Who: Britannic & Levity When: Saturday, July 26th, 2008 (afternoon) Where: Infirmary What: a boo-boo. Status: complete Rating: PG
"Ah!" Eddie pulled back her hand automatically when the knife she was chopping carrots with cut into her fingers, slicing both the index and middle fingers on her left hand. "Damn it." She examined the damage briefly. There was a lot of blood and it hurt like hell. She scooted over to the sink and ran her fingers under the tap, wincing as the cool water made the cuts sting. When she'd finished, she inspected the hand again before the bleeding started again. Ew. It looked kinda nasty. "Wonderful." she growled while she nabbed a few paper towels from the roll and wrapped them around her hand. She'd make a trip down to the infirmary just to be safe.
When Edana entered the infirmary (hand still in paper towel), she glanced around for a few moments and didn't see any doctors. "Hello?" she questioned, loud enough to be heard, but not loud enough to annoy anyone for being too loud in the hospital.
"Hang on!" Brian called from the lab beyond. He emerged a few moments later, drying his hands on a paper towel. When his eyes left his hands and went to his patient-to-be, he felt his stomach flip. His expression (which was interest and mild concern) didn't change, however. He tossed the towel in the rubbish bin by his desk and headed for Edana after he noticed her cradling her hand. "What've you done to yourself?" he asked, more coolly than he had spoken to her before, but with more concern than had it been, say, Kitty. He beckoned the woman forward and extended his hands to look at the damage.
Oh crap. Eddie sighed softly and closed her eyes for a moment when she heard Brian's voice. Why couldn't it have been anyone but him? The not so warm tone of his didn't help matters. As much as she wanted to turn and run walk straight out of there to deal with the matter herself, she forced herself to go towards the Brit. She unwrapped her hand and held it out to him, not really wanting to touch him, but knowing she didn't have much choice. "I was cutting vegetables and the knife slipped." She glanced at her fingers. Gross.
Brian forced his eyebrow not to raised in suspicion at Eddie's verbal response. He hardly wanted to seem so self-centered that he would accuse Edana of injuring herself due to depression set on by his actions. All this, and he knew she was accident prone. He took her hand, gently, and urged her to follow along with him after he looked it over. The cuts weren't too deep; not enough for stitches. "Let me get this cleaned for you, then." The Brit gave a soft sigh and went after the supplies he needed. "Have a seat," he told Eddie over his shoulder, and angled his head toward one of the elevated, metal beds. He cleared his throat before turning around to her again and closed the distance, "How've you been, other than a clumsy cook?"
"Thanks." After watching him gather things for a few moments, she made her way over to one of the beds. She climbed up on it and scooted back around so she was facing Brian as her feet dangled above the floor. She swallowed hard as he made his way back over to her. She didn't want to speak to him, but as he was fixing up her hand, she found it rude not to. "I've been okay." she sighed quietly, "How about you?"
She was settling into her miserable formalities. Sometimes Brian thought Eddie was the English one. He took the cue from her face and tone that she wasn't feeling chatty - or least ways not with him. "Good, fine," he said, which was mostly a lie. But he supposed she didn't care about his woes, at this point. His fingers retrieved hers and he began cleaning the wounds. "Might sting," he warned quietly before squeezing antiseptic into the cut on the index finger. "So - you've taken some time off for yourself, I hear?"
She glanced at his face as he worked. Damn it. Why did he have to be so freaking... Brian-ish? His tone made her feel like an ass for not being nicer. She looked down at her hand as he cleaned the gashes. Whenever doctors say something "might" hurt, it usually hurts a ton, but luckily the feel was more uncomfortable than majorly painful. She cleared her throat before she answered, "I have. I'm sorting out my own issues and trying to deal accordingly." 'Hopefully you've been sorting your own out as well.' was the unspoken follow up.
"That's all good to hear," from her cool delivery, it seemed she had a ways to go, in his opinion. But of course, she was probably treating people other than him with a slightly less cold shoulder. He supposed he sort of deserved a bit of rudeness from the woman. He began on the middle finger and repeated, "...sssting," as he squeezed the tube, then prepared to wrap them. The bleeding was lessening; always a good sign. He motioned for her hold the hand up at face level while he switched hands to grab the gauss. "You expected too much of me." His eyes met hers for a moment before he set to his work. "I mean, latest sin aside. I think you thought too highly of me. So when I fucked up, it hurt all the worse."
She raised her hand up obediently, watching as he readied his hands to begin wrapping hers. His statement and eye contact made her face heat up before she forced her eyes to watch what he was doing. He was right and she knew it. Damn. She sighed after he finished speaking. "You're right. I had you on an extremely large pedestal. I thought of you as my White Knight, so to speak." She felt silly admitting to it, but it was true. "But we weren't meant to be. I know that now." His actions aside, she knew in her heart that the two of them weren't right for each other.
Brian's lips twisted up into the smallest of smirks when Eddie said 'extremely large pedestal'. He hoped it wasn't a fat joke. He was a bit touched by what followed, and then relieved by the time she was finished. Of course he had loved her, but it couldn't have lasted forever. It was good to hear she knew that. "I always tried to please you." He had wanted to live up to her expectations, and had striven to, in every aspect. But eventually he'd begun to break down and realized that no one was perfect, even if the person they were with nigh on worshiped them. Eddie fed his ego, and he had thought of her as a precious pet and friend more than a romantic equal. He supposed they had both been a bit selfish and shallow. "Unfortunately not, duckie." He began wrapping, then cut and taped accordingly. "You still think I'm a monster though." It wasn't really a question.
She smiled a little despite the fact that she wanted to stay mad at him. She was tired of being angry and upset. She was moving on. "I know you did." And she still loved him, only not in a romantic sense. She smiled again at "duckie". It wasn't often he used that term with her. Eddie let out another sigh at his last sentence. "I think you have a lot of issues to work through. But I don't think you're a monster, Brian. Just confused." She wasn't saying it as a therapist, but as one friend to another. She wanted to hug him, but didn't dare try.
He nodded, accepting her response with stride as he finished her fingers up. Seeing her face in an expression that wasn't misery was a relief. Brian's eyes watched Eddie's for several moments before he placed her newly repaired hand gently in her lap and pluck up the right one. He squeezed amongst his large fingers then brought it to his lips before hesitating. He wasn't sure she'd want his British, (offensive, hurtful insult here) bastard mouth on her person. So he folded his other hand over her fingers, then kissed the lot of them. "That I am." He couldn't argue with the truth. He took a step back then and released her hand. "You're all better." Physically. He gathered up the mess he'd made and began tidying. "What were you cooking?"
She gave him a smile that was warmer than any of her previous ones. She noticed his hesitation at kissing her hand and she let out a short breath. "Thanks to you." she smiled again. She kicked her legs absentmindedly as she watched him clean up. She winced a little at the question. She'd left her mess up there in the kitchen. She would clean it up after she was finished here. "Oh, I was making a salad." Eddie wasn't much in the mood for salad anymore, however.
"Salad!" Brian barked a laugh, as if the food itself was a joke. He gave the girl a wink and turned away to return the items to their places. When he returned, he added, "I'm supposed to get a break for lunch. Might just ask Pete to bring me something. It'd probably keep him out of trouble. He's been 'fixing' all of my things lately." He grinned, knowing Eddie had probably been touched by the Fix-It Bug. Piotr had dismembered, then repaired Brian's alarm clock, which now went off whenever it so desired, as opposed to when he had set it. He wasn't getting a lot of good sleep, as a result, but he didn't want to hurt the Tinman's feelings. "I'm sure I won't be patching up his fingers." His hand shot out and he gave Levity's a very light jab in the side with his pointer.
"Yeah..." Eddie let out a laugh herself. So much for trying to eat better. She was in danger of losing digits. She glanced at the clock on the wall. She was sure Pete would bring him something if he wanted. "He tried to straighten a picture for me the other day using one of those laser levels. He ended up knocking it down and scattering glass everywhere. It's the thought that counts though, right?" she grinned. Pete was such a good guy. "No..." she swatted his hand away with a laugh and gave him a nudge in the stomach with her foot. "I'm sure you won't be." She laughed again as she thought of Pete in the same scenario she was in, sitting on the metal bed getting his fingers bandaged. Hilarious.
Brian laughed aloud in response to Eddie's anecdote. "It's the thought that counts," he repeated, in agreement. The doctor held out his hand (carefully) and offered to help Edana down from her perch. "I'm gonna ask him in a few minutes," he decided, and gestured to his headset that was hanging irresponsibly around his neck along with his stethoscope. "I'm glad we spoke, though. I was afraid I was going to forever be a victim of your avoidance." His lips were pursed, but his tone wasn't completely serious.
She reached (with her good hand) to grasp Brian's and let him help her down. Eddie nodded and gave him a smile. "Tell him to bring you something good." She looked up into his eyes, then glanced down at the floor after he'd spoken. He knew her too well. "I'm glad too." She smiled a sad smile. She was happy that everything was better between them, even if things weren't completely healed yet. She felt her eyes start to tear up unexpectedly. What the hell? Eddie hid this fact (and stopped it) by burying her face in Brian's chest as she wrapped her arms around him in a hug. His scrub shirt was scratchy, but she didn't care.
The blond nodded absently as he heard something crackle from the earpiece against his throat, but his attention shifted back to Levity when she said that she was glad too. He smiled finally and then when she hugged him he looked quite surprised. This was unexpected, he thought. His arms snaked around her with well-practiced ease and he held her close as well. "I didn't want you to hate me," he whispered to her, his way of saying 'thanks'. It hit him after a few moments that the hug might mean something entirely different, and he frowned as his chin rested against the top of Eddie's head. Was this a hug of goodbye? Something she was getting out of her system? He couldn't blame her if it was. He let out an easy laugh from his throat - which was tight with a would-be sob and told her, "Don't be a stranger, then."
"You know," she said quietly, still embracing Brian. "I don't know that I could ever hate you, Brian." With all that had happened between them, she still couldn't hate him. She smiled and hugged him tighter when his chin rested on her head. It was a familiar weight, she found, as he had done that many times when they'd hugged. "I don't know what you're talking about." she said finally, after his stranger comment. "I'll come visit you. And you have to come and visit me too, just so you know."