If the Shoe Fits, Wear it... by Bernice Low

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IF THE SHOE FITS, WEAR IT...
Part 2
By Bernice Low

"You feeling OK? " Alonzo asked, anxiously, noting the scowl on Julia's face. He had just finished setting up the tent and had spent the last half an hour scouring the area for wood to fashion a splint for Julia. It had been a good hour since they had been unceremoniously tossed out of the Rail as it slid down a steep embankment as Alonzo swerved to avoid a Grendler that ran into the path of the vehicle. Julia had used the time to check how badly her leg was injured and insisted that Alonzo deal with setting up shelter before they worked on her injuries.

"So this is what breaking a leg feels like." she muttered to herself as she struggled to find a comfortable position on the ground. It wasn't so much the pain - the pain blocks she had administered had helped reduce that to a dull ache - but just being stuck watching Alonzo do all the work and having to endure a full hour sitting on the sandy ground, which was proving to be supremely uncomfortable.

Alonzo squatted down in front of her, holding up the two pieces of wood he had found.

"What do you want me to do with these?" he asked patiently. Julia sighed. For now, she had to try and forget her frustration and concentrate on getting her leg properly splinted. There was something faintly unappealing about knowing that if she mucked this up, she had no one but herself to blame for having one leg shorter than the other.

I'll be damned if I'm going to limp my way to New Pacifica she thought sullenly.

"OK - I'm guessing from what I could feel that I've fractured the bone. I need to have a look at the leg to see if there's any dislocation or swelling. There's a pocket knife in my bag - use it to cut open the leg of my jeans." she instructed.

He rummaged through her bag and found the knife. "You know doc, under normal circumstances, I'd find this quite exciting really.." he grinned as he split the leg of her jeans after taking her shoe off and looked playfully at her, but turned his attention back to his task when she gave him a dirty look.

He stopped cutting just above her knee and helped her pull the material back so that she could examine her leg.

"What?" he asked anxiously when he saw her expression change as she examined the area below her knee.

"There's a slight dislocation here" she said, pointing to the area below her kneecap. He followed her finger and could discern a slight awkwardness in the angle of the bone below her knee.

"Is that bad?" he queried slowly.
"Yes." was the straightforward reply. "You'll have to help me re-align it so that the splint can set straight." she added.

"Re-align it?" he echoed.
She nodded and shifted her weight, trying to get comfortable. "You mean...."
"You're going to have to apply force and push the bone back into the socket manually." she said in a grim tone of voice.

He looked at her with a worried expression and Julia felt her heart soften momentarily.

"It's going to really hurt isn't it?" he asked softly. She nodded. He took a deep breath.
"The pain blocks will reduce the pain." she said, trying to re-assure him as she sensed his reluctance.

"But you took those a couple of hours ago." he noted. "Alonzo.." Julia reminded herself to stay calm and not lose her temper. " It's going to hurt no matter what ok? If you don't help me set my leg straight, I may end up with permanent damage to it. I don't have the strength to do this myself so you're going to have to play Doctor this time." she said slowly. She reached out and picked up his hand, squeezing it tightly.

"Just do what I tell you to and everything is going to be fine. Alright?" She took a deep breath. "Ready?"

He wiped his hands on his jeans and gently placed his hand on either side of her leg..

"Use your right hand to push my lower leg and your left hand to hold the leg steady. Now!" she instructed.

Julia gritted her teeth as she felt the bones grating against each other, attempting to slide back into it's socket. She tried to block the pain out.

"Why did you stop?" she demanded when she felt him let up, Looking in to his eyes, she realised how difficult it was for him to do this - it was painful for him to watch her in such agony.

"Try and push faster and with more force." she urged. He looked at her, sweat beading her forehead from the pain and she could see the hesitation in his eyes.

"I'm OK." she assured. "One more time." He replaced his hands tentatively on her leg in the same positions. "On the count of three alright?" she looked up at him. He "One.."
"Two..."
"Three!" She closed her eyes in anticipation of the pain but there was none. Her eyelids flew open and she eyed Alonzo with growing irritation.

"I can't do it Julia!" he said, throwing up his hands. "Alonzo!" Julia reached out and grasped him firmly by the lapels of his jacket, hauling him closer to her. "Listen to me!" she said, completely losing her control and shaking him hard, "My leg really hurts! In fact, every part of me hurts!" she yelled.
"Now I *know* it's hard for you to have to do this but I have absolutely NO intention of limping all the way to New Pacifica - do you understand? Life is hard enough, without having one leg shorter than the other!"

Her deep blue eyes focused on him. "I need you to follow my instructions and re-align that leg. Now will you please STOP being so lily-livered and just put me out of my misery!" she ordered, releasing her grip on his jacket.

Those eyes just look so gorgeous Alonzo thought as he felt himself fall backwards when Julia released her grip on his jacket.

He held out a hand to steady himself. Kneeling down in front of her, he placed his hands back on her leg. Then he took a deep breath.
And shoved as hard as he could.

***

"You know, I think you scared every Grendler in a 20 mile radius out of a year's growth with that yell." he said, grinning as he wound a bandage round the two pieces of wood positioned on either side of her right leg, working quickly as the light began to fade.

"Wind it tighter.." she instructed. He just smiled to himself as he pulled harder on the bandage and kept winding it round her leg.

"What?" she asked testily, one eye on his hand as it worked through the roll of bandage.

"Hmmmm?" he looked up at her.
"What's so funny?" she demanded. "Tie a knot there." "I've never seen you like that before." he said, still smiling as he tied a knot just above her knee.

"Like what?"
"I dunno - all nasty and mean I guess They teach you to swear in Med School too?" He looked down to inspect his handiwork and then looked back at her. He reached out to brush a stray lock of hair from her eyes, "But the nastier you get, the more I like you.." he murmured softly and was rewarded by a lowering of her eyes and a faint glimmer of a smile.

"It's getting dark. Let's get you to the tent." he said, looking up darkening sky.

Before she could protest, Julia felt herself being bodily lifted up and carried the short distance to the tent that Alonzo had set up, having recovered it from the fallen Rail.
Ducking his head as he stepped into the tent, he bent down and gently deposited her on the blanket he had brought with him, making sure that her injured leg wasn't bumped when he put her down.

"Comfortable?" he asked, kneeling down in front of her and taking off her remaining shoe. She nodded and he cast a look outside to where darkness was already setting in. Julia looked around the tent, dimly lit by a torch hanging in one corner of the tent and could see that he had brought all their belongings into the tent. Standing next to the bag of scientific equipment was her other shoe.

"Fast worker." she remarked, shifting uncomfortably as he yanked the shoe off and tossed it next to it's other half.

"Wouldn't you know it.." he smiled winsomely at her before rummaging through the items he retrieved from the Rail. He yanked out a thermal blanket and a Mag Pro.

She looked around. "Alonzo - where did the tent come from?" she asked, watching him carefully.

"I kinda tossed it into the Rail this morning when we left camp." he replied casually as he unlaced his boots. He helped her take her jacket off, then pulled his off and started rolling it up to form a makeshift pillow.

Julia eyed him suspiciously.
He plonked the jacket down behind her and patted it. "Time for bed Dr Heller."
"Bed? Alonzo's it's probably not even eight o'clock." she protested. He unfurled the thermal blanket and spread it over her, carefully tucking the ends in around her broken leg. He patted the jacket again.

"Come on Doc. Bed time."
Reluctantly she relaxed and lay down on the pillow. After all, there was nothing else they could do but sleep.

Well, nearly nothing else.
He got up and extinguished the torch and padded back to the blanket. Firmly placing the MagPro beside him in case he needed to pick it up quickly, he stretched out beside her.

Julia lay in the darkness, trying hard not to think about her broken leg but it was hard to ignore the constant ache that seemed to get worse as the pain blocks wore off. She fidgeted and shifted constantly, frustrated at being unable to toss and turn because she knew her leg had to be kept firmly splinted in place. Closing her eyes, she tried desperately to squirm into a more comfortable position and perhaps fall asleep.

Alonzo was no help - he was contentedly dozing by her side, though it was hardly fair for her to expect him to do anything. What do you expect him to do Julia? she asked herself. Read you a bedtime story? Her eyes snapped open and she scowled in the dark and evil thoughts floated through her mind about what she'd do to the next Grendler she saw that strayed into her path.

She relaxed and felt herself growing calmer as she turned her thoughts to what she'd do to Morgan.

This entire episode was his fault in entirety. "Are you always this difficult?"
She heard Alonzo's voice as he raised himself on one elbow to look down at her. "You mean besides my lousy bedside manner, am I a lousy patient too?" she asked, looking up at him. She hadn't realised that her restlessness had disturbed him.

He re-arranged the thermal blanket and huddled closer to her, leaning his head on his hand as he gazed at her.

She tried to stretched out into a comfortable position."I guess doctors do make the worse patients." she said, answering her own question. She reached out and ran her fingers slowly through his jet black hair.

"What were you thinking?" he asked, running a finger up and down her forearm. "When?"
"You stopped fidgeting - and you weren't asleep. Something must have been occupying your thoughts." he replied lazily.

"Hmmmm, I was having evil thoughts about what I would do to a Grendler the next time I saw one. And Morgan." she answered, as she smoothed the front of his T shirt, feeling his firmly muscled chest under her fingertips.

He chuckled softly.
"I know how it feels.." he murmured sympathetically - he caught one of her hands and held it firmly against his chest - and she could feel the rhythmic beating of his heart. "I had lots of time to think when I broke my leg. Especially about the doctor who made my life miserable by bugging me and insisting I get better." he teased.

She remembered.
How miserable Alonzo had been when he discovered that he was not only stranded on the planet, but was temporarily immobile. His injured leg only served to increase his sense of frustration. She particularly remembered how he had used her as a target for his rage.

Did he think evil thoughts about her then?? "I thought a lot about her..." he said softly, as if he had heard her " Some very interesting..." His finger idly traced her jawline. ".. very pleasurable thoughts..." his voice trailed off as he leaned closer and gently kissed her.

Julia wrapped her arms around him and slowly relaxed, forgetting the throbbing ache in her right leg.

"Thinking nice thoughts I hope.." he whispered as he nuzzled her ear. "Hmmmm - very nice thoughts..." she said lazily. She snuggled closer to him and felt herself drifting to sleep.

***

Julia woke up the next morning and felt like she had spent the night on an ice block. She felt her back muscles protesting as she tried to struggle into a sitting position. You've been leading a spoilt existence Dr Heller - too many nights on undeniably the most comfortable bed in the camp, the MedTent bed. I've forgotten what it's like to sleep on the hard ground, she thought to herself as she tried to stretch her stiff muscles.

Then she groaned.
Whipping off the blanket, she was treated to the sight of her thoroughly swelled up leg.

"Great. Just great. Why the hell does it have to be a textbook case?" she muttered to herself as she glared at her leg, which looked grossly disproportionate to her other leg. There was absolutely no way she was going to be able to put any weight on that foot - even with the help of a crutch, she doubted she could even move. Frustration welling up inside of her, she balled up the blanket and threw it into the corner of the tent.

"Danziger and Walman have arrived." She looked up and saw Alonzo at the tent entrance. He came into the tent and knelt down on one knee beside her. "Ready to go home Doc?" he asked gently.

"As ready as I'll ever be." she grumbled as he picked up his jacket from behind her, shook it and pulled it on..She stretched out as far as she could and just managed to snag her jacket and tug it on.

Feeling Alonzo slide one arm under her knees and wrap the other around her back to lift her up, she relaxed and put her arms around his neck to steady herself as he easily picked her up.

"OK?" he asked, concerned at her distinctly displeased expression. "This would be a whole lot more romantic if I didn't have a leg that looks like it belongs to an elephant." she muttered sourly.

He smiled tenderly at her and gave her a quick kiss, knowing she couldn't stay mad for long."I can tell you're going to need a lot of attention in the next few days Dr Heller." he said giving her a mock serious look. " We'll be home soon." he said softly to her.

"And guess who will be waiting when we do get back?" she mumbled irritably. "Will you two hurry it up in there?" yelled Danziger from outside. Alonzo stepped out the tent and Julia caught sight of Danziger, sun glasses on, hands on his hips, standing beside the DuneRail, which was now parked near the ATV Danziger and Walman had arrived in.

"You got lucky this time tough guy - I managed to fix the Rail and it's running. You and Julia go with Walman in the Rail. I'll follow on behind in the ATV." he said, patting the Rail's seat.

"How's the leg Julia?" he asked, snapping off his sunglasses and walking up to where Alonzo stood.

"I'll live. Morgan on the other hand..." "Hey, I get the first crack at Morgan!" yelled Walman as he neared the tent to help Alonzo retrieve their belongings and load them into the ATV.

"Guess who made sure we left at the crack of dawn to come and get you?" Danziger grumbled as Alonzo moved to put Julia down in the back seat of the Rail. Dashing back to the tent, Alonzo returned with the folded blanket, which he put under Julia's injured leg to cushion it from the bumpy ride.

While she sat in the Rail, Alonzo and Walman started pulling down the tent and making sure nothing had been left behind. Julia watched them and felt terribly helpless - this must have been how Alonzo felt, she thought. Now she understood why he had been so angry and full of rage those weeks when his leg was firmly stuck in a splint. She felt extremely cranky and irritable and all she needed right now to make her day was to shout at someone.

"Drive real slow Walman." she heard Alonzo saying as he and Walman threw the tent and the last of the odds and ends into the back of the ATV. Alonzo picked up Julia's bag and casually tossed it in the back of the Rail as he talked to Walman.

"Don't manhandle my equipment like that!" she snapped. Walman and Danziger looked at her in surprise but Alonzo was non-plussed. "It'll be fine right here Doc." he said soothingly. He climbed into the passenger seat of the Rail while Walman hopped into the driver's seat and started the engine.

***

With Walman driving slowly to avoid making the ride too bumpy for Julia, it took them twice as long to make it back to camp. They pulled into the campsite near to mid-day, much to Devon's relief.

"Good to see you back Julia." Devon said, as she came up to the ATV. Feeling a lot calmer, having vented her frustration for that morning, Julia was able to focus on her job and ask about Morgan.

"He's in his tent. Bess managed to persuade him to stay in." she informed Julia, then told her that had Morgan attempted to come out, there would have been a line of people standing outside the tent armed with Sedaderms.

"Are you ok?" Devon asked with concern when Alonzo had moved Julia from the ATV back to the MedTent.- Julia looked, well, angry wasn't quite it, but miserable didn't seem to fit the description either.

Julia flipped the scanner she had been holding over her leg onto her worktable and it landed on the table top with an audible thud. She took a deep breath.

"I'm fine." she said after some time, looking up at Devon. Devon looked at Julia pointedly.
"OK, maybe not so good." the doctor admitted. "It's just taking me a little while to get used to losing my mobility and having to depend on someone all the time." She paused. "It's just driving me crazy Devon. I feel so helpless!!" she burst out.

"I'm sorry." Julia apologised as she settled back into the chair. "What about the bone healer vaccine?" Devon asked, partly out of curiosity, partly because she needed to know how long Julia would be injured for.

"It will reduce the amount of time it will take for my leg to heal - maybe a week or two - definitely longer than it took for my wrist to heal." she said in a dull voice, "Even then, I won't be able to put any weight on my leg for at least the next three to four days." She looked miserably at her foot, which rested on a footstool.

"We can stay camped here for a few days more I think." Devon said slowly, mentally running through her head her plans and calculations. "We all could do with a break from all the travelling we've been doing."

"What about Morgan?" she asked, changing the subject knowing that Julia would only get more irritated if she dwelt on the subject of her injured leg. She could see the doctor's frustration and understood it - Julia was always on the run, attending to minor injuries or going out on scouts to test and find food. It was difficult for her to adjust to leading a more sedentary life. Perhaps discussing Morgan would take her mind of her injuries.

"Has he complained of any symptoms?" Julia forced herself to concentrate on her job.

"No. Nothing at all. Errr, dizziness mainly." Devon racked her brain trying to think if Morgan displayed any unusual behaviour or appearance in the last twenty four hours.

"Well, I guess I better take a look at him as soon as possible." Julia declared putting her hand on her table, obviously intending to try and get up. "I'll just get..."

"I think Morgan's quite capable of walking here Julia." Devon interrupted, standing up and fully intending to make sure Julia stayed sitting. "If he can wake the entire camp up like he did this morning, he can certainly walk over here." She started for the MedTent entrance.

"If he can't, I'm sure Danziger or Walman will volunteer to *help* him." she said, emphasising the 'help' bit. She had to all but drag Danziger away from Morgan this morning and she was pretty sure he and Walman would jump at the opportunity to 'assist' Morgan.

Unfortunately, Morgan was able to get himself to the MedTent without any help, in fact, he practically ran all the way there - attracting dirty looks from Danziger and Walman, and several colonists who had found it humanly impossible to sleep through Morgan in 'early bird' mode.

"Julia!! Thank god you're back!!!" he said, barging into the tent, seemingly intent on throwing his arms around her.

"Morgan!" Julia ordered, holding up her hand to stop him from getting closer. If Morgan wanted to treat her as a saviour, she would prefer it if he fell to his knees rather than try and hug her.

"Oh.." He followed her eyes and noticed her heavily swathed foot. "You're alright?? " he asked nervously. "This hasn't affected your judgement or anything has it? I mean you still can..."

"Morgan.." she said impatiently "I'm fine. In case there's something wrong with your vision, it's my foot that I've hurt, not my head." she snapped. Unlike you, she muttered under her breath.

"Now, what seems to be the problem?" she asked, trying to stay professional, gesturing for Morgan to take a seat on a chair.

"Well ah...I've been having these symptoms...I think maybe it's some kind of virus or bug I've picked up from this planet. I mean I know we were vaccinated and you've been doing physicals but this is a foreign place - God knows how many germs are flying around right now...and maybe you've missed something..." the words came out in a rush as he fidgeted in the chair.

"Morgan - I do not miss things." Julia said, annoyed that he was implying she had been negligent. "What symptoms have you been experiencing?" she asked, pulling out her diaglove and running it over him, studying the readings.

Morgan sat still as Julia performed her preliminary scanning. "Err, well dizziness and blurred vision mainly. Slight headaches..." he said, looking at her anxiously.

"Mmmmm.." Julia said, not looking up. Morgan drummed his fingers on his knees as he watched Julia study the data. "Well? What is it? Is it...em....fatal? " he asked nervously, wiping his palms on his trousers.

"Well, there nothing here to suggest you're sick in anyway. EKG, blood pressure, heart rate are all within normal parameters for your age. Body weight is a little high..." she said, looking at the information on her diaglove.

"Nothing wrong?? Nothing wrong?" he burst out incredulously. "It's probably some unknown bug..some new mutation...that your diaglove can't detect!" he ranted, running his fingers through his hair in panic. "I could be dead tomorrow!" he declared, jabbing an accusing finger at Julia.

"I am the doctor here Morgan." Julia reminded him. "These are just preliminary tests. I'd like to run a few more tests on you, take a blood sample and a spinal sample to be sure." she tried to sound re-assuring.

"A spinal sample?" he echoed uneasily. "From my..my...ssspine.." Morgan touched the back of his neck gingerly.

"It will give me an accurate white cell count and eliminate some possibilities." she explained matter-a factly. "I think I should do it as soon as possible."

"You mean now?" he asked fearfully. He closed his eyes tightly when he saw Julia nod.

"I could give you a SedaDerm but.." she started. "But? What do you mean but? Correct me if I'm wrong but this is going to be PAINFUL Dr Heller.... and you're not going to even put me under?" he accused.

"Morgan - under normal circumstances, I would. But because of my leg, I won't be able to stand up to take the sample. I'll give you a pain block or.." Julia looked thoughtful.

"What? There's an alternative? I'll take it. Anything but the agony!" he begged.

"I could instruct someone on how to get the sample but it would prolong the procedure." Julia said, trying hard not to sound too gleeful and resisted the temptation to rub her hands together and cackle. She was really enjoying this - she was pretty sure that there was absolutely nothing seriously wrong with Morgan. But to pacify him and satisfy both her concern and her sadistic streak - which was presently the dominating factor in any decision she made where Morgan was concerned - she was going to take the sample.

Morgan turned white under his tan.
"Now, if you want to move closer over here, we'll get this done and out of the way." she said cheerfully as she reached for her hypo.

End of Part 2

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