The Surgeon and his Lady

Chapter V

Jack and I sat together inside the carriage with the boy, who, according to Jack, went by Charlie. Fagin was hitching a ride where the bags often sat, on the back of the carriage. "Hey, it's not too bad, Charlie boy." Jack told him, comforting him. Then he turned his attention to me. "Why didn't you tell me you were a lady?" He asks, hurt lacing each of his words. I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. 

My once nice-looking braid was now looking like an awful rat's tail. "I feared you'd think less of me." I whisper before I look over at Charlie. "Charlie, I'm sure Dr. Dawkins has seen much worse at sea. And women always love a good scar." I tell him sweetly and he musters up a grin as Jack chuckles. I blushed a little as I realized that I kind of admitted that I was into a man with scars. And I could hear my sister in my mind. 

Instead of using ether, he's going to butcher the boy and condemn him to beggary. But then again, Belle never had a bedside manner. I knew that the Yankee Dodge would save his life but it just wasn't the way of a surgeon. A surgeon was born to remove limbs. "Look, (y/n). You know I'd give anything to trial that surgery. Anything." He says, reaching out to bring my gaze back to his as I look away. 

"Surgery without pain would revolutionize medicine." I whisper, trying not to cry. The pain was coming back and it took all my strength not to reach for my chest. Today was just too much for me and I wasn't taking it very well. But I knew why he wouldn't. "But you won't because the biggest risk for any surgeon is the addiction to feeling like God. A gamble against death with only wit for an ante." I whisper and he nods as he returns his attention to Charlie. 

I reach up and wipe away any tears that had been threatening to fall. It was an exhilarating risk but it wasn't the doctor's risk. It was the patient. "Do you know what it's like? To want to give an 11-year-old ether while performing a Cesarean section just so you don't have to listen to them die?" I whisper as he looks at me sadly, tears now rushing down my face. "Because a Cesarean is all you can do because they're too young to give birth vaginally." I sobbed as I covered my face. 

And they always die. Occasionally, one will survive, but it's always more like 1 in 5 odds. Not wonderful. But my girls are always giving birth to babies of sexual assault and sometimes don't even want the baby. And then I have to get rid of it. Then I clean my face. "Well, in the words of my sister, if she were here, 'might I suggest you find your spine?'" I say to him and he looks at me before peering out the window as I try and hide a grin from my face. 

"The hospital is that way." Jack reminds me and I nod before telling him that we weren't going to the hospital. He looked as though he was trying to give himself whiplash as he spun around to stare at me in absolute shock. "What are we doing here, (y/n)?" He demands and reminds me that this is the Governor's residence. "Have you forgotten I'm the governor's daughter already?" I asked him, almost shocked that he could gloss over it so easily. 

And he looks regretful as I can see him remembering all the times he had insulted my father. Chump is his favourite name for my father. "I'm Lady 'Chump' (y/n)." I told him jokingly and I watched with slight delight as his face turned a scarlet that rivaled the skirt Belle was wearing today. I laughed a little as the carriage stopped and I climbed out of the door I was closest to. "I can't perform an operation here. I need surgical equipment." 

Jack tells me and I wave my hands at him. "I have surgical equipment." I tell him before I run off. I quickly climbed the stairs and got to my room. I push myself under my bed and grab my secret surgical equipment. Then I rushed to my wardrobe after I put my equipment on the bed while unbuttoning my skirt and pulling out a pair of pants. I pull them on and add my suspenders before I rush into Belle's room. 

I was still wearing my heeled boots and had pulled my pants over the top. My corset and blouse stayed intact. I quickly located her bottle of Ether. It appeared that Belle might have been sucked into the party happening downstairs. I rushed back into my room to get my medical tools. There was a little blood on my saw from my last amputation of a baby with a dead limb but I doubt I would need the saw. Emergency only.