaks in her skull. It was more likely that her unconsciousness was the result of exhaustion and fear rather than physical trauma. Forewarned as he was by Jack, Carson did not feel a lurch in his stomach when he discovered the mark on the woman’s neck, but it did not make him any happier about it.
Having taken in all the immediately visible wounds, Carson paused. Though he was a medical professional, he was always uncomfortable cutting a woman out of her clothing, particularly in cases like this where he already had an inkling of what he would find, but he knew his duty and would not shirk it. As he reached for the scissors, he heard raised voices from the back. He shook his head, and returned to work.
xxx
“How do you know this woman?” Jack demanded, almost before he’d shut the door.
“We were at school together, in Chicago,” Daniel said, making himself comfortable on one of the larger barrels in the storeroom. Jack and Jonas stayed standing. “We took our teaching certificates at the same time.”
“Did you buy her the necklace?” Jonas asked, then blushed when Jack stared at him, “I mean, you recognized it, and I just wondered if you…”
“Yes, I bought it for her,” Daniel said, his voice softening. “Just before we graduated. I liked her quite a bit, but she had plans to teach forever, and didn’t want to get married before she’d even started.”
“And then you both came west?” Jack asked.
“Yes, but to different places,” Daniel said. “I was posted here, and she took a job in Oklahoma.”
“Oklahoma? That’s miles away!” Jonas said. “How did she get here?”
“You saw her feet, how do you think?” Jack asked sharply.
Jonas blinked several times, and then looked down at the floor. Daniel gave Jack a hard look, as though to remind him that everyone was young once, but before Jack could apologize, there was a loud scream from the adjoining room.
Instantly, Daniel threw the door open and ran back into the examination room. Sarah was awake and, quite understandably, terrified to find herself once again in new surroundings. Carson tried to calm her, but to no avail. Jack and Jonas tried to approach her, but Daniel held them back.
“Daniel, the woman needs help!” Jack exclaimed.
“She was in a Dog Soldier camp, Jack!” Daniel replied. “Surrounded by those men. All the time. And the mark on her neck means she was a favourite of Anubis. She doesn’t want our help. I am going to get Miss Fraiser.”
Sick realization dawned in Jack’s eyes, and even as Daniel left the office, he began speaking to Carson.
Daniel stormed out the door, more angry with himself for missing the obvious than anything, and paused to regroup on the porch. When he had marshaled his emotions somewhat, he continued next door to Miss Fraiser’s office. She opened the door almost before he knocked.
“What is going on, Dr. Jackson?” she asked. “Is Carson doing surgery? Why was there a scream?”
“It’s difficult to explain, I’m sorry,” Daniel replied. “Could you come, please? And bring any herbs you might have that would be calming?”
“Just spare a moment,” Janet said, already moving to action. “Let me get the spare kettle.
She moved quickly amongst her jars and containers, and had packed everything into a basket before she ducked outside to the back yard and returned carrying the beaten copper kettle.
The movement between the two doctors’ offices and Sarah’s screams had drawn the attention of more than a few of Miss Mal Doran’s customers, and a group of them had assembled near the bottom of Janet’s staircase.
“What is it, Dr. Jackson?”
“Is it Mrs. Lorne? Is she miscarrying?”
“Is Carson amputating something?”
“Ladies and Gentlemen!” came the sharp voice of Stephen Caldwell. “Please return to your lunches and give our good doctor some space in which to work!”
The crowd dispersed somewhat reluctantly, with many backwards glances and not a small amount of whispering. Caldwell turned to Miss Fraiser, his limping gait revealing infirmity his voice and bearing belied.
“Please, do not let me keep you,” he said. “If Dr. Beckett has asked for you, it must be serious. Daniel, wait a moment with me, would you?”
Daniel nodded to Janet and smiled reassuringly, and she hastened into the office.
“Dr. Jackson, what is going on?” Caldwell asked. He leaned heavily on the cane Dr. Beckett insisted he still carry.
“Jack and Jonas went to the Reservation this morning,” Daniel said quickly and quietly. “Kasuf and his people had rescued a woman, but she needed a doctor, so Jack brought her back to town. She was unconscious and when she woke up, she was frightened. I thought it would be better if she was examined by a woman.”
“Rescued her from what?” Caldwell asked, looking hard at the school teacher.
“We don’t know for sure,” Daniel said shortly. “Apparently Skaara, Kasuf’s son, thinks it was Dog Soldiers.”
“Lord help us!” Caldwell exclaimed. “Last report had them in the south of the state and in Northern Oklahoma.”
“That’s where Sarah, where the woman, was.” Caldwell looked sharply at Daniel’s face. “Yes, I know her. From Chicago. I need to get back in there, if she recognizes me she might feel better.”
“I’ll be wanting to talk to Jack later,” Caldwell said.
“I’ll pass that along.” Daniel replied.
The scene inside was much calmer now. Sarah had stopped struggling, and Janet was speaking to her softly while she boiled water and prepared the medications. Both women started a little when the door shut behind Daniel, but Sarah did not panic again. She looked right at Daniel with no glimmer of recognition in her eyes, and then back at Janet.
“Dr. Jackson, please join the others in the Beckett’s temporary apartment,” Janet said clinically. “I wish to examine my patient in privacy.”
“Of-of course,” Daniel stuttered.
As he moved to the stairway, he saw that Jonas was still sitting beside Sarah’s bed. The young man had a strangely intent expression on his face, and Sarah’s right hand tightly gripped his arm.
xxx
Daniel had just finished explaining to Jack about his encounter with Caldwell when Mrs. Beckett arrived home to find her kitchen full of people. Laura, who had entered the house from the street and not by way of Janet’s office, was puzzled first by her husband being home in the middle of the day, and then by the presence of Daniel and Jack, but Carson quickly explained what was going on. She took the information in quickly, betraying only the smallest sign of fear when her husband told her about the mark on Sarah’s neck.
“Will Janet need my help?” she asked when Carson was finished talking.
“Miss Fraiser had everything well in hand when she booted us out,” Carson replied.
“And Jonas is with her,” Jack added. “Just as Miss Fraiser arrived, Sarah grabbed on to his hand, and every time he tried to get loose she would panic again.”
“Did you have lunch?” Laura asked practically, looking around the room. “I didn’t think so. I’ll just run to Vala’s and see if she can make us up a basket.”
“Wait a moment,” said Daniel. “I hear someone on the stairs.”
Janet came through the door, and closed it softly behind her. She was still drying her hands on her apron, and her face was lightly smudged with dirt. Carson kept a washbasin at the foot of the stairs that led from his office to his temporary home so he could wash up before coming home, but had never given consideration to keep a mirror.
“Miss Gardiner will recover,” Janet began, all business. “Somehow, she hasn’t broken anything. Her right hand and foot have been badly sprained, but with now that I have splinted them, they will heal. She lost a great deal of blood, but whatever the Medicine Man at the Reservation gave her seems to be restoring her.”
“What about her feet?” Carson asked.
“I would like you to take a look at them before I wrap them up completely,” Janet said hesitantly. “I am reasonably sure that once properly cleaned and dressed, she will not get an infection, but I am no surgeon.”
“I’ll do it whenever you think the time is best,” Carson said.
“Thank you,” Janet said.
“Anything else?” Jack asked.
Janet hesitated and looked across the room at Laura. The other woman’s eyes widened, and she shook her head.
“I can’t really say, Mr. O’Neill,” Janet said firmly. “She fell asleep again before I had finished my examination, and even when she was awake she was really able to answer questions. Perhaps the next time she wakes up, we should see if she recognizes Dr. Jackson. She might be able to talk to someone she knows.”
“And if that doesn’t work, she seems to have taken to Jonas,” Daniel added, not unkindly. Janet nodded.
There were a few moments of silence as everyone digested Janet’s report.
“I think we should return to our normal duties now,” Jack said. “The town is already starting to take note. If anyone asks, tell them that the Indians found an injured woman, and we brought her back to town. Say nothing of our suspicions regarding the mark on her neck. I will let the town council know.”
“Mr. Kinsey is going to love this.” Laura said.
“I think your Mrs. Sheppard will be a match for him,” Jack replied. “Will you sit downstairs with Jonas and Miss Gardiner so that Miss Fraiser can go back to her own work?”
“Of course,” Laura replied.
“Send someone for me as soon as she wakes up,” Daniel said.
Laura nodded, and she and her husband headed back downstairs. Janet followed them to retrieve her basket, and departed. Jack and Daniel sat for a time on the porch, talking about the state of affairs on the Reservation, before they too went their separate ways.
Chapter 3
Chapter 1
Chapter Two
Carson looked up in surprise as Jack hustled Daniel and Jonas through the door and back into the doctor’s office.
“Jack, I really think the lass deserves some privacy,” he protested.
“Daniel knows who she is,” Jack said.
“I don’t bloody care,” Carson declared. “Get out of my examination room.”
“Fine,” Jack said shortly. He opened the door to the back storage room, and gestured for the others to precede him.
Carson rolled his eyes and turned back to his patient as they left. She was a mess of blood and dirt and even tree litter. Her exposed skin was brown from exposure to the elements, but Carson could see pale skin where she would have typically been covered by a dress. He felt her head and detected no breaks in her skull. It was more likely that her unconsciousness was the result of exhaustion and fear rather than physical trauma. Forewarned as he was by Jack, Carson did not feel a lurch in his stomach when he discovered the mark on the woman’s neck, but it did not make him any happier about it.
Having taken in all the immediately visible wounds, Carson paused. Though he was a medical professional, he was always uncomfortable cutting a woman out of her clothing, particularly in cases like this where he already had an inkling of what he would find, but he knew his duty and would not shirk it. As he reached for the scissors, he heard raised voices from the back. He shook his head, and returned to work.
xxx
“How do you know this woman?” Jack demanded, almost before he’d shut the door.
“We were at school together, in Chicago,” Daniel said, making himself comfortable on one of the larger barrels in the storeroom. Jack and Jonas stayed standing. “We took our teaching certificates at the same time.”
“Did you buy her the necklace?” Jonas asked, then blushed when Jack stared at him, “I mean, you recognized it, and I just wondered if you…”
“Yes, I bought it for her,” Daniel said, his voice softening. “Just before we graduated. I liked her quite a bit, but she had plans to teach forever, and didn’t want to get married before she’d even started.”
“And then you both came west?” Jack asked.
“Yes, but to different places,” Daniel said. “I was posted here, and she took a job in Oklahoma.”
“Oklahoma? That’s miles away!” Jonas said. “How did she get here?”
“You saw her feet, how do you think?” Jack asked sharply.
Jonas blinked several times, and then looked down at the floor. Daniel gave Jack a hard look, as though to remind him that everyone was young once, but before Jack could apologize, there was a loud scream from the adjoining room.
Instantly, Daniel threw the door open and ran back into the examination room. Sarah was awake and, quite understandably, terrified to find herself once again in new surroundings. Carson tried to calm her, but to no avail. Jack and Jonas tried to approach her, but Daniel held them back.
“Daniel, the woman needs help!” Jack exclaimed.
“She was in a Dog Soldier camp, Jack!” Daniel replied. “Surrounded by those men. All the time. And the mark on her neck means she was a favourite of Anubis. She doesn’t want our help. I am going to get Miss Fraiser.”
Sick realization dawned in Jack’s eyes, and even as Daniel left the office, he began speaking to Carson.
Daniel stormed out the door, more angry with himself for missing the obvious than anything, and paused to regroup on the porch. When he had marshaled his emotions somewhat, he continued next door to Miss Fraiser’s office. She opened the door almost before he knocked.
“What is going on, Dr. Jackson?” she asked. “Is Carson doing surgery? Why was there a scream?”
“It’s difficult to explain, I’m sorry,” Daniel replied. “Could you come, please? And bring any herbs you might have that would be calming?”
“Just spare a moment,” Janet said, already moving to action. “Let me get the spare kettle.
She moved quickly amongst her jars and containers, and had packed everything into a basket before she ducked outside to the back yard and returned carrying the beaten copper kettle.
The movement between the two doctors’ offices and Sarah’s screams had drawn the attention of more than a few of Miss Mal Doran’s customers, and a group of them had assembled near the bottom of Janet’s staircase.
“What is it, Dr. Jackson?”
“Is it Mrs. Lorne? Is she miscarrying?”
“Is Carson amputating something?”
“Ladies and Gentlemen!” came the sharp voice of Stephen Caldwell. “Please return to your lunches and give our good doctor some space in which to work!”
The crowd dispersed somewhat reluctantly, with many backwards glances and not a small amount of whispering. Caldwell turned to Miss Fraiser, his limping gait revealing infirmity his voice and bearing belied.
“Please, do not let me keep you,” he said. “If Dr. Beckett has asked for you, it must be serious. Daniel, wait a moment with me, would you?”
Daniel nodded to Janet and smiled reassuringly, and she hastened into the office.
“Dr. Jackson, what is going on?” Caldwell asked. He leaned heavily on the cane Dr. Beckett insisted he still carry.
“Jack and Jonas went to the Reservation this morning,” Daniel said quickly and quietly. “Kasuf and his people had rescued a woman, but she needed a doctor, so Jack brought her back to town. She was unconscious and when she woke up, she was frightened. I thought it would be better if she was examined by a woman.”
“Rescued her from what?” Caldwell asked, looking hard at the school teacher.
“We don’t know for sure,” Daniel said shortly. “Apparently Skaara, Kasuf’s son, thinks it was Dog Soldiers.”
“Lord help us!” Caldwell exclaimed. “Last report had them in the south of the state and in Northern Oklahoma.”
“That’s where Sarah, where the woman, was.” Caldwell looked sharply at Daniel’s face. “Yes, I know her. From Chicago. I need to get back in there, if she recognizes me she might feel better.”
“I’ll be wanting to talk to Jack later,” Caldwell said.
“I’ll pass that along.” Daniel replied.
The scene inside was much calmer now. Sarah had stopped struggling, and Janet was speaking to her softly while she boiled water and prepared the medications. Both women started a little when the door shut behind Daniel, but Sarah did not panic again. She looked right at Daniel with no glimmer of recognition in her eyes, and then back at Janet.
“Dr. Jackson, please join the others in the Beckett’s temporary apartment,” Janet said clinically. “I wish to examine my patient in privacy.”
“Of-of course,” Daniel stuttered.
As he moved to the stairway, he saw that Jonas was still sitting beside Sarah’s bed. The young man had a strangely intent expression on his face, and Sarah’s right hand tightly gripped his arm.
xxx
Daniel had just finished explaining to Jack about his encounter with Caldwell when Mrs. Beckett arrived home to find her kitchen full of people. Laura, who had entered the house from the street and not by way of Janet’s office, was puzzled first by her husband being home in the middle of the day, and then by the presence of Daniel and Jack, but Carson quickly explained what was going on. She took the information in quickly, betraying only the smallest sign of fear when her husband told her about the mark on Sarah’s neck.
“Will Janet need my help?” she asked when Carson was finished talking.
“Miss Fraiser had everything well in hand when she booted us out,” Carson replied.
“And Jonas is with her,” Jack added. “Just as Miss Fraiser arrived, Sarah grabbed on to his hand, and every time he tried to get loose she would panic again.”
“Did you have lunch?” Laura asked practically, looking around the room. “I didn’t think so. I’ll just run to Vala’s and see if she can make us up a basket.”
“Wait a moment,” said Daniel. “I hear someone on the stairs.”
Janet came through the door, and closed it softly behind her. She was still drying her hands on her apron, and her face was lightly smudged with dirt. Carson kept a washbasin at the foot of the stairs that led from his office to his temporary home so he could wash up before coming home, but had never given consideration to keep a mirror.
“Miss Gardiner will recover,” Janet began, all business. “Somehow, she hasn’t broken anything. Her right hand and foot have been badly sprained, but with now that I have splinted them, they will heal. She lost a great deal of blood, but whatever the Medicine Man at the Reservation gave her seems to be restoring her.”
“What about her feet?” Carson asked.
“I would like you to take a look at them before I wrap them up completely,” Janet said hesitantly. “I am reasonably sure that once properly cleaned and dressed, she will not get an infection, but I am no surgeon.”
“I’ll do it whenever you think the time is best,” Carson said.
“Thank you,” Janet said.
“Anything else?” Jack asked.
Janet hesitated and looked across the room at Laura. The other woman’s eyes widened, and she shook her head.
“I can’t really say, Mr. O’Neill,” Janet said firmly. “She fell asleep again before I had finished my examination, and even when she was awake she was really able to answer questions. Perhaps the next time she wakes up, we should see if she recognizes Dr. Jackson. She might be able to talk to someone she knows.”
“And if that doesn’t work, she seems to have taken to Jonas,” Daniel added, not unkindly. Janet nodded.
There were a few moments of silence as everyone digested Janet’s report.
“I think we should return to our normal duties now,” Jack said. “The town is already starting to take note. If anyone asks, tell them that the Indians found an injured woman, and we brought her back to town. Say nothing of our suspicions regarding the mark on her neck. I will let the town council know.”
“Mr. Kinsey is going to love this.” Laura said.
“I think your Mrs. Sheppard will be a match for him,” Jack replied. “Will you sit downstairs with Jonas and Miss Gardiner so that Miss Fraiser can go back to her own work?”
“Of course,” Laura replied.
“Send someone for me as soon as she wakes up,” Daniel said.
Laura nodded, and she and her husband headed back downstairs. Janet followed them to retrieve her basket, and departed. Jack and Daniel sat for a time on the porch, talking about the state of affairs on the Reservation, before they too went their separate ways.
Chapter 3
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2009-10-05 03:48 pm (UTC)Great chapter, lots of energy. Everybody was awesome: Carson, Laura, Janet, and Daniel's quick thinking in going for Janet. I think that was my favorite part. :-)
no subject
Date: 2009-10-05 04:24 pm (UTC)Because I wanted to write you a Jonas story and this was the best way I could think of to do it? Or something? Well, that and he's got a trustworthy face. :)