House Rules

Recuperation

Erik felt like a well-used car. Every 50,000 miles or so, the tire tread would ware down and need switching out. That was the way he looked at surgery after having so many of them.

Dr. Charles, though old and irritating with his hypervigilance, was a saint. For the last couple of years, he'd been patching Erik's wounds and regenerating him after gunshots, stabbings, even torture. He could make Erik feel brand new, like he could last another 50,000 miles. Each time, he never asked how the situation occurred only how could he help. The man had done more for Erik in the years than anyone else ever had and for that, he was grateful. However. He refused to lay in a hospital bed when he could be up and out. He needed to move. He wanted to leave.

You're restless. You need to be still for your body to rest.

He could hear Dr. Charles' thick accent in his mind fussing, directing him to stay in the bed, but as the voice said, he was restless. He sat up and looked down at the white tiled floor, moving his good foot to touch down first. Unfortunately he'd been in a leg cast before. His bum leg and half of the attached foot was wrapped with dressing and casted. He moved it with his hands carefully to the floor, careful to keep weight off of it.. despite the doctor's warning in his head to rest it in order to control the inflammation. Then, with all his weight on his good foot he hopped up and to the door of the room in search of crutches. They'd left him with none. He looked around at the faces of everyone around, quickly committing them to memory.

"Aye," he hopped carefully to a young black nurse standing at the desk in light blue scrubs, hair pulled back. She blinked, batting her large lashes as she looked him up and down. He stood and waited a for her to focus on his face but she kept looking down his body. "Yo.." He wasn't in the mood. He had on a hospital robe, what could possibly be sexy about that?

"Yo," she smirked.

"Yeah.. You got-"

"Let me get you some crutches," she pointed before walking off. Erik braced himself against the desk to wait, still subtly assessing his surroundings. He saw nurses, doctors, visitors walking through the halls and then within three minutes the woman returned with no crutches in hand. "I'm sorry," she frowned with a shrug, "I've actually been informed that we aren't to give you any crutches, but we can wheel you in one of our wheelchairs if that's something you're interested in. I'd be more than happy to-"

"Informed by who? My insurance say I'm entitled to crutches, this the shit I pay for and that's what the fuck I asked you for."

"....Informed by the chief nurse. Now, you can speak with her if you need to, but I'm not the one controlling your service here."

He sighed. "Yeah, get her."

Erik watched as she called and when the Chief Nurse arrived, she too was a  black woman but older. Senegalese, Erik guessed. It was at that moment he truly experienced the extent of Dr. Charles' widespread influence. He demanded crutches and threatened to turn the place over, but the CN refused citing Dr. Charles as the reason.

"Young man, Dr. Charles strongly suggests you REST and that we keep an eye on you," she said with a thick accent. "You WILL rest and we WILL keep an eye on your blood pressure, your heart rate, and your temperature for at least another 48 hours."

"What happened to 24 hours?" This wasn't his first time in this situation and he knew his body. He could take a lot of damage and still heal fast.

"Apparently, YOU need more supervision than most. He says you're a special case? I believe. I say make it a week!"

Erik glared at her, saying nothing but thinking of how he would react. She was an entire foot shorter. He had about maybe 90 lbs on her, he could flex her.. but she reminded him of his strict grandmother, Ms. Betty. Between her and Dr. Charles, he sighed. They were as stubborn as him. Even more so since this was their area of expertise. And Dr. Charles.. He knew Erik's entire medical history like it was his own. Erik didn't have a chance. Eyeing her, he backed down almost immediately, seeing that the CN would not change her mind. He respected the connection. He respected Dr. Charles.