Healing Hearts
By Clare Quinn
Disclaimer I do not own the characters from Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman. The rights to those characters and to the show belong to the creators of the show, to CBS, The Sullivan Company and to A&E.
I would like to dedicate this story to those who suffer from natural disasters our thoughts and prayers are always with you. To those who work and volunteer to assisting them recover, being where you are so desperately needed. I thank you.
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Chapter 1
Dr Michaela Quinn was tired she was experiencing the worst year of her life so far. Looking back at the total mess that had been the last months; she could find nothing that made her feel better. An urge to do something different and run away was growing in strength. She had become exhausted at constantly being made to justify any of her decisions both at work and home. Other Doctors had treated her without respect as she was a woman, she hadn't specialised and she was small in stature. They were treating her like an adolescent child.
She left Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital tired and disillusioned, once again heading for the familiar park bench by the Charles River that always afforded her comfort like some old shawl you draped over your shoulders for protection from the elements. The sound of the water lapping at the shore line had always offered a feeling of tranquillity. "Flowing water washes away anguish and cleanses the soul," shethought to herself wryly, knowing this was exactly what she needed at this precise moment.
She had lost her father through a stroke early last year and the decline seemed to have begun since then. "Dad was such an influential surgeon was I only being tolerated at the hospital because of him? No!" she mused to herself as her shoulders slumped down even further. She knew she more than earned her position on the staff at the general hospital through entirely her own merits. She was a good doctor; she had decided not to specialise becoming a general practitioner instead. Diagnosing all illnesses not just bones, children, diseases or other specialities, she wanted to treat the whole patient. Therefore she had been invaluable in the emergency ward or wherever her doctoring skills were required throughout the entire hospital.
She had followed Dr. Joseph Quinn, her father and mentor, from such an early age that he was like her knight of old from the times of King Arthur, and he had held her hand through her entire young life. Her sisters had had their talons out from the moment she had been born. There had always appeared to be battles won and lost within the house causing all the jealousies and bickering. Her mother had sided with the girls and this had caused Michaela to cling to her dad even more. All bar Rebecca the oldest; who had married when she was about five. Rebecca's home had been a haven for her. She had slept over, baby sitting her young niece and nephew just to get some peace and quiet from the continual harassment of her home life.
Smiling Michaela thought, "Just like Cinderella, only they aren't my step sisters."
She had left home midyear last year as the whole situation with her mother had reached an all time low. She had found she didn't even have the bathroom as a haven as if her mother was on some mission or other; she just barged in. "Mother, do you mind I'm having a shower?" she found herself saying on just too many occasions. Then it seemed, at least in her mind, that things on her dresser mysteriously moved. Her mother had begun to run her life or this was how it had begun to feel.
So she had moved out to share a small flat with one of the nurses from the hospital; her name was Dorothy. At least there was a space she was able to claim as her own to calm down, until once again she became harassed by her sisters; blaming her for their mother's apparent depression. Her mother couldn't cope on her own and now Elizabeth was calling her sisters to ease the loneliness she was experiencing. Michaela knew she was powerless to assist her mother any longer; knowing now was the time for the others to take some small amount of responsibility for their mother as well. She realized she had carried the burden for the entire family for far too long. Her reserve of energy was all but depleted, having held her emotions tightly in control.
Last month Michaela had called off her engagement to Doctor David Lewis after she had discovered him rubbing himself up to one of the nurses in the scrub room. She had not heard the words he'd purred into the nurse's ear. Hearing her gasp he'd looked up in surprise as she hastily retreated back through the swinging doors. She now understood why all the giggles behind her back had occurred and all the sad looks she'd been receiving made perfect sense, he was an unfaithful cad. It actually was a relief; Michaela had eventually admitted there always had seemed to be a hole in the relationship. David had pursued her through the long corridors saying it was a miss understanding but for Michaela was over it. Truthfully, she had felt relieved, although that had only seemed to infuriate other members of staff, mainly the males. After all, being a doctor was stressful and he was only having a little bit of fun. She was just being a prude and stubborn as always; that was what they thought.
Michaela's mother had also been furious and had never given up on the subject as she liked David enormously. His family was in all the glossy magazines and she had always been eager to see her name mentioned in one again, like she had at the announcement of their fashionable engagement and not the small piece that had been seen on their breakup.
Sitting silently on the bench in the fading light Michaela's eyes fell on a discarded newspaper lying there beside her, she ideally picked it up. Suddenly a gust of wind flew by opening the pages with a rattle. Looking down she saw a large advertisement saying Doctors desperately wanted. Chuckling softly she read the article as a thought flashed into her mind, "This has to be fate and someone up there is looking after me." The article was on a French Organisation called Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). It explained that Doctors went to areas in the world that desperately needed medical attention.
Smiling to herself she thought, "I came here wanting to run away and to do something different and here is the answer right before me. This has to be destined."
Removing the advertisement and placing the paper in the rubbish bin Michaela hastened home. Getting on the internet she Googled the organisation and found out all she could about them and their work, what they did in the various parts of the world. Before she could change her mind she applied for a position on-line.
Within days she had to fly to New York for an interview. The interview was in an office situated in a large office complex with three interviewers. When she was invited into the conference room and offered a seat at the large polished wooden oval table she noticed they had copies of her resume. There were a number of questions she was required to answer, one being whether she had a current passport and another what did she know about the organisation? She had researched mainly on the internet and was able to satisfy their queries. Finally she was asked if there were any questions. She told them that none came to mind but reserved the right to ask if any arose later.
The three interviewers didn't seem to collaborate but eventually the person who appeared to be in charge offered his hand and asked when she could be available to start.
Michaela had not expected to be accepted so readily and was surprised at the suddenness to the decision. Seeing her astonished look he said, "Dr Quinn, your qualifications as a GP more than adequately covers our needs within this organisation. We find you to be exactly the type of doctor we need for this job. Your references are impeccable and your ER manager has highly recommended you, thinking on the run it will serve you very well when out in the field."
As she left the building she felt a huge sense of relief. She had not expected to be accepted but as it had occurred. She was advised to be ready to travel possibly within the next month or so that was why she thought she should begin to prepare. Yet she wanted to celebrate first and so she entered a coffee lounge and ordered a big latte and a chocolate muffin. Savouring both she decided to resign the next day and not give any reason. Knowing the hospital administration she felt it was none of their business.
Taking a long breathe she thought, "Well here I come ready or not."
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I will be posting two chapters a week. one near the weekend and one near mid week I won't give the day as in some places I'm fifteen hours ahead, other at least eight hours behind. Be assured it will be a complete story.
This is my first long and modern story I hope you enjoy it and that you will be kind and review.