Author's Note: Fun fact- my second family (best friend's family) is a family of people in the healthcare field-one's an endocrinologist, the other was a nurse, one is studying to be a vet tech, my best friend is studying to be a radiologist and I'm studying to be a clinical therapist. :-D
I've tried keeping this chapter as close to legit as possible, and I apologize for any mistakes. Please don't treat this as a first aid 101. Always go directly to a professional when suffering from things like extreme dehydration or hypothermia. If you think you have a break somewhere- please get it checked out.
Anyways, this feels a bit like a filler. Not much bonding going on between Lavender and Law. So… like… read the first chunk until the divider after that and then you can just skip it if you don't want to read about Law being all super doctor-y.
So, thank you to everyone who commented last chapter, so without a further adieu: enjoy!
As she was gently shaken out of her panic, Lavender blinked the rain droplets away as she stared at a rather familiar face. It took her a moment to put a name on the face, which was quickly followed by a feeling of relief. She allowed her face to scrunch up as the weight of everything came crashing down on her. Her hands reached up to grab Penguin's suit, her fingers curling around the wet fabric like vices. He allowed her, following her every movement from under his hat.
"P-peng-..." She whimpered to the space between them, shoulders shaking as large tears clung to her lashes, "you...you left me."
The soft mewl struck the man and guilt settled in his stomach. He allowed shame to wash over his face, she needed to know that he was sorry. Lavender hadn't been with them long enough to know that each member had their own quirks and expressed certain things in different and unique manners, but Lavender needed this.
"I know, I know," he said, instinctively pulling her closer to rub her back. He had noticed the blood on her hands and clothes, and for a moment he'd thought that she was hurt. Over her trembling shoulders he spied the Captain with Bepo and Shachi in tow approach them.
"Captain," he said in greeting as well as a gentle notice to the chef. He could hear her sniffle over the rain as she took a step back to recompose herself.
"Miss Lavender-ya," Law said just as said woman turned to face him, "are you alright?"
The woman trembled under his gaze, both struggling to keep everything under control, bless her little heart, and shivering due to the temperature drop. There was blood, but all of her fingers were intact as far as he could tell.
"I- I may ha-have t-t-twisted m-m-my ank-...le," she stammered weakly. Law nodded before turning to Bepo. He nodded to the bear, who stepped forward to pick up the young chef after he had held his arms open to her.
"Right," the surgeon said before turning to address his other two crewmates, "let's head back to the ship!"
They'd set sail the moment they'd collected Ronnie from town. As Law sent Bepo, who was still holding Lavender, to the infirmary, he turned to give the rest of the crew clear instructions to prepare for submersion. Just as they'd scrambled off to do their respective tasks, the doctor retraced his first mate's step to where he knew Lavender and Bepo would be waiting for them.
When he entered the anteroom of the infirmary, a simple white room with cabinets and counters, and beds pushed up against the walls, he was pleased to see that Lavender had been seated at one of the beds with a towel wrapped around her slim figure. Alas, he frowned when he noted how blue her lips were. While they weren't alarming at this point and she had stopped shivering, he'd rather have her cheeks and lips as rosy colored as they'd been that morning. Shuffling over to slip on his coat, he approached the sink.
"Bepo," he called out as he washed his hands and pulled on some latex gloves, "please go find Miss Lavender-ya some dry clothes." The bear nodded and padded out of the room, closing the door shut as he did.
"There's a hospital gown behind you. I need you to change into it," Law drolled as he approached a locked filing cabinet. Behind his back he heard shuffling while he flicked through the different files. The night they had left Hickorytown he'd made a folder for Lavender but didn't have the time to ask her about her medical history. But alas, now was the perfect chance. When the rustling and shuffling stopped, he turned around with folder and pen in hand to see Lavender sitting quietly on the bed with her wet clothes in a heap on the tiled floor.
"So, you've had quite the day," Law commented quietly as he approached his latest crew member. Typically he didn't take such a gentle tone with his crew members save for the time Ronnie had almost drowned and gone into shock. He picked up the towel that was on the bed next to Lavender and placed it on top of her head, encouraging her to keep it on until Bepo returned with some clean clothes Lavender. It was important to keep her warm and the hospital gown offered very little to aid in the cause.
"I'm going to check you for any other injuries and address your ankle," he said, his tone rising as he slipped into his role as a healthcare professional with ease, "after that we need to talk about your medical history. Do you understand?"
Lavender nodded. With a nod in response, the surgeon set the folder down on the table next to the bed before walking over to the counter with a sink to fill up a bowl and grab something to clean the chef up with. If there was anything that required urgent attention he wanted to know about it as soon as possible.
"I'm going to clean your hands first and then hook you up on an IV," he said as he shifted through various cabinets and drawers, "you've been out there for a long time and I don't know how hydrated you are at this point but I'm not taking any chances."
He pocketed several items before bringing the water and cloth over to the bed. Pulling a rolling chair over, the doctor took a seat and began cleaning Lavender's hands. He noted how her hands stopped shaking when he grabbed them to wipe them down with the warm water. It took a while to get the crusted blood off her and Law relieved that the majority of it wasn't her's. Certainly her hands were a little cut up and scuffed, but nothing some triple antibiotic ointment wouldn't fix.
"You're starting to look like a pirate, Miss Lavender-ya," he said with humor while nodding at her hands. Indeed, instead of the soft hands that she had prior to leaving Hickorytown, they were now cut up, scraped and blistered. Lavender couldn't help the small laugh that slipped through her lips. Good, she was able to find humor in it all.
"Tell me what happened," Law said after a moment, though paused when he was met with silence. He glanced up and immediately noticed the faraway look in Lavender's eyes. He was quick to realize that most of the damage was emotional rather than physical. He'd have to address that too.
"Lavender-ya," he said, dropping the "miss", "I need to know incase something could be wrong internally. Did you fall, or did you run into anything?" The strawberry blonde struggled for a moment and for the most part refused to meet his eyes.
"I-...I got tackled," she said and continued before he could ask her, "b-by one of those beasts. A-and t-tripped on a root or something at some point."
The trip would explain the ankle, but the tackle…
"Did the beast fall on you?" Law asked before clarifying, "how much weight fell on you?"
Lavender blinked before slowly shaking her head. A soft "none" escaped her lips. Law nodded and saw no concern. Perhaps there would be some bruising on her legs and arms, but hopefully nothing… alarming would present itself. After he finished cleaning her up, he discarded the cloth in a hamper and changed gloves. Upon returning to her side, he set up the IV and proceeded to clean an area on her forearm. He inserted the needle before taping it to her arm and starting the drip.
"I'm going to look at your ankle now, Lavender-ya," he said as he sat back down. He reached out for the visibly swollen ankle before palpitating it some to feel anything out of the norm. Lavender did flinch when he grabbed it to gently move it. Good news, it wasn't broken. Bad news, it was definitely sprained if the way Lavender flinched and shrieked was anything to go bby. She shyly pulled her ankle out of his hands and he let it go for the time being.
"There's a definite sprain there, Miss Lavender-ya," he said as he got up to sift through the table next to the bed for some ace wrap, "I assume you know the procedure for that?" He turned to look at her with a pointed look, to which she nodded with a quiet "yes".
"I need you to stay in bed for a while with some cold compression on it every half an hour for the time being," Law instructed, regardless, "I'll give you crutches in case you absolutely need to move around but absolutely no weight on that leg, do you understand? You'll stay here for the first night."
"Yes, captain."
Law chuckled as he wrapped her ankle. Conveniently, Bepo returned to the infirmary with some clean clothes. Standing up, Law fiddled with the IV for a moment before disconnecting a part of the tube.
"Bepo will help you change," he said, grabbed her file to jot down some notes and stepped into a different room for the time being.
When Law left the room, Lavender turned to the bear. Bepo extended his paws, offering her the clothing that he had brought from her room. He'd brought her the mint green sweater she'd brought from Hickorytown and a pair of shorts. She accepted the clothes graciously and then blinked when Bepo turned around. Smiling at his consideration, the young chef shed the hospital gown and pulled the sweater over her head (but was mindful of the needle sticking out of her arm when she went to put her arms through the sleeves). The shorts slipped on easily.
Smoothing down the front of her top, she pushed the sleeves up to her elbows and announced:
"Ah, Captain Law- I've finished changing."
And as if on queue, Law strode back in, ushered Bepo out and plugged Lavender back on the IV.
"Any dizziness, Miss Lavender-ya?" he asked before motioning her to climb back into the bed.
"Ah, n-no," she said, as she readjusted her injured ankle to elevate it while Law went to fetch her some ice. He offered her the bag of ice, which she accepted graciously, before sitting down on the chair next to the bed. Law opened her folder, preparing to interrogate the woman on her health history.
"Any allergies?" He began, his pen hovering over the paper. Law glanced at Lavender, their eyes meeting briefly before the woman looked at her lap. She took in a deep breath before parting her lips to answer the litany of questions that she knew that awaited for her.