Disclaimer: I don't own Team Fortress 2 or the classes. I only own Robin, her family, and the OC's that appear in the story.
Whoo! Back? Really? Yup! Thanks to mein doktor Crystal and to WitchThatLivesInTheJungle for inspiring me to continue this fic. :)
The following morning was rushed. Robin ate breakfast quickly, showered quickly, and dressed even quicker. She slipped into a white tank top and a pair of black canvas Capri pants with black and white chucks. Leaving her hair down to tickle at her chin, she kissed her mother goodbye and left their house.
She chose to walk down the street this time, instead of jogging. She found that she felt incredibly nervous about the physical, not just because of the idea that someone she didn't know was going to be poking and prodding at her, but because the exam was a step closer to being part of a war. Potentially. It both terrified and exhilarated her. Robin braced herself and tried not think about it. She waved to a woman planting daffodils in her garden and she smiled at a young boy riding his bike with a sack of newspapers over one shoulder.
The walk to town was short and, more than once, the young woman bounced and skipped as she went along. She fought the urge to run all the way to the army office. No use being all sweaty, she thought. With her mind on the exam, she wandered through town until she was at the office.
She hesitated at the door, hand an inch from the handle. If she did this, there was no turning back. Her mind found its way back to the serious woman who she had spoken to last time she was here. The tight blonde bun and pressed periwinkle dress and the clipped tone with which she spoke. She grimaced at the thought. Robin was, most definitely, not a fan of that woman. Sighing through her nose, the young woman decided to just suck it up and walk in. She puffed out her chest and plastered a fake, but confident grin on her lips.
The door swung open with the barest of creaks. Again, she was in the stark gray room, alone and in utter silence. The same poster was there and the same old, unused chairs. Entering in a similar fashion as she did the first time, she glanced at the wall, where a simple clock was hanging. It read '8:53'. She was early, for once.
Sitting as quietly as she could in a chair, Robin clasped her hands together and waited. Or, tried to. Not being a very patient person, she soon began to tap her foot. This action evolved into a bouncing in place to a pacing. Robin circled the room 2 or 3 times before her impatience got the best of her. She almost went up to the desk to ring the bell, but once she made it to the counter, she jumped in fright.
The woman in periwinkle sat there, calmly, with her glasses pushed down her nose and an unamused frown plastered on her pink lips. Robin put a hand on her chest to calm her wildly beating heart.
"S-sorry. I didn't see ya there." She explained. The woman pursed her lips and hmm'd a short sound in her throat. It sounded a bit miffed. Robin inhaled shakily.
"I'm here for my..."
"Physical exam. I know." The woman cut her off, exasperated. The other stood, shocked, and did not speak. The blonde secretary shuffled through some papers and removed one page. She set it down on the counter and slid it towards Robin with the tips of her well-manicured nails. "Sign this." Robin bent at the waist, eyes scanning the words on the paper.
'I, _, hereby allow Mann Co...' She stopped reading at that point. She just assumed it was just a basic waver. Allowance for the exam, release of legal responsibility and other similar things. The young woman shrugged and signed the little dotted line at the bottom. Her signature was scribbled and a bit messy, but the severe secretary didn't seem to mind as she took the paper right out from under Robin's pen. The young woman frowned, but stood straight once more.
"Alright, Ms. Cravett. Everything seems to be in order. Just step this way, please." With that, the secretary stepped out from behind her desk and lightly walked past Robin. She was shorter by a small amount than Robin, but her brisk personality made up for it.
They walked through the lobby to another door in the corner of the room and stepped through it.
"So...what's your name? Never caught it..." Robin started. The woman turned her head slightly to regard her before answering.
"My name is Joceline. Joceline Thymes." Giving a satisfied nod, the young applicant followed behind, counting the tiles on the floor as they walked.
They came into a large room after a few moments. It was well-lit and rather chilly, with sterile silver desks against one wall and a rectangular table in the middle of the room. Joceline stopped and gestured to room as a whole.
"If you would, please wait here until the doctor comes in for your exam."
"Alright. Is that gonna take long?" Joceline didn't bother responding. She turned on her little periwinkle heel and left. Robin blinked after her once, twice, before turning to explore the room a bit. Joceline never said anything about checking out the room while she waited.
The shining tables were covered in small trays that held what appeared to be medical tools. Scalpels, forceps, bandages, and gauze were the only things she recognized. The young woman noticed, in the back corner of the exam room, that there was a rather large piece of machinery.
It looked very much like a mechanical arm, with large apple shaped joints and long pincer-like claws at the end. At the end of each pincer, was a little pointed needle. The whole thing sat on a wheeled platform. It might have been the most intimidating piece of machinery she had ever seen. She balked at it and moved on to another part of the room.
At this point, Robin got a strange feeling up her spine, like small spiders or worms were slithering down her back. She flinched and turned, glancing behind her. Sure enough, she was no longer alone. Another woman stood in the back of the room, just emerged from the door. She held a small clipboard under an arm and wore a long white coat. A green stethoscope hung around her neck.
She was a very simple looking woman, with shoulder length brown hair that sported a single silver line at her right temple. Her hair was a bit wavy as it cascaded down her neck. Her eyes were light brown, almost caramel coloured, and they were edged by tiny crow's feet.
Robin jumped at the woman's silent entrance, yelping a bit. The doctor squinted at her, the expression a mix between humor and annoyance. The younger woman smiled sheepishly and stood straighter.
"Hello, ma'am." She said, trying to sound as polite as she could. The doctor nodded to her and stepped towards her.
"Gut mornink, miss." The accent was thick. Robin thought it might be German. "Please, have a seat on the table. Ve vill get started." The young woman did as she was asked, hopping onto the table. She kicked her legs a bit, watching the doctor prepare. The brunette sat on a small chair and wheeled it over to the table. Sitting, she was at chest height on Robin.
"Ms. Cravett," The doctor spoke, glancing at the clipboard, "I am Dr. Mina August. I vill be conducting zis exam and vill be recorded for our files." Robin nodded and smiled.
"Sure thing, Doc." August looked at her briefly before nodding back.
"Ms. Cravett, my records for you say zat you are 5 foot 7 inches and weigh approximately 150 pounds. Is zis correct?"
"Yup."
"And zat you have had heterochromia all your life. Your eyes do not bozer you?"
"Never have."
"Gut. Now, if you would, please take off your shirt." Robin did so, slowly, warily. Torso now bare except for her bra, she felt nervous and vulnerable. The doctor swung around and took the stethoscope from her neck, slipping the ends into her ears.
"Now what?" Robin asked.
"I need to listen to your heart and lungs, then ve vill do a few tests. That is all."
August laid the flat end of the instrument against the left side of Robin's chest, just under her collarbone and asked her to breath normally. The young woman did as told, inhaling deeply. The doctor moved down to the side of her ribs and Robin breathed again. August told her that all sounded well- 'vell'- and then slid the flat end down towards her stomach. The young woman giggled as it tickled against her side. As August listened, her stomach decided to make its emptiness known. It gurgled and growled causing Robin to blush.
The doctor smiled good-naturedly and rolled away on her chair, taking the stethoscope from her ears. She reached into a drawer and removed a small package of crackers, which she handed to Robin.
"Did you eat zis mornink, Ms. Cravett?"
"Yes, ma'am." Robin spoke around a mouthful of saltines. "My mom says I have a crazy metabolism, so I'm always hungry." August nodded and scribbled on the clipboard before standing and beckoning to the young woman.
"Come. We will do ze tests in ze other room." Robin bounced off of the table and nabbed her shirt before following the doctor. They passed by the weird machine, making Robin stare at it warily.
The other room was similar to the first, plain and cold, but this one had a small black bar bolted into the wall, a machine that Robin recalled as being a treadmill, and a small white poster with letters on it that steadily got smaller. August walked over to the bar, still reading whatever was on her clipboard. The young woman followed her, staring at the bar, curious as to what it was for. Then, the older woman sated that curiousity.
"Zis is a simple reach test. You vill reach for the bar, grab it if you can, and hold it. Zis is so we can see if you spine is straight."
Robin rolled her shoulders and stood on the little mat below the bar. August stood behind her and instructed her to reach upwards. She did, reaching up as far as her arms would go. Stretching like this, Robin could almost touch the bottom of the bar. Her fingertips brushed the underside of it and she held herself this way. August came up and ran her fingers up and down Robin's spine. Her hands were just as cold as the room and the young woman shivered at their touch.
"You can drop your arms." The doctor said. Robin did so and turned back to her.
"Have you ever had anyone able to grab the bar?" She asked August. The German doctor was writing on her clipboard and she didn't raise her head when she answered.
"Ja. Men mostly." Robin frowned and scuffed her toe into the floor. The doctor led her over to a small yellow X on the floor. She had her place her feet directly on it and pointed to the poster.
"Read ze letters all ze way down. Slowly, please." Robin peered at the poster before beginning.
"D, E, F, P, O, T, E, C." She read, stumbling on the final two letters. She could hear the pencil scribbling again. She turned to August, growing bored with all this. Just one more test, she told herself. The doctor waved her over to the treadmill. Robin stepped onto the machine and waited. August had rolled a smaller machine with a screen over to where she stood. There were long wires attached to the back of it and at their ends were small white circles.
"Zis test is to test your heart rate during stress, such as exercise, and to test for asthma." She held up the wires. "Zese are electrodes. I'm going to put zem on your chest and they vill read your vitals."
"Sure thing, Doc. And that's it?"
"After zis, you vill receive a round of booster shots. Then you vill be done." Robin sighed and watched as the older woman began sticking the circles on her chest and ribs. When she finished, she clicked a button on the machine and it hummed to life. A little green line appeared at the top, with a blue one below it and a red one under that. The green line dipped low and shot up before going flat again for a second and it repeated that pattern as Robin watched. There was a number next to the green line. '89' it read.
"Should I start?" Robin asked the other woman. With the nod that followed, Robin felt the machine kick into motion. It was slow at first, a mere walk. She walked with it, breathing calm and steady. After a minute or so, it sped up, making her jog. It wasn't a difficult pace and she kept up easily. The green line picked up its pace as her heart began to beat faster. The machine beeped in time with each beat, giving something for Robin be distracted by. Once more, the treadmill got faster. Now, she was almost running. Her breathing had become a bit labored and the green number beside her heart rate read '113'. August was watching the screen, writing things occasionally on her paper.
After 15 minutes of jogging, she turned off the machine. Robin stood, still attached to the monitor. The dips in the first line began to space themselves out and the number dropped back down to a 2 digit number. Once she was breathing normally, Robin was unhooked from the monitor and allowed to step off the treadmill.
"Alright, Ms. Cravett. Now, if you would just head back to ze other room and have a seat on ze table, I vill be right back."
Once back in the other room, Robin was laying on the table, her shirt on once more, enjoying the coolness as it seeped into her sweaty skin. She heard the door behind her open and heard the harsh clicking of the doctor's heels as she entered. The young woman sat up and smiled.
"So, this is it, yeah? 'Cause I'm starving!" To make her point clear, her stomach growled once. Dr. August nodded the affirmative and held up a small silver case.
"Just your shots and you can go." Robin winced. She hated needles more than anything. The German woman opened the case and inside were two syringes, one filled with a light blue liquid and the other with a golden one, like honey.
"Ze first vill be given in your arm and ze second in the back of your neck, alright?"
"Sure, sure...just get it over with, please." Robin closed her eyes as the other woman rolled up her sleeve. She lifted the blue syringe and held it against her skin.
"On ze count of three, ja? Eins, zwei..." The needle went in and Robin flinched.
"That wasn't even three..." Hell, it wasn't even English. The chill of the liquid made her shoulder ache a bit, but then it was over. August rubbed the spot with a thumb and lifted the other shot. Robin balked, but held still. She tilted her head forward and held her hair off of her neck.
"Eins..." A small sharp pain hit Robin and she gasped, holding the edge of the table hard. It felt like someone was dripping ice water down her spine. Her head began feeling a bit fuzzy and she shook it, trying to clear her thoughts. August appeared in her vision.
"Ms. Cravett? Ms. Cravett, can you hear me?"
"Mmmmphff...whaaiiisss haapennnfn..." Was all that left her mouth before she passed out.
Through the haze of her mind, she could feel the cold of something on her front. She wasn't moving, as far as she could tell, but she felt like she had some kind of motion sickness. Robin tried to move, but found she couldn't. She tried to think of what happened, but her thoughts wouldn't collect in any semblance of order. There was an odd pressure at the base of her neck, like something pushing down on her muscles. Then, she heard a word. A single word that broke into the fog she was stuck in.
"Wunderbar." She knew no more.
When she came to, she was sitting on the table, weaving back and forth. Dr. August was holding her wrist in one hand and staring into her mismatched eyes.
"Ms. Cravett? Robin, can you hear me?"
"Yes." The young woman mumbled.
"Ms. Cravett, you were gone zere for a minute. You seemed to have an odd reaction to the booster. Are you alright?"
"Sure, sure. Peachy. Let me just...wake up a bit." The doctor stepped back and watched as Robin regained her color. Once she felt right, the young woman stepped off of the table. A dull pain resounded at the base of her skull and her neck. She rubbed at it and groaned. August handed her an ice pack, telling her to ice it until she got home.
"Rest when you get zere and don't do too much activity for ze next few days. You'll vill be fine." Robin thanked her and left the room.
The lobby was still quiet and blank. Joceline Thymes was sitting at the desk and she glanced up as the other woman entered. She stood and walked over, a white folder under one arm. She handed it to Robin and walked her to the door.
"In the folder is your assignment, your train ticket, and a debrief on what you are fighting for and against. Have a good day, ma'am. Welcome to the army."
"Thanks."
The walk home was slow. Robin's neck ached and she fought back the nausea as it rolled back and forth in her stomach. The ice pack was nice, keeping the pain and midday heat at bay. She toyed with the idea of stopping in to the diner for a bite, but she found that her bed sounded much more comforting.
Once she walked up the steps to her house, she was immediately bombarded with questions by both her mother and her brother.
"How was the medical exam?"
"Did you see any guns?"
"Are you feeling alright?"
"Were there any soldiers?"
"Why do you have an ice pack?"
"Why do you have an ice pack?"
Robin held up a hand to stop them, moaning quietly at the headache that was forming behind her eyes. Her mother shooed Luka from the room and walked Robin over to the couch, settling down next to her.
"Are you alright, dear? You look very pale. Everything is jake, right?" Robin nodded slowly, swallowing back the sour taste in her mouth before answering.
"I'm fine, Mom. Just tired and famished." Janice smiled at her daughter and kissed her feverish forehead.
"How does Chinese honey glazed ribs, corn on the cob, and baked potato sound, then?"
"Heavenly."
End scene. :p Well, hope that wasn't too boring for y'all...even though there is like ONE person who will let me know. Haha...not really laughing. For those of you who are actually reading, (cough cough- Witch- cough cough) let me know how you liked it. It was a bit slow, sorry. Medical exams are hard to write. Next chapter will be better!
Review, chickadees! Please please please! More will come if I get reviews!