John James Searle (![]() ![]() @ 2010-01-29 23:12:00 |
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Entry tags: | ^ week 03, alice munroe, jed bailey, john james searle |
Week three - Tuesday.
Characters: Jed Bailey, Alice Munroe, Kathleen Forbes, and John Searle.
Location: Nevada State Museum.
Summary: Searle brings Kathleen to meet Alice and Jed, who quickly accept the doctor into the group.
Rating: PG
The ride back to Las Vegas had taken slightly under an hour, and once they arrived in the city Searle drove right to the museum, only taking one wrong turn before he was pulling into the parking lot. It had been easy to keep track of Kathleen following him since they hadn't had to deal with any other traffic. He didn't worry about looking for her jeep as he parked his car and turned it off, trusting she was right behind him.
After he got out of his car, Searle locked it up and headed to Kathleen's. Deciding it was way too hot for his sweatshirt as he walked, he pulled it over his head.
Kathleen had no problem keeping up with the Hyundai in her jeep. When they drove into the center of the city, she realized that she had not been inside a large city since last year. If she thought that coming into an abandon town was spooky, an empty city was down right creepy.
She never traveled into the city even though the lights at night had been on. It was still a dangerous world. It was also that she felt vulnerable being pregnant, and did not want to depend on anyone until she built herself a safety net and had a fall-back. It was one reason that she went out daily to gather supplies.
Once they parked, Kathleen stepped out of the vehicle and re-buckled her belt below her bump. Since leaving Strawberry, she went nowhere without a sidearm within reach, though as the baby bump grew it was more of a challenge to carry a gun on her thigh. She wonder if someone she was about to meet would know where she could find a shoulder hardness for a sidearm.
"Is this it?" she asked.
"Yeah," Searle answered, smiling automatically at her, "it's this way." The museum was fairly obvious from where they were standing, with the park stretching out far beyond it on the other side.
"Meadows Mall is right over there." Searle struck up a conversation as they walked toward the museum entrance. "I used to stay there, before the hotel."
She nodded and followed. "Good choice, but I would have preferred the Excalibur. I'd always wanted to live in a castle." She giggled.
The concrete reflected the heat from the sun and made it so much hotter than where they were this morning at the lake. She unrolled her beige boonie hat and placed on her head, but she had forgotten her sunglasses inside her Patriot. "Which store did you stay in?" she asked.
"Sleep Number." If there had been a real castle in Las Vegas, Searle would have been there... though there were quite a few hotels that could be just as cool as a castle. Still, he was convinced he'd at least made an educated decision to settle down at the mall once upon a time. There were many resources there, and chances to meet people. "I was all ready to move in for good, but I'd rather be close to my friend."
"Yeah," she replied absently. All of her friends that she left behind before her deployment overseas and those over in theater were very likely all dead. The father of her child most likely was, too; if not, he was half a world away as far as she knew. There were troops left there when the borders closed, so not all of them made it out on the last flights.
She remained quiet till they reached the door of the museum. It's funny how a word could trigger memories. Friends. How many did she have before the flu? She thought about that in the short distance that the two of them walked to the museum.
Searle grabbed the door once they reached it, pulling it open and standing out of the way so Kathleen could go in first. "They should be inside."
As the two of them moved through the double-doors leading into the foyer, their eyes immediately fell on the two people sitting at a wide table just in front of the welcome desk with a large cooler resting atop it. Both heads turned in that direction, one a tall blond man and the other a petite brunette woman.
Alice squinted slightly at the sudden increase in light, but recognized the silhouette of the lanky teenager almost immediately, tossing out a wave and reaching into the cooler.
"Heya Searle," she said, tugging out two bottles of water. Her eyes flicked over to the woman walking with them, seemingly unaware of her pregnant belly. "Who's your friend?"
"I'm Doctor Kathleen Forbes." She answered for him, while Searle smiled in greeting behind her. "Searle found me by the lake and told me that there were others inside the city, and so he invited me to this meeting." She smiled to break the ice. "So is this Survivor's anonymous?"
It didn't take long for Searle to cross the threshold and let the door close so he could get some water, because even though he never stayed outside too long he got dehydrated a lot easier those days. "Kathleen is pregnant," Searle told everyone as he unscrewed the cap on the bottle Alice offered, using that charming teenager tact (or lack thereof). "She was living a ways out of the city, but I thought she might want to meet you two."
Unlike Alice, Jed stared openly at Kathleen's belly. It was enormous; Searle might as well have told them the sky was blue. "Jesus, you look 'bout ready to pop."
Kathleen looked directly at Jed and then patted her belly. "In about week. Maybe," she replied. Their shock of them seeing her pregnant did not surprise her. She could not hid that fact, it was too obvious at this point. "And what's your name?"
"Oh, shit, sorry, Jed," he said, getting up and holding out a fist. Even he couldn't help but feel embarrassed about staring like that. "You ain't a baby doctor, are you? 'Cause I helped birth calves and such, but I'm guessin' it's a bit diff'rent."
"More than 'a bit'," Alice quipped, biting her lip to keep from smirking at him.
A light laugh came from Kathleen at Jed mention of calves. "Are you trying to say women are cows, Jed?" She teased. Her first impression of him was that he was the sort of person who could take a joke. At least she hoped.
"And to answer your question, I'm an internist. It means I practice internal medicine or at least I did." She paused for a beat. "I forgot to ask Searle earlier, but is their anybody in your group that's a doctor or a nurse?" She hoped they did, but considering that those in the medical profession were technically on the front line against the flu, there might not be anyone left for all she knows.
"No," Alice replied, smiling weakly. "I know a little first aid I learned for work, but nothing that would give me any sort of qualifications past that. I'm Alice, by the way."
Damn, she thought. "I really hoped you did, Alice." Her gazed down on to her hands which had come together in front of her above her bump. "I'm going to need some help with this. I don't have anyone else." She then lifted her head again. "I thought I could, but it's important that I have this baby."
Kathleen sighed. "Anyway, is there a working toilet in this building?"
"Just through there," Alice said, giving a point and looking a little more concerned. After looking between the two men she decided to follow after her, wanting to try and console her privately.
"I've had a baby," she said once they were within the confines of the bathroom. "I'm no nurse, but I have that much goin' for me."
"I've got experience in delivering babies," she tried too hard with humor and hadn't considered that Alice might have lost her child to the flu. Kathleen went into a stall and closed the door, and started to do her thing in private.
After she flushed, she asked. "How long have you been in Vegas?"
"Sev-- Eight years," Alice replied, forgetting that June had marked the eighth year. Time flew by so fast in the past, but everything had slowed down to a crawl now.
"It's been about a month since I came into the valley. I've found a place in Boulder City, nothing fancy, but A/C works." She struggled a little to button her pants. "I swear, I should have wore a dress today."
"Has the baby descended yet?" Alice asked, her voice serious. That was usually the best way to know how much longer it would be. They were going to have to find somewhere to do this proper and clean, that much she knew. If Kathleen wasn't careful, she could easily die from infection or blood loss.
"He has," she opened the stall door and went to the sink to wash her hands. "I figured that I'll been in labor in few days to a week from now." She washed and shook her hands dry before using the air dryer. Looking at the wall while her hands dried, she closed her eyes for a moment to blink a thought out of her mind. Kathleen was worried.
"When you had your baby... I'm sorry, maybe its none of my business," she turned to face Alice.
"It's all right," Alice reassured her. She seemed more than a little nervous, giving Alice the impression that this must've been her first. She felt a deep pang of sympathy. "G'head."
"Did you have your baby naturally or by C-section? I ask because I really need someone's help, just in case something happens. He is going to be my first, and as a doctor I'd only delivered one child. The other two, I only assisted. I know. I'm... I should, I can." She couldn't find the words to say that she was afraid to foul this up. Kathleen then simply shook her head. "I don't want to do this by myself." Her eyes began to water. Alice moved forward without thinking to hug her, the gesture genuine if not a little surprising even to herself. Feeling the swell of her pregnant belly between them was enough to make tears of sadness come to her own eyes, but she blinked them away.
"You won't," she reassured her. "There's other women here, too. I don't know about them having had kids, but we'll be here to support you. You're not alone." Her hand moved in comforting circles against her back before she finally pulled back. "I had my baby naturally, yes. I had an epidural, but had her naturally. My mom coached me."
Kathleen wiped at the edges of the her eyes and then smiled. "I'm glad for the offer of support. I thought that I could do this on my own, but I was kidding myself." She started for the door. "I might need you to coach me through it, if you are up for it." She stopped before the door. "By the way, what's your name again?"
"Alice," the brunette repeated, smiling a little in return. "C'mon. You must be tired. Let's have a sit-down, yeah?"
After attempting some awkward conversation with Searle, Jed was grateful to see the women coming back into the room.
"Hey, so, you got someplace to stay yet?" he asked Kathleen, tactfully ignoring the slight redness to both women's eyes.
"I have a place in Boulder City." She replied. "Why? Are you guys all staying in the same place?" She presumed that they were since they were a group and the Las Vegas metropolitan area was so spread out. Her experience in Afghanistan had left an imprint on her mind when it came to site security.
"I thought Kathleen could stay at the Hard Rock for a while," Searle suggested, looking at Jed specifically. He didn't know where Alice lived, but it could also be a possibility. "Boulder's pretty far away." If Kathleen was due in a week or so, they'd want to be close to her.
"There's certainly plenty enough room for you there," Alice agreed, nodding. "If you stay pretty close to the top, Jed'll be nearby as well."
"Well yeah," she walked over to take a seat on one of the lounge sofas. "If I can have a suite that would be nice." Kathleen looked at each of them in the lobby. "Maybe I could set up a small clinic there too."
Jed looked between them, wondering how the hell he managed to get stuck with a very pregnant woman aiming to move into his hotel without him saying a word. Not like he could object now; he had a feeling Alice wouldn't react to kindly to that.
"Uh, well, we're movin' soon actually," he said, feeling more awkward than ever. "Pretty soon. We figure ev'ryone's too spaced out, that we should all live in one place. But I guess you could set up a clinic there."
When Jed mentioned moving soon, Searle lifted his head, suddenly at full attention. "Where are we going?"
"We're still figuring that out," Alice replied. "But we should know before the end of the week."
"Oh?" Kathleen replied to Jed, and then waited for the others to finish to speak up. "As long as there is access to clean water, electricity and security, I'm in," she said as if she had always been part of the group. She really knew nothing about these people, but there was not a lot of options at this point. When the baby comes, she will have to keep to one place for a short while until she could figure out her next move.
Searle nodded when Kathleen said she was in. Alice and Jed already knew it, but so was he. The Hard Rock was comfortable, but the last thing he wanted to be was left alone.
"Alright, well good," Jed said, drumming on his knees. He smiled at Kathleen. "Gotta say, I ain't against havin' a doctor around. I know a bit of first aid, but we been pretty lucky not to need more'n that so far."
"Knock on wood, right?" Alice said with a laugh, flipping up the top on her water and taking a long, hard pull from it.
"Well okay," the doctor nodded with a smile. "So is there an orientation package or anything? Do you need my signature to join?" She lightly laughed.