Joseph was still working on figuring things out when Barney arrived. He'd heard about the day at the carnival, and been ready to fire Mrs Sheldon for leaving her post until Allie returned truly none the worse for wear--except for being understandably tired. The only reason he hadn't fired her anyway was because the caregiver she'd claimed was there had come back with the Lachlans, and after speaking to the man Joseph had been satisfied he was what he said he was.
It didn't take all that long, really. The man acted the clown while Allie was there, but fell easily into seriousness, exactly the kind of person to keep up a child's spirits without demeaning their suffering. It was partly because of that man's obvious knowledge and insistence that something had been wrong with the tests that Joseph eventually agreed to redo them.
Now he was wondering if the man, Doctor Raphael Davies he said his name was, didn't have something to do with the odd benefactor the nurses had reported to him that morning. Someone had come to the front desk and paid for all the Lachlan's remaining, and potentially future, hospital fees. He hadn't told Barney because, given Allie's state, it was too little too late and such a well-meaning but futile gesture would have been salt in the wound.
Except.
"Come in," he said, just finishing off a note to himself to have all the machines Allie Lachlan had used in the past year checked, and then rising to guide the man to the chair. He took his own seat back and then ... hesitated. For the first time in twenty years, he hesitated.
"Barney," he said finally, reaching out to pick up the test reports. "These are Allie's latest scans. And these are the ones from the time before. I know you've seen those before, but if you look at the ones from today, you'll see that the damage to her heart isn't quite as extensive ..."
He went over the reports in detail, showing Barney exactly what had changed and watching him closely. The only thing he could possibly imagine was that someone had doctored the reports, but he'd run the tests over. They said the same thing. If that wasn't it then maybe Doctor Davies had been right. They had made a mistake. They'd made a mistake for over a year. Which was equally impossible.
Finally he laid the reports down and smiled and Barney, a weary, bewildered smile who nevertheless knew exactly what he'd just been telling this little girl's father. "She still needs surgery," he said, "but this operation has a very high chance of success. If I had to put money down I'd say Allie will be fine."
Because someone had already paid for the operation her father couldn't afford. Because somehow, they had been wrong and little Allie Lachlan would live.
no subject
It didn't take all that long, really. The man acted the clown while Allie was there, but fell easily into seriousness, exactly the kind of person to keep up a child's spirits without demeaning their suffering. It was partly because of that man's obvious knowledge and insistence that something had been wrong with the tests that Joseph eventually agreed to redo them.
Now he was wondering if the man, Doctor Raphael Davies he said his name was, didn't have something to do with the odd benefactor the nurses had reported to him that morning. Someone had come to the front desk and paid for all the Lachlan's remaining, and potentially future, hospital fees. He hadn't told Barney because, given Allie's state, it was too little too late and such a well-meaning but futile gesture would have been salt in the wound.
Except.
"Come in," he said, just finishing off a note to himself to have all the machines Allie Lachlan had used in the past year checked, and then rising to guide the man to the chair. He took his own seat back and then ... hesitated. For the first time in twenty years, he hesitated.
"Barney," he said finally, reaching out to pick up the test reports. "These are Allie's latest scans. And these are the ones from the time before. I know you've seen those before, but if you look at the ones from today, you'll see that the damage to her heart isn't quite as extensive ..."
He went over the reports in detail, showing Barney exactly what had changed and watching him closely. The only thing he could possibly imagine was that someone had doctored the reports, but he'd run the tests over. They said the same thing. If that wasn't it then maybe Doctor Davies had been right. They had made a mistake. They'd made a mistake for over a year. Which was equally impossible.
Finally he laid the reports down and smiled and Barney, a weary, bewildered smile who nevertheless knew exactly what he'd just been telling this little girl's father. "She still needs surgery," he said, "but this operation has a very high chance of success. If I had to put money down I'd say Allie will be fine."
Because someone had already paid for the operation her father couldn't afford. Because somehow, they had been wrong and little Allie Lachlan would live.