Last time; Lara does a check up on Jayne and the twins.
Now; Another mystery woman showed up.
Chapter 3- Jayne Doh 2.0
"So then after the intake form they have to fill out this, uh," Jayne paused, flicking between the tabs on the data terminal, 'Dura-Co Medical Insurance Claim' form?" She asked Wesley.
"Exactly, yeah," Wesley said, smiling at her. "You catch on fast."
Jayne smiled. "And what do I do if there's an emergency? Like if someone comes in and they are bleeding all over the place or are missing a hand or something? Who do I call? And how?" She asked.
"You'll grab this walkie and call it in, It'll go through the staff lounge and locker rooms and they will immediately move to help," Wesley told her. "And for what to say, you can use this." He pulled out a binder that was labeled as 'emergency codes'. "There are different codes for everything and they take a while to memorize. Some are more common than others and some are rare instances. It really depends. But as you learn, you can use this as reference." He passed her the binder.
She flipped the binder of flimsies open and started looking through the different codes. She wrinkled her nose. "I hope I don't encounter a Code V." She said absently as she flipped through more of the codes.
Wesley nodded at that. "Yeah, no one does," he agreed.
"Okay, I'll work on memorizing these." She said as she kept leafing through. "Is there anything else I can do? Like paperwork or research or anything to help out?" She asked.
"Let's see," Wesley thought for a moment. He looked at the desk of items before them. "Alright, here if you want to file these," he pushed over a stack of data pads. "All you have to do is this." He pulled up a form on the terminal. "You see each of these boxes? You take the information off this data pad and transfer to this form. And once the form is filled out then hit the submit button at the bottom. Can you handle that while I take these to the back real quick?" He asked as he gestured to a different stack of data pads.
"Sure." Jayne said, already taking the first pad off the stack and starting to compare the information to the form fields to make sure she had everything.
"Cool. I will be right back," Wesley said as he grabbed the other stack of data pads and stood from the desk. He then walked away, disappearing around the corner with the data pads.
Jayne busied herself with transferring the information into the form, not quite sure why the data wasn't automatically uploaded from the pad. But she supposed that the clinic had a good reason for it. After a few moments she got into a good, if dull rhythm inputting the data from the backlog of patient intakes into the system.
The door from the back opened up, but instead of Wesley, Lara came out with the mother and daughter she had been seeing for the last half hour. Lara looked right at Jayne. "Where's Wesley?" She asked, confused.
"Oh, he went to go take some datapads back a couple of minutes ago." Jayne answered, worried that she had done something wrong staying up here by herself unsupervised. "He should be back any minute." She supplied tentatively.
"Okay," Lara said then flashed a smile at Mrs. Linz. "Wesley will be right back. He will handle your check out."
"Thank you so much," Mrs. Linz said with a smile and a nod.
Lara turned to Jayne. "Come with me. I have something you need to see," she said, gesturing to Jayne to follow her just as Wesley came back.
Jayne got out of her chair nervously and waited at Lara's side.
"Wesley, I'm borrowing Jayne for a moment," Lara said as Wesley resumed his seat.
"Uh okay," He said before turning to Mrs. Linz.
"Is everything okay?" Jayne asked, unconsciously putting a hand across her stomach as they started walking back through the doors.
"Yes, everything is okay." Lara answered, "the Sheriff arrived with an update and with something you really need to see. I think it might spark your memory," she informed her as she moved quickly down the corridor towards the back entrance for emergency cases.
"Okay." Jayne said, swallowing as she was guided through the corridors to an area she hadn't been yet.
Lara led Jayne down the hall and turned as she reached the rooms in the back that were reserved for serious or emergency cases. As they walked down the hall, a woman dressed in a sheriff uniform appeared from one of the rooms and looked towards them.
"Sheriff, are they settled?" Lara asked as they stopped at the room where the door was still wide open to show what was inside.
"Yeah." The Sheriff replied, she had dark black hair and looked a little young for her position, but her eyes had a hard cast to them that belied her age. "This the girl that ran out of the forest last night?" She asked Lara, eyeing Jayne.
Jayne looked at her quizzically, the Sheriff seemed younger than she was. She thought.
"Yes, this is Jayne," Lara introduced. "Jayne, this is Sheriff Dunweather of the town of Durasteel Springs."
"Nice to meet you." Jayne said politely.
"Pleasure." The Sheriff said, eyeing Jayne, then turning back to Lara. "You said she came running out of the woods from the South East?"
"Yes," Lara nodded.
"Two of my deputies found an escape pod crashed in the forest about two kilometers from your house. Imperial make."
Jayne furrowed her brow at that. An escape pod? And what was an Imperial?
"Are you an Imp?" Sheriff Dunweather asked Jayne abruptly.
"A what?" Jayne asked incredulously. "No, I'm human." She said, confused.
"Sheriff, a word," Lara said, sternly as she gestured away from Jayne with her eyes.
"Sure." The Sheriff replied, stepping aside to the nurses station with Lara.
Lara looked at Jayne once they reached the nurses station then at Dunweather. "Lacie, that girl has no memory of who she is or where she comes from," she said in a harsh whisper. "And even if she is former Imperial or not, she ran away from that crash site and was scared out of her mind when she got to my house. So whatever happened to her, only that patient you brought in will know. But does she look Imperial to you?" She asked gesturing towards Jayne and the twins she was carrying. Jayne was standing there doing her best to be as small as possible in the space, and trying not to watch them.
"No, I guess not." Sheriff Dunweather said. "Sorry Lara, just if Imps are involved, then that makes things really complicated all of the sudden. We avoided the worst of the war and we were lucky because we should have been hit harder because of the mines. Last thing I want is the Remenant trying to setup shop here and dragging us into their 'gentle touch', and into the war." She groused. "She doesn't remember anything?" Dunweather asked curiously.
Lara sighed and shook her head. "No. She sort of remembered something from her past about zherries this morning. It was a happy memory from the sounds of it. But that's it." She said, looking at Dunweather. "And I know you are just looking out for this town and want us all to be safe, especially from the Remenant. But until they show up at our front door, the best we can do is either wait for her memories to come back or get the answers from the patient about why they are both here."
Dunweather nodded. "Yeah, Doctor Akk-Jul said that she was still under so we won't learn anything from her for a bit." She said annoyed at the situation. "Should we take Jayne in to see her, then? See if it jogs her memory?"
"That might not be a bad idea," Lara said, shrugging. "I didn't get a good glimpse of her when you brought her in, but how bad was her condition when you found her in the pod?" She asked, concerned.
"Head injury, pretty serious one. A lot of bruises and also a blaster bolt to her side." Dunweather said with a grimace. "Nasty business."
"Fierfek," Lara cursed as she ran a hand over her mouth. "Alright. Let's see if it jogs Jayne's memory. But if things become too much for her, I'm getting Jayne out of that room. She needs to be calm and relaxed as she enters into these final months. Too much stress isn't good for an expecting mother."
Dunweather nodded as they stepped back. "Jayne?" She asked. "Sorry for before, Lara explained what's going on. There was a survivor in the escape pod, we were wondering if you might recognize her?" She asked.
"I would appreciate it if I could." Jayne said, looking between the Sheriff and Lara.
"Let's just go see her and see if she jogs any memory, okay?" Lara asked, gently as she placed a comforting hand on Jayne's shoulder. "I'll be right beside you."
"Okay." Jayne said, as the Sheriff started leading them off to a room where the ER Doctor and a nurse were still getting the patient treated. The three of them stepped into the room, and Jayne looked at the unconscious woman laying in the bed. She had dark hair, dark skin with sharp features, and it struck Jayne that if she wasn't laying unconscious in the bed bandaged up, she wouldn't have looked out of place modeling clothing. A thought that confused her, wondering if in her past life she spent a lot of time looking at clothing or models. But the woman didn't look familiar at all. It was the same as all her other memories, almost there, almost accessible like a word at the tip of her tongue, but annoyingly and tantalizing out of reach. Jayne studied her for a long moment before she looked at the other two and shook her head, not wanting to disturb the ministrations in the room.
Sheriff Dunweather led them out of the room into the corridor beyond, and Jayne spoke up. "I'm sorry, I don't recognize her." She said quietly, annoyed with herself. "I don't even know if she was who I was running from, or if she saved me, or what the case might be." She groused. "Do you know when she received that blaster wound?" Jayne asked, wondering.
Dunweather looked at her curiously, the patient, Jayne Doh… Two had been dressed in a hospital gown covering the wound. "Blaster wound?" She asked.
"It was on her jacket, in the corner?" Jayne observed. "It looked recent."
"How do you know that?" Dunweather asked, curiously.
Jayne furrowed her brow as she tried to remember. "I don't know." She admitted.
Lara placed a comforting hand on her arm. "It's alright. You most likely recognize it. That's your mind trying to help you remember. The fact you recognize the wound in the jacket means you have most likely seen those before. Maybe you really are a medic or doctor?" She added with a small smirk.
"Maybe." Jayne said, still annoyed with herself.
"Well, you are right." The Sheriff said, "the wound is recent, last two days or so. Doctor Akk-Jul said he'd have more in a report later today, but he said it had at least two or three days of healing."
Jayne furrowed her brow, trying to think of why she would even be able to recognize something like that from the burn mark on a jacket. "You said she was in an escape pod?" She asked.
"Yeah." Dunweather said. "It looked like a rough landing in the woods, came down pretty hard. An engineering crew from the mine is looking at it and is taking it back to town to store in one of the empty warehouses. The deputies did say they saw footprints leading off to Lara's home. Yours, I guess."
"What was I doing in an escape pod?" Jayne asked, confused. "And what… what is an Imperial?" She asked, looking between the two other women.
Lara looked at Dunweather then at Jayne. "Well a few years ago, the Empire was in charge of the galaxy. They were not the best of folk, but thankfully we never had to deal with them much. But then one day a Rebellion formed and beat them. Once the Empire was gone then the New Republic came to be and they have been cleaning up the messes left behind from the war between them and the Empire. However, some who were once loyal to that Empire still remain to cause trouble, but they've been hiding out in the Unknown Regions or somewhere far away like that," she explained. "The escape pod you ran from is Imperial, meaning it once belonged or still does to the Remenant Empire."
"Oh." Jayne said, "I… I don't think I was involved in that? I can't remember." She said, worried the Sheriff might think she was part of that foul sounding group.
Dunweather shook her head. "At this point I don't have any reason to think you were." She said assuringly. "If anything it sounds like an escape attempt." She said, "her clothes make her look more like a smuggler more than anything." She said, using her thumb to gesture at the unknown patient's room.
"Either way, once she is stable and conscious then we should have answers," Lara assured them. "For now, thank you Sheriff for bringing her in. We will keep a constant watch on her to see wakes up then we will call you back you can question her." She said more towards Dunweather.
"Okay." The Sheriff said, "thanks Lara." She hesitated for a moment before speaking up. "Lara, do you have a moment?" Lacie asked, gesturing back towards the nurses station.
Lara nodded. "I'll be right back," she said to Jayne before stepping away to follow the sheriff.
Once they got to the nurses station, the Sheriff glanced at Jayne then back to Lara. "I wasn't sure if I should say anything in front of her, but all the transmitters, the beacons and everything were disabled. And not, like, turned off, I mean one of them shot them out with a blaster, even the backups for the backup. They didn't want that escape pod to be found. That's why we didn't see it coming in." Sheriff Dunweather said thoughtfully. "Whatever they were escaping from, it was bad enough that they ran the risk of being stranded without a way of being found."
Lara was quiet for a moment as that all sunk in. "Why didn't you mention this earlier?" She asked, referring to their conversation they had when she first arrived.
"I was hoping she might know what all of that was about." She said, nodding at Jayne. "Then I realized that if she couldn't remember I wasn't sure I wanted to trouble her with it on top of everything else. Also…" She paused, "I'm thinking that if they went through all that trouble to disable their transponders that perhaps we should hold off on sending her missing person report out." She stated, eying Lara.
"That may not be a bad idea," Lara said, frowning slightly. "The last thing I want is trouble to come to Durasteel Springs and that young mother to be." She paused for a moment before dropping her voice to a low tone. "You should have seen her when she arrived at my place last night. I don't want anything to happen to her or those little ones she is carrying." She said softly and worriedly.
"Same." The sheriff said, glancing at the woman. "Should we ask her about not sending in her report? If she can't remember who she is I don't know how fair that is, but she seems perfectly capable despite her memory loss."
"I think we should talk to her about it," Lara agreed. "I would feel bad if we didn't tell her why there was never an answer from the missing persons report we sent on her. She deserves to know." She said, glancing at Jayne.
Sheriff Dunweather nodded and stepped over to Jayne. "Jayne, you don't remember the escape pod at all?" She asked gently.
"No." Jayne said, shaking her head.
"When we found the pod," the Sheriff started explaining, "someone had shot out all of the transmitting equipment, even the backups. So we're concerned that whatever you were trying to get away from might have been serious enough to compromise all of that equipment for."
Jayne blanched, "okay." She replied quietly.
"If that's the case, if you or her," The sheriff continued, gesturing at the comatose patient being treated in the room, "worked that hard to keep your eventual location a secret, I'm thinking we might want to hold off on filing your missing persons report until you or she can tell us what's going on. And that you will both be safe if your locations get out." She finished.
Jayne glanced downward, trying to process that. The Sheriff made perfect sense but it seemed strange to not let the report go out so that she could get some hint of who she was. And she desperately wanted to get some sort of hint at what was behind the bank of fog that hid who she was from herself. She glanced up at Lara, as if asking for guidance on what to do.
"Hun, I know you want answers, and I promise you will get them," Lara started as she gave her a reassuring look. "But for the safety of you, the twins, and the town, it is for the best for the time being to keep things on the down low for a bit until we know more. And if your memory comes back or she wakes up," she gestured lightly into the room with her thumb, "then we will have answers and we can place the proper calls. Until then, who knows what you were involved in before you got here? But you are safe here. Okay?" She said gently.
Jayne swallowed. "Okay, yeah we can hold off until we know more." Jayne agreed.
"Hopefully it will just be for a day or two." The sheriff replied, "I guess I'll head back to the station. It was nice to meet you Jayne. Lara" She said with a nod as she started stepping away.
"Thanks, sheriff," Lara said as she waved her off.
Jayne stood absently for a moment before she started speaking quietly. "What was I involved in?" She asked, shrinking in on herself a little bit. "An escape pod, someone getting shot…" She trailed off, glancing at the patient's room again. "I don't even know if she rescued me or if I was running from her. What if I was the one that shot her?" Jayne suddenly asked in a horrified voice.
"Jayne, hun. Don't think like that. I'm sure whatever happened it's not your fault," Lara said, stepping in her line of sight and grabbing her by the shoulders gently. "I promise you, we will get answers to all your questions soon enough. Just have patience and I promise you it will all make sense in time."
Jayne took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "Okay, thank you." She said quietly.
"Here, lets get you out of here," Lara said guiding her away. "Let's see if Wesley still needs some help."
Jayne nodded and started following her to the reception area, casting one last glance back at the unknown patient's room.
Who is the woman? REVIEW!