(2530-02-17) 2. We All Fall Down
Summary: Donna collapses from exhaustion, Gideon collapses from trying to help.
RL Date: 16 Feb 2020
Related: Prev: 2530-02-17-1-heroic-surgery
Next: 2530-02-17-3-let-me-help-you
donna finnegan gideon 

Eavesdown Clinic

A small hospital where medical staff is trying their best to help people with very limited means. There's a reception desk for those hoping to see a doctor and a waiting area littered with plastic chairs. Posters on the wall remind people to get their regular check-ups and vaccinations. One hallway leads to examination rooms and another into the wards, where patients are kept for stationary treatment.


It's early morning, just about the time the clinic would normally open. The ward is stuffed, and extra nurses were sent for from the city to help cover the patients while the existing staff gets a chance to rest. Finnegan was not at the clinic when the catastrophe happened, but it wasn't long before she was summoned in to work. And work. And work. Right alongside Donna, who got to witness the gory, man-eating horse first hand. They've been at it since mid-afternoon the previous day.

As Finnegan, doctor's uniform stained and ugly with the suffering of innocents, moves toward the locker room to change into fresh clothes, she comments to anyone who will listen, "I never thought I'd see a cog do that. I feel like my imagination has been educated."

Into the clinic, to the main reception area, comes Gideon. Sober, wearing a somber expression, he mutters something to whomever's working at reception. They nod, then indicate for him to take a seat. Sitting, he leans his head back against the wall and waits.

Donna has been plugging along almost non-stop since the incident. At some point she did trade her blood-stained street clothes for scrubs… which are now even more soiled. At some point she must have eaten. She has been hydrating, but refusing all coffee breaks (and coffee), running purely on willpower. She passes close enough to catch Finn's comment, and smirks drily. "Stay in medicine… you'll see plenty of crazy stuff," she promises. She looks at the tablet in her hand, confusion crossing her features, then looks toward Exam One… then toward the doorway to the patient ward… then back to the tablet.

Finnegan notices Gideon, sitting there at the end of the hall, but doesn't do more than glance at him before she ducks into the locker room, calling back to Donna, "You make that sound like a good thing." Clothes are pulled off, spares are pulled on - plain white scrubs, which is what she keeps in her locker for emergency emergencies, since they're not bulky and fold nicely into the bottom of the metal container. "What's next?"

Gideon looks up, then lifts a hand and waves at Finnegan. He doesn't seem to be injured or in any physical distress, just, for whatever reason, patiently waiting. Maybe he's here to check on a friend, pick someone up, that sort of thing. But, he seems to recognize the chaos of the clinic, and thus patiently wait until there's a moment to spare for whatever his issue might be.

Donna still looks rather confused, and steps over to the charge desk. "Wilhelmina, is it?" she checks with the nurse. At least a name like that sticks in a sleep-deprived brain. "I seem to have lost track of this patient. Where did he get to?" She shows the other nurse the tablet, and turns, a bit dazed, vaguely picking up on things. "And what's next?" she echoes the doctor's question - though it's not clear if she's trying to relay it, or ask it for herself. She wavers rather dangerously.

Finnegan clanks her locker shut, hooks the lock on, spins the dials, and stuffs her bloody garb a 'contaminated laundry' bin, then comes out of the locker room and heads toward the charge desk. "What next?" she repeats. It's like a growing echo. Soon the walls will be chanting it. "I probably should have taken a shower."

"Any of your patients missing a tooth?" the nurse at the charge desk asks, looking up between Finnegan and Donna. "There's a guy sitting in the waiting room, says he found a tooth on the street."

Gideon, meanwhile, sits quietly, still waiting, his eyes closed.

Donna looks from Finn back to Nurse Wilhelmina, struggling to comprehend the question. "Uh, I don't think so…" she says, before swaying toward the counter. She reaches out to clap hold of it, misses her grip with one hand, more stumbling into it instead. She doesn't fully collapse, but she claws for hard purchase, knocking a kleenex box, a few pens, a squirt bottle of hand sanitizer, and a clay jar full of individually wrapped mints to the floor. Mints and shards of pottery fly every which way.

"Mr. Gideon, I don't think we're missing a…" Good thing Donna's not much bigger than Finnegan, because the micro-doctor reaches out to hook Donna under the arms and hold her upright, then ease her to the floor. "Can you.. sort of… take care of that?" Finn asks Wilhelmina, of the candy and other detritus. "Before someone steps on a shard or something."

Hearing his name, Gideon opens his eyes and looks over, just in time to see the fall. "Oh no - " he rises from his chair, moving quickly toward the two, like he wants to help. But, in his hurry, he doesn't notice the detritus on the floor. If unwarned, he'll slip and impale his buttock on a shard of jar.

The micro-nurse allows herself to be guided to a sitting position on the floor, with her back against the charge desk. "Focail," she mutters, before slumping back against the hard surface. She doesn't spot Gideon's approach, or much else going on around her at the moment.

Finnegan is trying too hard to keep from being squished and to make sure Donna isn't losing consciousness. "What's happening?" she asks her fellow tiny person, ignoring Gideon completely.

And so down Gideon goes, his feet flying out from beneath him as he slips on a few scattered mints. The sharp shard of clay at just the perfect angle to jam into the flesh of his rear as he falls down on it. He lets out a pained, startled noise, a sort of "Agghhh huh."

Donna works hard to pull Finn's query into a straight line in her mind, and to try and find the answer that goes with it. As someone else collapses to the floor just a foot or two away, she pushes Finn away, waving the doctor off. "Help him first. I'll… I'll sit."

Wilhelmina had been rounding the counter to try and take care of the mess _before_ someone tripped on it, as instructed, and lets out a little yelp as she finds herself too late.

Finnegan does not listen to Donna. In fact, she goes strict on the nurse, "Stow it," Her fingers grab for Donna's wrist to check pulse. She tells Wilhelmina, "call to the ward for help, then get me a blood pressure reading, now. Mr. Gideon, do not move. Just sit still for a second and let me figure out what's going on."

"Uh - " Gideon probably assumes that he just fell hard on his butt, not even realizing that that odd, sharp pain is the sensation of a shard having ripped through his coveralls. "Okay." And, then, like he wants to use his sitting time to be productive, he reaches into the top pocket of his overalls, unzips it, and produces a tooth, holding it out at the ready.

Donna manages to focus her eyes on Finn, still processing and moving a bit slowly, but she gives the doctor a nod of understanding. She looks thoroughly worn down at this point.

Wilhelmina rushes to get a BP cuff, returning and getting a reading from Donna, which comes out normal.

Finnegan's brain halts as she takes in the tooth. Ummm? She shakes it off to count the pulse, then look into Donna's eyes with her little flashy light. She pinches the skin on the back of Donna's hand to check for dehydration. "When was the last time you ate?" Scrambling around on the surface of the charge desk, she comes up with a set of rubber gloves, which she pulls on as she tells Wilhelmina, "Grab me a glucose meter." She's flustered, because it's only an afterthought that she adds, "Please."

Gideon sits quietly, holding that tooth out. He's come this far with the tooth. He found that tooth somewhere, somehow. He can wait a few more minutes for it to be reunited with its owner. Still, he's no slouch: "I can get the glucose meter," he offers, but doesn't move, per Finn's instructions.

Donna's pulse is a bit elevated. She's not dehydrated. Thinking for a minute, she's able to come up with an answer this time. "Must be last night. I know I had dinner. Wu made us eat. When was that? Eight? Nine?" She sighs heavily. "I'll be okay," she says - it's a simple statement, not defiant. It carries an assurance that she knows herself, and that this will pass. She looks over to the prone fellow holding up the tooth. "Might want to look to him? He's bleeding," she points out the red spot that's seeping outward in the butt of his pants.

Finnegan is not 100% convinced that Gideon's affliction is worth than Donna's. When she's handed a glucose meter, she tells her coworker, "Hold your finger out. If you test normal, I'll leave you alone." For now. "I'll be with you in just a moment, Mr. Gideon. Wilhelmina, thank you. Can you get Mr. Gideon into exam1? Have him remove his trousers, if he can, and lie face down on the bed. Give him a cover drape. I'll tend to him in a moment. If you deem it's urgent, do tell."

"Man - I gotta take off my pants /again/?" Gideon fusses, although it's good natured, like he can't understand why he's always walking around half-naked in this place. But, he looks up at Wilhelmina, and, still holding out that tooth, does as she directs him to do.

Donna willingly offers her finger for the test, and softly murmurs, "I pushed too far. That's all."

"All right sir, don't move just yet," the other nurse instructs as she shifts her attention. She takes the offered tooth, and slips it into her breast pocket, without fanfare. Gloving up, and grabbing a handful of gauze just in case, she approaches him and says, "okay, let's get you up and into the exam room. Gideon is it?" She'll help him up to his feet. Meanwhile, the glucose test says: normal.

Finnegan totally lied. There's one more thing she wants to do, and that's listen to Donna's heart. She's no longer convinced Donna is in OMG danger, though, so she rises and finds a stethoscope on her own, letting Wilhelmina get Gideon to where she can look at his butt-ho…er…wound. "Shhhh," she instructs Donna while she listens.

"Yeah," Gideon replies, rising, with the shard still embedded in his rear. "That's - " he pauses, rather than immediately walk, and he reaches back, like he means to rub his bottom. "Ow - " he mutters. "There's something in my butt, I think - " he pauses, then reaches again, like he's going to yank the shard right out.

Donna sits patiently as she's finally left alone. Finn's on a roll this morning with the patients who listen and don't try to get up on their own power. When the doctor returns, Donna accepts the test in silence - her heart sounding normal too. "I believe the diagnosis here is Irish stubbornness," she says in all seriousness. Watching as Wilhelmina gets Gideon upright, she nods to that fateful shard. "He actually needs more help than I do. I can stay still… drink some water, wait for a wheelchair when someone has a chance… promise," she says. The sentences are coming a bit easier now.

Wilhelmina catches Gideon's hand as he reaches back, preventing that Dumb Move (tm). "Oh, you shouldn't do that, sir. Come, step into the exam room and let's get you face down on the bed, right away."

"Don't TOUCH IT, Mr. Gideon. You could make make it worse. Can you walk enough to get to the exam room?" At Donna, she lets out a sign of relief and nods. "Don't do that again. Please. Wilhelmina should be able to get you to the bunk in the break room as soon as we have him situated. Seriously. Never again. This place without you would pretty much suck. I'd have to find another nurse to say nice things about me to all the little kids." She slings the stethoscope around her neck and rises. "Here we go. Let me help you," to Wilhelmina and Gideon.

"Sir," Gideon laughs. "Like I'm some kind of - " he pauses. Who gets called sir? "Important per-" he trails off, blinking when Finn yells at him. "I can walk - " he assures, then closes his eyes, like the room has suddenly started spinning. "Here I go - " he declares, rather than take a minute. "Walking!"

Donna smirks wrily, and says, "I could promise, but then I'd break it. I know, I know…" she says. She gets it. She's gone through this very conversation before, more than a few times. Waving the doctor off, she says, "go. Yell at me again when there's time."

Wilhelmina tries to help Gideon with that walking thing - one arm under his and wrapping around him. And if walking doesn't prove possible, she can help guide him to the floor more gently this time.

Finnegan goes to support Gideon on the other side. "Who says I'm going to yell? I was banking on pathetic pleading and genuine concern being more effective guilt-inspiring tools than yelling. Steady there, Mr. Gideon."

"You were yelling," Gideon offers, his tone mild, like he's not sure he wants to hear any kind of yelling again. "Sounded like my grandma - " and then he winces, walking slowly. "Doc, why does my butt hurt so bad? I fall all the time like that."

Donna sighs heavily. She's definitely feeling the guilt.

Wilhelmina continues to hold up her side of Gideon, walking him into the exam room.

"I wasn't yelling," Finnegan clarifies. "I was speaking with urgency before you wedged the piece of jar you got stuck in your rear when you fell through your colon … that's your butt tube, where the poop lives. Also, you have arteries and veins near there. So, hopefully you can see I wasn't yelling, but urgently guiding you into less death." Back to Donna, "I wasn't yelling at you, either. I was just making sure you weren't walking toward the grim reaper, either."

"/Definitely/ yelling," Gideon maintains. "It's okay - I appreciate you speaking with urgency, doc," he winces, shuffling these next few steps, rather than actually lifting his foot. "But I promise - I'd never poop on your floor," he offers, revealing that he understood very little of what she said -that is, why she was…yelling.

Donna mumbles something, probably meant to be an answer to Finn, but her volume got turned down even before she started, and then it trails off to nothing. She slumps against the flat wall of the charge desk.

Wilhelmina looks rather concerned by all of the incoherence in the patients near at hand. "Are things always this… lively here?" she asks Finn.

Donna begins to snore.

"No," Finnegan calmly tells Wilhelmina. "Only every second Thursday. Not yelling. When I yell, my face turns red and I sound like a squeaking balloon." It's not true, but that's HER perception of it. "Ok. Here. Help me get him on the table. Don't worry about your trousers, Mr. Gideon. I'll cut them off. You can't really wear them as is, anyhow. I think it's time for a new pair." (re)

"Cut them off?" Gideon protests, even as he lays on the table as directed, on his stomach, the shard still stuck in his glute. But then he sighs, nodding. "If you have a needle and thread, I'll just sew them back together - that's what I had to do the last time something like this happened."

Wilhelmina gets a pair of shears and hands them over to the doctor. She also casts a concerned look over to the unconscious nurse. "If you've got this for a minute, doctor? I'll get Donna to that cot."

"Get someone to help you," Finnegan tells Wilhelmina. "She's already told us she's got a mean streak of stubborn Irish about her. I've heard horror stories. Granted, most of them involve gambling and single malt whiskey, but…" She shakes that thought away, "Just hold still for me, Mr. Gideon. I'll do my best to make them patchable, but…" She takes the sheers and sets them down so she can take off the gloves she used for Donna, wash her hands properly, and re-glove, then she takes up the sheers and starts to cut away fabric surrounding the shard.

"Along the seam," Gideon fusses, like he knows at least that much about sewing. But then he sighs and mutters: "Sorry," to Finn, not wanting to be a brat. "Once we're done with this, I can help you check the other patients' mouths," he adds, then pauses, pondering: "Are you going to have to sew /me/ up?"

Donna takes the doctor's advice - finding another nurse. Together, they hoist Donna up into a wheelchair… then wheel her into the break room and move her onto the aforementioned cot. She sleeps right through the entire process.

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