Disclaimer: I do not own the characters from "Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman," or any dialogue from the script for the episode that I've incorporated into my story. The rights to those characters, the script and to the show belong to the creators of the show, to CBS, The Sullivan Company and to A&E.
THE LADY DOCTOR FROM BOSTON
By: Mia
Chapter 1: At First Sight
He'd never forget the moment he first saw her. Byron Sully, Colorado Springs' resident "mountain man" and friend of the Cheyenne Indians, was standing between Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle and Colonel Chivington, serving as a translator as they tried to negotiate a treaty for the Indian land north of Sand Creek. During the treaty talks, Black Kettle, along with a small group of tribal elders, had set up a temporary camp in the meadow outside the town's one and only chapel. It was there that the negotiations had been taking place, and so far, progress had not been promising. The Chief wanted nothing but peace among his people, the U.S. army, and the U.S. government. But it had been clear to Sully from the beginning that Chivington had had his own agenda. In the Colonel's eyes, these so-called treaty negotiations were nothing more than a stepping stone in his quest to fulfill his political aspirations, and he didn't care who was hurt in the process, least of all the Cheyenne. Indeed, the discussions between the two leaders were just getting somewhat heated when Sully spotted something -- or rather, someone -- out of the corner of his eye. Little did he know that that "someone" would change his life forever.
He'd never forget the moment he first saw her. Like the dawn sun breaking through the surrounding darkness of the previous night, she came into view. She was walking from the chapel, her stride brisk and confident, accompanied by a flabbergasted Reverend Johnson. She spared the treaty-negotiators a brief glance, and then turned and spoke to the Reverend, presumably to ask him who they were and what they were doing. She was quite far away and she had on one of those stylish hats that the "big city ladies" wore in Denver and the like, so Sully didn't get a close look at her. But he saw enough to make the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Even from a distance, her face was striking, her skin like porcelain. Her profile was almost regal, like those in the pretty cameo necklaces that men often gave women as gifts.
In her hand, she tightly held what appeared to be medical bag, resembling the ones army doctors carried when they attended to the wounded. Word around town was that the Reverend had posted ads in several newspapers back East, seeking a badly needed frontier doctor to tend to the townsfolk's health. Sully wondered whether this peculiar lady could possibly be that doctor. He quickly dismissed the thought. She certainly looked wealthy and educated enough to be a doctor, but, as far as he knew, among Whites, only men were allowed to practice medicine. And besides, he didn't think that such a well-bred, classy lady would be caught dead in an old one-horse town like Colorado Springs. Surely, she was just passing through on her way to someplace much more interesting, like Virginia City or San Francisco.
The sight of this intriguing woman threw Sully so much that he momentarily lost his train of thought. Giving himself a mental shake, he tried to re-focus his attention on the conversation between Chief Black Kettle and Chivington. Just when he'd collected himself, he heard a small commotion over near the bridge, and he looked up just in time to see the woman fall facedown in the mud with a startled "Oompf!" Everyone around -- including the Chief and Chivington -- momentarily stopped what they were doing to see who had fallen prey to the deep sludge caused by unseasonably heavy rains. You could have heard a pin drop as they all paused to observe how this seemingly fragile victim would react to her embarrassing spill.
In the blink of an eye, though, she was on her feet, having brushed off the Reverend's offer to help her up. Surprisingly, she uttered nary a whimper nor a complaint, although her expensive dress was now covered in mud, and ruined. Rather, with a proud tilt of her chin, she dusted herself off, grabbed her bag, and continued following the Reverend as if nothing had happened.
Now, Sully was really fascinated. He quickly turned his attention back to the meeting between Chief Black Kettle and Chivington, but not before making a mental note to find out more about this unusual woman.
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When the negotiations between the Indians and the army had ended for the day (or, in Sully's opinion, reached another impasse), he headed into town to send yet another telegram to the Office of Indian Affairs in Washington to protest against the unfair treatment of the Cheyenne. To be quite honest, it was a task that could easily have waited until tomorrow (when he had other business to take care of in town), but he just had to satisfy his nagging curiosity about the beautiful stranger he'd seen earlier in the meadow.
On his way back from the Telegraph Office, Sully walked by Jake Slicker's barbershop, which also served as the town's grapevine. Nothing worth knowing ever happened in the neighborhood without being discussed at Jake's. (And women were supposedly the ones who liked to gossip!) Sure enough, Sully overheard the Reverend and Jake talking about the mix-up that had brought the "Lady Doctor," as they called her, to Colorado Springs. The Reverend revealed that her name was Michaela Quinn, she was from Boston, and she claimed to have graduated from some women's medical college in Pennsylvania. More important than all that, he noted somewhat suspiciously, was the fact that she was, from all appearances, unmarried. When she'd sent a telegram from Boston in response to the Reverend's ad for the doctor position, Horace, the telegraph operator, had thought it was from a "Michael A. Quinn" instead of Michaela Quinn. And the rest, as the saying went, was history.
Jake, who was also the town's would-be "doctor," was clearly none too pleased about facing competition from a legitimate physician.
"A woman doctor!" he scoffed. "I ain't never heard a bigger bunch o' malarkey in all my days! Ev'rybody knows women can't be doctors." The barbershop patrons all murmured in agreement.
"Well, seems like she's got no intention of leavin' anytime soon," replied the Reverend. "She's holed-up at Charlotte Cooper's boarding house for the next few days. With any luck, by then, she'll be fed-up of frontier livin' and head back to Boston."
"Hmpf. That Charlotte, always startin' trouble! Next thing ya know, she's gonna be trynna to convince that crazy woman to stay!" Jake grumbled.
Hearing the resulting shocked gasps from the small, all-male crowd, Jake backtracked a bit on his dire prediction. "Well, maybe you're right, Reverend. When she figures out that there's no servants here to cater to her every whim, she'll be running back to Boston faster than you can say 'Jack Robinson'."
The group laughed hopefully, and moved onto the day's other topics of interest.
Having gotten the information he'd come to town for, Sully continued on his way and headed to the lean-to in the woods that he called home.
He was pretty tuckered-out from standing in the sun for hours and listening to the frustratingly one-sided negotiations between Black Kettle and Chivington. But, to his surprise, sleep didn't come easily to him. His mind kept wandering to the mysterious Lady Doctor from Boston. He kept telling himself that she was none of his concern. Like Jake had said, she'd probably run back home in no time flat.
Yet, Sully couldn't help thinking that this proud, determined woman might be made of tougher stuff than the men of Colorado Springs suspected. Well, he guessed time would tell, he drowsily thought as he finally let exhaustion claim him and pull him into slumber.
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The following day, the treaty talks ended well before noon, as both sides had other pressing matters to attend to before sundown. Sully had promised to accompany Chief Black Kettle to Loren Bray's Mercantile to pick up some supplies for the small group of Cheyenne elders staying in the camp near the church.
When Sully and his faithful canine companion, Wolf, entered the general store with Black Kettle, who should they see but Dr. Quinn and Charlotte, looking thick as thieves? It seemed as though Loren was arguing with them about posting something on his notice board. Initially, Sully was so taken aback by the sight of the ladies (and the lady from Boston, in particular) that he didn't even notice that Chivington and a couple of his men were also in the store. One of the soldiers loudly cleared his throat, and muttered, "What the hell's he doin' in here?" clearly referring to Black Kettle.
As if to clarify, Loren pointed to a sign at the top of the notice board, which read "No Dogs or Indians." Before Sully had a chance to react to the disgusting notice, the Lady Doctor unhesitatingly removed it from the board and turned valiantly to the shopkeeper. Back straight as an arrow, she looked him dead in the eye and said, "Here's one that's seen its day, Mr. Bray."
"Ah, an Abolitionist," Sully thought. He'd heard of a group of educated white folks in and around New England who'd championed the cause of doing away with slavery and freeing the slaves. They'd called themselves "Abolitionists," and believed that all men were created equal and should be treated equally, regardless of skin color. With her fancy Boston dress and accent, the Lady Doctor certainly fit the descriptions that he'd read in the occasional newspaper that had floated through Colorado Springs back then. Apparently, her egalitarian beliefs also extended to Indians, which only served to further impress Sully. There was definitely more to Dr. Michaela Quinn than met the eye.
As Chivington stepped menacingly towards her, Sully reached for his tomahawk. He scarcely knew this woman, but already, he instinctively knew that he'd do just about anything to protect her. The Colonel grabbed the sign from her and put it back where it had been on the notice board. That small, but offensive, action brought Sully's frustrations about the past days' failed negotiations and the unfair treatment of his Cheyenne friends boiling to the surface, and he threw the tomahawk right into the middle of the wooden notice, splitting it in two. Both halves fell to the floor with a loud clatter.
The ladies gasped and jumped back in shock, and Chivington drew his pistol. For a second, it seemed as though Sully's visceral reaction might cause more bloodshed and set treaty negotiations back to square one. But the Colonel, apparently thinking better of it, re-holstered his weapon and pushed past Sully and Black Kettle as he and his men stormed out of the store. Sully had no doubt that the results would've been much different if Black Kettle had entered the store alone and thrown that tomahawk. Chivington would certainly have had no qualms about killing an Indian. But, despite the fact that Sully considered the Cheyenne to be his family, he was still, in the Colonel's eyes, a white man. And it wouldn't have looked right for Chivington to kill a white man (albeit an "Injun-lover," as they called Sully) who hadn't threatened him directly, especially in front of two of the town's ladies. Sully imagined that that type of outcome wouldn't have been good for the Colonel's political agenda.
Sully strode past the ladies and retrieved his tomahawk, which was still stuck in the notice board. Without so much as a flinch, Dr. Quinn reached up and pinned her notice to the now-empty spot the board. Then, she turned to face him, and time seemed to stand still. They were so close to each other that Sully could have reached out and touched her, if he'd dared to. Up close, she was even more beautiful than she'd been at a distance, when he'd first laid eyes on her in the meadow yesterday. For the first time, he noticed that her eyes were two different colors: one, green and the other, hazel. In his opinion, it was a quirk that suited her; yet another thing that made her strikingly unique. Her skin was smooth and slightly flushed from the excitement of the last few minutes; and, for an instant, he wondered what it would be like to touch her cheek, to see whether it was as petal-soft as it looked.
Sully was so transfixed by the gorgeous Lady Doctor that he didn't realize that he'd been staring at her for much longer than was polite. But the funny thing was that she was doing exactly the same thing. She looked him straight in the eyes; never wavering, never shifting her gaze. Again, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Right then, he knew that this woman would have a profound effect on his life. He had no idea what that effect might be, but he knew for certain that he needed to see, and would be seeing, a lot more of Dr. Quinn in the future.
Sensing the intensity of the look that passed between Sully and her new friend, Charlotte stepped in and broke the spell. Grasping the doctor protectively by the arm, Charlotte stammered: "It's time to go get your horse, Doc."
"What horse?" Dr. Quinn responded, as she tore her gaze from Sully's. It was clear that she'd been as affected as he had by their meaningful look, and the thought gave him some measure of satisfaction.
"The one you gotta make your rounds on to meet your patients," Charlotte reminded her.
"Oh, that horse," the Lady Doctor replied, obviously embarrassed by her absentmindedness. As if suddenly remembering that she actually was a doctor, she scooted back toward the notice board to retrieve her medical bag, which she'd dropped when Sully had startled her earlier with his tomahawk-throwing.
With a somewhat frazzled, "Good morning, gentlemen," she allowed Charlotte to lead her away from the store. They were headed towards the town's Livery, which was owned by Robert E., a former slave who was now the local blacksmith, horse-salesman and all-around repairman.
Now that her back was to him, Sully could look his fill of Dr. Quinn's shapely figure without seeming rude. Taking full advantage of that fact, he followed her with his eyes until she and Charlotte were out of sight.
When he turned back into the store, Sully caught the knowing glance that Chief Black Kettle was giving him. It was plain as day from the look on the Chief's face that he thought he'd seen something between the doctor and the mountain man.
"Well, let him believe whatever he wants," Sully thought, petulantly. Just because people thought something was true didn't mean that it actually was.
His curiosity drew him to the ad that the Lady Doctor had left on Mr. Bray's notice board a few minutes ago. Apparently, she was looking for permanent lodgings that were also suitable for a medical office. So, it seemed as though Dr. Quinn planned to be in town for quite awhile, after all. Based on her recent display of courage in the Mercantile, she didn't seem like the type that would quit and run back to Boston quite so hastily.
To be honest, the fact that he was so pleased by her plans to stay in Colorado Springs, scared Sully a little. He reminded himself that it shouldn't matter to him whether she stayed or moved on. After all, they barely knew each other.
Just then, an idea took hold in Sully's mind before he could squelch it: He owned a nearby homestead that had been sitting unkempt and unlived-in for almost two years. He'd abandoned it when his late wife, Abigail, had died in childbirth, and his newborn baby girl, Hannah, along with her. He'd run away in haste, leaving everything exactly where it had been when they died. He hadn't even bothered to wash the dishes from their last meal together. There were so many memories in that house that he could never live there again. Besides, he was happy sleeping in the woods, and he practically lived with the Cheyenne, anyway. But perhaps Dr. Quinn might have some use for it ...
Sully almost dropped the idea. The last time he'd walked by his old homestead, the place had practically been falling apart. And he was sure that it was absolutely filthy inside, covered in years of dust and grime. There was no way that the elegant Lady Doctor could possibly live in a place like that. But, then again, she'd brushed that sticky mud off her dress yesterday without so much as a shudder. He'd learned better than to underestimate her.
"But what about Abigail?" asked the niggling voice of doubt in his head. Would he be betraying Abby's memory by allowing Dr. Quinn to rent the homestead?
That concern was even more ridiculous than the last, he reassured himself. It wasn't like he was planning to move in there with the woman. They hardly knew each other, for crying out loud! He'd be her landlord, and she'd be his tenant, and that was all. That is, if she accepted his offer ...
Sully's mind was made up. He told Chief Black Kettle that they'd come back to the Mercantile tomorrow to buy the supplies, and that he'd meet the Chief later back at the camp. Black Kettle cast another knowing look; this time, in the direction of the Livery. But he wisely said nothing as he took his leave of Sully, and ambled in the direction of the meadow.
Before he could second-guess himself any further, Sully grabbed the doctor's ad from the board and left Mr. Bray's, headed towards Robert E.'s blacksmith stand.
[END OF CHAPTER 1. CONTINUE TO CHAPTER 2.]
