Hospital, Bristol, Monday

[chosehumanity]

Early that morning, George had offered to get Annie a taxi. "Oh, no need," she'd said, and vanished before his very eyes; supposedly, back to the house, to see if the Door was still there. Which left George sitting at Mitchell's bedside, fidgeting, and watching the nurses argue about the heart monitor.

They were still pinning that on a possible defect in the system, but they were going to catch on sooner or later.

As the day progressed, he might have gone out to get some coffee occasionally, but mostly he spent his time here, watching Mitchell lie there, motionless, confounding the doctors. Apparently, his body hadn't forgotten how to simulate breathing just yet.

And because it wasn't enough of a clusterfuck yet, the hospital sent in a vicar later into the Monday evening, too, which was really complicated to deal with.

[[ for anyone who has reason to be in this Bristol hospital room any time today. spoilers for Being Human 1x06 likely if there are any comments. ]]

Comments

[chosehumanity]

"My body's already healing as much as it can." As much as it could without a large quantity of fresh blood, but fuck him if he was going to say that to the lad already used to offering. "I'll be fine."

[bitten_notshy]

As if Jack hadn't long since worked out what Mitchell needed. Which didn't mean he was making the offer. It was still too soon for him to be sure it was safe, and keeping one vampire alive was enough for him.

But.

"Will you be, without help?" He wasn't the only person with unconventional tastes in all of Great Britain, after all. Probably he wasn't even the only one within walking distance.

[chosehumanity]

"It doesn't matter."

Even if he was going to feed on someone, Mitchell still had too many sharp pictures in the back of his mind, of people in bandages, of teddy bears hidden under beds.

"I'll work it out."

[vanillajello]

Once all the complete insanity had calmed down, Kate had slipped out of the room to go find the largest mug of coffee she possibly could.

So, of course, when she came back, she had one of those standard little plastic cups you got from the machines in hospitals. And wishing she'd had the foresight to bring her thermos with her on this little trip.

She offered Jack a subdued little "hey" once she came through the door and saw him.

[bitten_notshy]

"Hey," Jack agreed, turning away from Mitchell's mostly-still form. "I think he's out again. How was your trip?"

[vanillajello]

"Late," Kate said, leaning back against the wall by the door, giving Mitchell a quick glance. "And poorly aimed. I got dropped, like, way across town."

[bitten_notshy]

"You would think a city this size would have more than one portal hub," Jack said. "I ended up at about the same place."

[vanillajello]

"Yeah, well, portal travel sucks," Kate said, with a shrug of her shoulder and a sip of coffee. "Did they tell you about our little visitors yet?"

[bitten_notshy]

"I heard there were vampires and a priest chased them off," Jack said in a low voice. "Is it bad I'll be almost relived if that's what you mean, and I haven't missed anything else?"

[vanillajello]

"That's exactly what I meant," Kate replied, bringing her coffee-free hand up to rub at her forehead. "And it's okay to feel relieved. Anything more happening right now would just be m--"

She almost said murder, but that didn't sound like a good word right now.

"Well, it would suck ass."

[bitten_notshy]

"And then some," Jack agreed. "I just wish we could get him out of the hospital, and then out of Bristol, and then worry about the world domination plans."

[vanillajello]

Kate rubbed at her forehead some more, then at her temple, glancing at Mitchell, over there on his bed. The sight was still occasionally making her stomach twist. "Well, we can't take him out when he's like that."

Thank you, Captain Obvious.

[bitten_notshy]

"He needs to stop being proud and find someone who can help him," Jack said, with quiet anger. It wasn't at Mitchell, so much: It was more at the situation as a whole. "I don't think anything they're doing is making any kind of change."

Which was also Captain Obvious territory, from his point of view.

[vanillajello]

"They're giving him blood, though," Kate said with an almost imperceptible shrug of her shoulder, eyeing the blood bag and the drip over the rim of her coffee cup before taking a quick sip.

"I mean... isn't that what the fangs and no tans crowd revolves around?"

[bitten_notshy]

"Only works for him if it's straight from the vein," Jack said, and leaned his head back to close his eyes. It was unfair that Mitchell's choices were risking murder or starving. Other worlds, his own included, were kinder. "I think the only person he'd take from is George -- and George can't."

He stopped there, but that was about where he started giving Kate a distinctly speculative look.

[vanillajello]

It took Kate a moment to notice that look. She was momentarily hung up on actually living part-time in a world where some people actually fed on human blood, and she was still glad the contents of her stomach were mostly coffee.

It didn't take her forever, though. She glanced over at him.

"... What?"

[bitten_notshy]

"Well," Jack said, a little embarrassed and hoping Kate would realize this was not actually a kinky sex thing at the moment, "there is you..."

[vanillajello]

It wouldn't currently even cross Kate's mind that it could be a kinky sex thing, so he needn't worry about that.

But. "Uh." It took a moment to process what he was saying. "You mean he should -- ?" She didn't really finish the thought out loud. They both knew what he meant. She frowned a little. "Why me? Why not you?"

[bitten_notshy]

Oh. This facet of Jack's life hadn't exactly come up, had it? Either way, he didn't look ashamed.

"My guardian drank from me on Wednesday," he explained, lifting his cuff a bit so she'd see the bandage on his wrist. "It's too soon. It wouldn't do us any good if I needed a transfusion too."

[vanillajello]

"Oh." Well, that was new information, which she'd maybe process in its entirety at a later time. Right now, she was just picking up the essentials.

And that left her eyes darting from Jack to Mitchell and back to Jack again. "... That'd help?"

[bitten_notshy]

"It should," Jack answered, eyes also going to the almost still form. "Different universes, nothing is certain. But it should."

[vanillajello]

"Oh," Kate said again, eyes fixed on Mitchell now. She was chewing on her lip.

She couldn't have possibly looked any more conflicted without someone actually writing the word across her face with a thick black marker.

[bitten_notshy]

Jack saw that expression and bit a thumbnail. He couldn't tell her it didn't hurt, since that wasn't exactly true. And he certainly couldn't tell her it wasn't a big deal -- that wasn't true either.

The idea of pressuring her beyond putting the idea in her head made his stomach twist. It was life or death, all right, but there seemed to be some time.

So he lightly stepped back

"Think about it," he said. "That's all."

[vanillajello]

"I'm thinking about it," Kate muttered, almost under her breath. And she was. Weighing the pros and cons in her frazzled mind as far as she could see them. It was kind of a scary thought, but... Jack seemed to be used to it, and he was okay, but then it wasn't the same at all. She didn't even know.

And this was Mitchell. Who she'd run here for, blindly, again.

"Maybe."

[bitten_notshy]

"All I can ask," Jack said. "We'll talk to him about it next time he's awake."

In a way, Jack realized, what would have surprised him would have been immediate and enthusiastic acceptance from Kate. The whole thing, he was certain, would have sat differently with him if he was -- well. Different.