IF THE SHOE FITS, WEAR IT...
Part 3
By Bernice Low
"Hey doc.." Alonzo whispered as he nuzzled Julia's neck while she sat at her table peering through her microscope.
She turned around and kissed him on the lips. He leaned over her. "Is that Morgan's whatever?" he asked casually, his attention focused instead on his fingers gently massaging the base of her neck.
"Mmmm hmmmm.." she closed her eyes and tilted her head forward to stretch her sore neck muscles.
"Is it contagious?"
She smiled and opened her eyes.
"There's nothing wrong with Morgan as far as I can tell...mmmm, that feels good." she murmured as he shifted his hands to her shoulders and gently squeezed her tired muscles.
"Danziger saw him crawling back to his tent." Alonzo remarked. He leaned close to her and whispered in her ear, "What did you do to him?"
Julia leaned back against Alonzo and clasped her hands around him. " Nothing, just took a spinal sample." she said, smiling sweetly up at him.
"Spinal sample huh?" he asked, looking at her with one raised eyebrow. He leaned down to meet her lips. Then he saw the gleam in her eye. "I bet Danziger and Walman would have loved it." he murmured against her lips and she grinned conspiratorially at him.
***
Julia felt definitely better by late evening - the satisfaction of having 'skewered' Morgan, as he claimed she had done - had helped lift her from her misery and she had to admit, she definitely could get used to having Alonzo so attentive to her *every* need. She had double checked the results of Morgan's blood and spine sample and was pretty sure there was nothing wrong with him physically. That left only one explanation for his symptoms.
"Shouldn't Morgan be coming over to you?" grumbled Alonzo as he carried Julia from the MedTent to where the Martins had set up their tent.
Julia looked at him. "I thought you enjoyed carrying me around like this." she said innocently.
"I do - but we're headed in the wrong direction for this to be any fun." he replied as they neared Morgan's tent.
"Stop here." she said and Alonzo lowered her down onto a supply container that was on the ground. Julia carefully manoeuvred herself to sit squarely on the box and propped her foot up on a bucket Alonzo had grabbed for her.
"Morgan!" Alonzo shouted and Julia heard him shuffle out from the tent, and watched him emerge clutching at his back.
"For god's sakes Alonzo, what is it now? Can't a man be left in peace to recover from a traumatic procedure..." he started to complain as he exited the tent. Then he noticed Julia.
"I have your test results Morgan." Julia announced to him. He turned to look at her.
"Is it..." he swallowed, "... bad?" he asked, his voice wavering slightly. "You're perfectly fine Morgan. The samples didn't show any traces of anomalies." Julia told him.
"But my symptoms - the dizziness, blurred vision.." he interrupted. "Morgan - I need to check this - but I think that you may be suffering from a temporary problem that will go away if you follow my instructions. Where's your GEAR unit?" she asked.
"I'll get it honey.." volunteered Bess, who had just appeared when she saw Julia talking to Morgan. She disappeared inside the tent and re-appeared with Morgan's GEAR unit in her hand.
"What are you going to do with it?" asked Morgan, his tone a trifle fearful as he watched Bess hand it over to Julia.
"It's usually a common problem amongst children rather than adults really.." Julia began as she fiddled with his GEAR unit. "It's called CVRO and it commonly leads to blurred vision and sometimes very mild myopia. If the myopia is left uncorrected, the eyes don't focus properly and that would explain why you've been experiencing headaches and dizziness." She pulled on his GEAR unit and listened carefully.
"CVRO?" Morgan echoed. "Is it errrr... contagious? Permanent?.." he asked, watching Julia.
She pulled the GEAR unit off her head and handed it back to Bess. "Morgan, CVRO is short for Chronic VR Overuse - according to your GEAR logs, you're in VR for several hours a day. Your eyes probably can't take the strain of such prolonged use. The condition is immediately reversible." she explained
"How Julia?" asked Bess in a concerned voice. "Morgan will have to stop his VR sessions for at least a month. The myopia in Morgan's case is relatively mild and it should reverse spontaneously if he reduces his VR usage. If he doesn't...."
"What?" Morgan asked anxiously.
"The myopia may become permanent. You'll then need to have it corrected. But in view of the present state of my medical equipment, laser surgery is out of the question." Julia looked at Morgan and Bess.
"You mean you can't do anything about it until we get to New Pacifica?" Bess said, looking worriedly at Morgan and the GEAR set in her hand.
"No - Morgan will just have to wear glasses." she said simply. "Glasses?" Morgan stared at Julia in disbelief. Alonzo smirked. "You mean like glass and wire frames..." "Glasses Morgan." Alonzo said slowly, as if Morgan was a three year old. He held up his thumb and index fingers to his eyes and curved them to form circles and grinned.
"It's not funny Alonzo." snapped Morgan, having regained some confidence from the knowledge that he wasn't about to meet his Maker soon. He looked at Julia.
"No VR?" he said, sounding slightly woeful. "For a least a month Morgan." Julia said, trying to stay serious but the look on Morgan's face was making it very hard for her to stay professional.
"But there's..." he blubbered.
"Only so much reality a man can take. I know Morgan. But unless you want to..." Julia started.
"He'll stop the VR." Bess interjected smoothly. "Won't you honey?" she added, looking at her husband expectantly.
"But Bess...sweetie..." he began to argue. "He'll stop." Bess said, her tone of voice indicating that the discussion as at an end. She gave her husband a stern, no-nonsense look.
Julia looked to Morgan, who shrugged his shoulders and held up his hands in resignation before slinking back into his tent, skulking past a very amused Alonzo. A month without VR - oh boy, the next month was going to be a long month - a very long month he moaned inwardly and looked for a pillow to bury his head in.
***
Julia felt the days go by agonisingly slowly as her leg mended. Between regularly conferring with Bess to make sure Morgan wasn't sneaking VR fixes and working on regaining some mobility with the help of Alonzo's old crutches ("I never thought I'd be using them myself.." she complained to Alonzo one day after having spent thirty minutes trying to get from one end of the camp to another using them) , which he helped her adjust to suit her shorter height, she felt positively exhausted.
She was immensely grateful towards Alonzo - he seemed to be infinitely patient with her, accompanying her as she hobbled around the camp because she couldn't stand being stuck in the MedTent the whole day, and managing to stay calm and easy going despite her frequent 'mood swings' and occasional temper frays when she couldn't accomplish something on her own.
"You busy today Doc?" he asked one afternoon as Julia sat in her chair, staring out into space.
She sighed. "Well, Bess wants to talk to me about Morgan - she suspects again.." she made a face ".. that Morgan might be sneakily using VR - which frankly if he is, I'm quite content to let him walk around half blind anyway. What else?" She drummed her fingers, thinking, "And there's that bunch of plants that Magus brought me..." Julia ticked off the things she had lined up for the afternoon in the hope of occupying herself and stop herself from going nuts.
"Let's go for a ride.." he suggested, as he lounged on her bed. "A ride?" she looked at him, puzzled. "Yeah - you know look at some of the plants.." he said lazily. "Hmmmm." Julia looked dubiously at him. "Come on Doc - you need to get out from here." he urged. He sat up and bounced off the bed. Walking over to her, he scooped her out of her seat and made for the tent entrance.
"I suppose it's too late to change my mind." she muttered, wiggling in his arms slightly.
"Are you getting nasty with me?" he asked, grinning as he carried her to the ATV.
"Alonzo, what are you doing?" she asked when he stuck her in the drivers seat and hopped into the passenger side.
"We're taking a little ride. And you're driving." he answered. "Well where do we go?" she asked, unsure of what to do next. "Anywhere you want to go. Just drive Doc - let it rip!" he suggested. " Fly by the seat of your pants a little?"
Julia reluctantly grasped the ATV joystick. Placing her good foot on the accelerator, she closed her eyes, and floored the pedal.
***
After driving around for an hour, they stopped on the top of a cliff that overlooked the campsite. Julia relaxed in the seat and let her eyes wander around the scenery - the craggy mountains, bright blue sky and the clouds, like white candy floss floating gently along, carried by the breeze.They had driven the ATV around at breakneck speed and Julia had found it strangely therapeutic. It felt exhilarating to be able to tear around in the ATV, turning corners when she felt like it and just flooring the pedal - taking risks, and being utterly reckless.
Alonzo stretched an arm around her shoulders. "Feeling better?" he asked softly.
She nodded. She reached out to grasp a handful of his jacket, pulling him closer and kissing him.
"What was that for?" he asked, breathlessly, looking at her. "For being such a wonderful fly guy." she said simply. She kissed him again. "This is the thanks I get for putting up with your temper tantrums and fits huh?" he asked jokingly.
"No. For making me a better doctor." she answered seriously, squeezing his hand. "And for putting up with my temper tantrums." she added smiling. "I guess at Medical school, they're so busy trying to get you detached from your patients that you soon forget what it's like to be sick or hurt, how it feels." She looked down at her leg. "I guess now I know what it's like to have the shoe on the other foot.." she smiled weakly. She looked at him. " These past few days have been.. I don't know... terrible. I've never felt so angry.I understand now why you felt the way you did. I wish I had known then.." she said softly, touching his face. "I wish I could have been there for you like you have for me."
"So Dr Heller, think I'd make a good doctor maybe?" he murmured, his face inching closer to hers.
"Oh definitely.." she said, looking into his dark eyes."Especially with bedside manner like that.." her voice trailed of as their lips met.
-The End-
Chapter End Notes:
That was it. Please send all comments to me. Thank you and have a nice day! :)