Post Qi Event (fic)
Words: 1154
Warnings: Needle, blood, aftermath of an arguably terrifying situation.
It had already been a long day—even more so for the lack of patients—and Harvey had spent most of it writing letters. Maru had gone home hours ago, and Harvey was just about ready to close up for the night. He signed his name on the bottom of the last letter, put it in its envelope, and—
And then the door slammed open.
“Doc!” Andy’s voice yelled.
Suddenly far more alert than he had been a moment ago, Harvey looked up, brow furrowing. Andy rushed through the door, out of breath, holding a young woman at his side with an arm around the back of his neck.
“It’s Josephine,” he said. “I found her in the forest, thought she mighta passed out from exhaustion, but she didn’t even stir when I tried to wake her up.”
Harvey motioned for Andy to put her on one of the beds, moving to examine her once he did. He checked the pulse at her wrist—normal, if a little slow—and her breathing was even; no signs of distress or hypoxia.
“Do you know what happened?” He asked.
“No, I—I don’t.”
Harvey gave Josephine’s shoulder a firm tap. “Josephine? Can you hear me?” He said, voice raised. Nothing. He squeezed the space above her collarbone. Still, nothing. Frowning, he pressed each eye open in turn, shining a light in each one before allowing it to close again. Equal and reactive.
Letting out a breath, he put the monitor clip on her finger. Turning his gaze to the numbers on the screen, he frowned.
“What’s wrong?” Andy asked.
Harvey shook his head. “She’s stable. A little hypothermic, and her heart rate’s a bit slower than it should be, but…”
He exhaled, then turned to take an IV kit out of the drawer by the bed and start a line in her hand.
“What’s that for?”
“Fluids, to keep her hydrated and her blood sugar steady,” Harvey answered. “In that linen closet, there’s some blankets. Could you grab one and hand it to me?”
Andy nodded and walked to the closet, returning a moment later to pass the blanket to Harvey, who laid it over Josephine.
“You reckon she’ll be alright?” He asked.
Harvey paused. “I don’t know. Like I said, she’s stable, but…” He rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Unresponsiveness this severe is…worrying.” He let out a breath. “You can go home, if you’d like. I don’t know when she’ll wake up.”
Andy shook his head, pulling up a chair. “I’ll stay. Whenever she wakes up, she shouldn’t be alone.”
---
Harvey rubbed his eyes as the doors opened again, and Maru walked in, a cup of coffee in each hand. “Morning, Doctor,” She said, setting one on the counter for him. He picked it up.
“Thank you, Maru,” He said.
She looked at him, eyes narrowing slightly. “Have you been up all night? She asked, “You look exhausted.”
Harvey nodded. “We had a patient come in late.”
Maru turned to look towards the beds, brow furrowing. “Oh…” She said, “Can I see her chart?”
Harvey nodded and handed her the clipboard he was holding. She took it, mouth moving silently as she read the contents to herself. “Three?” She pointed to the box labeled ‘GCS’. “Are you sure?”
Harvey nodded, and Maru’s lips pressed together. “Okay. Pupils are good. Any sign of trauma? Hypoglycemia?”
Harvey shook his head.
“And her vitals are…they’re fine.” Maru exhaled.
“She was mildly hypothermic when Andy brought her in, but given that she was found outside in the middle of the night, that’s to be expected.”
“Right, yeah. It’s just…weird.”
Just as Harvey was about to respond, Andy called, “Doc!”
He looked up at the monitor. “Heart rate’s up to 130,” he said, quickly setting his coffee on the counter and walking over to the bed.
By the time he got there, Josephine was sitting up, fully conscious and breathing heavily, oblivious to Andy’s attempts to get her attention. She lurched, trying to stand up, but the catheter in her hand jerked with the movement and pulled her back. Shakily, her fingers found where the line entered her hand and yanked hard, prompting a steady trickle of blood from where the line had been.
She moved to stand again, and Harvey put a hand on her shoulder. “Josephine—”
“Don’t touch me!” She yelled, swatting at his hand and jerking her shoulder away.
He backed off immediately, keeping his hands where she could see them. “Give her some room,” he told Andy, who seemed like he wanted to grab Josephine by the shoulders and shake the panic out of her.
Slowly, her breathing evened out, and the panicky, tunnel-vision look in her eyes started to fade.
“Josephine?” Harvey asked. She looked up at him. “Do you know where you are?”
“Um, y-yeah, I’m in the clinic,” she answered.
“Good.” Harvey nodded. “If it's alright with you, I’d like to check a few things, just to be on the safe side. And Maru can get a bandage on that hand for you.”
Josephine nodded, and Harvey put his stethoscope on, putting the bell to her back. “Deep breath in,” He said, “Now exhale.”
Maru, meanwhile, took her hand and set it against an arm rest she’d rolled over. Ripping open a wipe, she said, “This is gonna sting a little bit,” before using it to wipe the back of Josephine’s hand. She pressed a gauze pad to the cut with her thumb, then replaced her thumb with a piece of tape to keep it in place. “There.”
“Do you know what season it is?” Harvey asked.
“It’s spring.”
“Good. What’s the mayor’s name?”
“Lewis.”
Harvey nodded. “Alright.” He paused, then, “ Do you remember what happened?”
Josephine nodded and opened her mouth to speak. “I—I was heading to Marnie’s to see how much a sheep cost, and—”
The monitor gave a loud BEEP, but whatever the cause had been left just as quickly. She fell silent, raising a hand to her throat as her breath caught. “And—” she tried again, but again, nothing came out past that. She looked down, lips pressing together in frustration.
“That’s alright,” Harvey said. “You don’t have to say anything before you’re ready. I understand.” He took a step back. “Everything seems to be in order, medically, so you’re free to go whenever you’re ready.”
“Here, I’ll walk you home,” Andy added, standing up from his chair and offering his arm to Josephine.
“I’m fine,” Josephine said, pushing herself to her feet.
“Alright, well, I’m still gonna walk with ya. You don’t gotta take my arm though.”
After a moment, Josephine nodded in agreement before heading towards the door.
“Josephine?” Harvey said as she started to push the door open. She paused to look back at him. “If you need anything, come find me, alright?”
She nodded and muttered, “Thanks,” before turning to push the door the rest of the way open.
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Some more of my favourite headcanons for Stardew Valley
The farmer has been living there for a few weeks, and the people of Stardew Valley are getting used to their eclectic antics. Vincent and Jas in particular are quite curious about them, after all, who wouldn’t want to know more about the new person in town who doesn’t seem to be capable of going slower than the speed of sound?
The Egg festival rolls around, and Vincent and Jas are incredibly excited. Vincent has decided this will be the year where he finally beats Abigail at the egg hunt, and Jas really likes the look of that straw hat. Vincent notices that the Farmer is eyeing it off as well, very closely...
He rolls up to the farmer and asks if they’ll be joining the egg hunt, and they look down at him, smile and say they will. Perhaps it was something in the smile, or maybe it the fact that this was the first time he noticed the sword strapped to their waist, but he couldn’t help but feel a primal surge of fear rush through him. There was definitely something strange about the farmer. It was almost as if he was staring at one of the monsters Jodi had told him about. The farmer’s eyes shone brightly, too bright to be human, and they turned to walk away.
Vincent was very quiet for the rest of the day, and he didn’t seem to mind too much when the farmer tried on their new stray hat with a giddy grin of excitement. He wasn’t talking too much the next day either, which Jodi was quite worried about, but he was back to normal by the time he made it to the library for tutoring. Well, he was, until the farmer swung by to drop off some relics for the museum, and he couldn’t help but feel that rush of fear again. The artifacts seemed to be covered in some sort of green goo that looked suspiciously like the horrible slimes Penny taught them about, and when the farmer thought no one was looking, quickly flicked some of it out of their hair.
Vincent made a note of it to avoid the farmer from then on.
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