"So, just to make sure, you know how to change your bandages?" a nurse Lee hadn't seen before asked her as she checked everything over one last time.

It seemed as though this woman planned on making that last time the longest one, too.

Still, Lee nodded her head, pushing her irritation at these formalities to the side. The nurse was only doing her job, just as Lee wanted to get back to doing hers.

"And you're going to make sure that you'll refresh them at least twice a day?" she continued, her eyes wandering over the clipboard she had been holding in her hands for the past fifteen minutes now.

Lee didn't even bother moving this time, assuming the nurse would assume her nod either way. She hadn't looked up from that board since the beginning of this interrogation in the first place.

"Have you already looked at the pills you're going to have to keep on taking when you've been released?"

Yes, and she had also checked that they worked well with the other medication she was on, mostly against her insomnia. Also what the side effects of an overdoses might be if her OCD were to attack.

"Also, an extra note from the doctor, of which he has already notified your boss..." the nurse began again, flipping through the week worth of paper Lee's vitals had filled up, "You're supposed to continue resting at home, because your wounds haven't recovered enough for you to be up and about too much. So the doctor suggests you either take it easy, or just stay at home for another week or so, and even after that just really be careful for maybe a month. So don't jump back into work, but take your time and-"

"Do you have diarrhea right now?"

The nurse's face went red at the embarrassing question as she wondered how her patient could have possibly come to such a question. Because this happened to be the first time for said patient to meet her, Lee felt no sympathy towards her like she did towards the other nurses who had put up with her during her stay.

"W-what? No? Why?" the nurse asked, her stuttering not making Lee want to hold her crude comments any longer.

"Because you're spouting out so much shit right now." And with that, she jumped off the bed, gathered her coat and other things before making her way towards the door. "I'll do whatever I want, whenever I want and no matter how many years some person spent studying books at school, I won't listen to what he thinks is best for my body, thank you very much."

After a quick pat of her pockets to make sure she had everything on her, she left the nurse stand baffled. She knew fully well that she merely had to sign something at the receptionist's desk to get out of this place.

James surprised her by standing at aforementioned desk when she entered the main room downstairs. He grinned at her, obviously happy at her being released. The office was far too quiet without her doing her rituals and criticising the clothes of other people.

"Hey boss," he greeted her once she stood in front of him. "I bet you're happy to get out of here, right? Go on, sign the papers first and we'll talk on our way out."

Lee hadn't even had the time to respond, the corners of her lips twitching upwards in a smile as she walked past him and up to the desk. The woman sitting behind it watched her cautiously, probably already having heard many stories from the other nurses who had met her. Not that it bothered her, or anything.

"Can I sign the papers to leave?" Lee asked, not even trying to be polite. She just wanted to get out of this Hell hole as soon as possible.

The receptionist raised an eyebrow at the other's attitude, but with a shake of her head gathered and handed Lee the papers in question. With a sigh of relief, the detective lifted a pen lying about on the desk, attached to the wood by an annoying twirling cord that kept getting in the way. After she had won the battle, she scribbled something that may or may not have resembled her signature at the bottom of the page, not bothering to read what was written on it. Practically throwing the pen away and sliding the contract back towards the receptionist, who shook her head again at Lee's hastiness, she strode off in the direction of the exit, James scrambling to follow her in his surprise.

"H-hey, are you that desperate to get out of here?" he yelped, and then squealed again when she stopped without warning him first. He managed to keep himself from colliding against her back, not wanting to burst her personal bubble.

Lee ignored his rambling as she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, relinquishing the smell of non-hospital air and drowning in the sea of sounds that belonged to the outside world, no longer surrounded by the mechanical bleeping of hospital machinery.

"Boss, are you alright?" James asked then, interrupting her reveries.

With an incoherent grumble, she redirected her attention towards her assistant. "Yes, I'm perfectly fine. Just because I was hospitalised doesn't mean that you should freak out at every one of my moments."

"'Just because you were hospitalised'? Boss, you could have died! You do know that, right?" the boy retorted, throwing his arms in the air in frustration. Passers-by were already starting to stare at the scene they were causing, and she had barely even left the hospital.

"Yes, but I didn't, did I? Everything went fine and I met the culprit," Lee responded coolly. She didn't want to get into trouble right now, so she tried to act calm so that James would become less agitated as well.

Her plan backfired, however, and James interpreted the way she distanced herself from the conversation as though she didn't care about the situation at all. He stared at her, incredulous, and muttered, "You really don't give a shit, do you?"

Okay, no use trying to get him to calm down. She was going to face him head on, then.

"Yes, I do, and you know that. But it's in the past now, and I truly am fine. What use will worrying about it do now?" she asked him and pulled him to the side so that they weren't blocking the entrance any longer.

"It shows that you were capable of doing it once, which means you might do it again someday. And then you might not be so lucky."

For once, Lee wasn't quite sure what to say, her smart mouth running off and leaving her behind. Only now did she realise the effects that her actions could have on other people, people who still cared about her wellbeing. She wasn't on her own anymore and had to be considerate of other people's feelings again. She didn't know whether this was something to happy over or not, though.

A sigh left her lips and her shoulders sagged, exhaustion suddenly washing over her. "Okay, you're right. I'm sorry, okay? Next time, I'll try to think things through more thoroughly."

James didn't look convinced yet. Instead, he crossed his arms over his chest and gave her another look that told her exactly that, after which she sighed again and lifted one hand into the air. "I promise."

Knowing that Lee always kept her promises, James now let his posture relax, a burden being lifted from his shoulders.

"Thank you," he said, a small smile appearing on his face. "Now let's get you home, alright?"

Now it was her turn to give the man an incredulous stare. "You've got to be kidding me, right? I've just been cooped up inside this shitty place for I don't even want to know how long and you're sending me home the minute I'm free? We're going to the office right now to figure something out about this case, got it?"

But James countered her defiance with another look that gave her no room for objections. The fact that she actually had nothing to say in response at the seriousness in his face made her wonder what had happened to the young, inexperienced boy who used to be so easy for her to push around all the time. Had he grown up so much since the last time she had properly evaluated his personality?

"How many more times do I have to tell you that you should rest more often? You're so stubborn, it's more likely you'll kill yourself, and not some psycho murderer whose case you're investigating," James retorted, but the expression on his face told her he wasn't done with persuading her just yet.

With a roll of her eyes, Lee leaned with her back against the wall of the hospital she had been standing next to. "Fine. Humour me, if you must."

James held up a finger in the air, the seriousness now taken over by a hint of amusement showing in his eyes. "Our third case together, the case after which you stopped calling me 'puppy'. You remember that, don't you?"

"You expect me to forget one of my cases, James? You disappoint me, puppy," she replied with a grin before recounting, "The Chopper. Sick guy who liked to chop up women and spread the body parts all over the city."

"Yes. And you had gotten so deep into it, you 'forgot' to eat, drink and sleep and ended up fainting on my doorstep when you came to collect me for another interrogation. I had to take care of you for a week because you refused to go to the hospital and threatened to get the Chief to fire me if I did so."

"Okay, fine, that was just stupid. But you've got to admit, I've improved since then."

James shook his head and added another finger to the one he was still holding high. "Our twelfth case. That guy who kidnapped young girls, instead tying dogs to the spot where he had taken them, leaving a note with a clue in their collars."

Lee frowned at the mention of that and wondered out loud, "Wait, I don't remember anything unusual happening there?"

"No? Well, that's because it had been raining all week and you had been out and about almost all day. You had gotten quite sick, so sick that you didn't even call into work for a few days. Nobody knew what had happened to you until I decided to check up on you, finding you half dead on your bed. You actually finished that case while you were sick... With my help, of course."

"Ah, so that explains why I never could properly remember how the twelfth case had been solved. Proves just what a genius I am, I guess," she gloated as she ran a hand through her hair.

"Boss... The point is, you need to take better care of yourself. I could stand here all day, naming all the cases where something went wrong because you neglected your health. And that's why I'm now going to take you home and tell the Chief to fire you if he sees you at the office in the next three days," James threatened, finally lowering his hand.

"Wait, you can't actually make him do that, I'm the best man he has!" she told him, but he ignored her and merely started making his way towards his car.

Having no other choice but to follow him, that was exactly what she did, asking him about his threat all the way. When he didn't respond to anything she said, she gave up with a sigh.

"Fine, I promise to look after myself better now. At least, I'll try to. But you know how fired up I can get when I want to solve a case," she muttered.

"Yes, I know that better than anybody else. But you're not on your own anymore, haven't been for years, so please just rely on me a bit more. You'll see just how useful I've become thanks to your Spartan training," James finally replied. The smile on his face managed to cheer her up a little, too.

"Of course you're useful. You've been trained by the very best, after all."

"Now that's pushing it."

"It's only the truth."

"..."

"If you can't handle the truth, you shouldn't have become my assistant. You know that."

"Don't you have a murderer you want to capture by luring him out?"

"Yes, but weren't you listening during this whole conversation where I promised to be more careful from now on?"

"Damn it all."