Chapter 3.2 – Medical care, Red Cross nurses and doing the right thing

Temperance saw a familiar face in the sea of white uniforms. Angela Montenegro. Working efficiently through the moans and screams of the wounded, Angela looked, to Temperance's eye, remarkably like an angel dressed in white with the red cross embroided in her apron as a talisman against death. She managed to smile reassuringly to her patients knowing that most of them would not make it through the night. With Parker still clutched tightly in her arms, she made her way to Angela and handed the boy to her friend.

"Lacerations to the legs, possibly fractures on both tibiae, flesh wound to the right arm. Name is Parker, about five years old." She then turned to the boy. "Parker, darling, this is my friend Angela. She will take very good care of you, ok?"

"Yes, Ma'am. Will you come back to see me again?"

"I will, yes, darling. But later, ok?" The boy nodded, a valiant look in his eyes. She then turned to find the American that had saved her. She found him still unconscious. Not promising. But he had saved not once, but twice. Even after she had been rude to him. A flash of guilt flushed her cheeks. That couldn't be helped right now, but the man could. All personal thoughts were pushed aside. She was a doctor and she was going to help him. She pushed the gurney where he was lying into an operating room with already two gurneys and not nearly enough space to manoeuver. She enlisted the help from the first nurse she saw, a nervous looking young thing. She snapped out an order that had the girl shaking like a leaf. Dr Brennan had a fierce reputation, so she hurried to help. Together they turned the soldier to allow a better look at the injury. She was ordered to shave the portion of the soldier's hair around the wound. Temperance could then take a good a look at the shrapnel embedded in the bone and the sand from the collapsing buildings clinging to the open gash in the man' head. She carefully cleaned the wound, took a pair of tweezers from the nurse's trembling hands and pulled the shrapnel free. There was a concussion but there was nothing she could do about that except wait and see. She always felt powerless at those times. She then took a cursory look down the man's back and noticed that the there was blood all over his back. She cut the uniform free to reveal more shrapnel lodged along his back. She took a stool, sat and laboriously removed every little bit of the offending metal. She cleaned and dressed the wounds. She had the young nurse transfer him to the officers' ward. She them went to work on the rest of the wounded that had come in.

By morning, her blue eyes were red rimmed and her back was making her painfully aware that she had now been up and on duty for more than 40 hours. Angela materialized behind her and rubbed her back gently.

"You know, sweetie, you need to go and lie down for a few hours. I guarantee there will still be war and mayhem when you wake up. You cannot help anyone if you are passing out."

"I know, Angela", She sighed in reply. "How's the boy?" She asked as Angela motioned her towards the nurses' station. There was nowhere for a female doctor to take a rest. The hospital was only prepared for male doctors. Dr Brennan had been a surprise the administration and the armed forces were not prepared to deal with. Still, she was good. She was one of the best. Not that they would tell her that.

"Parker is going to be ok. We will find his father and he is going to be ok. Now go get some sleep."

"Not yet. First I need to check on another patient. I sent him to the officers' ward."

"Who is he?"

"I don't know, Angela, but he saved my life... twice"

"Oh..." And Angela's mouth formed a suggestive little O that made Temperance smile. "I want to see him. Thank him for saving my best friend and all..." Angela was smiling now. She was clearly anticipating romance. And that seemed to be Angela's whole reason of being. She wanted to find romance for herself and everybody else around her. Which had, obviously, gotten her into trouble with the Red Cross appointed Commander and Quartermaster. Her sensitive heart was trying its hardest to make some sense of the death and destruction around by turning it into an opportunity for soul mates to meet. Even if she had to push one or two more stubborn souls along. And she did push with an alarming regularity. The thought made Temperance smile. Friendship was such a comforting thing, even in the heart of chaos . The fact that there were still smiles and friendship and matchmaking to be had from well-meaning busybodies somehow made sense of the madness. And it made the unimaginable suffering of war a little more bearable. Oh God, I must be beyond exhausted to start philosophizing on shift. She sighed and followed Angela.

The two women made their way towards the officers' ward. The room was dark, the blinds pulled down against the morning sun. Soft moans emanated from one of the beds. Temperance was trying to identify the man that had pulled her to safety, but she had no name to go with the face. She looked carefully into the men's faces and did not find the one she was looking for. She checked the charts but when she got to the one that she had prepared the night before, it corresponded to an empty bed. She turned in confusion to Angela. And when she did, she saw a shadow trying to sneak out of the room, which was no easy feat as the shadow belonged to very tall man, and, in Angela's eye, a very well formed one.

"And where do you think you're going?" Temperance almost barked at the man. She approached him and tried to take him by the arm back to his bed. He shook her off.

"Look, Lady, there is something I need to do... I'm fine, you can't hold me here. Just let me go, ok? Let me do the right thing." The pleading tone in his voice did not seem to match the sarcasm she remembered, but it was her improbable savior from the previous night. Instantly, Temperance modulated her tone to a more gentle one.

"Look, you shouldn't be going anywhere. You have a concussion, I had to pull metal from your skull and your back is ripped to a sorry state. I'm sure you must be in a considerable amount of pain. Whatever you need to do, I'm sure it can wait for at least a day..." The change did not go unnoticed by Angela. Her friend was not one to try to be agreeable. A smile crept into her eyes and she just stood by studying the exchange. Temperance was trying to steer the man back to his bed but he gave her a pleading look seasoned with a smile that reminded both women of the little orphan Oliver. Angela was ready to melt down but Temperance was made of sterner stuff. She insisted.

"Whatever it is, I can tell you right now you won't even be able to take enough steps to get there."

"You don't understand... I was supposed to take care of him... I need to go back for him"

"Who?"

"Zach... I promised his mum that I would take him back. He's just a kid..." He tried to get up from the bed where Temperance had helped him sit, but winced in pain as the shredded uniform touched the wounds on his back. Both Temperance and Angela rushed to steady him and took off what was left of the uniform.

"We did not leave anyone behind. Temperance tried to sooth him. I'll help you look among the ones we brought back yesterday. You'll probably find him flirting with some nurse..." Angela was amazed. This was definitely out of character for her friend.

"You really think so?" exhaustion was showing in his striking brown eyes. There was also hope which hadn't been there before.

"Yes, I really think so. Now, you saved my life yesterday and I still don't know your name." Temperance prompted him, running her hand down his face. It was warm. Too warm. She signaled to Angela to get her a bag of antibiotics.

"Booth. Lieutenant Seeley Booth"

"Well, Booth, Lieutenant Seeley Booth, thank you for saving me last night."

"You're English..." He stated confusion in his eyes.

"Well, yes, I am." She was baffled with the comment but put it down to his fever that was running quite high. "Should I be something else?"

"Well... not sure. It's like, in my head, you sounded different... you sounded American... I guess it must be all that metal you pulled from my skull" he punctuated with a weak smile. Angela walked back in with the IV stand and all necessary apparatus for the intravenous administration of the antibiotics. Normally, she would be the one to do this. Doctors did not bother with such details. But not Brennan. She swabbed the skin in the soldier's arm with antiseptic, took the needle and pushed it through the resistance of the skin and vein, attached the tube of plastic to the needle and verified that all was in order. She pulled a chair and sat by the bed.

"Now, Lieutenant, this will take care of your fever. But you need to lie down and rest. I'll stay here with you." As Seeley was dozing off into sleep, he looked into Temperance's blue eyes.

"You're very pretty, Doctor..." He brushed just the tips of his fingers over her face. It was a soft, warm touch that left a trail of fire. She jerked back, surprised, watching the stranger drift into sleep. Not stopping to analyse her actions she caught his strong hand in his. And watched him sleep.

A while later, Angela walked back into officers' ward. She saw Temperance sitting on a metal chair by the soldier's bed, her hand caught in his, her head resting on the white sheets, both of them sleeping soundly. She closed the door with care and walked back to the nurses' quarters with a smile on her face.