A/N: Nothing to say except...ENJOY!!
Season 2 (Part VII)
Ethan and Sydney were once again sitting in his doctor's office. He was currently sitting before he, one hand on her arm, the other holding a device that she remembered using back in gym class to measure muscle mass, only this one looked more professional in its' metal cast.
"Honestly Agent Bristow, 5 body fat? You are the most in-shape woman I have ever examined," he beamed in amazement as he jotted down onto a chart.
Sydney found herself grow warm inside. She took that as a very nice compliment, after fluctuating between being too skinny and then a bit too chubby, it was a really nice change to have a body she actually took pride in.
"So...what is your reason for the visit today?" he inquired then as he laid back in his seat and folded his arms. "I thought I put you through enough pain yesterday."
"Well," Sydney began, grasping the edge of the table, "when I woke up this morning, I had to go straight to the bathroom. I didn't drink yesterday so I know it's not a hangover. And I also have this really bad cramp," she reported, kicking her legs back and forth as she sat there. "And I know I couldn't be getting sick so I decided to come in. It was either seeing you or Ruhter at St. Mary Joseph's."
Ethan felt a grin spread onto his face. So Sydney was now comfortable with him, or at least comfortable enough with him to let him examine her. He'd gained trust as a doctor, that was a start.
"Well, I guess we should go ahead and jump into this, shall we?" he pointed out and sat up in his seat. He pulled out his clipboard and began asking questions to conclude whether it was a stomach flu or something a lot more serious. From what she ate before dinner to suggesting maybe she'd reacted to some medicine or gotten a delayed reaction from her latest procedure.
Sydney answered the questions honestly, appearing very calm. But on the inside, it was a completely different story. She was extremely nervous and that didn't help her nervous and cramped abdomen situation. Neither did the confused look on Camden's good-looking face.
"Please God," Sydney prayed. "Let it be the stomach flue. I'll let him pinch, poke and prod me. Just tell me it has nothing to do with this so-called tumor that hasn't made its' appearance yet or having scary doctors putting me through more pain. Please!"
Camden had finally finished writing and he set his pen onto the clipboard and set that on the table next to him. And finally, he looked at Sydney.
"Okay Sydney, why don't you lie down so I can palpate your inner organs," he requested.
Sydney slowly laid against the table and waited for Camden to wash his hands. The sound of running water was a dead give away.
A moment later Camden stood over her, wiping his hands on a bright white towel. He placed it down then unbuttoned Sydney's white blouse then began feeling her abdomen, working his hands as though he were giving her a massage. He knew that Sydney's anxiety was growing and he wanted to make things as comfortable as possible.
"Okay, liver, pancreas...that's got to be the big intestine," he thought to himself as he worked. So far Sydney hadn't let out a squeal. "Hmm...maybe she had appendicitis," he diagnosed but immediately pushed that thought away. No, if she had appendicitis, she wouldn't be just sitting there, wondering what was going on. Appendicitis always put patients in excruciating pain, pain that would make even Sydney bawl her eyes out. He reached for that side anyway.
Nope, nothing.
"Your organs feel good, you don't even seem to have gas. You stomach is not hard so it's not internal bleeding. And if there was a stone, I probably could have found it," Camden informed his patient then turned to look at her. "How you been doing?" His mouth turned to a concerned frown when he saw that her teeth were chattering. "Ssyd, you okay?"
"No...actually I guess I should have told you earlier but your hands...they're cold," she chuckled. Camden turned a brilliant shade of red.
"Yeah, you should have told me. I'm sorry," he lamented as he pulled on a pair of latex gloves. "I mean, here I am trying to make your stomach feel better and I examine you with cold hands. That would actually make your cramp worse."
Sydney gave him a small reassuring grin when she saw that Camden really did look like he'd taken quite a hit to his ego. Camden looked sour for about a second then his lips pulled into a smile as he gently pulled the tape off the bandage then even more gently removed the bandage from the open wound. Ruhter had concluded letting the abscess drain would speed up healing. She'd had an infection inside of an infection. Sydney shifted, it hurt a little because the gauze had come stuck to the discharging liquid.
"Sorry, just protocol for the follow up on a procedure of draining an abscess. I usually look into it two or three days after but since you're here, I thought we'd go ahead and see how you were doing."
Sydney was thankful when she realized Camden was strictly examining the wound with his eyes. It was throbbing, though not as bad as her cramp, she didn't think she could really hand the pain of him sticking his gloved fingers into it.
"Okay, I'm going to take a sample with these two q-tips okay. Try and sit still for me."
Sydney laid back and took a relaxing breath. A q-tip. What a freaking relief. He wasn't going to stick huge metal probes into it again. Good, she could really use the time to think of a leisure activity she could do when she got back to Vaughn. Hmm...maybe she could challenge him to game of his favorite sport on ice, and maybe she'd let him win for a chance.
Suddenly she felt a sharp pain and cried out. It was coming from her abdomen that suddenly felt scalding hot. Then she felt it again! She groaned as the heat flowed from the affected are to the rest of her body. Camden had a innocent q-tip in his hand so what was he doing that was putting her in her present state of agony?
"You've got to sit still, Syd. If not, I won't be able to make an accurate diagnosis," he scolded her, back in doctor mode and it didn't look like he had that much patience left. And then she felt him dig back into her abdomen.
"Screw making an accurate diagnosis! That was almost as bad as yesterday!" she squealed. "And that is saying a lot," she added to herself.
"Hey, you think I like doing this to you?" he demanded, but his voice was softer. "I'm just trying to see how it's healing and you know what? It is. It'll probably be curbed by some antibiotics. You are taking the ones Ruhter gave you last night?"
Sydney nodded. Hmm...she wondered if the pills had made her sick. She decided to leave that up to the doctor. She bit her lip hard as he continued to push the q-tip in and squeezed her eyes shut till he finally retracted object and discarded it.
"Well...it's not an allergic reaction, and you are healing," he crooned. He then gave her an uncomfortable expression as he asked, "Um Agent Bristow...are you supposed to be menstruating right now?"
Sydney gave him the awkward glance he was expecting. "Why?"
"Because I ...I thought maybe I should perform an exam of your...pelvic," he stammered and Sydney's expression became even more incredulous. "It's the only place I haven't touched base on."
"Aagent Camden, listen. I...I know we had dinner and tthat was fun," Sydney sputtered, pulling herself back. "But I'm married to Vaughn, that's the only person who I'm letting look at me there. And God...he doesn't even look at me!"
Camden stared hard at her, as though he were trying to decipher whether she'd really meant those words, or if she'd been joking. When Sydney curled her knees to her chest, he concluded that she was serious.
"Sydney, I can't believe you. Do I have to shove my badge in your face? I have a Ph D and you're the one who came to me. And so I've made it my job to find out what's wrong with you," he grumbled as he pulled a folded piece of clothing and handed it to her, practically shoving it in her face. "Now put that thing on and I want you on that table in three minutes."
"There's my outrageously amusing patient," Ethan drawled. He was sitting on his stood, dressed in scrubs, his left foot sitting on his right knee. His one hand was rested on his knee, his other was in a bowl of water with a metal object resting in it. He then looked down at his wrist. "You're late."
"Sorry, I tried to do it in three minutes but go any faster and I wouldn't have a shirt to put back on," Sydney grumbled.
Camden just stared at her.
"In other words I would have ripped my shirt. And there was no way I was going to walk into my briefing this afternoon with a gown on."
"You could have worn your pants and jacket. I mean, I know Landor is a respected director but he might have let you go in with a bra. Hey eye candy is eye candy," he chuckled and Sydney's face expressed that she couldn't believe he'd just said that. He then burst out laughing. "Sorry, I was joking. A hell of a thing to say when I'm about to put you in a very vulnerable position, huh?"
Sydney gaped at him. He'd been joking?
"Did you really think that I would do this purely for my enjoyment? Ha, yeah that would be great when I'm trying to win points with my brother," he snickered as he helped Sydney into position then sat down and pulled on some disposable gloves. "You've probably had this done so you know the drill, right?"
"Yeah, sure, I have to pretend this is normal. Close my eyes and think of a leisure activity," she grumbled and shifted a little till she was as comfortable as she was going to get. "Okay do what you have to do."
Sydney felt herself tense up as she anticipated his gloved hand made contact with her body. But after the initial sensation she was as bit more accepting. She was surprised how gentle he was, so gentle that she could actually concentrate on the hockey dream she'd started fantasizing about only moment before.
The exam really did conclude before she had a chance think that it was taking too long. He was already at the last step, taking a scraping of some tissue. She felt a slight twinge but it wasn't enough to call in pain, though it made her cramp a little tighter.
"Go ahead and relax, you're pretty much done," he assured her as he put one wooden stick into a container that looked like a test tube, and the other he dabbed onto a thin white object. She assumed it was going to tell the doctor something he wanted to know right now. "Just let me get this to react and then you can get out of here."
"Wwhat is that?" she demanded, looking curiously at the object as though waiting for something to happen.
"Just something I want to test. If the results to this is positive, it could answer a lot of questions as to why you felt nauseated this morning and why your stomach began hurting," he revealed which did more damage than give her relief.
"Does that mean you know what it is?" she inquired, tears of fright pooling at the edge of her eyes. "And what does it mean if it's positive?"
Ethan felt his heart squeeze painfully at the sight of her grave expression. All he wanted to do now was hold her and tell her everything would be okay. "Syd, I'm not going to say anything because I don't want to get your hopes up or bring them down. It's going to take about five minutes to give a reading. Why don't you go and get changed into your clothes? And then we can continue our conversation from last night," he suggested a bit sheepishly.
Sydney nodded her head then went back into the other room to change. She carefully pulled on her shirt, making sure she didn't bump into the bandaged area and did the same thing with her pants. At the same time, she was wondering what more she could talk about with Camden.. what had supposed to have been a twenty minute dinner had become a three hour in depth conversation about nothing, dogs, family, his past romance life, and obviously his love for French food. Fifteen minutes of that had been an excruciating discussion of how much he really loved his brother how he really did appreciate her listening to him.
But three hours? She didn't remember having a conversation with Vaughn for three hours. That fact bothered her more than a little bit.
She returned to the room. Ethan was studying the table for the reaction, his brow furrowed from concentration. He lifted his head and smiled when he saw her there.
"Hey, it should only be a few more minutes. Go ahead and take a seat." He got up off his and then pulled out a vacant stool for Sydney to sit on.
Sydney did, trying not to be so awkward and uptight, but she couldn't help i. She felt she was getting too close to her "brother-in-law."
"So...how was your evening?" he began very cheerily, wiping his sweaty hands on the side of his rough green scrub pants. "Did you sleep well?"
"I guess," Sydney shrugged as she pulled her hair bank into a high ponytail. "I mean until I was rudely awaken by this stomach of mine." She saw how lamentful he looked and forced a smile onto her face. "What about you? How did you sleep?"
Ethan shook his head feverishly. Nope, didn't want to go there. He'd barely gotten a wink of sleep and when he did, he'd been rudely awoken by nightmares of Vaughn coming after him with a knife, screaming in his head that if he came anywhere near Sydney that he swore he would kill him. And the nightmare had gotten more graphic, more deafening that he had actually pulled his exhausted body out of bed and came into work a few hours before sunrise.
"Not too good, huh?" she concluded.
Ethan shook his head as his answer. That turned out to be a conversation stumper. The doctor became silent and went into his own little world. And Sydney didn't have the courage to say anything. So he went back to flipping through the patient's file, his brown head was bent in concentration. Sydney watched him just because of the lack of things to do in a doctor's office, thinking she knew him, three hours had exhausted all their possible subjects of conversation.
Or not. But she'd already told him more about her than she had really wanted to and she was sure it was the same situation for Ethan. She then went back to kicking her legs, there wasn't much more she could do.
About five minutes passed and Ethan finally came back to life. He examined the white plastic he'd dabbed some of her cells on. Sydney watched him curiously, his silence teasing her excited nerves. A bit more of this and she was going to strangle an answer out of him.
Fortunately Ethan saved her the trouble of going through that by making his own move first. The first thing the doctor did was laugh, which actually made Sydney angry. How the hell could he laugh now, didn't he realize she was just about to pull her hair out?
"Dr Camden, what's so funny?" she commanded, trying to appear lethal. She had a gun holster in her pant leg. Was she not in the CIA building where everything was monitored, she might have pulled it out just to give the doc a scare.
"Oh, just the fact that it seems I got you worked up for nothing! You're fine Sydney," he beamed as he continued grinning. "Actually, you're better than fine."
Sydney rose an eyebrow at him, hoping he got her, "you better tell me what the hell is going on if you don't want to hurt between the legs!" message that was clear in her expression.
So what is going on with Sydney when there is nothing wrong with her? Hmm...you'll just have to wait and see. Promise Vaughn is coming up, and it's going to be nice, almost as nice as getting married.
To Syd I mean. Hee Hee
But for those who need a little fluffy-ness, you can reread "Conclusion?" or you can read the latest chapter of "The moment we've been waiting for!!!"
Cheerio!
Total Vaughn Lover
