Hi, I am trying to post once a week. So all you avid readers please bear with me. Real life does have a mind of its own.
I look forward to all of your comments, enjoy.
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My body protests as I sit up. My shoulder is sore this morning but it is my hip that is the worst. I swing my legs over the edge of the bed and carefully ease my weight onto my feet as I stand up. I take several limping steps along the edge of the bed before I am sure that I can walk out to the lounge room without falling flat on my face. I head out towards the main areas of the building and can't help noticing that the toms have gone quiet at the sounds of my progress.
"Look, its hoppity," Steven says as I reach the lounge room doorway. I grimace at him but make no retort as I pause in the doorway. I eye the empty lounge several moments before starting the marathon to get to where I can sit down.
"Shouldn't you have that arm in a sling," Micah challenges.
"Probably but I am not going all the way back to the bedroom to find one," I say between gritted teeth as I manoeuvre around the end of the lounge until I am in front of it.
"Timny, go get that sling you had when you broke your collarbone," Micah orders. I notice both Timny and Justin leave the room and I turn to ease myself onto the lounge carefully. It is when I am sitting down that I realise I should have sat in the middle of the lounge so I could stretch out in comfort.
"Doc has been here nearly an hour. Once he's checked your stitches and shoulder he'll probably clear you to change so you had better have a feed," Micah tells me firmly.
"Okay," I say without argument although I had warned him the night before that one side effect I suffered from the painkiller was a loss of appetite for nearly twenty-four hours.
Timny returns with the sling and hands it to Micah and I glance at Timny before resting my head back on the lounge. Malcolm passes me a plate of sandwiches and I sit the plate on my lap before picking one up and taking a bite. I allow Micah to put the sling on for me while I eat. I am still eating when Doc comes in and I eye him distrustfully while I finish my food.
"Are you going to let me look at your injuries or are we going to do this the hard way? I'm sure some of the guys here will sit on you if need be," Doc warns me.
"She'll be fine Doc. Rosy and I have an understanding," Micah tells him with a firm look my way.
I hesitate a moment before giving a brief nod and handing Malcolm my empty plate. I hold still as Doc pokes and probes my shoulder bringing several gasps from me before he is satisfied there was no damage to the joint. I pull the edge of my shorts up to expose all of my stitches and I jump with a hiss when Doc goes to touch the upper most end of the wound. Micah catches his hand stopping him.
"Doc, look at exactly where the end of that gash is. Look up an inch higher and remember what she's been through," Micah advises.
Doc suddenly looks up at my face and gives a slight nod. "Rosy, I need to check for signs of infection and one is heat around the wound." His touch is light and brief as he can make it but I can't prevent myself hissing and jerking when he touches me.
"Two full changes and those stitches can come out, but no strenuous exercise until the fourth or fifth change. That means no running. Trotting is okay, no leaping or pouncing either," Doc pronounces.
"No climbing trees, fences or anything either," Micah orders.
"Out of curiosity, am I allowed to twitch my tail or breathe," I ask seriously. "Because those are about the only things that haven't been banned."
"Doc do you know what this is and how it works," Sam asks and I look to see him holding the tool he took from the room the previous night. I grimace and long to hide my head but I know it is no option. Doc takes the tool and studies it carefully before looking at Sam startled.
"They're called emasculators; some farmers use them on male calves. The pinchers here are positioned above the ... testicles, the handles squeezed shut tightly and the blood supply to the isolated parts is cut off and they either fall off after a few days or are cut off immediately. Where did you get them?"
"Holy freaking hell," Steven exclaims and jumps up from where he is squatting watching me; I notice he isn't the only one of the toms to move uneasily.
"Can they be worked one handed," Micah asks in a tight voice.
"I'm not sure ..." Doc says as he experiments with holding the handles in one hand.
"It can be done by an experienced operator but the ... patient would need to be motionless and have the necessary parts ... exposed for access," I say as I lift my chin defiantly.
"You know how to work them," Doc asks with interest temporarily unaware of the tension in the room.
"She called them calf castrators," Micah growls and Doc looks at him with a frown before glancing at me.
"Right before I threatened to use them on him," I say and quickly lower my head submissively.
"She's got a first aid kit that those came out of. Can you have a look through it for anything else that needs to be taken away from her," Micah asks in a hard tone.
"Certainly," Doc agrees readily. I frown as Steven produces my first aid kit from beside one of the chairs and hands it to Doc who places it in one of the seats and begins to go through it carefully.
"It's basically all equipment for treating injuries. Some of it could be used as weapons if nothing else was available but they'd be along the lines of last ditch efforts of defence," Doc says once he has finished checking my briefcase. "Ah ... when she threatened you did you have your pants off and parts dangling in view?"
"No! I was trying to help her," Micah spits out angrily.
"Well you think about where her injury is," Doc says with a laugh. "I doubt you were in any danger other than being bashed over the head with them. So how many of you did it take to hold her down for the stitches or did you knock her out with some of that sedative I left?"
"I held her hand and talked with her while Micah stitched. Once she'd used the anaesthetic on herself she calmed down," Steven informs Doc.
"Well I guess you'll be capable of taking the stitches out. Won't be the first lot you've taken out," Doc says critically as he turns away. "What stray did you get into a fight with Edwin? Those strips across your ribs are going to need several changes."
"And with every change you want to think about your place in the ranks boy," Micah says on a low snarl. I glance between the two of them uneasily before looking towards Sam and Mitchell hopefully. Sam comes over to sit beside me on the lounge and I grin happily when Mitchell joins us.
"Help your sister into one of the rooms so she can change while Doc is still here. I want him to be able to check those stitches," Micah directs his order at Sam or Mitchell and both of them stand and turn to look at me. I sigh and get to my feet with some difficulty. I would prefer to heal a lot more in human form before having to change but apparently I was under orders to change.
"Hold still," Sam orders and I find myself picked up.
"Gee I should have thought about this before I walked out here by myself," I say.
"You don't like your brothers helping you," Doc inquires.
"I don't mind it," I say and grin at Sam who pretends to scowl at me.
"I can handle it from here," he tells Mitchell before carrying me from the room. He puts me on my feet carefully in their bedroom and holds my arm until I gain my balance.
"You should not have threatened Micah last night Rosy. He had every right to punish you for it and still has if he wants to," Sam tells me sternly.
"Can I just change and get it over and done with? I'm really not into pain so I can't see why I have to change so soon," I mumble.
"Because changing speeds up the healing process and will help prevent any permanent injury to your shoulder," Sam informs me.
"It's worse than anyone is saying isn't it, and it'll hurt like hell when I change," I mutter to myself.
"Yeah little sis, we think there's tendon and ligament damage," Sam acknowledges quietly.
"Ok, help me with the shirt then get back," I warn.
When I am naked I sit on the floor with difficulty and manage to balance myself with my hand. I close my eyes and let my head hang for a few moments before taking a deep breath. I try to concentrate the necessity of changing, not the fact that Sam is in the room while I am naked and vulnerable.
I let go of my cat and she surges to the front of my mind eagerly. We scream as the pain lances through our shoulder and hip and then I am standing on all four paws and shaking with weakness before stumbling forward and collapsing.
I can hear a cat whining and wish it would shut up. The same with Sam who is yelling for Doc making my head feel like it is about to explode.
"She's coming around Doc," Mitchell says and I feel him stroking my head and neck. I realise I am a cat as I sit up on my chest and lift my head to look around. Mitchell is sitting by my head and I sniff him before rubbing my head on his thigh. Doc is kneeling on my other side with Sam and Micah behind him and I lay my ears back before getting to my feet slowly. My shoulder feels a lot better but it is my hip that has the deep burning ache that informs me there is a fracture in a bone.
I move to sniff Sam and rub my face against his knee before rubbing my body against Micah's legs. I give Steven the same treatment just outside the door before heading for the lounge room carrying my back leg. I claim one of the few remaining mattresses remaining in the lounge room as mine and stretch out on it rubbing my face on it when I smell Chris's scent on it.
"Rosy, roll over and let me check your stitches," Doc tells me and I lift my head, turn it towards him and hiss menacingly. My cat remembers him drugging us not too long ago.
"Hey Rosy, come over here," Edwin invites and scratches around my ears when I comply. I begin purring as he scratches along my back line but I stop purring and turn my head towards the hallway door as a sound catches my attention. I recognise Mitchell as he walks through the doorway in cat form and I swish my tail as he approaches me.
"Rosy, come and let me check your stitches," Doc says again and Mitchell promptly bites me on the ribs. I hiss at him but hop over to Doc and lay down before rolling over onto my back and letting him check the stitches before rolling back onto my stomach.
"Rosy," Micah warns.
