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Robert Drayton. ([info]stringthetrail) wrote in [info]bellumlogs,
@ 2010-02-21 16:18:00

Previous Entry  Add to memories!  Tell a Friend!  Next Entry
Entry tags:dr. watson, gingerbread man

Who: Robert Drayton and Micah Braden.
What: In trying to recall his memories, he's forced to make an ally.
Where: On the second floor. They're neighbors after all.
When: [tbd]
Warnings: At worst, swearing.
Notes:


Having spent a few days holing himself up in what supposedly was his room, Robert wasn't making any progress in trying to recover his lost memory. Calling his family was fruitless and disturbing. He was displeased at his mother's attempts to swindle him out of more money and refused to make contact with his stepfather, even at his mother's request. That was one venue tht he couldn't venture down under no matter what was told to him. He couldn't pretend to be glad of that connection nor his mom's sordid attempts to get the two to act like a family.

He tried, but couldn't find any sort of moment or figure in his apartment that triggered any memory, and after confirming it was indeed about two months of his life he lost for some reason, he opted moving his way to the outside. Scary, yes, but he ventured on, moving quietly and slowly. It was his attempts to see if though he couldn't bring a memory back by just waiting, then perhaps he could try with physically checking out the building. Provided no one was around of course. Currently, he was running a hand over the buttons of the elevator on the second floor, trying in vain hope to gain any sort of trigger. Alas, he had yet to find one.


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[info]acatalyst
2010-02-22 01:33 am UTC (link)
Micah was on his way to work, as evidenced by the blue scrubs he was wearing with a gray thermal shirt and a long-sleeved white shirt beneath. He'd topped it all off with a gray knit cap. It was still cold, despite what the weather bureau said, and he'd spent at least five minutes chastising the weatherman in Spanish this morning.

His nametag was clipped at his hip, Micah B., and it clearly announced that he worked for the County Coroner's Office.

He had meant to take the stairs, but when he saw the strange man petting the elevator buttons, he stopped. It wasn't much of a mystery, he supposed, but sometimes you have to start small. Plus, he'd given himself plenty of spare time to get to work.

He was 6'3, and in as many layers as he was wearing, he looked broader than he was (though he wasn't dainty by any stretch of the imagination), and he walked up behind the man on whisper-silent Crocs.

"That might be illegal. Did you ask the buttons if they were interested in you first?"

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[info]stringthetrail
2010-02-22 04:26 am UTC (link)
Robert should have expected that someone would have shown up at all. Yet it still raised the little hair on his arms when he suddenly heard the deep male voice behind him and he twitched almost imperceptibly before turning around to face the guy. He wasn't put at ease by his uniform nor by the attempt at friendliness. Being the shorter of the two gave him a nervous feeling as well.

"I'm sorry," he said reflexively before realizing he said anything in return. He wasn't sure what to say next that wouldn't make him sound crazy but then he noticed the scrubs and badge. He still needed information on 807, maybe this was his way in? Not that he was skilled enough to really know how... "Are you new?" he asked hopefully.

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[info]acatalyst
2010-02-22 04:32 am UTC (link)
"That makes us all sound like patients in the asylum," Micah said with an easy smile, pushing the first floor button on the elevator. "I just moved into 206," he answered a moment later, motioning down the hall.

The man was clearly preoccupied, but that wasn't strange, not in and of itself. Petting the elevator buttons, now that was strange.

"You don't need to apologize to me. The buttons, now they may have a different thought on the matter." A pause. "What were you doing, anyway?" he asked harmlessly - an afterthought.

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[info]stringthetrail
2010-02-22 05:15 am UTC (link)
More or less. Robert looked more or less uncomfortable though he didn't mean to. Ignoring the buttons joke, he pressed on. He saw no reason to trust most of the others in the building but doctors, well. They always fixed him up at his most broken, so that had to mean something, right? "Nothing but can I ask you a medical related question?"

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[info]acatalyst
2010-02-22 05:42 am UTC (link)
Micah stepped into the elevator when the doors open, and he placed a steady hand on the door to keep it from closing as he waited for Robert to step inside. Though, he wasn't sure the other man's uncomfortableness would allow it, honestly.

"You can ask, but I'm not licensed. Fair warning."

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[info]stringthetrail
2010-02-22 05:58 am UTC (link)
Oh, he did not want at all to go in the elevator but seeing as he had nothing better to do, he needed his answer questioned and the man was going in, he tentatively stepped in anyways. Though why he didn't care for the lift was a question he'd ask himself later.

"What do you know about memory loss, the kind not caused by a hit on the head?" Right, that sounded normal and not crazy.

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[info]acatalyst
2010-02-22 06:46 am UTC (link)
The question surprised him, and it showed very clearly on his face. "Could be early onset dementia, though you're a little too young to be in the prime age range. Chances are that it's a blocked carotid artery, which is more common. It could even be something ischemic- lack of oxygen for a period of time due to chemicals or even apnea." He looked at the man across from him as the elevator began to lower. "You should get an MRI - not a CAT Scan, those don't pick up ischemic or dementia related changes to the brain."

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[info]stringthetrail
2010-02-22 07:09 am UTC (link)
The look on Robert's face was the same as if Micah had shot him with a confusion raygun. He blinked for a few moments before attempting a response. "I don't know what any of that is," he admitted, scratching his head and feeling a bit stupid.

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[info]acatalyst
2010-02-22 07:18 am UTC (link)
"Do you have health insurance? You need to get a referral to a good neurologist. If you don't have health insurance, you go into the ER and you tell them you're forgetting things. If you can lie and say you've been having chest pains, they'll get you in faster," Micah said, holding the door open again when the elevator opened.

"I can walk with you to the hospital, if you want to go? It's on the way," he said, watching the man with concern. He looked healthy, but he did look confused and disoriented. Maybe it was early-onset dementia after all.

"My name is Micah," he said slowly, enunciating. "What's your name?"

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[info]stringthetrail
2010-02-22 09:19 am UTC (link)
Nodding, he followed the not-doctor out of the elevator and through the lobby, keeping two steps behind. "Don't know." He could probably look that up, but considering he moved, it was doubtful the papers he had in order were the same ones now.

"I guess, yeah." It probably would have been easier had he any idea what exactly was going on in his own brain. He had prior head injuries of course, maybe that's what this was. He kept that part quiet though, for now.

"Robert. I've been living here two months now." Apparently.

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[info]acatalyst
2010-02-22 03:53 pm UTC (link)
Micah watched the man, waited while he fell into step beside him. The air outside was briskly cold, and he cursed the weather as he always did when stepping outside in this city. The messenger bag at his thigh was heavy with books, though, and he knew the walk with the added weight would warm him up in no time.

"What have you forgotten, Robert?" he asked, because if the man remembered anything before the two months, it pointed toward a short term memory loss. It would also discount the carotid as a possible culprit. "Do you remember things in the morning, but not in the afternoon?" he asked, stopping at a corner and waiting for traffic to slow enough for him to cross.

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[info]stringthetrail
2010-02-23 12:48 am UTC (link)
Inwardly swearing at the cold and his lack of gloves, he shoved his hands in his jacket pockets. Uncomfortable with the side by side proximity, he resisted slowing down. There were too many people about and he wouldn't be able to hear Micah speak all the medical related terms even now he didn't quite understand. He was only partially certain the guy wouldn't beat him up and take his money, which were better odds than he put on the rest of the building.

It was something, anyway.

"December," he replied somewhat cryptically. "I remember December. Then I remember February."

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[info]acatalyst
2010-02-23 02:58 am UTC (link)
Micah looked over at him, making sure he stayed close when the press of New Yorkers hurried across the intersection. This wasn't home, and he had the distinct feeling that a taxista would run you over and not think twice, as long as it meant he wouldn't get caught.

"Before December?" he asked, when they reached the opposite sidewalk. "Do you remember everything before December?"

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[info]stringthetrail
2010-02-23 05:05 am UTC (link)
He sighed, following Micah. "Everything before December, everything after February. Between that's the blank. I don't know why."

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[info]acatalyst
2010-02-23 06:38 am UTC (link)
Okay, that was strange. He was silent during the rest of the walk to the hospital, and he proceeded Robert into the ER. His scrubs would get Robert faster attention, and he leaned up against the door of the triage room and smiled a winning smile at the nurse manning the station. She was young and attractive, and Micah honestly liked her. It was, therefore, nothing at all to motion to Robert and ask for him to get some attention.

He explained Robert's symptoms, making sure she understood the gravity of the situation, and he asked her to get him seen as a personal favor. She agreed, if he took her phone number. He entered it into his cellphone, and he looked over his shoulder at Robert.

"Jessica here is going to help you, Robert," he told the other man with a motion of his head that told him to come forward.

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[info]stringthetrail
2010-02-23 07:32 am UTC (link)
When the two made it into the hospital, Robert seemed to shrink at the activity swarming around him, hiding behind Micah for an attempt at security. He never liked hospitals, not in the least bit, but there was a positive association nonetheless. The doctors, the nurses, they always fixed him up at his most broken moments and never failed a lollipop at the end (a sad sugary attempt to placate him).

Keeping his eyes downcast, he simply listened to what Micah was telling the nurse and barely responding in return. It had become stringent protocol in his mind to nod and shut up, otherwise mom and Gary would get upset.

"Where are you going?" he said before he could think about the implications of his insistent request or how vulnerable it made him sound. He just couldn't be with along with a stranger right now.

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[info]acatalyst
2010-02-23 04:12 pm UTC (link)
The vulnerability in Robert's voice made Micah turn to look at him, and he grabbed the man's sleeve and tugged him forward after a minute, clapped him on the shoulder in a manly, reassuring manner. "Not going anywhere," he assured, giving the nurse another winning smile as she coaxed Robert toward the triage chair and began checking his vitals.

"Is the on-call neurologist any good?" he asked her casually, so Robert wouldn't pay too much attention to her response. Why he was worried about the other man, he didn't know, but something about his demeanor screamed scared and vulnerable, and Micah wasn't impervious.

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[info]stringthetrail
2010-02-24 02:23 am UTC (link)
The sleeve tugging he allowed. The shoulder clasp, however, was unwelcome and he involuntarily flinched before righting himself and pretending that moment never happened. For now he fell into a role he knew too well (his amnesia having failed to knock that out): the quiet kid who barely responded to clinical questions. He honestly didn't expect something like this to happen today, but Robert guessed it was inevitable--he should want to know what happened to make him lose his memory, shouldn't he? It was better than being as confused as he was now, stranger in a foreign land so it would seem.

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[info]acatalyst
2010-02-24 02:43 am UTC (link)
The reaction to the shoulder clasp was unexpected, and Micah put his hands up in a hey, chill manner. He leaned back against the triage room door frame, and he watched as Jessica slipped a little plastic band around Robert's wrist.

When she offered to walk back with them, so Robert wouldn't have to go sit in the waiting room, he mouthed thank you. She fluttered her lashes and he pretended not to notice. She helped Robert get settled in a room, and she handed him a robe to wear. "Want some privacy?" Micah asked, a hypothetical question, since he was already pulling the curtain.

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[info]stringthetrail
2010-02-24 03:13 am UTC (link)
If Robert could apologize to Micah, he would do so. Instead he meekly shrugged and followed, finding himself with a robe and bracelet before long. Nodding at Micah's question, he waited until the curtains completely hid him, then changed before sliding the curtain back open. He'd forgotten how...drafty the gowns were.

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[info]acatalyst
2010-02-24 03:56 am UTC (link)
Micah slid up on the counter in the hospital room, and he waited for Robert to open the curtain again. When Robert did, he quirked a brow at the man. "Want to tell me your story while we wait?" he asked. "Other than the memory thing," he clarified, because there was more going on here than that. The reaction to the touching, the meekness, it all spoke volumes and Micah was an avid reader of people.

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[info]stringthetrail
2010-02-24 05:32 pm UTC (link)
Robert shrugged. "I'm from Memphis, and am a musician. Pretty much about it." The rest of his life he didn't find share worthy. He scratched his nose. "What are they gonna do?" To me.

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[info]acatalyst
2010-02-24 06:06 pm UTC (link)
"They're just going to do some scans and take some blood," Micah reassured, even as the nurse came in to verify the information the triage nurse had passed along. She asked Micah to leave the room, and Micah slid off the counter. He gave Robert a reassuring look. "I'll be in the waiting room," he said, meaning it. He wasn't going to leave Robert here, which was a strange thing to think about someone he just met. The kid needed him, he realized, wondering how old Robert was for the first time.

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[info]stringthetrail
2010-02-25 07:03 am UTC (link)
Robert inwardly sighed, but went through with everything that was apparently scheduled to see what was the matter with him. His eyes flickered up at Micah before eying the equipment around him. After the blood work, the cat scan and having a question and answer session with the on-call neurologist, Robert's brain was a little futzed. He blinked as the doctor told him the bad news: there was nothing physically wrong with him, ergo it was possibly psychological. Fantastic.

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[info]acatalyst
2010-02-25 07:13 am UTC (link)
Micah called work, and he let them know his little brother was at the hospital, and that he'd need to take a personal day. It was a lie, but he suspected it wasn't a far stretch. He didn't think Robert had anyone else, or he wouldn't have gone this long without seeking medical attention.

He spent his time in the waiting room with Jessica, buying them both sodas and sharing a Reese package with her. She was flighty, however, and he was bored before the taste of the chocolate had faded.

When they called him back, he looked for the doctor before checking in on Robert, and listened to the diagnosis. It didn't surprise him, the call for the psych consult. Robert's symptoms didn't really fit into any physical category, and Robert's physical reactions pointed to something deeper underlying his condition.

By the time he went into Robert's room, the psych consult was underway, and he listened at the door while the psychiatrist on call asked the other man all the regular questions: Did he have suicidal thoughts? Depressive episodes? When this had started? If he had any physical or visual hallucinations?

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[info]stringthetrail
2010-02-25 07:38 am UTC (link)
Psychiatrist visits were nothing he hadn't had the displeasure of experiencing before. His face had gone blank as he went through the motions, giving as simplistic of answers as he could to the psychiatrist's questions: "No," "no," "couple weeks ago," "no." Whether this irritated the man or not, he didn't let on as he scribbled on his notepad. Robert wriggled his toes, looked out the window, and waited to hear what next the psychiatrist might have to say.

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[info]acatalyst
2010-02-25 07:56 am UTC (link)
Micah listened, and he could tell the answers were rote ones, even if the overworked psychiatric intern didn't seem to notice. They had the feeling of repeated things, the words, and Micah wondered what exactly he'd gotten himself into by stumbling onto this man and his fondling of the elevator buttons.

The doctor prescribed something for anxiety and something for depression, and he suggested a follow-up with a personal psychiatrist. Micah walked into the room and thanked the doctor, shaking his hand. He thought the man might actually be younger than him, that he looked unsure of himself.

When the nurse returned a moment later with the prescriptions and the release papers, Micah took the prescriptions while he waited for Robert to change back into his street clothes, and he pocketed the papers. Those medicines weren't going to make anything better; he was certain of it.

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[info]stringthetrail
2010-02-26 07:35 am UTC (link)
The answers seemed repeated because they were, repeated so many times he couldn't begin to count, or would be able to mention how many psychologists he met in his lifetime. He knew their purpose, but they didn't help nearly as much as they thought they could. When you had a man harshly coaching you on what exactly to say, no doctor could simply ask a question of him and get a nice straight answer.

He quietly took the prescriptions and left after changing into his street clothes. The papers would end up in the trash--they always had before, and even now he fought the ideas of medicating himself to deal with his problems. For now, he stick to Micah like glue, even though he didn't really know nor understand why he let the guy be a trusting figure in his current state. Damn scrubs.

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