Young Justice: The next Generation

Patch you up

A few days later Nathan returned to school. His father managed to make a story about a car accident that occurred while visiting family out of town to explain his injuries

He sustained a concussion, a cracked skull, 2 broken ribs on each side, a broken collar bone and a broken ankle along with many large painful hematomas all over his body.

When the lunch bell rang Melanie met him at his locker and stood with him as he took 2 pain killers.

"How are you feeling?" She asked as they began walking to the cafeteria, rather slowly since he was on a crutch

"Sore all over" he groaned

"Good" Melanie stated

Nathan looked toward her

"What were you thinking taking him on your own? Heck your father doesn't even take him on by himself and he's been fighting him since he was 9!" She said in a calm yet aggravated tone

Nathan shrugged "I wanted to prove that I could do things on my own" he said simply

Melanie looked over at him "Well Joker was not an ideal candidate for that"

Nathan nodded "Yeah I think I realized that as I was passing out after getting hammered in the head with a crowbar" he said sarcastically rubbing the back of his head. She noticed the bandaging coming loose

"Do you want me to change your bandages? I know a janitor closet that's never used and always unlocked we can hide in there while I fix them" she rose an eyebrow

He grinned "You just want to get me alone in a closet" he sent her a wink

Melanie narrowed her eyes at him

"Sorry I don't know where that came from. I think these pain killers are getting to my head" He grinned

Melanie rolled her eyes and laughed

As they made their way down the hallway to her locker where the medical supplies was stashed Nathan decided to take a break from the crutch and lean on Melanie for support. They ran into Andrew and he grinned "Hey there Nathan, how ya feeling on your first day back?" He asked

Nathan sent him the best smile he could forge "I'm doing as well as I can"

Andrew nodded and looked at Melanie "Mel Bell, since I have that meeting with the future farmers of America this afternoon the principal said I could go to your lunch today. Isn't that awesome? Come on!" He waved down the opposite direction of the hall.

Melanie shook her head "Sorry I can't, I have to take care of Nathan" she excused

Andrew looked at the two of them "What do you mean?"

"I have to help him with his bandage " she gestured to the boy with an arm around her shoulder

"Can't the nurse do that? I'll help you bring him to the nurse" Andrew offered

Nathan pushed off Melanie and repositioned himself on his crutch "Go on Mel he's right I'll go to the nurse " he said in reassurance

Melanie hesitantly took a step forward then looked back at Nathan and shook her head "Sorry Andrew I don't trust that the nurse will do it right. If I patch him up I'll feel better" she sighed stepping back toward Nathan

Andrew nodded in defeat " Alright I guess I get it, y'all have been buddies since diapers so it's all good. I guess I'll see ya later" he leaned forward and pecked Melanie's cheek before walking toward the cafeteria.

Once he was gone Melanie grabbed Nathan's arm and slung it back over her shoulder. They made their way to her locker where she gathered supplies. Nathan hacked into the school's security and temporarily shut down the security cameras. Buying them just enough time for him to carefully climb onto her back and allow her to super speed down the empty school hallway to the janitor's closet.

Once they were in there Nathan pulled the string to turn the light on, while Melanie locked the door. She took a seat on an upside down old mop bucket "Take your shirt off" she instructed her head down as she began to pull the bandaging out of her backpack.

Nathan obeyed and shrugged off his Gotham Academy blazer then he unbuttoned his white shirt

Melanie looked up and saw him, even though his shirt was off his whole abdomen was completely covered by the white bandage,

"So where are we starting first?" she asked

Nathan smiled "Let's do my ribs, because you won't have to rebandage my head I'm allowed to start keeping it uncovered more now" he explained

She nodded and took the medical scissors. Melanie carefully stepped forward and gently cut through the wrapping on Nathans stomach finally she was done and in one piece peeled it off him.

She stepped back and eyed him, his toned abs and pecks almost completely discolored with one large purple bruise on both sides

"This is your first time seeing it huh?" he asked

Melanie nodded

"These are from the Baseball bat" he explained pointing to the bruises on his chest

"The broken ribs are probably from both" he told her then turned around to show her his equally bruised back "This is from the bat"

"The broken ankle and most of the other bruises are from the bat, the concussion and cracked skull are a result of the crowbar" he told her turning back around to face her

"They say Joker is going to be in a body cast for at least 3 months" she said softly

Nathan nodded "That's what I heard"

He noticed how quiet and still Melanie had become "Hey are you okay?
He asked

She took a deep breath "You really scared everyone you know"

Nathan nodded "I know, and believe me when I heal I'm sure my parents will punish me"

She let a small smile form on her face it quickly dropped when she looked up at him "When we heard Joker kidnapped you, I...I mean we were so worried about you. Your Mark and I's best friend, I don't know what I'd do if something happened to you" she looked down again

Nathan reached out grabbing her chin in his hand and pulling it up to look at him when she did he moved his hand to her cheek "I'm here and I'm okay" he said softly

Her green eyes stared into his blue ones. Slowly she nodded. "I should get started wrapping you up" she said moving his hand away.

After she finished wrapping his ribs he put his shirt and blazer back on then she removed his head bandage

"You sure it'll be okay unwrapped?" she asked as she stood on a stool so she was a lot taller than him and could clean the dried blood off the staples

He nodded and she jumped down moving so she was back in front of him

When she looked him over she let out a giggle

"What?" he asked with a grin

"Your hair" she pointed, due to having been wrapped it was sweaty and sticking up in some places

She reached up and gently fixed it for him "There we go! Can't have one of Gotham Academy's most eligible bachelors walking around looking like a mess, can we?" she teased as she straightened his tie

Nathan chuckled and shook his head "No we wouldn't want that to happen, now would we?"

They both smiled at each other for a moment

"Come on, if we hurry we can still get lunch and meet up with Andrew" Nathan said grabbing his crutch

Melanie nodded "Yeah your right, let's go" she said hurriedly stuffing the medical supplies into her backpack.