An unexpected touch of love
AN: *barely daring to peek out from behind barricade* Hello, lads and ladies! Please don't hit me, although you have every reason to shout at me. I'm definitely shouting at myself too, believe me! I almost had a mini-heart attack when I discovered that you've now been waiting for over a month for the new update! I could barely believe it!
I honestly feel so so bad, but university was getting very strict. I had to study and read every day to keep up with the things to do and last and this month were PACKED with birthdays, so even if I had wanted to write more than a few sentences, I was super busy trying to not get crazy with everything. I truly never ran out of things to do...
Now there's thankfully no more birthdays until August and I especially used the (loooooong since passed) Easter holidays to catch up on some much needed inspiration! Again, words can't measure how sorry I feel to leave you all hanging every single time until now... *cries into pillow*
Aaaaaanyway, enough with emotional tearful confessions and on with the story, shall we? As I re-read it, I noticed I didn't explain where Miss P's shopping bags went. They didn't disappear into thin air, she's taking them with her of course. Play a part in making her stay with Dr. Chet a little longer...
Ok, that was a long Author's Note. Without further ado, let's get right into this fourth chapter! Enjoy it!
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„Just a few miles more, Miss Peregrine... I feel so bad. You really don't have to do this. You could have just gone home.", Dr. Chet informed her, an expression of guilt painted on the visible part of his face. Miss Peregrine gritted her teeth, wiped sweat from her forehead and rearranged the position of her left hand on her shopping bags. The plastic was cutting into her tender flesh, but she kept her other hand nonetheless resting on the doctor's arm.
„Ah! There it is. Welcome to my little clinic... my second home.", the young man suddenly exclaimed, his expression lightening up. One street across from them a two-story building had been pulled up at the corner, painted in white with a touch of yellow. A sign over the door welcomed them to „Dr. Chet's Apothecary and Clinic". „It's very beautiful, doctor.", the ymbryne admitted, to which he replied with a bright smile, revealing his white teeth.
The typical smell of disinfectants and cleaning fluids, mixed with the slightly sugary smell of dextrose candies being sold at the entrance, hit their noses as soon as they entered the building. Alma froze up for a few seconds, briefly being reminded of the same odour in her bro... in Caul's horrible labs, the hellish time she had been forced to spend there. Yet one look at Dr. Chet's handsome face gave her the courage to break free from the spell of the past.
Behind the reception's desk, a red-haired lady clad in blue was typing away at a computer. „Good evening, Hannah..." Her head jerked up and her cinnamon eyes widened shortly, while she gasped: „Good Lord, Dr. Chet! What happened?!", as she noticed the two newcomers, the one familiar pressing a hand to his face. „Bee sting, Hannah. I'm fine though. It just needs an ice pack and a salve. Oh, and she's with me, no patient...", he explained after throwing a quick look at Miss Peregrine.
„Understood, doctor. Go to Room 5, it's unoccupied. I'll fetch the things immediately.", the receptionist gave a quick nod and stood up, vanishing in a little corridor. „Up here, Miss. My examination rooms are on the upper floor.", Dr. Chet said, pointing to a staircase. Upon opening the door, Miss Peregrine noted how quiet it was. „Well, it's not exactly the time for people to go to the doctor. They're busy providing for lunch. But afterwards... afterwards they come in like homing pigeons.", he told her, laughing.
The two settled in Room 5, which was equipped with a desk, a bookshelf rising behind it, a medicine cabinet and an examination table. „Are you ok? The sting looks nasty.", the lady asked him worriedly after sinking into one of the chairs by the desk. „I'm sure it looks like it. It feels pretty swollen and painful, mainly because I couldn't get out the stinger yet. Which I forgot to mention to Hannah... But please, put down those shopping bags. Your arm must be as long as a gorilla's by now...", he answered, half jokingly and Miss Peregrine gladly complied.
„So, there we are, doctor. An ice pack and antibiotic salve. Let me take a look at this for you...", Hannah's voice came from the door and the redhead entered the room. After she had put the requested things on the desk, she gently took Dr. Chet's face into her hands and moved it into the light to have a better sight. For inexplicable reasons, the ymbryne felt a sting in her heart at that.
„Dr. David Chet! I'm not the one who should tell you that the stinger needs to be removed immediately, right?! Now where are the tweezers?", Hannah chastised him as soon as she saw the tiny dart in his cheek. The young doctor grinned sheepishly at her: „Second drawer to the right... Sorry, I was a little distracted." Alma averted her eyes as she realized he was talking about her. „Distracted, huh? I see.", his assistant huffed, yet her brown orbs held no real malice. Without wasting more time, she put on gloves and reached for the tweezers with an „I'll take care of it.". Done that, she pulled out the stinger in one swift motion.
„Finito.", the nurse announced. „I hope you aren't too... distracted, doctor, to put on the salve and ice. If you're good, I'll go back to my post." Dr. Chet laughed slightly, dismissing her. „Who is she? And why did she as a secretary treat you?", Miss Peregrine blurted out suddenly. Her cheeks turned a slight shade of pink as she noticed a certain wariness creeping into her voice. Was she jealous of Hannah? „Polite persons don't feel jealous on a first encounter!", she chastised herself.
The man instantly picked up on her feelings, which caused him to laugh heartily, his blue eyes full of mirth. „Her name is Hannah Mac Craith. She doesn't seem like it, but she's a couple years older than me. We studied at the same university, so when I opened my own clinic, she decided to stick with me. She's a fully capable doctor, but sometimes she takes over the reception stuff too. Yeah, Hannah's a good person, she sometimes just likes to show off her... tough Irish side.", he explained while quickly applying a blue, minty smelling salve under his eye. After that, he put on the ice pack that Hannah had left him on the desk.
„Ah, much better...", he huffed contently. "I...", Alma began, but closed her mouth quickly again, before the rest of the sentence could leave. I'm sorry for my ward's rude behaviour. Yes, she was, but Dr. Chet had no knowledge about the horde of children yet, not to talk about their extraordinary peculiar abilities... "Yes?", he asked, with a voice so curious and innocent at the same time that a little piece of the ymbryne's heart started to hurt. "If you knew, you would be scared and reject me...", she thought sadly. But she lightly bit the inside of her cheek and reformed her phrase: "I... I guess I should go home now. I see you are taken good care of." She clasped into her hands, but was surprised by a sudden stinging pain, burning like fire. An expression of pain escaped her lips.
"What is it?!", the man asked, instantly alert. Miss Peregrine looked down. Her palms were red and irritated. "My hands...", she replied quietly. David slipped right from patient into doctor mode. "Let me take a look.", he told her, dropping the ice pack and lightly grasping her wrists, pulling them towards him. "Hm, the shopping bags seem to have chafed open your palms. They rubbed off a little bit of skin, creating a wound. Coming into contact with sweat irritates it.", he explained after examining the damage. "Your ice pack!", Alma warned him worriedly. "Don't worry, we'll patch you up in a matter of minutes. I won't die from a bee sting.", Dr. Chet smiled, parting his brown hair from his forehead.
Once again trusting him, the young woman let him take care of her. First he cleaned her palms with disinfectant. It stung a bit, but he dabbed it on so softly that she could focus more on the movement itself. Then he gently wrapped some gauze around her hands. "Done.", he informed her after securing the last piece of bandage. "This should give you enough stability and strength to carry the bags home if you walk fast. Leave the bandages on for a few hours to give your hands time to heal." "Understood...", Miss Peregrine nodded.
Then she began to search in her coat for her purse, recalling something important. "How much money does your treatment cost? Cash or credit card?" David's gentle smile widened. "Oh, please don't worry, Miss. I don't consider this an actual treatment like the others. I only call them treatments if they have been previously arranged or if there's an urgency.", he waved aside. "If you insist, doctor...", the ymbryne thanked him. "I see that it's already awfully late, almost time for lunch!", she suddenly exclaimed when her gaze dropped on her pocket watch.
She jumped from her seat and shook Dr. Chet's hands, before picking up her shopping bags and jogging from the room. "Thank you for everything, Dr. Chet!" "You're...", the young man called after her, but she was already out of sight. "... welcome. Alma...", he whispered to himself, before he went to fetch his things as well, with slightly reddened cheeks. As Alma jogged by in front of the reception, she said a hasty goodbye to Hannah, who, while at the phone, acknowledged it with a grin. Just as the young woman was at the door, the redhead called out to her: "Be careful around the streets, you know! Just for the record, lady!" Not realizing the hidden meaning behind it in her haste, Miss Peregrine replied with a stressful laugh: "Don't worry, Hannah, I will."
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"There you are, you two! We were already looking for you. Come in, boys.", Olive greeted them at the door, as Hugh and Millard knocked to be let in. She saw Hugh's face bathed in tears and sighed compassionately. "Oh, Hugh. Did you have... Did you see Fiona again?", she asked, but never did she imagine the response. "No, he didn't. Although that would have been better for him.", Olive heard the irritated, biting voice of the invisible boy. He was seething, she could tell as much. "What happened, Millard?!", Enoch's girlfriend inquired, confused and worried about what had made their brother so angry.
Millard didn't pay any attention to him though. His invisible expression furious, he grabbed his hat as he passed by the sofa and went to the stairs. Jake was at the bottom of them, phoning what he guessed was either the hospital or the police. "Ok... Yes, I understand of course. Are you sure? Thank you so much. That really helped us. Good day to you.", he finished his call and hung up. "Miss Peregrine's alive!", both Jake and Millard shouted out at the same time. Instantly, seven pairs of eyes looked at them, full of hope and gleeful shock. "Why hasn't she returned already? What happened? Is she ok?", Claire anxiously begged for answers.
Part of the invisible syndrigast felt as if he was possessed as he uttered the next phrases. "First of all, what happened is that Miss P did have an accident, but I've called every hospital in the vicinity and it seems that a local clinic saw a doctor accompanied by an 'unusual patient'. They couldn't give a name, but the description sounded like Miss Peregrine was there.", Jake told them hastily. "Yeah, hooray, but she's been to the hospital only after getting almost here with her new BOYFRIEND!", Millard shouted in disdain. That was when Hugh acted up too, hissing full of grief and anger: "Yes, that's why my bees got stingy in revenge! At least... at least before she used her power on them to protect HIM!"
After these three weird confessions, the whole room was dead silent and frozen for a minute, as if they had been hit by a stunning spell. Then two "What?"'s ripped through the silence; one from Enoch, the other from Little Claire. The dead-raiser took a menacing step toward the bee boy. "You want to say that you - conciously at that! - almost attacked Miss P?! Are you... out of your little mind?!", he shouted, voice and body shaking with ire. "A boy... friend?", Claire whispered, an unreadable expression on her face. "Easy, Enoch, darling. I'm not saying that what you did was right, Hugh, but don't shun him right now. Ok?", Olive tried to calm her friend, who looked downright murderous.
Another silence grew between them. But this time, something wicked and poisonous seemed to dwell in it, darkness sparking between the confused children, who were still trying to understand the particular situation that had arised. Nobody moved, everybody looking in different directions. To the floor, the ceiling, some inspected their clothes or looked intensely at the dirt under their nails, anything but at each other. Emma was the first one to break the silent frozen picture by turning around abruptly and running up the stairs to her room. Slowly, one after another mirrored her, separating themselves from their peculiar brethren while whispering quietly. Soon, all but Horace had left the hall. The boy let his sky-blue eyes wander around and sighed: "Miss P, you'll have a lot of work to do..." Then he leant back and, smiling knowingly, drifted off to sleep.
End of Chapter 4
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Oooh, it seems that not everyone is happy for Miss P... Will she be able to do the split between caring ymbryne and woman in blooming love? Let's hope so...
The next chapter will give her a breather and focus on the children's reaction after such a mindblowing revelation.
Scorn me all you want, I deserve it, but comments are welcome and will let me use my winter holidays much better. Love you all!
Yuna
