Title: Gather, Throw
Dec. 1st, 2010 04:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cosmic_tuesdaysTitle: Gather, Throw
Author: Hannah Orlove
Fandom: House, MD
Pairing: None
Rating: PG-13
Notes: Written for![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ratchetblack with the prompt Left of West universe: Wilson flying around shortly before the start of the story. Thanks to emblem and nightdog_barks for beta-reading. Title from the R.E.M. song “Sitting Still.”
This would be embarrassing if it didn’t hurt so much. Fuck, I haven’t missed a landing since I was eleven and sick for a week and just wanted to get out and up, fuck. I hiss and grip my ankle again. I don’t think it’s broken and I really hope not – ah, fuck – and I still have the delivery. All right, one more deep breath, one more.
I manage to get my knees under me and take another breath and haul myself onto my feet, my one good foot, by pushing off and flapping up. It’s really uncoordinated and I know I look like a baby right now with me holding my wings out for the balance but I gotta get this done so I can get some help. I clench my fists and mutter one of Mike’s favorite custom insults before going inside.
Signing off for the records is easy. I’ve been here before so they know me at these offices, so it gets done faster than at a new place. On the way out, I stop at the secretary’s desk in the lobby. She’s doing something with her computer. I have no idea what it is but it looks pretty busy. “Excuse me.”
She doesn’t look up. Must be busy, then. “Yes?”
“Do you know if there’s a hospital with a drop-in clinic around here? I thought I saw one, and I could really use it if there is.”
“As a matter of fact, yes. The teaching hospital on campus has a free clinic.”
Thank goodness. “How do I get there?”
“Take Princeton-Kingston road down Nassau, and –”
I’m not in a mood to be polite. “How do I get there?”
“You –” She finally looks up at me. I hate that look, and arch up for emphasis and to make her that much more uncomfortable. She takes a breath and pauses and takes another. “Uh, yeah. It’s to the south, yeah, the south-west of us. Very big building, lots of windows, right at the university. Just a couple of miles away.”
“Thank you.”
Taking off’s harder, more effort on the downflap, but once I’m up it’s easier – it’s not like I need my feet right now, even if the ankle’s still throbbing. I hope I don’t need it braced or something, I don’t want to think what that’d do, I don’t want to even wonder about it. The hospital’s right where she said it’d be – ah, good, there’s a lawn and not just pavement. This time I know not to think about my wife, slow down first, then tuck and roll, line up with the ground.
I manage to get inside to the main desk without much trouble. “Hi.” The nurse looks up at me immediately – she also hides that look better than the secretary. “Is this where I wait to see a doctor?”
She sends me to an exam room, saying to wait and someone will be in to see me in a little while.
Author: Hannah Orlove
Fandom: House, MD
Pairing: None
Rating: PG-13
Notes: Written for
ratchetblack with the prompt Left of West universe: Wilson flying around shortly before the start of the story. Thanks to emblem and nightdog_barks for beta-reading. Title from the R.E.M. song “Sitting Still.”This would be embarrassing if it didn’t hurt so much. Fuck, I haven’t missed a landing since I was eleven and sick for a week and just wanted to get out and up, fuck. I hiss and grip my ankle again. I don’t think it’s broken and I really hope not – ah, fuck – and I still have the delivery. All right, one more deep breath, one more.
I manage to get my knees under me and take another breath and haul myself onto my feet, my one good foot, by pushing off and flapping up. It’s really uncoordinated and I know I look like a baby right now with me holding my wings out for the balance but I gotta get this done so I can get some help. I clench my fists and mutter one of Mike’s favorite custom insults before going inside.
Signing off for the records is easy. I’ve been here before so they know me at these offices, so it gets done faster than at a new place. On the way out, I stop at the secretary’s desk in the lobby. She’s doing something with her computer. I have no idea what it is but it looks pretty busy. “Excuse me.”
She doesn’t look up. Must be busy, then. “Yes?”
“Do you know if there’s a hospital with a drop-in clinic around here? I thought I saw one, and I could really use it if there is.”
“As a matter of fact, yes. The teaching hospital on campus has a free clinic.”
Thank goodness. “How do I get there?”
“Take Princeton-Kingston road down Nassau, and –”
I’m not in a mood to be polite. “How do I get there?”
“You –” She finally looks up at me. I hate that look, and arch up for emphasis and to make her that much more uncomfortable. She takes a breath and pauses and takes another. “Uh, yeah. It’s to the south, yeah, the south-west of us. Very big building, lots of windows, right at the university. Just a couple of miles away.”
“Thank you.”
Taking off’s harder, more effort on the downflap, but once I’m up it’s easier – it’s not like I need my feet right now, even if the ankle’s still throbbing. I hope I don’t need it braced or something, I don’t want to think what that’d do, I don’t want to even wonder about it. The hospital’s right where she said it’d be – ah, good, there’s a lawn and not just pavement. This time I know not to think about my wife, slow down first, then tuck and roll, line up with the ground.
I manage to get inside to the main desk without much trouble. “Hi.” The nurse looks up at me immediately – she also hides that look better than the secretary. “Is this where I wait to see a doctor?”
She sends me to an exam room, saying to wait and someone will be in to see me in a little while.
