#tri-care

Igraine was just grabbing something from the storage closet, already partially opened when she pushed further, stopping in her tracks to see a toddler playing on the floor with gauze and many other things from the bottom shelves.

It's quick how she touches her three fingers to her lips, trying not to laugh at the mess in front of her. Her lips turned into a thin, hard line, trying to contain herself until she was able to bend her knees and squat down to Penny's level.

"Hi pretty penny," she smiled softly, "having fun here without your dad? I think you missed a spot, right here." she pointed to her own face, right above her eyes where there was still just a bit left of penny to see.

She slowly let herself drop down into a sitting position. She wondered how she snuck away from Frank, but it seemed like she was pretty mischievous. Igraine pulled her phone out of her pocket and shot off a quick text.

[sms: franklin] I've got a very cute-looking toddler here with me. Don't worry, she's safe. We're playing doctor now.

Honestly, she would have thought that Fourth of July would be the worst day of the summer, but the hundred deadliest days of the year were well under way and the never ending conveyor belt of patients seemed to come and come. It was strange, she thinks in some ways, that you can trace the seasons from the case load. Gone are the lines of patients with respiratory infections and in had come the injuries, kids on trampolines, water slides, bikes, broken bones and sprains as people went out and enjoyed the few months of warmth and sunshine they were afforded. 

She’s almost certain everyone in here right now needs some kind of xray, some ‘minor’ injury they needed to image and a line for radiology that could have stretched around the block. All while its still hot as hell inside and out, and they have wall to wall of 

Oh, something hurts. She’s not sure what but…no, no, she thinks it’s her arm? Shoulder? It’s a strange sensation but she’s almost sure that it feels like the ghost of pain? It doesn’t occur to her how that would sound out loud, but she does not. 

Nor does she really realise how familiar this situation is. She’s been on the other side of a ketamine sedation hundreds of times, they do it multiple times a day, simply the easiest and fastest way to get a dislocated joint right back into place with as little suffering as possible. 

A soft noise leaves her as she winces at the room, before she focuses on him. A confused expression on her face before she lifts her good arm, and pokes him with a finger, as if she’s making sure he is, indeed, a solid feature of the room before she speaks.

“Well thats…” the whisper is more to herself as she tries to grapple with such an event. Her mind goes to something logical first. That he is tired. Clearly. Obviously. She is too. To the point she had been thankful that she was going to get the bus home and didn’t have to drive or navigate herself…though she did worry for a moment how he was getting home. 

“Thats…” She can’t move now can she? Is he actually asleep or? For a moment…she doesn’t really know what to do. Mel just sits there. Frozen in the spot for a moment as she tries to work out what to do. 

Then she comes to the conclusion that she’s just going to sit there, lets herself lean back against the wall and tries not to think about the shift from hell. They had plenty of those. This one was the kind that just never ended. Sometimes she wished for the intense chaos. The kinda shifts where something massive happened and they were swamped for a few hours and then it calmed down, instead today had been one of the relentless ones. 

A never ending stream of cases, none of them the easy kind of treat and street, and none of them the insane cases either. One case after another in the middle, the perfect horror of everyone needing advanced testing and monitoring all the time and the gridlock it brought with it.

@tri-care sent a raven: let me help. - Frank Langdon to Stephanie Brown

       No.  Except  she's  already  gripping  the  forearm  that's  extended  towards  her,  leaning  into  the  far  more  steady  frame  to  try  and  keep  her  legs  beneath  her.  How  embarrassing  to  let  some  two  bit  goon  brain  her  like  that.  Ridiculous  that  just  the  mention  of  her  father  could  still  startle  her,  reach  into  the  contentment  and  good  will  that  she'd  learned  to  foster  with  people  who  still  occasionally  side  eyed  her. 

       Fair  though,  Stephanie  side  eyed  them,  returned  the  favour,  fighting  against  the  urge  to  pull  down  the  fabric  covering  the  lower  half  of  her  face  so  she  could  breathe  properly.  But  that  would  be  stupid,  and  she  wasn't  that.  She  was  a  lot  of  things  that  weren't  great,  but  stupid  wasn't  one  of  them.  …  This  week.  It  wasn't  a  serious  concussion,  at  least  she'd  managed  to  avoid  being  knocked  out.  Especially  since  she'd  just  managed  to  talk  Barbara  into  letting  her  take  over  her  patrol  so  she  could  have  a  night  in  with  Dick  and  Haley.

“We  need  to  leave.'  Not  slurring,  good.  Super  good.  ”He's  got  really  mean  friends  that'll  be  coming  back  for  him.  If  you  can  just  get  me  to  the  nearest  Batburger  I'll  get  you  one  as  thanks  and  we  can  call  it  even.'

       That  seemed  fair  to  her,  free  hand  lightly  patting  along  her  side,  to  hip,  to  waist.  She  did  have  her  wallet,  right?  With  that  lucky  twenty  dollar  bill  that  Cass  had  been  trying  to  win  off  of  her  for  the  past  six  months.  She'd  hate  to  disappoint  her,  but  she  also  didn't  like  owing  people,  even  if  she  was  never  going  to  see  them  again.  And  she  definitely  owed  him  for  not  being  an  absolute  prick  about  the  fact  she'd  messed  this  up. 

Aren't  you  a  little  young?

You  should  leave  this  to  the  big  boys. 

Did  you  trip  up  because  you  broke  a  nail.

       He'd  been  simple  and  to  the  point,  a  little  demanding  but  it  had  been  acceptable  because  it'd  pissed  her  off  enough  to  focus. 

"I  just  need  somewhere  to  sit  and  get  a  bite  to  eat,  I'll  be  fine.' 

@tri-care sent a raven: deep breaths. - Frank Langdon to Dick Grayson

       He  wouldn't  be  doing  that  actually,  his  ribs  were  still  not  happy  with  him  after  he'd  allowed  them  to  take  the  brunt  of  his  fall  onto  the  edge  of  a  dumpster.  Not  that  he  blamed  them,  Dick  also  was  upset  with  himself.  He  also  could  not  tell  the  pretty  eyed  doctor  why  his  chest  looked  like  a  band  of  late  evening  sky  with  splashes  of  light  purple  edged  in  rose  and  dandelion.  Very  pretty,  also  very  painful,  it'd  been  a  long  fucking  week. 

“You  can  just  give  me  a  clean  bill  so  I  can  get  out  of  here.  Like  I  said  the  blood  wasn't  mine.'  A  bright  smile,  camera  flashes  wished  they  could  be  this  bright.  ”The  lady  was  in  an  accident  and  I  was  nearby,  couldn't  leave  her  there,  y'know?'

       Just  set  him  loose,  he  still  had  about  three  hours  of  patrol  and  he  could  feel  it  in  his  bones  that  someone  was  out  there  happily  doing  some  dastardly  thing  that  would  be  waved  in  his  face  for  months  if  he  didn't  get  back  out  there.  …  Actually,  he  didn't  recognize  the  man's  face,  taking  a  moment  to  memorize  it  properly  like  Bruce  had  taught  him. 

"If  this  is  about  getting  my  shirt  off  you  could  at  least  get  me  some  coffee  first.'