Chapter 2: S.O.S

        "What do you mean I my need to see a doctor after all? I thought you said it was my choice!" Katherine said worriedly, she was obviously afraid she'd be put in jail for not having ID papers. "That officer gave you quite the beating. I'm not gonna lie to you, it could be worse than I think it is." Trace replied, frowning at the memory of the animal control officer beating Katherine for not having papers. She sighed, gasping in pain as she let out the air from her lungs. "Fine, I'll go, but this better not be a dang trick." She said, her eyes full of suspicion as she allowed Trace to help her stand and support her weight. "You said you were a doctor, can't you look at me?" She asked as they walked, nobody looking twice at Trace and Katherine as they made their way to Sam's clinic. "I probably will be the one to check, but I still need the right equipment to be certain." Trace replied, his voice calm and friendly, but still carrying a hint of worry. She felt a flicker of a grin cross her face as she realized that Trace was going to be taking care of her. She didn't trust him, or any human, but he had been nothing but kind so far, so he couldn't be that bad. They arrived at the clinic and Trace held the door for Katherine, they walked in to Dr. Sam Taraun yelping as a winged hybrid knocked him off his feet. "KISHA! WATCH YOUR WINGS!" He said from the floor. The clinic was busy, as always, but this time it was jam packed. "SORRY!" Kisha whimpered, folding her wings up on her back. "Heya Kish!" Trace said with a smile, the feathered nurse smiled back and said, "How ya doin Dr. Trace?" He replied, "Decent, though Katherine over here needs some immediate attention, you think you can prep the X-ray machine?" "Sure thing." Kisha said, her beautifuly colored wings fluttering slightly, she was part parrot, one of the rarer species of hybrid. "TRACE! Thank God you're here! It seems that every hybrid under the face of heaven needs help today!" Sam said, wrestling with a young wolf hybrid, he was trying to get it to let go of his stethascope. "MARCO! DOWN!" Trace commanded, the young wolf pup obeyed instantly, standing straight up wagging his tail. Marco smiled at Trace, who patted him on the head. "What's going on with her?" Sam asked, pointing to Katherine. Sam was usually friendly but all the fussing he's been doing over the other hybrids had made him slightly grumpy. "I think she's got a couple of messed up ribs, I'm having Kisha prep the X-ray." Trace replied, noticing Katherine wince in pain as she took a breath. "Alright, once you take a look at her could you help me out with Roman? He's complaining about a sore throat again." Sam replied, hurrying off to grab Marco again before the pup could get into anything dangerous. Kisha came back in the room, letting Trace know that the machine was ready. He led Katherine into the X-ray room and let her lay on the table. "Don't worry, we're not gonna lock you in, this thing is gonna scan you to make sure you're not hurt worse than you seem." Trace explained to Katherine as he powered on the machine, this device was far more complicated that the machines were 40 years before, in 2023, now it required special training to operate. Trace started the machine and stepped back slightly, not wanting to interfere with the scan. The machine finished it's job and Trace helped Katherine up off the table. He let her sit in a chair as the machine printed the pictures it had taken. When Trace examined them he nearly fell backwards. She was worse off than he thought. "Katherine, you may wanna see this." He said, showing her the X-rays. "What am I looking at?" She asked nerviously. "This is the inside of your ribcage. Those are your ribs, that's your lungs." He explained, pointing at the page, there was a slightly curved white line, that represented a rib, poking out very close to the grey ovals that represented Katherine's lungs. "Damn. It's that close?" She asked, a look of fear on her face. Trace nodded. "It should be fine if you rest for a couple days, I can bandage you up, but you can't stay out on the streets. I have a spare room, I can set it up for you, or I can find you a hotel or something. It's up to you, but you need a roof over your head and a bed to sleep in, atleast until you're better." Trace explained, setting the X-ray picture down. Katherine looked nervious, she was grateful for Trace's offer, but she didn't trust him, but she couldn't afford a hotel, and there was nowhere else for her to go. She decided to take Trace up on his offer, and stay with him for a couple weeks, atleast until she was healed enough to go back out on her own. "Fine, I'll stay with you, since there's nowhere that will take me, not without ID papers." She said, looking away from Trace's eyes. He began to bandage up her torso with compression bandages to help keep the ribs in place, it was the best he could do without having to do surgery. He and Katherine walked out of the X-ray room and spoke to Kisha, letting her know that Katherine would be staying here until Trace left for home. Kisha smiled at Katherine and began giving her a tour. Trace walked over to Sam, who was examining a Leapord hybrid's paw. "I'm going to check on Roman now." Trace said, putting on his doctor's coat and walking back out of the examination room upon hearing Sam's grunt of approval. He walked over to the hybrid, who looked miserable. "Hey Roman, what's going on?" Trace asked as he led the hybrid to the second examination room. "M-my t-throat h-hurts. B-bad." Roman replied, his voice sounded terrible and Trace could tell that his cold was getting worse. "Alright, let me take a look." Trace replied gently, giving the large Griffin hybrid a gentle smile. "Open wide." Trace said, picking up his penlight and examining the inside of Roman's throat. "Just as I thought." He muttered, turning the light off and looking at a small clipboard that Kisha had brought in. "Your cold is getting a little bit worse, but just take a little more cough syrup and you should feel better, let me know if anything changes in a few days and I can help you from there, I simply don't know enough about your cold to do much right now." Trace said apologetically, upset that he couldn't do anything to ease Roman's obvious pain. As he was giving Roman some stronger cough syrup Katherine walked up, she had another clipboard in hand. "Hey Trace. Dr. Sam wanted me to give you this, it's the lab results on Roman's condition." She said, holding it out. Trace took the clipboard from Katherine with a kind smile and looked at it. "Well this is good news." He said, looking back up at Roman. "This says it's nothing more than a common cold, it may just be reacting to your allergies, take some cough syrup and some of your nasal spray and you should be okay in a few days. Don't forget to eat plenty of soup and stay warm." Trace advised, setting the clipboard down and handing the cough syrup to Roman, who thanked Trace and walked out of the clinic. Katherine joined Trace as he checked on the other patients, when they had a small break Katherine said, "You're good at this. I can see how much you care for the hybrids that come in here." Trace blushed slightly at her compliment and said, "It's nothing really. I just enjoy helping them, they have a place here just as much as us humans do. I'm just doing my part in helping them keep what they rightfully have." Katherine smiled at him, then frowned. "How are you so different from all the other humans? You're so nice to Kadriens, almost every other human I've met has been a jerk." She asked, a look of curiousity on her face. "Well, I'm not like most humans. My parents were part of the Wolfgang, they knew how much we could learn from Kadriens, and their belief that hybrids belong here just as much as humans do...it inspired me." He explained, a hint of sadness in his voice. "The Wolfgang?" Katherine asked, knowing the name. "Those were the people that fought, so that we wouldn't have too, it's those people that made it to where I can be kind to a Kadrien, and not be punished for it." Trace said, smiling at her. She blushed and looked away, just realizing how attractive Trace was. 'Stop thinking like that!' She commanded herself. 'He's a human, you don't like humans.' She thought, barrating herself with the instilled belief that humans couldn't be trusted. Suddenly Sam interrupted their little moment and spoke to Trace. "Sorry that your day off got interrupted, but I'm glad you stayed to help." Sam said, smiling at Trace. "And you." He said, turning to Katherine, "Keep an eye on Trace would ya? He tends to get himself into trouble with the AC officers." He finished with a slight chuckle. "You two take care." Sam said as Trace and Katherine walked out of the clinic waving at him.