NOTES:::
This chapter contains fluff and sexual tension, but nothing I would really consider smut. Sorry. It's coming eventually tho. Patience my friends. I make reference to two classic stories in this chapter. One of which is the story of Oedipus, the other is Frankenstein (or the Modern Prometheus). You could do a quick search for the two stories if you don't know the basic premise, but really, it's not necessary to know about the stories to understand the conversation.
Song for this Chapter:: "The One" -Limp Bizkit
The both of them went silent quite a while ago. Dora has no idea how long they have been sitting here like this, surrounded by her sister's things. She really loves his arms around her, his warmth engulfing her. His scent. His presence. Maybe it's because it was such a tender moment, that began with them both in tears, but despite the fact that their bodies are intertwined, it doesn't feel like a sexual thing. She isn't getting flustered over this, she just feels content. Is this the friendship we are supposed to have?
Hancock is just focusing on the movement of her body as she breathes. Her warm breath on his arms. The tickle of her loose hairs against his face and neck. It had been so long since he had a beautiful woman in his arms like this. He won't risk any movements for fear that she might change her mind. He refuses to think about her body pressed against his. This wasn't supposed to be like that. He won't make it like that, because just sitting together in silence on the cold floor is somehow better than that. I am not going to make the same mistake again. I am not going to trick myself into believing that there is something more in this moment than just comfort in the nearest person. Not again. Not this time.
As much as she hates it, she knows they have to break this position eventually. She moves so that she can reach into her belongings and remove the jet she grabbed earlier, she returns to her spot against him as she lightly shakes the device. She holds it over her right shoulder, where Hancock is resting his head. He lifts his arm, and puts his hand over hers on the inhaler. He squeezes her hand, depressing the canister inside. She hears the spray and his inhale right next to her right ear. She feels his chest expand against hers as he holds the chemicals in his lung for a moment. When he lets it go, it's right next to her ear. She feels the warm mix of spent jet and his breath against her face. He is looking at me.
His hand still over hers, he guides the inhaler to her mouth. He watches her open her mouth and place her soft pink lips over the opening, where his were seconds ago. He squeezes her hand, and watches her chest rise with her breath. She holds it in her lungs, even longer than he can, and calmly exhales.
He breaks the silence, before he gets too caught up in the visual. He is beginning to lose his grip on the situation. "Damn, sister. Never met a lady who could hit Jet better than me. You handle the burn like a pro."
She laughs and turns her head so she can see his face out of the corner of her eye, "That's because I am a pro. Believe it or not, the burn of the Jet is much easier to handle than the tickle of great weed. For me at least." His eyes seem to twinkle. The Jet is kicking in. For both of us.
"You have actually tried marijuana? I always read about it in books and wondered what it was like." He sees her curious expression "everything I have ever tried has been chemical or from some nasty place you don't even want to think about. The idea of a drug coming from a plant is just too damn cool" She can't help but be amazed at the wonder in his eyes.
He is like a kid being told about candy. It's adorable. She leans into his ear (or where it would be), "You wanna know a secret?" He nods his head, her lips are so close to his skin he swears he can feel their warmth. "I have some. Kept some seeds safe through the war. Was able to finally get some to grow not too long ago. Peyote too. Haven't been as successful with the mushrooms, yet." He looks at her in awe, and she smiles softly. "And since I like you so much, you are invited to partake with me, if you'd like."
Hancock had to stop and breathe for a moment. He had a gorgeous woman in between his legs, who just offered him rare and exotic drugs, just because 'she likes him'. I don't think I woke up from that coma. I think I am still in it. That is the only logical explanation.
"John? Are you okay?" her voice saying his name brought him from his thoughts, and back to her. She had moved so that she was sitting across from him, looking at him. When did that happen?
"Yea, Just thinking of how lucky I got." He stands up and extends his hand down towards her. Helping her off the floor. She picks up the letter and the photo and puts them in her pocket. The rest she returns to the box.
"Can I leave that here? It will be safer here with you."
"Yeah, Fahrenheit will keep it safe while I am gone." She looks up at him, raising an eyebrow.
"You aren't staying here?"
"Nah, darlin'. You are still on suicide watch. I take my job very serious." His smirk becomes more serious. "You seem to do good work for people. Also seems like you don't get much help. Goodneighbor is fine without me. Nora is fine without me. I'd like to come help you out."
"You wanna be a nurse?" Dora put her hand on her hip, a wry smile crosses her lips.
"Not exactly what I had in mind. Not sure I could pull off that little nurse dress" Dora laughs, but Hancock remains semi-serious. "Lydia told me you traveled from place to place. You shouldn't do that alone."
"Oh, so you want to guard me on my rounds? You will still have to help me in medical emergencies." She seems to look into the distance. "This is good. This way Jess and Jenn won't feel compelled to come with me, and they can keep the office open."
"I would be honored to be your nurse and bodyguard, doctor."
"You are coming home with me then?" She gives him a playful smirk.
"Only if you take me to dinner first. I am a classy lady after all." She rolls her eyes and gives him a push out the door.
As they exited the town, people continued to speak to Hancock. Normal niceties. Average small talk. Dora didn't really pay much attention to it until one ghoul caught her eye. As he spoke to Hancock, he kept moving his eyes to the sides, back and forth, from Hancock to the space beside Hancock. As soon as he appeared he began to walk away and Hancock continued on as well, but Dora grabbed his arms.
"Hey, Hancock"
"Yeah, sister?"
"Does that guy do any drugs a lot? Radaway maybe?" He narrows his eyes.
"No nothing like that. Straight edge kinda guy. Not really the Goodneighbor type, but who am I to judge. And why would a ghoul have any use for radaway?"
"If I talk to him, do you think he will listen to me?" She has a look of concern in her eyes. Looking at the citizen's back as he walked away.
"Yea. If I tell him you can be trusted, he should believe you." Hancock looked back at the man, almost out of shouting distance, "Hey Joe! Wait up, I got somethin' to talk to ya about." Joe stops in his tracks, hearing the Mayor's summons, and begins to head back towards them.
"Hey Mayor, what can I do for you?" Dora watches his eyes dart back and forth, and notices he is swaying, like balance is hard.
"This here is my friend Dorothy. She is a doctor. She'd like to take a look at you if you don't mind." The man chuckles, and looks to Dora, eyes still jittering,
"Well, I appreciate the concern, but I don't think I need a doctor."
Dora smiles at him. Large. Comforting. "It will only take a second. Do you mind if I take a look at your hands."
"My hands? I don't know why you want to see those" He asks, but holds out his hands for her. She looks at his fingernails, and sees lines of red in strata across them. All evenly spaced. Like the stripes of a candy cane.
"Okay, let me see if I have this right. You are having trouble keeping your balance, for some unknown reason. You also have a dark spot in the middle of your eyes, making you have to look to the side to see something clearly. It began as just a dot, and got bigger. You are probably chocking it up to age, or rationalizing that it's no big deal. But it's not normal." Joe's eyes widen, like she had just confirmed a fear. Hancock just watches the interaction, thoroughly confused. "Is there anything you put in your body the same time everyday? Food? Drink? Drug?"
He clears his throat, "Um. I have a cup of tea every morning"
"Does someone make it for you?" His eyes narrow, wondering what she is insinuating.
"Yes. My assistant. I don't know what you are implying here, she is like a daughter to me."
"Well, Joe. I am just telling you what I see. And what I see is blindness caused by prolonged exposure to semi-toxic heavy metals. These metals are also deposited in your fingernails as thin lines, the face that yours are red, leads me to believe that it is radaway. Its not lethal, but it's sure as hell not good for ghouls. Especially if ingested rather than injected." She takes a deep breath, "I have seen this multiple times before. Some people seem to think that enough radaway can reverse the ghoul process. Others think that enough can kill a ghoul. Neither are true. It will just make you blind. She may think she is trying to help you, that's not my place to know. I am just here to tell you what is happening. If you stop your exposure now you might get your sight back. I can check how bad it is if you want."
He waits a moment before replying, trying to wrap his head around all this information. " ye-yes. I want to know if I can get my sight back."
"Okay. I need you to look straight ahead. Straight at me. And don't move your eyes." She moves directly in front of his face. And puts her hands up in front of her. "Let me know when you can see my hands." She begins to move her hands slowly outward, and he tells her to stop when they have just gone past her ears. "Okay. That's not too bad. You should be able to get it back. Talk to your assistant if you want, I would definitely stop drinking the tea either way." She smiles at him. He moves his eyes so that he can see her. "Increasing your rad intake might help it move along quicker. Take a swim. Play in a rad storm. Eat some shady food." She laughs, and he joins her.
"Thank you. I had no idea." He leans in and hugs her. And she embraces him back. Hancock looks at them, surprised to see such emotion from the man he knows to be as calm and collected as they come. Also to see Dora smile like she had changed the world. I guess she did change the world. For Joe at least. The two separate.
"No problem. It's my job. I am Dr. Dorothy. I am a doctor for ghouls." She reaches into her bag and pulls out a paper. "Here is how to find me if you or anyone else needs me." He takes a moment to inspect the card. "It says here you visit Diamond City on Tuesdays? I thought you were a ghoul doctor? And there is no day for Goodneighbor."
"I am a ghoul doctor. There are still ghouls in Diamond City. They just don't really like people to know that, if you know what I'm sayin'." She laughs and glances at Hancock, who is looking at her like she just saved a life right in front of him. "And I have decided I am going to add a Goodneighbor day to my schedule. I will let you know which day it will be when I figure it out." She looks back at John, who now has a big smile across his lips. "Take it easy Joe. Get better soon." She shakes his hand, and turns to leave. Hancock close behind her. Grinning at her like an idiot.
"Would you stop looking at me like that? You are acting like I just brought someone back from the dead." She looks up at him. Faking annoyance.
"I am sure you could do that too." He steps closer to her, so that they are brushing together as they walk. "And you are adding my little town to your busy schedule?"
She notices her bare skin that is now brushing against his soft coat. Did he do that on purpose? "Of course. I go anywhere the patients might need me."
"You never did before."
"Because I hated you." She laughs.
"Hated? Past tense?"
She looks at her feet and shakes her head, "Yeah. Past tense."
He throws his right arm around her waist, "So I'm growin' on ya?" She looks up, the sun shining on the lower half of his face, his hat shadowing the rest.
She cracks a smirk at his cocky smile. "Uhhuh. Something like that."
Jess is sorting files in a small room in the office when she hears the front door open, and voices talking, laughing. Is that really Dora? I don't think I have ever heard her laugh like that. Ever. She decides to listen in on them.
"No, no, no, Oedipus doesn't deserve the title. He made a series of bad decisions, and didn't own up to them. He fucked his own mother, man."
"He didn't know it was his mother! And when he learned the truth he stabbed his own eyes out. He was more than your everyday mother fucker." Dora laughs, loudly. Snorting at the end.
"Okay. Points for that pun. But that was where he went wrong! They had four kids. Jocasta hanging herself was bad enough, him blinding himself is just gonna remind those kids that even their parents think they are an abomination. They should have just lived with what they had done. Not like they could un-fuck. Thus, even he didn't see himself as more than a motherfucker, so he isn't really misunderstood at all."
"Okay, then who do you think is the most misunderstood character?" Jess sees through the crack in the door that Hancock's arm is around her waist, and she is smiling up at him. Oh my God, this is the cutest fucking thing I have ever seen. Jess restrains a squeal. She sees Dora step out of his arm and turn to face him. Putting her hands up. She is going into lecture mode. This will be fun.
"Easy. Mary Shelley's monster. He is the Goddamn definition of misunderstood. He is the sweetest fucking guy in the world, but in the book everyone hates him and tries to murder him just because he happens to be made of stitched together body parts. Even the people who read the book think he is just a monster."
"They make the argument that he did murder people. The doctor's wife was innocent, but he killed her."
"If the Doctor hadn't been a whiny little bitch and abandoned the person he made, that wouldn't have happened! He had plenty of opportunities to own up to his sins, and actually accept the creature he had created, but he still ran from it. And it bit him in the ass."
"But whats-her-face didn't have anything to do with it. She was just an innocent person."
"If you were the monster, can you really say you would have done anything different? Nobody ever showed him any kind of compassion. Nobody taught him right from wrong, he wanted to make the doctor suffer for his crimes the best way he knew how." Dora is getting louder, moving her hands as she talks, like she is giving a sermon. Jenn watches as Hancock approaches Dora, she drops her hands.
"You feel very strongly about this don't you?" He says softly, almost too low for Jess to hear, but she sees Dora's face get redder, and she steps back again. Raising her hand for another sermon. But Hancock gently grabs it.
"Hey. I am fucking with you." Her eyes narrow, as she relaxes her hand into his. "I agree with you. I hate that an innocent woman had to get caught in the crossfire. But that poor guy never asked for any of what he got. He deserved love. I understand what he did. I probably would have done the same thing if I were him." Jess watches the two figures standing in the office, her hand still gripped in his and suspended in air in between them. I get the feeling this isn't about Frankenstein anymore. As they stare at each other, the temperature seems to rise within the silence. Damn. I can feel the tension from here. Why doesn't he just fucking kiss her? Obviously they both want it. A second passes, and Jennifer begins to come down the stairs, the sound of footsteps breaks their trance, and they separate. Dora shakes her head a little bit. Hancock visibly sighs. Dammit Jenn! Jessica thinks, and realizes that they are both trying to shake off what just happened, and deny to themselves what is going on. Idiots.
NOTES:::
As I said before. you don't need to know the stories, what is important is that they are discussing books, and that Dora is trying to figure out whether she is the monster or the doctor. Also. I highly recommend reading the book. Movies never get it right. Frankenstein gets a bad rep.
Love,
Jumb
