It was the morning after a dark, stormy night, and things were blessedly quiet in the New Rydynn Memorial Hospital. CJ Ambers stepped into the lobby, giving up on trying to get her hair into any sort of order. She spotted Kage at the front desk, reading a book on herbal lore. "Got anything for allergies? When spring comes around, something gets in the air, makes me sneeze like a fiend. Annoying."
He nodded. "Found something." With that, he reached into his pack and withdrew a mortar and pestle, along with various plant materials. After mashing it together, he wrapped it up and handed it to CJ. "Boil it into a tea. Inhale the vapors as it's steeping, then drink it when it's done."
"Good deal," she said, slipping the packet into her pocket. As her hand came back out, it was holding a small vial with a clear blue liquid in it. She held it up where Kage could see it. "It's a drug. They're doing it out on the street. Don't know what it's called, but I bought some so I could check it out. Examine it ... not TRY it!" She laughed.
"I can give the lab here a sample, as well." He opened the vial to take a sniff.
"Don't let any of it get on your skin, it can be absorbed that way, too." She continued her explanation. "A friend got it in trade from some gangers. I don't know which gang. It would help if I were more familiar with this city. I'd like to find out who's making it, and who's selling."
"Of course."
CJ turned as she heard Bliss plop down on a chair behind her. She was eating green cubes. "What *is* that stuff?"
"Gelatin," Bliss said after swallowing a few cubes. "My passenger likes it." 'Passenger' was what she always referred to her unborn child as.
After a few minutes of listening to the two women go on about what other foods the baby prefers, Kage said to CJ, "She has many contacts around the city."
"Contacts?" Bliss' curiosity was aroused. "What'cha looking for?"
CJ held up the vial again. "I'm trying to figure out who is making this stuff. It's a drug; and a nasty one, too. Very addictive. I don't know what it's called ... you can shoot it up, or drink it if you're nuts." She paused. "Where should I start looking? Anyone in particular I should talk to?"
"Lower west side, off the Warrens is where a lot of the drug dens are." A small grin appeared. "Be careful; gangs don't take to folks trying to cut off their trade supply."
She grinned back. "So me going down there by myself and announcing that I'm putting a stop to their evil deeds would be bad, huh?" She laughed. "Yeah, I'll be careful. Figure something out."
"If you find the labs, let me know..." Bliss continued. "I've got someone who'll be happy to blow it up for you. And if you want some muscle to travel with you, I've got several candidates for that, too." She grinned. "I'm in a lot of businesses."
"No kidding!" CJ thought it over. "Handy acquaintance to have. And muscle might be valuable, too. I'll let you know." She nodded, and then turned back to Kage. "You weren't kidding about her having contacts."
Kage grinned & nodded, while Bliss explained, "I've been here a while ... I know lots of people from most every side and places in-between."
As the conversation turned to baby names and CJ's biological clock, a sandy-haired man wandered into the lobby, a current patient of the hospital. Capt. Somersbyy's lungs were clear, finally, and could move his arm well enough, although not as well as before. He was itching to get back out into the city, on the trail of the prisoner he had lost. As he stepped off of the final stair, he briefly felt like the last servant of the Messiah on the planet, instead of just the continent.
He nodded at Kage, then turned toward the women. CJ grinned at him while still talking to Bliss; encouraged, he grinned back and walked over to them. Seeing Kage busy with another patient, CJ asked the man, "Can we help you with anything, or are you just passing through?" Her free hand made a vague sweeping gesture around the lobby.
Still grinning, Somersbyy replied, "If you could speed up my discharge ... it would be a miracle. My doctor said three more days. The man has a well formed sense of torture."
"Torture is what we do best. Which doctor?" She looked amused.
"Yes, definitely a witch doctor." He smiled full out, wide and even.
CJ snorted with laughter. "That doesn't narrow it down."
"Oh, terribly sorry. I wasn't trying to be cute." He tilted his head to one side. "Mostly not, that is. A Doctor Holidayy. Being his patient isn't a holiday at all, however."
Bliss chuckled. "He's a sweetheart, but he won't let you out until you're well, that's for sure."
"A sweetheart?" His eyes went wide. "Perhaps to the ladies. He's cruel and inhuumunn ... ah, but it's not civil of me to speak ill of the man when he's not here." He glanced quickly over his shoulder. "He's not, is he?" There were feigned flecks of fear in his eyes.
The teasing continued; as it wound down, Kage asked, "So, *was* there anything you needed?"
"No, no ... only this..." he spread his hands. "To banter with friendly voices is a rich and rare thing. I've been locked up there," he pointed, "... for far too long."
The medic in CJ reasserted itself. "For how long? What was your condition? If you don't mind me asking."
"Not at all." He smiled at her again, lids dropping slightly over his hazel eyes, embarrassed that anyone should be interested in the intimate details of his wounding. "I've been here far longer than any man who expects to leave has a right. Months. I was shot in the shoulder and hand. Suffered through secondary post-op infections and over this last month, I've had pneumonia."
Bliss' dark eyes studied the man, matching up the wounds with the face. He knew Bliss as well; she fit perfectly with the description Martin had supplied.
CJ's eyebrows went up. "Bet you're happy to be up and around."
"Infinitely happy, Miss...?" His eyebrows went up, questioningly.
She shook her head at the title. "Just CJ. CJ Ambers. And you are?"
He offered his hand. "Jake Somerr, Miss Ambers. A pleasure."
She took his hand and shook it firmly. "Jake. Nice to meet you, too. But call me CJ. Really." Her eyes sparkled a bit.
"Does it stand for something?"
"Yes." She smiled. It didn't seem any explanation was forthcoming.
He laughed and leaned against the desk. "A mystery! I like a good mystery. Perhaps I'll need to investigate this one?"
"Better not to know. Trust me."
"I could guess ... Cynthia Janne? Candy Jolenne?"
That got her really cracking up. "No, gods no; not that bad!"
He looked to Bliss in a plea for help. "Have you got any ideas?"
Putting down the empty jello bowl, she gave it a shot. "Caroline Joy?"
Still laughing, CJ said, "This reminds me of some old story." Her brows came together a bit as she thought. "Something about guessing names..."
"A story? What story?" He studied her face as she struggled with the memory. "You *can't* say such a thing and not remember! Then you would be in truth a cruel medic."
"The story ... " CJ continued, "it's about some girl who has to guess this man's name..."
A light went on in his eyes. "I know the one!" Then frustration grabbed him as well, not being able to remember much more of it. "He was a little man ... Small and ugly. Right?"
The three of them continued, eventually coming up with his name, and the threat under which the lady of the tale had to guess ... the loss of her child.
"Strange how so many of these fairy tales are like that, though," CJ said. "Scary. And we read them to kids."
The subject turned Jake pensive. "To keep them in and safe ... a precaution with wisdom at it's root, if folly in it's execution."
"Warn them about the monsters that are really out there." She regarded him thoughtfully.
Bliss said, "Around here, you just have to take them for a stroll down the street. They can see the monsters for themselves."
Jake turned an incredulous gaze to her. "You would do that? Take your sons into the streets and show them the monsters?"
"I don't have to. They've met them." She gave a small shrug. "Oldest was purposely infected with a fatal disease, it killed the rest of his natural family. My middle son was sold by to a cultie by his mother to pay off a debt; the only name she had ever given him was "Runt". And the youngest was sold to a man who brokered children for pedophiles."
The news made his face pale slightly. He didn't wasn't a man with a weak stomach, but he was a man of honor. As CJ's jaw clenched and she looked away, he spoke. "Horrible." His eyes lifted to Bliss'. "And you ... what do you do."
"I'm a trader. I run the school across the street. I'm a medic in training here ... and I'm a very good monster slayer for my boys." She grinned slightly.
"I doubt they could have a better one."
CJ, recovering, grinned at Bliss. "Busy woman."
"Always, but I have other people that work for me, too."
"Speaking of busy..."CJ moved to a chair to retrieve her pack. "My shift starts soon." She smiled at Bliss. "You take care of that passenger. And don't eat all the jello!"
"I won't," Bliss said, rising and heading for the cafeteria once more. "My tummy's not THAT big!"
Jake straightened. "Where does your shift take you, CJ?"
"Tonight? I'm a slave of the ER. Next time I see you, you get three more guesses as to my name."
"I'll do better next time." His eyes glittered and he shook his head as he was effectively teased into seeking her out again, to guess at her name.
"Hope so!" She laughed, and headed down the hall, leaving him to seek further amusement on his own. For now.
