The Doctor Will See You Now

Chapter 13

Hey guys! I am sorry that I am posting this now! I had a test in my separations class (chemical engineering course) and it was worth 40% of my grade… so I was a little drained when I came home on Friday. And then on Saturday I had to catch up with all my other homework. But I should be resuming updating on Fridays again so Don't worry! So now, I give to you the next chapter!

Gapo: Gracias!

Random: Haha yeah it isn't as great as my previous chapters (in regards to the last one). I had a pretty bad week and I didn't spend a lot of time going through and editing it. I tried to take your advice and added in some of Emily's thoughts to this one. I try to pre-write the chapters and then go back to edit them so in the late "teen" chapters I will try to do a better job in explaining what Emily is thinking.

Guest: Hehe… Maybe he does, Maybe he doesn't…

Lucy: Yes I have! His hair is really fluffy! I know that he was recently in a movie that just came out called the "accountant" so I think he had to grow out his hair for the role he plays in that. So, I'm assuming that he is going to keep that look for a few episodes and then we will see his crew-cut again. Are you a Kastle fan? Because I know a lot of people on tumblr were freaking out about seeing the actress that plays Karen sitting on a Bench next to the guy who plays Frank.

Emily sat around waiting for both Matt and Frank to arrive at her apartment. Matt was even less excited to get a phone call from her, than Frank was. She figured that Matt took her advice to get some sleep since he grouchily answered the phone. That, and he could have been recovering from his vigilante filled nights—as all of the drinking and fighting was catching up with his body.

Deciding that it was as good as a time as any, she started to clean up the kitchen and busy herself. She didn't know why but she was nervous to have both Frank and Matthew under the same roof, in a small room, which could easily be lit on fire from the tension that was generated between the two of them when they were together. It was like slowly striking a match. On the first strike it may not light, but on the second or third try, with the newly added force, it will ignite. That was what Frank and Matt's relationship was like—and Emily was caught in the middle of it.

Picking up all the loose ends around her apartment, she never noticed Frank enter through the window and basically come to stand directly behind her. As Emily swung around on the balls of her feet from picking up the last mug that was on her coffee table, she ran smack dab into his chest.

"Hump…" Emily said with the rush of air coming from her mouth.

Emily looked up at the mass that was blocking her pivot and realized that she smacked into Frank. Taking a step back and casually rubbing her nose, she spoke.

"Shit… I'm sorry I didn't see or hear you come in…"

"It's okay ma'am. I should have made a noise."

"What did I say about calling me ma'am, Frank?" Emily grinned as there was a hint of laughter in her eyes.

"Well, I'm glad to see that you are okay, Doc… you… nevermind"

Emily cocked her head to the side as she watched Frank scratch his nose. It was almost like he was about to say that he worried her… but Emily couldn't sit on the thought as Max came barreling towards the two of them. Emily quickly sidestepped to avoid the seventy-pound beast as the ball of fur hurled its way towards Frank.

Frank took it all in stride as the dog barely made him move from the force of jumping on him all the while with his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. Emily always liked how Frank interacted with Max, since he always seemed to act more normal. His face seemed to light up and his body relaxed slightly, and Emily could tell by the way that his shoulders seem to loosen. It was as if in the instant he was petting Max; he was able to not have the world on his shoulders.

'I wish that I could bear some of that weight…' Emily thought to herself and looked at Frank leaning down to rub Max's belly. She wanted to keep this picture engrained in her head as long as she could because she knew that this scene wouldn't be happening again anytime soon. All the while, Emily knew that not only did she want to remember this image, but she felt like she wanted to make sure Frank could always come here and feel like he didn't have to put up his walls.

She wanted to make a place where Frank knew that he could trust someone so that the weight of the world wasn't crashing down on his shoulders alone… that it was a shared effort between the two of them. Emily was about to elaborate more on the thought but she heard a knocking sound towards her open window, the one that Frank just came through.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything here" Matt coughed trying in vain to clear his throat.

Emily turned her head to look at the man in red and saw him motioning in-between Frank and herself. She didn't realize it, but she was softly touching the leather of Frank's jacket with her hand. She must have reached out to make contact with him when she was mentally trying to explain that she could be the one that was there for him. Being self-conscious about the proximity of her and Frank, since Matt pointed it out, she quickly dropped her hand and stepped away. She instantly felt her hand turn to ice again as it wasn't holding onto Frank's warmth anymore. Even though it was a subtle touch, she could still feel the heat radiate through the thick leather, that Frank wore, like it was coming off of a furnace.

"No, umm, actually you are just in time. Frank just got here and I was just about to throw these into the dishwasher. I'll be right back…" Emily rushed out while awkwardly smiling at Matt trying to dodge looking at him in the eyes to conceal her embarrassment.

Emily scampered off to the kitchen with her face flushed with a few different shades of pink. However, she was able to steal a glance at Frank before she retreated completely to the kitchen and he seemed to have his guard up tenfold. Not to mention, that when Emily moved away from Frank it was like both agitation and jealousy ran across his face due to her moving away from him. But, it could have been her imagination that was playing tricks on her since never in a million years Frank could see her in in that kind of way Emily thought to herself.

"So my question is, how do you want to go about this?"

"What do you mean? It is simple we just—"

"We cannot go in there guns blazing, Frank. You're supposed to be dead and I don't want to be the one to accidentally start a war between the two biggest crime bosses in the kitchen. Furthermore, we don't have actual proof that they are planning this, and so if we do go in to scout things out and things do get messy, you still can't go around killing people…"

Emily was sitting on the counter with her legs swinging back and forth listening to Frank and Matt banter like they have been for the past twenty minutes. The only time they stopped was when Emily offered Frank a cup of coffee since she was bored listening to them bicker and Matt gave her a look because she didn't bother bringing him one. At that time, Emily just shrugged even though Matt couldn't see. It was like her own way of taking Frank's side in the debate. So, back to the present time, Matt was once again trying to lecture Frank and she saw Frank take a sip of the coffee trying to contain his anger that the held towards the man in red.

It may have just been her imagination, but each time he took a sip of coffee a warm expression washed over his face, if only for a brief instance. Also, she realized that since she gave him the coffee, he wasn't lashing out at Matt as much. He was trying to take everything in stride, maybe, if she was selfish enough to believe it, it was for her sake that he was trying to remain so calm.

Emily took a sip of her own poured coffee as she glanced at Max who decided that Matt wasn't much of a threat anymore since Frank was here. Max was casually laying on the couch with his head propped up on a pillow carefully watching the two men argue. Taking a deep breath, Emily sighed, seeing as this was not really a conversation she intended to have at her apartment. She didn't know why they didn't move to the roof, but she would have been lying if she didn't say that she was happy to be included, only if she was really eavesdropping.

Emily brought the cup closer to her face as she could feel some of the steam rise up to warm her skin. In just the past few weeks, the weather had abruptly became colder and now the weathermen were calling for a chance of snow in the early weeks of November. Not to mention that her birthday was right around the corner on December twelfth…

"Goddamit Frank! We are not just charging into the Russian's new business front! There will be innocent bystanders and I will not let you hurt them."

"I don't think that you know that I don't hurt just anyone. I only hurt people who deserve it, and those men, they deserve everything that is coming to them. They are selling drugs to minors, trafficking women, and not to mention they keep having shipments for illegal guns that we now know is going to be used to start a war against the Chinese over drugs. So, red, I think that we go into that strip joint and actually do some good in this city…"

Emily snapped her head at the two seething men. It almost looked as if Frank was ready to launch the ceramic mug at Matt's face, since his grip on the handle was so tight. Matt looked like he was equally as much about to pounce on the man opposing him. Emily didn't know if she should get in the middle of the two now, since she didn't want them to start fighting and evidently break the small amount of furniture that her apartment held.

But, evidently, it did not come down to that as the two seemed to take it down a notch, remembering where they were as they went back to harsh whispers and strong-willed opinions. Emily just shook her head at the two. They both had such strong values and morals, it was just a case in that they believed that their way was better and their own respective ways produced a better effect and outcome at the end of the day.

However, while running back over the words that Frank and Matt just exchanged, she started to put two and two together. The Russians were using a strip club, presuming to be in the red light district, to front their money laundering. Not only that, but it seemed like the main hub where anyone who is anybody goes there to get the latest news on what their group was doing. So, this gave Emily an idea… an idea to call an old friend that may not be too pleased to hear from her after her long hiatus.

Emily silently placed her mug on the counter beside her and hopped off the counter. She casually walked towards her office without Frank or Matt even bothering to see where she was going. So, she strolled into her office and shut the door slightly, so it was only about an inch ajar. Then, she pulled her phone from her pocket and scrolled to the name that she didn't think she was going to ever talk to again.

Taking a deep breath, she pressed the call button and held the phone up to her ear. The person she was calling let the phone ring twice before she heard a pounding bass sound in the background.

"Hello?" a voice screamed through the speaker.

"Hey, it's me, I need a favor…"

"Wait a second, I can't hear you…"

Emily heard a rustling sound and then it seemed as if the loud music just suddenly stopped.

"okay, sorry about that. Now, I don't know who is calling but I think you may have the wrong number…"

"Sal, it is me. I'm just calling because I need a favor from you and I wouldn't be calling if it wasn't important."

"Listen lady, I don't know what you heard but my nights of being an escort are long over. You can thank my father for that one. So I'm going to hang up now and you have a nice rest of your night…"

"Salvador Ivanov, its Emily Crawford from New York Presbyterian… and don't you dare hang up this phone…" Emily spat out a little harshly.

There was a silence on the line and a few strings of curse words that Emily couldn't make out along with what sounded like a deep breath from the man on the other end of the line. After a long, awkward silence, Sal spoke hesitantly.

"Emily, is that really you? I just… I haven't heard from you since you know…"

"Yeah… I uhh…"

"Is everything okay? I mean no offense or anything but this is a little out of the blue. The last time I heard from you was when you left me that message apologizing for not making it to my mother's wake when she passed…"

"I'm sorry I wasn't there for it, you know that."

"Yeah I do, and I don't blame you for missing it either. I mean she never wanted you to see her like that. She loved you like her own daughter."

Emily pinched the bridge of her nose with her thumb and index finger. This was not where she wanted this conversation to go; granted she knew that is was going to eventually take this path given that she called him up. But, Sal decided to move past this and continue on with the conversation so Emily could dodge some of the small talk that was transpiring.

"Anyway, I know this isn't the reason why you called and I don't mean to sound rushed but I am kind of a manager here, so I need to get back onto the floor to make sure that the costumers aren't getting too rowdy…"

"Right… so this is kind of a big favor but with your connections and all I am looking to get myself and a few others into this new club that the Russians have on the red light district, do you know the one?"

"Well, there is one that just started up out of nowhere, but as you know I'm not really in that life anymore…"

"Yeah, I need to get into that one."

"I can see what I can do but why do you need to go there? It really isn't a place you should go given all of the issues that have been happening lately. Plus, only recently that punisher guy was running around and they still haven't caught that guy who dresses up in that stupid red ninja costume…"

Emily cleared her throat indicating that Sal was getting off topic.

"Anyway, I'll make a few calls and see what I can do. I have to warn you though…"

"Warn me about what?"

"This isn't your typical strip joint, from what I heard. It's like this sort of escort service where men go to basically buy premium product to word it nicely."

Emily sort of winced at the warning and started fiddling with the corner of her desk.

"Thank you for the heads up. But let me know if you can get me in there, preferably tonight. My friends have some business and that's the reason for all of this."

"… If your friends are involved with the type of people who are running that place, then I have to say that you should probably start picking new friends Emily. Granted, I'm not one to judge" Sal chuckled sourly.

"Anyway, let me know once you have more information," Emily continued on ignoring the comment.

"I will, don't worry."

"Thanks again, Sal."

However, before Emily hung up the phone she heard her name being called through the speaker.

"Yeah?"

"I hate to do this to you, but if I do get you into this place, you owe me one."

"Okay, yeah that is fair. What do you want? Do you need me to swing around your club and fix something? Or dispose of something that one of your clients left?"

"I need you to pick up some hours at the free clinic I started. We are shorthanded right now and I would only make you come in once. There is this little boy and—"

"No, I can't do that."

"What do you mean no?"

"You know that I don't work as a doctor anymore and I don't help people like that and—"

"And what? This seven-year-old kid may lose his arm and there is no one else that I can ask. Do this one thing and I will call us even and get you into that club tonight by any means necessary. Please just help me out here…"

Emily took a deep breath and closed her eyes. She knew that if she could diagnose the boy and preform any work that needed to be done in ample time, she wouldn't go into shock. It just depended on how long she could stand being under the light and against an operating table again…

Taking her time to run through her thoughts she saw no other option than this. Matt and Frank needed to get into that place and this was the only way to do it and get the information they needed: tonight.

Emily gulped down the air that was constricting her throat and fought with her mouth as she heard herself voice, "It is a deal. Just tell me when and where I need to show up. Just make sure that the boy is there and everything to that nature."

"I'm glad to hear it. Give me ten and I will let you know if I got your name on the list."

With that Emily heard a click on the other end of the line and she tossed her phone onto the desk. She could feel a cold sweat start to form at the base of her neck as she placed hand there. She rubbed the skin there and rolled her head from side to side. She knew that it was a disaster waiting to happen when he evidently will call her to go to work at the free clinic. However, it was necessary in order to help Matt and Frank and with their quest of ridding the evil from Hell's kitchen.

Emily swiftly turned around with her hand still on her neck and her eyes glancing downward towards the floor, she reached for the door knob. But, just as she was about to grab onto the cool metal, it was pushed open. She noticed a pair of black boats in front of her; looking up, she saw two pairs of eyes watching her. One was that of Matt who seemed a little too excited that he was going to be finding out new information tonight and virtually breaking into the main hideout of the Russians; and the other belonged to a seething Frank Castle who couldn't believe what she had just done.