#nursc. 13.

[highaver]

All of Christine's complaining made him laugh, obviously. It helped that she was laughing all the way through them herself. Soft idiot that he was, Balfour would have put her down in an instant if he thought she'd genuinely hated it or he'd made her even the slightest bit uncomfortable. (Long gone were the days of him causing Christine Chapel any grievance. At least intentionally.) He was doing his best to head toward the door without having the two of them topple over.

Of course, he wasn't past joking about it, though.

"Do you seriously think that I'd ever let you fall?" he asked. And, of course, a second later, he faked a stumble, with the comedy woooaahhh! naturally included as he tried to regain the balance he had very much not lost. And then he almost tripped over one of her shoes that he'd nicked for real. Naturally.

"Oh, fuck -" He caught himself. One hand against the wall, the other arm tight around Christine's waist to stop her from falling. He put her down quite daintly after that - and promptly burst into laughter again.

one of the most irksome things about bal was his towering height. it clocked in just below the way his eyes softened during a hug and slightly above the beautiful way he translated the word in his drawings. it might have slid down the scale if her brain ever got around to accepting his everest-like proportions. but since it stubbornly clung to the idea he was only an inch taller than her, her knee-jerk reaction when he unceremoniously grabbed her from her very comfortable spot on the ground was a protest.

❛⠀⠀stop it! you are going to drop me! and don’t think for one single second i’m going down alone. if you drop me, i’m taking you with me. set me down, bal! ⠀ ❜ ⠀ clenched fists make contact with his back. not enough to hurt, but just enough to make her protests heard. though how effective those were, considering they were spoken through gasps of laughter, is a whole other conversation.⠀ ❛⠀⠀you’re not my mom, you can’t make me go to school — work! ⠀ ❜

it is only a few seconds later, when she realizes how far her head is from the ground, that reality sets back in.

with a prolonged sigh, christine makes herself comfortable.

❛⠀⠀joke is on you. i'm comfy. ⠀ ❜

[highaver]

"Sorry, no can do. Absolutely do your back in."

He grinned, then, and, yes, it was his about to do something grin. It was always easier to be lighthearted around Christine in their off-time - especially when nobody else was around to see him being an idiot. That was for family and nobody else. People who he didn't have to worry about thinking less of him. And anyway, Christine had seen him at his stupidest. If she was going to lose respect for him, she would have done it ages ago.

So obviously he stooped down to try and pick her up. If she'd not move herself, he'd just have to go ahead and move her himself. (Never beyond the door but wasn't it fun to threaten he would?)

"Here we go, then -"

wondering how far he is going to take this, and whether — ‘a crazy man stole my shoes — is a reasonable explanation as to why she missed her shift, christine chooses to simply bend her knee slightly, making it easier for him to slip them off.

the fact the crazy man is her best friend is not a point in her favor. m’benga will simply point out that the two of them could be coinspiring, but, perhaps, if balfour is caught red-handed with her shoes, she can spin this in her favor.

❛⠀⠀⠀i can roll from one side to another,⠀ ⠀ ❜⠀ ⠀ she says, doing so, arms flapping at her sides, ⠀ ⠀ ❛⠀⠀⠀and exercise on the floor. plus, you know, they say pillows are bad for you. so i'm actually going to be sleeping really well here.⠀ ⠀ ❜

armed with this unimpeachable logic, christine shakes her head, poking him with her feet again.⠀⠀⠀❛⠀⠀⠀nope. i want to remain here. i've decided.⠀ ⠀ ❜

[highaver]

"Oh, well, in that case," he muttered, and opted to crouch down to start on stealing her other shoe. Balfour wasn't particularly sure what he was going to do with them, in truth, and this wasn't the smartest way of annoying her back onto her feet. Then again, Balfour had never claimed to be anything but an idiot. "Are you just gonna lie down here forever? I'm not a medical professional but I don't think that's good for you either."

There was such a lightness on his face in that moment. The sort of lightness that only Christine seemed to be halfway decent at bringing out, these days. At least with this much ease. He put on his best dad face - the one he so rarely got to use with Calum.

"Do you want me to carry you?" he teased.

❛⠀⠀⠀did you just?⠀ ⠀ ❜ ⠀ ⠀ head lifts slightly off the ground, the need to double-check with her two that he actually just took off her shoe (the fact she felt it happening isn’t enough), combatting bone-deep exhaustion and dramatics. eyes blink. once. twice. three times. far too quick to be natural, but not part of her act, her brain trying to catch up with the weird sight in front of it as quickly as possible.

once it did, it was, of course, very quick to point out that not having one of her shoes is just another reason for her not go to into work.

❛⠀⠀⠀fine. i’ll just stay here and rot. can’t walk with just one shoe. it’s bad for the calves, you know.⠀ ⠀ ❜

[highaver]

Balfour laughed, giving her leg a slight tug as if that might convince her to her feet. No luck. He was half of a mind to throw her over his shoulder - it would, of course, be the funniest option to act on - but he was exhausted. The other funniest option was just to be annoying, then, so Balfour set to pulling off her trainer in the name of making her life just a fraction more difficult.

"Oh well!" he said lightly. Christine's ability to bring out Balfour's inner idiot was truly unmatched. It was something that he appreciated beyond words. "Guess you won't be needing these, then."

❛⠀⠀⠀don't give me that. you're supposed to be on my side, bal. not his,⠀ ⠀ ❜⠀ ⠀ she complains, in a greatly injured tone. bridge crew and their loyalty to each other; usually, it is adorable, you can never catch them saying a bad word about each other, no matter how much she needles erica after three drinks. not right now, though. his loyalty is to her. sorry pike.

bottom lip juts out. she's not ready to get out of the floor, not ready to face another day with these tired, complaining muscles, the patients already complain enough.

instead of her hand, she hands him her foot.

❛⠀⠀⠀not moving.⠀ ⠀ ❜

[highaver]

He laughs at that, nods his head as if to say I'll give you that one. "Aye, well, I guess it's always the boss man's prerogative to be a difficult bastard when he wants to be." Balfour has to wonder for a moment if he's a particularly difficult patient - and supposes, if he's being honest with himself, that yeah, he probably is.

Maybe to make up for that, then, he rises to his feet. A moment later, he's holding his hands out to help Christine up as well, all smiles, even if they are particularly exhausted at the moment. Often has he been a nuisance at Christine, he's sure. And he will be again, undoubtedly. But for five minutes, right now? He'll be sweet.

"Come on," he teases. "Before I keel over again."

resisting the urge to stick her tongue out at him, christine opts not to reply, as his cheeky suggestion is not that removed from the truth.

❛⠀⠀⠀that's cause you've never had to rope someone into a physical,⠀ ⠀ ❜⠀ ⠀ it was a completely painless process, for the patient. nurse chapel, on the other hand, along with the rest of the medical staff, aged five years each time someone tried to argue they were fine. ⠀ ⠀❛⠀⠀⠀let me tell you, stalking captain pike to catch him by surprise? not as fun as it sounds.⠀ ⠀ ❜

[highaver]

ㅤ"Uh, you work on the Enterprise, you literally don't have a boring part of your job." He shrugs, there, and makes a little face like I don't know what more you could want from me. But he's just teasing, since Christine always makes it so easy to do that. With a smile, then, he suggests: "Inventory? Or - well, I was gonna say the chief of security's knee's giving him grief again and he's demanding your special attention but that involves me, so obviously it's the highlight of your day." A shrug, then. Still smiling, as he will. "Anything that doesn't involve me? I'm all self-centred from here on out."

only a full-blown emergency is gonna get her to move. or, m'benga's disappointed face, but that's the only two reasons why she'll move an inch when she is tired as a dog, and blessed with the best sight in the universe: dear balfour's dimpled smile. hmm, maybe not even m'benga's face can move her this time. ⠀⠀⠀

❛⠀⠀⠀uh, how about we're doing a scientific thing. quick, what's the most boring part of my job?⠀ ⠀ ❜⠀

[highaver]

ㅤ“ The chief of security and everybody's favourite nurse? ” He shrugs, as if the answers isn't yeah, the entire damn ship will notice. But this is why he likes Christine. Well, one of the reasons - it is a near-endless list, after all. She's got jokes. Sometimes, they aren't even bad ones. “ Nah. ” He smiles, that sweet thing that's usually only reserved for her. “ We could probably sit here forever and it'll be fine. ... Quick, help me think up an emergency that needs us on the floor for a while. ”

hand remains lifted in the air as he drops next to her, as if waiting for a greater force up there to take pity on her and end this suffering right now before the aches have a chance to settle on her bones and make her entire week miserable.

❛⠀⠀⠀i don't have it in me to chastize you for that,⠀ ⠀ ❜⠀ ⠀ hand falls back to her side as she shifts to prop herself up on her elbow, eyebrow upturned as she glances down at balfour. ⠀ ⠀ ❛⠀⠀⠀think if we never move again someone is gonna notice?⠀ ⠀ ❜⠀

[highaver]

ㅤHe feels like absolute fucking shit. Balfour didn't actually know he had the capacity to feel this bad anymore, but he supposed it made perfect sense that he'd find that out with Christine. If there was trouble to get up to - well, he called her Trouble for a reason, didn't he? They only got worse when you put them together.

ㅤ“ I'm going to just... ” He was already getting down on the floor, fully prepared to commit to this bit. Mostly because he was dead on his feet. And sick. He was feeling horrendously sick. “ ... lie down and die here. Don't worry about it. ”

@highaver asked: I mean, we’re dumb, but we’re not that dumb.

❛⠀⠀⠀no, i think we're exactly that dumb.⠀ ⠀ ❜⠀ ⠀ in fact, christine is one hundred percent sure that their combined minds amount to the exact idiocy required to follow through with this terrible exercise regimen. that's because she is holding a letter from her past-self ( all of twenty-four hours ago ) where they agreed to a very specific schedule for one month.

❛⠀⠀⠀i know we were drunk but like,⠀ ⠀ ❜⠀ ⠀ holding up a hand for a lift up, she tucks the paper back in her pocket, cursing its existence. this is why they don't use paper anymore; the blank page is a siren for bad ideas.⠀ ⠀ ❛⠀⠀⠀why did we think we needed to run that much? that just seems like overkill.⠀ ⠀ ❜⠀ ⠀ or like it could possibly kill them.

the west wing, in the shadow of two gunmen, sentence starter meme.