Too much like a bad dream/another memory lashes outcal_sitterJuly 5 2009, 06:40:00 UTC
A good sixteen hours pass between the time Rafferty compels Niko to sleep and the lightening of that slumber. It's been proper sleep, unmarred by bad dreams or other disturbances. With the effects of the healer's command fading, however, Niko becomes restless. One of any number of nightmares is manifesting. Niko is a quiet sleeper, and so the primary sign that he's dreaming at all is the grasping of empty fingers at the mattress beneath. Muscle memory tells him a knife should be at hand
( ... )
Too much like a bad dream/another memory lashes outworksmartJuly 6 2009, 16:09:14 UTC
Chase uses the breaks between clinic work and his hospital duties to take rounds of some of the wards there. It's become habit, partly to keep up with patients who only briefly passed through his care, and in part an extension of House's innate distrust in nurses being capable of anything more than taking temperatures and handing out pills. He's walked the floor in the ICU and the hospital's underbooked cardiovascular unit, with Niko's ward the last stopping point on his list. Most of the last month's critical cases have been cleared up and kicked out, but there are a few lingering patients taking up beds while they see out the final flushes of fever, or build their strength back up.
File unhooked from the wall outside, he leans in the doorframe and watches the boy in the bed squirm for a few moments before moving to flick off the light directly above his bed.
"What were you looking for?" he questions softly, referring to the motions made while still on the cusp of sleep, a frantic, fruitless search.
Too much like a bad dream/another memory lashes outcal_sitterJuly 6 2009, 19:33:38 UTC
"Hmm?" The response is given in the sleep-thickened voice of the truly groggy. Niko drops his hand from his eyes and squints at the silhouette in the doorway. Not a nurse, not Robin, most definitely not Promise.
Chase, he realizes as he belatedly recognizes the voice. For a moment, he contemplates sitting up, but in the next moment it seems like too much effort, and he remains where he is.
Too much like a bad dream/another memory lashes outworksmartJuly 6 2009, 20:06:40 UTC
"Still worried about my patient load? I'm touched." Heading over to the bed, Chase makes sure the call button is hanging within quick reach, even if Niko only needs to be pulled from a nightmare. The room lacks the accessories given to the truly at risk - no oxygen monitor, no tubes or feeds or other blinking lights to take check readings on. To a doctor it's a reassuring sign. To the patient still stuck in the hospital, it's likely the set up isn't first in their thoughts.
He opens the file and skim reads the chart inside by the remaining half-light. By now he's used to seeing sign offs by unregistered doctors, 'healers' and people with a nifty gift for using white light. He doesn't like, understand or particularly respect it, but he's used to it.
Niko's had visitors, and that's been marked in on his chart, too. "I'd have expected to find you raring to go by now." He tugs a chair closer to the bed, leaning on the back of it rather than sitting down. "Looks like you've had some sleep at least."
Too much like a bad dream/another memory lashes outcal_sitterJuly 6 2009, 20:20:52 UTC
Chase is right. The setup isn't in Niko's thoughts at all beyond the acknowledgment that, hooray, there are no tubes. He hopes, fervently, to keep it that way.
"You'll find, if you're ever in a relationship with a vampire," Niko replies conversationally, "that when she says stay and truly means it, you'll stay." He finds it uncomfortable to have someone who's a friendly acquaintance at best hovering over him, and from there comes a renewed motivation to be upright. With a wince, he shifts to a semi-seated position, the wall and pillows at his back to support him.
Too much like a bad dream/another memory lashes outworksmartJuly 6 2009, 20:35:38 UTC
If it's any consolation, Chase is likely to be the only medical professional doing any hovering today. Niko's last stay earned him something of a reputation with the staff, and those that don't enjoy being held in a chokehold will understandably be keeping their distance.
He raises his eyebrows slightly at what could be a criticism of the hospital's treatment or merely Niko's condition in general. "I keep telling them to restock the soda machine but," he feigns helplessness, "Not my jurisdiction. Or do you mean something else?"
Too much like a bad dream/another memory lashes outcal_sitterJuly 6 2009, 20:54:51 UTC
Again, Niko will point out if the chokehold incident is brought up, that he was delirious at the time and responding as he had been conditioned to respond to perceived threats. No malice was consciously intended. He wonders what Robin said to the staff, if they're so afraid of him, that's kept him out of restraints.
"Rafferty doesn't have a functioning sense of taste." It's the only explanation for the microwave dinners he passes off as food. "He didn't tell me exactly what he sensed."
Too much like a bad dream/another memory lashes outworksmartJuly 6 2009, 21:55:28 UTC
"Helpful of him. Did he tell you if he fixed it?" Chokeholds while delirous are own thing, threats while entirely sane another. Chase isn't particularly fond of either display, but a conversation he had either a couple of weeks or fifteen years ago sticks in his mind. He'd find it hard to blame anyone for hating hospitals.
There's a trolley left in the corner of the room by the last nurse to come by for standard checks, and Chase rifles through it until he finds a sterile thermometer.
Too much like a bad dream/another memory lashes outcal_sitterJuly 6 2009, 23:07:17 UTC
"It doesn't work that way." Niko's seen more than he cares to of how Rafferty's ability operates. Briefly, he recalls a shabbier version of the room he's in, the floor the same institutional linoleum and stained with blood. It's a bad moment, one that threatens to lead to another floor and other stains, and he shakes it off. He's already been too open with Chase, with more than his own secrets.
Too much like a bad dream/another memory lashes outworksmartJuly 7 2009, 12:56:23 UTC
Reaching into the top pocket of his coat, Chase pulls out a pen torch, making sure to hold it up in front of Niko's face before shining the narrow beam across his eyes. That light sensitivity earlier doesn't have to mean anything more than the usual discomfort upon waking, provided pupil reaction here is normal.
"I wouldn't know how it works, and I'm not going to unless somebody buys me a clue." he mutters, dispensing with the torch again in favour of checking the thermometer's reading. "You'll appreciate that makes it difficult knowing where to continue treatment from. Temperature's right down, though, that's a good sign."
And that goes into one of the little cardboard trays for non sterile implements. Chase folds his arms. "Sleep's one of the best natural healing mechanisms we've got. Looks like you needed it."
Too much like a bad dream/another memory lashes outcal_sitterJuly 7 2009, 20:51:58 UTC
The light still hurts, though Niko forbears until Chase is finished. He can understand the doctor's frustration. People want the comfort of the world they know. For most doctors, that world is scientifically quantified, with perhaps a touch of luck or faith or human stubbornness added to the mix. A healer whose methods bypass sutures and bloodwork is difficult to fit into their training.
If Chase wants to understand, then Niko can try to explain.
"Rafferty can only help the body do what it's naturally capable of. He can seal a wound, bolster the immune system, induce sleep." The last is said with wry acceptance. "There's no destroying a virus with a mystical laying on of hands."
Reply
File unhooked from the wall outside, he leans in the doorframe and watches the boy in the bed squirm for a few moments before moving to flick off the light directly above his bed.
"What were you looking for?" he questions softly, referring to the motions made while still on the cusp of sleep, a frantic, fruitless search.
Reply
Chase, he realizes as he belatedly recognizes the voice. For a moment, he contemplates sitting up, but in the next moment it seems like too much effort, and he remains where he is.
"Finished in the waiting room already?"
Reply
He opens the file and skim reads the chart inside by the remaining half-light. By now he's used to seeing sign offs by unregistered doctors, 'healers' and people with a nifty gift for using white light. He doesn't like, understand or particularly respect it, but he's used to it.
Niko's had visitors, and that's been marked in on his chart, too. "I'd have expected to find you raring to go by now." He tugs a chair closer to the bed, leaning on the back of it rather than sitting down. "Looks like you've had some sleep at least."
Reply
"You'll find, if you're ever in a relationship with a vampire," Niko replies conversationally, "that when she says stay and truly means it, you'll stay." He finds it uncomfortable to have someone who's a friendly acquaintance at best hovering over him, and from there comes a renewed motivation to be upright. With a wince, he shifts to a semi-seated position, the wall and pillows at his back to support him.
"Rafferty wasn't happy with what he found."
Reply
He raises his eyebrows slightly at what could be a criticism of the hospital's treatment or merely Niko's condition in general. "I keep telling them to restock the soda machine but," he feigns helplessness, "Not my jurisdiction. Or do you mean something else?"
Reply
"Rafferty doesn't have a functioning sense of taste." It's the only explanation for the microwave dinners he passes off as food. "He didn't tell me exactly what he sensed."
Reply
There's a trolley left in the corner of the room by the last nurse to come by for standard checks, and Chase rifles through it until he finds a sterile thermometer.
"Can you hold this under your tongue for me?"
Reply
The thermometer is accepted without argument.
Reply
"I wouldn't know how it works, and I'm not going to unless somebody buys me a clue." he mutters, dispensing with the torch again in favour of checking the thermometer's reading. "You'll appreciate that makes it difficult knowing where to continue treatment from. Temperature's right down, though, that's a good sign."
And that goes into one of the little cardboard trays for non sterile implements. Chase folds his arms. "Sleep's one of the best natural healing mechanisms we've got. Looks like you needed it."
Reply
If Chase wants to understand, then Niko can try to explain.
"Rafferty can only help the body do what it's naturally capable of. He can seal a wound, bolster the immune system, induce sleep." The last is said with wry acceptance. "There's no destroying a virus with a mystical laying on of hands."
Reply
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