Starring:
Summary: Infection sets in, and Meryl needs a healer. Evidently, Bekah needs a nickname. Henceforth, she shall be known as Chuckles the Grump.
Date It Happened: 18 JANUARY 2008
Getting Shot Sucks
Company Hospital
After her foray into the wild, which she made in order to alleviate her boredom, Meryl's back in the hospital. Unfortunately, the activity so soon after being shot means that the injury hasn't healed properly, and worse, it's now infected. Meryl would probably be able to heal on her own, but given the current situation within the ranks, it's time to call in the reserves.
Meryl's got a fever, she's pale, she's … asleep, at least. Her system's pumped full of drugs, and she looks surprisingly lifeless. That's a change from the normal, considering it seems sometimes as if she's never tired, as if she never sleeps. In hindsight, she probably shouldn't have gone out on that walk.
She grunts in her sleep, trying to turn over, and opening an eye when she realises that she's tethered in position by thee IV that's stuck in her arm. This just sucks.
—-
Bekah is still dressed in scrubs from work, but hey, that fits in well enough here. After a quick talk with the nurse and borrowing a stethoscope, she makes her way into Meryl's room. She's been summoned, and here she is. "So, I see someone got themselves shot." She comments upon arrival.
—-
Church and Meryl are somewhat similar in their looking forward to staying in a hospital bed- that is to say, not looking forward to it at all. Almost three seconds after Bekah gets to Meryl's room, so does he. Lawrence does catch the idea of what Bekah says, and only when he is leaning in the doorframe does he caution her.
"It wasn't quite like that, you know." His voice is curt, and has a tone reminiscent of the one he uses at the school. Church stays at the door for now, hands searching for his pant pockets under the edge of his dark sportcoat. "Is she awake?" Not that it would mean coherent.
—-
The thing about being shot is, she's not always in the mood for grumpy doctors. She can usually take it in stride, but her temper's wearing really thin. Even so, she manages a smile as she sees the healer. "Hey," is her comment. Meryl starts to lean forward to sit up, but thinks better of it, squeezing her eyes shut as tears work into the corners. Ow.
"It's awful. Terrible. I think I got sh— shot." Trailing off, she allows a long pause before she opens her eyes again. "S'that Lawrie I hear?"
—-
Bekah looks over to Church. "Sort of." She answers after that statement by Meryl. She steps up closer. "Stay still unless I ask you to move please." She pulls her borrowed stethoscope down to listen to Meryl's heart. Yes, it's nice and cold. "You were shot, and the wound has gotten infected." Which is not so fun, since Bekah has no ability to heal infection, only the wound itself.
—-
"'Got themselves' doesn't really apply here…" Meryl didn't deserve to be shot, hence- she did not get herself shot. Now that Church is not a patient right now, he feels as free as a bird when it comes to contradicting Bekah at least a little bit.
"Yeah, Mer, it's me." Instead of that serious tone he had, he speaks to Meryl more softly.
—-
At least Meryl's tough, right? She's not on her way out just yet. She is a little delirious, though, which is what happens when you have a high fever and a wound in your ribcage. As Bekah reaches toward her with the stethoscope, Meryl quickly intercepts her hand. Her own is almost frozen. "You don't owe me anything."
Probably not the best time for apologies, but while Meryl's cognizennt, she's making up for the fact that she kind of forced Bekah into this… And she pushes the doctor's hand away.
The smile returns in earnest as she reaches for Church. "Hey. Thought you wouldn't be by. The sh—shooter sent flowers." She looks toward the yellow marigolds on the stand next to her bed.
—-
Bekah shakes her head. "I'm here now, let me help." She states, trying to brush Meryl's hand aside and listen to her heart anyway. No, she's not really excited to be doing work for the company, but it is an exchange for learning how to use her power better. "Someone shot you and then sent you flowers?" She adds in a 'what the hell' tone of voice.
—-
"Let the doctor doctor." Lawrence practically warns Meryl, by the sound of it. He doesn't like seeing people shot, apparently. He wanders closer to inspect the marigolds on the stand, fingers lifting to examine the card with it. He only glances up at Bekah for now. "It was… a misunderstanding." But not an accident. As if that could explain everything.
Church shifts his head to look down at Meryl with a small smile, taking his eyes from the card. "I've been busy as hell. Queen Bee's got me doing overtime." But he's here now!
—-
After half-heartedly trying to continue to push Bekah's hand away, Meryl listens to Church, gives up and allows her to listen to her heart. Normal sinus rhythm. That's a good sign, at least. "We needed you," she says quietly. The last time she met up with Bekah, things didn't go so well, and Meryl left feeling not-so-great. She's not so dumb that she can't realise where the animosity is coming from.
She takes a few deep breaths to accomodate for Bekah's heart monitoring. "Yeah. We…" Another breath. "…used to be friends." Too bad that Elle had to go shoot her. Meryl's mind isn't usually so focused on revenge, but the drugs are actually slowing her down, allowing her to think about it a littl, and she owes the girl.
—-
Bekah listens quietly to Meryl's heart for a moment before she takes the stethoscope back. "I'm going to have to get a good look at the wound. I need to see how infected it is before I heal it." She's into doctor mode, which is more polite, if nothing else. "My power doesn't work on infection, but I need to see if there's anything to drain out. Hopefully healing the wound will help your body be able to use all it's resources on the infection."
—-
There are already too many past tense words dealing with Elle's relationships. Church is mostly refusing to conform. "I'm sure it wasn't her intention." Well, not in the whole sense. "…Haven't we always been a forgiving bunch?" He mutters this, glancing up at Bekah as she speaks. For now, he turns himself around and wanders to a piece of empty equipment, shoulder and most of his back facing the two women. See? He can stick around and not be completely invasive when it's business-time.
—-
Pulling up thee gown, Meryl indicates the bandage that's wrapped around her. It'll probably just be easier to cut it off. She didn't bring Bekah to the Company for her own use. This feels wrong somehow… A guilty sort of feeling that she normally doesn't feel. She smiles, though. "If you insist. It's kinna cool-lookin'."
Her whole middle is criss-crossed with ragged scarring from the car accident she was in awhile back, but those are long healed over.
"Oh, I'm sure Elle an' I will…" Another long pause as she works at the bandage. "…Patch things up. We gotta argue sometimes, though. Besides, she started it."
—-
Bekah moves off to the drawers along the side of the room. It doesn't take her long to find a pair of gloves and scissors to cut the bandages, even in the unfamiliar room. She moves back to cut off the bandage. "But can't you argue without her shooting you? Seems safer." Bekah states as she pulls on the glove, cutting the bandage away to look at the wound, and the bandage she pulled off. The old scars are noted, but she's more interested in the fresher wound.
—-
Church doesn't answer Meryl that time, choosing to concentrate on the words stamped on the nearest machine. "Speaking of that, Mer- I got you a brick from that seven-eleven." Hahaha. And it didn't even blow up. God only knows where he got it out of.
—-
The shot was clean, and looks like that it was, on one point, on its way to healing. Something aggrivated it, though, and now it's bright red and clearly not doing so well. "I wasn't arguing. She just — " She just shot her. Meryl doesn't quite understand it, though she can accept that they're kind of seeing things from two different viewpoints.
Meryl starts to laugh when Church mentions the brick. But it hurts. So what does he get for his effort? "You asshole. Aah, don't make me laugh."
—-
Bekah touches the wound gently, giving it a good checking out. Yeah, it probably hurts, but it's necessary. "Well, it doesn't look too bad. The bandage is clean of puss." Yes, that's the scientific term. Sure. "I won't need to lance the wound or do any more cleaning, at least." Instead, she'll just lay her hand alongside it, closing her eyes as she focuses on healing the wound. Really, it probably looks pretty cool as the wound closes visibly.
—-
Whoops! "Sorry." Lawrence glances sheepishly over at the dark-haired woman in the bed, and just in time to see Bekah work visible magic on her. Sure, the doctor touched him up a bit during his burn-stint, but this? This is cool, and he can't help but watch the wound slowly close itself up, eyes flickering up to Meryl's face during it.
—-
"Ow. Owowow. Hey." Wrinkling her nose as Bekah touches the hole in her side, Meryl complains, loudly, doing her best not to reach toward Bekah's hand and push it away. She manages. The only annoying thing when the wound starts to heal is… "Wha— what'reyoudoin'? I can't see!" Dammit, this is the cool part! She's seen it now and then, but never on her. "Izzit healin'? is she doin' it, Lawrie?"
—-
Bekah stays quiet as she finishes up healing the wound. It doesn't take all that long. After all, healing a wound all the way is more about power than finess. When it's healed up to just a scar, still red from the infection, she takes her hand away. "All done." And she didn't even pass out, though she does look quite a bit paler than she did when she started.
—-
"Yeah. You've seen this sort of thing before, Mer. Settle down." Stop being curious. Lawrence answers about halfway through. He smiles a little and offers that to Bekah when the doctor takes her hand away. "Good job. You alright?" He does know the signs of power fatigue, all too well.
—-
God, it's like relief. Relief in a box. With extra cheese and mayo and onions. Since Meryl likes food, she tends to think of things in terms of food, and that is the highest honour she can possibly bestow. There's still pain, mostly in the joints and around the bullet entry site, but… "Man. I knew you were awesome when I found you," she says, leaning back in the bed, resting at ease.
After awhile, she opens her eyes again, looking up at Church. "Never gets old, though, does it?" she asks, pale green eyes wandering toward Bekah. She thinks, the gears turning, then… She scoots over in the bed. "You look like you need a nappy."
Then, to Church: "Where's my brick?"
—-
Bekah looks over to Church. "I'm fine." Sure she is. "I'll get something to eat, some coffee in a couple minutes. That'll help." She does raise her eyebrows as Meryl scoots over. "No offense, but there's no way in hell I'm climbing into bed with you." Bekah states as she peels the gloves off her hands. "You'll need to stay on the I.V. for antibiotics for now, but the wound itself is healed." So at least she's can't get a second infection.
—-
Lawrence lets out a chuckle as Meryl scoots over in her bed, careful to listen to Bekah's words. Let's hope Meryl tries to as well. "In your office. I didn't think I should bring it in here. God only knows what it has on it." He lifts his brows and closes his eyes for but a moment, breathing deeper. "And yeah- I don't think these things ever get old." AKA, Bekah will always be awesome.
—-
Meryl gives Bekah a look. "Honestly, I was just trying to be nice." Her system's still full of drugs, so the hurt is actually audible in her voice. Maybe she's not really all that disappointed, and she'll possibly forget about it later, but at the moment, it does sting a little. "Maybe you should try being nice once in awhile, Chuckles."
Her hand rubs over her ribs, feeling nothing but another scar there now, and not near the amount of pain that she felt before. "Well, I bet I'll sleep better tonight, huh?"
—-
Bekah rests a hand on the edge of Meryl's bed looking down at her. "Chuckles? Who the hell is Chuckles?" She asks. No, Meryl is not on her list of people she really likes. Randomness added to kidnapping are not a good combo in her book. Church gets a quick flash of a smile though. "Never does for me either. It's so hard to not be able to use it at work. Except for the whole, I'd be passed out on a daily basis thing."
—-
"I think you're Chuckles." Church answers first. "Pacing yourself is only a good thing, doc." He turns his attention back down to Meryl, one hand lifting out of his pocket and towards the hand of hers still on the bed; if she doesn't move, then he'll at the least put his fingers over the back of her hand.
"You'll definitely sleep better, and hopefully wake up with less of a fever. Just don't wander out again." Pot, kettle, black.
—-
When Church answers, Meryl just smiles and nods. Congrats, Bekah, you and your grumpy-ass have gotten yourselves a nickname. Turning her hand over so she can take Church's, she gives it a squeeze. It's not much of one, because she's tired, but it's there. "The doctors here're takin' care of me," she says. "Soon as they untie me, I'll be escaping again." Holding up her arm, she indicates the IV stuck in it, and taped very securely. Perhaps they suppose if she can't untape it, she can't get away.
After a sigh of relief, Meryl snuggles down into the hospital bed. "Thank you, Bekah," she says.
—-
Bekah looks over to Church. "How do you really pace yourself when there are so many people in need of help though? Maybe it's good I can't." Because below the gruff and sarcasm, she really does care. "Chuckles? Because I'm just so very full of laughs?" She asks with a sarcastic tone looking to the IV. "Listen to the docs. You're welcome for the healing though. Just make sure you don't need me again soon. Getting shot sucks."
—-
"I don't know. But you seem to be doing well so far." Church gives a shrug to Bekah, with the shoulder that is not attached to the hand now holding onto Meryl's. "You better take it easy, even after they untie you. I didn't, and ended up in pain again." Just because it feels like you can do something, does not mean you can. He knows this from numerous experiences!
—-
"Mm. No promises," Meryl says. The smile on her face slowly disappears as she falls asleep. Hopefully, she'll sleep for quite awhile. She needs it. Her fingers go limp in Church's hand, and then she starts snoring. Loudly.