Watchmen (c) Alan Moore and Dave Gibbins, I only entertain this absurdly fluffy idea.
Only character I own is Samantha Haley. And a few extraneous characters that no one will remember in the end.
Please don't kill me for doing this to Rorschach. It was something I had to get out of my brain. Rated M for language and violence, 'specially in the later chapters. Not sure if can actually be called "Mary-Sue"…but don't hate me…please?
Looking for constructive reviews, please.
Author's Note: The calm before the storm, which is when she explains how she got to the hospital. Which I'm sure many of you have already guessed by now, but you have no idea what I've done to my character. Just wait for chapter 13...how unlucky it is to be her! Oh yea, we're three years from THE END! But we're like 12 chapters from over.
1972
FOOD & DRINK
Samantha awoke with a scream and startled her nurse. "Oh, god, you scared me!" Kelley said in a hushed voice.
"Ditto," Samantha half laughed, half coughed.
"Are you alright?"
"No... But...I will be, eventually." Samantha tried to smile, but the corners of her mouth pulled down. She felt Kelley's hand on her shoulder again and managed to keep the tears at bay. She closed her eyes and gave a shuddering sigh before completely regaining control of herself.
"Do you mind if I sit you up and get you something to eat?" Kelley questioned in a soft tone.
"No, I don't mind," Samantha replied.
"What would you like? We can make almost anything."
"Chicken broth...and a peanut butter an' jelly sandwich." Samantha's stomach growled as she realized just how hungry she was.
"The peanut butter might be off limits. You have a partially crushed larynx. That's why your voice sounds a little different," Kelley said as she finished sitting her patient up.
Samantha looked at her nurse. "How do you know my voice sounds different?"
"The look on your face earlier today. When the doctor was...," she paused, trying to find the right word. "Questioning you. You looked like you didn't sound like yourself. But you do look familiar, I just can't place where I know you from." Kelley shrugged.
"You might take this the wrong way, but you smell familiar to me. Maybe I drew you once," Samantha stated, trying to think, but her brain was a little sluggish. "I'll drink the broth at the same time. Make it all go down easier," Samantha smiled. Kelley grinned and nodded, saying something about it being a good choice and she'd be back in a minute or two. Samantha continued to think where she may have known her nurse from, but it was as if someone else was controlling her brain and images she didn't want to recall until tomorrow kept racing forward.
"Your order is in Ma'am," Kelley said in a joking voice as she re-entered the room. She walked to Samantha's bedside and lifted her left hand. "I need you to make a fist for me, please." Samantha's hand felt stiff, but she got her fingers to curl into a light fist.
"Tighter please," Kelley ordered in her soft voice.
"I can't with the gauze on," Samantha commented. Kelley took a set of small scissors from her pocket and began to remove the linen from the pained hand.
"This might be a little bit of a shock, so be warned." She removed the last of the gauze and the wound was visible. A perfect hole in Samantha's palm, with a new layer of skin just stretching over it. Kelley looked at the wound and shuddered. "There are some sights you just don't get used to in this job," she said as Samantha put the hand to her seeing eye and tried to look through the thin skin.
"How often do you get to look through a hole in your own hand?" Samantha inquired, a playful note to her voice and a smirk on her lips.
"But that's...just morbid." Kelley shuddered again. "Alright, enough of the macabre. Make me a good sluggin' people fist please." Samantha did as commanded. Her finger took a little coaxing to curl, but she made a decent fist. "Hold it for a moment. Okay, now fan them out and hold it." Samantha did as bidden again. Her long fingers were sore from their lack of use and she was in some pain from these simple exorcises.
She grimaced as she relaxed her hand. "Ow," she stated simply.
"You've been asleep for a week, so you are going to be very stiff. Everywhere. Do you wanna get up and walk with me a little until your food gets here?" Kelley offered. Samantha nodded. She'd be going home in the next couple days and would need to make sure her legs worked before leaving.
"Shouldn't my doctor be doing this?" Samantha inquired as Kelley removed the IV from her arm.
"Would you really want Doctor Marks marching you about the hospital while trying to extract all the data about what happened to you he could? Because that's exactly what he'd do." Kelley helped Samantha swing her legs over the side of the bed. "I want you to lean on me when you stand, okay? And I'll try to be careful of your ribs."
"Are you saying that my doctor has no tact?" Kelley nodded as Samantha draped her arm around Kelley's shoulders and slid from the bed. Her legs wobbled terribly beneath her, but she was determined not to fall. She felt a pinch in her torso and assumed it was her ribs.
"I'm amazed that your legs aren't broken, all the injuries you had." Kelley walked Samantha several steps before letting her walk on her own.
"So am I. Does Doctor Marks always invade personal space like that?" Samantha inquired, turning wobbly to her nurse; who moved forward to catch her, but Samantha held her hands up, indicating she'd stay standing.
"Only with pretty women...actually, he does it with all women. He's...," Kelley paused trying to find the word.
"A pig?" Samantha suggested.
"Unfortunately. But he's also one of the best doctors this hospital has. I saw how uncomfortable he made you yesterday. I'd like to apologize for that and any other action he takes toward you." Kelley sat on the edge of the bed, her head hanging.
"Even knowing what happened to me?" Samantha walked around the room, making sure her legs would be able to carry her for an extended time.
"All any of us know, is that you were violently attacked by a man who was killed by your neighbor while he was trying to save your life. What did happen?" Kelley pressed as Samantha came around the curtain blocking the empty bed from view.
"A lot of shit...that'll be explained tomorrow when the police officer comes back." Samantha sat back on her bed, her legs tired of carrying her.
Kelley nodded. "I'll be here tomorrow too. I've been switching shifts to try and stay here. I don't trust a pretty woman like you alone with Doctor Marks. He pushes too hard to get the information he wants. And...yea Nick?" Kelley said when she saw the shadow at the door.
"Your patients food is ready," he said, walking a tray in to the nurse.
"Thanks, Nick." Kelley took the tray and watched as Samantha got back under the covers. "The chicken broth smells good. And I told them to go light on the peanut butter," Kelley smiled as she place the tray on Samantha's lap.
Samantha half-smiled at her nurse, "I have drawn you. You had longer hair a year ago." She lifted the broth and breathed in its liquid chicken fragrance. Kelley looked confused a moment then recognized her patient fully.
"You're the artist that sits on the corner near the diner, right?" Samantha nodded, taking a sip of the broth. "You're right, I did have longer hair then. Hospital made me cut it though. Unsanitary they said." Kelley sat on the very edge of the bed as her patient ate. They sat in a comfortable silence, the occasional cough breaking it. Samantha set the empty bowl of broth down on the tray.
"Sated," she stated.
Kelley took the tray in hand and stood. "You gonna try and head back to sleep?" Samantha yawned in response. "Do you need anything to help you get to sleep then?"
"No, I think I'll be fine on my own." Samantha smiled. "I wish you were my doctor. I like you much better," she said as she made herself as comfortable as possible.
"So do I. I'll see you later, Samantha." Kelley exited the room, pulling the door closed a little.
Samantha rolled over to face the large window in her room. She gave a little wave to a figure she could just barely make out on the roof across the way. It gave a small wave back before walking away. Samantha fell asleep with a small grin on her face, Rorschach was watching over her.