ways_infirmary | (no subject)

Cuddy's got a group of injured and non, and as she enters the infirmary, Simon gets a quick nod of acknowledgment.

"Dr. Tam. I've got some patients here who need attending to."

He raises his head, and takes in the little group at the door.

"Of course," he says immediately, putting down his clipboard. "What have we got?"

"I can wait. She can't," Nathan just said, gesturing with his head to the toddler in Kate's arms, still holding his arm. Granted he did want the wound looked at, but Boo had priority here.

Boo has been all kinds of crying and whimpering and CLINGING FOR DEAR LIFE to Kate. She calmed down marginally when she was taken into Milliways, but now she's in a room that reminds her of a doctors office (where they give SHOTS) and then on top of that THERE IS A STRANGE MAN LOOKING AT HER.

BAD STRANGE MAN! BAD!

Boo CLINGS MORE and then the crying turns back into a waaaaaaail. She tries to move away from BAD STRANGE MAN while still CLINGING and WAILING!

Cuddy doesn't exactly consider herself equipped to deal with children in a majority of situations, but as soon as Boo starts crying, the motherly instincts she's been feeling lately kick into serious overdrive.

"Shh," she says, in what she hopes is a calm and reassuring manner. "It's alright. Nobody's going to hurt you here."

Boo calms down slightly and sniffles all kinds of pitiful like, looking past Cuddy to STRANGE MAN with a worried expression.

BAD STRANGE MAN IN THE ROOM WITH SHOTS.

Simon glances at Cuddy --

(The child's clearly been mistreated. He's been living in fairly close proximity with a toddler for some time, and he knows the difference between general unhappiness and genuine trauma.)

(She looks to be just about the same age as Naomi.)

"Can you take care of her?" he asks in a quiet undertone. "I'll see to the others."

"Of course," she answers, and then beckons to Kate, doing her best to make eye contact through Boo's attempts to wriggle away.

"Let's go over here," Cuddy mouths, and once the three of them have moved to a more private area, she draws some curtains around them, as well as one of the hospital beds.

He turns to the man with the shoulder injury. ...Which is bleeding worse than he thought at first glance.

"Sir, if you'd come sit over here, please?"

Nathan nodded, and sat down, unbuttoning his shirt so it'd be easier to access the wound on his left arm around the shoulder. The blood was soaked into the sleeve, which meant the shirt was probably shot. He winced inwardly at that term from the recent reminder.

"They had the whole place booby trapped. Damn bolt. Looked like a crossbow."

Simon's moving quickly; scrub up, gloves, a few supplies.

"I'm afraid I'm going to have to cut away the shirt, sir."

Bill takes a couple steps after Kate and Boo, then decides crowding Boo might not be a good thing.

Nathan is being taken care of so Bill gives the doctor a signal that he's going to step out, then leaves back to the main bar where the others are keeping Cruella.

"Fine, just do it." Not like he can't afford a replacement. It's more of a nuisance really. One shirt burned away, another shot up and bled on. And now this one. Loses more clothes that way.

Boo seems to calm down as soon as they step behind the curtain, and Cuddy gets ready to prep things for a standard physical, removing her dress jacket and washing her hands before putting on some latex gloves.

"Now, let's see if we can't get you to sit here with me, okay?"

She pats the bed.

"And if you're a good girl and let Dr. Cuddy take a look, I'll get you a nice lollipop."

Kate's throat is still too tight -- it's brighter in here, so sterile, and the contrast only intensifies the filthiness of Boo's tattered clothes, the tangles in her matted hair and the dirt smudging her face and hands.

"C'mon, Gracie-Boo -- be a big girl for Dr. Cuddy, okay? And for me?"

She's trying to smile as she gently places Boo on the bed, careful to keep a hand on Boo's too-thin shoulder.

He can dimly hear the coaxing in the background as he cleans the wound, applies anaesthetic, gets the sutures ready.

The top level of his mind is entirely on his work, his hands moving steadily and confidently. Anything going on below that level --

Well, he's ignoring it for now, that's all.

Boo's eyes widen when Kate tries to put Boo down and she CLINGS and then that horrible wailing is back and she's reaching for Kate and tears are rolling down her cheeks and she's..absolutely freaking out.

There was a tic going in Nathan's cheek as the doctor worked. It hurt, but he didn't care, Boo's cries in the other area were much worse. They didn't do enough to get her back in time, and the poor girl's paying the price for it.

That damn white haired bitch in the bar is not getting a reprieve. No way in hell. He wished she was another perp in the courtroom that he could get sentenced.

Once the blood was cleaned away, the wound didn't look nearly as bad. A few stitches for a week or two.

Bill returns to hear Boo still crying and frowns.

Approaching the curtain he stands near its edge.

"Kate? Is there somethin' I can do t'help?"

Boo's wails are filling her ears; those tiny fingers fisting in Kate's hair and the desperation in Boo's grip only serve to remind her --

(this is my fault, she's here now because I wasn't here, she was taken because I wasn't here)

-- and as she and Dr. Cuddy try to calm Boo and ease her onto the bed, she barely hears Bill's quiet, tentative question.

"Maybe -- Boo, it's okay, I promise it's okay, you're here with me and Dr. Cuddy and -- Bill, c'mere."

The man's voice makes Simon glance up this time, as he's tying off the last of the stitches.

There's a brief doubletake before he focuses his attention back on his work.

(He can tell it isn't Mal, but the resemblance is unnervingly close.)

Bill steps past the curtain and when he sees the way Boo is clinging to Kate a large part of him wishes he had let Val take care of Cruella.

Ignoring the sharp flare of guilt for letting this happen, he moves closer to Boo and Kate.

"Boo, darlin' it's okay. You're alright now, we're here."

He finds a comforting smile for her and lightly brushes her bangs with his finger.

"You're with your school now."

Boo suddenly stops. Stops wailing, stops whimpering, stops grabbing at Kate - she slowly turns her tear-filled eyes toward Bill.

Kate gives Bill a grateful, watery smile as she eases into a sitting position on the mattress, Boo still in her arms; maybe Boo will let Dr. Cuddy look over her as long as Kate's holding her.

"That's right, Gracie. Your school's right here, okay?"

Her voice nearly cracks on the last word; she gives Boo a gentle squeeze and looks to Cuddy.

"We found her in an attic. There wasn't a lot of light, but I saw a training toilet up there and the smell was horrible -- I don't know what she's been exposed to, I don't know what they were feeding her -- "

She shakes her head and swallows hard.

"Bill and I know her from here. She stays upstairs in a room connected to mine. But I don't know if she has any -- any allergies, or ... "

Pressing her lips together, she takes a breath through her nose, letting it out slowly.

don't cry, don't cry, don't cry, not now, it won't help anything

"I wish I could tell you more."

Boo sniffles and lays against Kate's chest, a few left over tears from earlier making their final appearance as she slowly calms down.

She just looks tired now.

"I understand," Cuddy answers, already reaching out with the hand that isn't gloved to pat Boo's back reassuringly.

"Well, I'm going to take a quick look at her, but I'm sure the only things she'll need are a good bath, a good meal and some rest."

He's done with the shoulder injury; the hushed conversation elsewhere in the infirmary is encroaching further on his consciousness.

Quietly, to his patient, he says "Can you tell me what happened here, Mr. ...?"

Nathan shifted his left arm, testing it.

"Petrelli. Nathan Petrelli, and I can. That little girl had been kidnapped, and held for ransom out of the bar. We confronted the woman responsible so we could get access to her world and bring Boo back here. No idea yet how long Boo's been missing, but looks it's been a while."

Cuddy doesn't waste any time in examining Boo, and doing her best to do so rather thoroughly, despite the girl's attempts to shy away frequently.

At the end of it, she's already taking off her gloves, tossing them into the trashcan, and moves to wash her hands again.

"Like I said, she'll be alright. A little rest and food and some clean clothes. I'd suggest keeping her here overnight, but I don't think she should be alone right now. Does she have a room here with someone?"

Kate nods, glancing at Bill, then back to Cuddy.

"She has a room with me upstairs, but if it's best to keep an eye on her down here, we can stay."

She doesn't plan on leaving Boo's side.

Cuddy nods once, then looks from Kate to Boo's face.

"Somehow I don't think keeping her here would be the best thing for her mental state right about now. She doesn't seem to be a fan of doctor's offices as it is."

Bill stands by, giving Boo smiles and reassurance as much as he can during the examination.

"Kate's room is just upstairs, if anything happens we can run her back down her right quick."

Bill's not a huge fan of the infirmary or hospitals himself, and since Cuddy has said Boo should be alright, the best place for her is probably back upstairs. Somewhere familiar where they can keep an eye on her.

The name Petrelli caught his attention, but he's not going to say anything about that just yet; not until he's sure the little girl's all right.

Quietly: "Does she have any family here? Or any ... official guardian?"

"Not family exactly. I'd say quite a few have adopted her. Especially Kate and Bill," gesturing to the most worried couple on the other side of the curtain.

Nathan made a mental note to catch up with Bill later for a talk over drinks. When Boo was settled in and calmed down enough to sleep.

"That's fairly common here," he murmurs. "All right."

A pause.

"You said Petrelli, before -- may I ask if you're related to a Peter Petrelli?"

Nathan's gaze sharpened back at Simon, and there was an assessing glance over at the doctor.

"Yeah. My brother. You know him?"

"Yes, for some time now --"

And the undercurrent that hasn't come into conscious thought yet silently surfaces.

Peter was one of the few people Kaylee wanted to talk to, nearly two years ago, after --

In an undertone, glancing at the other little group: "Later."

Nathan looked interested at that, "Yeah? You spoken with him recently? Our times tend to be... off."

"Not very recently. Though my wife has... Later," he repeats.

Nathan glanced over, and nodded, adding in an undertone, "Bill's a friend of mine, but all right. Leave a note for me, and we'll talk."

In a louder voice, he remarked, "Thanks for looking at my shoulder. Think I'll go turn in."

Kate's nodding as she stands, gathering Boo into her arms.

"Okay," she says, then exchanges a quick glance with Bill.

"And of course, we'll bring her down right away if any -- anything -- "

Her voice catches and she licks her lips.

"Thank you, Dr. Cuddy. You've been great, you and Dr. -- "

(his name, she said his name, what was his name)

"Dr. Tam."

There are a few more quiet words of thanks, and a little more hushed conversation, and the infirmary gradually empties out again.

Alone, Simon rubs a hand across his eyes and face.

She was so terrified.

It'll be a while before he manages to sleep, tonight.