A/N: Thank you guys for all the support in writing this. I have ideas so, but I don't share what I write usually. My computer broke so this was delayed...I also have some ideas for some one-shots and the like. I run them by one of my friends before I write them. Something about heathen-istic ideas and writing. Either way, Let's go!

The Doctor is In

He got off the phone, sticking it back on the receiver before sighing and looking at the clock. It was still early but it felt so much later. It was only ten but he had been seeing patient after patient since the grimm had come to Argus a couple days ago. And the whining! These people were supposed to be soldiers! Specialists! Mighty warriors! But all they do is whine like babies.

He went to the bathroom to wash his hands and face, a common practice for him before he went in to see a new patient. In the mirror he saw an old man. The top of his head was bald with grey hair on the sides of his head. The man had large, thick glasses and a white mustache that made it had to see his mouth.
"Holy crap I'm old". This wasn't the first time he had told himself that. After 45 years as a doctor he knew he was no spring chicken. He knew what he was talking about though. Sharp as a tack. "It might be about time to retire."

There was a rap at the door that caught his attention. "Dad, you in there?"

"You know darned well I'm in here, so why are you asking!?" he said to the door not with any malice or hate but with conviction. As if he were stating a fact.

"Cordovin is back. She wants to know the status of the...glory troops of Atlas?"

That brought a scowl to his face. He quickly whipped off his hands and grabbed his trust cane before shuffling out of the bathroom. On the other side of the door he saw his son, a tall broad shouldered man with hair as black as night. He was covered in his doctors coat holding what looked like several patient files that were blue and white, the Alas files."Lets get this over with"

Going from the hallway to the main room that had multiple beds set up with people on them. Most were shrouded by white curtains as they slept, but some were open and talking to the new...guests that went from bed to bed, their leader in front of them in all of her 'glorious Atleasian splendor'. She noticed his entrance and quickly found another bed to go to, another of his patients to disturb.

Scowling again he quickly hobbled over to where they were, trying to be quiet as to not to startle anyone else. "What are you doing!" he whisper-yelled, "leave my patients alone! They need sleep!"

She turned her head and looked at him as someone would look at a bug, "oh and look who the cat dragged in. Hello doctor Whiskey."

"One time! I say you can cure a toothache with whiskey ONE TIME!"

"Calm down doctor, oh, former doctor, sorry." She got a smirk as she saw the old man turn red. Practically steaming from the ears. Time for the last straw. She waved him off while turning towards his son, who had sorted out the Atlas files, securing some to posts set up outside of the curtains before walking over to join their little discussion. "Now be a dear and take your nap old man while I speak with the actual doctor"

"THIS IS MY HOSPITAL! I HAVE BEEN RUNNING IT SINCE MY FATHER PASSED IT ON TO ME! IT WILL STAY THAT WAY UNTIL I SAY OTHERWISE!"

The moment he screamed out he heard groans from all the sleeping patients as they were rudely stolen from their slumber. One even started screaming 'Griffons! Griffons everywhere!' before whimpering. Needless to say Cordovin was not impressed. "You just set back my troops all because of your selfish sense of pride. The glory of Atlas cannot be sullied and I need my troops back. Increase your healing by about thirty percent so I don't have to ask for more from Atlas."

"You know what needs healing? I'm gonna shove my boot so far up your-" he was cut off as his son picked him up and covered his mouth with his hand.

"Cordovin", his son said, "you know that your troops get the best care we can. We know we got the stragglers because your Atlas wards are full but you have to understand our predicament. We are not used to this many people."

"Such a charmer, but you make more sense than your father doctor-"

"Bronze, Dr. Bronze. I thank you Cordovin for your protection and your patience in this matter"

Cordovin looked over the large man and smiled. "You know that offer last year still stands. You have the stature of a Atleasian soldier, and in the medical field you are the best the locals have to offer. I can still pull some strings and get you put into my ward."

The old doctor still in his sons arms stopped squirming to glare daggers at the she-devil trying to put its claws into his son.

Cordovin notices of course, giving a full on smile. "Aww, he looks like an angry chihuahua". Looking back up at his son she continued, "I'm leaving now. I have spoken to some of my people here and am satisfied, and I have fulfilled my goal here as well. Do give the old man his rest now." She pointed at the ground, waiting for the large doctor to bend down and look before patting the old man's head, being able to reach it now before quickly leaving.

"Is she gone?" some random patient asked.

"She's gone," another responded.

"Good, I want some water!" he called back.

"Oh, me too, and some sweets!"

"Doc! Help us!"

The old man, now back to leaning on his cane looked between the beds and the whining patients, then to his son who was staring at him while the nurses went to pacify the soldiers. "Shut-up and sleep, or I'll give you something to whine about. You babies"

"I hate that woman, you know that!" he said pushing into his back office that was covered in Atlas legal papers, "And I am a real doctor! I'm no spring chicken, but I am a real doctor or my name isn't Doctor Sage P. Bronze!"

"I know father, but you let her get to you. Don't let her get to you and you may be surprised how easy she is to work with"

"The phone starts ringing and the old doctor passes the cordless phone to go over to the landline phone to answer it. "HA! Nothing surprises me anymore. I've heard it all." He picks up the phone and says hello

"DOCTOR!"

"Wha!" He flails pulling the phone away from his ear as he hears a jumble of screaming, crying, whining, and what could be words(?) coming over the line. His son quickly takes the phone and tries to calm down the person on the line before giving the line back to his father.

"I'm sorry doc" he hears a young woman voice that he easily recognizes as Sherry, "The man I picked up the other day! His aura is unlocked, but it doesn't seem to be helping him any! I-I-I just don't know what to do! What do I, whaaa!" He hears crashing, splashing and what sounded like a man yelling before the rush of feet. "I messed it up again!" Then the line went dead.

"The old man pulled the phone away and looks at it with a blank expression. His son looked at him and says "What is dad? Trouble?"

"The old man put the phone back on the hook before looking at his son and sighing. "We need to go out to the old Letitia house before Sherry kills someone"
"Sherry? Is that Amaranda's youngest?"

"Yea, she died recently, leaving the farm to her since the other two had no interest in it. Now it seems like Sherry is in trouble." He went over to the closet, grabbed a new coat and the old doctor bag that looks somehow older than he did himself. "As their family doctor for the last thirty years, I can't just let her go through this alone." He grabbed his coat and hat. "I want you to come with me. It's been too long since you've been out of the office, you practically run the ward with the nurses."

"Dad, I am glad you want to help, but you know we can't both go. What about the Atlas soldiers? Not including the normal patients we get. If we both left than there wouldn't be an actual doctor to see people"

"Nancy, the head nurse can take care of the normal patients and the Atlas soldiers can just deal. Most of them just need rest and the ones that have aura need aura supplements. Those are already handled by the nurses. The farm isn't that far out anyway, just over the mountain to get into the valley"

"Dad, no. I am not leaving patients alone, even if they only need minimal treatment. It's my duty as a doctor to make sure they are better." he pulled his coat and gave a determined look, like a man about to sacrifice himself for love. He then looked down at his father, "Plus Cordovin would kill you if you left her 'Atleasian glory' to fend for themselves."

"Stupid woman, can't even tell a splinter from an actual medical emergency, yet she says I'm not a doctor. Show her I can, I will." Then a light shown in his eyes, a wild wicked grin grew on his face, "I got it, oh boy I got it! You can stay here today while I go. Tomorrow you can come down to the Letitia house and confirm my diagnosis, which will obviously be correct! That will show that woman that I know what I'm doing!

"There are so many holes in that plan...so many things that could go wrong."

"Ah, nonsense. As long as Sherry doesn't kill him before I get there, things will be fine."

"So, besides the obvious holes of 'how is this going to show Cordovin anything' and 'what if something goes wrong' or 'What if you can't diagnose it', should we really let this woman Sherry anywhere near this guy? She sounds like a disaster waiting to happen"

"His father looks at his watch and then back to his son. "She called yesterday about someone she found in the river. I told her to keep him rested and relaxed with plenty of food and water, if he can keep it down, until I look at him. She wouldn't give me the specifics, but based on the call today it seems bad… and he's still alive today so...all should be well...I think"

"His son looked unconvinced at the words. This was not going to go well. Clearly somewhere down the line someone had lost their mind, he just wasn't sure if it was his father or this 'Sherry' woman. "Me going tomorrow is just as bad as going today. Nothing solves leaving the patients alone"

"Don't worry son, I have contingency plans for this long ago!" The old man reached into his coat pocket and pulled out what looked like an card like someone would get for a birthday or graduation. Before his large son could look at it he placed it into a similar sized envelope. "Here, tomorrow before you leave, give this to Cordovin's guards at the gate. Tell them it is a legure from me of the utmost importance, but is top secret to only be read by Cordovin herself."

"What? This? Why would me telling them that fool them? And this is obviously some kind of card, not a legure. This will never work."

"It will work because they're idiots, just like it is a legure because they're idiots, and it's top secret because-"

"Let me guess. They're idiots?

"No, because their Atlesians, but you make a great point as well" He said while looking like he was actually contemplating the two answers. "Either way it will work, their protocol demands it..I swear they've never had one of their own thoughts in their entire life."

"You're hard on Atlas, you've always have been"

His father got a distant look, like he was remembering something he'd rather not have. "Its fine", he said with a hushed voice noticing his son's look of concern, "I just have a reason to be...in time you will too". He looked distraught. "Just make sure she gets it, I'll be going now". With that he left.

"He had never seen his father like that. The only time he ever even got close was when he talked about the wars. This letter, sorry 'legure' must be important. He held it up to the light, and right before he pulled it down, he swore he saw a heart on whatever was inside. Nah, not possible, his eyes were playing tricks on him.

"It took three hours to take his old fire dust 'medical truck', if you could call it that, to the farm. Now past midday it was starting to heat up just a little, something his old bones were grateful for. He could have probably made it in two, but his eyes were not what they used to be, and even with his glasses he had to squint to see road signs. Once off the beaten path it was even worse, having to remember what roads to go down that he hadn't traveled in months, ever since Amaranda died.

"Making it to the old house he pulled to a stop before shutting off the old truck and walking up to the door. Even with his old ears he heard cries of pain, followed by shouts of apology, followed by 'I'll fix this' followed by more shouts of pain. All together, Doc was glad his patient seemed to still be alive.

"He knocked on the door, and everything went quiet. There was a rush to the door heard inside before Sherry slammed open the door, tears in her eyes, her red hair going in all directions, and stains all over her clothes. "Doc! She looked ahead, seeing no one she looked down. Ehh you are...smaller than I remember….and...old"

"You try being tall and stout at my age and you'll pull something. Backs already killing me just from the drive." Hobbling on his cane he made his way inside, "So where is he? From the groans I expect the back room?

"Yes! You gotta help him Doc, I've tried but nothing I've done has helped!"

"Going into the hallway he heard groans and whimpers coming from the closed room on the left, the master bedroom. Opening the door, well, let's just say what laid behind that door was a sight almost out of a horror movie.

There 'laid' his patient, if in fact 'laid' was the right word. The only actual clothes he had on was shorts. The man was clearly in pain, with both his arms and legs covered in bandages being held up to makeshift cords hanging from the ceiling, until only his lower back touched the bed. He had duck tape around his head with medical tape underneath it poking out, as well as a cold, wet towel on his forehead that was low enough where you could only see half the man's eyes. Covering his neck was what looked like two old pillows taped together so they would stay in place. There was something shoved in his mouth that looked like medicine with the packaging still on it, keeping him from talking. He had burns down his entire front. It looked like he had two large wounds on his torso, one dangerously close to where his heart would be, with blood crusted on the bandages. It also seems that she tried acupuncture as he was covered in colored straight pins that jutted out from him in odd angles.

"Doc just took in the sight, sighed, pulled his glasses off his face to clean them, and put them back on. The torture device was still there, only this time the man had one of his eyes open, pleading for the doctor to help him...or end his misery, whichever came first.

"Sherry came in behind him shaking, crying, and scared. "Is he gonna be okay Doc?"

"For the second time today Doc had half a mind to smack a woman, even though he knew he wouldn't. "It's worse than I thought…"

"Oh no! I knew it! He's dying because I couldn't save him in time!" She started to stutter about 'not going to jail' as Doc stared at her, just as shocked.

"There is hope", Doc said.

"That stopped Sherry, as she felt renewed hope course through her. "There is! Great! You gotta help him, please!"

"I will see what I can do today, and I will be staying here overnight to make sure he is stable. Honestly even for me this might be too much, I'll need help-"

"Don't worry I can help-"

"NO! I mean, uhm, you've helped so much already by the look of him that he should be fine until tomorrow." The eyes of the man that looked like he had accepted his death also came back with a shine, though whether the water going down the mans face were tears or water from the over-soaked rag on his head remained to be seen. "I'll be staying in here with him. Anything you want to give him, will have to be given to me at the door, do you understand? This is purely for doctor-patient confidentiality and his health. Mostly his health. Do you understand?"

"I-I I do Doc, thank you." She left the room closing the door behind her. As it clicked you could hear her say "Yes! I did something right!" before running down the hall.

"Doc turned back around, "Don't worry, I'm here now. She won't touch you again." The rag seemed to let off more water, soaking the pillows around his neck. "Now, time to reverse these 'healthy practices' of hers".

"Doc got on the bed and was about to pull his leg out of the straps when he realized there were some pins on the bottom of his legs, and on his back. "She was quite thorough wasn't she". He pulled out one pin, eliciting a grunt and a whimper from the man. "Don't worry, she told me you had aura this morning, probably the only reason you're alive, not including her 'treatment'. But like I said, don't worry", he said about to grab another pin, "It only looks like we have ah-hundred more to go…"

The man in all he couldn't remember, had never felt so scared.

So there's that chapter. I should have another one of these up next week, hopefully alongside one of the one-shots. Until then, Thanks for reading!