xp_logs | Thermopylae Aftermath

Hank doesn't quite manage to get Nathan settled... or even all the way into a room... before Amanda sees him. The encounter doesn't do his leg or her opinion of him any good, but he convinces her to handle the healing more cautiously this time.

Hank was moving fast but carefully, limping on the bad leg... but he needed both hands, one to steady the gurney, one to make sure nothing bumped it. Nathan was unconscious again, fortunately... he'd have time to get him to one of the isolation rooms, fill Moira in, and find Amanda and let her know what they needed....

Moira had asked her to wait in her office until they'd had a chance to evaluate what injuries needed what help, but the rapid babble on the radio had mentioned Nathan was hurt, and she couldn't just sit back and wait... Amanda was hovering in the doorway as the gurney approached, pushed by Kurt with McCoy accompanying, but those were details lost on her as her vision narrowed, focussed on the close cropped grey hair, matted with blood, the familiar face, bruised and battered. "Nate!" she cried out, and the cry was wrenched from the core of her, anguished and frightened. Instinctively she lunged forward, the healing spell already coming to mind - she could help, she had to stop this, she couldn't let him...

Hank heard the cry and turned to see Amanda lunging towards the gurney. "Amanda, no!" he barked, reaching out to catch her shoulders, pushing her back as she tried to dive past him. "Amanda, listen to me-"

"Let me go, you stupid wanker!" she retorted, struggling to get past him. "He's hurt, I need to..." She managed to slip under one massive furry arm, desperately trying to reach the gurney. "He's gunna _die_ an' I have t' help him, you tosser!"

"He's not going to die, he's not critically hurt, but he DOES have a spinal injury and you must not jostle him!" Hank snapped, pulling her back again. He held on, this time, just in case she still wasn't listening. "Amanda, listen to me. I know you want to heal him, but-"

Blindly she kicked out, not really registering Hank's words now or even really who he was, knowing only he was keeping her from Nate and Nate was hurt, badly this time. "Lemme go!" she screamed this time, accent thickening. "Fuckin' well get yer bloody hands off me!"

Hank yelped as she kicked the injured leg, only sheer force of will keeping him from passing out with the pain, smacking the little wretch, or both. "Amanda!" he roared, right into her face. "If you want to help Nate, you have to listen to me FIRST." There. Surely THAT had to register. Any closer and he would have closed his mouth on her nose. "I need you to help him, but you have to listen!"

For a second it seemed she would keep struggling, caught up in panic and fear - it wasn't just Nate now, Hank's hands reminded far too much of London's Finest, of being arrested more than once on vagrancy charges. But the words, rather than the volume, sank in, and she stopped trying to escape, even as Kurt finished wheeling the gurney into the exam room. "What?" she snapped, obviously still wanting to twist away, but restraining herself. "What's so bloody important you've got t' stop me helpin' him _now_?"

Hank let go, as soon as she stopped trying to get at his patient. "I'm sorry to have had to restrain you, but Nathan has an injury to his spine. No sudden jolts," he said more gently. "I know you're afraid for him, but you'll have to be careful around him for a while, all right?"

Amanda nodded, jerking her arm away from Hank's hand. "Then I help him, yeah? With the healin' magic? 'Cause fuck, there's no way I'm leavin' him paralysed or somethin'."

"He won't be paralyzed. His chances would be very good even without healing." Hank took a deep breath, rubbing his eyes tiredly, and tried to sound calm. "But yes, I want you to use your healing. But only on his spine. His other injuries, while painful and a bit gory, will heal on their own. Save your strength for the crucial injury."

She opened her mouth to protest, possibly to call Hank another uniquely English name, perhaps pillock this time, and then closed it. It made sense, and if anyone else needed help... "Fine," she said curtly, still studiously avoiding touching Hank at all. "I'll wait 'til you say it's all right, yeah? Wouldn't want t' get in the way or nothin'." Her speech patterns had regressed too, back to the rough East London accent she'd arrived with.

"Damaged bone, I know, takes a lot of your strength," Hank said gently. "Do what you can, but don't exhaust yourself. A series of gentle nudges will work just as well as one long draining push, and I'd like you to have a reserve, just in case something does go wrong. But I know how important he is to you, and I won't ask you to use up magic on anyone else, not unless it's a real emergency. Just... make sure you'll still be able to help him tomorrow, okay?"

She tore her eyes from the still form on the gurney, looking briefly at Hank. "Important don't even begin t' cover it, doc," she said, and for an instant her face showed the naked fear. "Just... get in there an' let me know when I can do me thing, all right? I'll be careful, I swear, just let's stop this fuckin' around."

"As soon as he's settled. We won't waste any time, I promise you," Hank said gently. "I need to get him onto a bed and fully immobilized, before you get started. In the meantime, will you find Moira and reassure her that Nathan will be okay? I'm sure he'd like to have both of you here."

Moira. Fuck, she'd forgotten Moira, like the selfish cow she was... "Sure," she said, looking back down the hallway that led to the hanger where Moira and the new doctor, that dead woman, were. "Just be a sec."

"I'll get him ready." Hank nodded. And he thought of Nathan's plaintive 'I want to go home', as he turned back to his patient. It had been the mention of Amanda and Moira that had sparked those pleading words. He would make sure that Amanda and Moira were right there when Nate woke up again.