arrival (closed to Curtis)

[silenttrainbaby]

The pain wasn't bad, not really. As he'd trained, he'd been hurt a lot, muscles and joints bruised and bones nearly broken. He's used to pain. This - this pain he felt now - was nothing new, not really. It was just more final and Grey knew it. Since Gilliam was dead, this - death - was nearly a relief. He'd done what he could to help Curtis, to avenge Gilliam's death. Nothing more could be done. As he felt the knife press into his chest, he sank into oblivion.

Only to wake up with a start at the train seeming to have stopped. He was on the floor, of course. The pain woke up a second later and he hissed out between clenched teeth. He pulled and realized that the knife was still lodged through his right hand. That hand throbbed and his entire body felt as if he had been been through too much, worse than any training session. His left hand hung from his wrist uselessly. He forced his eyes open and stared at the ceiling of the steam car of the train.

Where was the old man in the suit?, he suddenly wondered, the one who had been fighting him? Grey's vigilance forced him to sitting, ready for more fighting despite the pain. He pushed the knife from his hand and held it, even if the pain seared through his palm, his left hand still hung loosely; the wrist was broken. It didn't mattier. Surely, if the train had stopped, he must be ready for anything. He pushed to his feet and forward in the train, it not yet occurring to him to go outside the car. After all, wasn't the world still frozen?

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[manwiththeknife]

From the far corner, Curtis kept a watchful eye, trying not to let his own anxiousness show. After over two weeks trapped in this place, he'd been reminded why people hated hospitals. Why he'd hated hospitals, a lifetime ago.

"Last one," the technician chirped, changing out the film and then ducking behind the shield as the machine clicked and hummed.

"Alright," she said, moving to help Grey to his feet. "You can go back to the room. We'll have the doctor look at these."

Yanking off the lead apron, Curtis tossed it aside and retrieved Grey's coat.

Nodding for Grey to follow, he made his way back to the little room they'd been in, tugging the curtain shut around them. For now, they were alone, surrounded by the sound of nurses and patients bustled around, the curtains fluttered as they hurried past.

"This is gonna take a while," he explained. Doctors always did.

[silenttrainbaby]

Fatigue, that pounding headache, the pain, it all made Grey feel dull, while the fear and strangeness of the place made his skin feel too thin. He nodded, though, standing in the middle of the room. Each movement of the curtain was felt in his nerves.

[manwiththeknife]

"Sit down before you keel over," he said, laying Grey's coat over the back of an empty chair.

"If I leave you here for a minute, you're gonna be okay, right? I'll be right down the hall. You don't need to do anything but just sit here while I'm gone."

[silenttrainbaby]

Sit. Grey looked around, then sat on the padded, pristine bed in his grungy track pants. He nodded. He'd sit.

[manwiththeknife]

Rummaging in his pocket, Curtis pulled out a handful of crumpled bills and change, fumbling to keep from dropping them as he hurried to the vending machines he'd seen on the way to the X-Ray room.

It was a struggle, juggling it all one-handed, but he ended up with two bottles of water, a couple of protein bars and packs of crackers, and on a whim, a bag of knock-off, Darrow M&Ms, clinched between his teeth.

Slipping back through the curtain, he dumped everything down on the bed.

Cracking open a bottle of water with his teeth, he held it out near Grey's lips, offering him a sip.

[silenttrainbaby]

Eyes still locked on Curtis's face (a habit since he was a child; reading expressions for how to react), Grey tilted his chin up, taking a sip.

It was cold - so cold! - and crisp and fresh and he nearly choked on it before drinking again, swallowing as much as he could.

[manwiththeknife]

"Careful," Curtis murmured, letting Grey drink his fill and then setting the bottle aside.

Tearing open one of the protein bars with his teeth, he handed it over, saying, "You should eat something."

It was the chewy kind, hopefully not too hard or too rich. After a lifetime of the train's gelatinous protein blocks, Curtis had already learned the hard way that their stomachs were a little finicky.

[silenttrainbaby]

Grey wouldn't know the words, but his extreme dehydration made the cold of the water chill him; goosebumps covered him and he shivered. Holding the bar, then, in his cut hand, he watched Curtis's faced as he smelled it. It didn't smell like anything he knew. His expression grew quizzical as he took a small bite.

[manwiththeknife]

Tearing open his own, Curtis took a bigger bite of his protein bar, trying to show the kid that it wouldn't hurt him.

Sitting down on the bed next to Grey, Curtis ate his food in silence, watching out of the corner of his eye as Grey experienced food as he'd known it seventeen years ago. Prepacked snacks and junk food and everything easily accessible, though not always cheap.

He'd bought a box of Cheerios, the other day. He hadn't really known what to do about how standing in the cereal aisle at the grocery store had made him feel.

[silenttrainbaby]

When Curtis took a bite, Grey took a bite. Even the texture on his tongue was different, the sweetness, strange, making his mouth water. He chewed just as slowly, then he swallowed and he took another bite. He wasn't sure he liked this, but fuel, he knew, was fuel.

[manwiththeknife]

Finish off the bar, Curtis tossed the wrapper into a nearby trashcan and then offered Grey some more water.

Just then, the curtain swept back and an ER nurse swept in to stitch up Grey's hand and check it over for any damage to the tendons. Shifting off of the bed, Curtis took his place in the chair, out of the way.

[silenttrainbaby]

There were needles. And one of them was big and attached to a kind of tube and Grey didn't like the look of that in the least, going tense, his jaw set. No.

"I'm just going to take a look," she said, looking at Curtis with knitted brows.

[manwiththeknife]

"It's fine," Curtis nodded to Grey, "She'll fix it better than I can, trust me."

One handed and with only rudimentary first aid knowledge-- They'd all cleaned up wounds, at one time or another, but that didn't mean he was any good at it.

[silenttrainbaby]

Holding out his hand, Grey hissed in a breath at the prick of the needle. As the numbness spread along his palm, he watched her investigate. It didn't hurt. He could feel her poking at it, but it didn't hurt. Strange.

"There may be some residual nerve damage here - some twinging and possible numbness," the nurse told them. "But you got lucky, really. We can stitch this up - no surgery required."

Lucky. What a concept.

[manwiththeknife]

Letting out a relieved breath, Curtis nodded, sinking back further into his chair.

"Luckier than me," he snorted, one corner of his mouth twitching faintly. Not that he remembered the surgery, or the days afterward.

[silenttrainbaby]

Grey found his eyes wandering to Curtis's amputated arm. What he understood was that his hand would be okay, but maybe feel funny.

He was all right with that. He tried to flex is hand and winced again.

"Well, don't do that," the nurse said quickly, taking his hand again. "I need to stitch it up. Sit still, all right? Then we'll get you cleaned up and a cast on your wrist."

They could see the way Grey wanted to pull away from her touch.

[manwiththeknife]

Drawing in a breath, Curtis hesitated for a moment before getting to his feet, edging around the nurse's supply cart and sitting himself down on the edge of the bed at Grey's side.

He'd never been great at providing comfort. Or at accepting it, for that matter. But he rested his hand on Grey's shoulder, trying to give the kid something else to focus on.

[silenttrainbaby]

It helped. A lot. Curtis could feel Grey's shoulders lift as he took a deep breath, and settle. He watched, though, closely, as the nurse readied what she needed to stitch up his hand.

It didn't hurt; that was the strangest thing: he could see the needle go in, come out, the thread pull, but it didn't hurt. He stared intently.

[manwiththeknife]

She finished, quick and efficient, then turned her attention to carefully cleaning up his other arm as best she could.

"The doctor's going to want to set this," she explained, giving them both a sympathetic look. And then she was gone and they were both alone again.

[silenttrainbaby]

What did that mean? "Set it"? Grey looked at Curtis again, also looking to the protein bar - another bite of that would not be unwelcome.

[manwiththeknife]

"The, uh, the bones aren't lined up, anymore. They'll need to push them back into place," Curtis said, matter-of-fact as he reached for the protein bar and held it out.

"It'll hurt like hell for a minute, then they'll put the cast on and we can get the fuck out of here."

[silenttrainbaby]

There had been more than a few bones broken in the tail and Grey remembered the sound of bones crunching, screams of pain.

After he chewed and swallowed he set his jaw. He was ready. He wouldn't complain.

[manwiththeknife]

The doctor-- a middle-aged man with a sharp face and a briskly impersonal demeanor, bustled into the room, scrubbing his hands and quickly firing off instructions to the nurse before he'd even glanced in his patient's direction.

Curtis slid to his feet, resting a reassuring hand against Grey's bare back for a moment, before slipping away.

"Okay, we'll try and make this quick," the doctor said, glancing between the two of them, clearly trying to figure both of them out. Good luck with that, asshole.

[silenttrainbaby]

It was probably best that the man was like this. It made it easy for Grey to gird his defenses, to watch the man with cold eyes and a hard jaw.

When the doctor reset the bones, he barely made a sound, a swallowed-sounding grunt. But other than that, he didn't move.

The doctor seemed almost impressed, stepping back. "We have to wash that arm, then we'll plaster it." By "we," he meant a nurse, of course. With one more look at them both, he stepped out and away. Grey's gaze returned to Curtis and there was the smallest flash there. He showed him, didn't he?

[manwiththeknife]

Curtis returned the look, a faintly proud glint in his eye. With a sick twist in his gut, he realized that was Gilliam's favorite tactic, showering Grey with praise and pride and apparent devotion, worming his way into all of their ears, manipulating them all with what passed for affection and love.

His eyes cutting away, Curtis muttered, "I'm gonna step out. I'll be right back."

Pushing through the curtains, he stopped in the hall and dragged one hand-- his only hand, over his face and let out a shuddering breath. What the fuck was he gonna say to this kid? About any of it? About Gilliam.

Was it really a truth that needed knowing? Was it the truth at all?