Taking the water from Eliza Noah waited for her to take a swig of her beer before breaking the seal on his own beverage. Placing his bottle down Noah listened to her ramble on about the good drugs while he grabbed a fork to go along with his plat “I’m sure you do. But I don’t want to accidentally piss dirty for coach for some weird reason. Or like have tit come back saying Im pregnant or something when clearly” He motioned do his flat stomach “I am not” He grinned at her.
He could tell it had been a hard day by the way she smiled at him, the corners of her mouth twitching slightly downward especially as she talked about work. “Sounds like a vampire heaven” Noah joked slightly grateful when she finally pushed a box of chicken towards him. Because yea he was kinda hungry but he was also kinda trying to be polite and just. Well he didn’t need superhuman abilities to hear the wonderful song his stomach was singing. Grabbing for the chicken he plopped a huge pile of it onto his plate before making a move his favorites, Mushu Pork and Mongolian Beef.
Rolling his eyes at her comment though Noah shoved a forkful of food in his mouth “I put a dime up my nose one time on a dare” He said between bites “And you’re never going to let me live it down are you?” Because she probably wasn’t though there might have been another resaon why the kid reminded her of him. “My day was pretty good though. I’m back at training now for football and its hell, but prett good never the less.
“Noah.” She said his name without the familiar up turn of a question at the end of it, just a statement, two syllables and an unamused look to get her entire point across, but even with it, she expounded. “Even if I did give you something that would trigger a false positive in a pregnancy test, in what situation would you ever be taking a pregnancy test?” It applied to both blood work and peeing on a stick. She could concede on random drug testing though, which she supposed made sense and she should have thought of it.
Shrugging it off, though, she set to her meal, but her eyes flicked to Noah. It was instinct, more than anything, that told her he was feeling concerned about something. She almost said nervous, but it wasn’t quite nervous or anxious. There was a heaviness to it that made her frown. It was a similar feeling to the one she’d had lately, and maybe that was why it was so easy to recognize it. She hated to see it in him, though, because he would always be young and carefree in her mind, and he still had so many years before he was supposed to be anything but that.
She sighed softly, letting the smile return to her features as he mentioned the dime. “Never. Highlight of my life, really, so thank you for that. And you can barely tell the size difference in your nostrils.” She winked at this, teasing him, before she allowed herself to become more serious. “But actually, it was this kid’s attitude that reminded me of you. He was all smiles and was assuring everyone else, even me, that he was fine and everything would be okay. Granted, it wasn’t a big injury or anything, but he was the one trying to make everyone else feel better and feel taken care of. Which...” she took a beat to take another drink of her beer, her eyes meeting Noah’s squarely, “I suspect is what these weekly dinners are.”
Honestly, even though this was perhaps the weirdest interaction that he had had all week, it really wasn’t all that strange compared to some of the things that he had seen in this town. Actually, it was basically nothing compared to what he had seen in this town. This was a pleasant foot note in the strange things that Ashkent Creek had to offer and he would take this over killer snowmen, vampires and werewolves any day. “Unbelievable,†he replied with a laugh, “and I thought that there was some sort of law that forced all doctors to exclusively socialize with one another.â€
As he cleaned up – now fully dressed – he remembered all the times that he had cleaned up after his siblings. It was at moments like this that he really began to appreciate the woman that his mother had been. Caring for children meant that you had to do everything extra fast and if possible perfectly. “Uh, it needed to be done,†he said with a shrug as he pushed things into the sink and the bin which really needed to be taken out and given a new bag. “Besides, it is getting kind of gross, and if I don’t do it now then I won’t do it at all.†He grabbed a large blanket off of the couch and folded it quickly. “Take a seat if you want.â€Â
Placing the bag of medical goodies that she had brought him on the kitchen table, he rooted around in the fridge and grabbed two glasses. She had said that he should be drinking orange juice, so he guessed that was just a polite way of telling him what she wanted. Filling the glasses, he handed one to her, before stuffing the empty carton into the bin, which looked like it was threatening to start over flowing at any moment.Â
“Well, I’m sure that you’d be a better doctor for me than I would,†he wasn’t even particularly sure what he was saying anymore, his head felt like it weighed a ton, not to mention that it was so full of mucus that he could barely think. “Doctor Anderson is my doctor, but only very recently, it was Doctor Jones before but she retired so I moved to Anderson.â€Â
He wondered how much she knew, he was sure that patient confidentiality was a thing, but the truth was that he didn’t really believe it. He was sure that doctors gossiped just as much as teachers did. And if he could laugh at a poor attempt at a history essay, then surely they could laugh at the misfortune of some of their patients.Â
But he did his best to keep that to himself, hoping that she didn’t know about his positive status.
He was joking with her. Somehow, as weird as it was that she had just shown up here, he was embracing it and now he was joking with her. The small smile that crossed her lips was unexpected, but entirely genuine.
It stopped her from having to really sit back and consider why, exactly, she was here, though maybe that was an easy answer, too. She’d never met him before, but had seen him often enough around the hospital that her intense need to care for had been provoked. She would have had to study wolf packs a little more to figure out if there was some parallel between Betas and caring for the pack, but it seemed to make sense. Although this man was not a werewolf, and he was not part of her pack, he was effectively a weak one that was either sacrificed for the greater good, or nurtured. She had read that somewhere... some pack in maybe Colorado where the Beta had taken the Omega under her wing and actually protected him from some of the others.
Analogies. As far as they were concerned, neither of them were wolves and none of those dynamics applied. They were just two people, easy away from being strangers and moving into some kind of weird acquaintanceship.
Eliza hesitated to sit when he motioned towards the now cleared off couch, instead taking another step or two inside the room as he disappeared towards the kitchen. When he came back, he handed her orange juice, and she almost laughed. “I meant for you, not for...” she trailed off and finally just nodded. “Thank you.” She frowned at herself when she raised the glass in a kind of half-hearted cheers.
“Right. I know Dr. Jones. Off on a beach somewhere now, I’m sure. That’s probably where I’ll be when I retire.” Lies. She would stay here in this weird, cursed little town, protecting her pack until the day she died. “Anyway, Anderson’s really good, so whatever he told you about this cold is probably worth more than my two cents, but I promise that stuff-” she nodded towards the CVS bag he’d deposited, “will help.”
Trying not to salivate too hard Noah busied himself with laying out the food, his teeth worrying at his lip a little when he realized just how much he had bought. I mean if the challenge was thrown down he probably could give this pile of food a run for its money, but it still was a lot of food. That he paid for on his credit card without really remembering the final total. Way to manage your money Noah.
Laying out some silverware and chopsticks though Noah shrugged trying not to think about it. Eliza deserved it after all. And he could settle the bill with Cahill later if it really was going to be a problem for his poor bank account. “Plain old water’s good for me.” Noah replied as he sat down on one of her bar stools subconsciously waiting for the Beta to eat first. “Gotta de-tox a little from some binge drinking I got roped into last night” he continued with a not so subtle eye-roll looking down at his phone slightly. He had a couple texts but none of them looked important so he slipped his phone back in his pocket.
“Soooo how was your day at work?” Noah asked looking over toward Eliza figuring that was like the normal thing to do in a situation like this.
Eliza nodded, pulling open the fridge and grabbing a bottle of water and a beer. She had a thing about tap water, or anything handed to her, really, that wasn’t sealed, so she kept bottled water on hand. Of all the quirks she could have had, she figured that one wasn’t too bad. She popped the cap off her beer and handed him the water before sitting down on the barstool next to him, putting a plate in front of each of them somewhere in the process.
“You should call me,” she offered. “I have drugs that are magical hangover remedies.” Implied, of course, was that she knew from experience how well they worked. She’d spent more than the average amount of time in college (med school would do that to a person), so she had stories. Some of which, she’d share, in the right mood.
It was easy enough to find the box of spicy mint noodles, and then peanut chicken, her go to’s, which she dished onto her plate while shrugging. She tried very hard not to let her mood drop when she answered him, even forcing a smile. “All right. Same as always, you know? I volunteered in the ER today, so those are always a little bloodier than most days.”
She’d been volunteering in the ER a lot, lately, and if she were being really honest, she hadn’t quite been the same since the Jude incident. None of them had, really. But she was Eliza, and she was bad ass, and she was shaking it. It was just taking time.
She nudged the chicken towards him, a subtle indicator that it was okay for him to eat from what she’d left. “Saw a kid who got a penny stuck in his nose. Reminded me of you.” The smile she flashed here was genuine. “How was your day? Can’t be much more exciting than seeing a kid with a penny in his nose, though.”
Watching as the door sung open Noah was greeted with a scent that was incredibly Eliza, with under tones of well. See the thing was smells were hard to describe now. Because to a werewolf nose smells just weren’t one word, like fruity, or antiseptic. Smells were living breathing entities, with multiple layers that changed to fit the mood or the surroundings. Today Eliza’s smell was that of the hospital, the sterile bandages and the iron metallic scent of fresh blood. But as soon as she saw the food, mouth opening wide to smile at him her scent changed. It became warmer almost, rich and dark, like a fresh brewed cup of coffee. Trying not to get lost in all of the smells though Noah made himself walk into the room a small “Hey,” stuck to his lips. “Oh and its Thai Tanic” he replied holding up the large bag.
Making a bee line for the breakfast bar in her cozy kitchen Noah busied himself with plates and drink as if he owned the place, figuring Eliza wouldn’t care. “Oh and just to warn you I ordered hungry,” He proclaimed with a sheepish grin “So I may or may not have gotten enough food to feed 10 people” he shrugged taking out take out box after take out box worth of food. And while part of his statement was super true (he was actually quite famished) part of it was also done to make sure Eliza had leftovers for a day or two so Noah could stop worrying if she had anything to eat.
“Best name for a Thai restaurant,” Eliza commented. She was hungrier than she thought, and as she closed the door behind Noah, she let her eyes shift to him. She knew what he was doing, knew fully well that he was looking out for her in the best way he knew how. She was proud of him and somewhat honored for the subtle way he did it. It was a good indication that, one day in the distant future, he might have the makings of a proper alpha, once Cahill wasn’t in the picture anymore. They all got old eventually.
Noah could be so immature sometimes, not that Eliza thought any less of him for it or expected differently. He was still a kid, really, and nothing he said would convince her otherwise. Usually, she wanted him to be a kid for as long as possible, and took a lot of the protecting on herself so that he could be.
It may have been those habits that led her to believe that Noah was tense when he walked in her apartment that night. Something was definitely on his mind, but she opted not to ask.
“I’ll grab a couple plates,” she said instead. “What do you want to drink?”
Hello lovelies- I’m sure you’ve noticed my absence. I am so sorry- lots going on in my work at the moment, so I’m going to be taking a hiatus until August. I should be back on the first!
I have very strong feelings about this, but mostly because chalkboards haunted me through med school and they’re just so impractical. We have better technology now!
Med school? That must have been stressful enough without dealing with chalkboards. I had a few lecture halls with chalkboards but for the most part they were all whiteboards. I prefer powerpoint slides.
I have very strong feelings about this, but mostly because chalkboards haunted me through med school and they’re just so impractical. We have better technology now!
Part of him wanted to leave her office right then and go find the guy. Express some sort of sympathy or well wishes to him, but Cahill didn’t move. It wasn’t really his place and he didn’t know the man to begin with. Helping put his legs out when they were on fire didn’t necessarily entitle you to mess around in their personal business. Aside from the fact that no one was going to give him information about where someone was staying in the hospital. Confidentiality and all that. But he nodded, only half listening to the medical information she gave. Skin grafts and observations. It meant little to him aside from the fact that it confirmed that he was alive. It was a start.
Instead, he watched her straighten her nameplate and laced his fingers together. Hands resting in his lap and gaze back to boring a hole in her desk. She could tell him a lot of things about how likely hte man was to survive or how the extent of his injuries, for as serious as they may have been, wouldn’t be life threatening. She could have told him he died two days ago and he wasn’t sure it’d change the way he was currently feeling. The weight of everything was heavy on his shoulders lately and he would’ve complained about hard it made it to just breath if he hadn’t found the idea of it so absurd. He was fine. He was alive and healthy and well, compared to some. He had no right to complain. All things considered, even the pack had been good lately. No attacks from hunters, no one killing when they shouldn’t have been. For as much as he knew, the only one that had come face to face with a fight lately had been him.
His gaze slipped back up to meet hers as she tried to give him encouragement and the result was a half snarl; the slight curl of his lip that was enough in the way of disagreement that he didn’t even need to voice the statement. She would know just from the sight of it. He didn’t believe her, and not just because he downplayed his own role in the matter.
“If it was just about me doing something, it wouldn’t be a problem.” He could spend all day saving people and still feel as though he accomplished nothing. It didn’t change the fact that when he was gone, like he would be someday, nothing will have changed. A life or two spared, and for what? So everyone could go back to being the same as they were before? So that, when something happened, everyone could stand and stare? People could walk away? If no one changed and no one else was motivated towards action, what was the point in attempting to make a difference?
“What do they do when we’re gone, then? One person doesn’t save the world.”
Eliza wasn’t used to being the one on this side of the conversation. Cahill was the eternally optimistic one who believed that humanity, as a whole, was inherently good. Her view had always been different, and she was the one who would question what the point was.
Even then, though, she was a doctor for a reason. It was how she could help people, how she could make a difference in a world that was turning darker every day. Maybe it was a little accelerated in this particular town, but even world wide, things were going to hell, and it was almost overwhelming to think of just how little she could actually do to help.
But the air between her and Cahill was not supposed to be this heavy, the words not so carefully planned, and she blamed herself for it, sighing and letting her gaze rest on the man across from her.
“One person saved that man’s world, though.” She half expected Cahill to give her a dubious look. It sounded like such a Hallmark response, and sentiments like that were rare from her, if they were a thing at all. She cut off any opportunity for him to question it. “I’m serious. If you hadn’t been there, he’d be dead. I have no idea what his future looks like, but it’s because of one man, you, that he even has a future. That means something, and I know you know that.”
Eliza leaned back in her seat, keeping her eyes on him and keeping her focus sharp. She was so fucking tired, and she knew he was, too. For the first time, though, she realized that maybe that never changed. This was the way of the world now, and it was up to people who could do something to burn at both ends for as long as they could.
“It doesn’t fix everything, but for as long as you’re here, you make things just a little better. And if that’s not a noble life, I don’t know what is. And I’m here, too. I’ll help in any way I can. You’re not in this alone.”
The ways that Eliza expressed her love were nearly entirely opposite of Cahill’s, so her next move was even more rare than the positive outlook she was giving him, but she got to her feet, pushed the door all the way closed, and then pulled Cahill to his feet (or rather, indicated he should stand, since no one moved that man unless he wanted to be moved). When he was on his feet, she put her arms around him and held tight. “I love you. Do you hear me? I love you, and you are doing good. Don’t you give that up on me.”
Takes places a tiny little bit ago, in which Eliza handles the Jude situation and finally shows some emotion. @hawaiianhalfwolf @cahillkalani . Please note all the trigger warnings.
Her knuckles were white for as tightly as she was gripping the steering wheel, her eyes laser-focused on the road ahead of her. No matter how much she tried to convince herself that she was doing the right thing, she wasn’t entirely sure about it. Some very small part of her wondered if maybe she and Cahill were wrong... if maybe something good really could happen, and if maybe Jude really was back.
But then she looked to her right, eyes on Jude as he dug into the ice cream they’d stopped for, watching the sights pass the window. Anyone with any amount of compassion would see a content little kid. Eliza saw something very, very wrong.
When she’d mentioned her little fantasy of taking Jude out for ice cream while Noah was at school, she never, ever imagined that Cahill would take the deep breath he had, look at her, and just say “Okay.” But he had. And then he had given her very clear instructions on how to do it.
Thirty minutes ago, she stopped by Cahill’s. Noah was at school, and Cahill, she told Jude, needed to get some work done at the shop, so why didn’t they go get some ice cream and kill an afternoon?
She was thanking a god she didn’t believe in that Jude wasn’t a werewolf, so that he couldn’t smell the adrenaline escaping her pores or hear her heartbeat knocking against her ribcage. She could feel her own pulse racing, but focused on keeping her breathing even and her eyes straight ahead.
“Eliza, where are we going?”
“Do you remember that little creek we found that one time?” When she saw Jude nod from the corner of her eye, she continued. “I thought it would be nice to visit there for a while. Eat our ice cream and watch the birds?”
“Yeah, okay. I wish we could have brought Noah, though.”
Eliza ignored the way that sentence made her tense. “We’ll see him when he gets home from school.”
“I know. Hey, Eliza?”
“Yeah, kiddo?” She turned down a dirt road heading into the woods.
“Where have you been?”
She looked at him that time. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, Uncle Cahill said you are almost always at the house, but I’ve barely seen you.”
“Oh.” Two, three breaths while she chose how to answer that. “I’m still there, but I usually come in after you’ve gone to sleep. I’m really busy at work.”
“Oh.”
She tried to remind herself of all the reasons why they were doing this. There was no normal or safe explanation that would make them feel better about Jude suddenly being back. She was convinced that it was something a lot more sinister than Jude. The last few days, he’d gotten testier. Aggressive, even, according to Cahill. Not quite moody, by angry. If that was a trend that was going to continue, they needed to put a stop to this now.
She put the car in park, now off of the road and deep enough in the forest that she didn’t worry she would be caught. No one would stumble upon them, and no one would hear them. “Got your stuff, kiddo?”
“Yup! How cold do you think the water is?”
“I don’t know, but you can tell me, okay?”
Jude ran ahead of her, though she was in very little hurry to catch up to him. She had to be careful, after all, that he wouldn’t catch on that something was going on and try to run away from her. Instead, Eliza sat on the bank of the creek, careful to notice that the water went up to Jude’s hips. It was enough.
She was barely breathing.
Her ice cream sat in it’s little cup, completely melted, and completely forgotten. Do no harm wasn’t technically in the modern version of the hippocratic oath. In fact, she could stretch enough to say that there wasn’t technically anything about not killing someone if it was for the greater good. She thought, anyway, and with that shadow of a doubt, started to receipt the oath to herself. I swear to fulfill, to the best of my ability and judgment, this covenant:...I will respect the hard-won scientific gains of those physicians in whose steps I walk, and gladly share such knowledge as is mine with those who are to follow.I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures which are required, avoiding those twin traps of over treatment and therapeutic nihilism.
“Come on, Eliza! It’s only a little cold!” He splashed the water for emphasis, and Eliza forced a smile, getting to her feet. She felt like a solid steel wall, but she was focused. All she could see was Jude in front of her. The water felt like ice against her legs when she stepped into the barely moving stream.
I will remember that there is art to medicine as well as science, and that warmth, sympathy, and understanding may outweigh the surgeon's knife or the chemist's drug.
He splashed her, but when she didn’t respond, he frowned. “You’re supposed to play with me,” he demanded, and her visioned tunneled.
He splashed her again, and she splashed him back, close enough that she reached out and grabbed his arm. Jude’s peels of laughter were so genuine and pure that she almost let him go. Her fingers tightened their grip, and Jude stopped laughing. Their eyes met, and in that moment, she had her proof that this wasn’t Jude. Not the Jude they knew.
His gaze turned dark and he yelled out, struggling to pull away in vain. Eliza pulled him closer, avoiding his small fists as he tried to fight her and get away. It was too easy and too quick to pin his arms down, her own wrapped around his torso as she sank to her knees. It shocked her how easy it was to manhandle him under the surface, her knee digging into his back, hands shoving him into the mud until the struggling stopped. Even then, she waited, just to be sure, and the water became colder. Her breaths came in short gasps like her lungs were closing against the freezing temperature.
I will not be ashamed to say "I know not," nor will I fail to call in my colleagues when the skills of another are needed for a patient's recovery. I will respect the privacy of my patients, for their problems are not disclosed to me that the world may know. Most especially must I tread with care in matters of life and death. Above all, I must not play at God.
She inhaled, her breath still shallow, and forced the last three words out of her mind. She hauled Jude’s body out of the water, letting him fall unceremoniously to the ground, and she waited again. After a moment with no sign of movement, she checked for a pulse. Upon confirming there was none, she kicked into action, rushing back to the car. Cahill’s instructions were to decapitate and to burn. Jude would not be coming back again.
The process of piling up a little wooden dais and laying Jude in the middle took a lot longer than she’d thought it would. The water was going to make things a little more difficult to light, but the gasoline she’d taken from the garage would make that a moot point anyway. She worked quickly, her blood rushing in her ears.
Her phone lit up with a simple message from Cahill. Hey.
Hands shaking, stained with blood, she struggled to unlock her phone. By the time she managed to get her location to send to him, she was shaking so badly that she could barely hit the send button. Her phone hit the ground, followed closely by the woman who fell to sit just ten feet from the fire. There was more to do, wasn’t there? There had to be something else. Cahill had said that he would come help her clean everything up, but she’d been so adamant that he not be a part of this that she’d done everything she could remember to. The weapon had been cleaned in the creek, spotless and back in her car, under a blanket. Jude was properly ablaze, and by the time her alpha showed up, there would be very little left of the body. The gasoline was back in the car- everything was ready to go as soon as she made sure the fire was out. So what was she forgetting?
“Eliza.” The voice was gentle, but firm all the same, repeating her name when she didn’t respond. “Eliza, look at me.”
She did not, but she did manage a shaky breath. “You can smell him a mile away.” She hadn’t considered just how strong the smell of burning flesh was.
“Eliza.”
She pressed her palms into her calves, forcing her arms rigid so they would stop shaking. “It’s so cold. I didn’t-”
His hands were on her arms, pulling her up to her feet. “Your clothes, Eliza.”
She looked down, realizing that more than just her hands were covered in blood. “Shit.” That’s what she’d forgotten. “There’s a change of clothes in my car, can you-”
Cahill was as good at listening to her as she currently was at listening to him, and he grabbed the hem of her shirt and pulled it over her head. “Your pants, Eliza.”
She shed them quickly, both articles of clothing added to the fire. Cahill didn’t bother making her do more after that, instead going to her car and grabbing the jeans and sweatshirt she’d stashed in the trunk, and very tenderly helped her into them. The dry clothes did nothing for the tremble in her limbs. “Eliza...” he cupped her face in his hands, forcing her to make eye contact. “You did really well, Eliza.”
For a brief second, she smiled, proud and content to hear that from him, but then she tried to turn to look at the fire again.
I will remember that I remain a member of society, with special obligations to all my fellow human beings, those sound of mind and body as well as the infirm.
“Eliza, you’re done now. You did everything you were supposed to do.” He wouldn’t let her turn her head away from him, and moved so that her back was to the fire. He could tell that she was barely focusing on him, barely responsive. “Eliza, stay here with me.” He kept saying her name, hoping it would ground her.
“I don’t know what to do.”
“There’s nothing left for you to do. You’re done now.”
She shook her head. “But Noah-”
“I’m not worried about Noah right now.” The statement was a little more true than he even intended, just trying to get Eliza to focus on him for more than ten seconds.
“Noah’s going to be so angry and upset. He’s going to hate me.”
“Don’t tell Noah.”
She gave him an incredulous look. “He’s going to know that Jude’s missing and something happened.”
Cahill shook his head, saying her name again to make sure she was paying attention. “You aren’t going to tell Noah anything.”
He expected more of a fight from her at those words, and it worried him that she just nodded a little absently. Later, it would set in that Cahill was going to take the blame for this, but in that moment, she couldn’t read that deeply into it.
“Cahill?”
“I’m here.”
“I can’t breathe.”
He pulled her closer, holding her tightly and safely in his arms, one hand smoothing over her hair. Her tremors turned instantly into full, body-wracking sobs. He’d never asked her to do anything like this before, and his tough-as-nails Beta was experiencing something he wasn’t sure she’d ever been through before. “You’re okay. You did so well, Eliza. You’re okay.” He wanted her to quip about how he was patronizing her, to make some sarcastic comment, but nothing came from her but more sobs, her fingers clenching at the fabric of his shirt.
Hey Jude, Don’t let me Down | Noah & Cahill & Eliza
~FLACHBACK~
Directly following this solo, Half naked Noah and his band of Merry werewolves ( @cahillkalani and @drelizalabaton) tackle that pesky dead kid in the locker room situation.
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