Double Daddy Trouble

“Mrs. Prescott is already here,” he said handing me over the file. “I thought she would be a nice first patient for you.”

I opened the folder and skipped through the content. I knew the name well. She was my first-grade teacher in fact. In this small town, I didn’t think there were very many people I didn’t know.

Aside from the usual people in town we also got the occasional college student from the state university twenty minutes away. I smiled to myself a bit as I thought about that. After six years in the navy, I had more experience with drunken kids than old ladies struggling with arthritis.

Father and I didn’t really speak much. It wasn’t something new, its how it always was between us. Mom was the one which I opened up to, and then Mrs. J after her. So with the file in hand, I merely nodded and left the room.

"Good morning Mrs. Prescott. How are you doing today?” I said as I entered room number one.

“Hawk? Is that you? Your father told me you were back in town. Look at you all grown up,” she said with surprise in her gentle brown eyes.

“Yep, just got back about a month ago,” I said sitting down to take her blood pressure.

“And you are taking over your father’s practice now?” She asked conversationally.

“Yeah, figured the old man could use a break,” I said as I got out my stethoscope and listened to her heart.

“That’s a good boy. I always knew you were going to make something of yourself. Look at you now all grown up and a doctor.”

“What gave it away? The way I ate my glue in the first grade?” I said full of sarcasm.

“No you generally did that about the same way as all the other kids,” she retorted with more smile wrinkles on her face then I remember. “It was the way you were always willing to help others. You had such a caring heart.”

I gave a lop-sided smile at her words.

The day continued on much as the first appointment. A lot of people with minimal issues, as I expected, and all wanting to take a trip down memory lane with me. It was busy at least, being a Friday, and I was thankful for that.

By midmorning I was really getting into my groove of things, and it was looking hopeful that I could at least make my work life function smoothly. Working hard and efficiently was something I was trained well to do.

Dad and I for the most part just rotated every other patient that came into the office. It was a nice rhythm and seeing him at work gave me confidence that he wasn’t as deteriorated as I worried he was.

“Hawk,” he said handing me over a file, “you take this one. I am going to take lunch now.”

I looked down at the file. It was a little girl named Emma Jones. I scanned over it quickly. She wasn’t more than five, and it looked like she had been seen here her whole life. Dad was even the one to deliver her.

I couldn’t help but get a ping at the last name. It brought back a flood of memories of a life I had before the SEALs. It was a common enough name, however, and the likelihood of it meaning anything was minimal.

I walked through the door to greet the new patient, and my heart hit the floor. Sitting on the papered table was a little girl and standing next to her with her back to me was a woman I never imagined seeing again. She didn’t have to turn; I knew in an instant who she was.

Two

I heard a throat clear, and I turned around to greet Dr. Smith. I froze in that instant. I couldn’t believe who I saw standing before me. In an instant, I was gripped with fear.

“Hawk?” I stammered out.

He had changed quite a bit since I last saw him, but in a lot of ways, he was still the same. His black hair was longer now, and he sported a close-cut beard. As I looked up and down the white-coated body, I noticed though it was the same frame it was also much more defined with muscles almost bursting to get out of the confines of his clothes. His penetrating green eyes were still the same however though now set in skin bronzed by time in the sun.

I shook my head remember where I was and who I was with.

“I didn’t know you were back.”

“Well, I am,” he said taking a seat on the doctor's stool and wheeling up to Emma.

I immediately stood between him and her.

“We came to see Dr. Smith.”

“Well I am Dr. Smith,” he said looking up at me as I blocked his way.