Well hi! Sorry for the late chapter, was going to upload a few days ago, but I just couldn't edit it.
Enjoy this change in scenery a bit.
Even if this chapter might be completely inaccurate, go with it, because neither of us have done what happened in here.
Janine is Blaine's sister btw, and Blaine is also a demon, he comes into the story a little later.
Chapter 18
Jeff had been excited to start playing football in gym today. He always loved playing in the field behind the gym. He really got into it, and almost considered joining the team, but he was more of a hockey player.
Near the end of the game, he got tackled though. Hard. He tried to catch himself and landed the wrong way.
"Fuck," he said out loud, ignoring the consequences. The guy who tackled him noticed he was hurt, and got up.
"Dude, you okay?" he asked.
"No," he said, and clutched his arm. The first thought that went through his mind: Oh my god, Nick was going to freak out. "Dammit," he cursed under his breath and tried to stay lying on the ground. The teacher came over and looked at it.
"It may be broken, Luke, can you take him to the nurse?" he asked, and lifted Jeff onto his feet. His palm of his hand and a little up his wrist had already started to swell. He bit his lip, trying not to yelp out every time he moved.
At the nurse, it was quick, and was instructed on the need to be taken to the hospital, and she called Jeff's parents. For now, Luke would drive him to the ER. Slowly, he made his way to Luke's car, and got in. The hospital wasn't that far away.
It was Janine's first day in the internship. She was doing well so far, but it was oddly a slow day in the ER. In hindsight, that probably should have been a good thing, but it was nothing like what Janine had expected. She was assigned to a Dr. Cooper, who seemed to enjoy hitting on her. Of course, seeing as Janine had no intention to ever have relations with a human, she shot him down. She went to the chief to ask to be re-assigned to Dr. O'Hara, but that didn't work. So she was stuck with Fitch Cooper, the pretty boy doctor who didn't know when to keep it in his pants. She'd heard stories of his "sexual turrets" and she knew that if he ever pulled that crap with her, he'd be dead in a second.
"Janine," Cooper said, walking to the nurse's station where Janine was filling out the paperwork for everything, "We have a new patient."
"Alright," Janine replied, standing to join her 'instructor'. She laughed inwardly when the ladies of the nurse's station gasped at her shoes. Apparently the ever-fabulous Dr. O'Hara couldn't even pull off these heels when working. But Janine was short, and seeing as she was physically fifteen, she had to find some way to look older. So make-up and heels were her best friends. Besides, the pain was null.
"His name is Jeff Sterling," Coop mumbled to her as they walked to the caught. "Football accident. Nothing too major. I'm going to leave this one to you, okay? I think you can handle a break with your test scores."
"Yes, Dr. Cooper," She said, walking to the bed to look at her new patient.
Jeff sighed in relief when there was only one other person in the ER, and he got a room really fast. His parents hadn't even gotten there yet.
Luke stayed with him.
"Hey, will you take my phone and text Nick?" Jeff asked before a doctor came in to see him.
"Nick? Is he that weird new kid?" Luke asked.
"He's not weird. Just.. quiet. He's … my roommate, and he can drive me home, so you don't have to stay," Jeff explained through gritted teeth.
"I honestly don't mind, but sure," he said.
Jeff moved a little bit to get his phone from his pocket where he stuffed it before they went to the nurse's room. A few minutes of sitting in silence a knock came on the door and Jeff opened his eyes. Finally he can get some sort of pain medication.
Janine knocked on the door, coming in a second letter. "Hello," She said, grabbing a pair of gloves from the wall. "I'm Dr. Janine Reynolds. You can just call me Janine or J9. I just graduated, and this is an internship. So…" She smiled, charmingly. She knew how to speak in front of humans to make them feel good. She had 300 years of practice, after all, and she'd spent years working as a press agent before she decided that she wanted to try out medical school. And she'd also been a lawyer back in the 80s, so she had the technique down. "And you're… Jeff Sterling?" She asked, though of course she knew the answer. "What can I do for you today?"
"Hi, yeah I'm Jeff," he said, and bit his lip. He didn't really know what to say, so he just pretty much uncovered his arm he was snuggling to his chest, and gave her a pained face. Her doctor looked really young but she did say she was an intern, so he just shrugged it off. Mentally that is, if he were to shrug, he'd probably just make his arm hurt more than it already did.
His phone had buzzed, and someone was calling him, but Luke didn't answer it. It was Nick probably. Frantic. It went silent for a few seconds, and then vibrated again.
Janine nodded, leaning down to examine the arm. She looked at it, and she was pretty positive it was broken. "Does this hurt?" She asked, placing a finger on the broken bone. She always found the procedure beyond stupid, but that's what was done and she wanted to blend in for a bit. Of course, she knew it hurt and she felt kind of bad for doing. How funny was that? A demon feeling bad for hurting a human. She really was anything but ordinary. She stood, smiling at him sympathetically. "I'm afraid it's broken. Or it's a really, really bad sprain. I'm going to have to send you for x-rays. It'll hurt, really badly, but you'll be okay. I promise." She paused, hearing the phone ring. By law, she couldn't look at it without permission, but she did grab it from the young man who held it.
Jeff hissed out when she poked him. He had the urge to punch something and jump around.
"Nick's calling you," She said, not making a connection between the human and her oldest friend. "I'd get that, honey. We can wait a few seconds."
Jeff was surprised at the girl. He didn't know if he wanted to answer it, the quicker he'd get away, the quicker it would stop hurting.
He hit the answer button and slowly put the phone to his ear. Before he even got it there, Nick was yelling through the phone. He held it about 3 inches away from his face and grimaced.
"Nick stop," he said through gritted teeth, "Just come up here." More yelling through the phone. He should probably have turned the phone call volume down a bit, "I'll be fine, just stop yelling at me." After a minute of less yelling talking, Jeff hung up and looked up at the two people watching him.
"Sorry, uh. My friend…" Jeff tried to explain. Jeff's arm had started to turn purple by now, and bruise badly. It was almost twice the size of his other arm, and just hurt so badly. He felt the sweat coming from his hair line.
"Right," Janine said, signaling to the nurse that had just arrived to get Jeff into a wheel chair. "Your arm is looking awful, honey. We're going to have you x-rayed, and I'm going to talk to my supervisor, Dr. Cooper, to have your arm checked out, okay?" She smiled at the poor little human, because she could only imagine the pain he was going through. She remembered, a few weeks before she had died she had, fallen off of her horse, Calpurnia, and broken her own arm. The doctors had bled her and put her on bed rest. Seeing as her brother had only recently committed suicide, she was completely and utterly heartbroken. And weak. She wasn't sure how doctors thought bleeding was a good idea to solve anything, and she was thankful she didn't have to stick leeches on the poor boy. "I'll be here when you get back, in case your parents or this Nick comes, okay?"
Jeff carefully sat in the chair and just leaned his head back and closed his eyes. He let out a shaky breath. He'd feel better if Nick was here. He just wanted to lay his head on his shoulder and wait it out. He's broken bones before, but this one hurt a lot. He had broken ribs and his collarbone but not something like his wrist. It was swelling a lot too. More than the time when his brother had broken his wrist. It's probably because he landed on top of it with the weight of another person as well. He honestly didn't know.
Jeff did know that waiting for his parents was bad. They arrived before Nick though. He had to wait for the insurance and getting admitted before he got an X-ray, and just sitting there hurt. Nick arrived before he was taken back though. He was so glad. The first time he heard that voice, his head snapped up and looked at him. Jeff knew he was probably sweaty and pale, but he didn't care.
Janine pushed back everyone in the room, ignoring everyone. She was rushed- things had finally started to pick up in the ER and Dr. Cooper was swamped, pretty much sending her on her own for any minor case and making her observe him in the major ones, and now Dr. O'Hara was planning on letting her help in a surgery (as Janine as gone to go to school to be an ER Surgeon, not just a doctor), so she only had a few seconds to spare. But seeing as Jeff was her first ever patient, she felt the need to see him off personally.
"You ready for some X-ray fun?" she said, trying to be cheerful. This is exactly why she could never be a pediatrician, though she'd seen children die from diseases since she was born. Now was no different, never would be different. But they had to be so damn happy all of the time, even when delivering bad news, and Janine Reynolds was naturally pessimistic. She had no intentions on changing it.
Jeff raised an eyebrow, "No, not really," he said hoarsely.
"It'll hurt, but as soon as we know what's wrong, Dr. Cooper and I can get you some medication."
He was most definitely not ready for some X-rays. He'd had them before and it was just scary sitting in that room, and he'd have to change into those weird blue robe things that hardly covered anything. Just moving at all was a scary thought. He had to leave Nick and his parents, and got brought down the hall. A nurse helped him into the robe, and he just tried not to move at all. He probably dozed off a bit, because just a second later he was being led back to his wheelchair, and into a room. He wanted to man up a little bit in front of Nick. He only sprained his wrist, it's not that bad… Or is it? Was it actually broken? Would he have to wear a damn cast for months?
It didn't take long for Janine to get the results. She read the results very carefully, being sure to make sure that she was right. She didn't want a misdiagnosis on her first patient, even if it was something as minor as a break. She sighed, knowing she was right. Dr. Cooper and Dr. O'Hara checked over her, just to make sure, but they agreed too. So she walked quickly to Jeff's little room, knocking and acknowledging his parents and noticing that his friends were gone. She'd heard a few teenagers heading to the food court on her way down, so she figured that was it.
"Jeff, Mr. and Mrs. Sterling," She addressed, "It is, indeed, broken. If Jeff doesn't mind an IV, we'll have some liquid painkiller pumped into him in and I'll send you home with a few, but my elders have to approve of what I give you." She sighed, smiling weakly at the boy. "I can give you the cast, even though I'm seriously pressed for time, or I can send one of the nurses. Your pick, my friend."
"I don't mind," Jeff blurted before his parents had a say. He knew he'd have to get it set the right way now, looking at the X-ray hanging on the wall. He wanted to hold Nick's hand or just have him there, but he wasn't allowed to be in here with him, and the nurses had sent him away with Luke.
Dr. Reynolds left again after the parent permission and Jeff just leaned his head back. At least it wouldn't hurt anymore.
Janine nodded, sighing. "A nurse will here with an IV shortly, and I'll come cast your arm in just a few minutes." She smiled sympathetically. "Is there any other pain you need to tell me about?" She asked, leaning down to examine the hand one more time. "Or are you good? Painkillers, a cast, and I can send you home? Though I love having you here to visit it me, I'm sure you and your friends would like you better at… where did you say you went to school again?"
"Uh, I go to Dalton Academy. I'd be wearing the blazer if I wasn't in my gym clothes," Jeff said, and looked at the sweat covered clothes. "I think I'm fine though, other than the arm. Maybe a bruise or something, but I got tackled, it was inevitable," he explained, looking out the opened door to see if he saw Nick. It was too far down the hallway, and all he saw was the other wall. He sighed.
"Dalton Academy, eh?" Janine asked as the nurse put the IV. She thought for a second before noticing the casting supply had arrived. "One of my oldest friends goes there," She smiled fondly. "I was actually there a few weeks ago." She chuckled, grabbing Jeff's hand carefully. "Mr. and Mrs. Sterling, I hate to ask this, but if you could go to the Food Court or something, this is going to get ugly and I'd prefer it if you… weren't here. Forgive me." She sighed as the older couple left the room. "This is going to hurt. I'm sorry."
"Oh I didn't - ouch - see you there," Jeff said, as the nurse found a vein to stick the fairly large needle into his skin. "Is it one of the teachers? Maybe I know them." Jeff just wanted to distract himself while he waited for the pain medication to set in.
He didn't want to give up his arm from being snuggled to his chest, but it would be foolish to resist it. He noticed just how dark the skin was. It was the darkest by his wrist, where the break was, and ventured up his hand, and down his forearm a little bit.
"Alright there. We're going to have you sent up for a few more x-rays, and then you can get your cast." She said, gently. "What color do you want?" She asked, grinning. This was the one area where she could maybe see herself working with small kids, but for now she was focused on the young student. "Jackie will take you up, I'll be waiting for you when you come down." She smiled, kindly. "And no," She answered as Jeff was being wheeled out. "He's a student. Nick Duval. I err… used to babysit him."
Jeff laughed. His pain medication was starting to set in.
"Nick's my boyfriend. He's in the food court," he said, and slowly lowered himself off the bed, almost tripping. The nurse, Jackie helped him, and he was lead towards the door.
"Blue please! Or yellow," Jeff called from the door frame, and leaned his head back again. Moving had made him kind of sick. He didn't even notice the rolling pole next to him.
Janine stared after the boy as he rolled off. So that was Nicky-poo's human, hmm? She smiled at the thought, Nick had been here earlier and she hadn't even said anything. She sighed, getting the cast ready and waiting for the human to come back. She thought of keeping this new bit of knowledge to herself, but that simply wasn't her. Her brother always said she could be an actress if she wanted too. Theatricality was just something that just came back to her.
She had the casting supplies ready, a few strong, strong painkillers there if needed. She knew she could only use these if they were absolutely needed, and they really were. "Hmm," She mumbled to herself, hearing the poor boy coming back. "Let the show begin," She said, smirking, her eyes flicking over to black.
Jeff been wheeled back into the room he was before, and squinted in the bright lights. The IV was taken out for the X-ray because it was metal, and not put back in yet. He had started to feel the aches already. The throbbing pain of his arm was there the whole time, but lessened, but now he could feel the bruises that would be there in the morning on his back and shoulder. He just had a sour face as he was carefully helped back onto the bed. He didn't notice the doctor. The nurse left, and Jeff looked up at her. Her eyes. Something was wrong. He squinted again.
"Did … Did you put contacts on or are these meds making me crazy?" Jeff asked, and rubbed his eyes with one hand. It was hard because of the re-attached IV, and the other arm just put in a sling so he wouldn't move the bone again, and until the doctor looked over the second set of X-ray's that would be arriving soon.
"Hmm?" Janine asked, smirking, her eyes flashing back to normal for the nurse who brought the x-rays to her. She looked over them a second, and she motioned for the nurse to put the IV back into the poor boy. "How are you feeling?" She asked, pulling a stool over to next to the bed. "I've got to put your cast on. You should be okay, for now." She said. "And human, if it hurts too badly, please let me know. I haven't been in pain since my brother killed me. I don't even remember what it feels like."
"Wait… what?" Jeff said, and pondered if he was hearing right. "Human?" Jeff's heart rate jumped and he was so confused. He didn't really like this medication. It made him crazy.
He didn't even realize the doctor and him were alone, and she had began to take his arm from the sling. It was the throbbing pain there, but it didn't get bad until she straightened it. He hissed out and was already breathing heavily.
The eyes reminded him of one time he thought he saw Nick's eyes like that, like that day that he scared him and Nick attacked him.
Jeff admitted to himself, he was scared. He didn't know what was happening. He could feel the pain, and that was the only thing that made him know he wasn't dreaming.
"That's what you are, isn't it?" Janine asked. "Human, you know. You're human. You're Nicky-poo's little human." She chuckled, beginning to cast the arm with the most delicate of fingers. She should feel bad for her current treatment of the human, but it had been a hard day and she was tired of pretending. She'd send a bouquet of flowers, already. "Don't you worry your head doll, your arm will heal in a few weeks. And these meds Coop and I have you on will keep you out of pain. I promise."
Jeff just closed his eyes and let out a shaky breath as the slip cotton went over his hand. Human. What did that mean? Was she not human? Nicky-poo? He probably would have laughed at that if he wasn't in pain, and so confused. Nicky-poo's little human? Now what did that mean?
"Oww, oww," He sighed out when a tender spot was pulled by the wrapping cotton.
"Forget I said anything," Janine said, realizing Jeff knew nothing. Shit. Well. "How are you feeling? Do I need to have a nurse get you anything?" She asked, trying to change the subject. How could Nick not tell him? The poor human deserved to know his.. lifestyle. The way they had lived and thrived for years to come. But as much as he deserved it, she knew it wasn't her place to tell him "Your friends should be here sooner, as shoulder your parents."
"I- I uh- I don't know. I don't think so. It's not as bad as it was earlier, but I can still feel it. It's really hot," Jeff said, not sure whether to ignore the conversation and pretend it was his medication, or actually just accept the fact that it was that. Jeff was glad he was able to see Nick soon. She was getting to the plaster part now, so it would just be a couple minutes.
Janine nodded, smiling a little. "You should be fine, darling. Don't worry about it," She said, "If this month or whatever doesn't work, you can come here and have me fired, hmm?" She laughed, trying to lessen the tension in the room. She finished up, gracefully. "There. I'll be back later to check on you, and if you're okay, I might be able to send you home. I'll see you in a bit."
Jeff grunted in a reply, and leaned back into the bed. He was tired, and could feel himself drifting away. He liked her though. He hoped she would get the job and if he got hurt, he could come back to her. Last time he was in the hospital, he wasn't offered as much pain medication, and was just hurting the whole time. This time, it was really strong, could barely feel the throbbing by now. He concentrated on the beeping beside him to keep him awake until he at least saw Nick.