Chapter Text
The surgical theatre was beginning to bustle as men filed in, eager to witness the latest medical performance. The wooden benches creaked beneath the weight of their anticipation, the worn floor sticky with the remnants of old blood and spilled laudanum. The sour tang of carbolic wafted through the humid air, unable to mask the sharper odors of sweat and fear. Emma’s ears caught the shuffling of boots, low murmurs, and, above it all, the unmistakable anticipation that swelled before every procedure. It still seemed strange to Emma that surgery—even in the best of London, let alone in a remote penal colony where, in the 1850s, it was hardly more than butchery at times—was considered a form of entertainment. But for many in the crowd, there were few public spectacles, and the theater offered a blend of science, sensation, and the rare possibility of witnessing a medical miracle. Emma sometimes missed the calm of other jobs she had held, but there was a thrill to this life, too, a nervous energy she could never entirely shake.
“Fairly full theatre today,” Emma commented to Hetty, who was gathering supplies, on a try to bring into the room for whichever doctor won the coin toss.
“Amputations tend to draw a crowd,” Hetty said, shaking her head, not fully understanding it but accepting it was how it was. Dr. Sneed walked into the supply room, greeting the two nurses briefly and formally. He looked into the surgery theater through the window, seeing the crowd and the patient now on the table.
“Nurse James, I know your husband is on his house call rounds. Is your brother also indisposed?” There was an air of arrogance from Dr. Sneed, who clearly didn’t expect Jack to show up in time and felt he had already won the surgery.
“Where might that brother of yours be? I thought I’d have to beat him in a coin toss for this one.” It was a snarky comment, and Emma knew that the answer was in a game of cards, not that she would admit it. Before Emma could make a snarky comeback to match his, Jack Dawkins burst through the door. Sneed’s smirk fell, and he gave a small groan at his “fortune” having turned.
“Hello Emma,” Jack smiled at his sister, then smirked at the other doctor, “Sneed. Ready to prepare for surgery?”
“It’s an amputation of the leg,” Emma said of the patient, “and wipe your nose, Jack, you have blood on it.”
“Ah, yeah, nothing to worry about,” he said as he wiped the blood, and Emma gave a mild snort at her own disagreement with it. The three of them walked out to join Hetty in the main room. Jack put on his usual show for the audience, introducing himself and Sneed before the coin toss.
“Heads. That would be me!” he said cheerfully. “Gentlemen, it seems that Doctor Sneed here doesn’t believe I’m up to the task of beating his record of 45 seconds. Shall I bet a pound on it?” The crowd cheered while Emma and Hetty glanced at each other, sharing a knowing look of the two doctors’ usual antics. Jack then turned to the patient, telling him it would be the most painful 30 seconds of his life, but it would be alright, and to think of a happy memory instead. Hetty gave the man a stick to bite on before holding his shoulders. Emma took the opposite of her brother to hand him the instruments he needed, while Sneed would hold the man’s leg still.
“Time me,” Jack said, and Tim started the watch. The room was fully a buzz with the crowd’s roaring, the patient’s moaning, and the flurry of movement from Jack making the amputation. The leg now off and tied up, the watch stopped.
“28 seconds!” Tim announced, causing a cheer to roll through the crowd. Sneed flipped a coin to Jack, looking rather annoyed. As Jack looked through the hat that held his earnings, Emma and Hetty began to clean up the patient and the surgery. Glancing over Emma, she could see her brother seemed a little off, worried with a tenseness to him she didn’t usually see. She caught him looking thoughtfully at his hand, which was still covered in blood. With a shake of his head, Jack went to the storeroom again to wash the blood on his hands. Tim came over and helped Hetty and Emma place the patient on a rolling table to be brought to bed.
“I got this. You check on him,” Hetty said, nodding towards Jack, clearly having also noticed his behavior.
“Thank you, Hetty,” Emma said quietly before walking over to her brother. He stood over the basin, seemingly deep in thought.
“Mind if I wash my hands, or are you going to stare at the water till it gives you answers?” Jack glanced over at her, then moved aside. “You know, I noticed you seemed tense after the surgery. Seems like it should be the other way around.” Emma continued washing and then drying her hands on a towel.
“It’s nothing.” Jack denied it, but Emma, despite only actually knowing him for five years and with a lifetime of memories, could see he was clearly hiding something.
“Where were you this morning? Before you came in.” Emma questioned, folding her arms and giving him an intense look that told him he wasn’t getting out of this.
“I was out.” He leaned against the work table in the center of the room, similarly folding his arms. “Going for a walk.” He finished
“Oh, please, you expect me to believe you were just out for a walk, then came running in here because what? You struck up a conversation? Saw an interesting plant?” Emma scoffed
“I talk to people and look at interesting plants!” Jack protested.
“Fine. Alright. But not so much that you lose track of time. So, you must’ve been playing cards.”
“Well, I have to make money somehow. Got barely anything from the last few surgeries I did.” He stared at his sister for a long pause, a mix of helplessness and frustration. “You, Daniel, and I can’t all live off your wages and the meager coin tossed our way.” Emma frowned; she knew that. Six shillings a week wasn’t enough for them to make a living on.
“I know, Jack. It’s just I worry because you don’t always know when to stop.” Sighing, Emma unfolded her arms, heading towards the door, only pausing for a moment to touch Jack’s arm, giving a comforting squeeze, then heading towards the ward to attend to the patients.
The ship carrying more prisoners arrived on the morning tide. The three doctors of Port Victory were assessing the health of the new arrivals and making their placement. Jack and Daniel tried their best to give the ones with petty crimes better placements, which was certainly not Gaines’ goal, as he picked out men for the chain gang. Daniel was assessing a young man who had done some thieving before getting caught and sent to the colony. He could see himself in the boy, with his new memories; the best he could do was to have him work the fields. At least he’d be off the chain gang, and he knew that was something given Gaines’ propensity towards cruelty. Glancing to his left, he saw his brother-in-law and friend talking to a man whose face he couldn’t quite see, but it didn’t matter because almost immediately Jack hauled him away. It was more aggressive than if the prisoner was just possibly infected; there was no time to linger on it, and he and Sneed continued on getting through the remaining line. Once finished, Sneed was quick to go back inside. Daniel took his time getting his papers and saw that Tim and Aputi took the small tables they used for these, for lack of a better word, clinics, to see if Jack and the man would turn up. They did, much to Daniel’s surprise; he knew the man, too, from his memories. Instantly, he frowned at the man, anger and disbelief rising within him.
“Fagin?” Daniel questioned as the two men came near the hospital steps.
“’Ello, my boy. You’re looking well.” Fagin greeted
“Oh, piss off.” Daniel said before turning to Jack, “The hell is he doing here? And alive?” Jack sighed and face scrunched up in distaste at the situation.
“Apparently, he isn’t dead, and London finally caught up with him. I’ve made him my convict servant so we can keep an eye on him.” Jack glanced between the two.
“Emy is going to hate this,” Daniel commented, shaking his head.
Emma couldn’t believe her eyes as she came down the hallway at the same time as Daniel, Jack, and Fagin were walking in through the door of the hospital.
“Jack Dawkins, what have you done now?” she said in alarm.
“Why do you assume it was just me?” Jack protested, gesturing to Daniel in disbelief.
“Because Daniel wouldn’t piss me off this badly.” Emma gripped her clipboard, staring daggers at them.
“Good to see you, Pip. My, you’ve grown up well, haven’t you?” Fagin says as if he were a family member who was just in for a visit after many years.
“I won’t be speaking to you,” Emma retorts before turning to her brother again. “Jack, might you explain what’s going on?”
“Uh, yes, I will, but why don’t we take this upstairs so we can have a private family conversation?” He says, noticing a few nurses pretending to be busy to listen in.
“Fine. Family meeting.” With that, she turned on her heel and marched upstairs, leaving the men with no choice but to follow her for fear she’d drag them behind her should they not follow.
Once in the room, Jack handed Fagin the clothes he was holding, and Fagin put the doctor’s bag down.
“Here, a change of clothes.”
“Bit wiffy,” the three younger people in the room only glared at him. “Right, yes, they’re very nice.” Emma had her arms crossed and looked expectantly between Jack and Fagin.
“So, where did you wash up? We thought you were dead. 15 years dead, mind you, how did you end up here?” She questioned Fagin, her voice tense with disbelief. Even as she spoke, Emma couldn't block out the memory of that last night in the old tenement, when she and Jack had been left hunched together under threadbare blankets after Fagin slipped away into the dark, promising he would be back with bread and coins. He never returned. The echo of Jack’s small, furious voice—He’ll come back, you’ll see—still haunted her. Now, seeing the man alive in front of her, a flood of mixed relief and anger surged anew.
“Oh, I thought you weren’t going to talk to me.”
“Well, I need answers, and while we’re at it, why did you abandon us? Huh?”
“I was trying to help you two.”
“Oh, it was to help! That’s why you were doing it? Well then, that changes everything, yes, all is forgiven.” Emma said her voice dripping with sarcasm that was missed by Fagin
“Right, see now it’s all better. Cleared the air now, why do you give your old dad a hug?”
“You’re not my dad, and it’s not all better! Why did you come, and how did you even find us?”
“He came on a convict ship, Emy. He’s my convict servant now.” Jack answered calmly and steadily.
“Your convict servant?! Jack, are you mad?”
“You know why I had to. To protect our reputation here, he would spill it all, and we need a cover.” Emma huffed; she did know, but didn’t have to like it. Turning to Daniel, who had remained quiet but close to his wife as support.
“You deal with these two and get things sorted for now. I’m going downstairs to attend to the patients.” With that, Emma walked out of the room, getting away from her family for a much-needed breath.