Maybe going to the doctor wasn't a bad idea after all.
"LOOK UP, KIDDO."
Kerry did her best, squinting at Dr. Steve through her half open eye, now puffy with swelling and very tender.
Dr. Steve clucked his tongue. "I don't know what I'm gonna do with you kids. Can't you take up something like bowling? What's all this chop socky stuff, anyway?"
"It's more fun than bowling." Kerry protested faintly. "Honest. I don't usually get my noggin kicked."
She was lying on her back on the examining table, still fully clothed due to the office's chill. Dar was huddled on a stool next to the foot of the table, her arms leaning on the leather as she watched Dr. Steve like a hawk.
"Uh huh. Likely story," the doctor said. "Except I've been patching up old blue eyes down there since she was a tot, and she still doesn't have the sense to take up croquet after all these years." He touched the side of Kerry's face gently. "Well, chipmunk, you've got a real nice bruise there, but it doesn't look like anything's permanently broken."
"Mmph." Kerry grunted in some relief. "My head hurts."
"I'm sure it does." Dr. Steve chuckled. "You were lucky you had you some Styrofoam over your face, or you'd have broken that cute little nose, I'm thinking. As it is, you just need a bag of ice, and some TLC." He turned and looked at Dar. "You'll take care of that, right?"
Dar propped her chin up on her fist, and managed a half grin. "Yeah, I think I can handle that."
"You think?" Kerry nudged her with one knee. "Tell you what, you can walk around with me at work and explain why I look like I had a run in with the ultimate fighting squad tomorrow. Otherwise I'll have to wear a sign around my neck."
"Sugar, if you still got that headache, stay out of that office tomorrow." Dr. Steve advised. "You didn't break anything, but if you hang around in there getting your blood pressure up, it'll just make for a worse bruise." He leaned on the table with both hands and studied Kerry. "Speaking of which, let me get a check on that little old thing."
Kerry tried to relax her body fully as she waited for him to come back with the pressure cuff, not really worried, but not really confident either. She'd been watching herself lately, making sure she lay off the salt, and avoiding too much caffeine, but she wasn't sure the recent aggravation wouldn't show up on Dr. Steve's annoyingly accurate cuff meter.
She'd been borderline on her last examination, much better than before she'd gone on vacation, but still not in a range either the doctor or she felt comfortable with for a normal baseline. Now, after having to go through the stress of the bid, she was sure it was going to be at least as bad.
Hopefully not worse. With a little sigh, she glanced down at Dar. The taller woman was looking back at her with wry sympathy, and they exchanged brief grins.
She felt Dar's fingers curl around her lower leg, and a gentle stroking start up on the inside of her knee. A surprising tension eased from her, and she watched in almost benign regard as the cuff was fitted around her arm and the tension increased.
It tightened further, held, then relaxed after a few seconds. "Very nice." Dr. Steve pronounced. "You've been being a good girl, I see."
Faintly surprised, Kerry managed a nod. "Trying to." She agreed. "Glad it's working."
The doctor patted her shoulder comfortingly. "You keep it up, Kerry. I don't want to have to be your whiny, old doctor too frequently." He turned and glanced at Dar. "Okay, take this little prizefighter home and put her to bed."
Dar unwound her long legs from the stool and stood up, visibly relieved. "Don't worry, I will." She promised. "Anything we can do for that except ice?"
"Nope." Dr. Steve turned and studied the X-ray he had taken of Kerry's skull, reviewing it one last time. He ran a finger over the bony ridge around Kerry's eye and leaned closer. "It's fine, honey. Just a black eye that's gonna drive her nuts for a few days."
Dar sighed.
"I'll live." Kerry sat up and hopped off the table. "Hey, I've never had a black eye before. Have you?" She asked her partner.
"Yes." Both Dar and Dr. Steve answered at once. Dar gave her old family friend a slit eyed look, but then just chuckled and shook her head.
"This scrappy little thing had more fights as a tyke than a Chihuahua in a pack of Dobermans," Dr. Steve said. "Wasn't a week she wasn't in here with something or other--broken arm, broken ankle...cracked skull, you name it. Ran out of lollipops one week when she'd been here three times."
Dar put her hands on her hips. "C'mon. I wasn't that bad."
"Honey, your files are right in there." Dr. Steve pointed. "I don't make this stuff up."
Kerry put her arms around Dar and gave her a hug. "C'mon. You can tell me all about your fearless battles while I put that steak on my eye."
Dar returned the hug, kissing the top of Kerry's head affectionately, then pausing in mild embarrassment as Dr. Steve chuckled and shook his head. After a moment's frown, she shrugged one shoulder and hugged Kerry again, patting her back gently. "How about we get that steak cooked, and use my gel pack instead. It's less messy, and Chino won't be trying to eat it off your face."
"Okay." Kerry agreed. "Whatever you say, babe. You're in charge."
Dr. Steve walked them out to the front room, where the lights were mostly out and the building silent. When they reached the door, Dar clapped her old friend on the arm. "Thanks for meeting us. I appreciate it.?"
"Any time, Dar." The doctor patted her on the back, and carefully ruffled Kerry's hair. "You take care of her, okay?"
"Always." Kerry answered before Dar could. "Thanks, Dr. Steve." She released her partner, and gave their doctor a brief hug. "Take care."
"You too, Kerry." The older man responded, holding the door open for them. "Drive safe, eh?"
"I will." Dar promised, as they walked out into the tropical night, and headed for home.
NOT LONG AFTER, Kerry was laying on their leather couch with the promised gel pack draped over the side of her face as she listened to Dar accept their dinner delivery at the door. Her head was still hurting, but the pain had at least reached a plateau, and the rest of her body was far more comfortable, nestled into the the couch.
She'd never had a black eye before, and from her brief glimpse in the mirror before Dar pointedly steered her toward the couch, she'd certainly started off with a doozy of one. The bruise extended all around her eye and halfway across her cheekbone, and it was a little scary looking.
She wasn't looking forward to explaining it to everyone. It reminded her suddenly of a classmate of hers in college, who'd gotten involved in some chancy business her boyfriend was doing and went crossways of him.
Sarah, her name had been, Kerry recalled. She'd come to class one day with a huge black eye, and explained it away with a laugh, as an accident that occurred when she'd been taking something out of the refrigerator.
No one had believed her. Everyone thought the boyfriend had beaten her up. Kerry sighed, and shrugged a shoulder. At least everyone knew she did martial arts, so it would be more embarrassing than anything else especially since she didn't have a criminally inclined boyfriend.
"All right." Dar settled next to her on the edge of the couch, setting something down on the table. "How's it feeling?"
Just an endearingly overprotective spouse. "Ucky." Kerry responded honestly. "Dar, I look like a poster child for the anti-boxing league." She reached up to touch the ice pack. "Freaky."
"Nah." Dar unwrapped their dinner.
"Yes, I do." Kerry draped one hand over her partner's thigh. "What'd you get?"
"Open up and you'll find out."
Obediently, Kerry opened her mouth and waited, biting down instinctively when something was placed inside it. She chewed and swallowed, then smiled. "Mm. Orange chicken." She was happy to taste a favorite of hers.