Thought time might past, certain things and experiences seem to linger. Lessons learned and thoughts mulled about, Fred could not forget the whole experience that he had. Though his sight had been gone, there was more to 'seeing' the world then just with his eyes. All the other senses played a part and sometimes they would make such a larger picture then just focusing narrowly on sight alone, like most people tend to do.
He had gotten back in contact with the Doctor who had seen him, in hopes they might pull their brains together and figure something that could make this nagging feeling go away. The rest of the gang didn't quite understand, they were supportive, but couldn't see beyond their own eyes to help him. He felt that his experience was there beyond just opening his own eyes, that he should at least try to reach out and help someone else.
It was the phone call from the Doctor that shone some light on the situation. Her name was Rebecca.
Borrowing the Mystery Machine for the day, Fred headed off to the address the Doctor had given him. It was a nearby hospital that covered all sorts of problems. The doctor had often worked in certain wards to help those with sight difficulties, and his newest case was being a stubborn one. When Fred arrived he was met by the Doctor.
"Hello Doctor Lewis." Fred greeted the older man. Looking him over, he looked tired. The doctor stood a bit taller then Fred and was showing his age, as the silver stripes on the side of his head told. A noble shade of Metallic gray wrapped around his head among the other deep chocolate hairs that covered most of his head. He was a lucky man, Fred thought, still graced with a full head of hair. Wrapped in the doctor garbs, he blended into the green about the walls of the wing they were in.
"Call me Rufus, Fred. We're both professionals and adults, I'm to tired to dance around titles right now, Rebecca is being a torn in my side. Why I asked for you to come."
"So what happened to Rebecca? And how can I help?" Fred wasn't sure what role he was going to play. Sure, he wanted to help, but he wasn't sure what he could do that a doctor couldn't.
"Rebecca Summers is a twelve year old little girl who's house burned down a few nights ago."
"Oh, is it something you want me to solve?"
"No no, nothing like that. It was a simple short circit in the wall that caused the house to burn down. Nothing questionable about for you to pull out your detective stills. I need you for something else, she lost her sight in the fire."
"Oh." Fred understood all to well what she must be feeling. And his injury was also a flash burn so the experience was there as well.
"Her face will heal in time, it already looks much better then it did before, but her eyes will never recover. There was just to much damage for us to even repair. There is an experimental procedure, Osteo-Odonto-Keratoprosthesis, but it's still to early to try on such a young girl. It is a medical procedure to restore vision in the most severe cases of corneal and ocular surface patients like burn victims. It includes removal of a tooth from the patient (or a donor), attaching optics to the tooth, growing the tooth in the patients cheek for a period of months and then implanting the tooth in the patients eye. Such a young girl wouldn't be a good subject for such a thing, plus it's still not perfected. So 'other' methods are being used, that's why your here."
While the Doctor was talking, he led Fred though a series of corridors and elevators till they were standing outside a noisy bedroom. Originally their had been two people in the room, but because of the noise the young girl kept making, the other patient was moved out for their own safety and sanity. It was understandable that such a young girl would be upset and throwing a tempter tantrum, but it had to stop some time, and the Doctors and nurses weren't getting through to the little girl, and she didn't want to see some stuffy psychologist. Putting a badge on Fred, allowing him access under the doctor's name, he pointed inside the door.
"Good luck. You got what you wanted, I pray you can get through to her." He patted Fred's shoulder supportingly before having to head off to other patient. He gave a weary but sympathetic smile and waved. "Thanks again Fred."
Gathering himself, he breathed in deeply and left it out slowly. He had faced down monsters and criminals alike, now his next challenge was a temper tantrum twelve year old. It might be his hardest case yet.
With a nod, he strode into the door. Dodging the various things that had been thrown about the room, he made his way across to where the nurse was trying to call the girl down. Once she saw Fred heading her way she tried to get little girls attention.
"Rebecca. Rebecca, you have a visitor!"
The nurse had clamped lightly on the wrists of the struggling girl as she was trying to throw yet another thing when they both paused. The girl cocked her head to the side and brought her bandaged head towards the approaching Fred.
"Mommy? Daddy?" The girl asked in an eager voice, pulling her arms away from the nurse and assuming a polite sitting position. Apparently she at least behaved to her parents. The nurse took a step back and allowed Fred by, shooting him a thankful smile.
"I'll leave you two be, I'll be just outside."
"No but wait..." The young girl tried to protest at the loss of the nurse. A weary hand came up to pat one of her hands and used the other to put the little call button in the girls hands. Showing that as tired as the nurse seemed, she was still a good nurse and cared for her charge, no matter how crazy she could get.
"I'll be just outside, call me if you need me."
"Thank you." Fred said to her as she passed, which his voice alerted the little girl.
"You're not Mommy or Daddy. Who are you?" She accused. "You better not be another one of those doctor guys."
"I'm not a doctor, but why would they be a bad thing? Doctors are there to help people." Fred said as he pulled over a chair so he could sit down and talk to Rebecca. He figured if his voice was coming from around her own height, it might not be as intimidating. It can be scary enough for a kid to be stood over by an adult when they can see, but just hearing this unknown voice coming from above your head would allow the mind to probably imagine something far scarier then what sight could see. And Fred was trying to help, not make her worse. But she made a sour face at his comment.
"The stupid doctors say that they can't help me. I think they are lying that they can't fix me. They just want to all just get money from Mommy and Daddy and we can't pay for that kind of thing since our house burnt down. Doctors on TV are always asking for huge heaping of money from people when they can't pay for it."
"Well, TV isn't always right." Fred said simply. "Sometimes the ways that doctors have available are hard for both doctor and patient and so it might take a few years to find something that works before something can be fixed." As much as he felt like slipping into a Velma Technobabble mode to try to explain this to her, she was also a twelve year old girl. Large words and to long of an explanation would be lost on her.
She didn't seem to like his explanation very much, crossing her arms and setting her bottom lip to pout mode. She probably would be narrowing her eyes and eyebrows at him if he could see beyond the bandage. At least she was physically alright it seemed. That was one thing that put some relief to Fred, she was acting just like any other upset little girl he had ever run into. The only problem was her attitude to her loss of her sight, and coming to grips with it. And from experience, it had been far scarier then all the ghosts and monsters he had ever come across in his life. And even finding one of Shaggy culinary experiments that hid in the back of the fridge for a few months, couldn't compare.
"I know what you are going through, I myself..." He never got to continue as the young girl launched her verbal attack at him.
"HOW can you know what's I'm going through! I'm BLIND! Who ever you are, you can't know what it is to not be able to see anymore! Nurse!" She was so frustrated, she was pounding on the call button to get the nurse to get him out of the room. "Naddy Nurse, get this strange out of the room! I don't talk to strangers!"
"But..." But a hand came to pat on his shoulder gently. Giving him a bit of a tug, the Nurse pulled Fred lightly to his feet. She pushed him a bit away and against the wall. She placed her finger over her lips and motioned him to stay there before she moved to the door. She mimed pulling Fred out the door as he watched slightly confused.
"Now sir, you're going to have to leave. Thank you." Turning back from the imaginary leaving Fred, she made what looked like a forced effort to walk back to the bed where Rebecca waited. Making her heels clack strongly against the floor so Rebecca knew she was coming back.
"The man has left." She moved to sit on the edge of the bed as the girl fell into her. It seemed like she was sobbing beyond the wraps over her eyes. She clung to the nurse, gathering comfort from the older lady. Fred felt bad he had caused Rebecca to react like that.
"Now now dear, he's gone." The Nurse smoothed the little girls hair and tried to get her to calm down. She made cooing sounds and tried to get her to relax a bit more so she would stop crying.
"Why do these people keep coming in? Why can't they just fix me so I can be back with Mommy and Daddy? Who is he that he could say that he knows what I'm going through? He's never been blind... He's not someone who knows how terrible it is."
Fred almost felt like crying, mainly since he did know just how scary it was to loose his sight. But the gang had helped him, that's why he wanted to now help her. But being an adult, it was easier to understand that there are more people to lean on then himself. But being so young, it was sometimes hard to see bigger pictures, especially in a world of darkness.
"Now now dear, you should get some rest. Maybe you'll feel better later." Laying her down, the nurse stayed there long enough for the girl to fall asleep. The tiny form of Rebecca clung to a small white bear that had been given to her. Her breathing settled from sobs to an even pace showing that she had calmed down and fell asleep.
With her out cold, Fred felt like it was time to leave, tail between his legs.