Mae felt Freddie's stare as they walked the halls to her apartment, and it made the back of her neck prickle.
"Wanna talk?" he finally ventured.
"'Bout what?"
"Susie. Or Paul." Freddie sighed, adjusting his hold on the planter. "Or Butch, if you're so inclined."
"It's no use talking about any of them."
She unlocked the apartment and led Freddie into her living room, murmuring a 'thank you' when Freddie set the planter down on the table. She didn't realize she had been staring at nothing until Freddie's vault suit came into her periphery, stopping in front of her. She blinked, looking up.
"You know…" He scratched the back of his head, hesitating. "You know you can come to me for anything, right?"
She nodded, giving him a brief smile. But her mind was elsewhere, on the way Butch looked when she told him about his mom, on his naked fear.
"Hey," Freddie tugged on one of her braids, "seriously. I know this whole lab partner issue is because I was paired with Amata. I hate that you're having to deal with Butch because of me."
Mae nearly snorted. It was definitely not Freddie's doing that had gotten her where she was.
Freddie fidgeted and Mae realized she hadn't responded. But when his hand strayed from her hair to her chin, fingers feather light on her jaw as he tipped her face up, she couldn't quite think of what to say. She remained still, unused to his touch. Freddie's contact was casual most times; an arm around her shoulders, a playful nudge. Never anything this close.
"I mean it, Mae. If you're in over your head, you'd let me know, right?"
"I'm not." She wasn't sure if her response was true. But to tell Freddie when she hadn't even talked to Amata about her predicament yet was unheard of.
Freddie studied her, and Mae was trapped for a moment in the way his eyes traveled from her eyes to her mouth. The need to swallow hit her hard, but she didn't want to be obvious. Not when this was the closest Freddie had ever gotten to her.
She swallowed anyway and her hand encircled his wrist. "What's going on, Fred?"
"What do you mean?" She felt his breath on her face and it was sweet; bubble gum or gumdrops or some other candy he carried in his pockets. That's how they'd first become friends. Amata had been crying and Mae had been trying to console her. It was Freddie's offer of sweets that had gotten her smiling again. It was familiar and comforting and so Freddie that her heart ached as she looked at him.
"With you, I mean?" He stiffened, but she kept her hand around his wrist. "I'm worried about you."
"There's nothing to be worried about." He backed up, pulling himself away, cutting their contact. His expression closed off and she cursed mentally as he became skittish. "Nothing's going on. Why would you ask that?"
The PA crackled to life, scaring the bejesus out of both of them.
"Mae Cohen, to the clinic."
"Guess you gotta go." Freddie shrugged, hands in his pockets as he looked to the floor. "I'll see you later?"
She wanted to stay and talk this out with him. even as another part of her felt the pull towards the door, towards the clinic. In the end, she merely sighed. "Yeah. Yeah, later Fred."
James spread the schedule out on his desk and she and Jonas leaned in to study it closely.
"Sixteen beers in sixteen hours?" she finally asked. "And this is meant as a safe detox method?"
"Ellen's threshold is higher than this," James said, tone serious. "But that's not the main problem. There were traces of Med-X in her system, too small for us to actually measure."
"The bruising on her arm, you mean?" Mae frowned at her dad's nod. "Why is she on Med-X?"
"We didn't prescribe it," James said, looking grave. "She's using, but she refuses to tell me where she's getting it from. Unfortunately with it in her system, she'll have to get through the withdrawal without any medication for the worst of it." He tapped the schedule he had printed out. "This is her taper schedule for the next few days. Her liver enzymes are high and she is showing signs of fibrosis, but we still need to test her for other possible issues. The mix of alcohol and Med-X can be completely damaging to her liver and we need to clean her out. Before she gets worse.."
Mae studied the schedule silently, thinking of what her dad had not said. A mixture of those two in high enough amounts could lead to her not breathing. Could end with her in a coma. Or a stroke. What had Ellen been thinking?
She still couldn't shake the anger that Butch hadn't brought her in before, that he'd been trying to hide this. But she also felt an unexpected sympathy for him. For the fucked up situation. She would deny it to her death bed if asked, but there it was.
"There is some good news," her father continued. "It was no small part that thanks to the quick response of our team, Ellen remained conscious and I was able to get a pretty clear idea of her recent history without adding anything to her system that would have led to further harm."
Mae didn't realize her dad meant her when he said 'team' until she looked up and caught the smile he was giving her, his eyes creasing. Jonas clapped Mae on the shoulder, squeezing it with a "Great work this morning, sport."
Mae bit her lip, a smile threatening. "I did what you taught me."
"And you did it well." Mae felt warmth spread through her. But James grew serious again. "And that is why we have you in on this. You acted decisively and efficiently during a critical moment. You will be having your G.O.A.T. in a few months and it's about time you get more hands on experience with patients."
James nodded towards the schedule. "With Ellen's predilection to substances, I don't want to start her off on benzodiazepines to get her through it. Even a low dosage could be damaging. So we're going to try to clean her up the old fashioned way. And we're all going to take turns keeping her within this schedule."
"And you want me to be part of watch duty as well?"
"We're going to have her under twenty-four-hour watch for the next few days. We'll take shifts, with yours being shorter than ours, of course. It does mean some double shifts for a couple of days, but we'll try to keep it to a minimum." James' gaze turned serious and Mae's spine stiffened, her back straight. "Are you ready for this?"
Her first patient. Mae didn't hesitate. "Yes."
"Good." James smiled proudly. "Now come on, we have a lot to cover before we let Ellen know the details."
Her holotape was still playing when they approached the screened-off area where Ellen lay, Peggy Lee singing about a fever while Mae hoped in vain that Butch would've made himself scarce by the time they had finished in the office. But he still sat near his mom's bed, busy with something on his Pip-boy as Ellen slept fitfully next to him. Her head was draped on his shoulder.
It would've been sweet if it wasn't so odd for her to witness. And the dirty look he gave her promising swift retribution was enough to knock some of the familiar annoyance back into her as she gazed back cooly.
"You got news, doc?" Butch asked, eyes sliding to James.
"We have some things to discuss with your mother, yes. But we'll wait until she's awake."
Butch turned his head, murmuring to her quietly and patting her arm. Ellen stirred, waking with a sudden start and a wail, nearly falling off the gurney but for Butch's steadying arm.
"Relax, ma. The doc has to talk to you," Butch shared quietly as she sat up, still clearly disoriented. He was using a tone Mae hadn't heard from him before and she felt like she shouldn't be there, listening and observing how gentle he was.
"Ellen, we have finalized the treatment plan we spoke about. I'll let Jonas walk you through it, but I need to borrow your son for a moment."
"Uh, yes, Doctor, thank you," she mumbled, sitting up completely when Butch stood.
Jonas took the vacated seat and began explaining the taper schedule to Ellen.
"Honey, would you come with me for a minute?"
Mae followed James to a stop on the other side of the screen, far enough away that they could speak without having to worry about being heard.
"Butch, we're going to be keeping your mother here for the next few days," James began quietly.
"What? Why?" Butch's fear was back, the alarm in his eyes fresh. "Is she sick? Don't tell me it's that hepatitis shit cuz she ain't showing the signs."
"It doesn't seem to be hepatitis. But without further tests, we cannot completely rule it out." Mae was sure she was staring as much as her dad was at this little tidbit from him. He'd researched this at some point if he knew what to look for and Mae was suddenly struck by a memory of last year's project. How Wally and Butch were supposed to do a report on liver diseases. Mae couldn't remember whether they had finished it or not, but she could picture Butch - younger and scowling at a textbook - researching such a subject. When it hit so close to home... "She does show signs of some liver scarring, however, and we need to focus on reversing it. Fortunately, she has agreed to treatment. The problem lies in how delicate her detox is going to be. We need to do it here under medical supervision. To make sure she is in no danger."
Butch continued looking suspicious, his hands clenching and unclenching. If Mae were in his shoes, she'd be more thankful. Or at least less hostile looking. What a prick.
"My daughter will be included as part of the watch and I need to ask a favor from you, Mr. DeLoria."
It was Mae's turn to gaze at James suspiciously.
"I need you to remain with her when she is watching your mother."
"What?!" She hissed, horrified, even as Butch's eyebrows rose in disbelief.
"Neither Jonas or myself will be available during her shifts and I insist."
Butch chuckled, shaking his head slightly. "So lemme get this straight - you don't trust your kid to watch my ma on her own?"
Mae crossed her arms, glaring at James. "Thanks, Dad."
"It's nothing against you, sweetie," James said with a calm hand on Mae's shoulder before he turned back to Butch. "It's only a precaution. If your mother has a bad episode, I want someone to be available if she were to get out of hand. It will help to have another person here and it's the only way I will have some peace of mind."
Butch looked like he was weighing his options, his gaze back on Ellen on the gurney. She looked small on the bed under the sheets, a contrast to when she seemed bigger than life while drunk. She remembered the way Ellen had grabbed her earlier that day. She was hiding some iron under that frailty.
"If you're not comfortable with this arrangement, I can ask Chief Hannon to provide some additional help in the form of one of the security team-"
"No," both Mae and Butch said at the same time. They glanced at each other and looked away almost immediately, Mae's face burning.
"Nah doc, no need to bring those dipshits in," Butch said in a lower tone, finally looking back at her dad. "I'll hang around."
"Good, I'm glad to have that settled then. It might make it easier on Ellen, as well."
"Great," Mae muttered, meeting Butch's look with one of her own.
But she wasn't going to back down on this. It was the first time her dad had given her this kind of responsibility, this sort of trust. It was monumental.
"You did great, sweetie. You'll do great at this as well," James reassured.
Mae caught Butch rolling his eyes, 'daddy's girl' muttered under his breath.
She wouldn't mess this up, she promised herself.
