“Chicken Pox and Other Common Childhood Maladies”
By December21st
Fandom: Haven
Rating: PG
Pairing: Nathan/Audrey
Warnings: None
Summary: Audrey considers the gaps in her personal medical history.
Beta: Thanks again to
lone_pyramid for the use of her mad beta talents.
"So I was thinking," Audrey tells Nathan, putting away her book as he comes into the bedroom.
"Should I be worried?" Nathan puts his badge and gun away in the nightstand drawer, noting that Audrey's are already there. He's glad she decided to stay; although they're not technically living together, she spends more time at his place than she does at her own over the Gull, and their cohabitation is a key away from being official. They'd managed to make it three-quarters of the way through dinner before Selectman Canton called with a bureaucratic emergency that required the recently anointed Police Chief's immediate attention, so Nathan was half-expecting his lovely partner to have gone home.
"You're hilarious. No, when I was at the doctor yesterday for that checkup, I was filling out paperwork and there was a section on personal and family medical history. I started putting Audrey's history until I realized that just because I remember having the chicken pox when I was five doesn't mean that I ever had the chicken pox. And Audrey doesn't know if her parents had a history of cancer or heart disease or whatever any more than I do." Nathan briefly wonders what brought this up -- if she got bad news or at least some uncomfortable questions at the doctor's office, but Audrey was acting fine yesterday and seemed pretty chipper during dinner tonight.
"Lots of people don't know their family medical histories. And lots of people lose track of their childhood medical records. It's really not that unusual. Most people don't even think about it until something shows up in tests or they have kids and their doctors want to know." Nathan shrugs, hoping to put her at ease on the off-chance she needs it.
"Do you know yours?" Nathan has to smile at her efficiently practical inflection, not that different from the tone she uses to question witnesses.
"Well, my doctor probably has a file two feet thick on me, with a record of every immunization, cut and scratch and blood test and x-ray I've ever had. And believe me, there have been a lot. My mom told the doctors everything she could when my Trouble started the first time, but she couldn't tell them anything about her parents. They died long before I was born, in a car accident or something. And, of course I don't know anything about Max Hansen's history." Nathan undresses quickly; it's late, he's tired, and just because Selectman Canton decided to balance the books at ten at night doesn't mean that Nathan's exempt from getting to work at the usual time tomorrow.
"Could you find out? If you wanted to?" Audrey's watching him intently; Nathan's pretty sure she's going somewhere with this. His best guess is that the doctor's office had a magazine with an article that will end up with him researching five generations of his own family medical history just to appease a new facet of Audrey's overall concern for his general well-being. Having someone in his life who's made it their business to worry about him is a joy that's not lost on Nathan.
"I suppose if w ... if I ever had kids or if something came up, I could contact the prison to see if I could get his medical records. And the regional hospital might have records for him too, so I might be able to get those." Nathan slips into bed next to her, pressing a quick kiss to Audrey's lips before leaning against the headboard.
"How long do you think that would take?" She's waiting for a reaction, and Nathan's beginning to feel like he missed something.
"I don't know, six months, maybe. Probably a lot of red tape to go through, without any reason for a warrant."
"Do you think you could get started on that?"
"Why do I need ..." Nathan pauses as Audrey grins madly at him. Is she really saying what he thinks she's saying? "How soon do you think we're going to need those records?" A grin of his own rapidly spreads over his face as the implications of what Audrey's saying sinks in.
"Let's say by the second week of November. Give or take."
Nathan pulls Audrey into his arms then, kissing her soundly. "I think I can manage that."