It was a beautiful spring day and Magnus was reveling in its warm glow. The sun was high and the breeze was gentle, there were no clouds that looked dangerous, only white puffy ones that flew high above the green earth below. It was a slow day, which was odd. Usually this time of year there was always someone giving birth or some kind of emergency, but not this day, and Magnus wasn't one to not take advantage of the pace. Sure she could have found something to do, there was always something to do, but the niggling feeling in her gut had told her to wander outside for a stroll in the gardens and she was loath to deny it.
She was bending over checking on the knock-out rose bushes that her old friend had planted earlier in the season to see how they were coming along. There were a few weeds under the stems, but the plant itself looked good and healthy. It wasn't like she had a green thumb or anything, but it had seemed important to her old friend to plant them here, and to plant them in an obscene quantity. She would have to ask him why some day.
She was kneeling, her nose pressed into one of the blooming flowers that was just starting to open when she thought she heard a soft mewling noise behind her. Turning on her heel, but still bent low to the ground she looked around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary so she went back to the soft petals. Pushing off her knees she stood and moved to another part of the garden, one that was not recently taken care of. She would also have to either speak with her old friend about this, or just hire a gardener to come out every week or so.
She stood in front of some tulips that had just budded and were standing tall in stark contrast to the white fence that was behind them. It was a glorious contrast; her friend had done well in his choices there. This was something he loved, but rarely had time for. She would have to try and remedy that, maybe he could have a bit of a vegetable garden this summer if she planned right. With everyone around the Sanctuary she was sure that it would be feasible. She lost herself in making arrangements and reorganizing the schedule so her friend could have some time to work on the project if he so desired, which she was sure he would. She was pulled from her thoughts suddenly when she heard coughing coming from over her left shoulder.
Magnus walked slowly toward the sound; she was sure that one of her patients was trying to play a trick on her. They did that on and off and it was nearing April, perhaps they were just out practicing on an unsuspecting stranger. She glided toward the large maple tree that stood proud with white washed benches lounging underneath. She and Ashley had spent many a day on those benches.
Magnus heard the deep coughing again and she knew she was on the right track to where the person was. It sounded as if something was amiss with a lung based on the cough: deep inhalations with a great wheezing, definitely some sort of injury. She would have to reprimand them after making sure whoever it was healed correctly and in a timely manner. She stopped under the long branches of the tree, listening intently this time, when she heard the soft moan. It was coming from above her.
Straining her neck, Magnus looked into the branches that weaved out from the round and plump trunk. About twenty feet up she saw a large bright red mass of a person awkwardly positioned in between limbs. One leg rested over one limb while the other was twisted at an unnatural angle; that leg was definitely broken. The torso of said person was resting bent doubled over one of the thicker branches, thank goodness or otherwise the fall to the ground might have been fatal or at least much more damaging. The arms were motionless, loose, and flailing every time a cough wracked the body.
"Are you alright?" Magnus called up to the body. The face was covered with long blonde locks that swished back and forth with every breath. At least there was regular breathing; she noted this in the back of her mind. There was no answer and Magnus was becoming concerned. She called out one last time, "Are you alright?" Her voice rang through the silence, but she heard a mumbling above her, which was a good sign.
Magnus believed the word spoken, or at least the only one she could make out, was "Fine." She laughed to herself at the stubbornness of the individual, whoever it was. Pulling her ever present radio out, she spoke into it. "Will, would you kindly bring me a ladder. I'm out in the gardens. The 30 foot one, please."
"Alright?" There was definite questioning in his voice but she wasn't about to explain.
"Also, get my dear friend and have him bring a gurney. I believe I will need his help."
That certainly got Will's attention. He was up and out of his chair the instant she said gurney. He pressed the intercom button and called out Biggie's name. The Sasquatch was holed up in the infirmary already dealing with an injury and replied he wouldn't be able to assist. Will retrieved the gurney first, checking in with the Big Guy and the patient who had fallen and sliced a decent sized gash into the scaly palm. Next he made his way to the garage and grabbed the 30 foot ladder and placed it on top of the gurney so he wouldn't have to make two trips, an awkward but ingenious move on his part.
He struggled to push the wheels over the cobblestone walkway that offered a rather indirect and winding path through the gardens, but he pushed on. He saw Magnus standing looking straight up at something. Her arms were crossed over her chest and she was leaning precariously on one heel that was two inches deep in the wet soil of the ground. He moved the last of the distance without the infirmary bed and was standing just next to her when she turned to look at him. She smiled slightly to him before her gaze moved back to where it had been and his followed. That was when he saw the red mass of fabric lying awkwardly in the tree. He was proud of himself: he didn't gasp, he didn't swear and he didn't even comment, all he said was, "Big Guy's already dealing with a patient. Steve cut his hand and it needed stitches."
"Well I guess it's you and me then. You're going to have to go up and get her."
"Her?"
"Yeah, at least as much as I can make out, she hasn't spoken really. Non-coherent phrases are all." She looked at his jury rigged cart and suppressed a chuckle. "Better get started; she's been up there quite some time I'm afraid."
Will heaved the ladder and then pushed the rungs up so it landed just below the woman. "And how am I supposed to get her down?"
Magnus bit her lip, but couldn't resist, "Fireman style."
Will gave her an incredulous look, "You do remember that I don't like heights right?"
"Of course, however I am in no condition to be climbing up the tree. I'm right here if you fall, and the gurney is already in place. Don't worry, you'll do fine."
He glared at her in response before drawing in a deep breath of air and lifting his foot up onto the first rung. He very slowly made his way up to the woman.
Magnus pressed her weight to the bottom of the ladder, giving Will more stability as he began to pull the weak and fragile frame from the limbs. "Watch her ribs please; I'm fairly sure something is broken. Oh! And her leg, please."
"Yes, Magnus." He growled out before completely pulling the woman into his arms. He flung her over his shoulder, her face hitting his lower back and her badly broken leg resting next to his face. Taking both of his hands and wrapping the fingers tightly around the metal he began to move down. This was his least favorite part about ladders. The up was fine; it was the down that scared him into oblivion. He was breathing out his favorite exercise when his feet finally planted firmly on the ground. Magnus already had her hands on the woman and was dragging them both to the gurney he had left a few feet away.
"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" She chided to him while she ran hands over the broken form that now rested on the white sheets. Without waiting for an answer Magnus continued in her assessment. A woman definitely, her face was rounded and healthy, though a tint of red was covering it, probably from hanging for so long. "We'll have to get this off her, whatever this is." Magnus commented about the red suit the woman was wearing.
"It's for extreme base jumping." Magnus looked at Will as if he had said something completely ridiculous. He raised his hands in defense, "It's not like I've done it! I've just known people who have. Kate's done it a time or two." He mumbled the last part to himself.
When they reached the Sanctuary doors and were lifting the gurney over the doorjamb the woman woke roughly crying out at the pain the jostling caused her. "It's alright; I'll give you something to help that in a minute." Magnus laid a soft hand on the woman's shoulder.
She just shook her head with her eyes shut tight ignoring the pain as much as humanly possible. "It's not that bad."
Magnus looked at the woman's face in time to see a tear streak down her cheek from the corner of her tightly shut lid. "What's your name?"
She grunted softly before shaking her head sharply to the side.
"Ok, ok, you can tell me later, just calm down; I'll give you something soon." The trio managed to make it to the elevator and had been waiting to reach the correct level. The woman was now fully awake, though trying her hardest to not to vomit or pass out from the amount of pain coursing through every nerve she had. Magnus quickly depressed a needle of morphine into the young woman's vein as soon as they entered the room. "Just breathe deeply now; you should be feeling better any second."
Her head nodded slowly and the muscles in her face loosened when the pain began to recede into drugged oblivion. Magnus tapped the woman's cheek lightly until her head turned and she voiced a protest. "Don't go to sleep on me yet, what's your name?"
Again the woman moaned without voicing a name before falling deeply into sleep. Magnus started an IV quickly and then began to cut off the tight fitting cloth. Will stood close by assisting in anyway Magnus asked.
"Extreme base jumping?" She asked more to herself than to him, but still expecting an answer.
"Yeah, you jump off a cliff and basically fly and glide down to the bottom."
"Ah," she had, of course, heard of just a thing before, but felt the need to include him in the goings on. "There are no cliffs here."
"Um, yeah, I suppose it can also be done off tall buildings." Will held the woman in a sitting position while Magnus tied the hospital gown behind her back. Little bruising there, she noted. Listening to her chest she could hear the wheezing, but it didn't seem as though a rib was broken or a lung puncture. This was more often associated with pneumonia. It was interesting that she would be jumping off high buildings with pneumonia: interesting yet very reckless.
Magnus skillfully set her leg and placed an air cast over the injury to keep everything in place, not wanting the woman to break the bones again. "I want to take some x-rays of her chest and a head ct. I'm not sure how far she fell, but there's always the change for head trauma and it can't hurt." Will nodded and went to set up the machines and the room while Magnus double checked the woman's vitals.
It was a few hours later and Magnus had determined that there was no head injury but that she did indeed have pneumonia. Will started the new intake file and she was just entering in the medical data that she could formulate without the woman's help. She heard the soft moaning from behind her and when she turned, the young woman was definitely beginning to wake. Her heels clicked three or four times as she walked over to the bed and gently pressed her hand against the woman's arm. "How are you feeling?"
She swallowed hard to formulate an answer, "A bit better."
"Want some water?"
"Please." Magnus held a cup with a straw to the young woman's lips. She quickly drank the small amount of water Magnus had put in the cup knowing better than to have filled in the entire way.
"Think you can tell me your name now?"
The woman nodded, "Kelly. Ryan Kelly."
"Well, Ryan, welcome to the Sanctuary."
"Thank you, but what is the Sanctuary?"
Magnus grinned, "We're a private research facility, but we can get into that later. Now, about your status: you are fine, fracture in both your tibia and fibula but it's been set. You'll have to wear the cast for at least four weeks and try and keep off it for a few days. If it starts to swell you need stay off it. Your CT came back normal, which is good, but your chest x-rays have me a bit concerned."
"Oh?"
"You've got pneumonia. Did you know that?"
Ryan shrugged. "I thought it was just a bad cough."
"Well, it's more than that." Magnus pulled the IV out of Ryan's arm and pressed a band aid over her skin. "Here," leaning over, Magnus grabbed two bottles of medicines off the tray. "These are antibiotics for your pneumonia, twice a day, don't forget. These," she shook the second bottle lightly, "are for the pain you will undoubtedly be feeling from your leg and your fall."
"It wasn't a fall." The woman mumbled under her breath.
"Sorry?"
"Thank you, Doctor?"
"Ah. My apologies: I'm Doctor Helen Magnus. This is my home."
Ryan nodded in acknowledgment, "So when can I get out of here Doc? I'm not one for being cooped up."
"Obviously, I'd like to keep you here overnight, just to make sure there are no lingering effects of the fall, but you'll be free to leave in the morning."
"Mind if I take off now? I've got responsibilities back home."
"If necessary, you may, but at least let one of my people take you home." Magnus handed Ryan some scrubs, "Thought you might like something else to wear."
"Most definitely." Ryan swung her legs over the edge of the bed letting them hang. She reached behind her and quickly untied the gown and pulled her down her front exposing herself. Bunching the green material of the scrubs up she pulled it over her head before bending low to push her leg through the hole. She got it caught on the hem, but Magnus saw it and flipped the material up before Ryan could even ask for help.
Magnus handed the woman two crutches that had already been set for her height. "Just until you can start walking on it again and please be careful in how much weight you put on it." Ryan took the metal crutches hesitating slightly. "I'll call Will down, he can drive you home."
"You're not going to drive me?"
Magnus smiled, "I have a meeting in ten minutes. I'm afraid I don't have the time, but I trust Will with my life," her eyes crinkled in the corners at that, "I'm sure he'll take good care of you."
Will insisted that she sit in the wheelchair and that he wheel her from the infirmary to the van. He had a pickup at the docks that he would complete after dropping her off; otherwise he would have insisted on a car. Ryan struggled only a small amount getting into the van, but she insisted she could do it herself without his help. Will had only held his hands up in mock surrender, shutting the door behind her and moving around to the driver's seat.
The drive went in silence. Will had little to say and Ryan was falling in and out of sleep, though she was directing him to her little apartment. At least he hoped she was. They had gone into New City and she woke suddenly when he had to slam on the brakes to avoid a collision. She looked around, finding her bearings before commenting, "I'm just two blocks up." When he pulled over on the curb, she was already out the van door and halfway to the building door before he could get run around the vehicle to assist.
"Ryan!" She stopped finally and turned toward him, "Magnus said that if you had any problems you should call." He handed her Magnus' card. "Want help up?"
"I'm fine." She stuffed the card in her pocket and moved into the doorway. Will shrugged and went back to the van, starting the ignition to head to his pickup.