forbidden (illicitus) wrote in the_colony, @ 2010-11-18 22:06:00 |
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Entry tags: | ^ week 22, louisa may smith, thomas galloway, | louisa may and tom |
Week 22 - Thursday morning
Characters Tom and Louisa May
Location Farmhouse, Molly and Jack’s room
Summary Tom comes by to check on everything.
Rating G
When he’d gotten up for his turn at guard duty that morning the weather still sucked, with wind howling and moisture coming down with only slightly less intensity than it had for the past three days. It made it impossible to get anything done outside and guard duty practically worthless, as visibility was so poor he couldn’t spot the outline of the barn off in the distance, but it did give the veteran time to organize his thoughts and get ready for the day ahead.
That thought in mind, he made his way up to Molly’s room once his shift was over to check on the severely ill girl and on her doctor. Tom had purposely stayed out of the way other than to make sure Louisa May had everything she needed to try and treat the girl. Aside from that he figured he’d do more harm than good if he distracted the caregivers and had put his energies to taking up the duties that had fallen by the wayside as Drew and others cared for Molly.
He reached the door and rapped his knuckles lightly on the frame before quietly opening the door and sticking his head in. “Hey Doc, you awake?”
It had been a tough night for Molly -- her fever had broken at four o’clock that morning -- and Louisa May and Drew had been up all night with her. Molly was (thankfully) sleeping at the moment, and Drew was curled up in a chair sleeping himself -- Louisa May didn’t have the heart to wake him up and send him to his room just yet. She was in the process of taking stock of her equipment to see if there was anything more she needed when she heard the knock.
She raised her finger to her lips and shooed Tom out, stepping out into the hall herself. “Just got her to sleep,” she said quietly, once she’d shut the door quietly behind her.
Tom had noticed both the sleeping girl and Drew curled up in the chair next to Molly’s bed before he’d been shooed out. He ran a hand through his hair, idling noting that he needed to get someone to trim it for him before returning his attention to the matter at hand. “So she’s regained consciousness? That’s a good sign isn’t it?”
“Very,” she replied. “It’s hard to tell at this point how much the hypothermia has affected her, though -- she’s got pneumonia. Fever broke early this morning, though, so we may be out of the woods on that front.” She paused. “I’d like to limit visitors for at least the next day, just because she’s coughing an awful lot, and I’d hate for anything to be catching. Just me, Drew, and Abby are plenty at this point, and she’s not in shape for anyone else anyways.”
“I’ll pass the word along,” Tom assured her, “no visitors until tomorrow afternoon earliest, and check with you first. I wanted to touch base and make sure you still had everything you needed, and to let you know we’ve got your trailer ready to move. At this point we’re just waiting on the weather to break, so the first decent day we get I’ll try and get the trailer up here. I don’t know how long it’ll take, the storm is sure to have made the roads nasty with nobody around to keep ‘em plowed.”
“Well, you let me know once you do. I want y’all to be safe and all, but it’ll be real nice once it gets here. Get my own place to sleep, for starters.” She’d caught a few hours of sleep in Abby’s room on Wednesday afternoon while the young vet took over for a shift, but she felt a bit out of sorts -- everything she owned was stacked up in the garage, and even if all her clothes weren’t here, she couldn’t very well go back to her parent’s house with the roads the way they were. She sighed a bit, and then caught herself, not wanting Tom to think of her as complaining. “Don’t rush it on my account, though. Y’all keep it safe.”
“I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that too much Louisa May.” Tom chuckled a little, but was pleased nonetheless at her emphasis on safety. “It isn’t like we’ll have a line of cars behind us laying on the horns, speed isn’t going to be our priority.” He peered at her. “When was the last time you got any sleep?”
“Shoot, man, don’t you worry about that. I got Abby takin’ over for me later today. I’ll catch some sleep then.” She grinned. “It may have been a while since I pulled a fourteen hour shift, but it’s just part of the job. And I only got one patient this time instead of forty, so it’s a lot more sitting around and waiting and a lot less running my damn fool head off.”
“All right.” Satisfied, Tom nodded his head. “You need someone to run some breakfast up here or will you and Abby trade off in time for you to get a bite?”
“I’ll be fine -- I’m never hungry when I’m working. I’ll eat when Abby takes over.” She ran a hand over her face, feeling a slow ache across her shoulders.
“As long as you’re sure,” Tom shifted his weight on the other foot and prepared to turn and head back downstairs. “You or Abby need anything, make sure you let someone know ok?”
“You got it, Tom,” Louisa May replied. “Thanks for stopping by.”