living_history (living_history) wrote in the_colony, @ 2010-05-02 20:30:00 |
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Entry tags: | ^ week 07, bridget mackenzie |
Week Seven - Thursday
Character: Bridget and Luc
Location: Luc's surgery
Summary: Bridget drops off some books for the doctor and then has her physical.
Rating: PG
"Okay, so this shouldn't take too long - I just want to get a basic idea of your general health. We'll get your weight and height and so on, blood pressure, iron levels..." Luc turned as he reached the door into the 'surgery' to look at the woman trailing behind. He shot her a smile that was effortlessly charming and very nearly sincere. "Sorry," he said sheepishly. "I'm rambling. I just... Well, we'd better start as we mean to go on, eh?"
"Of course," Bridget nodded as she followed him through the door and into the converted master bedroom that now served as their surgery. "I want to do this right, and I can't do that if we don't have something of a baseline to start with. I've been trying to eat the right things since I found out, and take the correct vitamins too." The first few weeks of her pregnancy she'd been eating whatever she could find on the road as a matter of survival, and she hadn't known she was pregnant at the time.
"Before we get to that though," she removed the bag she'd been carrying from her shoulder and presented it to the doctor. "I thought you might like to have a few things we grabbed from the central library yesterday. You'd mentioned sheet music, and I thought you might like some related items as well."
Luc raised his eyebrows at her, looking somewhat speechless. "Wow. I mean, I thought that would be way down the line, when..." he trailed off, pulling out one of the books Bridget had picked up - Chopin's Nocturnes. "Thank you," he said quietly. After a long, not overly comfortable silence, he drew his eyes on the book in his hand rather to his gift giver. "Thanks," he said again.
Bridget shrugged, a little uncomfortable now. "You're welcome." She decided not to tell Luc that it really hadn't been any trouble, considering his reaction to the books. Once she'd been at the library it had been easy to grab a few items, the cart and a few boxes had made it easy to expand her haul beyond what could fit in a backpack. Her motivations had gone beyond just being nice, cold blooded logic had been a factor as well. She was going to need him over the next several months, and it would be good to have him think favorably of her as friend and not just a patient.
She was half tempted to offer to come back another time, but it was better to get the baseline sooner rather than later. Luc, at any rate, now seemed all the keener to get on. Without looking at the rest of the books he replaced the Chopin in the bag and put it down on a counter. Reaching for a fresh chart he'd prepared. "Let's start with your height and weight..."
***
Bridget stepped out of the bathroom after changing back into her clothes once the physical exam was over. In addition to the physical, Luc had quizzed her more extensively on her family medical history before the flu than he had when she'd come in for a diagnosis the week before.
Her eyes strayed to the bag lying on the counter, and couldn't help but wonder at the strong reaction he'd had to the Chopin book. She liked classical music but had never had a reaction like that, there had to be something personal with Luc to have caused that. "I'm glad I'm going raiding for clothes with Alice after the meetup, at this rate another few days and I'll only be able to get into my sweatpants."
Luc raised his eyebrows, but nodded. "There's a good store quite near here, actually - walking distance. I can't speak for its women's selection, though, obviously."
"Obviously," Bridget's lips curved upwards in amusement at the remark. "I think I'd be a little worried about you if you could. You don't seem the type to go running around in a nice sundress."
"Ah, how little you know me," Luc deadpanned, eyes still scanning down the chart where he'd been logging her details. "Well, your iron's a little low - not unexpected, I suppose. I know you've been on tablets but your diet may become a problem down the line." He looked up at her. "I wouldn't worry too much, though. With any luck by that time there'll be come fresh food opportunities, what with the greenhouse and so on."
Bridget made a mental note to try and eat more food that had iron in it while she still could. "I hadn't even thought about what the food supply will be like six months from now. To be honest I've been more worried about just keeping food down. Whenever my stomach isn't queasy I've usually had a ravenous appetite." She frowned, suddenly worried about what she'd have available to eat later in her pregnancy and then when she'd have to breastfeed the baby afterward.
"Well, hopefully that'll ease up in time," Luc said, continuing to track down the chart looking for anything suspicious. "Often the nausea eases up around week fourteen." He looked up, smiling . "I don't see any other problems. I'm going to keep a close eye on your iron and blood pressure, but aside from that I think you're good to go."
A sigh of relief was Bridget's response to his pronouncement. "Thanks, I've been worried ever since I found out. That helps ease the worries a bit." She bit her lip, not wanting to be a nervous nellie over the whole thing, but these were extraordinary times. After a moment she raised her eyes back to the doctor and went ahead and asked the question. "What sort of tests won't we be able to do? I mean, I can't exactly see us dragging an ultrasound machine in here after all, for one example." Not that she really knew what was involved in all that, she hadn't gone with Calleigh or any of her sisters-in-law when they were pregnant.
"Actually, I'm hoping to do exactly that," Luc said. "Apparently there a couple of people round here who consdier themselves adept at sourcing things." He shrugged. "I plan to put that to the test."
"Really?" Bridget couldn't help the look of surprise that crossed her face at his words. That seemed an awfully difficult task, especially when it would only benefit one member of the group. Who else would be crazy enough to get themselves knocked up in these dark days? Still, she wasn't going to complain about it either! "That's something I think I'd have paid money to see happen back in the day."
The doctor shrugged. "They make them very small, these days," he observed. "Enough to fit in a backpack. The trick will be finding the right place to locate one." He smiled slightly. "But that's all for another day. For now, you're doing fine."
"Right, and I'm very happy to hear that." Bridget let one hand drop down to her slightly thicker midsection, taking comfort in the fact that everything was happening as it was supposed to in the process.
Now that 'business' was done, it was time to pry just a bit, try to find out more about the man behind the MD and get him out of his shell. The question was how to bring it up? That sort of verbal subtlety was beyond her these days, so better to just be somewhat direct. "Doc...If you want me to mind my own business feel free to tell me, but I couldn't help but wonder if there was some kind of special significance to the Chopin?" Her own tastes leaned more toward Mozart, Copland, as well as some of the modern theatrical composers, but she could certainly understand the appeal of Chopin.
Luc seemed slightly taken aback by the question, his gaze straying toward the bag on the dresser containing the manuscript in question. He seemed to think about his answer for some time. Eventually, he just shrugged. "I've played a lot of Chopin," he said simply.
Bridget suspected there was more to the story than that, but best not to dig too deeply too soon. "You play piano? My parents tried to interest my twin and I in it but we never did take it up. I sometimes wish I had, it sounds so beautiful when someone trained plays."
"I do. Although I'm far from professional. But I get by."
"Hopefully I'll get to hear you play one day." She wondered if he'd been trained as a child or took it up later in life, but he wasn't sending any signals that he was interested in continuing the conversation. Getting the doctor out of his shell would take time it seemed, but she'd be seeing plenty of him over the next year, she had time.
"Perhaps," Luc said with a careful smile. "I'll have to talk someone into helping me to transport a piano here first, though. Or at least a good digital version. I think I'll have a little more trouble justifying that than a portable ultrasound."
"You can't prescribe yourself some musical therapy?" Bridget teased, "'Dr. Griffin needs 30 minutes practice a day with a synthesizer' or something like that?"
"Hah. Therapy. I'm not sure anyone has that luxury any more."
"If we can spare time and energy to look for books, I'm sure we can rummage around for a synthesizer someplace." Bridget was well aware that her obsession with trying to preserve what she could of recorded knowledge wasn't viewed with equal passion by everyone in the group. "I'm sure there's a music store around that would have one."
Luc smiled a little and shook his head. "I don't play keyboards," he said. "I need something with a full-size keyboard and weighted keys. Digital piano at the least. I know it sounds snobbish but a synthesizer would be pointless for me."
"I'll keep it in mind then," Bridget nodded firmly, making a mental note to check for something like that whenever she went on a raid at a big box store. Anything bigger than a digital piano would probably be impossible, but who knew what she might dig up?
Luc lifted a hand. "Please, you've done enough. Just take care of yourself, okay? Don't make my job any harder."
That earned him a laugh and Bridget waved her hand in acknowledgment of his point. "All right doc, I'll be a good girl, promise. I'm not about to make your job harder if I can help it, trust me." She meant it, too. There was nothing more important to her right now than taking care of herself and the child growing inside her. It was even more important than the book project.