Someone Like You

Chapter 16 - Diana

In the event, I was so busy at work and at home preparing for my talk on Wednesday morning that I hardly noticed Andy's absence. And, of course, by hardly noticed, I mean that I thought about him every waking moment of the day and night. The sex dreams had returned with a vengeance and the one last night had woken me in the middle of the night, and try as I might (after two earth shattering orgasms, thank you Mr. Rabbit) I had not been able to get back to sleep.

I lay in bed until my alarm went off at 5:30, but then snoozed it until 5:57 because, of course, now all of a sudden I was tired. When it went off again just before 6, I begrudgingly got out of bed and headed to the shower, suddenly buoyed by the fact that I was going to have my date with Andy tonight. I had picked out my outfit already; it was a 50's style black dress with a fitted bodice and a full skirt. The cap sleeves of the bodice were a large woven fish net and underneath the hem of the skirt there was a hint of a black petticoat. I paired it with a pair of ballet flats, having long ago decided to never wear heels to please a man (stripteases not withstanding).

Was I cute? Definitely. Sexy? I thought so. But a martyr to uncomfortable footwear? Absolutely not.

I showered quickly and got dressed in my work clothes, wistfully wishing that I could wear my pretty dress all day. I decided to wear a small bit of makeup so that I didn't look quite so washed out during my presentation and hurried off to work, treating myself to Starbucks on the way in.

The presentation went well, but clinic dragged. The upper respiratory tract infection season was starting up, despite it being only early September. Feeling both excited about my date and a little bored with yet another runny nose, I'm sure I must have seemed a little distracted. My last patient was scheduled for 4:30 and was listed as a physical, should be easy, right?

My first clue that something was wrong was that she was crying into a tissue when I walked in. To the astute physician (read human) this is always a sign that something else is going on. Especially when you are reportedly being seen for a physical. I took one look at her face and immediately felt a knot in my stomach. She had a black eye, and a big split lip and she looked like she was wearing makeup – and clothes for that matter – from yesterday.

I had never met her before, but I took one look at her, at her disheveled appearance and the rawness of her injuries, and I knew at once that something really bad had happened to her really recently. I was about to introduce myself to her, but it seemed overly clinical, and I don't know what came over me, but I walked up to her and gave her a big hug.

She completely lost it and started sobbing violently, crying so loudly I'm sure she could be heard in the other exam rooms. I patted her head with my hand and rocked her back and forth until the sobs became whimpers and the whimpers became sniffles. When she seemed like she could sit up under her own will power I released her from my grasp. In my mind all manner of terrible things were going through my head, how did I broach the subject? How could I get her to start talking?

I said the first thing that came to my mind, "So you're here for a physical, huh?"

She took one look at my face and THANK GOD realized I was joking and she burst out laughing.

"Yep. Just a regular old physical." She wiped her eyes with the tissue again and looked up at me. "I don't even know where to start."

"I'm relieved to hear you say that," I said, "because I'm not too sure either. Let's start with the absolute basics. Are you breathing?"

She took a deep breath in and out. "Yep, still breathing."

"Good," I said, "do you have a pulse?" I reached forward and touched her left wrist, she had a bounding pulse, slightly fast, but strong, very strong. "Your heart is still beating. Are you hurt anywhere else? Did the person who did this to you hurt you anywhere else?"