Dating a warrior and a visit from a dragon lady
On another floor, Timothy argues with the x-ray tech, as he wants to see his sister.
"Sir, I will let you go when I'm finished, and I'm not finished, so just lay down and relax," the tech says in a monotone voice, as he is used to obnoxious patients on his watch. Tim frowns and blinks at the flashing lights of the X-ray machine.
His torso aches on the places he was punched over and over. His nose was undoubtedly broken, and every breath he takes brings a small wave of agony to him. He lifts his hand to his face, and gently touches the bruises left by those bastards who tried to…"
He closes his eyes, and feels tears escaping his closed lids. He gasps, not in pain from his injuries, but from despair of knowing that his own father had sent those men to hurt him and his sister.
"Hey man, are you ok?" the tech says, as he turns off the machine and turns on the lights, blinding Timothy momentarily, "I'm calling the doc, just stay laying over there, ok?"
"No need," he says quietly, as he tries to leave the metal slab he's laying on, but his arms and his back protest at the movement.
The tech rushes to his side. "No no, you stay there until the doc comes to transfer you." Tim glares at him. "Ah, you're one of the macho man ones, who thinks that they know more than the doctors, aren't you? I will say it only once:, you obey, they won't dope you up; you disobey, they'll make you see pink elephants with the drugs they will give you, capisce?"
Tim sighs, and lays back into the x-ray slab and stares at the ceiling. The tech leaves. After only two minutes he comes back with a wheelchair, and two burly nurses help him to transfer Tim slowly to the chair, and take him back to a room. The doctor, a short Asian woman with a friendly smile, is already looking at his x-rays, and waits for him to be settled down before telling the orderlies to leave and close the door.
"Hello Mr. McGee, I'm Dr. Susan Tam, and I will be following your case." She makes some notations on his chart, and glances briefly at the black and blue man who is following her movements with tired green eyes.
"Where's my sister?"
She smiles at him politely. "She's currently under observation, in her own bedroom just a couple of floors down. Physically, she just had some scratches as far as the first initial examinations went, but the doctors will keep her overnight just to be sure that they hadn't overlooked anything. I will check with her doctor about the possibility of bringing her to stay with you in the same room. If he says yes, you will be able to see her soon."
She approaches his bedside. "However, I'm more worried about you."
She touches his face, gingerly touching his nose. "We'll put something to reduce the swelling, and the nurse will also prepare some topic pomade to put on the bruises, some of them have nasty cuts that we want avoid infection, you will be out of duty for a while. You have a hairline fracture to your third rib on the left side, so no extenuating exercises for the next four weeks, until we're absolutely sure that's properly healed." She helps him to sit down and undoes some strings and takes his hospital gown so she can better see his bruised torso.
He flinches as she touches the fractured rib. "You see here, this one will give you some trouble, so I'll prescribe lots of rest, painkillers and no more fights." She smiles, he doesn't.
She looks back at her chart, and starts taking notes. "Care to tell me what happened tonight?"
She notices the agent looking down at his bruised chest and arms, and gingerly touching his sore rib. She waits patiently for his answer.
"My father sent some people to kill me."
She doesn't know what to say for a moment, and she remembers the shell shocked young woman crying in the hands of the gentle doctor downstairs, that she saw only at a glance.
She feels him looking at her, studying her shocked expression. "Surprised, doc?"
"No…well… yes… but I shouldn't be, what about your sister, did he want her dead too?"
Timothy shakes his head, and feels a little bit dizzy with the movement, "No, just me."
Dr. Tam frowns. "What kind of father would want his own son dead?"
Timothy shrugs, and flinches as the movement brings a stab of pain on his side. "Apparently, mine would. And he ended up trying to hurt my sister too."
He shocks the doctor with his reaction to her simple question, as he lowers his head, and lets silent tears of relief escape. Finally he starts sobbing, deep heartfelt sobs, as he feels the pain of his father's betrayal.
"Listen, Mr. McGee." McGee lifts green eyes to Dr. Tam. "I assure you, besides the scare, she's unharmed."
"Thank God," he says. He wipes at his nose and grimaces as pain shoots through his face.
"Now, besides the beating, anything else happened that I should know?" She studies her patient, and sees him literally lifting his protective walls. That puts her on alert. "If something else happened, I need to know," she says gently. She sees the shudder running through him.
She lifts her hand to touch him, and he flinches even before her hand lands on his skin. "Did they… try anything with you as well?" She sees him close his eyes, and his trembling intensifies. "Ok, just nod or shake your head, is it easier this way?"
A silent nod.
"Did they make you watch what they were doing to your sister?"
A silent shake of his head.
"Besides their fists, did they use anything else on you?"
A nod.
She gets closer to him, without touching. "Did they touch you, in an improper way?"
A sharp intake of breath, and she sees goose bumps appearing on his skin , and he starts to hyperventilate. "Ok you don't have to answer, just breath, relax." He obeys her voice, and silently nods. "They did?"
Another nod.
"Listen, I will need to exam you, I need you to lay down, and I will just check you out." He opens his green eyes to look at her, and she's heartbroken at the pain and shame she can see in those eyes. "Whatever happened, it's not your fault, but it will be MY fault if you get an infection because I haven't checked, ok?"
He nods, and silently lay down on the bed. She dons her plastic gloves and silently asks him to turn over onto his stomach. She moves the hospital gown out of the way and studies the patterns of bruises on his back, and slowly runs her eyes to his behind. She touches him gently on the back and sees him flinch. "I'm touching your back, nothing more."
She leans down a little, and sees slap marks on his buttocks and bruises on his legs, but no signs of forced entry. "I have to ask you, did he touch you here? Just nod or shake your head."
She sees his hands in tight fists, and feels him shaking under her hand. "He put his finger," he answers.
She takes some samples to be examined in the lab. "Only the finger, nothing else?" He shakes his head. She finishes examining him and covers him with the hospital gown. "There, we're finished."
He turns rapidly, and stays lying on the hospital bed, staring at the ceiling, crying.
"Ok, we're finished, I'll send this to the lab, and your sister can see you, as soon as her doctor lets her go."
He wipes his tears. "Thanks."
"How did you stop them?" She asks, curious, and the agent looks at her, confused at the question. "I mean, I can see that it was a very close call, and your sister seems to be very shaken up but…" the doctor looks at him, curious at the events of the night, "how did you escape? What happened tonight?"
He again surprises his doctor with a small smile on his face. "My girlfriend arrived in the nick of time and saved the day."
"Your girlfriend," says the doctor, unbelieving.
"Yep, she arrived, found us in trouble, then saved us." He adds as if he is talking about the weather.
"Your girlfriend," Dr. Tam says again.
"Yeah, she walked in and she rescued us," he says, with a smile on his face.
"Who are you dating, Xena?" Dr. Tam asks, flabbergasted.
He looks at the ceiling and frowns. "No, but her family motto's is don't get mad, get even, and all her sisters - she has four - are FBI agents," He looks at Dr. Tam, "she works for NCIS with me."
"Fierce lady, huh?" says the doctor, happy to see a smile on her patient's face.
"Yeah, very." He stares at the ceiling. "And I bet she would look really hot in black leather."
The doctor laughs softly. She turns to the door as someone enters it abruptly, a small white haired lady who is battling the hands of an orderly. "Let me go, I want to see my boy, and you are not stopping me, you you… ohh…" She looks at the bed, and freezes.
"She marched over us and demanded to see Timothy McGee. She says she's his mother, but his mother is listed as deceased," says the nurse, but the old lady waves at him, and slowly approaches the bed. She studies Timothy with worried eyes.
Timothy looks at Maggie Buchanan, who is looking at him with eyes full of worry. He tries to smile, to reassure her that he's ok, but his face hurts, and the movement brings tears to his eyes.
He's deeply surprised, though, by the effect seeing him like this has on Maggie: her face becomes a mask of pure misery, and the indomitable Maggie Buchanan does something he had never imagined he would see in his life: she cries.
"Mrs. Buchanan, I…" McGee is at loss for words, as he had never imagined that he would make the dragon lady cry.
"My boy," says Maggie her voice quivering, as she approaches his bed and gently touches his hand, "my beautiful, beautiful boy." She chokes out a sob.
Timothy looks at the doctor, who is looking at the woman crying and at him, trying to decide if she should order the nurse to take her out room.
"Mrs. Buchanan." McGee sees Maggie looking at him, who gently touches his bruised face, and he feels his own eyes watering. "Maggie, why are you crying?"
"My boy, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," she says between her tears. "Will you ever forgive me?"
He frowns, confused. "Forgive you for what? There's nothing to forgive."
"But I've failed you," Maggie says in a broken voice, "all I've done, I've always worked so hard to protect the family, and when you needed me the most I wasn't there, I created safeguards, and asked others to watch over you, but it was in vain and you were hurt," she sobs, "will you ever forgive me?"
Timothy finally understands what Joy tried to tell him, when they were talking about the differences between Kieran and Maggie in Norfolk. While Kieran's actions had always been motivated by greed and by the wish to dominate and subjugate, Maggie's actions were always motivated by the deep need to protect
"Ah Maggie, there's nothing to forgive, you did your best, we're fine." McGee says, as Maggie cries and plays with his hair. He takes her hand and kisses the papery skin on it. "We're fine, we're all alive."
She studies his bruised face, and nods. The doctor and the nurse leave, letting the two family members slowly console each other.