I had a fitful night, tossing and turning. When I would turn over facing Doc, he would stroke my hair until I fell back asleep for a bit, but being that I was on my sore side, I wouldn‘t last long before I had to turn over again. I felt bad that I was interrupting his sleep, so I sat up, intending to go out to the living room and watch tv for a while. But I had to get off the monitor to do that. I reached over to turn it off and felt Doc’s hand on my shoulder. “What are you doing, Meredith?”

“Going out to watch tv. I don’t want to disturb your sleep any more than I have done.”

“You stay here, hon. I’ll get you something that will help you sleep.” He turned his bedside light on and reached for his medical bag. “I might as well take your temperature while we’re up, too. Assume the position, sweetie - on your right side though, since your left is sore.”

I lay back down and could hear the sound of a glove being snapped on. Then I felt the lubricated rectal thermometer being pushed through my sphincter. My muscle involuntarily clenched around the cold steel bulb. Even though I was not feeling great physically and was upset emotionally, I still felt a thrill at having it inside me. I could feel the palm of Doc’s gloved hand on my butt cheek as he held it in place. He rubbed my hip with his other hand while we waited the three minutes for my temperature to register. I knew darn well that there were digital thermometers that would give a reading in seconds, but I never said a word. I had come to enjoy having a thermometer in me as much as Doc enjoyed putting it in me, and I liked the longer wait time.

When he took it out, Doc read it and said my temp was 37.3C. “Your normal is 36, hon, so it’s up a bit. Not alarming at the moment, but it does show there’s an infection, which I knew anyway. I’m going to give you a Tylenol suppository, then one that will relax you and help you sleep.”

“You always keep that stuff in your bag, Doc?”

“No, I didn’t have any when we came here. I gave Randall and Dana a list and a prescription for the sedative. The Tylenol doesn’t need one.”

“What??? They know you put things up my butt???”

“Relax, Meredith. There’s nothing wrong with it. It’s perfectly normal to take medication like that when you are nauseous and can’t keep anything down. Nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“But I’m not nauseous, Doc.”

“They don’t know that.” He put a dollop of lubricant on his finger and rubbed it onto my opening, then put some on the first suppository and pushed it in as far as he could get it. He did the same with the next one, then took his glove off and went to the ensuite to wash his hands. When he came out into the bedroom, he picked up his stethoscope and said he wanted to listen to my heart. “Just stay where you are, Meredith. I don’t want those suppositories to come out.”

He undid the tie at mid back on the gown and reached around me and listened to my heart above my breasts. Then he reached under my left arm and held my breast up while he listened under it at the mitral point, where he could best listen for the murmur and the clicks of mitral valve prolapse.

Once again, I felt a thrill at him doing it and could feel myself get wet. I was tempted to take his hand and guide it down between my legs, but I knew better. Even though he enjoyed taking my temp, listening to my heart etc., and he liked that I enjoyed him doing it, when he was doing it for real and not play, he took it very seriously. I had to wait until he was done, even though I felt he didn’t really *have* to listen to my heart, given that I was on the cardiac monitor.

When he was finished, he took the stethoscope’s ear pieces out of his ears and said “It’s the same as the monitor readout, hon. Your blood pressure and pulse are a little high, try to relax. I know you are upset about Jane’s latest stunt, but do try to put it out of your mind.”

He was sitting on the bed and I turned onto my back and looked up at him. “I wasn’t thinking about Jane, Doc.”

“What were you thinking about, hon?”

“About how horny it was making me when you were listening to my heart.”

“Meredith, what am I going to do with you?”

“I have some ideas, Doc. Kiss me and I’ll tell you about them.”

Afterward, as he put his arm around me, he said “I can’t believe that sedative hasn’t kicked in yet. You should have fallen asleep in the middle of it.”

“Adrenaline, Doc.”

“I guess. For someone who isn’t feeling well ….. Wow!”

“It takes a lot to put me off sex with you, honey.”

“Evidently. By the way, I’m proud of you, Meredith.”

“For what, Doc?”

“For telling me about your pain instead of trying to hide it.”

“You’re a bad influence on me, Doc.”

“You mean a good influence. Now, you really need to go to sleep, hon.”

I was almost there. “Yes, Doc”, I mumbled.

I slept the rest of the night, thanks to the sedative Doc had given me. In the morning, after breakfast, I went to the bedroom to lay down while he did the dishes. I was not looking forward to going for those tests in the afternoon and I wanted to brood about it alone and not bother Doc about it.

I should have known that he’d know something was not right. I heard his footsteps coming down the hall, so I pretended to be asleep. He paused in the doorway, then went around the other side of the bed. Another pause, then he sat down on his side. He lay down on the bed without taking off his shirt and pants, a very rare occurrence, and cuddled up to me, putting his arm around me. “I know you aren’t asleep, Meredith.”

Damn! “How did you know?” I asked.

“Your breathing is regular, not shallow like when you are sleeping.”

“That’s what I get for falling in love with a doctor.”

“What’s wrong, hon? You always sit and talk to me while I do dishes.”

“Nothing you need to be concerned about, Doc.”

“If something is wrong, then of course I need to be concerned about it.”

“You worry too much, honey.” I said as I turned over to face him.

“Look in my eyes and tell me nothing is wrong, Meredith.”

“Doc, I don’t want you to concern yourself with it. I’m just feeling sorry for myself, which I shouldn’t be doing. You are having your own issues with what’s been happening. I don’t want to add to that.”

“Meredith, you listened to me yesterday when I was down about things. It’s my turn to listen to you. What is it that is upsetting you so much? Is it the echo cardiogram?”

“No, it’s going to the hospital. I’ve had it with hospitals.”

“I understand, hon. You’ve been in the hospital at home way too much the past 9 months or so, but we are only going to get a culture done on your infection, then we will come back here.”

“What if they want to admit me? I’ll tell you right now, I’m going to refuse and nobody can change my mind on that.”

“I would try and talk them out of it, hon. If you need IV antibiotics, I can set that up here. I think Randall and Dana would back me up on that. It’s probably easier for them to watch over us here than in a hospital.”

“Besides, being in a hospital wasn’t exactly safe for me back home.”

“That is true. Though in that case, Jane was paying off a police officer.”

“If she could do that at home, I’m sure she could find one to bribe here.”

“IF she knew where we were. It doesn’t look like she does.”

“I hope it says that way. Thanks for backing me up on not being in hospital, Doc.”

“Now, if they find something unexpected, then I may change my mind, Meredith. Just to warn you.”

While we were getting ready to go, Doc’s phone rang. I heard him say “Hi, Scott”, then he went out to the living room to take the call. That usually meant he did not want me to hear his side of the conversation, which usually meant it was about me. I was uneasy.

It seemed like forever when he finally came back to the bedroom. “I hate to put this on you when you are already so stressed out, hon, but that was Scott Fletcher. He got a call from the College. They had called my clinic and had been told to call Scott to get a message to me.”

“What did they want?”

“It was about the complaint I called in about Watters. They need a statement from you.”

“Now?”

“As soon as you can. I told them that you were busy with medical tests today and that you are sick with an infection. They asked that you call them as soon as you are up to speaking with them.”

“What’s the urgency?”

“Apparently there have been a couple other complaints, ones that are similar to yours. They want to move on suspending his licence as soon as possible.”

“Oh my god. He’s done it to others. This is my fault. If I had come forward years ago….” I let the sentence trail off.

“Don’t get too down on yourself, hon. Anyone else who didn’t file a complaint when it happened has just as much responsibility.”

“I’ll call them when we get back this afternoon, if it’s before they close for the day. Doc, do I have to be on the portable monitor when we go?”

“No, hon. You can take the patches off, too.”

We finished getting ready and Randall and Dana picked us up. They said a couple plainclothes officers would be going with us in another car. “Is that just precautionary or do you think we are in danger?” Doc asked.

“Precautionary”, Dana replied. “Jane has proven herself to be very dangerous so we want extra protection in case she has found out where you are. Though we still have no reason to believe she has.”

“I’ll warn you now. There is a chance they may want to keep Meredith in hospital.” I glared at Doc. They better not, I thought.

“Of course, if she has to stay, she has to stay. However, it would be a lot easier for us if she could be treated here in the compound. I’m sure you are qualified to do whatever needs to be done.”

“I am and I will try to get them to send us home with any medications she needs. She will probably need to have them by IV. If it’s something that absolutely can’t be done here, then she will have to be admitted. But I don’t foresee that happening.”

We were soon on our way. Doc and I sat in the back seat of the unmarked police car. The other car was behind us, so that the officers in it could see if something or someone was threatening us. He reached across the seat and took my hand in his and squeezed it. We rode all the way hand-in-hand.

When we got to the lab, Doc pushed me in in the wheelchair we’d brought from the compound. Randall, Dana and the other two officers followed. I registered at reception and Doc got a requisition for the foot x-ray and filled it out. He requested that they send the results to him by email, using the anonymous email account he’d set up when we first got to the safe house.

We were early so they did the x-ray first. They let Doc come into the room to help me onto the table and get positioned, but then he had to leave. The officers had to leave as well.

Next we went over to the room the cardiogram and EKG would be done in. The cops went in first and checked it out, making sure nobody was there that wasn’t supposed to be before they let me go in. There was a curtain around the bed, so I had privacy to change into a gown. Dana stood at the door and the three male officers stayed just outside the room.

The technician did the EKG first. She had asked me to put the gown on with the opening in front, which make it easier for her. She attached the leads and turned the machine on. There is nothing to an EKG. You don’t feel anything. I just had to lie still for a minute or two.

Next was the echo cardiogram component. That was easy, too. It’s just an ultrasound of the heart, so the tech squeezes the COLD transducer gel onto you under the left breast and presses the wand down on you all over the area. Doc was watching the screen intently, but he’s not trained in cardiology so I didn’t know how much he was understanding.

“I need you to lie on your left side now” the tech said. I cringed but rolled onto it.

“She’s had two surgeries on that side recently”, Doc said to her. “And she is in a fair bit of pain, so if you could be quick with that part, she’d appreciate it.”

“I’ll go as fast as I can.”

True to her word, she made it fairly quick, though it felt like an eternity to me. Doc tried to get her to tell him the results.

“Are you the referring physician?” she asked him.

“No, but I am her ob/gyn and at the moment, GP.”

“It’s unusual for a patient’s ob/gyn to watch her have a cardiogram.”

“I’m okay with it”, I broke in. “It’s okay with me for him to get the results, too.”

“Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. I just take the pictures, the radiologist reads them and sends the report to the referring doctor. But why is your ob/gyn here with you?”

I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t want to put Doc on the spot by telling her he was my common-law. “She’s my common law wife”, he said to her.

“And you are her doctor? That is not customary.”

“It’s okay, the College knows. Everything is above board.”

She finished up and I got dressed. Her attitude really seemed to cool off after Doc told her he and I were in a serious relationship. Screw her, I thought. It’s none of her business. I have an extra wide butt she can kiss if she doesn’t like it. I wanted to tell her that, but didn’t want to make trouble for Doc either, if she took it in her mind to try to make some. Everything *was* above board with the College, but he didn’t need the headache of dealing with a complaint.

Her attitude put me in a bad mood. Just what I needed when I still had to deal with going to the ER. I did not need to get into it with the ER doctor. Doc could tell she’d affected my mood. I had been apprehensive about going to the hospital, but not pissed off. “What’s wrong, hon?” he asked when we were back in the car.

“Just pissed off at that tech’s attitude about us”, I replied.

“Pay it no mind, sweetie. It’s none of her business.”

“I know.”

“We’ll get the next part of our day over with, then it’s back ‘home’ and I have a surprise for you.”

“Oh? Do tell!”

“It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told.” I knew there was no way I’d get it out of him, so I didn’t even try any harder.

We pulled up to the emergency entrance of the hospital. Randall approached the security guard and showed him his ID and told him he needed to park there instead of the parking garage. The guard said it would be okay. “It’s just a precaution”, he told us. “In case we have to get out of here fast.”

Doc and I went up to the registration desk. I let him speak, since he knew what he wanted done as far as tests. After they took my information and swiped my health card into the computer, we were taken right in. Apparently, Randall had called ahead of time and told them we’d be coming and it was best if we didn’t have to sit in the waiting room. It wasn’t busy anyway, so I only felt a little guilt at getting in ahead of the others.

The nurse, who said her name was Kristin, took my temperature, pulse and blood pressure, then asked me to get into a gown. Once again, Dana stood at the door and the other officers stayed out in the hall. After I was undressed and lying under a sheet on the bed, Doc and I chatted with Dana while we waited for the ER doctor to come in. “You two are such a great couple”, she said to us. “It’s so easy to see how deeply in love you are.”

Doc and I both blushed. “He’s the love of my life”, I said. “Even though he drives me nuts sometimes with the medical stuff.”

“He does that because he cares about you. I drive my boyfriend nuts with safety stuff. I insist on not taking chances. And God help him if he drives over the speed limit!”

“Listen to her”, Doc told me. I stuck my tongue out at him playfully.

“So when are you guys getting married?”

“As soon as she says “yes”!” Doc said. I blushed again.

“I can’t say yes when you haven’t asked!”

Just then the doctor came in. Whew! Off the spot! “Hi, Meredith. I’m Dr Garrett Dunn. What can I do for you today?”

“Ask Julian”, I answered. “He’s the one who wanted me to come in.”

“I’m Dr Julian Richards”, Doc introduced himself. “Meredith is my common law wife. She had two surgeries in as many days on her left ovary 3 weeks ago. There’s been a low grade infection there ever since and now there’s pus coming out of the part of the incision that hasn’t healed. I wanted to get it cultured and get her on the proper antibiotic for whatever bacteria is causing it.”

“Who is her surgeon?”

“Me.” Dr Dunn glared at him. “Don’t worry, it’s above board with the College. There are reasons.” Unlike the echo tech, the ER doc didn’t give my Doc an attitude over it. “Okay. Tell me about the surgeries and what has been done for the infection so far.”

Doc filled him in on what had happened over the past few weeks. When he finished recounting it, Dr Dunn said he wanted to see the incision. He put gloves on and took the gauze off. I noticed Doc glaring at him, presumably for him not washing his hands, but he didn’t say anything. Dr Dunn had used hand sanitizer upon entering the room. I know that isn’t good enough for Julian, though.

He started feeling around my incision and Doc interrupted. “Far be it from me to tell another doctor how to practice medicine, but shouldn’t you wash your hands?”

“I have gloves on and I used the sanitizer.” I could tell Doc was biting his tongue. I ever so slightly shook my head at him, indicating I didn’t want him to make an issue of it. Dr Dunn continued feeling around. It was hurting but I clenched my teeth and rode it out. When he was finished, he said “I concur with you about the culture, Dr Richards.”

He went to the cabinet and took out a few things. When he came back to the bed, he changed gloves, then poured some antiseptic over the incision and dabbed it dry with some gauze. After changing gloves again - Doc looked impressed - he took the swab and got the sample. That hurt. He saw me wincing and said “Sorry, Meredith, I’ll try to be as fast as I can.” When he was finished, he redressed the wound. “I’ll send this off to the lab and I should have the results within an hour or so. Is there anything you need while you wait?”

“I’d love a cup of black coffee, please.”

“Decaf”, Doc spoke up. Dr Dunn looked at him. “We drink decaf from mid afternoon or so on.”

“It’s only 2 o’clock.”

“I know, but she is stressed and she has a heart condition.”

He looked at the history that had been taken when I first got there. “Oh, I see it, mitral valve prolapse. You should be drinking decaf all the time”, he said to me.

“Listen to him, Meredith, since you won’t listen to me.” I rolled my eyes.

“You can roll your eyes all you want”, the ER physician said “but people with a heart condition should not be drinking caffeinated beverages.”

“That includes pop, right Doctor?” Doc looked at me as he asked the question. He knew the answer, he just wanted me to hear it.

“Absolutely.”

“Come on, I only drink one can a day.”

“What kind?”

“Canada Dry Ginger Ale.”

“Oh, that’s fine. Most clear pops are caffeine free, that is one of them. The sugar isn’t good for you, though.” I sighed.

“Are you okay, Meredith?”

“Yes, Doc.” You brat, I thought.

Dr Dunn and Dana looked at me. “Oh, I call him Doc all the time. I usually don’t when we’re around people who aren’t close friends, though. I sometimes slip.”

“Ok, you can have a coffee, but I don’t think you want the stuff in the vending machine. There’s a café in the hospital, if Dr Richards is willing to go get you one.”

“Call me Julian”, Doc said to him “and I’ll be happy to go get her one.”

“One of the guys will go with you”, Dana said.

After Doc had left the room, Dr Dunn said to the officer “I’d like to talk with my patient alone.”

“She has to have an officer in the room with her. Trust me, it’s for a very good reason - her safety. But I can tune you two out and if I do inadvertently hear something, it is confidential and will go no further.”

“Are you okay with that, Meredith?”

“Yes, Dr. Dunn. Like she said, there’s a very good reason for it.”

“All right. I just wanted to make sure you really are okay with Julian speaking up for you.”

“You mean like when he told you about my surgeries and what followed?”

“That and the way he said you had to have decaf coffee. Don’t get me wrong - he’s right but you are an adult and it’s your choice whether to follow medical advice or not.”

“I’m fine with it.”

“You’re sure?” I nodded. “I’m just making sure that you aren’t being …”

“Abused? No, absolutely not.”

“Abuse isn’t just physical.”

“I know. No, he isn’t abusing me physically, mentally or emotionally. Trust me, Dr Dunn, he couldn’t because much as I love him - and I love him with all my heart - I’d drop him with a kick to the nuts if he tried.”

The doctor reflexively held his hands over his groin. I tried to resist the urge to laugh, but was unsuccessful. “I’m sorry, I couldn’t help it”, I said to him when I stopped.

“It’s okay, I can see how it would appear funny.”

“Seriously though, Doctor, he’s not abusing me and if I really wanted a caffeinated coffee, he couldn’t stop me. I sometimes give him a hard time, but he’s right. I really shouldn’t be drinking caffeine.”

“Try cutting back one cup a day. If you normally have 3 cups of regular coffee in a day, cut back to two for a bit. Either drop one or make it decaf. Do that for a few weeks, then cut another one out. Repeat until you are only drinking decaf.”

“That’s a good idea. Now to find a way to make Julian think it was his idea. You know that ego you doctors have - he’d be insulted if I quit caffeine because you suggested it when I wouldn’t do it when he wanted me to.”

“I’m sure you will figure out something. There’s one other thing I’d like to talk about. It sounds like you have been through a lot lately.”

“You don’t know the half of it!”

“It would drive any 'normal' person around the bend. Do you have someone to talk to? Besides Julian.”

“Not here, but when I was at home, my best friend. She’s been a godsend with helping with my animals and getting them to safety.” He looked at me. “Jane - the woman who is threatening us - threatened my horses and my dog. I had to send them all away.”

“Where did you send them?”

“The foster horses went to new foster homes - I foster abused and neglected horses and get them back to health and find new homes for them. My own 3 - including one foster that has become permanent - are at a farm owned by a friend of my bestie.”

“Oh, I see. That’s more stress for you, I’m sure.”

“Big time. It was so hard seeing them go away.”

“If you need someone professional to talk to, I can set something up. Please don’t take offense to that.”

“I don’t take offense. I did talk to my veterinarian’s brother before leaving the hospital back home. He’s a psychiatrist who is our friend, and he came to my room to see me. We chatted for quite a while. It helped.”

“Good. If you want someone local while you are in this area, I can make a referral. I’ll give you my card and you can call me any time.”

Dr Dunn left the room and I was alone with my thoughts. Well, not quite alone. Dana was there but she stayed by the door. Doc seemed to be taking a long time getting that coffee. Finally, he returned and said that he’d got the results of my x-rays and everything was fine. My ankle was healing well. “I called Adam Beckett and he said you can have an air cast boot on one condition and that is you are not to walk on it for another week, then you can walk on it as long as you keep using your crutches. Dr Dunn is coming in shortly to take the cast off.”

“Doc, I just realized something! My stitches are still in and it’s been 3 weeks! I’m surprised they haven’t been driving me nuts.”

“Adam put dissolving stitches in, hon. He didn’t want the cast to come off for a few weeks. I think he was afraid you’d not let him put another one on if he felt you needed it.”

“Oh, that’s a relief.”

“If you had had regular stitches and they were still in, you’d be miserable.”

In a while, Dr Dunn came in to take the cast off. He said the culture results were in and told Doc what type of bacteria I had. “You need to be on IV antibiotics for five days, Meredith, then oral for a week after. This is nothing to play around with. The nurse is starting the admitting process.”

“Admitting? No way! I’m not staying.”

“You have to. You need IV antibiotics.”

“Can she have them at the safe house?” Doc asked. “I can do it there.”

“Well, it would be unconventional.”

“It’s safer for her at the compound.”

Dana approached us. “He’s right, it is safer at the compound, if you can possibly let Julian take care of her needs.”

“Okay, I’ll set it up. But if she gets any worse, I want her brought back here immediately.”

“If I have to tie her up and carry her, I will”, Doc promised.

A while later, we were on our way back ‘home’, with a borrowed IV pole and associated medications and my foot in the boot cast. I was mentally and physically exhausted - it had been stressful being out of the compound. I kept worrying Jane would show up. On the way back, I sat in the middle of the back seat and leaned against Doc as much as the seat belt would allow.

When we entered the house, I headed straight for the bedroom with the intention of a nap. Doc insisted on starting the IV and giving me the day’s antibiotic dose first. I fell asleep partway through it and woke up a few minutes later to Doc crawling in bed behind me. He put his arm around me and told me to go back to sleep. I didn’t give him any hassle about obeying doctor’s orders this time.