“Booth let you walk away from a plane crash?” Simon asked, not bothering to contain the exasperation in his tone. “I suppose we’d know by now if you had any spinal injuries then, but even so…” he trailed off as he lowered the pen-light and put it down the table, moving to check her for the aforementioned injuries. Despite the fact that he was clearly annoyed and that his tone seemed distracted, as if the world around him was some kind of rude interruption of whatever was going on in his mind, each of his movements was almost eerily precise, as careful as if he’d been rehearsing them painstakingly instead of making them offhand.
“No noticeable problems with the spine,” he admitted after a few moments, “but from the way your pupils are responding and how you’re holding yourself I’m guessing some cracked ribs and a concussion.” He moved away again, back to the counter, and gathered some gauze pads and sterilizing materials. “I’ll get your contusions cleaned up and disinfected and then take care of those ribs. In the meantime, pain medication,” he said, handing her a paper cup of water and two pills.
Her assertion of superiority and Booth’s comments earned her raised eyebrows and a slight smile. She didn’t seem arrogant, at least not the way most people meant it, with ill intent and the need to demean others. She just seemed certain, precise. It was enviable and, to Simon at least, appealing. “I see. Impressive.” It wasn’t condescending or particularly admiring, merely a stating of facts that came out in much same tone Brennan herself had used. “I’ve only the one doctorate but I suppose I could have been called the best in my field, back home. Here I might be as well but how much of that is the fact that I’m from a time when medical technology and science have advanced well past what they have now and how much of it is my own aptitude I couldn’t be sure. Then again,” he kept talking as he worked, swabbing and bandaging the contusions on her face carefully, “Is the better doctor the one who has the most knowledge of treatments or the cleverest mind?”