Broken: A Time Lord's Story (Doctor Who Novel)

Chapter 17 The Beginning

Sally Cummings pushed the ICU doors open and walked into the normally quiet unit well after midnight. She really wished that she'd paid more attention to the on-call schedule. If she had, she would have let her husband stay in the barn to help a heifer deliver her first calf. He had to work in the morning, and she was looking at a day off. The call to come in was more than inconvenient, it promised a night of work when she was already tired.

"Hey, Cath," she greeted the monitor tech, "What's happening, has the ER called report yet."

"Yep, we've got a mid-twenties male, coming up. He was beaten, tortured, and your going to love this part – gang raped and dumped in an alley behind Nan's Café."

"What? You have got to be kidding?" Sally leaned across the desk to see the written notes. Cathy Harris was a great monitor tech and secretary, but only she could read her scribble

"Nope, ER says he's a mess. He has an acute pneumonia, bruised kidneys, early liver damage from malnutrition, fractured wrist, and a dislocated shoulders. He's got a cath irrigation and an IV going. They took him to the OR and did a rectal repair along with resetting his arm. Want to know what else?" the girl said teasingly.

"Cath, I spent the evening, in a barn with a heifer, tugging a calf into the world. I am already tired so let's not play twenty questions." 

"He has two hearts and is missing his left lower lobe. Doctor Wilson has a cardiologist in with him now. Evidently this is one really rare birth defect. We're supposed to have two monitors for him. Who ever tortured him used a whip on him, so we put an air bed in his room."

"Damn, I thought I was coming for a car wreck, not a  car wreck. Do I get an aide to settle him in?"

"Yeah, Andi Cassman is coming up from the floor. You two are supposed to do one on one with him and help out if you have time."

"Thanks, call ER and tell them, I'm here," Sally smiled and headed for a fresh cup of coffee.

Fifteen minutes after she arrived, Sally stood opposite the bed ready to lift her newest patient from the stretcher. When she spoke, her country twang enhanced  the farmer's wife persona. Short grey streaked, brown hair, leathery, weather worn skin and strong hands added to the look. Nothing about her looked gentle and yet she was extraordinarily so.  The same anger that the ER staff felt rose in her throat forcing her to swallow. The last thing this young man who lay bloodied, broken and seriously ill needed to hear was a hint of anger in her voice.  She smiled at his new family who watched like nervous hawks as she and the staff lifted him from the trolley to place him gently on the medical air bed. The shift in position combined with the loss of contact from the woman holding his hand   brought a pained groan of protest. Sally mentally noted his slurred speech when he called out a plaintive Nan.

"It's alright, Cowboy, I'm right here," Nan answered as she slid her hand back in his. She stroked his head and as soon as she could. "See, this will be so much more comfortable," she said unable to keep the weariness out of her voice.

"Hi, I'm Sally Cummings," Sally introduced herself to this new family, "and this is my partner for the night, Andi Cassman. We'll be taking care of your ...." Sally wasn't sure what they were other than guardians.

"Consider him our long lost, nephew. I am Nan Carson, this is Mr and Mrs Munson and Annie Gleeson. We are his family."

"Yes, I know, Mrs Carson." Sally looked at the obviously tired group. She needed them to trust her, and from the look on their faces, especially Mrs C arson's, that wasn't going to be easy.

"Let us just get him settled and ask a few questions. Then we'll bring a recliner in for whomever is staying," Sally said warmly. She smiled inwardly at the way their glares softened into more of a protective stare. The woman's body language concerned her. She really hoped she would not be the person staying. The look of profound exhaustion was written all over her from the way she twisted her neck to relieve the tension to the way she unconsciously shrugged her shoulders. Her companions looked just as concerned.