ANDREW KNOWS THE RESTLESS FEELING WELL ENOUGH. Truth is, since Sandbrook, he’s hated hospitals TOO. He can’t really look at Zander TOO LONG, eyes instead darting around the room and only lingering on the other long enough to make sure he wasn’t doing anything STUPID.

“Bax.” He echoes, a huff of laughter and a little grin despite his nose wrinkling a bit. “Well, it’s better than DREW, I guess. Don’t let Alec hear you calling me that, though.” He murmurs, and oh — there’s a bit of the actual Andrew. The one not tense with worry and MAYBE A BIT PISSED he’s sitting here in the first place.

Mutely, he shakes his hand, grin fading as he rubs his knee at the reminder. “Nah, got in the way of reconstructing my KNEE, entirely. They had to take it out, if it was even still in there.” He says, “we might be scar buddies, kind of, though.“ He adds, tugging up his pants leg to show it. “And ALL THREE OF US got some metal in us, now. My knee’s not exactly bone, anymore.”

HE DEFLATES A BIT WHEN HE’S TOLD THEY REMOVED THE BULLET FROM ANDREW’S KNEE. no bullet buddies for them, then. sad.

“ah, so we’re, uhhh…METAL MATES instead. the three of us.” zander ventures, head lazily lolling over toward his visitor. this is actually better, so alec can be included. yes. metal mates it is, his hazy mind decides. he’s not sure WHY it’s decided this, but trying to figure it out right now is very much out of the realm of possibility.

he PEERS over at the man’s knee, eyes wide with wonder. the scar is IMPRESSIVE, he thinks, and soon wonders what his own looks like ; he begins attempting to ever so carefully move his gown out of the way, shifting up ever so slightly. 

@griefmark​ | zander

“YOU REALLY SHOULDN’T BE MOVING THAT MUCH.” For all of his general cheer, there’s something sharp in his tone. A low, firm voice that Andrew hasn’t used in YEARS. Not since Alec fully healed from his pacemaker surgery. His fingers twist his cane, spinning it idly as he leans forward, elbows on knees.

“You could tear open those stitches.” Normally, normally, his beside manner is BETTER THAN THIS, but Andrew won’t lie to himself that he had HOPED he’d never be sitting at the beside of any other Hardy, again. “Trust me, I know the hospital bed gets restless, but the last thing you want is ripping those stitches and fucking up your insides more.”

Andrew taps his knee, once, twice. There’s a SCAR hidden under his pants leg. Long, thin, going over his whole knee, with a little burst in the middle.

“Odds are they left the bullet inside.”

HE HONESTLY CAN’T HELP HIMSELF. being idle isn’t something either hardy twin is particularly good at, plus they both DESPISE hospitals. but things are of course now complicated by the fact that zander’s got a HOLE in his side. unfortunately that doesn’t stop him from trying to sit up a bit more, despite how much the muscles around the wound pull. luckily, he’s chock full of pain medication, otherwise it would’ve PAINFUL as opposed to just MUTED DISCOMFORT.

“y'really need t’ work on your bedside manner, bax.” tired voice RUMBLES deep in his chest, accent a bit more pronounced than usual. even in his loopy-ish state, zander picks up on the other’s TONE and reluctantly halts his squirming around in bed. for now. he HATES feeling so helpless.

THE MENTION OF RICKY GILLESPIE HAS ANDREW SHIFTING, adjusting his weight more on his cane. There’s a curl of his fingers against the polished white wood, thumb running in the grooves before he starts his way over to the PINBOARD Ellie has made.

“Very strange.” He agrees, eyes searching to meet Zander’s. “You know, we never looked too deep into Ricky, at the initial investigation. But after —” Andrew cuts off, swallowing hard. His fingers shake as he reaches for a picture, one of Ricky and Cate.

“After the trial fell — he was, hostile towards Alec, we’ll say. It doesn’t surprise me that he’d want Alec to stay away, after the presumed blame laid on him. It’s not the first time he’s done that, unfortunately.” His thumb scratches at his eyebrow, frowning.

“I have a feeling Ricky isn’t telling us SOMETHING about what happened. There was always a gap in his alibi, anyways.” He leans forward, tapping the statement Ricky had made two years ago. “I think, we need to reexamine Ricky Gillespie.”

“RICKY NOT WANTIN’ THE CASE REOPENED IS WHAT I DON’T UNDERSTAND.” zander clarifies. “my daughter gets murdered, i’d want the BASTARD who did it an’ i wouldn’t stop until he was caught. the police would get tired of seein’ me, not the other way ‘round.”

despite feeling for him at the time pippa’s body had been found — jules is three years pippa’s senior, but just the thought of LOSING HER in such a manner kept him up many a night — zander’s now SUSPICIOUS of the man. he just can’t shake the feeling that he knows something, if he’s not outright involved somehow.

“i think we need t’reexamine him too. somethin’s not right.” he finally agrees. 

“well, ricky’s alibi doesn’t cover the entire night, he had access to both girls...” ellie muses as she closes the case file she’s been reading. “if we’re to look deeper into him, we also have to think about MOTIVE : what reason would he have to murder his own daughter and cause the disappearance of his niece?”