International Rescue: The Next Phase


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Re: The Call Goes Out [message #16 is a reply to message #15] Tue, 17 July 2012 21:09 Go to previous messageGo to previous message
Tikatu is currently offline  Tikatu
Messages: 813
Registered: April 2012
Location: South Carolina
Karma:
Field Commander
Ubiquitous one
The flashback continues....

Little by little, the candidates were whittled down. Dr. Singh, though eminently qualified, lived with and cared for his elderly parents, who, Jeff discovered, didn't take kindly to the thought of being uprooted. One of Ian Sinclair's partners was a tabloid reporter. Boy, he would find the story of the century if he moved to the Island. I just can't take that risk.

Dr. Walken had become Dr. Walken-Petrie while in Chile. She had married a businessman who was based in Chile and was being threatened with excommunication from the Mormon faith because she had left her mission. Jeff wondered what her former fiancé thought of her defection.

"I hope there are no complications with Andy's niece, even though she's got three kids," Jeff muttered.

Surprisingly, there were none. Andy had warned his niece that she would hear from Jeff and she was willing to interview and to visit the Island to meet the rest of the family. Jeff had been impressed with her self-assurance and her sense of humor about the situation. She was willing to uproot the children, under the assurance that a satellite education program would be provided. Her mother was not best pleased, Jeff heard later on, but since there she had a brother in the area to deal with their mother, Dianne felt she could safely take the job as Tracy family physician.

"My uncle has been telling me for years now that I should move on. The memories that I have of my late husband are still occasionally painful. It's time for a fresh start," she had confided. Jeff understood.

Dianne and her kids had been on the Island for three weeks. Things had been going smoothly, it seemed. Dianne had insisted on baseline physicals for everyone, and had requested records from a number of physicians that the Tracys had used over the years. Grandma Tracy had given her the most trouble, not liking the fact that a woman was poking and prodding her son and grandsons! Never mind that this woman was asking Emily Clark Tracy to show her parts of herself that hadn't been seen by anybody but her old family doctor back in Kansas since her husband died!

Tin-Tin, on the other hand, had been very relieved that her new physician was a woman; she had some questions about birth control that she hadn't felt comfortable asking anyone else. Jeff himself had found her thorough, professional, but with a calming "bedside manner" that put him at ease. Gordon reported that she had a good sense of humor, even putting up with his nearly constant "What's up, Doc?" whenever he saw her. The family worked together to keep her from discovering the truth about IR until Jeff had a better feel for her trustworthiness, partially by housing her and her kids in the Round House, and by keeping her busy in upgrading the sick room, which had been sorely neglected in Brains' lab upgrades.

But one night, a rescue went terribly wrong, and John was brought back home with a badly wounded leg. Tin-Tin ran all the way down to the Round House, hauling Dianne up to the sick room and thrusting her in amongst three young men all dressed in blue uniforms and colored sashes. The fourth lay on a gurney, being attended by Brains. She took one look at John's leg, swallowed her questions, and banished the boys from the sick room.

Brains later reported how focused she was, yet how gentle with John. She asked him questions about how it happened, getting as much clarification as she could from him before she put him under. Brains assisted her as she probed the wound, removing minute splinters of metal and wood, repairing muscle and sinew and blood vessels in a meticulous operation, then finally, carefully, closing up the leg with surgical glue. "We may have to open it up again later," she told Brains. "I hope not, but..."

After making sure John had an IV of antibiotics to fight infection and of saline fluid and blood to replace the liquid he had lost, Brains reported Dianne had fingered the lavender sash, then clenched it in one fist and shot out of the room, bloody scrubs and all.

Her destination was the lounge, where an anxious Jeff was wrapping things up with Alan while waiting for word on John's injury. She strode directly over to Jeff, her face thunderous, and shook the sash in his face.

"What the hell is this!? Why didn't you tell me!? Here I am, uprootin' mah kids and hauling them halfway across the world to work for a man that Ah am told is an honest, honorable one, and now Ah find out that he's been keepin' a secret from me! A very big secret! A secret that might have influenced mah decision to come here! A secret that might endanger mah kids! And how do Ah find out? Does the big man tell me? No, Ah have to find out by accident! When Ah'm called upon to use mah skills unexpectedly! What the hell were you thinking, Mistah Tracy?!"

Her drawl had come more pronounced as her tirade continued, and her face grew red and Alan could have sworn her eyes actually flashed. Jeff stood there stoically and took it. When she paused for breath, he jumped in and said, "Are you finished? Good. How's John?"

She blinked, breathing heavily, and then she huffed out a breath and said, "No, Ah'm not finished. Not by a long shot. John is restin' comfortably. Ah've done all Ah can for his leg. I'll know its condition better when the swelling goes down." Alan noticed her accent became less pronounced as she calmed down. Or seemed to. Alan could tell that although she was no longer shouting at his father, she was a long, long way from being calm.

The following eight weeks were hell for Jeff. At first, Dianne was angry with everyone for deceiving her and concealing the family's secret. Everyone but John, to whom she showed a calm and gentle bedside manner. Brains had reported that it was like a switch was thrown when she walked into the infirmary where John rested. The smouldering anger that showed in her very walk disappeared and the caring doctor was revealed.

Part of her frustration with the situation, as Jeff was to find, was the fact that she really couldn't talk to anyone about it. She didn't want to betray International Rescue by venting to any of her friends or family. Even though the family, (meaning Jeff) didn't trust her enough with the secret from the start, she was determined not to lose what trust she might have gained by the situation. She and Jeff had several sessions where they butted heads, one in particular about the issue of trust.

"Three weeks wasn't enough time to tell what kind of person I was? Wasn't it enough time to know whether or not I'd be trustworthy? You trusted my uncle's opinion enough to approach me about this job. Do you think he'd steer you to someone who would betray your organization?"

"I had just begun to see the type of person you were, Doctor, and given another week or so, I would have told you about International Rescue. And though I trust your uncle's opinion on medical matters, I couldn't take a chance with any candidate knowing the secret about the 'family business'. Your uncle doesn't even know about it. He was giving me names of people who would be good doctors, not people who I could be open and honest with about this secret."

Her anger at the rest of the family faded as they got back into a routine and as John's leg healed and he began physical therapy. She did insist that her children be told the secret, and they were, only to find that little Tyler had seen Thunderbird One take off from the pool one night when he was supposed to be asleep.

"I thought it was a dream, so I didn't say anything...."

Her anger at Jeff, however, stayed hot, and her manner towards him remained cool until finally Kyrano took matters into his own hands. He cornered Dianne one evening after dinner and steered her down to the garden, where he offered a listening ear and let her vent.

"Doctor, if you are so angry at Mr. Tracy for his duplicity, why do you stay?"

"I've thought about leaving, Kyrano, but then, where do I go? Home? What do I tell everyone? I got fired? Life on a lush tropical island didn't agree with me? I hate lying, Kyrano. And I would be so tempted to tell everyone the truth. I can talk to my mother from here and keep my mouth shut, but face to face with her asking me questions about why I left this job... no, I can't risk it."

"Then what will put things right between you?"

Dianne told him.

Post by Tikatu on 31/05/2004

Jeff heartbeat Dianne plain My IR:TNP OTP!

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