A look of revelation dawned on Finn’s face. ‘You know, I bet it was living in that shithole in New York that brought this on. I swear the black stuff on the bathroom ceiling was some kind of flesh-eating mold.’
‘There could be all sorts of reasons for it,’ Tammy said. ‘But I guess flesh-eating mold probably isn’t so good for people overall.’
If this surgery had been set up properly, Tammy wouldn’t be doing all the blood tests and handing out drugs to the patients. There would be a dedicated lab and a pharmacy at the very least. But right now, she didn’t have a choice. Luckily, since asthma was so common, she did have a couple inhalers in the medicine cupboard. If Finndidhave eosinophilic asthma, as she suspected, then she’d need to get some other inhalers on regular order, and maybe some steroid tablets depending on how his condition responded to the treatment.
It was a lot to keep in her head, and she was already feeling pretty stressed out by how basic the surgery was. She needed to grab Haze to talk through about a million things, but most pressing right now was the hiring of some more staff for the surgery — if he was serious about running this place properly.
But it wasn’t just stress that she was feeling. Her head felt sore, and her sinuses were tight. She was coming down with something. She didn’t even want to consider that, though. She didn’t have time to be sick. Not when everyone was relying on her.
Tammy took out a syringe and prepared to collect a blood sample from Finn.
‘I’ll be brave, Doc,’ he said.
‘Why is it I get the feeling you’re enjoying this?’ she said as she took the sample.
‘Could be because I am. Do I get a sticker? A lollipop?’
‘How about this?’ she said. She leaned in and kissed him as she pushed a cotton wool ball to the vein she’d just taken blood from. Her heart pounded as his tongue slipped into her mouth, and as it wrapped around hers. He bit her lip gently as she pulled away, making her moan softly under her breath.
‘This is the best trip to the doctor I’ve ever had,’ he said.
‘Well, you’re one of my very favorite patients,’ she replied.
Just as she was about to send Finn on his way and get started on the paperwork for the blood test, Tammy felt a tingle in her nose.
‘Uh,’ she said, quickly putting the sample down, before sneezing into a Kleenex.
‘Uh-oh,’ Finn said, looking concerned. ‘Now I’m not a trained medical professional, but in my opinion, that sounded very much like a sneeze.’
‘I’m impressed,’ Tammy said, sniffing a little.
‘Hey, wasn’t Haze sneezing the other day?’
Ughhh, Finn was right. Hazehadbeen sneezing. ‘No, no, no, I can’t be ill,’ Tammy said. But even as she said, she could feel the cold even more.
‘Course you can,’ Finn said. ‘And lucky for you, you’ve got two Daddies to look after you.’
*
‘Well, Doctor Healy, what we’re dealing with, in my humble and extremely well-trained medical opinion, is a severe and almost certainly incurable case of good-girl-itis.’ Conor looked down at their patient.
‘Why did I agree to this?’ Tammy groaned. She was doing her best to sound annoyed, but judging by the smile on her face, it was clear that she was enjoying herself immensely.
‘Shush now, Little One,’ Conor said. ‘Doctor Healy and I are trying to make an important medical assessment here.’ He turned to his brother, who was wearing a worryingly tight medical coat that Tammy had let him borrow. Well, wearing was a generous description. The arms of the coat were tied around his neck. It looked more like a cape than a coat. ‘Doctor Healy,’ he said, adjusting his own coat/cape, ‘I concur with your medical opinion, and may I just add a few thoughts of my own?’
‘Indeed, Doctor Healy.’ Finn was looking so much better than before, and the roleplay seemed to be doing him good. Conor hoped that Tammy had been right about his diagnosis. Asthma wasn’t the greatest thing in the world, but it was manageable. And Tammy seemed confident that it could be well-controlled. ‘Please, share your ponderings.’
‘I put it to you, Doctor Healy—’ Conor was interrupted by a snort of laughter. ‘What’s the problem, patient?’
‘You two are silly.’
‘Nonsense! We’re serious men of science!’ Conor retorted, before flinging the bright red neck-tie he was wearing over his shoulder. ‘Now, I put it to you, that the patient, Tammitha, has been such a good girl to everyone in Liberty, that she’s run herself down and contracted one of the most dangerous cases of good-girl-itis I’ve ever seen in all myminutesof practicing medicine.’
‘There is but one cure,’ Finn said, with a faux-serious look in his eyes.
‘Pampering,’ offered Conor.
‘Extremepampering,’ corrected Finn.