His Army Doctor

Infirmary

Delilah awoke early the next morning and got dressed. To her surprise, Tobias was already at the kitchen bar drinking his coffee. She wasn’t sure whether to ask or not but she worked up the courage, “So, can I go with you today?” 

“I told you. You need to recover first.” said Tobias blowing steam off his coffee.

“I am recovered,” said Delilah, turning in a circle as if to show off her healed body. Her arm was still in that heavy cast, but she had made sure to wear clothes that hid all of her bruises. 

Tobias looked unconvinced. “Unfortunately Dr. Aldridge is tied up in the infirmary. He wants to look at your arm to see about when you can take the cast off and wear just a brace. I’ll take you with me to see him, but no investigative work in the camp. You can stay in the infirmary with him and I’ll bring you back at lunch.”

Delilah was a bit disappointed, but at least she was getting out of the house. Maybe she could even talk him into letting her stay. They rode the short drive to the camp in silence. Delilah held her chin up with her hand as she leaned on the window seal and watched the passing trees and ocean waves. 

“Stop making that face.” said Tobias sternly. 

Delilah turned his direction unknowing of what he was referring to. “What face?”

Tobias turned to look at her briefly before returning his eyes to the road, “You’re pouting and it’s obvious. It’s difficult to say no to you like that.” 

Delilah grinned and simply replied, “noted.”

They arrived at the army camp and made their way into the infirmary. Dr. Aldridged motioned Delilah to go sit in his office. Tobias accompanied her to the office and then went off to start his morning routine at the camp. Delilah waited for what seemed like forever. She watched Dr. Aldridge and Lee and the others work through the glass window. They seemed to be quite overwhelmed with the volume of patients they had. Eventually, Dr. Aldridge made his way into the office with tired eyes. “Sorry for making you wait Ms. Dawson. We just got in some more wounded. We’ve been swamped this morning.” He evaluated her arm and glanced back at her xrays.

Delilah asked while he made some notes in her chart, “The war has been over for a year now, why is the camp still receiving injured soldiers?” 

“The war may be over, but the discord in our country is not. Rebellions are still breaking out and the soldiers are struggling to keep them under control.” Dr. Aldridge replied. 

Delilah nodded. She knew this, but had not realized how many were still suffering because of it. 

“The hard cast can come off next week. You can wear a brace for 3 weeks thereafter.”

“Dr. Aldridge,” Delilah said as Dr. Aldridge looked up from his writing, “I can help you.”

Dr. Aldridge shook his head as he walked back out amongst the patients. “Ms. Dawson, or Dr. Dawson, should I say. I would love your expertise, but General Matthews has taken a particular protective interest in you that I will not interfere with.” 

Delilah got in front of Dr. Aldridge and stopped him. She looked down as she let out the little lie “No, no. He doesn’t mind. He just doesn’t want me in the camp. He said I can stay in the infirmary.” It wasn’t really a lie. That is what Tobias said, however, she knew it’s not what he had meant. 

Dr. Aldridge stopped and looked down at Delilah suspiciously. “Okay. I guess that’s fine if that is what General Matthew said. I’m in desperate need of help so we won’t keep the patients waiting.” He motioned at Lee across the room to come to him. “Lee, please give Dr. Dawson a run down of the infirmary and where we need help the most. She will be assisting us today.”

Lee grinned eagerly, “Finally! I was hoping you’d end up helping us, Doc.” Delilah smiled ear to ear. She was excited to finally get back to work doing something she enjoyed. Lee gave her a quick overall status of the infirmary and showed her where the patients were triaged and where supplies were and gave a brief overview of their charts. Delilah memorized the location of everything quickly as Lee escorted her to the triage area where she could begin to work. There were two nurses working in triage already, but no doctors. Apparently, they really didn’t have enough physicians. The nurses would triage and send simpler cases to Lee and the more complicated ones to Dr. Aldridge. 

Delilah evaluated her first patient who had suffered from multiple lacerations from shrapnel due to a bombing. She gave him morphine to relax his pain while she quickly removed the shrapnel and sutured his wounds. 

Delilah saw the patients quickly. Most were basic injuries that needed cleaning and suturing. She suddenly heard screaming coming from the triage room next door. She rushed in to see another young doctor irrigating a burn wound.  The patient was being held down by two nurses and 3 soldiers as he begged them to stop. “What is going on?” Delilah asked. 

The young male doctor rolled his eyes as he kept working. “Listen, new doc. I don’t know where you came from and all the drugs you had at whatever fancy private hospital you worked at, but here we run out of anesthetics fast. We only have 5 vials left so I’m saving them for potential surgeries.”

Delilah couldn’t believe her ears. They didn’t have pain medicine for these poor soldiers. She was simply mortified. “Do you have valerian root?” said Delilah. 

“What,” asked the male doctor, unable to hear her over the screams. 

Delilah screamed her question again. 

“Talk louder little doc,” replied the male doctor, not looking up. Delilah was enraged. She went over and yanked the irrigation tools from his hands. He looked at Delilah stunned that someone would dare do that. Delilah through the irrigation tools on the ground. 

“I said, do you have valerian root?” asked Delilah, gritting through her teeth. The young male doc threw his sterile gloves on the ground, “I don’t know anything about damn roots! How dare… “ 

One of the soldiers interrupted him and turned toward Delilah who had not stopped glaring at the young male doctor, “yes mam, there is plenty of it out in the camp. It grows naturally here.” 

Delilah relaxed some, “Go get some please. Boil it in a lemon tea and give it to this man before any more procedural work is done.” The soldier left the room quickly to obey. 

The male doctor looked shocked. Delilah turned back to him as she dusted off her medical apron, “Valerian root is a general anesthetic. It’s cheap and apparently plentiful here. It will provide some light sedation for pain relief. I did not work at a fancy hospital with lots of resources, but that doesn’t mean that I didn’t find ways to provide appropriate and compassionate care to people. I suggest you become more resourceful yourself.”

The young male doctor’s face had gone crimson red as he clenched his fist in anger. Delilah turned on her heels and exited the room before he could make any rebuttal. 

She continued to work quickly that morning and sent nurses to recover more herbs and plants that could take the place of more traditional medicine so they could preserve their limited medicine supply. She felt a small amount of pain in her broken arm from all the suturing, but it felt great to be back to doing something productive.

She was finishing up with her last patient who had pneumonia as Lee pulled the curtain and walked in. “Dr. Aldridge sent me in to see where all the patients were. He hadn’t had any new patients sent to him in the last hour. After talking to the nurses, it looks like that’s your fault.” said Lee with a grin. 

Delilah replied as she continued to make notes in the patient’s chart, “Sorry, I hope he’s not offended. I’ve just missed working. I’m done for now though. I’ll go talk to him.”

Lee smiled, “Dr. Aldridge is not the one offended. He’s ecstatic for the pair of extra hands. Dr. Edward Ross, however, is not happy with your suggestions.” 

Delilah grimaced, “I take it Dr. Ross is the hot headed young male doctor?” Lee nodded, still smiling. “Well, I hope I offended him. He needs to learn some compassion and basic holistic medicine.” Delilah retorted.

Lee shrugged, “Yeah, I heard about your herbal tea concoction. Most of our doctors here came from up north which is pretty much strict traditional medicine. They don’t know a lot about how to use herbs and plants in the place of medicine. Dr. Aldridge has been researching it for the last few months since we have become so tight on medicine. He’s tried a few things, but he’s still learning himself. As far as Eddie, don’t worry about him. He’s intimidated by women, especially smart women. He was bound to hate you anyways. Dr. Aldridge isn’t a big fan of him either, but we are so desperate for help, he won’t fire him.”

Lee further explained the extent of the medicine shortage as they walked back to the front of the infirmary with Dr. Aldridge. Apparently word had spread quickly of the confrontation between Dr. Ross and Delilah, because Dr. Aldridge quickly apologized for Eddie’s behavior. “Please forgive him. He’s an i***t. I have no better excuse, but I’m far more interested in how you know so much about naturalistic medicine, Dr. Dawson.”

Delilah shrugged, “My mom grew up in a really remote village that practiced naturalistic medicine so she taught me and my brother about roots and herbs our whole life. My medical education didn’t go into much detail about how to use them medicinally, but I did my own research while in med school and compared it to my mother’s books. I’ve been a traveling doctor for a year now. I rarely had western medicine at my disposal so I put some of my research and theories to the test and, overall, I’ve had good results. I’ve made notes of each herb I’ve used, which ones worked, and which ones didn’t. I can bring that for you to look over.” 

Dr. Aldridge looked mesmerized by Delilah’s wealth of knowledge. Most people tended to underestimate her because of her age. “That would be extremely helpful, Dr. Dawson. I am…”  

Dr. Aldridge was interrupted by the slamming door and loud footsteps as Tobias made his way in the infirmary looking angry. He clenched his fist as he looked at Delilah’s white jacket and apron which was covered with blood. Delilah had almost forgotten about Tobias and what wrath she would have to face when he found out what she’d been doing. “I told you that you were not working in the infirmary.” he said cooly as it was obvious he was holding back his anger.

Dr. Aldridge’s eyes widened in horror as he realized what was going on. “Oh my, uh sir, General, I had no idea…”

“I’ll deal with you later,” Tobias snapped as he turned his head back to Delilah with his piercing stare. 

Delilah had grown tired of his protective attitude though. She barely knew this man. He wasn’t in charge of her. She was a doctor and it was her duty to help people. 

“No, you will not deal with him later.” said Delilah as she threw her dirty apron on the ground. The usual happy go lucky Lee was backing up with frightened eyes. Dr. Aldridge seemed frozen in place. Even some of the nearby soldiers had tensed up and turned to watch this scene unfold. It was obvious that no one had ever dared to talk to the General this way. 

Delilah continued, “I don’t know who you think you are, but I’m not in the military and you are not my general. I am a doctor and I will work as a doctor where and when I choose. I don’t know what your problem is, but look around you. Your men are dying because there is not enough skilled medical personnel to care for them. Are you really going to leave me locked up in the house while your men die and I can prevent that? Why do you even care? You barely know me. I’ll be back tomorrow with or without your permission and unless you’re going to tie me down, you can’t stop me.” Delilah began to walk away as she turned and said, “Oh wait, you’ve already tried that and it didn’t work either.” She quickly threw her white coat to one of the military paramedics as she stormed out of the infirmary. She could see Lee’s jaw nearly laying on the concrete floor as he and the rest of their audience stood in utter shock. She felt better getting that little outburst out of her system, but she knew Tobias was not going to lay over and take it. She could hear his footsteps echoing behind her. She was way too terrified to look back.

Delilah quickly walked out of the infirmary. She didn’t want to create any more of a scene than she already had. She wrapped her arms around her as it was quite chilly outside and she had left her jacket in Dr. Aldridge’s office. She walked behind the infirmary towards the shore where the waves were quietly crashing on the rocky shore. There was a small boathouse on the shore that she leaned against as she watched the seagulls fly overhead. She figured she should give Tobias some time to cool off before he inevitably found her. What would he do when he found her? She had just publicly insulted him and yelled at him. He would probably kick her out of his house. That was the minimum punishment Delilah expected. Maybe she could stay with Chloe. She still planned to come back to the infirmary tomorrow. Maybe he would throw her in prison if she did. He didn’t really seem like the type of guy to hit a woman, but who knows? Her dad hadn’t seemed like that type of guy before war had brainwashed him into a violent monster.

About that time Delilah heard footprints treading on the sand behind her. She closed her eyes to prepare for the worst. She felt a large hand grab her shoulder and pin her to the side of the building. She looked up to see Tobias’ menacing eyes piercing into hers. He had both arms against the building trapping her between them. There was nowhere to run. He breathed heavy for a minute as he continued to just glare at her. He was even shaking with anger as he kept pinned between himself and the wooden wall behind her. So much for him cooling off first. Delilah was terrified, but this was not the time to be a coward so she glared right back.

“Why aren't you scared of me?” asked Tobias. Delilah was surprised by his question.

“Should I be?” she asked curiously. Tobias’ expression softened a bit as he continued to glare.

Tobias stepped back ignoring her question. “You can start at the infirmary tomorrow, but for now, we’re going home.” Delilah stood in shock. “Put this on,” stated Tobias as he took off his jacket and handed it to Delilah as he began to walk back up the shore towards the camp.

“Home?” Delilah asked, “You mean I’m still allowed to stay at your house?” Delilah stood puzzled as she clumsily put on his jacket. Regardless of how awkward this situation was, she was freezing and thankful for the warm protection from the cold wind. 

Tobias turned around with a surprised expression. “If you want to work in the infirmary, you will continue to stay at my house where I can keep an eye on you.” Delilah nodded. She still couldn’t grasp his intentions, but for now they helped her accomplish her purpose so she wouldn’t dissect that too much right now.

They silently walked back to his truck and drove home as the sun began to grow hazy.