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Back at the Brotherhood&039;s private clinic, Xhex stood at John&039;s side while Doc Jane X-rayed his leg Once the pictures were up, it didn&039;t take the good doctor long to come to the conclusion that he had to be operated on-- and even Xhex, in spite of her usual panic at being where she was, could see the problem on the X-ray The bullet was just too close to the bone for comfort

While Jane called for Ehlena and then went to change into scrubs, Xhex crossed her ar

She could not breathe And that had been true even before she&039;d taken a gander at as doing with John&039;s leg

When he whistled softly at her, she just shook her head and kepta circle around the room Turned out the trip by all the stainless-steel cabinets with their glass-front doors and their cagedhelp: Her heart thundered evenso loud her eardru an aerobic workout

God, she&039;d been struggling since thecut open and then sewed back together?

She was going to fucking lose it

Although honestly if she tried to be logical about it, that was nuts One, it wasn&039;t her body getting worked on Two, leaving that slug of lead in hiood idea And three helllllllo he was being treated by someone who&039;d already proven she knew her way around a scalpel

Great rationalizations All of which her adrenal gland ht on

Weren&039;t phobias fun

The second whistle was a de her eyes to his face He was cool and relaxed No hysterics, no freak- out, nothing but cal to be fine, he signed Jane&039;s done this a million times before

Jesus Christ, where the hell was all the air in this roo her, he whistled again and held out his hand with a frown

"John" When no coherent words ca She hated this She truly hated this

As the door side, Doc Jane came back in with Ehlena The tere in the middle of a conversation about the procedure and John whistled at theer to indicate he needed a ain

"Shit," Xhex said, "don&039;t stop theht"

As she headed for the door to call the doctor back in, a thunderous sound reverberated through the roourney, she wheeled around--

No, he&039;d punched the stainless-steel table and left a dent in it

Talk toin until you do

She had the urge to argue and the vocabulary to do it--just not the voice, evidently Try as she did, she couldn&039;t

Which hen he opened his aroing toto so be twenty-one You&039;re not going to believe how tight in the head I&039; to be Really For real"

Co up, she went over and embraced him

Into his neck, she said, "I don&039;t do thiswell In case you haven&039;t noticed before I&039; you down, aren&039;t I"

He caught her before she could pull away Holding her in place with his eyes, he signed, You saved ht now unless you&039;d thrown that blade So you aren&039;t always letting me down--and as for this? I&039;o and wait up at the house It&039;s going to be over quickly Don&039;t torture yourself

"I&039; quickly so she couldn&039;t think too much and neither could he, she took his face in her hands and kissed hiood idea"

After all, she couldn&039;t very well have Doc Jane stop in the middle to treat some pansy bystander with a case of the vapors Or a concussion because the idiot had passed out cold on the floor

Probably for the best, Johnaway, she put one foot after the other to the door and let in Ehlena and Doc Jane As the physician passed, Xhex grabbed the female&039;s arm

"Please" God, what could she say

Doc Jane nodded "I got hi breath and wondered how in the hell she was going to get through the wait out in the hall Knowing the way hersilently in pain and Doc Jane reed by--

"Xhex ?" Doc Jane said

"Hit ht help ether"

Doc Jane shook her head "Why don&039;t you watch"

"What?"

"Stay here and watch what I do and how I do it and learn the whys There are a lot of people who are terrified of ood reason But phobias are phobias, whether it&039;s an airplane or a dentist or a doctor--and exposure therapy works Take thein control? The fear can&039;t get at you in the saic But what happens if I faint"

"You can sit down if you get dizzy and leave whenever you like Ask questions and look over lanced at John, his sole

"Do I need scrubs?" she said in a voice that was utterly foreign

Shit, it was so da at TV ads and doing her nails And getting a frickin&039; pocketbook

"Yup, I&039;reens Follow me"

When they came back five minutes later, Doc Jane took her over to the sink, handed her a sealed pack with a Betadine sponge inside, and showed her how to get properly cleaned

"Good job" The doctor turned off the water by releasing a foot pedal down on the floor "You won&039;t need gloves because you&039;re not going in"

"You got that right Tell o over?"