Author's note: Howdy, Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoy. Thank you to the Reviewers. Shout Outs at the end.
Tuesday June 1, 1971
Alice
I head downstairs still half asleep. I yawn and rub my eyes. My normal route takes me first to Jasper's room to see if he needs anything. So I head that direction without a thought to see what else is happening elsewhere in the house. Before I get down the hall I hear his voice coming from the other direction.
"Mornin." I turn back and am surprised to find him up and dressed and standing in the kitchen. He looks very smart in the clothes we picked out the night before.
"Hey, good morning!" I greet him. Since we've been here he's been so timid to be around the house without me prompting him. I'm so thrilled to see him up and out of his room. I just knew working would be good for him when Dr. Cullen asked yesterday.
I join him in the kitchen where he's standing with his crutch under his arm looking very pleased with himself.
Rosalie slides past me on her way to the table in the dining room. "I told him he could eat whatever he wanted but he said he wanted to wait for you."
He ducks his head at Rosalie's words "What'll you have?" He asks me sort of bashful. "Waffles or cereal?"
"I'd like Captain Crunch I think. What about you?"
"Cereal sounds good to me."
"The orange juice and milk is here on the table." Rosalie calls from the other room.
I hand him the spoons and the cereal and I get the bowls. We join Rosalie in the dining room and not long after Emmett shuffles in in his pajamas. He drops into the chair next to Rose and starts eating dry Fruit Loops out of the box.
"Man Jasper, I don't get it. You could lounge around for at least another week without anybody getting on your case and you're choosing to go in and work."
"I'd rather be working." Jasper says simply and shrugs.
I know it's the truth. He's wanted to be working since I met him. Being able to work means a lot to him.
"I think it's really exciting." I say cheerfully.
"I guess getting your stitches out and getting back to work is kind of a small victory, congrats man."
"Hum thanks." Jasper gives Emmett a surprised look and Emmett chuckles.
Rosalie gestures with her spoon. "So you're really going to sit in a small room and look through papers with Edward all day?"
"It's my understanding that it will only be till 12:30." Jasper explains what Dr. Cullen told him.
"Well I'm glad it's not all day maybe you won't be annoyed to death by Eddie." Rosalie shakes her head.
"Or bored out of your mind. It's probably gonna be so lame compared to the army." Emmett chimes in.
I squeeze Jasper's hand, I can see he's nervous "Don't worry, It's going to be good."
Edward
Dad leads me and Jasper through the office past the exam rooms to the conference room. Jasper keeps up with Dad as he walks and talks.
"There are note pads and pencils for you to use, there are more supplies in the closet down the hall, if you need anything just ask Linda or the staff, they're all friendly. Is there anytime you can think of the you might need?"
"No sir." Jasper answers.
"Ok then," Dad unlocks the door and turns on the lights for us. "I need to get ready for my first appointment. I'll check back if I get a minute. Edward would you give Jasper a run down of the project?"
"Sure thing." Dad pats me on the back as he leaves and then it's just me and Jasper. He hasn't said more than 'good morning' to me since yesterday, no 'glad to be working with you' or 'sorry for butting my way into your project.' Nothing.
I watch as Jasper moves around the long table that takes up most of the room. He looks out the windows and around the room. "Where does that door lead?"
"That's a closet with more chairs." I sigh.
"And that door?"
"That's another door to the hall. The bathroom is out there two doors down on the right."
He nods and leans his crutch on the wall in between the windows. Before taking a legal pad and gesturing with a pen at the boxes stacked on the back wall. "Tell me about all this."
I want to roll my eyes at his seriousness. He's actually wearing his army coat which I really can't believe he wore to work. I guess I'll be taking orders from the sergeant today. I groan internally.
"So This old doctor had his own way of keeping papers. Apparently it worked for him but he retired and gave his practice to Dad. When he did he sent patient files and all the rest of this stuff. It's like thirty years of stuff and the boxes aren't labeled. I was looking through them yesterday and didn't see much rhyme or reason. As you know lots of it is in that shorthand writing."
He nods "What's the goal?"
"This is the list of patients that are now Dad's, any paperwork with them should be pulled out and added to their files. Everything else needs to be sorted so Dad can determine if it's relevant. I guess you need to transcribe all that stuff so we know if it's important."
"Is there a deadline?"
"No."
"Alright." Jasper writes some notes down, scans the room again and then starts to work.
That's fine with me he can do his thing, I'll do mine.
Jasper
I had to shift a few things, I moved the notebooks I'm transcribing down to the end of the table opposite the boxes. This is preferable because this way I can face both doors to the hallway. Edward made a few faces but didn't say anything about it.
He's has the radio on low while he digs through the boxes and shuffles through papers. I don't know if he's finding anything. I'm mostly focused on what I'm doing.
I stand at the end of the table with my set up. I've got one notepad for transcribing and one notepad to jot down idiosyncratic abbreviations I come across. I'll need to get more context so I can try and decipher them.
The notebook I've been been working on today appears to be the doctor's notes, possibly dictated to his assistant during October of 1949. It's got mentions of births and deaths and who's had the chickenpoxes and a note of one unfortunate fella who contracted a social disease.
"I think this looks like Tom Fullerton is that a name on the list?"
"I think he's dead" Edward flipped through the list. "Anyway you should get to a good stopping point and mark it. It's nearly time to go."
I didn't realize what time it was. I look up at the clock on the wall and find that it's already 12:25. Four hours went really flew by fast. I make a note where I've stopped and close up the notebook.
I let Edward take the lead as we head out of the office. "Have a good day boys." Linda says as we head out the door to the waiting room.
Alice is standing in the waiting room when we get through the door. "Hi guys, how'd it go?"
"Fine. Where's Mom?" Edward asks.
"She's parked out front. Come on."
She walks with me as we leave. "Did you like it?" she asks quietly.
"It wasn't bad."
"Will you go back?"
"I think so."
Rosalie
Aunt Esme and Alice came back with the boys and we all have lunch. After lunch Jasper doesn't look like he knows what to do with himself so I invite him down to the garage. He follows me and we leave Edward and Alice in the kitchen talking with Aunt Esme.
He brings his crutch this time. He lets it drop down and lean against the cabinets before coming down the stairs and retrieving it.
He joins me and leans back against the workbench.
"There's a stool if you want it." I mention nodding to it. Since he was down here last I've moved a couple stools over by the workbench.
"Thanks." He says but doesn't move so I guess he doesn't feel like sitting. I start digging through the box of spare parts I keep around, looking for anything I can work on.
I pull some spark plugs out of the box. "So how was Edward this morning?" Edward was pleasant at lunch and Jasper didn't seem put off so I imagine my brother wasn't a total brat.
"He was fine, quiet mostly."
"That's amazing. How about you?" I look over at him. He came back this afternoon looking pretty alright, no hundred yard stare or deer in headlights look.
"Me? I was ok." He takes his crutch and sets it to the side as he turns to look at what I'm doing.
I set one spark plug down and pull another out of the box. "You sure you're ok, you're not pushing to much too fast?"
I found myself thinking about the kid today. I mean Jasper. Sergeant Whitlock, I remind myself he's not a kid. It's just after getting to know him for awhile now I couldn't help but worry a little. I know Uncle Carlisle's his doctor and he didn't seem worried but there's seems to be a lot going on with him. Carlisle could have missed something and I like the kid. Guy, I like the guy. I don't want to see him hurt.
"No, it was good. I appreciated the opportunity to get moving."
"I understand that. Just know, that if you can't do something no one here will think less of you for saying no." or get mad.
He leans over and rests his forearms on the workbench. He has his hands clasped together in front of him and a serious look on his face. There's little doubt in my mind that he's just as stubborn as the rest of the men in this house. Which brings to mind another question.
"Do you think you'll be staying with us much longer? I mean you've gotten your stitches out, technically you could go now." After the words come out of my mouth I realize that might not have been the right question to ask.
It's not that I want him to go. I honestly think that this is probably the best place for him and Alice right now. I've heard Aunt Esme and Uncle Carlisle talking about Alice going to school so maybe she'll be staying for that but Jasper doesn't have to. I'm just curious what his plans are.
"I don't know." He says with anxiety creeping into his expression. I didn't mean to upset him. That's really the opposite of what I wanted.
"Well There's no rush. I think you and Alice should stick around for a bit. Emmett will definitely be disappointed if Alice isn't here to have a birthday party in August."
He smiles at that but it's kind of a sad smile.
"Does Emmett like his job?" He asks me pointing the conversation in an easier direction.
"So far he does." I chuckle. As Jasper starts fiddling with one of the old spark plugs. "It has food and people Emmett's two favorite things. We'll see how long he sticks it out."
Carlisle
I finally get a minuet after all my afternoon appointments. I have a seat behind my desk and pick up the phone "Operator I need to be connected to the State Hospital in Biloxi Mississippi."
"One moment." The line is quiet and then the operator makes the connection.
"Mississippi State Hospital front desk how may I direct your call?"
"Yes, Hello. This is Dr. Carlisle Cullen is Dr. Stanton still in charge?"
"No Sir Dr. Terry is the head of the hospital now."
"I'd like to speak with him, if I may."
"I'll transfer you now." The clerk is gone and the line rings on there end.
"Dr. Cullen to what do we owe the pleasure? Will you be in our area? I'd love to have you speak again I'm sorry I wasn't here for your presentation before I hear it was very inspiring."
"I'm afraid I'm not traveling at the moment, perhaps in the future. I'm actually calling about a young woman, Alice Brandon she has recently come under my care I believe she was once a resident of your facility."
"Really, what can I help you with Doctor?"
"I'm taking her on and I'd like to get her history and papers."
"Alright, let me transfer you to the patient Records Department and do let me know if you're ever in our neck of the woods." I agree to let him know and the line goes quiet again as he transfers my call.
"Good day Dr. Cullen," The clerk in the records department answers "how can we help you."
"I need Alice Brandon's patient file and any paperwork accompanying it."
"Alice Brandon, let me check the files please hold..."
"certainly" It takes a minute or so. I sit at my desk tapping the fancy pen Esme gave me for Christmas.
"... Dr. Cullen, I have a record of her in-processing but I'm afraid we have no other record of this patient."
"How is that possible?" It seems highly unlikely that if she was there for any length of time that there wouldn't be more.
"I'll admit it is odd. The only thing I can think is that they've been misfiled."
"Alice is her middle name. Her first name is Mary."
"I have that here, that doesn't appear to be the issue."
"Alice may have run away from your facility."
"Really?" He sounds surprised.
"I don't know all the details but that is a possibility."
"Well then it's possible that my predecessor gave her file to the police. You may have to take it up with them."
"I see." That will make things a bit more interesting. "Will you please send me what you do have."
I make a few notes. It looks like it's going to be a bit more work than I thought to get Alice sorted. That's fine, it's nothing Esme and I haven't faced before. Getting Edward back into the country after his parents asked me to take him had been a tangle of red tape. Things that are worth it are worth working for.
Tbc...
Author's note: Thank you for reading and thanks for reviewing. If there are glaring errors please let me know so I can fix them.
Jasper and Edward going through medical records and stuff seems a bit odd with privacy laws now, I'm justifying it by saying it was the 70s things were a little different then. So much in this story is justifying that way. I don't know I wasn't alive then it could have been that way.
Thank you For the Reviews! I'm sorry the site was having issues with reviews for awhile I'm glad they are working again.
Shout Outs!
Jenandberry: Alice deserves all the hugs and I'm hoping Jasper and Edward's will get along eventually
baby Cyclops: I love Jasper and Alice protecting and taking care of each other. I want Jasper Edward to bond I need to get Edward to cooperate.
street scene: I liked that moment, Jasper's got a wicked death glare.
Opinion: Edward needs to be brought down a peg, he's really just a little punk.
Fourjays: Definitely interesting Edward's gonna have to deal.
Peekaboo Smiles: Thank you and Thank you to the Reviewers for being so helpful and wonderful!
Granny: I think it's gonna take a few chapters, especially the way my plans always get drawn out, to get to her but that is the end game for this part of the story. I'm excited.
Welsh Angharad: Will have to have Emmett talk about his job soon.
Opinion: Sorry about the site breaking. I was distressed myself. I don't moderate unless something is super inappropriate, I value all reviewers. Thank you for your reviews and interest in the story.
Sky Dog: Sorry the site was down it was super frustrating. Whump, angst and fluff are what I'm here for so there will be more.
Brazos: My hope is that Edward and Jasper will eventually get alone and Edward will be cool. Hopefully that won't take too long. I don't want Edward to be a brat forever.
Brazos Again: Interesting thoughts! Emmett seeing his hip would be a good moment. I've gone back and forth with how much Jasper will be able to physically do in the future. I think I want him to at least keep a slight limp. I already wrote the Ep for Shrapnel where Jasper still has the crutch in December so I'll stick with that. I have an idea for at least one baseball game he'll play in.
Georgia Peaches: totally, I'll have to think about bringing Bobby back at some point.
Evangeline: That was a sweet moment, Glad you liked it, I liked it a lot.
Redux: Oh Edward, one of these days I'm going to write him as not a turd today wasn't that day
Slightly: Thank you for your review! This chapter has been kicking my butt, I was determined to get it out this weekend. I hope you enjoyed.
Cheers, ~mj