You're a Doctor aren't you? – Chapter 2
Thank you to everyone who reviewed Chapter 1 and anyone who took the time to read it! I enjoyed writing this chapter so there will be more chapters in the future, yay! This chapter is longer so enjoy!
Why was he dithering about? Happy thought to herself, he never shut up about his time at Harvard Med School, so why was he finding it hard to just shove on a bandage or something? "If you're not really a Doctor, now's the time to say" she choked out as she tried to grin through the pain, the pain that was getting worse, getting harder to deal with. Happy was wary of the Doc's current inability to move, he just stood there blinking at her. What was he thinking about?
Happy was expecting him to fix her broken hand, he couldn't, could he? Toby was a psychiatrist not an ER Doctor; he hadn't set broken bones since he was seventeen. Sure he remembered the theory, but this time he didn't have an x-ray machine and a Professor on his side. If Toby did it wrong, and fragments of bone were left in the wrong place, her hand could be disfigured and painful, which would affect her work. She'd never forgive him. But, if he took her to the Hospital, Happy would relive the past and hate him forever.
Happy knew Toby was debating taking her to the ER. She knew he was nervous about the complications if he did it wrong. She knew that he'd rather take her to the hospital and get someone there to do it, but she couldn't let him do that. Happy had grown up in care homes and foster homes, passed from pillar to post by "caring" individuals; caring individuals who always ended up landing her in a hospital bed. Oh but it was always "Happy the Care Kid's" fault... "If she hadn't been taking apart my television then I'd never have tried to pull it off her! How was I to know she'd overbalance and slip down the stairs?" That wasn't even the worst Hospital experience she'd had. When she was fourteen, Happy got ill, really ill, and was admitted to a ward, her social services medical allowance didn't cover the amount her foster carers would have had to have paid, so they left her in the hospital and refused to take her back. That was when Happy ran away and toughened up, learned how to survive on the streets. She'd never been a patient since, and she didn't want that to change.
"Okay Happs, I've got a friend from Harvard..." Toby began, but, looking concerned, trailed off as Happy rose to her feet. She had pushed through the pain, mind over matter, and boy was she angry. She was angry with herself for distracting herself with the Doc, so she was pushing that anger out onto him. The shrink would call it Projection, or Displacement; or some other psychoanalytic term. She was about to open her mouth but Toby got there first. "She's a really great Doctor, I promise, owns a private surgery a little way away." He paused expectantly, but for some reason the anger had drained out of her and been replaced by surprise. "Sh... She?" she stammered out. Whoah where had that come from? She thought she was about to rant about hospitals, not women. "Is this a jealous Happy Quinn I see before me?" Toby asked with a cheeky grin. "Not to fear though my love, for she is eight years older and not my type – she took Med School the long way round. Unlike some people..." Oh God, more grinning, it was becoming contagious. Stop it! Happy berated herself; he's trying to convince her to go to a hospital, trying to betray the "No Hospitals" rule that, for their own reasons, most members of Scorpion lived by.
Toby could tell Happy wasn't onboard, he'd need another plan, and fast. All Toby needed was an X-ray machine and his Med School friend had one, he'd call in a favour she owed, use the machine, sort out Happy's hand and leave before anybody else mentioned the word Hospital. Genius! He thought, now to convince Happy. "I was only going to borrow her X-ray machine, take a look at those bones and then sort them out myself, honestly Happs, do you think I'd let any old Doctor near those fabulous fingers of yours? No indeed! You my friend are now in the much sought after care of Dr Tobias Curtis. Please situate yourself in my ambulance, well, car, whilst I call Periya, uuuh Doctor Patel, to prepare her for your joyous arrival..."
Happy was left speechless. She wasn't quite sure how to react after that little speech. She was glad he wanted to help, and to help properly, with X-rays and such like, but he was also taking her to a hospital. Or was it a hospital? He said it was a private surgery, so maybe it was more like a clinic? She kept telling herself that. Anyway, a clinic sounded more welcoming and less frightening than a Hospital. She could hear him on the phone to this Periya person as she walked through the Garage. She was glad no-one else was there to see her tear-stained face. Happy never cried, not anymore, and she didn't want it to be a regular occurrence. At least the Doc's conversation sounded purely professional, no flirting, no joking, just cold hard medicine. She was waiting for Toby in his car, she didn't trust him to drive her truck, and she was in no fit state to drive, so she waited for a few minutes. These few minutes gave her the time to think about the shrink; he'd complimented her feet in Bosnia when she'd hurt her ankle, and complimented her fingers just now. It seemed like he truly did care for her and wanted to make things work; was she really thinking about giving him a second chance? Did she really mean that or was it just the pain talking. Who knew?
"I'm afraid I don't have a siren, but I can flash my indicators if you want a more realistic experience?" He asked as he slid into the driver's seat. Happy snorted but didn't say anything, to be honest she felt a little woozy. It seemed like Toby knew she was feeling drowsy and he just started talking about anything and everything, something about not falling asleep? She wasn't sure, she wasn't listening either, slipping slowly into the black void... Until he said something that brought her back from the precipice of unconsciousness.
He was losing her to the welcoming embrace of the darkness, so desperate times called for desperate measures. He was going to talk about something he didn't want to, something to make her sit up and listen. Heather, his ex-fiancée. "I've been on the phone to Heather a lot recently because her new husband left her, took their new kids, their new house and their new money and left her living in a motel room. She turned to gambling and the open arms of alcohol and as such lost her job. She's depressed and getting nowhere. She can't afford help because she's run out of money and so, she turned to me for help. I wasn't going to, but she said she'd gamble her way back to America. I didn't want that, I want her to have a life far away in England. It would be a fresh start for her, and a fresh start for me, a chance to pursue real happiness, with the woman of my dreams; with you, Happy Freaking Quinn.
"Oh" Happy replied, the drowsiness of earlier forgotten as they pulled up in front of a swanky looking building – which didn't look like a hospital at all. One point for the Doc she thought as she looked up at him opening the car door for her. She just let the words come tumbling out, no more thinking, no more holding back...
"I think I could be Happy with you too"
A/N Hi, I'm from the UK so I don't know anything about the health or care system in the USA and my research proved fruitless so I had to use a bit of creative license so I hope it wasn't too bad, also what did you think about sometimes swapping to Toby's POV to tell different aspects, I'd like to know please :) basically thanks for reading it x