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Tweak says, "Great Scott!"

Wesley Montague (not_romeo) wrote in amortentiarpg,
@ 2008-10-14 16:59:00

Entry tags:

charlotte montgomery, wesley montague

Who: Wesley Montague & Charlotte Montgomery.
When: Tuesday, October 14.
Where: St. Mungo's
What: Wesley needs to get a physical evaluation done for work.
Rating: PG-13+ for language.
Status: Incomplete.

Wesley had been enjoying a much-needed day off (or at least, he thought) when the owl arrived. The Ministry seal on the back had tipped him off that it would be from his job, but it just hadn't occurred to him what kind of letter it would actually be. Wesley shooed the owl from his window and distractedly slit the envelope open with his finger. Probably just some paperwork that Theodore didn't want to finish filling out, or a letter about that stupid blonde trainee, or it could be -- oh. That.

A glance at the clock above the mantle told Wesley that he had better get moving, or he'd be late for his new appointment. 3:00. It was nearly 2:30 now. Wes sighed, tucked the letter into his back pocket, and shuffled around his apartment to find his work robes and badge. This only happened once a year; he was mildly annoyed with himself for forgetting about the whole thing. And such short notice! He made a mental note to chastise the Law Enforcement secretary. What was her name? Selena? Serena?

Once a year, the Ministry made everyone in the field portion of the Magical Law Enforcement squad go to St Mungo's to have an evaluation done. It was the whole she-bang -- physical, psychological, magical, just to make sure that someone in a position that may or may not require them to kill another witch or wizard was completely competent to do so.

A few minutes later, Wesley had thrown his robes on over his generic jeans and a t-shirt wardrobe and stepped boot-clad feet into his fireplace. A dusting of floo powder and the pronounced words, "St. Mungo's" sent him spinning through the network. He stepped out into the lobby of the hospital, brushed off his jacket, and went to the front desk to check himself in. The portly witch behind the counter assured him that a Ministry appointed official would be fetching him soon. Wesley stood in the waiting area.

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painisrelative
2008-10-14 06:29 pm UTC (link)

It took her some good forty minutes to scrub all the goo off, but she finally managed it. Charlotte couldn't help but scowl as she toweled herself dry, making a mental note to cast an Impervius charm on herself next time she had to get close to that boy. It was definitely not a profession for finicky people, that one of hers. Well, at least the thing was not contagious...

Having never been gifted with too much patience, she made quick work of dressing and was ready to go in no time, in fresh Healer robes and her hair tied up in a lazy ponytail. After shutting her locker, she made her way out of the staff area, relishing the sensation of being completely clean for once. Which would probably only last until her next patient - but that was pretty all right, too. For the first time in what seemed like a very long time, Charlotte was in a good mood. She had recovered remarkably fast from the inconvenience of the slime-spitting teenager and, presently, she was quite positive nothing in the world would be able to set her off.

But, of course, she couldn't have been more wrong.

She had barely stepped back onto the fourth floor when a clipboard was shoved into her hands by the sour-looking Healer-in-charge, with the announcement that one of the other Healers had to leave early and Charlotte had been appointed to fill in for the absentee. Meeting the older woman's gaze mildly, the young Healer gave her a short, compliant nod and accepted the paper quietly. The Ministry insignia on the top left of the page told her at once all that she needed to know - it was yet another routine checkup. They were getting a lot of those lately. Well, that would certainly be no problem - it was slightly boring work, but perfectly manageable.

Without wasting time, Charlotte started negotiating the stairs down to the ground floor as her eyes scanned the rest of the document. There was a lot of irrelevant information on the first page, then relevant information she already knew on the second one, and by the time she reached the third page, where the actually important part was - the information about the patient himself, she was already in the reception area.

And she really, really wished she wasn't.

For a moment, Charlotte felt an urge to turn around and just find her way back without even looking up from the clipboard. But she didn't - in the end, her pride spoke louder and she somehow managed to tear her eyes from the paper and lift her gaze. And, surely enough, it couldn't have been more disconcerting - Wesley was standing right in front of her. Willing herself to breathe, Charlotte straightened her back and tried her best to ignore her scandalous heartbeats and appear unconcerned - which, of course, didn't quite work. She had probably never looked so uneasy in her entire life.

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not_romeo
2008-10-14 07:15 pm UTC (link)

Only a minute or two had passed and already Wesley was growing impatient. He wasn't sure who exactly was going to come in and start poking his body and his brain, but he sincerely wished they would hurry the hell up and get on with it. Waiting was something that drove Wes crazy, something he had to put up with a lot from his little sister and now his -- he nearly scoffed out loud -- trainee. Sure, the Healer was only a minute or two late to fetch him from the waiting room, but Wesley had been very stressed out lately and the additional minutes felt like hours to him. He really wanted to be getting back to his flat and his liquor cabinet. No bars for the ex-Slytherin. He wanted to brood alone tonight. There was really no sense going out to drink if you were going to be verbally accosted by drunk women. The corner of Wesley's mouth ticked up slightly as he thought about Theodore's earlier comment to him. No, Nott didn't have to worry about Wesley turning into a fairy on him. Wes was far from gay; it was just that three months was hardly enough time to get over a five year relationship. Especially when it ended as abruptly and unsettled as his had.

Wesley shook his head, trying to clear the cobwebs and thoughts from sinking down on him. The last thing he needed was to go into psychological testing thinking about Charlotte. His face twisted into a frown as he thought about what the results might say then. He tapped one boot against the ground impatiently and was actually about to go to the desk and complain when he heard the sound of soft footsteps come up behind him. Wesley spun around, ready to make a smart comment, but whatever words he had planned to say died on his lips when he saw who was standing there.

Charlotte.

It was fitting that she looked just as uneasy as he felt inside. Wesley was a hell of a lot better at keeping his emotions from showing on his face than most women were. Occasionally he wondered if this was a bad thing. Sure, it was great in a poker game, but he wasn't the best at verbally expressing his feelings either. Maybe sometimes it was hard for other people to really know what he was trying to say. Wesley gritted his teeth.

"Are you -- you're not?" He could barely form a coherent sentence, but surely she would understand. Well, if she was supposed to be his Healer, she would know exactly what his problem was. If she was just passing by, he was going to come off as a fool. Again.

Wesley crossed his arms over his chest and shot an angry glare at the receptionist, who just looked confused for a second before returning to her stack of papers.

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painisrelative
2008-10-14 08:16 pm UTC (link)

Charlotte hesitated for a moment. She really didn't have to do that. She could just lie, turn around, make up some random excuse and try to find someone else to do the job. Never mind she was a ludicrously incompetent liar and Wesley would probably have seen right through it before she even spoke - at that point, it didn't matter, did it? Who cared about looking like a coward? Who cared about giving away that she had not been over it - not even close? Turning it down the sensible thing to do, period. There was absolutely no way that was going to work, no way she would be able to make an impartial evaluation and...

But before her mind could complete the thought, it was already too late - Charlotte suddenly realized, appalled, that had already nodded. Brilliant. Now she would just have to go with it.

"Well, I'm the Healer in charge today," she replied as evenly as she could, but her voice sounded strange to her own ears, as though coming from someone else. "But, of course, you can always try to reschedule your evaluation for another day." Wait... had she just sounded defiant? Hell. Now that had come out completely wrong! It was meant to sound as a suggestion - or, actually, to sound like the only plausible option, not as a challenge. What on earth was wrong with her?!

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not_romeo
2008-10-14 10:06 pm UTC (link)

The muscle in the left side of Wesley's mouth twitched slightly as he began to grind his teeth together. Her curt little nod, accompanied by the whole healer in charge bit made him angrier than he rightly should have been. There was no logical reason to be getting angry with her for doing her job; after all, wasn't that just what he was doing? Setting his jaw in a firm line, Wes was able to relax his teeth to the point where he could actually speak again. But .. there was really nothing to say. He stared at his ex for a moment, his eyes lingering over the familiar contours of her face. He was starting to think his boss really was screwing around with him. There was almost no other explanation for the turn of events these days.

Hearing Charlotte's last statement, Wesley dropped his arms to the side and took a defiant step forward. "I'm a busy man, Ms. Montgomery. I don't have time to play scheduling games because you can't handle a simple examination." He really sounded much more solid than he felt. Had he really just said her last name that way? It nearly killed him inside to think that he had been planning on asking her to change it. He'd never mentioned it, of course, but their last names had the same first four letters, like she was already halfway there. That was stupid! Why was he thinking about that now? As if there were times when he wasn't.

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painisrelative
2008-10-14 11:58 pm UTC (link)

Truth be told - having known Wesley for years, Charlotte had been half expecting a cross response like that. What she had not been expecting, however, was the effect it actually had on her. Somewhere inside her, something had been ruthlessly stomped on and shattered into a thousand pieces. Again. Yes, the worst part was that it was not happening for the first time. But, just then, Charlotte decided that the present one would be the last. Wesley had absolutely no right to keep hurting her like that, indefinitely - and, most importantly, it was ridiculous of her to allow herself to break down that way at his words alone. Enough was enough. Before the ex-Gryffindor knew it, her awkwardness had nearly completely vanished to give way to anger. Raising an incredulous eyebrow, she glared into Wesley quietly for long enough to make a point, daring him to try to be impertinent again. If her previous defiant tone had been completely accidental, the one that molded her next words was, reversely, most definitely very intentional.

"Fair enough," she countered curtly at last, tapping her quill once on the clipboard in her hands - and considering the force she incidentally put into it, it was actually surprising the quill didn't crack. "Follow me."

Without waiting for a reply, the Healer turned on her heel and started making her way toward the examination rooms, jaw set. If he wanted to play rough, she could most certainly oblige him. Cheeky bastard.

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not_romeo
2008-10-15 10:50 pm UTC (link)

Wesley really had no choice at this point but to follow Charlotte. He caught up to her easily -- one of his strides matched two of hers. His arms remained clamped over his chest as if they could offer some kind of protection to his heart, which was beating much too frantically for someone who supposedly didn't care anymore. He almost wished he had taken her out, had opted to make the appointment for another time. It really wouldn't have been too much his fault. The memo had come late, so it wasn't as if it wouldn't have been plausible for him to have a previous engagement. So much for being a busy man.

Wesley slumped into the room behind his ex with a surly look coating his face. He shut the door behind him and leaned against one of the walls, his arms still crossed.

"Go ahead and do whatever wand-waving tests you need to do, right?" He was going to leave it at that, but something got the better of him. "I think we can skip the physical examination this time. We both know I'm in excellent health."

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painisrelative
2008-10-16 12:58 am UTC (link)

For a moment, Charlotte thought of responding that with a snarky comment on how, apparently, she was not the one proving herself unable to handle 'a simple examination', as he had so eloquently suggested a minute before. But fact was that she was actually very tempted to agree. The mere idea of having to touch him felt highly distressing to her indeed. Unfortunately, however, there was really no option there. If she was going to do that (and she still thought it was a completely insane idea at any rate, but there they were), then she needed to act as professional as she possibly could - lest she would short-circuit her brain. Making exceptions would only add to the feeling familiarity... or wouldn't it? In fact, she was not sure of bloody anything. As her surge of anger faded somewhat, she started to panic again.

Drawing a deep, steadying breath (yet another), Charlotte left the clipboard on a wooden desk by the door and turned to face her ex, forcing herself to meet his gaze despite the strong impulse to avoid doing do.

"I'm sorry," she said honestly, "but I have a routine to follow. I can't sign that-" she indicated the Ministry papers, "without the physical exam." The Healer tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear, looking uncomfortable, and averted her eyes. "It'll be fast," she assured, and it was clear that she was speaking not only to him, but also to herself. Yes, technically, it would be fast. But she was pretty certain it would feel like hours. Charlotte folded her arms protectively over her chest as well.

"All right," she sighed, still not quite looking at him. "Please take off your robes and your wand and lie down." She motioned to the exam table. "You can leave the wand within your reach," she added, hoping to stifle the protest that would probably follow. "But I need it off your body."

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