Attending Physician

  “Still, I look awful,” I lamented.

  “Listen, milady.” She put her hands on my shoulders and matched my eyes in the mirror. “You don’t look awful. You look beautiful, and beat up, and beautiful, and ravaged, and still very, very beautiful.”

  “You’re biased,” I wailed.

  “Not so, milady. I’m honest.” She meant it, too.

  “Okay, okay,” I gave in. “You’re honest, and I look beautiful.”

  “Wait till the Butch Brigade arrives. They’ll tell you!”

  “Um, Raven?”

  “Yeah,” she concentrated on pouring the water for my tea and into the French press for her coffee.

  “The Butch Brigade?”

  “Another name for my crew.”

  “Right,” I said. “Hmm, that’s sweet.”

  “Baby, I don’t think any of us would particularly appreciate that sentiment,” she informed me.

  “Oh, you wait, darling,” I said. “Your boys will love it from me!”

  A text message pinged on her phone. She went hunting it down the hall, and arrived in the kitchen with a pronouncement. “The doctor is making house calls this morning; she’s on her way.”

  “Now?!?” I panicked.

  “Yes, baby. What’s the matter?”

  “I’m not dressed. I have no make-up on. My hair isn’t done. Let’s start with those and go from there!”

  Raven started to belly laugh and the more I squawked, the deeper it got. Then the buzzer went off, and Raven was halfway down the hall when I collapsed on the kitchen floor.

  She tore down the hall for the buzzer, left the front door open, and was on the floor gathering me into her arms in three seconds flat apparently. I wasn’t fully present to witness her feat, but I believed her when she told me later.

  Chapter 31

  Raven raised me off the floor into her arms and began to walk toward the living room when I started to come around and we heard a new voice say, “Rave?”

  “C’mon in, Cord. Get the door please.”

  “Raven?” I whispered.

  “It’s okay, baby. I’ve got you.”

  I closed my eye and was out again apparently.

  I came to as a low voice said, “You got yourself a beauty, Rave.” Her face was close to mine. “In fact, she’s gorgeous.”

  “I wish Verity hadn’t passed out. Damn, I wanted her to hear that.”

  “I heard it, darling,” I smiled, and then I opened my eye. “I suppose you want to know how many handsome doctors I see, too?”

  The tall blonde laughed. “That’d be a good start, ma’am,” the blonde said politely.

  “Two,” I said promptly.

  They grinned at me.

  “I’m Cordelia Lear,” she said.

  Raven added, “The orthopedist.”

  “You’re kidding, right?” I said to the square-jawed blonde.

  “Nooo,” she groaned, running her hands over her buzz-cut, “I’m not.”

  “Your parents named you that?”

  “Yep.”

  “Do you have any sisters?”

  “No, thank God. One of them would have had to be Goneril. My mom was a Shakespeare professor.”

  “Oh, so that explains it,” I mused.

  “Explains what?” asked Raven.

  “How you’re so facile with milady, and lord of the manor behavior.”

  “Well, yeah,” she aw-shucks, ma’amed me. “Cord’s mom used to make us read plays out loud after dinner.”

  “How fun!” I said.

  “Yeah,” said Cord, “except—”

  “We were in high school,” Raven added, “and it wasn’t cool.”

  “But think how cool you are now, darlings,” I admonished. “Milord,” I spoke to Raven, “shall we try putting me on my feet again?”

  “Oh, sorry.”

  I lifted my face to her in an obvious request for a kiss. “No sorry needed. I love being in your arms, sweetheart.” She kissed me.

  “Sweet too, Rave. You done good.” Cord slapped her shoulder.

  “So what made you faint, Raven’s Beauty?”

  “I don’t know,” I said, “but I do know that my name is Verity Spencer, and you probably ought to know it.”

  “Dr. Spencer,” she said, touching her brief bangs in a small salute.

  “Dr. Lear,” I matched her, wondering how she knew I was a doctor.

  “I know why you fainted,” said Raven definitively.

  “You do?” I asked, surprised.

  “Yep. Watch me carefully, baby,” she said, stepping out of the living room.

  I kept my one good eye trained on her. She pressed the buzzer for the downstairs door, and my knees wobbled. I sat down on the pink sofa abruptly, quite shaken. “It’s a trigger,” I whispered to myself.

  “It is,” she said, coming back into the room.

  “Damn,” said Cord. “It’s a good thing you’re a head doc, Dr. Spencer. You’ll know how to get rid of that better than either of us would.”

  “Yes,” I said vaguely, “I do know how to get rid of it. It’s rather unfortunate that it installed however because I practice in this space. That buzzer rings at least once an hour during my work days.”

  “We’ll work on it over the weekend, baby,” Raven assured me. “My guys and I will cure you!” she finished triumphantly.

  “We’ll see, darling,” I said, “but truthfully, I know you and your crew will have the best of intentions.”

  I focused on the orthopedist. “So, Dr. Lear, what hoops would you have me jump through on this early Saturday morning after a rough evening but a better night?”

  “Is there coffee?” she bordered on a moan.

  I began to rise instinctively, but returned onto the sofa with a wobble.

  “I’ll get it, babe,” Raven said. “On its way, doc.”

  I watched her go. She totally blew my skirt up, and at the most inconvenient times. I swear her friend knew exactly what I was thinking too because I saw her grin when she caught me, and I blushed. “Sorry, Dr. Lear.”

  “Cord,” she corrected.

  “Cord,” I copied. “Please, call me Verity.”

  “Not Raven’s Beauty?” she teased.

  “If you insist, Cord, I’ll accede graciously,” I vowed.

  “I’m sure you will.”

  “Raven’s Beauty sounds like the name of a horse,” I said.

  “Yeah,” agreed Cord, “a spirited filly.” Then she leered at me, “Much like yourself, ma’am.”

  I blushed again. “Will you stop?”

  “No, probably not,” she admitted.

  “Well, at least I’m forewarned,” I riposted.

  “Verity, I need to examine your eye, and today it’ll probably be sore. May I touch?”

  “Yes.”

  I scooted to the edge of the sofa, and she knelt in front of me.

  “So very nice of you to make a house call, Cord.”

  “No prob, Verity. Glad to do it. Your house was on my run today anyway.” She palpated around my eye, above my ear, the back of my head, my forehead, my temple, in front of my ear—more thoroughly than Raven had. “Rave was right. It’s a fracture. There’s nothing we can do for it but let it heal. Use ice, warm water, and painkillers as needed. It’ll probably take three weeks to heal appreciably; six, to heal totally. No facials, or face treatments of any kind. Someone leaning on it could make it worse.”

  “Okay,” I said.

  “Verity, if it doesn’t feel much, much better in a week, have Raven call my office and we’ll fit you in for an MRI for complete assurance.”

  “Okay,” I agreed.

  “Oh, and by this afternoon, you should have not one, but two, super deluxe black eyes.”

  “Don’t worry, Cord,” I said very primly, “the other guy looked much worse when I was through with him.”

  Cord gaped at me in astonishment and cracked into belly laughs. “I was not expecting that from you, Raven’s Beauty.”

&n
bsp; “So glad I could surprise you, Cord.”

  Raven stood in the doorway beaming. “Told you,” she mouthed. I winked at her, not that she could really tell.

  “Coffee, doctor,” said Raven subserviently to Cord.

  “Shut it, doctor,” said Cord taking the mug from her. “If she’s not out of pain and appreciably better within a week, let’s get Verity an MRI?”

  “Done,” said Raven.

  “You were right, so you know. No muscle caught. It’s a fracture. No concussion.” Cord knelt in front of me, “Verity, despite how bad this was, you were lucky. It might have been a lot worse.”

  “That’s good to know,” I said. “Thanks, Cord.”

  She leaned down and kissed my cheekbone. “I always kiss it better for the pretty girls.”

  “Oh, you!” I blushed.

  Raven showed her to the door, and returned.

  “She’ll be back later,” she informed me.

  “That was so good of her,” I said.

  “Yeah, she’s good people,” agreed Raven. “Hungry?”

  “You’re starved, right?” Her urgent agreement amused me. “I make some reputedly heavenly scrambled eggs.”

  “To the kitchen, wench!” Raven cried, reaching to lift me from the sofa.

  My legs were fine again.

  Breakfast was better, especially since I was tired afterward so we went back to bed.

  My last thought before I conked in Raven’s arms was, spoiled, and I like it like that.

  Chapter 32

  I slept till after one, and was utterly amazed at how much better I felt. Raven wasn’t in bed with me, but I wasn’t worried because I thought the shower was running. I snuggled with her pillow, smelling her cologne till she came into the room rubbing her hair with a towel.

  “Hello, Sleeping Beauty,” she said looking down at me.

  “Hello, Prince Charming,” I whispered shyly.

  “Maybe I should have said Waking Beauty?” she smiled, bending down to touch her lips to mine.

  “As long as it’s beauty to you, that’s good enough for me.”

  “You are,” she promised, her heart in her eyes, “so very beautiful.”

  I threw the covers open and stood. “Darling, I bet you’re hungry again, right?”

  “Um.”

  “Don’t apologize. Help yourself to whatever there is. I’m going to run through the shower, and, because I’m still unsteady, would it be alright if I left the door open so I may call you if I need you please?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Raven said, smirking at me. “I love slippery, wet femmes.”

  “I’ll bet you do, sir,” I rejoined wryly.

  “Baby,” Raven started. I said nothing. “You know how a femme is a femme?” I still said nothing. “Well, the converse is true, beautiful. A butch is a butch. I’m not apologizing for loving slippery, wet femmes.”

  I walked carefully to her, reached and slithered my arms up her chest, over her shoulders, and around her neck, feeling her shiver. Then I got in her handsome face and said somewhat hotly, “I would expect nothing less, darling.” Her breath whooshed out of her as her hands slowly traced the edges of my hips and landed on my waist.

  God, I wanted her, and not only was it not time but that even if it were, we didn’t have the time necessary as the Butch Brigade was on its way. I stood on my tiptoes in my white ballet slippers and whispered into her ear, “Soon, darling.” Then I bit her earlobe gently and sucked it into my mouth. She sucked her breath in at the same time.

  I leaned away from her torso, pressing our hips together. “Am I being a tease?” I asked in all seriousness.

  “Please, baby,” she said in all seriousness, “never, ever stop being a tease.”

  “Sir,” I said, “I think that can be arranged.” I brushed my lips against her mouth, and walked carefully down the hall toward the shower. Slippery, wet femmes indeed. I’m right there, Raven, I telegraphed to her, close to every single second.

  In the shower, I gave myself a good talking to. I still felt extremely tentative, often shaky, spooked, and more than a little worried that every time the buzzer sounded, I’d collapse to whatever piece of floor I happened to be standing on. It did not bode well for Monday morning.

  Then a modicum of logic arose and said that it had not yet been a full twenty-four hours since the takeover, and that I was resilient, and that the worst thing that happened was that I had to ask a supervisee to sit in or be in the house for my sessions till I got my brain rewired.

  I managed in the shower, and my dear Raven did not get to rescue her slippery, wet femme. I deduced that she was sorely disappointed from the pout on her punim which made me laugh. “Sorry, darling,” I sent across the kitchen island as I moved quickly past her, wearing nothing but a towel.

  “Next time,” she growled menacingly around her sandwich.

  I closed the bedroom door noiselessly not wanting to draw any more attention to my nakedness. I’d dropped the towel and had pulled on a pair of black panties when the effing buzzer sounded and I crashed to the floor. Again.

  “Be right there, baby,” Raven called.

  As an act of indomitable femme will, I reached blindly to my lingerie drawer and struggled my bosom into a brassiere. I was bound (pun intended) and determined that she would not get a glimpse of a naked me till I deemed it appropriate and we had time to enjoy it. I pulled myself up the doorjamb and reached for a blouse, hiding behind the closet door.

  A wolf whistle sounded behind me.

  I let the white cowl-necked blouse drape around my figure and swivelled gently to face Raven holding onto the door frame for all I was worth.

  She looked stunned.

  “That bad, huh?” I said.

  “Uh, no, milady,” she countered. “That good. Perfect in fact.”

  “Nice to know,” I said.

  “Very,” she licked her lips.

  “Who was at the door?”

  “Flowers,” she reported dutifully.

  “Flowers? From whom?” I answered.

  “No idea, ma’am. Not me.”

  “Would you mind getting the card?”

  “Can you stand?”

  I let go of the door, and made a tentative, shaky step. “Sort of,” I smiled crookedly at her.

  “Stay put,” she said.

  I reached for a flowing black skirt, and some flat-heeled, black suede boots. I’d add an oversized black cashmere shawl.

  Although I tried, I could not balance well enough to step into the skirt.

  “Dammit,” I swore.

  “Milady!” came from the kitchen.

  “Open the card, darling. Who are they from?”

  She sounded grumpy. “It says: Get some help, brave lady. Geoff.”

  I appeared in the doorway of the bedroom, skirtless. “That was sweet of him.”

  “What? No skirt?” she asked.

  “I can’t do it by myself, sir. Will you help please?”

  “Usually I’m better at undressing femmes, ma’am.”

  “Would you please grant me an exception today?”

  “I guess.” Can you say reluctant? “Who’s Geoff?”

  “He’s the one who made sure they stopped hurting me, and who got me ice.”

  “He sent you flowers?”

  Raven had understood my struggle, set me on the bed, and knelt with the skirt open at my feet. Then she had me stand and slid it up my legs. Weak at the knees is a good descriptor.

  “I know,” I said. “Wasn’t that sweet?”

  “What does the card mean?”

  “Before he left, he told me to get some help with the trauma. He’s referring to that conversation.”

  “Wow.”

  She’d handed me red and white striped over-the-knee socks, and my black suede boots as I’d sat on the bed. I was dressed.

  “Shall we get you settled in the living room, baby?” She held out her hands. I grabbed them and walked just fine into the living room toward the sofa. We were
steps from there when the buzzer rang again, and my legs once again gave out right from under me.

  “Dammit!” I said.

  “It’s okay, babe.” Raven scooped me up, and brought me to the buzzer. “Buzz them in,” she said, “while I hold you.”

  I reached out for the buzzer shaking so badly that it took me four tries to hit the blessed button.

  Chapter 33

  Raven carried me to the front door. “Reach down and open the door, sweetheart.”

  I gave her a look, and did what she’d asked.

  On the landing stood—I thought—seven gorgeous butches jockeying for a first gander at me. At the head of the formation was Cordelia Lear.

  “Dr. Lear,” I greeted her.

  “Dr. Spencer,” she bowed, “may I present The Butch Brigade?”

  “Won’t you come in, gentlemen?” I responded.

  Various `yes’ms’ accompanied by teenage grins shone back at me.

  Raven set me on the sofa in the living room. “Dr. Verity Spencer, boys,” she said, gesturing to me.

  “Pretty,” said one.

  “Uh, yeah, very,” said another.

  “What did I tell you?” smirked Cord. “Rave did good.”

  “Verity?” Raven drew my attention. “These are my guys. Left to right. Mel, Jamie, Ollie, Cord you know, Dex, Sam, and last but not least, Terry, whom you also know. D’you want girl names, too?”

  “You never know when I might need them.”

  “Melanie, Janice, Olivia, Cordelia, Suzette, Samantha, and Theresa.”

  “You forgot someone, darling,” I said.

  “I did?” She counted her guys. “No, I didn’t.”

  “You did, Rave,” said Cord, agreeing with me. Dex nodded his head, too. “You, ya big lug.”

  “That’s alright, sir,” I batted the eyelashes of my one good eye, “I didn’t forget you. How could I?”

  “Oooh, she’s smooth,” said Mel. “Fast on her feet.”

  “She’s a head shrinker, Mel,” said Cord. “She has to be.”

  “Gentlemen,” I smiled, “welcome.”

  “Thank you kindly, ma’ams,” spoken all around.

  “So, guys,” said Raven, taking the reins, “here’s why we’re here. We have to clean and clear Verity’s house of the vermin who contaminated it.”