Drabble extention fic
This is not the story I wanted to write. The one I wanted to write was longer and had a proper plot... ooh and an ending (I love the ones with proper endings) :) But I was running out of time and laptop battery so here we have it
Drabble Extention fic (untitled, as per usual)
Vin had listened carefully to all of Nathan’s cautions and do’s and don’ts - a heck of a lot more ‘don’ts’ than anything else - he had nodded and agreed in all the right places. He had been the picture of a model patient. And finally Nathan’s hunger and lack of sleep had caught up with him and he’d left Vin to his own devices, well almost. JD sat quietly in the corner reading another one of those little novels that had captured his attention. Vin might have envied JD’s ease with the written word but honestly didn’t think much of his choice in reading matter. The stories, the few that JD had told him of, seem to glorify both the heroes and the villains and of course the violence that occurred when the two sides met. Having been wounded more than once in such ‘meetings’ Vin didn’t think much of the authors that glorified violence.
It was easy enough to convince JD that he didn’t need to stay. Like most of them the young man would rather have been just about anywhere but Nathan’s clinic. He felt bad for lying to both Nathan and JD but really they both should have known there was no way he was really gonna stay put. He might have bullet holes in his leg and his side, he might be almost filled to the brim with Nathan’s pain-killing tea but that didn’t mean he was stayin’ couped up in the clinic any longer than he had to. Besides, Nathan would know where to find him, it wasn’t like he was runnin’ away, just goin’ back to his own bed that was all. Just gettin’ away from the small closed in room that was stifling hot in mid-August. The room that smelled of the herbs and roots that Nathan used in his cures. Things that should smell fresh and green but now just smelled dry and dead. And under that, under the heat and herbs, the smell of blood. His blood. Blood of all the others that had spent time in this room. A thick undercurrent that never went away, no matter how clean Nathan kept the place. His stomach lurched as he sat up slowly; the room, the smell, was closing in on him. He lowered his feet to the floor and simply sat on the edge of the bed for a moment, breathing slowly through his mouth.
The tea Nathan had made him drink "For your own damn good" was making him slow and sluggish, like his head was full of cotton and his arms and legs were only held on by string. It wouldn’t do him any good to fall on his face and pass out on the floor.
With deliberate steps and the wall to support him, Vin limped his way across to the door. The pain in his leg flared brightly, a red hot poker through his thigh. Gritting his teeth against it Vin continued on, his only goal to escape to his wagon and sleep.
The door swung open under his weight, almost sending him sprawling onto the landing. A quick step onto his injured leg saved him from falling but almost sent him to the ground in agony anyway. He staggered to the railing breathing deeply against pain. The mid-afternoon sun beat down on his back, sliding down his spine and wrapping around his thigh. Clinging to the rail Vin began to wonder if he shouldn’t have just stayed put.
Nathan sighed into his cup of coffee, taking a few moments to relax was always a risky prospect when Vin Tanner was his patient. The man hated being told to stay put even more than Ezra, although he was less sneaky about his escapes. He hoped that the promise of returning with breakfast would entice the stubborn tracker to stay in bed, well that and leaving JD to play guard dog.
JD who was, at this very moment, strolling down the boardwalk towards the jail.
"Aw hell." Nathan swallowed down the last of his coffee, silently vowing to make good on his threat to tie Vin down if the other man had truly been stupid enough to try and leave the clinic.
"God dammit! Where do you think you’re goin’? Thought you promised to stay in bed? Can't take my eyes off you for a minute, can I? I wonder why I bother sometimes." Vin had the decency to look ashamed.
"Sorry Nate."
"Two bullet holes ain't enough to make you see sense? How hurt do you have to be before you'll actually listen to me? You think I'm making you stay just for the fun of it?" He met Vin halfway up the stairs, the man really hadn't been able to get far anyway.
"Sorry Nate."
"You think I talk just to hear my own voice, don't you?"
"Sorry Nate."
"Don't know what'd happen if you ever did actually do what I tell ya."
"Sorry Nate."
Nathan snorted and rubbed his face with both hands.
"Yeah, I know."
Original drabble
Hanging onto the rail with both hands Vin struggled to stay upright as he escaped from the confines of the clinic
"Thought you promised to stay in bed? Can't take my eyes off you for a minute, can I? I wonder why I bother sometimes." Vin had the decency to look ashamed.
"Sorry Nate."
"Two bullet holes ain't enough to make you see sense? How hurt do you have to be before you'll actually listen to me? You think I'm making you stay just for the fun of it?" He met Vin halfway up the stairs, the man really hadn't been able to get far anyway.
"Sorry Nate."
"You think I talk just to hear my own voice, don't you?"
"Sorry Nate."
"Don't know what'd happen if you ever did actually do what I tell ya."
"Sorry Nate."
Nathan snorted and rubbed his face with both hands.
"Yeah, I know."