Recovery

Recovery - Ch 12

Recovery - Ch 12

The short ride to the Waterfront Clinic was done in relative silence as Lesley looked out the window and tried to control the fear that she felt curling around in her belly. She laid a hand on her stomach in a reflexive movement to try and stop the feeling of the serpents doing cartwheels inside of her, but it was no use, the closer they got to the waterfront the more creative the serpents got in their gymnastic moves. By the time Alan finally stopped the car in the small lot across the street Lesley had managed to compartmentalize and let herself slide behind the professional, professorial screen that would allow her to put up the front that she needed to go back inside the clinic.

"Are you okay?" Alan asked as he put the car in park, "you don't have to go in. You can tell me where the refrigerator is and what the combination is then I can get the blood."

Lesley was already reaching for the door handle as she shook her head, "I'm fine. This should only take a couple of minutes." She got out of the car before Alan could scoot around to open the door for her and met him at the hood; Lesley looked up at him with a wan smile, "here goes nothing," she said then rooted around in her purse for the keys as they crossed the street.

The lock on the door stuck, as usual, but muscle memory had Lesley automatically pulling the handle towards her just enough to release the latch on the door, just like she'd done countless times in the past. The door swung open, but before Lesley could take a step, Alan laid a hand on her arm, "let me go in first," he said quietly and not giving her a chance to answer, nudged her aside to enter. He looked around for a minute, found the light switch on the wall, flicked the lights on, then moved to stand in the center of the room where he looked around for another minute before turning back to Lesley waiting in the doorway, "empty. Come on in," he said and reached out a hand to her.

Lesley took a deep breath and stepped over the threshold, then looked around herself. She couldn't stop herself from looking down the short hallway to Exam room 2, Lesley felt all the blood drain away from her face as she closed her eyes and heard the sounds of Travis yelling at her, the bottles on the counter hitting the floor, the medicine cabinet glass breaking ....... Alan took a step forward and laid a hand on her shoulder, "Lesley...are you okay?"

Lesley started, then laid her hand over Alan's. "Yeah...I'm all right. It's this way," she pointed down the hallway and started walking, resolutely avoiding looking at the Exam room as they went by. They stopped at the last door on the right, Lesley chose another key off her key ring, slid it into the lock and this time, the lock released effortlessly, and they stepped into the room. She motioned with her hand and pointed silently at the light switch before moving to the large refrigerator up against the back wall. Picking up the clipboard that was hanging from it, Lesley began the order of operations to make certain the blood supply was untainted. The checklist was lengthy, but Lesley moved through it as quickly and efficiently as she could, double checking the last service date of the cooler, the date of the last blood shipment and what type was received, the temperature of the cooler, and the time stamp for the last time it has been opened. Finally satisfied, she entered the combination and pulled open the door. The blood packets were meticulously organized, but here too, Lesley went slowly and made sure she double and triple checked the blood type, the collection date, and the arrival date to make sure the supply was viable before she turned around with the packets in her hand, "there's a small ice chest in the corner," she pointed, and Alan grabbed it as they carefully placed the blood inside. B- blood wasn't all that common so the clinic didn't have much, but the two packets they did have could literally mean the difference between life and death for the patient at the hospital.

"Let's go," Lesley said with a nod as she carefully recorded the blood they'd taken, her initials, along with the date and time on the form attached to the clipboard. Alan followed her back into the reception area and almost ran into her when Lesley stopped short and gasped, "Mrs. Calvert...what.... what are you doing here?"