Joined Forces, Borrowed Trouble

By: AliasCWN

Chapter 4

Tully Pettigrew awoke to the sound of a voice with a clipped British accent. The voice didn't sound like Moffitt's but it took him a moment to remember where he was. Looking toward the voice, he found himself looking up at a tall, thin man with red hair and a receding hairline. The only things he appeared to have in common with the sergeant were his accent and a shared homeland.

Noticing his movement, the doctor finished the notations he was making on a chart and hung the chart on the foot of the bed. With a smile, he approached Tully's bed, reaching for his wrist to take his pulse.

"How are you feeling Private?"

"Fine." Tully answered, searching the nearby beds for Moffitt. "Where's Doc?"

"I am a doctor Private." The doctor assured him.

"Yeah, I sorta figured that." Tully drawled, still searching the rows of cots. "But I want to know where you put Doc?"

"Doc?"

"Sergeant Moffitt." Tully explained a bit impatiently. "He's here isn't he?"

"Oh." The doctor replied, finally understanding who Tully was asking about. "The sergeant is in another part of the hospital. We have him under constant watch by the nurses."

"He's gonna be all right though, right?"

As the doctor hesitated Tully tried to sit up to go look for his sergeant. The sudden movement made his head spin.

"Hold on there Private." The doctor leaned forward and pushed Tully's shoulders back onto the cot. "No sudden movements just yet."

Holding his head with one hand and the cot frame with the other, Tully closed his eyes and waited for the room to stop spinning.

"You took quite a beating yourself Private. Just lay back and let me take a look at you."

"I'm okay; I just need to find my sergeant." Tully insisted.

"Let me be the judge of that Private, after all, I'm the one who spent all that time in school learning how to do that." He put his stethoscope against Tully's chest before he continued. "Your sergeant isn't going anywhere for a while, I'm afraid. He's still unconscious. He took quite a blow to the head."

"He's going to be okay though?" Tully repeated.

The doctor took the time to check Tully's eyes before he answered. "The x-rays we took show a hairline fracture of his skull. It's a good thing you got him here as quickly as you did."

"Sarge had us bring him straight here."

"Your sergeant? I understand that there were only four of you."

"Yes sir."

"With two sergeants?"

"And two privates."

"Rather unusual to have two sergeants for a four man squad, isn't it?"

"I guess." Tully shrugged as the doctor finished his exam. "Doc was loaned to us for a special assignment and we liked him."

"So you kept him, is that it?"

"Yes sir."

"Interesting. And how has it worked out for you?"

Tully eyed the doctor with suspicion. "What do you mean?"

"Do you resent taking orders from a British sergeant?" Finishing the exam, the doctor stepped back to get a better look at his patient.

"Doc is one of us, we don't care what uniform he wears." Tully explained simply.

"Is there a problem here?"

The doctor turned as Sam Troy and Mark Hitchcock approached.

"No, no problem. I was just checking the private before I released him." The doctor studied the two men before him curiously. Turning to Tully, "You will still need to take it easy for a few days. Try not to stand up too quickly or turn too fast. Since your sergeant is going to be here for a while, I assume that you will be staying on the base yourself for at least a few days anyway."

Tully nodded. "Got it Doc." He winced as the movement sent a wave of dizziness over him.

The doctor smiled knowingly. "No sudden movements." He repeated. "Slow and easy."

"Got it Doc." Tully repeated without the head nod.

The doctor smiled again and turned to Troy. "I am releasing him to your care. See that he doesn't overdo it."

"Thanks Doc. We'll see that he follows your orders." Troy looked at Tully, a questioning look in his eyes.

Tully shrugged and slowly pulled himself into a sitting position. He waited until the doctor was at the other end of the row of cots before he spoke.

"Have you seen Doc?"

"Yeah." Troy answered, pulling his eyes away from the doctor. "He's still unconscious."

"Can I see him?"

"Sure Tully. Hitch and I will help you over to the next section of the hospital. They have Moffitt right next to the nurse's station where they can keep an eye on him all the time."

Hitch hurried to Tully's side to help him stand. With Troy and Hitch both supporting him, he was able to walk slowly.

"What was going on when we walked up?" Troy asked as they left the room to find Moffitt.

"That doctor was asking about Doc." Tully paused to catch his breath. "Funny," twisting his head in thought, he continued, "he wanted to know if I resented taking orders from Doc."

"Why?" Hitch put Tully's arm across his shoulder to give him more support.

"Just curious I guess." Tully answered.

"I mean why would you have a problem?"

"Don't know." Tully shrugged.

Troy let the matter drop as he took a quick step when Tully lost his balance.

The three of them took turns sitting with Moffitt while they waited for him to wake up. Tully and Hitch took turns reading to him from an old paperback book that one of the orderlies had loaned them.

Troy spent his time talking to him about any subject that came to mind.

"You know Moffitt; the fact that you're British and we're American seems to have stirred up quite a controversy around here." Troy paused to study the British sergeant's face. "I have a feeling that you'd better wake up pretty soon before someone takes their concerns to a higher authority. I'd hate to have them push to get you reassigned just because they have a problem with our arrangement. If you have a problem with it, that's one thing, but I don't want to lose you because someone else can't deal with it." Troy paused again, hoping that Moffitt would respond in some way. "I hope that coming here doesn't turn out to be a mistake." He stopped that line of thought. "No, it wasn't a mistake; this was the closest place to get you a doctor. You didn't look so good Moffitt; you had us scared this time. You do know, I hope, that if you wake up and remember any of this, I'll deny ever saying it. I don't know how we ever got along without you. I'd never say this to your face, or tell Tully or Hitch; but you're the best second that I ever had. I've really come to rely on you, I trust you Jack, I,…we, need you. Don't you dare die on us." The sergeant looked around quickly, making sure that there was no one close enough to hear him. Satisfied, he resumed talking to the unconscious patient.