Lover Mine(162)

After all, she couldn't very well have Doc Jane stop in the middle to treat some pansy bystander with a case of the vapors. Or a concussion because the idiot had passed out cold on the floor.

Probably for the best, John mouthed.

Breaking away, she put one foot after the other to the door and let in Ehlena and Doc Jane. As the physician passed, Xhex grabbed the female's arm.

"Please . . ." God, what could she say.

Doc Jane nodded. "I got him. Don't worry."

Xhex took a shuddering breath and wondered how in the hell she was going to get through the wait out in the hall. Knowing the way her mind worked, she'd have John screaming silently in pain and Doc Jane removing his whole leg as the minutes dragged by--

"Xhex . . . mind if I suggest something?" Doc Jane said.

"Hit me. In fact . . . hit me. A good uppercut might help me pull it together."

Doc Jane shook her head. "Why don't you watch."

"What?"

"Stay here and watch what I do and how I do it and learn the whys. There are a lot of people who are terrified of medical situations--with very good reason. But phobias are phobias, whether it's an airplane or a dentist or a doctor--and exposure therapy works. Take the mystery out of it and the sense of not being in control? The fear can't get at you in the same way."

"Nice piece of logic. But what happens if I faint."

"You can sit down if you get dizzy and leave whenever you like. Ask questions and look over my shoulder if you're able."

When she glanced at John, his solemn nod sealed her fate. She was staying.

"Do I need scrubs?" she said in a voice that was utterly foreign.

Shit, it was so damn girly. Next thing you knew, she was going to start crying at TV ads and doing her nails. And getting a frickin' pocketbook.

"Yup, I'm going to want you in greens. Follow me."

When they came back five minutes later, Doc Jane took her over to the sink, handed her a sealed pack with a Betadine sponge inside, and showed her how to get properly cleaned.

"Good job." The doctor turned off the water by releasing a foot pedal down on the floor. "You won't need gloves because you're not going in."

"You got that right. Tell me, you have a crash cart around, just in case I go over?"

"Right in the corner and I know how to use those paddles." Doc Jane snapped on blue gloves and went over to John. "You ready? And we'll be putting you under. Given where the bullet is, I'm going to have to go deep and there's no way in hell I'll be able to get you numb enough."

Gas me, Doc, John signed.

V's shellan put her hand on his shoulder and stared right into his eyes. "I'm going to fix you, don't worry."

Xhex frowned and found herself in awe of the female. To be that sure and certain, given what was at stake, was pretty amazing: If Doc Jane didn't do her job right, John could be way worse off than he was now. But if she pulled it off, he would be good as new.

This was power, Xhex thought. And the polar opposite of what she did in her profession--a knife in her hand was a very different instrument.

No healing there.

Doc Jane began a running commentary, her voice strong and calm. "In a human hospital, you'd have an anesthesiologist present, but you vampires tend to be very stable under heavy sedation--it flips you into a kind of dormancy. I don't understand it, but it makes my job easier."

As she spoke, Ehlena helped John take off both his shirt and the leathers Doc Jane had cut up; then the female spread blue cloths over his nakedness and started an IV.

Xhex tried to stop her eyes from bouncing around and largely failed. There was too much threat in the place, all those scalpels and needles and . . .

"Why?" Xhex asked, forcing herself to respond. "The difference between the species, I mean?"

"Not a clue. You have a six-chambered heart and we have a four. You have two livers, we have one. You don't get cancer or diabetes."

"I don't know much about cancer."

Doc Jane shook her head. "Would that we could beat that thing in everyone who gets it. Bastard fucking disease it is, I'll tell you. What happens is a cellular mutation occurs whereby . . ."

The doctor kept talking, but now her hands were moving around on the stainless-steel tables that had been rolled over to John, organizing what she was going to use. When she nodded at Ehlena, the female went to John's head and covered his face with a clear plastic mask.

Doc Jane went to his IV with a syringe full of something milky. "You ready, John?" When he gave a thumbs-up, she depressed the plunger.

John glanced over to Xhex and winked. And then he was out like a light.

"First thing is disinfection," Doc Jane said, opening up a packet and taking out a dark brown sponge. "Why don't you stand opposite from me? This is Betadine, the same stuff we washed our hands with, just not in a soap form."