Author's Note: Five years ago I started this Fanfiction. 3 years ago it was last updated. I apparently didn't keep my word from the last chapter. Recently I have started playing MFoMT again and it inspired me to come back to this story. (I ordered Animal Parade yesterday from Amazon, so you might see a FF from there pop up sometime!) 3-5 years ago I wasn't terrible at writing, but going over the last 8 chapters I can see how much my writing had improved since then. I might go and rewrite those chapters so they look better. MIGHT. I might procrastinate and not do it. :P Anyway enjoy this new and improved chapter to Prescriptions for Love.
Chapter Nine
Rumors Spread
Kat's plan had worked, for the most part. The next morning she had woken up to the worst stuffy nose one could ever ask for. Her head throbbed with a headache and caused her to keep her eyes closed to prevent as little light as possible from getting in her eyes. She would have to open them eventually, and when she did she was greeted with the sight she had been dreaming of. The Doctor sat by her side, working diligently to find the right tonic to give her when she woke up.
He didn't seem to notice that she was up, which was pretty good for Kat cause it gave her the opportunity to see him up close without looking like a creeper. He looked so handsome, his expression was one of concentration and determination. She knew that underneath that cold exterior, his heart was crying out for affection. She would be the one to give that to him, to give him the love she knew he craved.
He must have noticed she was awake an caught her staring, Kat heard him clear his throat and her attention turned back up to his face. Her face had not been red before, but it certainly was now.
"How are you feeling this morning?" he asked, taking his stethoscope and putting the earpieces into his ears.
"Sick." replied Kat, giving a sniffle. The Doctor nodded at her response, holding the device to her chest when she sat up. He listened to her breathing, her heart rate going a mile a minute from him being so close to her. The farmer girl's eyes wandered over the small room that was her house, seeing a blanket and pillow on the floor. He really did stay the entire night to watch her. It was almost too good to be true! Would she finally get the bonding time she craved so much?
"You definitely have a cold, I would suggest staying in bed for a while." he said, standing up and removing the ear buds from his ears.
"I can't! Who will take care of the farm?" said Kat in protest.
"I don't think there is much to take care of." he said. She could hear the humor in his voice despite being serious. Kat gave him a small glare, she was trying to get this place in order! It was just hard with one bad thing after another happening in her life!
"Regardless, I will find some help so at least your animals are taken care of."
"I don't have many animals." murmured Kat. "Just a puppy and a foal."
"And someone still has to take care of them." added the Doctor. He got that cold, serious look back on his face when he stood, moving to his medicine bag on the table in the middle of the room. Kat sat up and watched while he dug through his bag. He seemed disappointed, as if he had left something behind.
"What's wrong?" she asked, giving another sniffle.
"I left the herbal teas at the office. I'll have to stop at the inn and get some, I'm sure Doug will have some on hand and the inn is much closer then my office." he said. "Stay in bed until I get back, okay?"
Kat nodded, lowering herself back into the sheets of her bed. He was out the door faster then she had ever seen him move. Something was different about him. He seemed a little colder, she wasn't sure how to read him. She had only been here for less then two weeks but in that time she liked to think she had most of the people here figured out. The Doctor especially. She could have pondered on the thoughts a lot more but now that she actually had a real ailment, she was going to take his advice and get some rest while he was gone.
The Doctor had head into town with strides full of purpose while he walked to the inn. Twilight Farm wasn't far from it so in no time he had arrived and pushed the door to the inn open. Doug was standing behind the counter, drying a cup that was recently washed and with a friendly smile, he greeted the Doctor with high regards.
"Morning Doctor! What can I get for you?" he asked. He set the cup down, ready to fill it with whatever the man asked for.
"Nothing for me, but rather I need some of your herbal tea leaves. It's up to you if you want to prepare the tea yourself or not." said the Doctor. Doug looked at him hard for a moment before nodding and moving into the back. After a while he brought out a tea pot where the leaves were stewing inside.
"You can take the kettle, just bring it back. Heading back to Kat's are you?" he asked, pushing the pot over with an ovenmit.
"Ah, yes I- Wait, how did you know I was there?" the Doctor asked.
"It's all over town this morning. Someone saw you walking to her farm with a bag of clothes." said Doug. The Doctor seemed frozen, his eyes staring into space before he glanced back at Doug.
"Is that it? Is that all to the rumor?" he asked with urgency.
"That's all that I know of. Although I know the girls are eating it up like crazy. You might get more information out of them." the innkeeper replied. He lifted the teapot up for him to take but was surprised when he was left in the room by himself. He looked to the door as it swung shut on it's hinges. "Did you still want your tea?"
The Doctor was furious. Not only whatever rumors that were going on were lies, but it could hurt Kat's already dwindling reputation. He had lived here years, he already had a reputable work and people respected him for his abilities. But Kat was new and if word got around sharper that she was doing things with people she barely knew, she might never live it down. He had to stop this before it spun out of control.
He stopped on the path as he went into thought. The girls gathered together nearly every day at the square to discuss the latest gossip. He was sure they would be there and he could put an end to the gossip before it rooted. With swift footsteps he quickly moved towards the town square, hoping to catch the woman before they started discussing.
Kat sat up. Something wasn't right, she could feel it in her cold covered bones. The Doctor had been gone for some time and had not come back for at least an hour. She knew the inn wasn't too far from her farm so something must have happened or he got distracted. Slowly the farmer pushed herself out of the bed, sniffling while she shuffled to the door to slip on her shoes. Ken-ken watched his owner fumble with the door handle as she tried to pull it open. He whined and stood, trying to snap at her clothes to pull her back into the house.
"N-No now Ken-ken. I need to find the Doctor." she muttered, pushing the pup back with her foot and shutting the door behind her. The sun shimmered up in the sky, causing Kat to raise her hand and block it as she could. She didn't walk, no she didn't have the strength for that. Instead she began shuffling along as she had done in the house, not caring if she was ruining her shoes. They were going to get dirty anyway when she had the chance to actually start farming.
Her shuffling wasn't suiting her well. Twice she fell face first on the cobblestone path leading into town from her farm. She tried picking up her feet and wiped her nose on her sleeve. Perhaps she should have grabbed a tissue before she left. Oh right, she didn't have any cause she hardly had money to pay for the numerous clinic visits she had to have before. The benefits of dating a doctor was that she wouldn't have to pay much for her accident prone injuries.
Up ahead she could see the inn, she lifting her steps so she walked faster to the door. It took too much effort to turn the knob to open the door. This illness had nearly drained her of most of her energy so in the end Kat decided her head would make a better knocker and slammed it against the wooden door. Inside Doug was starting to clean up, jumping from the loud bangs coming from the door. He stood still a moment but rushed to the door when the bangs become louder and more urgent. He quickly opened the door to let Kat fall in.
"Kat? What are you doing here? You look horrible!" he shouted, stepping back before leaning down and pulling her in.
"Is … the Doctor here?" she asked, glancing up at him with almost bloodshot eyes.
"Well, he was, but not anymore." said Doug, propping her up in a chair.
"Where did he go? He was supposed to be getting some kind of herbal tea for me."
"For you?" he gasped. "Of course! You're sick! Here, stay here and I'll go get the pot."
Kat listened, not really in the well state of mind to disobey. Doug shot to the kitchen, coming out a few moments later with the tea pot and a cup. He quickly poured the tea and offered it to her where she held the cup with both her hands and stared into it. She never really had herbal tea before, but anything was better then not being able to smell anything. She tilted the cup back, taking in long gulps of it before slamming the now empty cup on the table.
"Another round my amigo!" she barked out. Doug looked at her before pouring her another cup. "Did you see where he was going?"
"Oh well, I didn't see but I'm assuming he went to the square. He seemed really interested in the rumor that's started." said Doug, ready to pour her another cup if she needed it. She gladly accepted, drinking down another cup of tea. She stood afterwords, sneezing into her sleeve and shuffling in the direction of the door.
"Where are you going?" Doug asked. He set the tea kettle down and moved quickly to help her with the door.
"I have to tell him I drank the tea, so he doesn't have to bring it home." she said with a sniffle. The inn keeper wasn't sure if he could keep her here since her condition was pretty bad, but he thought it would be better if the Doctor kept an eye on her. He opened the door for her allowing her to shuffle out into the afternoon sunshine.
Just as he had predicted, there the girls where. Sasha, Manna and Anna stood around in a group, sharing a lunch while they were catching up on the latest gossip. He could hear them gasp, giggling softly and discussing the newest rumor.
"I just heard this morning from Karen! The doctor was staying the night at Kat's farm! Do you think they are a thing?" said Manna.
"This early? She's only lived here two weeks! If they were then she's got something we don't!" said Sasha with a laugh.
"I think it is adorable! You know the Doctor is always shut up in his office. I'm surprise he's not sick himself. Kat will be good for him." said Anna with a nod.
"You're right, although I thought he was going to go with Elli with all the time they spend together." Sasha replied.
"Are you kidding? Have you seen the way he acts around Kat? I wouldn't be surprised if they had … you know!" said Manna with a giggle. The woman each giggled as if they were school girls, not too far from them the Doctor stood, listening with his eyes wide at how much the story had spiraled out of control. He grit his teeth and quickly stormed up to them, Manna the first to see him from the corner of her eye.
"Oh! Good afternoon Doctor, did you have a nice … night?" she giggled out, however the other two women frowned when they saw the look of seriousness on his face.
"A nice night? Is that what you all are thinking? That I would take advantage of Kat in her state?" he said with bitterness in his voice.
"Oh well … we all just heard-" Manna began, she was cut off when the Doctor interrupted her.
"You heard wrong. All of you did. There is nothing going on between Kat and myself, and nothing ever will! She is just a patient that needs just as much care as everyone else!"
"Ohhhh dear..." said Sasha as her eyes traveled over his shoulder. His eyes followed her own before he turned around, looking to the sight of Kat standing there with a look of shock on her face. He gulped, gritting his teeth before that look of fury was quickly replaced with regret.
"K-Kat, what are you doing out here?" he tried to say without a shaky voice. "You should be in bed getting rest."
"That's right, I'm just a patient after all." said Kat. She sniffled softly before turning around, shuffling away quickly as she could from the square. The Doctor reached out for her to stop her but he couldn't bring himself to move. What had he done? She wasn't supposed to hear those words, he was only trying to protect her.
"Tim, what are you going to do now?" said Anna, frowning as she watched his head lower. He lifted his head for only a moment. No one had used his first name in a very long time, everyone had just referred to him as 'Doctor'.
"I..." he tried to reply, nothing. Before any of the other girls could say anything he finally found his motivation in his legs and rushed from the square after Kat. In his head he scolded himself. He had hurt her feelings unintentionally. How could he do such a thing? He was supposed to mend people, not hurt them!
Tim's feet carried him to the cobblestone path leading past the cow and chicken farms. He had expected to see her shuffling along to her house, but she was no where to be seen. He ran down the path, rushing to Twilight Farm. He had to correct his mistake! He quickly turned the corner, heading up the dirt path to her farm just in time to see her shuffling into her home. His chance wasn't gone just yet. With the adrenaline he somehow found to rush here he quickly moved up to the door, Kat turning around slightly to look back at him as he stopped.
"Kat! Look I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-" The door slammed shut in his face as she glared at him one last time. "hurt … you."
"Go away." she said from the other side of the door.
"Come on, I said I was sorry!" he cried out, pounding his fist on the door.
"I said go away! I don't NEED YOU!" Kat screamed out. The door was thrown open, causing Tim to stumble forward a little into the house. His head lifted to the sight of Kat standing there with her arms up, clutching tightly to the rims of the side table while she held it up in the air and looked at him with pure hatred.
"W-Wait a minute!" He gasped out, backing up quickly. He had already experienced this pain before and he wasn't ready to feel it again. He quickly turned around, running the opposite way but couldn't outrun the super human strength she used the whip the side table at the back of his head. He hit the ground, out cold while the table tumbled to the side. It was soon followed by his medicine bag, his clothes, and Ken-ken. Hey, he needed to go outside anyway.
The next day the rain was pounding hard on Mineral Town. Recovering on her own, Kat took it upon herself to continue on with her day as if nothing had happened. Putting on her raincoat, she headed out the door to take care of Toby. Coughing and sneezing, she managed to get her gathering done as well, but even as she tried to ignore everything that had gone wrong it was much easier said then done. Once her shipping was finished she returned to her house and back into bed.
The Doctor on the other hand had locked himself in his office. Unable to get his message through to Kat, he withdrew to his studies instead. He rarely left his office, head buried in books and notes on experimental medicines. He refused any visits unless they were appointments. Elli could hardly stand to sit at her desk and watch as he continued to withdraw himself into the darkness of loneliness. She didn't know why he was being so distant, every time she asked, he refused to tell.
Karen was on her way to the inn today, ready to enjoy a nice glass of wine. She pushed open the door with a smile, waving to Doug and Ann, Manna was there as well, dropping off a delivery of Aja Wines.
"So did you hear that the Doctor has locked himself up in his office at all hours of the day!" said Manna as she received the payment for her goods.
"Really? Why?" asked Ann, leaning in a little with interest.
"That rumor about him and Kat?" she said. "Well turns out it wasn't true and he came to the square to clarify it. He got real angry and shouted about it and Kat heard. She had her feelings hurt really bad and since yesterday neither one of them have really been seen."
"All that really happened?" asked Karen as she walked up to them.
"Every word! I can say this is one thing that isn't gossip but fact!"
"Oh man." sighed Karen. "I feel terrible now."
"Are you ill?" asked Doug.
"No. I was the one that started that rumor." she frowned as she spoke. "I just saw him going to Kat's house with some clothes and I thought it would be good for juicy gossip. I never meant for all that to happen. I should apologize to them both."
"Good luck trying to get either of them to come out of their homes." said Manna. Those words made Karen flinch. Had he innocent prank really caused such a mess? She didn't want to, but she had to set things right. She left the inn without even saying goodbye or having the glass of wine she had gone there for. Through the rain she rushed to the clinic, hoping that she still had time to repair the damage her little white lie had done.
