"Have a good night?"

Adolin cracked an eye. Waking up was always hard, the meds sitting heavily on him when he slept. Rubbing his eyes, he sat up slowly.

"...you again."

"Seems that way," the annoying nurse, whose name he still didn't know, replied.

"What time is it?"

"Time to get going."

"What, no breakfast first?" he countered.

"You hungry?"

"If I am?"

"I can offer lime Jell-O."

Adolin stared at him for a moment. "Can I have something real at the next place?"

"They might have grape?"

"Never mind. Let's just go. At least I'm getting away from you."

"No such luck." The man was speaking while fiddling with machines, unhooking some, and wrapping wires on others. "I'm from Southside General." The hospital he was moving to. "Came here to help out because of the understaffing problem, then got assigned to you so I could just move back over with you after your surgery."

"Great." He was pleased. The man was amusing, and, Adolin sensed, a lot less abrasive than he acted.

A different doctor stepped into the room, conferring with the nurse. A little later, they were wheeling him out to the ambulance.

"So, got a name, Nurse Boy?"

"Storm. Kaladin Storm," the man muttered, keeping his gaze ahead as he carefully wheeled the bed.

"Weird name."

"Like yours is any better, Eeeeh-dolin."

Adolin groaned. "That bullet should have taken me in the head."

He was rewarded with a laugh from the nurse—Kaladin. He found himself smiling in response.

His patient's family stopped by just before Kaladin headed home for the day. He had a whole twelve hours off until his next shift, and he intended to spend most of them asleep.

Before departing, he stopped by to bid farewell to the unfairly attractive blond. Adolin greeted him with that cheeky grin, and the family with polite nods. With a nod, he stepped out.

...that had been one fast twenty-four hour shift, he had to admit. The call had come in around noon the previous day. Kaladin didn't know exactly what had gone on, but a cop had been shot—that cop was Adolin. He'd been rushed in by ambulance to Northside General Hospital. It was farther away, but the hospital itself was better equipped for dealing with the major surgery he had needed.

Incidentally, Kaladin had been helping out at the larger, and more crowded, hospital for the week. When the decision to move Adolin once he stabilised had been made, it had also been decided to assign him Kaladin. Between being registered for rehab, and working for the hospital where Adolin would be staying long-term, it had been a no brainer to send him back to his home turf with the young cop.

Right now, though, he was more interested in sleep. He had been pulling incredibly long hours at Northside. Between that and the double-shift he'd just finished, he was exhausted.

At barely one in the afternoon, he fell into bed and promptly passed out.

He rolled out of bed around half past eight that night. One cold shower later, and he was almost civil. Wearing nothing more than his bathrobe, he wandered into the kitchen and tossed a microwaveable dinner into the microwave. Good enough.

By nine that night, he was settled into his la-z-boy with supper and his cat, flicking through the channels. He settled for the nine o'clock news.

Somalia was in a bad state, another bombing in the England subways, more war in Africa...

Dammit all. Couldn't they ever report anything positive?

At nine-thirty, the local news came on, and he found himself paying a little more attention, hoping to hear the truth of what had happened with his cop.

"Mrow?"

Chuckling, he scratched Syl's ears. The white cat began purring, content on his lap. She dozed while he watched.

"...Hearthstone High at eleven fifty-seven am." Having fallen into a doze, Kaladin roused at the announcer's words. Yawning, he turned his full attention to the television. "—no students were hurt, thankfully, only one officer of the law. He managed to subdue the shooter before real harm was done."

"Well, I'm sure the officer doesn't agree that real harm wasn't done," the news anchor countered. No shit.

"No, but no children went home in body bags. That's a victory."

"True enough. Do we have a name for this valiant police man?"

"Unfortunately, his name is being withheld pending further investigation. I am certain that the faculty and students at Hearthstone High will forever view him as a hero, however."

"Likely a well deserved title. In other news..."

Kaladin changed the channel, letting Jeopardy play on a low volume. A school shooting? He'd heard the rumours, but...

That just didn't happen here. It was terrifying. Maybe rich boy had done well.

Too bad he was still a cop.

He watched the T.V. with half an eye until it was time to head to work again. Grabbing the bag with his scrubs, he dragged himself back to his car and headed back to the hospital.

It was dim by the time he arrived, most of the rooms lit only by the machinery they contained. In stark contrast to the brightly lit ER and waiting rooms, the hallways in the observation area were lit only by the dim night time lighting, allowing the patients rest.

Greeting the receptionist, a friendly man named Lopin, whom he'd known for years, with a nod, he continued on to Adolin's room. Carefully, he pushed the door open...and paused. Pushing the door open fully, he folded his arms.

"Shouldn't you be asleep?"

Adolin shrugged, setting down his game. "Slept all afternoon. Couldn't rest now."

Not all that uncommon. A lot of people actually got more unsettled in the hospital once it got quiet and the lights went out. Kaladin just hadn't expected it from Adolin.

"All right, well...just keep it down." The blond had a private room, so it wasn't like he would be disturbing anyone else.

"Wait...nur—Kaladin. Come in for a sec."

Suppressing a sigh—he had rounds to do, and friends to catch up with—he stepped inside and shut the door.

"Yeah?"

"Uh...how was your day?"

Kaladin raised a brow. "...I spent most of it asleep."

"Don't get much time off, do you?"

"I pulled a double. I have a few days off coming up."

"Oh, yeah...right. That makes sense. You...like your job?"

Kaladin raised a brow. "...well enough. What is this really about?"

"...nothing, I guess. Just had a long day."

"Being bedridden sucks, but they'll get you started on therapy as soon as possible."

"Yeah. I never did well lying around all day."

"You have a good family. They'll help you through it."

Adolin looked down, and Kaladin found himself stepping closer.

"...they're...busy a lot. No big deal, though."

"...you okay, rich boy?" Kaladin asked, brow furrowed.

"Of course, just...missing a leg."

Kaladin settled into the chair beside the bed. "...big change, huh?"

Adolin forced a chuckle, his attractive smile shadowed by the dim lighting. Shadows or not, it was not hard to see that it was forced. "Only about...twenty percent of my body."

"Ten."

"Fifteen."

"Whatever. Moderate change, then."

"No, still a big one." He caught the flash of white teeth as Adolin grinned cheekily at him.

Good-naturedly, Kaladin rolled his eyes. "Insufferable rich boy."

"So, moderately large change. How you coping?"

"It...sucks," Adolin admitted, smile slipping. "I have to be strong for Renarin, though. He looks up to me."

"...yeah, right, I get it." Tien. "How are they doing?"

Adolin shrugged. "They didn't stop in for long. Father got called in to work, and Renarin has a lot of schoolwork to do. He's working on his thesis, and finals start soon..."

Well, that explained why he was so desperate for company—even if it was a tad inconvenient. Kaladin understood something about feeling lonely.

"...you, uh..."

"...listen to me, whining. You probably have work to do. I'm just holding you up."

"Yeah. You were my first stop. I still have the rest of my round to do."

"Go on. Have a good shift."

Somewhat reluctantly, Kaladin rose and bid the patient farewell. Then he continued his rounds. With everyone asleep, it went fairly quickly, just a quick check of the charts and glance to each patient. A few needed to be woken for meds, and one woman stopped him for help with the bedpan, but overall it went smoothly.

Then it was a trip to the staff room. He spent some time catching up with his coworkers, then headed back to Kholin's room. The man should be asleep by now...

"Nurse boy?"

"Still awake?"

"...yeah. Couldn't get to sleep."

Kaladin stepped inside. "Brought you something."

Adolin sat up at that, watching Kaladin as he wandered towards the T.V. "What is it?"

"Patience."

Adolin scoffed. "You're a jerk."

"I'll just take it and go, then," he said, hitting play anyway. Moving back to the chair he'd vacated earlier, he settled into it.

"...this is The Lion King."

"Yup."

"The Lion King."

"Right again."

"The Lion King."

"Hasn't changed."

"...why?"

"We have a large collection for kids."

"Yeah, bu—"

"—I can go, if you want," he remarked idly.

"...The Lion King it is."

"Thought so."

"Hey...Kaladin?"

He grunted in acknowledgement.

"Thanks."

He nodded once. "Nothing better to do."

"Right. Still. Thanks."