xp_logs | Jan and Hank - Broken (Reply)

Jan wakes up in the Medlab and discovers the extent of her injuries and disturbing facts about what they mean for her. Backdated.

Jan opened her eyes, taking in her surroundings. She was pretty sure she wasn't dead, but then again, how would someone know what being dead was like if they'd never been dead before? She remembered the plane and hitting the ground and being brought back with the group, but everything in between and after that was pretty hazy.

Hank hurried in, "Jan," he said in worried voice. "I don't mean to alarm you, but can you hear me?" Taking his penlight out, he set down his Netbook and shined the bright beam into her fluttering eyes.

"Yeah, I can hear you," she said weakly. "Ow. I'm not dead, am I? I think my head wouldn't feel all weird if I was dead. Ooh, pretty light..."

With a snort, Hank put the light away and picked the Netbook back up. "No, no, you're not dead. Though I must say it's not for a lack of trying. What can you recall from our little scrap with Magnetic North?"

"Um... they're sneaky?" Jan offered. She frowned a bit, trying to recall further details. "They had that invisible girl and the handsy feral and then I tried to be sneaky but that electrokinetic guy was on the plane and I don't think my zaps worked on him very well."

"It would appear they did not, I'm afraid. You were thrown out of the plane, your leg broke, your wrist and three fingers too." He quipped his mouth, "How are you feeling?"

"Like someone threw me out of a plane?" Jan tried to joke back. She looked over at the cast on her arm. "I guess at least it's the left side... hurts, though."

"I've had you on painkillers, but we'll add a few more now that you're up and amongst the aware. Nothing hurts more than anything else though, no headache? Who's the current president?" Hank sat down on the edge of the bed and opened up his Netbook, reading the data from the various machines hooked up to Jan.

"George Washington," Jan said, deadpan, before laughing. "Ow! I think the painkillers are doing their job except when I laugh. And since we're not living like hundreds of years ago, unless we traveled back in time and no one told me, Barack Obama's the president now."

Hank chuckled and got up, "The good news is that you don't have any brain damage as far as I can tell." His smile faded as his words continued interrupted by a tiny pause. "The bad news is, I'm afraid, that you'll be my guest for a few days."

"How many days?" Jan asked. "I'm already missing class. I'm going to miss the whole week, aren't I? Oh well, at least I don't have any tests this week. I get a doctor's note, right?"

"Calm down," Hank put a comforting but firm hand on her shoulder. "First, yes, you will be getting a doctor's note and if your professors don't like it, I'll come talk to them personally. Second, I'm only anticipating a few days in bed, then a little while in a wheel chair, then some physical therapy with crutches. Finally, relax. You getting worked up over what you're missing will only make your recovery take longer."

"A wheelchair?" Jan made a face. "I'm used to zipping down halls by being tiny and flying, not in a chair on wheels. I think I'd rather do that, you know, travel tiny and then just be big and use crutches when I have to."

"Jan," Hank paused again, trying to think of how to best frame what he had to say next. "In my professional opinion, shrinking will only exacerbate your current injuries."

Jan stared at the doctor. "What?"

"While the bone has been set in your fully grown form, we don't know how shrinking will effect the break and it could further injure your leg." Hank sighed, "It's never easy not being able to use our abilities to their fullest, but I can promise that this is not permanent."

"No shrinking?" Shrinking had been the last of her powers to develop, but it was her favorite. It made flying so much easier and she hadn't ever had to worry about accidentally shrinking and hurting someone while she'd had to wear gloves for a few years so she wouldn't zap anyone.

"That's the short version, yes," Hank replied with a sympathetic sigh.

"Well, that sucks." Jan made a face. "So, how long do I need to stay full-sized before I can shrink again?"

"At this point I can't make any promises, but we will incorporate your size reduction into our physical therapy- should you choose to go through us for it." Admittedly there weren't many more choices for mutants around the Westchester area, but it was always good to give the illusion of options.

"Where else would I go? I mean, you and Dr. Voght are real doctors, there's no place better around here for me to get better," Jan said. "I don't think most physical therapy place incorporate wings into the deal, either."

"Speaking of which, how are they feeling? We had to modify the bed to accommodate them and I didn't detect any injury to them, but it is hard to tell."

"Yeah, looks can be deceiving with them. They look all fragile, like they'll break at a touch, but they're actually pretty strong. Wouldn't be able to hold me up in the air if they weren't." Jan grinned a bit. "Huh, I hadn't even thought about the fact that I'm on my back. I don't usually do that, you know. Wings won't break, but they're not exactly cushioned and comfortable to sleep on."

"We can be thankful for that then," Hank smiled and gave her shoulder a squeeze. "For now though, Doctor Voght and I would be delighted if you would just rest and heal. We'll see to your classes and what-not, so don't worry yourself with any of that." Getting up he took a syringe he'd had in his coat pocket out and uncapped it. "I'm going to give you some painkillers, is there anything else I can do for you at the moment? Anyone you'd like to see?" He injected the painkillers into the IV-line.

"I'm sure Kyle will come to see me," Jan replied. "Not sure who else knows I'm in here except for the people who saw me go splat. When do I get to leave? And will I need to take stuff for the entire time I'm getting better or just today or what?"

"You'll leave when you're well enough to and not a moment sooner," Hank disposed of the used needle in the proper receptacle and put his hands into the pockets of his coat. "As for the painkillers, you'll be able to regulate them after today with the call button. While you're here we'll slowly wean you onto smaller dosages and when you leave, it will be with prescribed pills that you can use conservatively."

Jan made a face, then looked at her uninjured hand, turning it to look at it from all sides. "What about zapping?" she mused out loud. "Is that also not good to do for healing and stuff? I guess that's not a good thing to do with all of this equipment around, too."

"I don't anticipate you needing to zap anything while you're down here, but I don't think it will do anything aside from disrupting the equipment and setting off some alarms that you've stopped living." With a chuckle he headed for the door, "I'll let Kyle know you've woken up, if that's alright."

"Sure," Jan said, then grinned a bit as the extra painkillers started to kick in. "He's not used to seeing me on my back, you know. I always get to be the one on top."