Why not just kill that prick then? Why all the faffing about with 'moral' etiquette? She used her mental fingers to add speech marks to 'moral'. Puh! she scoffed, Moral? If that's morality then I'm the Queen of Uranus.
Jaz was sitting in the examination room in the small outer building on the right-hand side of the main building. She'd never been in here before. It was a simple but modern Doctor's Surgery. The kind you'd expect in a small village.
The exam room was clean, organized, stocked full with medical supplies and equipment, giving the impression of a professional establishment. After only seeing the pharmacy it was still difficult for her to take the place seriously, even with a reassuring appearance.
This place was meant for more serious to deadly injuries. Skye was brilliant, but even her herbs and magic potions – as she called them- wouldn't do much good for broken bones.
As Jaz waited for the doctor she surveyed the light grey-green room, which oddly reminded her of Maria's eyes when she smiled. This observation gave her a lot of comfort. It was the only thing that stopped her shrieking aloud when the door opened and Jaz was face to face with the female doctor she'd had the displeasure of meeting the first day here. The same one who had poked around her vagina without her consent. The same one who had haunted her dreams for many weeks. Even now the memory brought her out in a cold sweat. She hunched up her knees wrapping her arms around her legs.
The doctor stepped in, not making eye contact. To Jaz's surprise, someone else she'd also not seen since her first few days here, entered behind the doctor.
“Aunt Erica?” Jaz said, so stunned by her appearance she forgot she'd ever been angry with her. The knowledge soon returned to her when her aunt gave her an uncertain look as she forced a gentle smile.
Erica shut the door behind her and took a seat to the left of the exam room bed. The doctor moved to the right of the room.
“Hello, Jaz,” Erica replied. “How are you? Your jaw looks swollen. Does it hurt?”
Jaz's eyes darted to the doctor but the woman's back was turned; her choppy, dark brown bob exposed her slim neck as she leant over her desk and she appeared to be busy filling out some forms.
“It hurts to speak.”
Erica bobbed her head, expecting this. “Any movement can't be comfortable for you. I'm here to sit in whilst Doctor Astrid takes a look at your jaw. That okay?”
Jaz read between the lines. Erica knew how little Jaz trusted Doctor Astrid, and she was making sure Jaz was okay. Jaz felt an overwhelming sense of guilt for how she'd treated her aunt.
Doctor Astrid turned and examined Jaz's jaw, asking her the usual questions in a polite, low voice without meeting her gaze. She then took an X-ray of Jaz's jaw, confirming that it was indeed fractured, but it was minor, and considering her ability to heal faster than a human, Doctor Astrid recommended a soft diet. She also tied a bandage around Jaz's head and recommended her to wear it for a few days- at least until the pain had reduced enough that she could move her jaw.
The examination was nearly over when Jaz realized her aunt had left the room.
Doctor Astrid, as if on cue, turned to her and with a solemn expression said, “I'm sorry about how we first encountered each other that day. I know what you must think of me...” Jaz lowered her gaze. “I know Nik must have told you the reasons but I don't imagine that changes how traumatic it must have been for you. And I don't want you to see me as Doctor Evil or something.”
Jaz snorted, and in embarrassment clamped her hand over her nose and mouth.
Astrid raised a brow, her lips forming into a smile.
“With a bald head, eye scar and a high, funny voice?” came her muffled reply through her hand. “Don't worry. I don't see you like that.”
Astrid was grinning now. She had a lovely smile, with bright, pixie eyes the shade of a warm, milky hazel. “Joking aside,” she began, squeezing in her lips to try to appear serious and only just succeeding. “I hope you understand why I did it, and that you know I'm truly sorry for scaring you. I want you to trust me and feel comfortable around me. Do you think you could ever do that?”
Jaz looked up and around, as if thinking it through. But she'd already made up her mind. “I think so,” she replied.
Astrid smiled again.
“And for the record, I'm sorry too. I've been neglectful of people. Of their feelings. Being so distracted with my own. Not just you, but my aunt as well.”
“You're a good girl, you know that?”
On the other side of the door Erica was listening to their conversation. She heard Jaz's caring words and tears formed in her eyes. She felt the months of guilt lift from her and found she could breathe again.
*
The next day...
Tuesday June 28th, Morning.
Jaz kicked Carr's focus pads in a burst of adrenaline.