for Chase

[drama_maureen]

Freddie had helped Maureen to the clinic, but outside the door she'd stopped him from coming in with her, telling him she'd be okay. She really didn't want another witness to this; it was bad enough that she was playing roulette with whatever doctor might be on duty. And she honestly wasn't sure if it would be better or worse if it was someone

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[dr_robchase]

Chase glanced up from the chart he was writing -- whatever happened out there in the scrapyard definitely was keeping the doctors busy and he just wanted to make sure forms were in order. "Hey," he greeted, but it was mostly automatic. If he had more than a second to think about it, he would have demanded to know what happened.

The marks she had weren't in any way matching the accident he'd heard trickles of rumours about. "Who," is all he got out, the word grounded out of him through gritted teeth.

[drama_maureen]

Maureen winced at the question and looked down at her hands. "My boyfriend," she admitted quietly. "No, sorry, ex boyfriend. I... I think I'm okay, but could you look me over?"

[dr_robchase]

Chase slipped easily into the mode he got when he had to be a doctor. There was occasionally no judging and he wasn't going to start now. "Come on in," he invited. "It'd be easiest to see if you put on a gown," he gently said. "Would you be comfortable with doing that for me?"

[drama_maureen]

Maureen smiled at him at that, and she almost looked like herself for a moment. "Oh, please. Like you and everyone else on the island hasn't seen it already." She was a stripper, after all. Well, former stripper. And now she felt like an even bigger idiot for quitting at Patrick's suggestion.

She started to unbutton her shirt, and caught a glimpse of a bruise beginning to blossom on her side. Great.

[dr_robchase]

Chase gave her her privacy, turning to the side in order to let her change. It was only after a couple of moments passed that he returned to look over the marks and the bruises. He was most focused on the one at her side, fingers skimming it lightly. "I'm just going to feel around for internal bleeding," he told her quietly. "Tell me if the pain rises to anything above a seven on a pain scale to ten, okay?"

[drama_maureen]

Maureen nodded and let him poke around at her. She winced visibly, but the pain wasn't that bad when it came right down to it. It felt like a bruise.

She didn't say anything for a long moment and then blurted out, "I am such an idiot."

[dr_robchase]

Chase eased closer, lightly squeezing her shoulder. "You're not an idiot," he said quietly, trying to get her attention before tapping his nose lightly. "You're talking to the man who loved the person who broke his nose, to this very day. What we feel is strange."

[drama_maureen]

Maureen looked at him, and honestly felt like she might cry. "But he..." She sniffed, trying to hold herself together. "I honestly thought he might have killed me, Rob. I had to run away."

[dr_robchase]

"And you did," he said, focusing on that as he lightly pressed his hands to her body over the wounds in order to check for places of internal bleeding. "You did and you're here talking to me. You averted that. You're strong enough to have done that."

[drama_maureen]

Strong but stupid, Maureen thought grimly.

She winced a little at the press of his hands, but didn't complain. "I just wish I'd been strong sooner," she said. "I feel like such a cliche."

[dr_robchase]

Chase wasn't finding any permanent damage, which was a relief at that. "I'm going to need all the information about how this occurred for a report, just in the event the IPD come to me for questions," he said evenly. "Do you feel as if you can talk about the incident with me?"

[drama_maureen]

"I'm going to go to the IPD after this," Maureen said, with obvious forced resolve. Telling someone else might force her to actually do it.

But then she nodded, "But yes, I... can. Just - " She bit her lip. "Right. I can tell you. How much do you need to know?"

[dr_robchase]

"Good," he says firmly, not wanting her to think that's a step that can be ignored, especially not at the sign of her. "I just need to know the step by step. Who dealt the first blow, order of wounds," he gently coaxed.

[drama_maureen]

Maureen nodded again, though it was a long time before she finally spoke. "We were arguing," she said, assuming that it wasn't exactly important what the argument was about. "And he grabbed me by my hair and threw me down onto the bed. I thought he was just... I don't know, sometimes he got a little rough during sex, I was about to just tell him to knock it off but then he hit me across the face."

Her words settled into an almost clinical tone, like she was describing something that had happened to someone else. "Then he grabbed me by the hair again and hauled me up, then hit me in the side. It knocked the wind out of me, and then when I got my breath back I kicked him - went for his groin but I think I got his leg instead. I think... that's when he got me in the mouth, I don't really remember. But that's when I started try to run away. Only when I got off of the bed he pushed me down onto the floor and started kicking me. I pushed him, I think, or tripped him, and managed to get out the door and just started running."

[dr_robchase]

Chase made slight notes about this, wanting to be able to reply if he was asked any questions and wanted to match her story as exactly as possible. He didn't have many doubts about the people here, but there was always a first time for everything and he didn't want Maureen to go without justice because of a mismatched story. "Okay," he said, setting everything down. "Well, medically, you're going to live," he assured. "But I want you to take it easy and I'm going to prescribe some antibiotics to help some of the bruising. Okay?"

[drama_maureen]

Maureen nodded. "Okay," she said, and then added, "Thank you." She wasn't really sure what else to say. Mostly she just wanted to curl up and sleep for the foreseeable future.