His Army Doctor

Army Camp

She woke with the sun shining in bright through the bedroom blinds. She hurriedly jumped out of bed. The pain shot up her legs instantly reminding her of her injuries. A new toothbrush had been laid on the bathroom counter. She happily brushed her teeth and combed her hair. Her brown hair laid in loose curls below her shoulders. It was no secret she was a girl now. She might as well spare her aching head injury from a tight ponytail. She slid on her cargo pants and left on the sweater she borrowed from Tobias. She hurriedly walked outside the bedroom and headed for the door to the docks so they could get going. 

Tobias’s voice stopped her before she could open the door. “Well good morning to you too. It’s time to eat,” he said from the kitchen. Delilah rolled her eyes. She was so anxious to get started looking for Daniel. Tobias apparently noticed her reluctance. With a disapproving look Tobias eyed her from head to toe, “when was the last time you ate?” Now that he mentioned it, Delilah could feel the hunger in the pit of her stomach. The last time she ate had been sometime yesterday before departing from Acadia. She quickly sat down and grabbed the plate Tobias had handed her. It would be faster not to argue with him.

 They ate breakfast in silence. She had to admit that he was a pretty good cook. He had made omelets and crepes that were mouth watering. She hadn’t expected that from a general who lived alone. She was so hungry she didn’t take the time to savor all the flavor. She didn’t have a hard time eating every bite on her plate.  Tobias watched her finish her breakfast with a pleased look on his face as she ate the last bite. 

Delilah stood up and said “ok, we’re done. Let’s go!” 

Tobias was right. The army camp was walking distance but she didn’t argue with him about riding in his truck. She was still sore from the night before. They arrived at the army camp and Delilah was amazed by the size. It wasn’t simply an infirmary. It was a huge military base with hundreds of soldiers training and practicing on the gun range. Others were carrying supplies to military boats. She saw the big white building with the red cross indicating it was the infirmary. She jumped out of the truck already looking where she wanted to start. She started to walk toward the docks where a group of soldiers were loading boats when Tobias grabbed the back of her sweater stopping her. “Not so fast. We’re going to fix your arm first.” 

Delilah kept forgetting about her injured arm, but the throbbing pain was quick to remind her. Delilah looked down at the ground a little embarrassed, “Uhm, General Matthews, I’m going to have to re-break my arm which is going to hurt like hell in order to fix it. I’d rather ask around about my brother while I can think straight.” 

Tobias looked down on her with a somewhat horrified expression. He quickly regained his composure and let go of her sweater. “Fine. And Delilah?” 

Delilah turned back around to look in his direction. “Just call me Tobias.” 

Delilah just nodded her head and continued to head towards the docks.

Delilah approached one of the soldiers with a friendly smile, “Hi, I’m Delilah.” 

The soldier turned around and quickly looked at Delilah. He smiled brightly at her as he put down his box. “Hi, I’m Brock.” He held out his hand to shake hers, but Tobias quickly approached standing between the two. Brock quickly lost his smile and looked down. He then brought his arm up to a salute “General Matthews.” Brock relaxed as Tobias backed up toward Delilah. Brock examined the two trying to find the connection. It was clear Brock was examining both of their bruised faces, but he didn’t ask. That was probably a wise choice given Tobias’s not so cheerful mood. Maybe he’s not a morning person, Delilah thought.

Brock spoke first, “Is this a friend of yours, General?” Tobias avoided the question completely and answered Brock, “this is Ms. Dawson and she has some questions regarding her brother Daniel Dawson.” Brock nodded his head and began to ask Delilah more specific questions on her brother. Unfortunately, the conversation with Brock ended quickly as he had never heard of the name nor of his battalion.

As promised, Tobias accompanied Delilah around the camp while they asked question after question. Tobias was clearly a very busy man as multiple people came to him asking questions or getting signatures. Tobias would walk out of earshot of Delilah for some conversations, but he was never out of her sight. Oddly enough, Delilah was okay with that. Maybe it was the traumatic events of last night that made her feel a little safer when Tobias was around.

They found a few soldiers who knew about the 78th battallion’s ship going down, but none knew many details on names and who survived. Most soldiers were too intimidated or fearful to look at Delilah for more than a second as Tobias glared at those dared. The sun was beginning to grow hazy as the day was ending. Although she hadn’t made much progress, Delilah still felt like this camp was her best bet to getting information on Daniel. 

Tobias interrupted her thoughts saying, “Delilah, it’s time to go see about your arm.” 

Delilah sighed discouraged. They hadn’t even talked to a third of the men. There were still so many people to ask. However, Delilah was tired and didn’t protest. Not to mention her arm was really killing her, so it was time to get this over with. Tobias led her into the infirmary. They walked past rows and rows of stretchers with men who were coughing, missing limbs, and some who already looked dead. It was very obvious that there were not near enough medical personnel. Only 5 or 6 people were seen wearing white coats or scrubs and there were hundreds of soldiers. Delilah was mortified. So many of these men would die simply due to lack of help. Tobias made no eye contact with the patients and continued to walk to the back of the building.

Delilah nearly ran into Tobias as he came to a stop in the back of the building. There were no x ray machines or MRIs. Most of the IV drips looked hand mixed and there were very few pumps. Everything seemed to be hand titrated. This facility was clearly working with limited resources. A couple of men quickly stood up from their seats as Tobias walked into what appeared to be an office with hundreds of patient charts lining the shelves and scattered on the desks. One of the men appeared to be around Delilah’s age, maybe mid 20’s with dirty blonde hair. He was wearing an army tshirt and cargo pants.  The other man was older, in his 50’s with dark hair that was peppered with gray and wearing a white coat. The young blonde eyed Delilah with curiosity but directed his attention back to Tobias when the older man began to speak, “General, can we help you with anything,” he asked as he eyed the obvious injuries on Tobias’s face. The way both men kept their eyes down made it clear they respected Tobias, maybe there was a little fear mixed in there too. 

Tobias pulled up Delilah’s sleeve on her left arm. “Yes, this is Ms. Dawson. She will be needing some assistance in fixing her broken arm.” 

Delilah blushed with embarrassment as both men looked at her arm with some disgust. It was obvious that the bone needed to be rebroken. They were probably dreading having to tell Tobias that. 

Delilah broke the silence. “I’m well aware that it needs to be rebroken to be set. It would be much easier with your help than by myself. Do you have plaster here for casting?”

The young blonde began to grin as he looked at her, “So, you a nurse or doctor or what?” 

“Doctor.” Delilah calmly replied.

The older man looked up from examining her arm with a little spark of excitement in his eye. “I’m Dr. Bruce Aldridge and this is my army medic assistant, Lee” as he motioned toward the young blonde. “We are very pleased to be welcoming you. We have been in great need of more help and …”

Tobias stopped him before he could finish. “Ms. Dawson is leaving soon. She will not be working here. I only need you to fix her arm.” Tobias’s harsh tone left both men speechless. 

Dr. Aldridge spoke first, “Okay then, miss, let’s get to work. General, this might be difficult to watch. Do you mind stepping outside?”

“I’m fine to stay,” calmly replied Tobias.

Dr. Aldridge simply nodded. Delilah wished Tobias would go outside. She hoped not to cry, but she really didn’t want to in front of the intimidating general who didn’t even flinch when she sewed up his hand last night with no anesthetic. 

Dr. Aldrige and Lee helped her up onto an exam table as Dr. Aldridge continued to examine her arm. “Ms. Dawson, I will make this as brief as possible, but Lee, here, will have to hold you down.” Delilah swallowed her saliva and nodded. She had done this to patients hundreds of times, but had never experienced it herself.

Lee had lost his friendly smile and avoided eye contact with Delilah as he held down her right arm and hips. Delilah took a deep breath and heard the loud c***k as Dr. Aldrige snapped her broken bone back into place. Delilah screamed a blood-curdling scream that she was quite sure had woken all the sleeping patients outside. It was fortunate that Lee was holding her down because her body tried to jolt off the exam table. No tears ever escaped her eyes but she continued to groan and she looked toward Dr. Aldridge.

He shook his head as he said, “I'm sorry, Miss, it’s going to take one more time.” Delilah nodded as the pain made it unbearable to speak.

Tobias' cold voice reminded her of his presence, “I’ll be outside.”  He quickly walked out of the exam room.

Dr. Aldridge breathed a sigh of relief. “Okay, Miss, here we go.”