Warning: I got this condition from one of y'all. You tell whoever it is that you know that had this mess that I am personally so very sorry! OUCH. It's very real and very ouch. Apparently you can get it having kids AND if you're a dancer or gymnast. And the other things I've learned, well...I don't know how old you all are, so I don't wanna to say anything that would scare you. Let's just say, I'm an adult, and what I learned about this injury when a sexologist actually has to get involved-scared me. Painful, scary and gross, I'd imagine. Eew.

"Where are you going off to?"

Cooper cocked his head to the side, curious.

It was much too late in the day for her to be going off on rounds.

Charlotte beamed with pride, lifting her chin and putting a hand on her hips. "I have a consult."

"Really?"

"UCLA."

His eyes widened. "The school, or the hospital?" He couldn't imagine the Chief of Staff moonlighting for another hospital would look very good.

"The hospital. More specifically, their physical therapy center. They called me." Her eyes were shining. Clearly she thought this was uber-awesome.

"As a...urologist? For you...chief of staff-ness?"

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "No, as a sexologist."

Cooper smirked without realizing it.

"What? I'm just saying, a sexologist on a college campus?" He grinned. "Boy I would have loved to have a s-"

""Stop it!" She ordered, without much malice as one ordering a dog. "It's a hospital and acclaimed physical therapy facility. And as I told you, sexology-it's a legitimate medical specialty. And in demand, I might add."

" I know."

"Then why do you have that smirk on your face?"

It vanished. "What smirk?"

"That snarky 10 year old boy smirk. They way kids get when they first watch 'the video' in school, and after that anytime anyone mentions 'sex' or 'doing it' everyone bursts out laughing and suddenly everything is funny because everything in their little world is now dirty."

She looked at him in helpless disapproval. "Stop it."

He laughed aloud lightly and held his hands up. "I'm not doing anything. You just said yourself it's a legit medical specialty."

She sighed and shook her head, unconvinced. "You're a ten year old."

He bit his lower lip, trying not to laugh.

"You're a doctor, for god's sake! You're supposed to be above this!"

He shrugged. "We're all ten years old, Charlotte."

"Maybe you are," she argued.

"So what are you going there for? What's the issue?"

She gave him an 'are you crazy?' look, then looked him up and down. When he continued to look at her seriously, with no trace of humor, she gave.

"Groin injury."

He sucked in breath through clenched teeth and winced. "Have fun."

She smiled. "I will. I like being able to go around and freelance, consult- work, run around and be a doctor like the rest of you without being tied down to a desk or St. Ambrose."

He grinned back at her. It was true, and he was happy for her. She really was loving her new position. She was much happier, free-er, more relaxed.

She stepped into the curtained off exam area in the building, after nodding goodbye to the physical therapist as she left.

"Right on time," the other woman called over her shoulder, to who could only be Charlotte's new patient, "here she comes."

"Talkin' about me behind my back?" Charlotte teased her, with the goal of helping put her yet unseen patient at ease. "Nice!" With the exception of Mr. Over-Eager Beaver Newlywed, Charlotte had never seen a sexology patient under the age of 25. So this patient was atypical in that she was younger than that, and of course, a she.

The young woman gave Charlotte an easy grin. Happy, to feel so accepted and in a new environment at that, she pulled back the curtain with a smile.

The smile fell the moment she saw her patient. A college girl sitting on a chair, well, sitting on an ice pack on top of a chair, actually.

Charlotte winced just as Cooper had. The girl's chart hadn't said the injury was still this bad.

"Ouch," Charlotte said.

The girl gave a tight smile that was more akin to a grimace of pain and forced a laugh. "Yeah," she affirmed.

Charlotte nodded to her. "I'm Charlotte King, I'm here to see if we can't all help you get back in working order."

The girl pursed her lips in a half smile, her cheeks reddening. "I'd stand but-"

Charlotte smiled and walked to her to shake hands. "That's perfectly alright."

She pulled up a chair as well and sat in front of her patient. "So, Jessie, your chart here says that you've been pretty much immobile in pain for the past week."

She nodded. "Yeah."

Her chart said she'd been diagnosed with osteitis pubis. The slightly amusing thing here was that with this injury Charlotte was sure Jessie was getting the same amount of teasing about being a prostitute or porn star that Charlotte was getting. People making stupid assumptions, and even stupider jokes.

"Why don't you tell me what happened?"

"I went to the doctor because I pulled a muscle in my leg and it wasn't getting better."

Left adductors. Gracilis and pectineus. Charlotte knew all the highlights of Jessie's status and injuries. She'd had her chart faxed over. But you always ask your patients to tell you in their own words.

"It hurt still, and felt like it'd tear in two if I actually did anything."

"At your groin?" Why beat around the bush? With this kind of injury Charlotte was confident that Jessie had faced some pretty intimate questions from doctors and physical therapists by now.

She nodded.

"The doctor said there was nothing wrong with my leg, that it was my hamstrings and a lack of abdominal strength."

Charlotte raised an eyebrow. She was fairly confident that her patient had a six-pack under her shirt, and she didn't mean beer.

"So the doctor sent me to physical therapy to work on my hamstrings and abdominal strength."

"Nothing about your adductors? Your groin? Pelvic region?"

"No. She didn't listen to a word I said."

"Get an X-ray?"

"I asked for an MRI. You can't see jack on an x-ray."

Smart kid. She was absolutely right. An MRI was ten times more effective at correctly diagnosisng muscle injuries as well as seeing upcoming issues.

"She said in 6 weeks if I wasn't feeling better, then she'd do an x-ray."

What kind of moron did she see? That explained the lack of films in her chart that Charlotte had called about. She thought the person on the other line was incompetent. Turns out, it was the doctor.

"The exercises they gave me really hurt, and my range of motion was nowhere near where it should have been."

Charlotte nodded.

"You got this injury dancing? The initial injury?"

"And this one. I was sliding down into a split on the floor and I felt something pop in my groin."

Good, she could at least say the word. Would make what she'd have to do and say easier.

"I went right back to the place and demanded to get an x ray cuz I thought this was due to the exercises, cuz they hurt in the same area, and my groin sure wasn't hurting like this before- only during those stupid exercises they had me doing- the ones that made my freakin' crotch hurt."

"Did you tell the physical therapist that?"

"He said to just work through the pain, that I was fine. All in my head, that kind of thing."

Idiot.

"A different doctor saw me did an xray and said I screwed up my pubic symphysis."

Charlotte nodded. "Sounds right to me."

"Which is why I'm icing my groin," she muttered, clearly pissed off.

" No MRI?"

She shook her head.

"Well it definitely sounds like you need one. I'm not even going to bother with films. I'm going to write you an order for an MRI and-"

"You can do that?"

"I'm a doctor. It's what we do." She wanted to add, I run a hospital, I can do anything I want, but didn't.

"You call St. Ambrose Hospital and get an MRI scheduled for 9am tomorrow morning- tell them Dr. Charlotte King sent you. I'll have an orthopedic lined up to take a look at the results and report back to me. It may be only pubic symphysitis, but I don't like to leave anything to chance."

"The physical therapist couldn't do that."

"Because she's not a doctor."

Jessie yanked the ice bag from beneath her and set it on the table. She was looking at Charlotte apprehensively. Charlotte knew what was coming, knowing the physical therapist had told Jessie about her work.

"So...you're an actual doctor?"

"Board certified," she nodded with both confidence and reassurance.

"But...," she crossed her legs, "you're a sexologist?"

She nodded.

"That's actually a real thing?"

"Absolutely. And don't worry, we'll get you healed up in no time. That's what I'm here for."

"But sex has nothing to do with why I'm here." Jessie objected.

Okay, show time. She couldn't blame the kid for being uncomfortable. Time to start explaining just why she was there.

Review time! Lemme know what you think so far. Anything you want to see let me know.