Participants:
| Scene Title | Boys In Tights |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | Sleep deprivation at its best, just outside the ER. |
| Date | February 6, 2009 |
It doesn't matter much what time of day, or night, it is outside. Once the ambulance pulls up at the entrance of St. Luke's, there are flourescent lights, making everything underneath them pale blues and black, even the blood of patients on the rolling stretchers that roll past the masses of people waiting for help outside, inside, everywhere.
But it could have been worse, James figures, as he steps out of the driver's seat, the keys slipping into his pocket. He hadn't been back to his workplace more than a minute, before he had been tucked into a car, teamed up with whomever else were there and not already exhausted, and sent out there to at least start responding to the neverending cries for help.
Returning to the hospital, there's at least time to try and find some caffeine, before they go back out there, he figures, as he joins his partner for the day to help him unload the stretcher and heads towards the doors.
Ben is, coincidentally enough, James' partner for the day and already chugging hot coffee. He looks about as weary as all the rest of them, the cap jammed on his head hiding the worst of the crazy man hair. Bright blue eyes are becoming more alert and focused. Alright! Almost ready for another day. He tips his chin toward James as he approaches.
Doctors at the door take over from paramedics, and that leaves them at loose ends to get their coffee or run back out. Standing on the far side of the entry where people are allowed to go to take their smoke breaks, a redheaded nurse in dark blue scrubs stands, shrugged into her heavy coat and her hair pulled back into a clip to keep its strands from being in the way and strangling her. She takes a long draw on the cigarette she's holding, watching James's ambulance pull up, get met, and get unloaded. When his partner apparently heads off-shift and James goes looking for his new one, Megan has a moment to be amused. Oh look, it's the cute little paramedic who gave her the hairy eyeball for smoking. Well, hell. She takes another long draw off the cigarette, letting the smoke out in a slow stream to the side of her mouth while she watches.
James catches the chin-tip offered his way, and raises a hand in Ben's direction, pausing his stride for a moment as the doctors disappear into the hospital with his stretcher. They'll have to pick up another one at the other end of the ramp, before they leave. "Ready for another go, once again into the breach?" he offers up, along with a bit of a wry smile, designed to hide whatever worries and tiredness there might be underneath.
A whiff of smoke drifts by, and James throws a glance over towards the designated 'smoking-area', and he arches an eyebrow slightly in Megan's direction. No hairy eyeballs, since she obviously is standing at the designated area, but… he'll try to remember talking to someone about that whole 'designated smoke area/ ER entrance' thing.
"Harvard?" Ben asks, squinting at the name tag. "Fletcher. Yeah, I'm good to go in about five." He glances the direction James is looking, spies Megan, and quirks a rueful little smile. "Uh huh."
Megan rolls her eyes, offers a wry grin, and crushes the nasty thing out under her sneaker. Shoving her hands in her pockets, she pushes off the cold wall and walks close enough to exchange words without being in the way or shouting across the entrance. "Yeah, yeah," she tells Ben mildly. "I know. Shitty habit. I just quit again, okay? That was the last one I had." She looks at least as tired as both of the paramedics, though she nods to James slightly in greeting as she joins them. "Things slowing down any out there? Sure as hell doesn't seem like it in here."
"Hey, Fletcher. Yeah, we're good to go as soon as we get the stretcher back. Jones just needed a driver on his last call, so… I could use five myself." James peers at Ben's caffeine with perhaps just a smidgen of envy in his eyes, and then the Tired Trio is complete as Megan comes to join them, earning herself a bit of a grin. "You may not look it, but you're old enough to do whatever you want to, Meg. Just can't recall having seen you smoke, before?"
As a quiet aside to them both though, "And it's not getting any -better- out there, sad to say. But maybe it'll clear up a little, if they get the riots back under control." Big hope, big maybe.
"Not better yet. More of the same," Ben says, rubbing the heel of his palm into his left eye. "Congratulations on quitting again. I can get you a tiny medal if you like. Nice to see you again."
Megan shrugs at James easily. "Haven't had one since the week after the Bomb," she tells James. "Before that, I think it was 9/11. Bombings and bullshit make me fall off the wagon for a few days, before my brain catches up with the stress levels and reminds me how much I hate the damn things. I can grab you some coffee from the nurses' lounge, if you want, Harvard." And then she sticks her tongue at Ben. "Don't be a dick, or I'll say something real nasty," she tells him mildly after his 'get you a medal' quip.
James oh's, and nods. Well, he ain't one to judge, especially not during times like this, although he throws a quick grin over to Ben. "Watch it, she's been around long enough to pick up the bad words." he murmurs, a touch of a tease in his tone, aimed at both of them. "And you'd be a darling if you could, Meg. I don't wanna end up adding to your workload by starting a pileup 'cause I can't see the road proper." Coffee, what keeps the world going around, and round and round…
"That's alright, I can take nasty," Ben says affably, draining more of his coffee and patting his stomach. "I am hereby fortified against life in general. I love coffee. I love it so much." Overworked Ben is still chatty.
Megan snickers mildly, "Honey, I've got bad words you never dreamed of." She winks at them both. "Be right back." She slips inside the door and is gone less than five minutes before returning with three steaming cups of the stuff. "Hi-octane," she tells them, holding them out so the guys can take theirs. "You owe me chocolate, though… next trip you're in here that you're not all covered in blood," she smiles.
James chuckles a little as Megan heads off to get the promised caffeine, and turns his gaze on over to Ben. "So, you've been around ever since last week, or just got back in?" he asks, rubbing at the back of his head as he steps aside for another new arrival to make it inside. Then, Megan and coffee returns, and James accepts one cup with a thankful look on his face. "You're an angel, thanks." Schlurping at the hot fluids confirms that they're as strong as they're hot, "And put it on my tab, tell me when it's enough for a movie and a dinner."
"Any kind of chocolate in particular?" Ben asks, swapping his old cup with this fresh cup and taking a long sip. "So good. Thanks. I've been working this job for over a month now. Maybe two by now. Been really busy since the blackouts. I think I've seen you around before."
Megan chuckles at both of them, and tells Ben, "Milk chocolate with no nuts. Don't go messin' up my chocolate with nuts." She sips her own and watches the two men chat. She sees them both in and out of the ER, assuredly, but it's the first time she's actually seen them together. But she's seen the insanity of partner shuffles over the whole week, so it's not like it's shocking.
James cants his head a little to the side, and then offers a nod. "I've been around a couple of years." Not much point in counting days, especially when there are people who have been around longer than him. "Speaking of the price of mutton, would you mind if I take the wheel today?" He hasn't partnered up with Ben before, and everyone have their little quirks. It's just a question of finding out what they are.
"Nuts are great," Ben tells Megan absently. "Drive? Makes no difference to me," Ben says, holding up one hand. After a moment, he adds, "Unless you drive like a maniac. Do you drive like a maniac?"
"He drives like a maniac," Megan comments mildly. Cuz well… she doesn't know, but might as well tease both of them a little more. "he's insane behind the wheel. Regular Batman."
James blinks, and mid-sip of hot coffee, he snorts briefly at the question and Meg's answer. "Hey!" he objects, lifting a hand to wipe at his chin, giving them both a mock-indignated look. "I'll have you know, I haven't crashed even once, yet… It's not my fault they build high curbs. Besides, if I could navigate a minefield, I don't see this place being any more difficult…" He pauses, and then turns his gaze back to Meg. "…and far as I know, I don't think you've ever been in a car I've been driving." Whoops.
Ben just nods mildly. He doesn't look alarmed, except possibly by the notion of tights. "I don't care what happens, I'm not Robin and I'm not wearing tights. No tights. It's a rule." He downs more coffee, covering a little burp with the back of his hand.
Megan chuckles at them both. "you're both clearly sleep deprived. Or I am, cuz I have this mental image of the both of you in tights now, and it won't go away," she says on a giggle.
James arches an eyebrow, gives Ben a quick once-over, and then cracks up a wide grin. "You know, I bet you'd look /awesome/ in purple tights… but fine, fine, be that way… Just grab your cloak and I think we're ready to go save the day again." He reaches out to pat Megan lightly on the shoulder, offering the cup back towards her, rather than throwing it away out here where someone could fall over and get (more) hurt. "You'll keep the mansion in order 'til we get back, Batgirl?"
Ben downs the rest of his coffee and looks for somewhere to put his mug, too. "Robin didn't have purple tights," he says absently. "That was more The Phantom." Zipping up his EMT coat again, he tells Megan, "You also have the option of being Catwoman or Poison Ivy. Special allowance for Ivy because of the hair."
Megan rolls her eyes at both men and quips back, "Just remember… Batgirl kicks some seriously major ass, boys." She pats James's hand when he touches her shoulder. "You two be careful out there, okay? I've already treated three EMTs in the last two days for cuts that friggin' patients gave 'em with bottles and stuff. Keep your eyes open."
James nods, offering Megan as much of a comforting smile as he can manage. "We'll be careful." He then looks over to Ben, arching an eyebrow. "Robin didn't have purple tights? Well, he should've. Maybe red ones, then. But I think you'd look better in purple. For serious. And a yellow cape. That doesn't get dirty, somehow. You roll around in mud, and when you get up, it's still clean and whole." It would seem Ben has his work cut out for him during the night, to explain the finer points of comics to one who never really paid too much attention to them.
Ben says, "Should I be disturbed at how much thought you're putting into imagining me in tights?" Ben asks, brow furrowed. He smiles at Megan. "Thanks for the coffee. We'll be careful. I'll see about the chocolate.""
Megan shrugs easily and waggles her brows. "You should be disturbed at how much imagination *I'm* putting into it. You're far too young for me to have that image stuck in my head. It's cradle-robbing," she snickers. "Go! Get out there and save people."
 February 6th: Jaws |
 February 6th: Steady Light |