Stories, Ponderings and All That Jazz

But this, here, in 1999, is the first time it's REALLY bad.

This is it, They realize, this is the first time the Operator had decided the Orokin... That Ballas, needed to die, and the first time they'd forget, or was it a memory of it, or the reality of it?

Still, they picked up their crying, huddled mass of other self... Arthur... Aoi... Amir...who had it been... Who would it be...

Who was... Who is... Who will be the first safe place, safe person the Operator would... Did wake up as after years asleep, years, decades... Centuries, years forgetting they were even a person at all.

There would be comfort found with that one, the beginning of the first one.

Shen, he's the club runner, though you wouldn't know it from how he buttons down during work, but one of the big reasons for his coffee addiction is give him a chance and a night off and he'll party, he's the one who does the local clubs tour for the newbies.

And they communicate with each other well, Shen will tell Ellis which of his club goers need a brunch in the morning, Ellis lets Shen know if one of her Brunchlings needs to let their hair down for a night.

They do have a competition to see who can get Abbot, Robby and Dana out for a meal or a night.

He's getting better, but he's still not... Good.

The little details of the day, even Robby's sarcastic "Horrah.". When he was trying his damndest to push Jack away still sat in Jack's mind a little too heavy.

So he, in a rare moment of whimsy, he likes to say.... Dumbassery Lena calls it, he gives up SWAT volunteering for a bit and signs temporary care papers for one baby Jane Doe.

Except he kind of didn't realize caring for a baby on one leg is more difficult than he thought, they move, wriggle, throw his balance off like crazy.

Then he remembers that Dennis, Robby's favourite student, who, from what little he saw, was actually pretty good with babies was staying at Robby's house.

Jack didn't have Dennis's phone number, but he did have one of Robby's spare keys.

Surely Dennis wouldn't mind Jack showing up.

But, as Jack once described it, "Adopting" Dennis had turned into the ED's weirdest claw machine collection of adoption of all time... Because with Dennis had come Trinity... Then Mel... the Javadi... Etc, etc.

He knows even with all the "high-brow" reading the other man does, Robby has a solid collection of Sci-Fi, Fantasy, etc in his collection.

Jack is also Very VERY aware that Robby is not that great at online stuff that doesn't have something to do with the hospital.

So he knows very well when Bad Dragon pops up in their recent search history, Robby had probably been looking for some new books.

He is also aware that Robby doesn't really understand that the website shows what you've been looking at... And Robby certainly hadn't instantly backed out when he'd realized what kind of website he was on.

Jack went to the 13th page of clicked items...

Robby REALLY hadn't left quickly...

Robby and Abbot: " We are somehow unsurprised and mildly concerned in equal measure."

Don't get her wrong, she could do kind, she'd done kind, but even her kindness had its sharpness.

But right now, she was stuck, because she understood, almost as much as Doctor Abbot, how delicate Doctor Robinavitch actually was... Robinavitch, for now.

Because Dennis, Dennis was soft, softer than people who didn't know him thought, it had taken her months to get him used to her brand of teasing.

And Doctor Robinavitch all made up of broken and jagged edges had cut deeper into that softness than Trinity thought he realized.

And as much as Trinity wanted to turn those jagged shards back into Robby... robinavitch for what he'd inadvertently done.

Sure, Dana tried hard as well, but she had a life and a husband, and a brightness to her future that Jack felt like he didn't have.

So Dana was the light, and Jack was happy to be a fellow shadow, a friend in the darkness.

It was almost love, maybe it WAS love.

Still he couldn't help but feel a little jealous of these two new favourites of Robby's, these two interns.

Whitaker and Santos, Robby's new... "Kids"

"The Father, The Son and the Unholy Trinity.". Santos had dubbed them at one point, sarcasm sharp and brittle and attached to the most fragile shields Jack had ever seen.

Shields she'd decided needed to wrap around Dennis as well, Jack didn't know exactly why... But if the tales of phantoms were true, he had a good idea.

Maybe it WAS love, because currently, it felt like they had too many kids together, including these new ones.

But, Jack thinks, as he pets Dennis's hair while nippy little teeth chomp into his crossed legs as Robby pounds into the younger man, this isn't one of them.

After all, the sharp little bruises on his real, flesh and skin leg, will fade with time, but the delicate array of bite marks pressed into fake, plastic, not even flesh-toned in some places, those would stay until he needed to replace the leg... And this was a brand new one.

They all know the night shift attending has tits for days.

Dennis grinned as he walked past Jack, fast asleep, with his face firmly nuzzled into Robby's soft, hairy chest.

"two sets of tits for days."

"What was that Dennis??"

"I said, you've got to send the list today... It's my turn to get groceries remember, especially since you agreed to hold Trin's birthday party here."

"...Why did we agree to that..."

"repayment for stealing her adopted stray..."

"Vistitation rights...". Sleepily drifted up to them both from Robby's chest.