Chapter Text
With the new shipment from the sea came the sailors, and with new sailors came new patients. It was a busy day in the hospital in Port Victory.
Even though Jack was supposed to sleep in today, Hetty barged into his room, waking him up, needing an extra pair of hands.
He quickly put on his clothes and went downstairs. The "admission room", let's call it, was filled with the sound of cough and the smell of sickness, that usually just lingered in the walls, filling the nostrils.
It reminded him of London during winter, and for a split second, he was there again, the boys sick, he himself sick...
But he put his sleeve up to his nose to filter the smell and went straight to work.
Turns out the sailors started getting sick a few days prior to their arrival. Some didn't make it, with a fever and a cough wrecking their body. One of the first to drop dead was their medic, so they were fending for themselves, filled with hope when they finally made it to the port.
One of the patients caught Jack's attention more than the others. A young boy, 12 at most, burning up with fever. He was small and skinny, his eyes gloomy with fever but you could see the brightness beneath it. He reminded Jack of himself.
"Well, that's not exactly what we were expecting from the shipment", he heard a familiar voice behind him.
"You're late", he answered straight forward.
"I wouldn't be if someone notified me of the current situation, but no one thought of it", Belle said accusingly.
"Yeah well, life's hard and the patients are dying, so if you allow me, some of us need to work"
"That's why I'm here", he tried to walk away from her but she lingered like a shadow.
"Fine", Jack finally gave up.
"Hetty! Take Lady Belle and teach her how not to boil the poor sods alive,", and with those words, he disappeared into chaos.
The last thing he heard was a groan of disappointment escaping Belle's mouth, but at least he didn't have to deal with her anymore.
It's been days, the majority of the sailors got better, but some didn't.
Right now, an extra pair of hands would have been useful — not just one, not even two. Even if half the colony, suddenly struck by a wave of altruistic spirit, decided to help out at the hospital, there still wouldn’t be enough hands to get everything done.
Sneed was currently helping a young lad whose wound had gotten infected, while Jack — somewhat selfishly — kept his attention focused on the young boy.
“Ah, I hate these new deliveries. Instead of rum, they’ve brought us more work,”, Prof appeared from around the corner, his eyes glassy, cheeks shining like they’d been polished — though not from fever, but thanks to the bottle of rum he’d just finished off, the same bottle he was now mourning the loss of.
Having Prof in the hospital was like handing a scalpel to a drunk butcher and hoping for the best. It was better to keep him as far away from the patients as possible, because even in the face of tragedy like this, his top priority remained his morning port and his evening whiskey.
They were pretty sure they knew what was the cause of this commotion. The flu.
The moment he realised he could only think about one thing- Belle. He had to make sure she was nowhere near the hospital.
"Sneed, we need to talk", he appeared in his office.
"Well, Dawkins, you've finally decided to ask me for advice? I'd say you're a lost cause, sorry"
Jack had to bite his tongue not to forget the real reason he decided to come to Sneed.
"You know it's the flu right?"
"Obviously Dawkins, I am to be a Head Surgeon after all, but what am I to thank for your stupid question? Is it your exhaustion?"
The desire to punch him right in the face was getting more and more appealing in Jack's head.
" I want you to talk to the Governor"
"I do talk to him a lot if you haven't noticed, Dawkins", Sneed said and was getting ready to get up and leave the room.
"Wait, I need you to talk to him about Lady Belle", Jack stated through clenched teeth. He'd prefer to talk about it with Belle, but he knew exactly how successful that would be, and the answer was "very much unsuccessful" the woman was stubborn.
Though, the words seemed to have caught Sneed's attention.
"Okay, what do you want, quickly, I have patients"
"I want you to talk to the Governor to keep her away from the hospital for a couple of days. People are dying like flies, more and more getting sick, and she doesn't know when to stop, she'll overwork herself, and the next thing we know, she'll be the next patient on the bed, or the worst case, she'll be another corpse", he was looking Sneed right into his eyes, Jack's stare cutting.
"Don't you worry too much? It's not like Lady Belle will get sick from being in the hospital."
"It's bad air Sneed, you can smell it in the corridors, why push our luck?" Jack was determined, he remembered how just a few days before the sailors' arrival Belle was telling him about some "The Lancet" article she read. How there was this French lad, who believed that sickness was caused by some little invisible creature.
"Can you imagine? He’s got this whole new theory that diseases aren't caused by bad air, but by microbes. I’ve been reading about it in "The Lancet". It's revolutionary." He laughed her off obviously. But the thought made his gut twist in an unpleasant way.
"Fine, I'll talk to the Governor, but you know how she is", Sneed smirked dismissively.
"Oh, I believe in you. You're a real charmer Sneed. Use that status of yours. I'm sure it will work wonders", Jack said, with a forced smile.
"Yeah, if I were a charmer I'd prefer to charm YOUR way out of the hospital", Sneed smirked and packed his notes ready to leave his study.
"You may need more practice for that", Jack muttered more to himself than to the other surgeon.
After the long day, Jack found himself in the supply room. Leaning slightly against the wall, the fatigue of the last few days finally catching up to him. He let out a shattered breath and cleared his throat. He spent half of his day tending to the flu patients and the other half operating, there was one arm to amputate, two wounds to stitch up, nothing difficult, definitely nothing that should exhaust him this much. A sight escaped his mouth.
"Doctor Dawkins! We need to talk", Belle waltzed into the room unapologetically, the door slamming behind her. She was a force, stopping right before Jack who was still leaning slightly on the wall. He used his left hand to support himself on the wall and faced her.
He raised his eyebrows, cocking his head just slightly. “To what do I owe the undeniable pleasure?” The smirk on his face was pure performance.
Belle folded her arms, chin lifting. “I just had a very interesting conversation with Sneed.”
“That right?” Jack’s voice was mild, but his shoulders tensed just slightly. “He bore you with another one of his war stories, did he?”
“No,” she snapped. “He was trying to convince me I should take a break from the hospital for a few days. Said it was better for everyone.”
Jack’s smile sharpened at the edges, but he didn’t answer.
He barely looked her in the eyes, acting surprised.
"And?", he asked, implying it was none of his business.
“And,” Belle continued, stepping closer, “I’ve heard it’s your doing.”
Jack pushed off the wall, standing straighter, though there was a slight roughness to the way he cleared his throat.
“Well,” he said, “what you’re implying isn’t quite right.”
Belle’s glare could have cut glass. “Don’t lie to me.”
“Lie?” Jack’s hand swept to his chest in mock offence. “I merely suggested to Sneed that he have a word with your father. To FORCE you to stay out of the hospital for a few days. I’m no fool, Milady — asking you directly would pointless.”
Belle’s mouth opened, then closed, then opened again. “How dare you?”
Jack’s brow arched. “Did you listen to Sneed?”
“No,” Belle admitted through clenched teeth.
“You see? As I said. Pointless,” Jack said, his smirk widening, though the scratch at the back of his throat had him clearing it again.
"I will not be shushed out from the hospital just because you feel like it. I have as much right to be here as you. Even more! My father pays for this hospital!", her voice was raised, her cheeks got more colour and her eyes were fierce.
"Okay, slow down", he had to clear his throat again, this time he put his fist to his mouth so obscure the action. "I can't believe I hate to explain it again", he ran a hand down his face.
"What we have here in the hospital is the flu, and people are dying all around as, and you may not believe this but I have to be here or I lose my job", the exhaustion was clawing up to him and the tickle in his throat was getting more and more irritable. He turned his head to the side and coughed. "But you don't need to be here. You can wait this out in your big-ass fancy house and come back to do some surgeries when it's all over", he continued.
"Well, that's absurd", she summed him up.
"That's practical", Jack countered.
"I will be seeing you tomorrow", she said while already walking to the door, "and don't talk to Sneed about me anymore, he wouldn't be able to convince my father to do anything anyways", she added and slipped through the door leaving Jack alone once again.