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Violet had awoke early, on the edges of another nightmare and covered in a thin sheen of sweat. Her chest felt kind of tight and she wasn't sure if it was anxiety from her dream or....

She hoped not. No relapse, not now.

It didn't take a genius to know she'd not been caring for herself like she should have been. It was more likely that way.

She groaned when she turned on the bathroom light and saw the pallor of her skin and realized the thought of food made her queasy, and the thought of any early-morning practice was not at all appealing.

She showered and didn't bother doing more with her long curls than tying them back. She went to go take her daily pill and realized, to her consternation, something else.

She had only a few days' worth left.

Quickly her mind spun back to a few months before, a month before her father's murder, when they were still out of state. The last doctor she'd seen, and who'd performed an embarrassing exam on her, had prescribed birth control pills to regulate her erratic periods.

They'd only half worked, and he had meant to see her again when the prescription ran out, but she was quite a distance aways from him by now.

And there was the matter of her stiches. She just could not risk going to a hospital for this. It was too public, and a bunch of different nurses and doctors hanging around someone might chatter to the wrong ears.

Still she couldn't risk getting some infection or worse, gangrene if she left them in any longer.

Her tired mind spun quickly. In a city this size weren't there a number of tiny one-person clinics anywhere? With so many millions of people there had to be. The hitch would being finding someone she felt she could trust and....

Another thought made her stomach lurch. And to allow a stranger to put their hands on her, even in examination.

She gripped her hands a moment but knew it was something she'd bear. She couldn't let a reflex borne of attempted rape ruin her so completely, and it had been getting easier.

Perhaps if she found a female doctor to fit all that....

Before she knew it she was struggling with an enormous phone book, lugged off a bookshelf. It was heavier than a pile of those catalogues she'd been swamped with lately, she mused.

No duh, ten or so million people in this city Violet....

It took awhile poring over the yellow pages before she found a name, almost indistinguishable in it's tiny print shoved into a tiny corner. Dr. Marie Charles, general pratctitioner, and a number.

By then her temples were throbbing, and she was glad to put the book aside. Dragging out her cellphone--something she'd obtained with reluctance--she dialed the number.

****

Marie lifted her head when she heard the phone ring. She was sitting on the couch in the living room watching the morning news. It was very early, but she assumed it could be a patient calling. She muted the TV, and reached over to the end-table to answer the phone.

After a number of rings Violet heard a woman pick up the line. "Hello?"

"Is this Dr. Marie Charles?"

"Yes, it is."

"Um....do you have any open slots for today? I'd like to make an appointment, please. My name is Violet."

The girl's voice was a tad croaky, a sign she was ill. Marie's doctoral manner instantly kicked in.

"I can see you later this morning if you like. Say ten or ten thirty?"

"Ten thirty would be fine," Violet answered, feeling relieved.

"May I ask what I'm seeing you for?" Marie asked as a matter of course.

"I need some stiches removed for one, and I'm not feeling all that well for another--and the details I'd rather not repeat over the phone."

Marie raised her eyebrows, because the response was odd, but she didn't ask further questions, feeling she'd get them soon enough. "All right. I'll see you at ten thirty."

"Thank you," said the voice politely, before hanging up.

Marie also hung up before scribbing the details with a pencil onto a pad of paper next to the phone. Then she returned to the news.

Marie gave her an odd glance. "What do you mean?"

"I didn't see a professional for these."

Marie glanced at the stiches again and reserved judgement. For some reason they seemed vaguely familiar. "I see. How did you get them to begin with?"

She noticed that Violet's pale pallor went near white, but Violet only took a deep breath and said simply, "I was attacked....by a gang....called the Purple Dragons. They tried...." She shuddered. "I fought them off, and was rescued, but I was injured. The.....person who helped me had a brother who did the stiches."

Marie drew in a breath. Purple dragons. She should have known.

"It would have been my death warrant if I'd shown up a the hospital, can you understand that? They have ways of finding out this stuff."

That Marie understood. She could only imagine the trauma Violet had endured and wasn't telling her. She well recalled Alisa's attempted rape and it's consequences.

"I do know of their reputation," was all she said aloud. "I will remove your stiches for you. You'll barely have any scarring, and I can tell this was a bad injury. However--"

She looked Violet over head-to-toe critically. "You not been feeling well either, have you? Your skin is hot."

Before she could object Violet found herself with a thermometer in her mouth, and a few seconds later it beeped.

Marie gave her a stern look. "Your fever's 102! How long have you been sick?"

Violet disappeared behind the curtain to change. Once she removed her clothing to put on the paper gown, she suddenly started to shiver violently and felt cold.

Marie noticed her shaking slightly as she came back out and sat upon the patient bed again.

"Are you cold?" she asked gently, seeing Violet only nod in response.

In reply the woman handed her a blanket. "Keep this around your shoulders for now," she instructed. "You may have to move it later because of the physical however."

Again Violet nodded, her head feeling distinctly swimmy and her chest tighter than ever.

The doctor washed her hands and proceeded with the physical examination. She frowned when she took Violet's pulse, and the frown deepened when she took her blood pressure.

"It's always been a little low," said Violet quietly before the woman could voice her concerns.

"I do think it's unusually low now even for you," was the response. "And your pulse is absolutely racing."

She listened to Violet's lungs next, instructing her to breathe deeply and was rewarded by a high-pitched series of coughs.

The sound issuing from her chest greatly concerned Marie. She did the other usual rounds of simple physical tests as well.

Finally she handed Violet a spirometer and told her to blow into it. Violet obeyed, and then started coughing again.

Marie took one look at the number and then at Violet sharply. "This came on you fast," she said worriedly. "Relapse or not. Do you know your usual numbers? From past physicals?"

Violet shook her head. "Not so much that....but I have trained in ninjitsu all my life....," she rasped, "And controlling my breathing was one of the things I learned. That number....is well below what it should be, I think."

The woman nodded. "What you have, Violet....it got quiet for a while, but came roaring back as pneumonia. That can evolve fast, and in your case, did."

Violet's eyes widened slightly. Pneumonia?

"I can tell you haven't been taking the best care of yourself lately, so it's not as big a surprise as it should be to you. Your health just crashed after a period of time."

Violet nodded silently, prepared for a scolding.

"I understand," Marie said gently. "Everyone deals with grief differently, Violet. Sometimes not in the best ways."

She returned shortly, bearing a tray with the necessary instruments on it.

Violet was still lying there but she was pale as death.

"You have to relax for this," came the doctor's voice dimly to her. "It'll make it easier on you, trust me."

Violet nodded but didn't open her eyes.

Marie made up her mind to do the procedure quickly.

"Hey, at least I'm a woman doing this and don't require a female nurse in here with me," she said brightly, trying to make Violet relax.

Violet turned bright red again, but she smiled. Yes, that definetly would have been worse.

She tried hard to crowd out the memories that assaulted her, to make herself relax as Marie examined her as quickly and as gently as possible. Marie took the greatest care she could, avoiding breaking open or tearing flesh that might have, at that point, traumatized the girl permanently. It was possible to manage on pelvic exams if one was really careful about it.

Finally the woman lowered the stirrups. "You did very well," she complimented. "I took a pap culture and a few others to make sure you aren't carrying some hidden infection, but you seem healthy enough where it counts."

Violet nodded but felt the blush creep over not only her face but her neck and shoulders as well. She was just glad it was over.

"I will still need to take some blood and remove your stitches, and all the results will take a few days to come in, and when they do I want you back here," she instructed. "In the meantime don't leave your house barring an emergency and I suggest leaving your bed as little as possible. This cold air will do you in."

"I understand, Dr. Charles, thank you." Violet tried to sit up but was overwhelmed by a wave of dizziness. She vaguely felt the woman lowering her back down onto the bed.

"Hey, watch it now--you lie here and rest; I'll be back with instruments to remove those stitches and to draw blood."

"All right." Violet felt the woman settle the blanket back over her and quietly leave the room. She was so tired....but she couldn't fall asleep.

She returned in a few moments, noticing that Violet seemed groggier than before and was giving in to fits of coughing.

Marie was genuinely concerned. "You sure you don't know anybody who could look in on you?" she persisted worriedly. "Pneumonia isn't a cakewalk you know."

"The only guy who's looked in on me since my last attack did so once to make sure I wasn't with the Foot Clan myself," said Violet tartly, not noticing Marie blink at the mention of the Clan. "And the second time I have no idea why and we parted with harsh words because he tried to play Yoda and tell me what I should and shouldn't feel about my problems. I don't look to see him again for awhile. He was the one that rescued me."

Marie nodded. "I've got your antibiotics here. You get yourself home and go to sleep. That is what you need the most. If you get much worse you get yourself to the hospital. A third relapse could do you in entirely and we don't want that."

Some look had crossed Violet's face at the mention of sleep. "It won't be all that easy, Dr. Charles, but I'll try."

She hadn't meant to say it but it just slipped out.

"Why not?"

Violet blanched. She didn't like to tell anybody about her violent nightmares and how little sleep she usually got, but the woman's genuine concern had her briefly telling her why.

Marie studied her for a moment, then left the room, coming back quickly with one more packet of pills.

"Tranquilizers," she said shortly, putting them in the bag with the antibiotics.

"What?" Violet wasn't sure she'd heard right.

"Yes, tranquilizers," repeated Marie with concern. "You need far more sleep than your nightmares are allowing you. I'm giving you a week's worth to knock you out all night. You won't heal at all if you don't get the rest I see now you so desperately need. No wonder you relapsed so easily! You'll end up in the hospital otherwise, antibiotics or no, if your immune system can't handle it. It's weakened by now because you haven't been taking care of yourself like you should."

Violet nodded. She'd known that for some time. In earlier years she'd rarely had more than colds.

Marie wished again that the girl had someone to look in on her instead of relying completely on herself--this was pneumonia here--but knew she'd done largely all she could for now.

She couldn't do much for the girl's emotional trauma, and that made her feel bad, but the girl seemed to have something in her that made her endure, so Marie hoped for the best.

"We'll discuss payments for this when you're back and feeling better," said Marie gently, helping her into her coat. "I've called a Taxi and it should be here soon."

"Thank you, Dr. Charles, I really appreciate it," said Violet, coughing. "But payments--I'm uninsured right now but I'm not concerned about money. You'll be paid in full, on time."

Marie nodded. Certain the taxi was here, she led Violet to her front door and made sure she got inside safely.

"Thank you, Dr. Charles," said Violet again. "Thank you--so much."

The woman nodded, smiling, shutting the door and watching the taxi drive away.