Alison & Madelyn, Medlab

[x-dazzler.livejournal.com]

Wednesday, early afternoon. Madelyn gets a surprise visit from one of the better patients in the mansion. Alison earns herself a lollipop and is generally a bit zany - they say lack of sleep does that to you.

I don't have a surfeit of those nasty hormones which turns people of a certain gender persuasion stupid in the head. Life is good.

When Madelyn's pager went off, announcing the presence of a patient in the medlab, she rolled her eyes and proceeded to make a bet with herself. Nathan or Haroun. Or possibly Scott. Definitely one of those. As she walked in, shrugging into her labcoat, she was already saying: "What is it with you men and injuring yourselves and calling it training? Unless of course it's me that needs the practice..."

Alison, leaning on one of the beds, looked up and gave Madelyn a somewhat bemused look as she entered the room grumbling. "Ah..." It was too good to pass up. She pulled at her tank top a bit, peeking down, then looked up at Madelyn again. "Nope. No manliness here I'm afraid. I try to avoid pain too, best as I can. It's not fun and I don't like it." Either Scott had wandered in here already - or he hadn't. She wasn't sure which was worse, but she wasn't about to ask and possibly rat him out.

"I'll be double damned," Madelyn said, halting in her tracks. "I knew there were training sessions on today, but I really didn't think I'd be seeing you today. Or any other day, for that matter." Remembering that she was in fact the doctor and here was a patient needing help, she collected herself and came forward. "What's the problem?"

"Promise you won't laugh?" Alison asked plaintively, giving her a pleading look. One Miles had taught her, actually. It was frighteningly effective. "Because this is very embarrassing and all the other people who bounce off the walls like it's nothing will laugh at me if they ever find out. And I don't want that." Maybe throwing in the pout was too much, but hey, she was still having fun with this. And it kept her from thinking of why she'd been distracted enough to trip on her own shoelace in the first place.

"Can I smirk? Because if it's silly enough, there will be smirking. Mind you, it can't be worse than Nate setting Haroun on fire." Madelyn was largely impervious to Looks, pleading or otherwise, but she liked Alison and since the other woman was definitely on the low maintenance side, she was willing to give her some slack. "And I've never found bouncing off walls all that enjoyable."

"It's fun if it's in the hallway on the first floor and you're playing tag with Miles," Alison corrected her seriously, focusing on the last comment. "It's not so fun when you trip on your damn shoe lace while innocently heading outside and tumble not so nicely down half a flight of stairs." She glared down at the offending running shoe, a lace clearly broken and staring up at her without any repentance at all. "Think I pulled something, but not sure. It feels funny when I walk."

"Which leg? The previously injured one?" There was something of a smirk, but Madelyn covered it well as she switched over to Doctor Mode. "Any pain specifically?"

"Yeah, that one. Stupid leg." She glared down at it, grumbling now. "And it's just a numb sort of feeling." She lifted her leg up, placing it on the bed while balancing on her good leg easily. "Down there and up through the knee to here." A fingertip glided over a precise set of muscles and tendons. "It's not huge but I know better than to let it pass. I've seen stage dancers ruin their careers by ignoring the small things."

"I knew there was a reason I liked you. Apart from the whole tending towards keeping yourself in one piece, you don't do that stupid stoic thing that's such an epidemic here." Madelyn noted where Alison was pointed, and patted the bed. "Hop up and I'll have a look at it. My guess is you might have pinched a nerve, but I'd like to make sure there's no muscular damage. Old injuries can be tricky like that."

"Stoic? Me?" Alison snickered. "I'm a wuss, didn't you know that already? I break a nail and it's the end of the world." She winked and then hopped on the bed lightly, settling down comfortably. "I don't have a surfeit of those nasty hormones which turns people of a certain gender persuasion stupid in the head. Life is good." She grinned endearingly at Madelyn.

"Amen to that, sister," Madelyn deadpanned. She carefully felt the muscles in question, looking for hotspots or signs of discomfort - given the comment about the broken nails, she figured Alison would let her know if there were any. "As maladaptations go, the tendency for men to hurt themselves stupidly and then not get help is up there with an inability to ask for directions."

"Ow. That was an ow spot. Not much ow but just enough to be ow. That one too." Alison nodded at her assessment. Yep. Ow. "And see, that's when you hit them over the head and drag them into the medlab. Although some occasionally agree to be dragged in without too much protest. It depends which ones you get." An impish smile followed. "I'm thinking of starting a company, actually. Drag silly men hurting themselves in training to the medlab. Happened twice last week. I could make big money."

"I think it also helps if you're wearing a bathing suit at the time," Madelyn said blandly, but with that evil twinkle in her eyes, even as she paid attention to the ow places. Some twisting, resulting in a little tissue damage. Nothing serious, but it could do with some ice and an anti-inflammatory. "At least, to hear Cecilia tell it. Apparently she was considering a bucket of cold water for you and Haroun?"

"I was already cold anyway and Haroun was just being a flirt." Alison said, shaking her head. "He does that a lot. He's very good at it." Yes. Good. Very good. "Which you know," she added with an amused grin, before wincing a bit. "And I wasn't wearing a bathing suit when I brought Nathan in, which is good because Moira aiming at me with one of her shotguns I do not want happening, thank you very much. Am a wuss," she murmured mournfully. "Ow. But I think that's all there is of owieness though. Can you tell I'm picking up Miles' speech patterns?"

"Just a tad. To all of the above." Finishing her examination of the offending leg, Madelyn moved to get both an icepack and the anti-inflammatory pills. "There doesn't seem to be any tendon strain or actual tearing, but for now ice it and take a couple of these. Come back and see me if it's still bothering you in the next few days."

Eyeing the pills, Alison wrinkled her nose - no pain killers though, which was good. Although Madelyn would know all about how she reacted to those, from the no doubt very meticulous notes Hank had put in her files the last time. Which she had completely forgotten about (damn pills) until Sam reminded her. Change of thoughts now, that was a good idea. "Yes, doctor," she said meekly, accepting the pills without further comment. "Any restrictions or I can go hop along as much as I please?" There was vaguely hopeful look about her on the latter subject.

"Light exercise only - keep it mobile or it'll seize up on you, but don't put too much strain on it, or it'll get worse. If it starts hurting more, or doesn't ease up by the end of the week, back in here, okay?" Madelyn handed her the ice pack. "No painkillers, I know, but this should help take the pain and swelling down."

No sparring. Hrm. Mixed blessing, really - Alison did want to push things further there, but not by being stupid. "Ok, no sparring then. Light exercise is fine thought, right? And it's ok, I'm used to this kind of stuff," she shrugged, shaking her head. "I've pulled muscles before during some of the live shows and all that. I know how the icing down routine goes - five minutes every hour for the next forty-eight hours except when I'm sleeping," she droned on, letting her eyes half-close, as though repeating something she'd heard over and over and over again. And then peeked up at Madelyn innocently.

Madelyn laughed. "Okay, fine no more instructions. It's a habit I got into dealing with stubborn patients who seem to think 'take things easy and heal' means 'go out and do your worst to put yourself in a hospital bed'." She shrugged a little. "And not just here. Ordinary people can be just as stupid as the superhero variety. Still, it's nice to deal with someone sensible for a change." A mischievous look crossed her face as she put her hands in the pocket of her coat. "I usually do this for the little ones when they've been good, but would Alison like a lollipop for being such a good girl?"

The woman was a mind reader, although Alison carefully made sure to play along - she had firmly intended to walk out of the place with a lollipop. It was, after all, the ultimate sign that the medlab staff approved of you if you earned yourself one of those and weren't under ten. "Oooh!" She leaned forward just a bit and widened her eyes, playing the part fully. "Red?" Bright hope gleamed through and she smiled cheerfully as she sat on the edge of the table. And managed not to burst into laughter just yet, somehow.

"Wouldn't dream of anything less than the full scary food coloring high," Madelyn agreed solemnly, maintaining the game despite the twitching of her lips. She pulled a couple of lollipops out of her pocket and handed a red one to Alison, and then a green one. "For Miles. So he doesn't pout at you."

"I have been a goooood girl," Alison replied wisely, adding on a bright smile in response. And the red ones were her favorites. Claiming both prizes, she slid off the table, unwrapping the red one on the spot. "Thank you, Doctor Madelyn!" she added in a sing song voice as she headed for the door, after having stashed away the pills she had been given for later. Maybe taking a nap wouldn't be a bad idea after all...