Doctor, Doctor
by ABs and Donna

Doctor Giles Davies was running flat out down a hospital corridor. It never let up. Day in and day
out. He was getting old before his time.

But he was good at what he did, and people would die if not for him. His bleep had just gone off, and he was heading toward casualty to save someone's life, no doubt. But, amazingly, when he hit the double doors outside the unit, instead of going *in* to a room full of beds and nurses, he found himself *out* side. 

And it wasn't even outside his very urban hospital! He was standing in a dusty, American Wild West town.  "What the hell?" he asked, looking around. In front of him stood a sturdy clapboard structure with the word "Surgery" written over the door. 

He looked around. The street was deserted. Confused and a little winded from his mad dash down the hall, he couldn't help wondering if he had collided with someone or something, and now had a very severe head injury. It would certainly explain the hallucinations. But as he stood there wondering what to do next, the surgery door opened and a pretty young woman dressed in a very old fashioned nurse's uniform stepped out. "Dr. Helm?" she said, looking almost as confused as he
was feeling. 

"Davies. Giles Davies." He looked at himself, still wearing his lab coat. "But you got the profession correct. Where am I?"

"You are in Edan, Doctor," she said, a smile forming on her face. He recognized her accent as being American. Southern most likely, but it seemed to have a touch of the Highland brogue in it as well. "Ah'm Sarah Jo, by the way. Would you like to come in for a cup of tea? Ah fear nearly everyone else is gone right now." 

He nodded. It was dark, and he was getting a little chilled. A cup of tea would feel good about then.
"Where is everyone?" he asked as he came in. "This Dr. Helm for example."

"They all left on a rescue mission of sorts," she explained, taking him inside. "Some women got
kidnaped. Dr. Helm went with them just in case he was needed." She took him into the little sitting area adjoined to a small kitchen. "It will only take a minute, the water is already hot." 

Giles sat down on the sofa, watching the nurse. The outfit was odd. He had only seen ones like it in old movies. She was dressed in a long, calf length blue dress, with a starched bibbed apron over the front of it. A prim little nurse’s cap crowned her carefully braided hair. She looked young, but the spray of freckles across her nose might have helped give that impression. Once the tea was ready, she put it and some scones on a tray and brought it over to him, sitting beside him, her hands now folded quietly on her lap.

"So you've only the one doctor in town?" he asked. He wasn't sure how to get back to his time, and he wanted to be useful.

"Only one," Sarah Jo confirmed. "But we do have a very experienced midwife named Katherine and I have heard there is a healer of some sort out at the fort. I'm sure that we are going to really need your services. More and more people are arriving here on Edan all the time." 

"I don't suppose there is any way back to where I came from?"

A sad smile crossed her face and she shook her head. "I was on the verge of taking my final vows, but now...," she paused. "Oh well, I guess I can get used to being called Nurse instead of Sister." 

Giles smiled. "Well, I'd say that was fortunate, not unlucky. For the males of this place, at any rate."

The compliment made her blush prettily. "Thank you, Doctor," she said softly. "That was nice of you to say."

* * * * 

Alex Taylor was feeling pretty smug. He'd finally passed his medical exams, and he was now officially a doctor. He had the love of a good woman - another doctor named Jessica Hardman. And all his trials and tribulations seemed far behind him. He had worked hard, and had felt for a brief moment as if it had all paid off for him. But then his natural cockiness took over again, and he was joking irreverently with the other med students, and teasing the housemen. However, two of the students, lovers named Ali and Toby, were fighting, and Alex was dragged along into it. Ali ran off to a seedy bar in Manchester, and Alex, who was well off, followed with Toby on his motorcycle.

Outside the pub, Toby got off the cycle and rushed in to find Ali. Alex slowly took off his helmet and looked around. "Ick!" he said. Leaning down, he put his helmet on the cycle and then, standing up again, he had to blink. It wasn't a seedy Manchester pub at all, but a Wild West Saloon! Alex stood in his leather riding jumpsuit, absolutely flabbergasted at the sudden change of scenery. 

A blonde haired man came walking out of the saloon, smiling happily at him. "Hello. My name is Gideon. I heard your motorbike and wanted to see it. Where did it go?" 

Alex wiped around. The bike he had just gotten off of had disappeared without a trace. The young doctor stood there open-mouthed, his world wobbling around him.

The sound of a throat clearing made him turn around again. Standing close behind was a petite woman who studied his face curiously. "I'm Katherine," she said. "And you are?" 

"Alex. Alex Taylor. MD." He said each haltingly, unsure of his surroundings. His normal cockiness was wavering again.

"Ahh, another doctor," she said, a mischievous smile on her face. "This is going to be *very* interesting. Would you like to come with me to the surgery? Dr. Helm happens to be gone right now, but his nurse is there. She can set you up with a room if you like." 

"Where am I? I was with some friends . . . I can't just leave!"

She shrugged. "You are on Edan. And as far as we can tell, it is unfortunately a one-way trip. Or
fortunately in my case. Someone was trying to kill me when I made the jump into this new world." 
"I was about to go into a bar," said Alex. As far as he knew, his life had only just started going well.

She slipped her hand into his and squeezed it reassuringly. "It will be okay," she said gently. "We
can use another Doctor here." 

Looking around, he said, "Yes, I can see that. Back woods of nowhere, isn't it?" But then he softened his tone as he looked at her. "At least the scenery is nice," he added, a pang of pain hitting his heart as he did so. He'd never see Jess again.

She squeezed his hand again, and he shot a quick look at her, suddenly knowing that she had recently lost someone very near and dear to her heart. But how? She hadn't said anything to that effect. "Come," she said. "Gideon, will you tell the others where I am going?" Gideon smiled and told her that he would do that.

Alex nodded, still shaken. He didn't like having the rug pulled out from under him this way. He liked to be in control.

They walked down the road, Katherine still holding his hand. "There is one wee thing I should warn you about," she said. "The doctor we do have looks almost identical to you." 

"Excuse me?" He was beginning to get a headache. "How can that be?"

"I haven't the foggiest," Katherine chuckled. "But if you think its difficult for you, think how it is to
me. Someone very special to me recently... well, he died. There are two people here on Edan wearing his face. One is Gideon, who is special, and the other is Father Alec. A priest of all things!" She sighed and shook her head. 

Alex looked back at Gideon. He wasn't stupid. In fact, in matters of diagnosis, he was pretty damn
quick. There was no way someone like Gideon could be expected to carry on a love affair. It just would not be fair to him. He was a big kid. And the priest?  Well, that was self explanatory. "Maybe you need a change of scenery, then," he flirted.

The tiny woman threw back her head and laughed. "Been there, done that," she giggled. And from the sparkle in her eyes, he knew that she had already been with someone who looked like him. 

"Can't blame a bloke for tryin'. So, where is everyone anyway? This a ghost town?"

"On a rescue mission," she said with a sigh. "We might have need for an extra doctor soon if things go wrong." Walking up to the surgery door, she opened it and called out Sarah Jo's name.

The nurse stuck her head out a door and squealed in surprise. "Merciful heavens! Not another one!" From behind her, Giles looked over her head. 

"Is that Dr Helm?" he asked. Alex nudged the woman aside to get a good look at Giles.

"I was going to ask the same thing!"

There was a little confusion as the two new doctors were introduced to each other. Sarah Jo still looked a little shocked, but Katherine couldn’t help giggling frequently. "Methos is gonna have kittens over this," she chuckled. "I wonder how many more of his look-a-likes are lurking in the woods!"