#the one where doc picks him up and spins him around makes me unreasonably happy i love being an artist!!!!

[kit-screams-into-the-future]

drawing your favorite guys being silly is very effective at keeping The Horrors at bay

bonus doc from a different canvas:

[cathcacen]

Doctor Naveau isn’t happy with her new charge. Following up on @phylophe‘s piece from last night ahahahah.

Will probably do more on their misadventures in the hospital at some point.

She’s content. The past couple of years have been good to her, and she’s grateful to be working in a safe environment. It makes it easier for her to concentrate on everything she’d need to know to take the boards.

She especially hates when her colleagues tease her for her family name, and for the way she seems to remember everything by sight. My photographic memory does me no good if I’ve no idea how to use the knowledge, she’d said.

Despite occasionally missing the thrill and excitement of going on tour, she has to admit that things have been good. There’s no shortage of patients to work on in the teaching hospital, with many surgical cases specially diverted to them. She’s successfully provided ideas for working around seemingly inoperable cancers. She handles Emergency Room traumas on her own. The attendings trust her with minor surgeries.

She’s just scrubbing in for a spinal realignment surgery when her attending pokes his head out of the OR. “Sorry, Naveau, you’re out. Chief wants you on a patient.”

She protests, but her attending is adamant. When the Chief of surgery tells you to do something, you do it.

The directions lead her to a private ward on the eighth floor. She’s never been there; it’s reserved for the crème de la crème of society: politicians, high-ranking officers in the army, foreign diplomats, celebrities, and such. The nurses point her in the direction of the room, and she’s wondering what pompous ass she has to kiss to get the job done when she sees who it is.

Oh, you have got to be kidding me.

He grins at her. “Long time no see! And you’re still the cutest lady doc in this place.”

She closes her eyes, taking a deep breath. He’s not really here. You’re just imagining things. You’ll open your eyes and it’ll be some fat politician and not this jerk, with his stupid-ass smile, and his stupid-ass mouth.

“Are you blinking back tears because you’re happy to see me? Aww, Naveau. Give us a kiss.”

Irritated, she turns on her heels and marches back at the nurses’ station. This has got to be a mistake. She knows it’s not. But it doesn’t hurt to try. “Excuse me, you sure this is right? Room 804?”

The nurse smirks at her. “Exactly the one, Naveau. Chief said to expect you. Welcome to the glamour floor.”

Shit.

He’s still smirking when she returns, lying back on his bed with the television remote in one hand. “Come on, you used to be so much nicer to me. What happened? Did this cushy life of ease and comfort spoil you for everyone?”

“No,” She reaches for his chart, scowling. “You did. What the hell did you do to yourself this time?” He doesn’t say anything, and she flips over the front page angrily. “Right, I forgot. Classified information. What’re you doing here, anyway? I can think of a million other hospitals with better facilities to deal with whatever you’ve got going on here.”

“I’m donating myself to science as a specimen. You should be grateful. You want to learn, don’t you?” He looks her over, the singular uncovered eye lingering on her ringlets. She turns her back to him. “My body is ripe for your education.”

“Donate yourself to another hospital,” She grumbles half-heartedly. His chart is a mess. She recognises her own name and division on some of his notes, and below those, page after page detailing his most recent surgeries and procedures. When she scans them through, she’s slightly alarmed by the sheer volume and difficulty of the work he’s had done. Good lord, how’s he even alive? “Says here you’re due for some minor procedures and rehab. Psych evaluations over the next month. You’ll also need to work with a rehab therapist to get your limbs moving again.”

“That’s you, dearie,” The glee is evident in his voice. “I trust you’ll make a good walking prop.”

Wait, what? She spins around, eyes widening. “I don’t have time for you, I’m supposed to be studying for the boards. I’m a doctor, damn it, not your nursemaid.”

He’s eyeing her employee tag, and she swipes it away impatiently. “Your Chief seems to think it’d be good for us both in this regard. He’s been brought up to speed about our past, and agrees that it’s best for my rehabilitation to work with someone whose touch I’m already familiar with.” His grin deepens. She wants to shake him until all his teeth fall out. “Incidentally, you look cute with long hair. Sweeter. But I like you sassy this way too.”

“Don’t get used to it,” She growls. “I’ve got to see a man about an ass.”

“What’s the problem here, Naveau?”

The Chief of surgery is an imposing man. Not unreasonable, but imposing. She’s somewhat aware that it must’ve taken some kind of arm twisting for him to agree to this arrangement. She feels bad for that, but she’s still furious.

“I’d like to be taken off the Sagen case.” She fists her hands over her lap. “I’m not sure I’m equipped to do what Lieutenant Sagen needs. If you need an Ortho consult, I’d be happy to fax his files to my brother. It would be better for both the patient, and myself.”

“He asked for you,” The old man says, leaning forward. There’s a single streak of silver running down the side of his head, and she’s reminded of the old Mafia movies she used to watch. The comparison doesn’t make her feel any better. “You’re familiar with him, so we all decided it would be the best fit. You should be honoured. D’you know how many residents would kill for this kind of experience?”

The only person I’m going to kill is that asshole.

She grits her teeth. “With all due respect, sir, I’ll be specialising in Trauma. Wouldn’t it be more beneficial to pair him up with the Ortho and Psych hopefuls?”

“Nobody cares what you’re planning to specialise in,” The old man’s eyes gleam. She’s close to getting yelled at, she knows. “This experience will also be useful for when you take your boards, even. You could use some hours in Ortho.” He glances down at his notebook. “You’ve done well in the other specialties, but I see here you’ve neglected some branches of medicine. I’m sure you’re well aware the boards will cover all of them.”

She tightens her fists. “I’m aware, sir.”

“Well, then this is perfect.” He leans back in his seat. “I don’t see why you’re so upset.” A look of realisation dawns upon his face. “Wait. You two didn’t... in the army?”

“Please don’t even go there, sir.” Her face heats up. She wants to break something over Sagen’s head. And, failing that, she wants to scream. “How long am I going to be taking care of Lieutenant Sagen? Is there going to be a rotation, to make it fairer on the other residents?”

“No rotations,” The Chief grins, and she swears there’s a hint of Sagen in that smile. “Enjoy the next three months, Naveau.”

She sulks for the rest of the day. The other residents are already making up their own stories about the mysterious army man on the eighth floor, and she’s happy to supply that he’s full of shit. The Trauma attending gives her his blessing to shadow the Ortho attending for the next three months, and she watches, her insides aching, as he scrubs her name off the scheduled surgeries for the next week.

Eventually, she reports in to her new attending, and sits through an hour-long lecture about how she should be happy to work in her brother’s field. There’s a lot of lobbying. She’s not surprised. Strahan’s a big name in that specific branch of medicine. She makes a mental note to shout at him for it, even if it’s not his fault.

It’s past seven in the evening by the time she finally makes her way back upstairs. He’s sitting up, eating dinner with his one mobile hand, and there’s music playing in the background. He glances up when she walks into the room.

“I seem to remember telling you to take care of yourself the last time we were together.” She slumps into the chair beside his bed, too tired to put up a front, and is grateful when he doesn’t react. “Wasn’t expecting to see you again, and especially not like this.”

He chews his mouthful of food slowly before swallowing. “Well, I had my pick of hospitals. And it’s not often I get to choose what to do with my time, or who to spend it with.”

“Congratulations, then,” She leans over and steals his fruit cup. “You get to spend your time rehabilitating your ground-up limbs with angry doctors who care too much. Should’ve gone for a hospital in another country or something, where nobody gives a shit as long as you pay up.”

“Yeah, well.” He looks up at her. She wonders if she’ll ever get used to seeing him without the other eye. “They probably won’t argue with me, and I like some excitement.”

Her lip twitches in a slight smile. He smiles back, and it’s a genuine smile. Stripped of that obnoxious expression, he’s less irritating. “Try not to piss me off too much, and we’ll get along just fine.”

He pops a cherry tomato into his mouth, bursting it between his teeth. “Where’s the fun in that, though?”