Title: In Love and War
Author: CosmicalMadison
Rating: T
Disclaimer/Summary: See Chapter One
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Chapter Two - The Procedure
Mel awoke early the next morning, already dreading the procedure. She stood in the center of the small bunk building she shared with six other nurses and two cooks and quickly got into her uniform, then headed toward the hospital.
When she stepped out the door of her quarters, the hospital was just across the clearing. It was an odd building, she admitted, made of rough planks of the local, purple djurba wood and covered with a dry grass thatch roof. To the right of it, growing off the hospital like a wart, was the mess hall and, further over, separate from the main building, was the men's quarters and small employee rec center.
The nurse headed straight for the hospital, hoping that she would arrive before anyone else so that she could see Mark right away, but deep down she doubted that that would happen. And, sure enough, she was right. When she arrived at the door, she was met by one of the two head nurses, a strict, dark-haired women named Karla Myai.
"Melalaiya," Karla said, glancing up from her clipboard, "What brings you here so early?"
Caught, Mel stuttered, "I - um - I was wondering if I could get in to see one of my patients before everyone else arrives."
"Sorry," the older women said, "I can't let you do that. It's against regulations."
Mel sighed. "I had a feeling you'd say that."
"Hmm," Karla replied, "Then it was a waste of time for you to come here so early." She swung a pointed finger to the door leading to the cafeteria. "Now march your little nursie behind over to the mess hall and fetch yourself some breakfast. Can't work well on an empty stomach, you know."
"Yeah," Mel muttered. Knowing that it was useless to argue with the head nurse, she turned around and entered the cafeteria.
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Minutes later, the young nurse was sitting alone at a table, eating her bland-tasting omelet accented by the tasteless mudja bean. Suddenly, she heard a male voice say, "Is it all right if I sit here?" Mel looked up to see one of her friends, a handsome young doctor named Joaquin Briggand, who would be her partner in the coming procedure.
"Of course," she replied.
He placed his tray on the table across from her and seated himself. Smiling, he said, "So, Mel, are you nervous about Trooper 672-A9's ankle setting today?"
"Yes, a little," she admitted.
"Well," Joaquin said, "That's okay. I always get a little nervous before a procedure too, so don't feel bad." Mel laughed at the thought. The young doctor looked confused. "What's so funny?"
Mel giggled again. "The nurses always say you're the doctor with nerves of steel. You never get nervous."
He joined her laughter. Once he had collected himself again, he replied, "That's how it would appear, but I think it's just that I hide it well."
Mel smiled again, then glanced at the chrono on the wall. "Oh, my gosh!" she exclaimed.
"What?" Joaquin asked in concern.
"I'm supposed to be getting ready for my rounds by now," the nurse answered.
"I'm sorry," Joaquin said. "I didn't mean to keep you for so long. If Karla yells at you, just blame it on me." He winked.
"Okay, I will." Mel said. Picking up her tray, she stood. "Well, gotta go. See you at 1400."
He nodded goodbye, his mouth full of mudja omelet. "Mmtil thnn."
Mel also nodded and walked away to dump her leftovers.
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By 1330 hours, Mel was already by Mark's bedside getting her equipment ready. Really, the "equipment" consisted of nothing more than two pairs of sterile gloves and a set of restraints to keep her patient from upsetting the procedure.
She was just starting to attach the restraints to the edges of the bed when Mark woke from a nap. She smiled down at him. "Good afternoon, sleepyhead."
He smiled back at her. "Afternoon, Melalaiya." He frowned when he saw the restraints. "You're going to put me in those, I presume?"
Mel nodded. "Yes. I'm sorry, but we can't risk having you upset the process in your pain."
"Great. So it really will hurt that badly?"
"Yes." She frowned. "But I'll be here for you, Mark."
He sighed sorrowfully. "Will it be just you?"
Mel shook her head. "No. Dr. Joaquin Briggand will be helping. You've met him. He's really nice; he'll take it easy on you. If you tell him to stop, he will, but keep in mind that eventually we'll have to go on."
Mark nodded.
Suddenly, the words "Are you ready, Nurse Mel?" floated over her shoulder.
The young woman whirled around to see her partner standing there. "Joaquin!"
He laughed merrily. "Something wrong, Mellie?"
She scowled at him. "You have this knack for sneaking up on people, that's all."
"I'm sorry," he said. "Didn't mean to scare you."
"Let me assure you that you didn't."
Suddenly, there was an almost audible change in the doctor's appearance and he was all business. "Okay, time to start the procedure. Are you prepared?"
"Yes, of course." She handed her partner a pair of gloves.
"Thank you." He slipped them on and moved to the end of the bed.
Mel snapped on her own gloves and followed him, lifting up the end of the blanket and folding it over so that the Joaquin could more easily access his patient's feet.
"Good," he said. "The swelling has gone down considerably. I'd say that we definitely have a go on doing the procedure right now."
Mel nodded affirmatively.
Joaquin nodded back to her. "Do up the restraints."
Mel did as she was told, strapping the cuffs around Mark's wrists and knees and connecting them back up to the bed. She set her face grimly. She was determined to show no emotion in front of Joaquin, no matter what.
The doctor looked up at her. "Are you ready?"
"Yes."
"Alright then. I'll do the first ankle, if you want to do the second."
"That sounds fine."
He nodded. "Alright. We're ready to begin."
Mel moved up to her patient's side and slid her hand into his, whispering, "If it hurts, and it will, just squeeze my hand. And don't worry about yelling or crying. Don't be embarrassed. You wouldn't be the first." He nodded, face pale, eyes wide.
She looked up at Joaquin. "He's ready."
The doctor looked at the trooper. "Okay. This is how it's going to work. First, I'll feel the bones in your foot to see which ones need to be moved. That shouldn't hurt too much. Then I will proceed to move the misplaced bones back to their proper spots. I won't lie to you; it will hurt pretty badly when they snap back into place and will probably ache afterwards. I will then apply the wrapping that will keep the bones in place while they meld back together. Nurse Melalaiya will then repeat the process with the other foot. Finally, you will be moved to the residents' building where you will spend about a week before you are released to go back to your duties. Do you understand?"
Mark nodded, looking justly frightened.
"I will begin now."
Joaquin hadn't even touched the trooper's feet yet, but already Mark was gripping Mel's hand with all of his strength. She longed to say something soothing, but couldn't risk her partner overhearing.
Taking a deep breath to steady himself, the doctor slowly placed his fingers on the patient's ankle and began to feel for the misplaced bones. Mel heard Mark sigh with relief at the fact that this part of the procedure carried with it no pain. Then, Joaquin announced, "Okay, I've located the misplaced parts and will now proceed to move them back into place." Mark nodded solemnly.
Mel saw her partner's finger enter the fleshy cavity of the ankle, feeling for the right place to move the bone to. She knew he had seized it not because she saw him, but because her patient's grip on her hand suddenly became like a vice, accented by a sharp jerk as he tried to pull away from the pain. "Hey," she whispered to him, "just try to relax. The less you resist, the less time it will take for us to finish. Okay?" He gave her the slightest nod.
Meanwhile, back at the end of the bed, Joaquin took hold of the misaligned bone and eased back toward where it should be. Mel squeezed Mark's hand tighter, he gritted his teeth, trying not to scream. Suddenly, the bone snapped into place and a screech let loose from the patient. Quickly, Mel tried to quiet him. "Shh, it's over, it's okay." He looked pale. Suddenly, Mel had an alarming thought. What if Mark were to go into shock because of the undampened pain?
As if he had read her mind, Joaquin looked up. "Is he stable?"
Mel replied with a nod. "Yes, I think so."
"You think so?"
"He is," she confirmed.
"Alright then." Her partner moved to their patient's side, opposite Mel. "That's great." He motioned to the foot of the bed. "Your turn."
Mel moved to her place, trying not to betray her nervousness to the young doctor.
"Are you ready?" Joaquin asked.
"Yes," Mel replied. She snapped her left glove once, a nervous habit she'd had ever since med school. "I'm ready." And so she began. Her foot went much like the first, albeit taking a little longer since she had not had quite as much experience as her partner. When the bone did finally snap into place, she looked up. There was sweat pouring down her patient's face and he was still rather pale, but other than that he looked fine. The nurse looked up at Joaquin.
He nodded to her. "Nice job." Then he smiled down at the trooper. "And how are you feeling?"
"A bit better," the patient managed, wincing. "They're really sore, though."
"Yeah," agreed the doctor. "They probably will be for a couple of days. But in a week, or slightly less, you should be out of this place."
Mark smiled. "I'm definitely looking forward to that day."
Joaquin echoed his expression. "I'll bet you are." Then he turned to his partner. "You did well today, Mel." he said again. "I want you to check his vitals and get Kyra" - that was another nurse - "to get him settled in the resident's building. Then you can take the rest of the day off." He paused for a moment, then said jokingly, "You don't know how much I envy that."
She smiled. "Oh, I'll bet I do."
"Hmm. All right, I have other patients to see this afternoon, so I'll talk to you later."
"See you." Joaquin walked away, and Mel turned back to her patient. "So, Mark," she said softly, "How are you really feeling?"
"Well," he replied, "my ankles hurt like heck and I still have a week before I can escape this place. How would you feel?"
She giggled. "Pretty rotten. But you'll get through it. The resident building isn't so bad. If you can drag yourself down the hall you can even visit the patients' rec center. I've heard the vidgames there are pretty cool."
"Hmm. Sounds a lot better than this place."
"Oh, believe me, it is." She started to unlock the restraints and take his vitals. "So, what are you going to do once you get out of here?"
"I don't really know. Find out wherever my regiment is - there's a good chance they've been reassigned since my accident - and join up with them again. Work on winning this blasted war."
"That's good. I hope you can do that."
"What? Find my regiment or win the war?"
"Both, of course!"
"Of course." A shadow suddenly crossed his face.
Mel stopped what she was doing. "What's wrong? Does something hurt?"
"No, I'm fine." He smiled handsomely. "Just thinking about how much I'll miss you when I leave."
The young nurse blushed. "That's nice." By this time she had finished her work, and began to put her equipment back onto the cart to take to the equipment caretakers. "Well, I'm finished now. You try to get some rest and I'll send Kyra over to get you prepped for your move."
"Okay. See you."
"See you."
She took hold of the equipment cart's handle and wheeled it toward the drop-off. After seeing it safely there, she washed her hands and went looking for her colleague.
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So, what did you think of Chapter Two? (Psst, reviews are nice!)