Dr. Bell? paging Dr. Bell. i've got someone here who's in desperate need of some love...
disclaimer: i dont own anything, hell, i dont even own the computer im using, ok? there's no way in hell anything but the plot belongs to me.
She leaned against the doorframe, her arms folded across her chest, one set of toes set on top of the other and a pair of green eyes containing so many emotion they looked almost blank.
"You alright?" a familiar voice sounded, a hand placed on her shoulder just ahead of it.
She cast a look once again at the person asleep amidst too-clean, ironed-too-much hospital sheets before turning to the healer who spoke. She righted herself off the doorframe, pushed golden bangs off her face, and shoved her hands in the long white healer jacket she donned everyday along with gray-blue scrubs underneath "Yeah, just…just a long shift, you know?"
The just-as-young healer showed her a row of white teeth, "Yeah, I know," he looked at the ceiling momentarily, emphasizing his point as they headed down the fourth floor of the wizarding hospital.
Katie Bell looked into each ward window momentarily, not just checking up on her patients and wondering if they would have room for the new ones she knew no doubt would keep flooding it, but seeing if it was anyone else she knew. Her mind drifted back to the redhead in the corner ward, how she had to fight to get him a more secluded spot, so he could sleep as much as possible, so he would fair better. So much for professional indifference.
"How long do you think?" Ben asked softly, putting his hands in his own stark white jacket.
"Soon enough I hope," she said almost wistfully, knowing he meant not their shift, rather the terror that kept them in St. Mungo's so many more hours than ever.
She cast him a departing look, a small, hardly-there smile before sidestepping into a ward where no doubt she would once again face the war plaguing the wizarding population. And after that there would be another, and another and another and even more still. There was hardly a doubt in her mind that she would once again be spending the night in the staff room. All the while a specter with redhead and deep freckles followed her through the troubled halls.
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Her shift finally ended and she had exactly 10 hours break. Without stopping she immediately headed towards the ward at the end of the fourth floor. Clicking the door behind her she padded over towards the rigid mattress and the 26 year old laying on top of it, eyes still closed in induced sleep.
Pushing the covers towards his feet she undid the top few buttons of the hospital pajama robe, exposing his familiarly freckled chest with an unfamiliar bandage wrapped around his ribs, the gauze on his right side oozing. She ran a hand through her hair before fishing for her wand out of the deep pocket of her jacket. Before giving it a small flick, she pushed him over on his right shoulder, his back towards her. After the small flick, she grimaced as the bandages vanishing and a spell gash coming into full view, his body giving a flinch as it was exposed to open air.
She let out a small sigh, hating to see her fondest Weasley boy like this. She rubbed a hand down the side of her face, wishing the ugly thing hadn't invaded him so. And it was nasty. It was wide and long, wrapping around from the middle of his lower and mid back, traveling as far to his hip bone in the front. Luckily it wasn't as nearly as deep, something she was ecstatically grateful for. But despite this small gain, there were several steps backwards still. As it had such surface, she knew it pained him greatly, or rather it would when he woke up, and it oozed something tremendous. And there were welts along the edges, another burn to the collection covering his arms, only worse.
She whimpered lightly for him, trying to quell the empathetic pain rising in her stomach. She ran a hand down her face once more before leaning over and brushing it through his wavy red hair before giving her wand another flick. Checking the dressing for good measure, she moved his sleeping form once again to its back, redoing his pajamas and replacing the covers before walking unsteadily to the chair a few feet away. However she didn't sit down, she glared at it angrily before kicking it away with a loud clatter as it fell against the cream colored wall, choking back sobs. She gave her wand a casual sweep and the metal apparatus easily transformed into a small couch, of which she fell into and fell into a restful sleep not nearly soon enough.
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"Not looking good."
"What happened?"
"Bad spell to the torso and a cut on the forehead" another Healer, Bethany Hull, had told her, running next to the gurney being pushed quickly down the hall by a burly Quick Response Healer. "Think it's a twisted Flagrantia spell."
"Ok Beth, thanks," she said, on her way to turn back, satisfied that she had an idea of the next step in treatment. "I'll see you af-" she was cut off with a small groan and a strong freckled hand around her wrist, just as she pulled her hand away. And against her better judgment she looked at the victim.
Had the burly man not been pushing the gurney so fast, and had she not been running mechanically, her knees may have failed her. "Oh Charlie," she said breathlessly, her other hand flying to his and holding it tightly. Her most fond Weasley boy gave her a weak smile, just a pull at his mouth really, "Oh Charlie…" he gave her hand a squeeze and she let out a dry sob. "You'll be ok," she said, reassuring herself really as the cut above his right temple dribbled blood down the side of his freckled face, matting the wavy red hair plastered there, "I promise," she glanced up at Bethany who had run ahead to clear the way. "Bethany'll take good care of you and in less than an hour you'll be in one of my wards," he gave her hand another squeeze which she returned fiercely. "I promise."
The gurney had reached the swinging doors and she was forced to let go, watching him disappear down another short hallway before heading through another pair of doors. She looked at Bethany, who had purposely lagged behind, with a wide-eyed pleading look. The dark haired girl nodded resolutely and Katie walked back to her wards in a daze and unsteadily.
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Katie woke up to someone pushing on her shoulder roughly. "Wa'ssit?" she asked groggily, sitting up on the small couch and rubbing her face.
"You're in a cold sweat," Ben said, standing above her, "And you're back on shift."
"Am I?" she asked, standing up as well and readjusting the jacket on her shoulders.
"Yes on both counts," he gave her a small smile, "C'mon Bell, he'll be fine."
She followed him out of the secluded ward, casting the red head a glance over her shoulder, wondering if anyone really would be after all the horrors seen.
Two hours later she returned to redress his bandages again. She was just about to give her wand a flick when her hand fell to her side once again and she fell to her knees at the side of his bed. She sat on her feet, her forehead pressed against the side of the mattress, a burning sensation creeping from the back of her eyes as she thought of the countless moments she spent with the ginger haired man in front of her.
How when she first meet him the summer before second year he treated her congenially juxtaposed to Percy's coldness. How ever since she spent those three weeks at the Burrow after her third year they had formed a brother-sister bond she hadn't been able to share with anyone else. How he had a smile reserved just for her. How he would let her play 'connect to freckles' on his arm when she was bored at some family gathering of some sort. How he had snuck up to see her in the castle during the Tri-Wizarding competition. How he had come to see her nearly everyday when she was hospitalized in her last schooling year. How everytime she needed him, he was there. How she only realized how deep her love for him went.
When she lifted her head her eyes were brimmed with tears and her nose red. She reached for his hand and pulled it close to her face, kissing his knuckles. "Oh Charlie…" she stretched her arm and pushed the wavy locks of red hair off his wonderfully familiar face, "I'll get you well again. I will, I will, I will. No matter what, I promise."
She stood up despite the tremor in her knees. She lifted her wand once again and re-dressed his bandages and gauze, staring at his face all the while. "I'll make you better," she murmured in his ear before leaving a kiss right below it.
With that, she walked out with her back just a tad straighter and her jaw set just a bit tighter. A promise was a promise and a promise she never broke.
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For the next three days every break she had and every spare moment outside of the hospital, Katie walked down the old creaky stairs to the small, yet extensive library in the basement. It was a cramped walk between the bookshelves and the books piled next to them. Yet none the less she searched relentlessly for a potion, or anything really, that could reverse Flagrantia with a twist.
She soon learned she had to utilize several potions, each of its own complex and normally outside her brewing realm. But that was what Ben and Bethany were for, Ravenclaws had always been especially bright.
She wouldn't let anyone else but herself treat him for anything but the basics. She had made a promise and quite frankly she wouldn't let it go unfulfilled. So every four hours she redressed the ugly wound, re-murmuring her promise in his ear and leaving a kiss on his temple before returning to the others in her charge.
It wasn't until the end of the week, somewhere around one o'clock that her relentless working hours finally paid off. She was heading towards the end of the fourth floor hall, towards the now very familiar corner ward when she saw a Secondary Healer (of which took care of the very basic of needs of the patients) walk out of Charlie's ward with a tray of leftovers.
Katie stared at the tray of food as it passed by her in the hands of the other healer in teal scrubs. Her brow furrowed in confusion and her pace quickened unconsciously. She swung around the door frame and stopped with a skid as she saw Charlie propped up against pillows, the new-and-drastically-improved Quibbler in his hands, his brow furrowed slightly and quill in hand, no doubt doing the crossword puzzles he practically looked forward to.
She opened her mouth, her tongue practically lashing around and despite this, along with befuddled, shocked, and unbelieving facial expressions, she couldn't force a sound to escape her lips.
At first he hadn't seen her and her Healer garb, so intently working at the puzzle in his calloused hand. By chance he caught sight of her over the edge of the periodical, making ridiculous facial expressions. "Baby Bell?" he asked with a corked eyebrow and a crooked smile.
She stopped her silent sputtering, readjusted the long white jacket, "That would be Dr. Baby Bell," she said coyly.
He laughed as she took three long steps to his side, throwing her arms around his broad sloping shoulders. "Oh Charlie…" she murmured into his chest, "I was so scared."
"Of what?" he asked, holding her at arms length.
She looked at him quizzically, "The amazing gash on your side."
"Oh that," he laughed before swiping a hand in front of his face, dismissing any of her statement's validity, "Pssh, that's nothing." Her eyebrows dipped upwards with a grateful smile on her face as she buried her head in the crook of his neck. "Oh Baby Bell," he said with a small laugh, holding her tighter as she choked back a sob, "I'm fine now. I knew you wouldn't let anything happen to me-"
"Yeah maybe not this time, but the time after that or after that or even af-"
"Oh will you stop it," he murmured before holding her an inch or so away, "I'm never going to leave you. I promise."
She gave him a weak smile, the stinging in the back of her eyes subsiding. "You better not," she warned sternly, returning back to her Healer-mode if you will, standing back up and looking at him rather quizzically, "Did the Secondary re-dress you?" she asked, her hand trailing down his hurt side gingerly as it made its way back to hers.
He rolled his eyes congenially, "Yes mom."
"Good," she smiled wryly, "I'll see you in two hours then, you'll be alright here till then?"
"I just told you I'm not going anywhere," he smiled crookedly, picking the Quibbler and quill back up. "I'll miss you like crazy though."
"I'll be back soon enough," she said, heading out the door, sending him a last glance over her shoulder. However she didn't make it very far down the hall before running back and crashing her mouth on top of his.
"Well I do believe that has been far less than two hours," he noted as she pulled her head away, not wanting to draw herself out of the freckled arms encircling her.
"Well I'm taking a break," she said as she gingerly placed herself on top of him, finding his mouth once again. He smiled against her as he pulled her wand out of her pocket and clicked the door shut.
No...no, that WAS NOT a cliched ending. Psssh, no waaaay. Hahaha. Aaaahhhh, Charlie needed some love and Dr. Bell just happened to be in the area with a cure for the lack of. (yes, another cliché, I know I know)
But yeah, you know the dealio, review por favooooorrrrrrr!!!!
…..that's Spanish for pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasePLEEEAAAAASE!
Lots o love!