The Native American Patient

---Begin Chapter---

Tara woke only an hour before sun up. She sat up on the couch and looked around, where was she? She got up, still wearing yesterdays clothes, she saw on a little coffee table were pictures of that doctor she saw. She looked at it a while then walked into the kitchen. A small but cozy kitchen. She heard a door open from behind her and a man stepped out of a room, it was that doctor! He was fully dressed in a shirt and jeans with socks (his shoes lay near the door).

"Oh, so you're awake?" He said passing her to get his precious coffee ready.

"Barely, just got up," she mumble back. Nick nodded.

"You feel exhausted?" He asked taking a sip of his hot coffee.

Tara just yawned and nodded. Then she said, "What am I doing here?"

"Well, I didn't want you running away, not while you have mono. You're spleen could burst, you could collapse of exhaustion etc.," Nick said sitting at his kitchen table. Tara sighed exasperatedly and sat down opposite of him.

"I don't need you butting into my life."

"You were the one who called, you were the one who told me where you were. If you didn't want help then you wouldn't've called or gave out where you were."

"I just needed someone to talk to, and I didn't think you'd make a big deal out of things! Listen, I can do just fine on my own with or without your help. Let me go where I want."

"Where do you want to go?"

"Home!"

"Home huh? Isn't that a few streets down?"

"No, that's a house, my home is where my family is!"

"You can't go there, you know what the judge said. You can't live there because your family isn't financially fit to have you. The only family that can take you is your father."

"I don't want to live with him, Doc! He's a bastard, he is a womanizer and I hate him!"

"Then you can live with me."

"No! If I do Rice'll find out and he'll sue you for kidnapping, I have to leave."

"Rice?"

"That's the name of my 'father'," Tara said with disgust.

"Why would he sue? If he did then that shows he cares for you, does it not?"

"You don't get it, he's a local wrestler, he's a lawyer and he's greedy beyond belief! He'll do anything to get more money and he knows doctors have loads of money," Tara said with disgust. "He'll do anything, he's a criminal but his influence with strength and money keeps the law away from him. He's a drug lord too, and he has his own street gang and another gang that's like a throw back to the 1930's gang."

"Why don't you turn him in?"

"I already told you! Or do you not listen?? His money and strength keep the law off of him, also because he's a very powerful lawyer."

"You mean your father is Heath Rice?"

"Heath the Death."

"Oh my god!"

"I know, it's a hard life being his daughter. My mother married him before he became famous and evil, he use to have a heart and was nice. Then after I was born he left my mother, he was afraid to be a father, he hit my mother for getting pregnant. If I had just one chance to kill him, and make him pay for he's done to my mother, I'd take it, and I'd make his death the most cruel in history. It'd make him scream for his mother, it'd humiliate him in front of all his fans and gang members," Tara clenched her fists, speaking through gritted teeth. She looked at the table, trying to keep back her anger.

"Tara…just stay here for a while. Your father, I mean Rice won't find out. You have sanctuary here."

"No-I have to go. You just go on with your little nice life of helping people. I don't need you to butt in!" Tara said, then got up and grabbed her bag and walked towards the door but nick blocked her. "Out of my way!"

"No! Tara, you have to have some place to stay. With your mono, you could die, you have a really bad case, Tara. Your spleen is inflated, it's going to stay that way for a while, a while longer than the estimated four weeks, maybe two more weeks after this."

"Listen! I don't care if my spleen bursts, or I collapse of exhaustion! It doesn't matter to me, as long as I am away from Rice!" Tara threw a punch at Nick's face but Nick dodged it easily and grabbed her fist. He wasn't going to be nice now, he felt he had to help her.

"TARA! Stop! I don't care if your father was Satan, I'll keep you here to keep you safe. You can attend a different school, and you can even change your name. I just don't want you to die, I have failed at keeping your mother alive, I won't fail keeping you alive," Nick said, his voice hard, yet soft. "I think your mother would want you to stay with me so you could stay alive."

"Don't talk to me about my mother! What makes you think you know what she would have wanted?" Tara near shouted tears welling up in her eyes. "You didn't know her, not even a bit!" Tara sobbed. "You don't know me, I want to leave! I have to leave!"

"No, Tara, listen! I want you to stay, I want you to live, I want you to be able to do what you want without fearing that Rice will come up one day and hurt you."

"I have no fear of Rice, the fear I had of him was that he would kill my mother, and he did!"

"What?"

"Did you know that he knew my mother had mono? Did you know that the viper that crashed head on into my mum's car was his viper? He sent someone to kill her! He hated my mother after I was born, and he never liked how she was so religious, it freaked him out. He hated her so much he had already done twelve attempts to kill her. I wouldn't suspect that you knew. My mum was a very private person, not letting any slip into media. I hate Rice, he can die all I care, he can stand before God and deal with the fact that he has to go to Hell for killing my mum!" Tara's fist unclenched as she cried, letting Nick hold her for comfort. "He succeeded, he probably wants to come after me. I fear he'll kill you, and my friends. The only people he fears is my whole family. That's why I wanted to go to my family, so I can be safe without fearing that he'd kill them too."

"I-oh, Tara, I'm sorry," Nick said, totally taken aback by her story. Nick didn't know what to do, if she stayed with him, he'd be in danger- "but not if he doesn't find us."

"What?"

"He can't kill us if he doesn't find us. Does he know that you have mono?"

"Probably, he knows a lot. He knows where the CIA satellites are in the sky. He has many connections, he even knows the leaders of the Tri-ads, and has a deal of trade with them."

"Amazing, well, if we just stay low, I think we'll be fine," Nick said. "I have to go to work. Do you want to come?"

"Sure, fine I have nothing else to do." So they went outside to his car and drove off to work.

~~At Nick's work~~

It wasn't as crowded to-day as it was yesterday, people were mainly in for allergies and minor injuries, practically no need for surgeons, leaving time for Nick to show Tara around and introduce her to everyone. He even introduced her to Doctor Harriet Lanning. She pulled him aside as Tara spoke to some other patients.

"Nick, what do you think you are doing?!" Harriet nearly yelled. "You can be charged for kidnapping! She has a father, she has to be with her father. The judge ruled it, and I know, because I was there, in the back."

"Harriet, she's staying with me, she chose to stay with me," Nick said. Harriet shook her head.

"It doesn't matter, you have to send her to her father! If you don't you can be charged if you are found, I'm sure her father is already worrying."

"I doubt it, she's told me that her father is abusive. And he is, I am sure of it, and I will not let her go to someone who will just abuse her. With an inflated spleen one wrong powerful blow to her abdomen and it can burst, and there is no way for her to know until it is too late," Nick said, his intense eyes staring at Harriet. "I am not looking for your permission, not even for your blessing, but just a promise that you won't tell anyone about this. I want to keep her safe, and if safe is with me so be it."

Harriet couldn't argue so she just nodded and walked away. Nick then continued the tour of the hospital for Tara.

"You said I could change my name," Tara said. Nick nodded.

"Well, not legally, but I can call you by something different and have everyone else do the same," Nick said. Tara smiled.

"I want to be called Tara Melody PrettyWeasel," Tara said. "Instead of my middle and last name Lexi Froze and I want it to be Melody Pretty Weasel. Pretty Weasel was the name of my grandfather on my mum's side. He was a kind man, and my favorite grandpa. He's dead now, but I'd like to keep his name and memory alive and honored."

Nick nodded, "Then so be it."

~~End Chapter~~

Hey! I know I haven't updated in months, but I am busy, VERY busy…writing other fanfics, making two chat sites that are graphical meaning I am using animal avatars, and also having to read other stories of my friends that they just did and I've lost track of other stories!! Eek! The pressure is mounting!! And a third site is pending!

Jester