Chapter 2
Bad Bedside Manner
Sandy, Tooth, Jack and the Yetis sprang into action before the sand settled. Jack focused on melting his ice, his face still looking shocked, but now in an urgent, panicked way. Tooth zoomed over to where North and Bunny were covered by the still moving logs, and tried to prevent further damage. The yetis and Sandy were attempting to heft the logs off of the two others. It looked like North was laying on his back and Bunny´s furry body was miraculously wrapped partially around North´s upper chest and head.
Sandy tried not to worry as he worked. Immortals were tough, and it took a lot to damage them physically. But, he had seen his original comrades get seriously injured before, and those logs were very heavy.
Progress was quick, and Sandy´s worries were soon lessened as he saw Bunny´s legs moving and North grunting and sputtering something along the lines of ". . . fur out of mouth!" as he tried to push the remaining logs off of himself.
"I think they´re ok!" shouted Tooth, and Jack joined them in looking relieved.
The yetis and Sandy pulled the last log off, revealing Bunny, rising to his hands and knees next to North´s head. He was gasping in short, shallow breaths, and had a look of intense concentration on his face. North was groaning and still lying down on his back, but was rubbing his hand on his face the way a woman does when she has an invisible hair stuck in her mouth. The elves watched intently from the sidelines.
The yetis were garbling something earnestly (probably an apology) and looking stricken. North was soon reassuring them, and groaning in turns. Bunny was still on his hands and knees, but looking at his friend now.
"Don´t move," he said, pushing down on North´s shoulder as he tried to sit up. "Did anyone else get hit?" Bunny asked in a strained, quiet voice.
He was looking up at Sandy, who did a double-take around him and shook his head.
Bunny nodded in acknowledgement, and accepted a hand up from Jack who looked just as upset as the yetis.
"I´m so sorry guys, I didn´t mean to ice everything over!" said Jack, anxiety clearly written on his face. Bunny was now on his feet, moving slowly.
"Don´t sweat it, mate, accidents happen," answered Bunny quietly. He patted Jack on the back gently before turning to North, who was again attempting to sit up.
"I told you not to move, ya gumby," said Bunny as he pushed the Russian down again, but this time with one of his enormous furry feet. He put a bit of his weight on it as the large man tried to wiggle out from underneath.
North now had a determined expression on his face "I am fine, there is no problem!" he insisted.
Bunny crossed his arms and his nose twitched, saying only "I´m not stupid, mate," in reply. "Yetis, one of you go and get me the emergency med kit," he ordered, then he removed his foot and crouched down to look North in the eyes, holding one eyelid open at a time with a furry finger.
A few of the elves followed quickly after the yeti, their hat bells bouncing and ringing frantically as they went.
"What hurts?" asked Bunny, in a no nonsense tone.
North looked up at Jack and let out a small chuckle. "You see what I mean? Bad bedside manners." A small smile crept up on the teen´s face as a frown settled onto Bunny´s.
"North, tell me what hurts so we can get this over with," pressed Bunny as he fished through the satchel he had strapped to his back. He retrieved what appeared to be a round obsidian stone, no more than three inches in diameter, and placed it next to him on the ground.
North rolled his eyes, and said "I think only right leg is damage." Bunny nodded, then moved his hands to probe North´s skull gently.
"Your head didn´t get hit?" he asked.
"Yes it did. By your ribs!" said North.
Bunny ignored this and moved his quick investigation to North´s ribs and abdomen.
"No concussion then" he said evenly.
Tooth and Jack were watching quietly as Sandy patted Jack on the shoulder. Jack was clearly still upset, but was making a conscious effort to keep his ice restrained.
Sandy made an image of a snowflake, with a checkmark by it. Tooth saw this and translated "don´t worry Jack. This was an accident, and you´re not at fault."
Jack shuddered and nodded. Sandy gave Tooth a "take him out for a break" look, and she nodded, pulling Jack away and out of one of the windows.
Sandy moved over to watch Bunny work. He was now using the retractable claws on his hand to carefully rip open North´s pant leg just below the knee. He then relaxed his hand, hiding the claws, and removed North´s big black boot carefully.
"Focus, North. Where else does it hurt?"
North now shuddered and winced, shaking his head.
"Is just this leg, but hurts very much" he answered.
Bunny hummed in reply as he picked up the small black stone and crouched over North´s shin. Sandy was fascinated and disturbed by the new shape that North´s leg had taken. It was clearly broken, with the bone jutting out just barely, blood dripping lazily from the wound.
"Sandy, prop his head up with a pillow and bring some water, soap, and thick blankets" ordered Bunny without looking up. "Jack, I need a cube of ice," he added, not noticing that Jack was gone.
He was now using the stone like a microscope, holding it up to his right eye as his left screwed shut, and moving it slowly over where the bones in North´s leg were, keeping his face mere inches from the damaged skin and tapping the stone now and then with one furry finger. Sandy flew off to find a pillow, some water, blankets, ice and the soap. The thought crossed his mind, not for the first time, that he needed to ask Bunny to let him look through that strange rock sometime. Obviously not now, since he didn´t want to get his head bitten off by the merciless Doctor Bunnymund.
By the time he rushed back, North was sweating and the yeti had returned with a large first aid kit. The elves were close behind, led by their only rainbow-colored comrade as they proudly toted a collection of white bandage rolls above their heads.
North was still bleeding, but compared to most of the wounds that Sandy had seen, it was very little blood. Bunny was telling North to take deep, even breaths, as he sifted through the large kit. He set splints, sutures, alcohol, gauze, a tourniquet and some other things aside in neat order. He was shrugging off the elves attempts to push the bandage rolls into his hands, and he had North´s left leg propped up on one of the fallen logs, which puzzled Sandy. As he landed his sand cloud, Bunny glanced up quickly.
"Make sure his upper body is comfortable, and all but this leg is warm. And try to help him keep calm. Talk to him," ordered Bunny as he shooed the meddlesome elves away.
Sandy nodded, and did as he was told.
North was now sweating and grimacing, his hands clenching into fists. Sandy patted him on the forehead and tried to make himself useful by demonstrating how to breath for his injured friend. It seemed to work, because North copied his breathing pace with a strained smile. Sandy distracted North by asking him what his favorite thing about Christmas was. It took North a few tries to translate the question, and a little longer to consider and give his answer.
During this, Bunny had his back toward North´s head, discreetly hiding the syringe that he was preparing with what Sandy assumed to be a painkiller. Sandy smirked at Bunny´s sneakiness, but kept North distracted. He watched Bunny out of the corner of his eye as the pooka applied the tourniquet and found a vein in North´s leg. He hid the syringe and used the ice cube to poke North´s leg in random places. His patient noticed at first, but after seeing that it was only ice, he ignored the pooka.
After a lot of poking, Bunny sterilized the target area quickly using a cold alcohol swab, and continued poking North´s leg with the ice. He watched his patient for a moment, but by now North was completely engrossed with describing the most delicious cookies a child had ever left for him.
A small smirk flashed across Bunny´s face just before he inserted the needle and injected the serum slowly, all whilst continuing to poke with the ice. He then pulled the needle out, removed the tourniquet and disposed of the syringe. Sandy had to stop himself from laughing at North´s obliviousness, and made himself a mental note to congratulate the doctor on a job well done.
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By the way, my Mr. Sandman, I'm So Alone story goes alongside this one. You should read it and leave a review if you like it, though it takes place a few months after this chapter.
What emotions did you feel when you read this?
Why do you think Bunny poked North's leg with the ice cube?
I'll be back next week with another chapter, so please check in again then!
Reviews are appreciated!