Alex and Cecilia | Just A Little Scratch

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Alex Summers injures himself. Cecilia Reyes responds with her characteristic bedside manner.

Alex had been in the mansion long enough that it wasn't particularly a surprise to any of the doctors when he limped in with one injury or another.

Today he was hopping, his ankle having rolled the wrong way when he'd landed on what had otherwise been a perfect jump on the skate ramp. He grinned when he saw Cecilia on duty. He was pretty sure she hated him, but she was still fun.

"Hey Doctor Reyes!" He grabbed the door frame to balance himself. He'd hopped all the way down there from the backyard, and his uninjured leg was starting to hurt more than the rolled ankle.

"Oh, Jesus Christ, Summers." Cecilia didn't roll her eyes, because her tone meant she didn't need to. "What's it been, like, three minutes since the last accident? Twelve seconds?" She stood from her chair, unable to help the smallest of smiles. "You need a wheelchair to get you to a table? We're not a hospital, but I can get you one."

"It's been five whole days!" Alex said proudly as he hopped over to the table. "Nah, I got this, I hopped all the way down here. I think I have a secondary mutation in left leg, makes it super duper strong." He pulled himself up onto the table, clearly stupidly proud of himself.

"No, Alex," Cecilia said dryly, "that's just what happens when you don't break your bones." She walked to the table, grabbing a few things off counters as she approached. "Biking, skating, skiing or powers?" Her voice was weary. It couldn't be helped.

"Skating," Alex said as he worked off the shoe on his injured foot. "Landed at a bad angle and tried to stop myself with my foot, just rolled it a bit."

"Uh-huh." Cecilia didn't look impressed. "Probably just a sprain, if anything, but we'll do some tests to make sure it's nothing more serious. Didn't hear any snapping or anything, I take it."

"Nope, no snapping," Alex confirmed with a nod. "Bent a little more than it has before, definitely saw a new angle, but all and all it wasn't too bad."

"A new angle. Well." She pursed her lips. "Good." Cecilia finally reached down and helped Alex remove his shoe, dropping it to the ground. "You know," she said as she began to pull off his sock, "I'm concerned we might be dealing with something more serious."

Alex raised an eyebrow, tilting his head. "Yeah? What's that? Will I ever skate again?"

"That depends, doesn't it?" She gently removed his sock, dropping it into his shoe. Then she stood and turned to grab an ice pack from the freezer. "There are some chronic conditions that are beyond my medical expertise."

"Aw, don't sell yourself short Doc. You're a genius, I'm sure there's nothing you can't solve."

"I don't know, Alex." She began rooting around in the freezer. "There's no cure for stupid." The freezer door slammed shut.

Alex bit down a laugh at that. "You might be right about that. Stupid is a pretty hard thing to cure."

"Now, see," she turned back toward him, eyebrows raised, "if you don't laugh a little, it just seems mean."

"Oh, I thought you were trying to teach me a lesson or something." Alex grinned.

"Might be too late for that." Cecilia smiled a little, unable to help but respond to his smile in kind. She tossed the ice pack to him. "Hold on to that for a sec." She plopped into a nearby stool and rolled toward him. "What's your pain like, 1-10? What kind of pain, where, all that?"

"Probably is, alas," Alex said as he caught the ice pack, putting it on his ankle. "Pain is about a four or so, mostly here." He traced the joint of his ankle and along the inside of his foot.

"Got it." She grabbed a pair of gloves before stopping in front of the table. "Take the ice off for a minute." She leaned toward his foot, looking for swelling. "Any parts of you I haven't fixed yet, Summers?"

He took the ice away at her request. "My head!" He said proudly, knocking his fist against his hard old noggin. "Always wear a helmet. Safety first and all that."

"Not convinced you weren't dropped on it at some point," Cecilia said dryly, channeling her best Alan Rickman, "but I guess we'll never know." She touched his ankle very gingerly, then looked at up at him. "I don't think it's broken. So you've got that going for you."

"That wouldn't be my fault though," Alex pointed out, wincing just slightly when she touched his ankle. "It doesn't hurt that much really. I mean definitely twinges, but I've had worse."

"Well, like I said, probably just a sprain. We'll find you some crutches and wrap it. Get you another big bottle of Advil from the CVS. But I think you're gonna live." She looked back down at his foot, placing her hands on it. "Gonna have to move it around a bit to find out, though. Just to see how it moves. So don't be a big macho man, and tell me if it hurts."

"'Kay." Alex hopped down onto his good foot - figuring that landing with his full weight on the injured foot would be a bad idea - and gingerly set the injured one down, walking around in a few slow circle with a noticeable hobble. "It's...kinda like....it hurts, absolutely, but it's kinda like I have a cramp that just won't go away hurt? As opposed to OMG I AM DYING hurt."

"Uh-huh." Cecilia watched him, a small smile coming to her face. "Alex," she said, finally, "you know I meant I'd have to move it around, right? Like, with my hands."

"....Oh." He paused for a minute before grinning. "Well. This works just as well."

Cecilia laughed. "Not quite. Sit back down, Tony Hawk, and let's get this show on the road."