| Bedside Manner |
| Summary: | Kai visits Eddie in the Recovery Ward. |
| Date: | PHD027 (15 May 2009) |
| Related Logs: | And All the Queen's Men. |
| Players: |
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Recovery Ward - Deck 2
This is not the luxurious Recovery Ward of a battlestar or Caprican hospital. Beds are simple white cots with thin mattresses on them, the sheets looking well-used and thin. Each bed is also organized into a bunk system where there are two recovery beds between the floor and ceiling, a simple metal stepladder going to the one above. Stainless steel rungs hang from the ceiling to hold IV bottles in place as well. All told, the small room can hold a not-inconsiderable number of recovering patients due to the bunks.
Life's a bitch, and then you die. Or in this case, you get wheeled into Sickbay, have your stomach pumped and then spend forty-eight hours of psychiatric observation hooked up to an IV and popping charcoal pills. Eddie's currently propped up on a pillow, staring at a plasma clock on the opposite wall and watching the minutes crawl by. She's in a little paper gown, but the blanket is pulled up to her chin, even her arms buried beneath.
Castaine seems to be pointedly ignoring Eddie as she sits upright on her bed, propped up by pillows, and reads a book from a pile that was brought in by Major Pike. Her guitar is laying across the foot of her bed as she turns the page, that long curtain of red hair used as a screen between herself and the grumpy pilot a few racks over.
It's probably not going to improve Eddie's mood any, to see her CO stepping through the hatch right about now, dressed in his fancy schmancy blues and toting an officious looking folder under one arm. There's a nurse tailing the Captain, and a few words are exchanged before she points in the direction of Eddie's bed.
Ew. Folders. Folders are never ever good. They have little hexagonal papers in them. And those are rarely good as well. Maybe she's recognized the cadence of her CO's slightly uneven footsteps by now, or maybe it's just happenstance her head lulls over and catches sight of him as he moves down the lines of beds. Pushing up, she sits up straighter in her bed with lips pressing into a grim line.
Castaine notices the squad leader walk by but that's mostly due to the fact he has to pass her rack in order to reach Eddie's. The folder is given a glance and a frown before the spleenless wonder shakes her head a touch. She scoots a bit in her rack, putting her back to the pair to give them as much privacy as the location allows. Then it's back to reading. Yup. Words on pages. Mmhmm.
The nurse drifts away to change some bed linens, and Kai simply observes the laid-up pilot for a few steady moments. It's entirely likely that a minute passes that way, before his gaze shifts briefly to Castaine a few beds over, then down to his feet. After checking his watch, he heads off along the row of gurneys, angling toward Eddie's.
Eddie lifts her chin slightly, but what's probably less noticeable is the way she draws a breath and seems to hold it. Seems this was the moment she's been dreading, shame that her only visitor is the one that seems to be bringing doom with him. Perhaps grumpy pilots get their just reward.
The clock ticks. Injured crew make soft pained little sounds. IV fluids drip. The nurses feet shuffle across the deck. And Mia turns a page. Small sounds that normally just bleed into the background but seem oddly loud in the medbay today.
Kai tosses the folder atop Eddie's bedside table, when he reaches it. A chair is hooked closer in his usual fashion, with the toe of his boot. "You can wipe the doom and gloom off your face, Morales. I'm not here to chew you out." This time. It practically says itself.
Eddie swallows heavily, the slight tremble in her hand noticeable as she pulls her hands out from beneath the blanket, if only to scratch at her IV. "Then you should have brought jello, sir. Nothing says 'I'm not here for your head on a platter' like jello." Her voice is hoarse, probably something to do with a tube being shoved unceramoniously down her throat. She's attempting to joke, but in this case it screams defense mechanism.
Maybe Castaine is listening and maybe she's not. There is nothing to indicate either one. The blanket is pulled up a bit and tucked about her better to make sure that gown isn't showing off things it shouldn't before another page is turned.
"Sorry, all out of jello." Kai's settled into the chair by now, accustomed to the slight maneuvering that needs to happen, to get him there. It's practiced to the point of being almost imperceptible. And Castaine could probably be lounging around naked at the moment, and wouldn't be noticed by the squad leader; it's not like anything'll shock a man after thirteen years in the navy. "Don't scratch, Morales. I'm guessing you feel like shit, but I'll ask anyway: how're you holding up?"
Eddie mutters, "Tape itches." But she does stop scratching, as if subconciously turning that into an order from a superior officer that is to be followed. "I'm ready to get out of here. Not easy trying to convince them that I didn't actually /mean/ for my ass to end up in here. It was just…yeah, well. Stupidity." Harder to convince them, in truth, with the scars on her arms.
Castaine is been in the CMC her entire adult life; she couldn't give two fraks if anyone - Spider or anyone else noticed or cared that her backside might be hanging out. It's more about manners.. and COLD FRAKKING DRAFTS. Calmly another page is turned. It really is a most excellent medical book.
"I was stuck in hospital for.." Kai's brows stitch together. "Gods. Maybe a month or two, once. The iv used to drive me nuts, and my arm was broken, so I couldn't even scratch at it. I'm not unsympathetic, Mooner." He twitches a small smile, and comments upon the last, "I believe you."
Eddie jaw sets as if she's trying to supress something, her lips pulling tight on her features like a grimace. It's not until she feels the wet trace of a tear down her cheek, that it's apparent she's failed. "Thank you," There's a pause there, as she wants to call him something more personal, but falls back on, "Sir." A few more tears seep out, and she brushes them away with an annoyed hand. With force of will, she lifts her chin again and finds his gaze. "What were you in the hospital for?"
The nurse swings by Castaine's rack to check on the IV and gives her charge a stern look for sitting with her hand bent under the book, thus messing with the flow through the tube and forcing blood to back up in the line. Mia crosses her eyes and pokes her tongue out at the nurse playfully as the woman adjusts the catheter to clear the line.
Kai shifts slightly in the chair, and reaches for a tissue from the box on the nightstand. Instead of handing it over, he gently dabs at the young woman's cheek with it, and seems to resist the urge to touch the tip of her nose. It's crumpled against his palm then, as he meets her eyes. "An accident, a long time ago." His voice is low, almost a rumble in his throat. "I'm changing your wing assignment, when you're back on flight status." When, not if. So he can't be too angry. The passing nurse is given a brief glance, though his attention doesn't linger.
Eddie twitches just the slightest bits of a smile as he dabs at her cheek. It's little things like that, that you miss about being a child. Maybe that and naptime. "Accident? If I had to guess…" She tilts her head slightly, studying Kai's face for a moment. "Motorcycle." The wing assignment thing has her working her jaw a bit. "Who'll be my section lead now?"
Once the line has been cleared and the IV reseated and taped down, the nurse taps Mia on the nose before turning to other jobs that ever stop for those in the medbay. Castaine wiggles on the rack, stretching out a leg before tucking it under herself with a little wince.
Kai gives a husky little chuckle at Eddie's guess, but neither confirms nor denies. Guess it's going to remain a mystery, for the time being. "I haven't decided yet. The CAG and I are still going over duty rotations. Don't worry, we'll have something sorted out, by the time you're sprung from here." He's fixated on that tiny smile she gave, or the ghost of it anyway; he simply watches her for a while before glancing down at the tissue in his hand. "Is there anything you need?"
Eddie gives a nod about the wing assignment, likely figuring it would happen anyways, as you don't pair the two problem children of the squad together. At his question though, Eddie's tongue touches the corner of her mouth, and then her lip is caught by her teeth, and then she's picking at the blanket. It's as if something is bothering her, or she has a question to ask, but she can't quite spit it out at Kai.
Castaine seems to have had enough of the sitting up thing as she carefully lays herself down on the rack, pillow pressed to her belly, her back still to the pair. The blanket is adjusted again as she curls up with her book, turning a page.
Kai might be socially inept, but he isn't completely oblivious. A brow quirks slightly at Eddie's evasiveness, and he asks a little uncertainly, "Do you want to whisper it to me?" He tone is very subtly amused.
Eddie gives a nervous chuck of laughter, and subtle shake of her head. "No, I just…" She screws her lips to the side, then sighs. "Ensign Roubani…" She starts, stops, falters and then eventually continues. "He hasn't been by to see me." Trying like hell to keep the sting of that out of her voice. "Would you just check on him for me? See if he's okay?"
Another page is turned as the medic studies up on the Gods only know what. First one leg is stretched out then pulled back up before the other is stretched out before being pulled back up. This series of movements is repeated a few times before she goes still.
The amusement slips away, and there's a small nod from the Captain. "I'll look in on him." The tissue is balled up eventually, and tossed into a nearby rubbish bin; his hand is laid atop her head for a moment, and brushes away a few dark, errant locks. It's a vaguely protective gesture. "Get some rest." A glance at his watch seems to confirm he needs to be someplace, and he begins pushing to his feet and fetching his file folder. Mooner is flickered a smile, which Castaine receives the tail end of before he trudges on out.
Eddie smiles sadly at the affections from the Captain, and when he leaves, she just pulls up into that antisocial ball of pilot again. Back to watching the clock tick until her release papers are signed. At least that went better then she could have possibly fathomed.
