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[lilorphanmaggie]

It was an accident.  Not that it would be anything but an accident, not like Harry sets out to purposely put Maggie in danger, and generally she doesn't purposely go out to put herself in danger either.  But if you do things a hundred times it turns out that the likelihood of getting hurt increases somewhat, especially when it comes to offensive magic.

Especially when the student sighs impatiently and keeps repeating: "I've got it, I've really got it."  It's like the more times you say that, the more you tempt the universe to show you that, no, you don't really got it.  At least not to the extent that you should have it.  It's one of those humbling lessons that one learns when they decide to mess with the powers of the universe.

The burst of explosion and fire was caught mostly by a hasty shield formed by Harry; Maggie just isn't as quick with that as she should be, especially with a weak foci, which is really why Harry is around for these things.  So it wasn't as bad as it could be, not to say that it's all sweet smelling roses and puppy dogs.

The force blows her back, knocking her left side into a tree with a sick sort of thud which, ironically, helped her avoid most of the flame.  Most, but not all.  Her right side, bicep, shoulder get burned, the flame eagerly eating through her long sleeved Henley like a starved beast.  In a blink of the eye, skin blisters and bubbles, at least second degree burns, and whatever chucks of hair get in the way?  That gets sucked up as well.  It all happens so quickly, and it would have been worse if she was alone, after hitting that tree there's no way she could have defended herself, could have doused out the flames like Harry does.

The problem then becomes, what do you do with a wounded fledgling apprentice?

Comments

[curse-of-stone.livejournal.com]

Is it coincidence or fate that the closest hospital to where Maggie and Harry train the one that Zack works at? Either way it's good fortune.

For Zack, this night is much like any other night in the hospital. Seeing patients. Chatting with the resident that's working overnight tonight and the nurses - half of whom think he's wonderful and the other half think he's a bit of a freak. The truth is, they're both right.

If anything it's a bit slow, which of course makes the night feel like it's dragging on and on and on ...

It picks up a bit around midnight. There's a girl that's just been admitted with burns. Isn't that terrible? They say she's only eighteen and they're covering almost half of her body. Mainly second degree, but first in the hands; that's unsurprising though, people often throw their hands up to protect themselves from a sudden burst of flame.

It being a slow night, the resident, John, goes in to check on her. She needs the highest level of care of all the patients in the ER at the moment. All the other patients are stable and resting, for the most part, so John, only a few weeks away from becoming a doctor, goes in to see the girl.

[lilorphanmaggie.livejournal.com]

No one ever enjoyed getting almost burned alive, no one ever thinks after the incident: my, wasn't that exciting? It's really not all that bad, I think. Especially if they're conscious, and, at the moment that's what Maggie is, sort of, she slips in and out of it - or that's what it feels like. Truth is, she is almost always conscious but in shock, so it seems like bits and pieces of the trip over there, and people coming into her room are missing.

She keeps expecting something, like, she came here for some reason. It's like walking into a room and swearing you were there for some reason but can't remember what that reason is. As soon as you leave the room it might come back to you, but standing there, thinking, it just seems like such a mystery.

Speaking of mystery, why she is breathing seems like one to her. It hurts to breathe and on one side it hurts more than the other. The left side, the one that hit the tree, sort of throbs, and the other side, the right side? Well, she just doesn't even think about that, every time she tries to glance over, her mind goes blank.

What's possibly worse is that she is alone, there's no one to sort of keep her company or talk her through the shock. Harry did his best on the way over, but he's so powerful, so completely magical that even passing the threshold would put people in danger, she knows that, but, well, it's hard. She knows that he isn't really dad status with her, but she would feel a lot better if he was with her, if he could tell her that everything would be okay.

She isn't crying, not really, there are tears in her eyes but they can be blinked away. She isn't scared, nope, not Maggie, compared to the Red Court, this ain't shit. When John the resident steps in she suddenly sort of remembers. "I need Zack, Zack that works here, please..." Holy shit, what an awful time to forget his last name.

[curse-of-stone.livejournal.com]

Christ, this girl is right off the ambulance and all upset. They haven't even gotten her into a hospital gown yet. That's John's first thought as he enters the room. He's watching the rise and fall of her chest and how hungry she is for air.

That's when he notices she's asking about Zack. Zack that works here. She must be talking about Zack Sere.

"I'm your physician for the night, Magraret." He says softly, but with a bit of authority. "I want to get treatment started for you right away, I'll send Zack in a few minutes. First, I want you to tell me what happened to you."

[lilorphanmaggie.livejournal.com]

"I need him," she tells the doctor as if he doesn't really understand the necessity of her request. It's not like she just popped on in for a visit and wanted to say hi to him. "I love him," maybe that would clarify the situation a little bit more. C'mon, doc!

Ohshit. She didn't think to explain how she got like this. "Magic," she murmurs and mutters out before she tries to cover it all up. "I didn't know, I thought I knew what I was doing, but I didn't. Does it really matter? It was fire..."

[curse-of-stone.livejournal.com]

If she's trying to make the resident understand that Zachary Sere is her boyfriend and she would really want him to come in and be with her for a little while ... he's not getting it at all. When she threw magic in as her reason for being in the hospital, he thinks she's out of sorts.

She's lucky he's not an old doctor. One that's spent fifty years or so in his practice believing that 'the doc knows best'. That kind of doctor would have just documented the fact that she was 'confused' and kept right on going with his assessment. And how the fire happened is important, because some burns are treated differently than others.

"If you rate your pain for me on a scale of one to ten and tell me where it hurts, I will leave the room and tell Zack you're here, okay?"

[lilorphanmaggie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, in retrospect if she kept going on about the whole magic thing she could have gotten committed which wouldn't have been fun at all. Not likely, but, maybe. Or maybe they would have just thought that she was confused as fuck. She tried to clarify, that it was fire, it wasn't acid or anything like that, it's not chemical, just good old fire. That's what he was getting at, right? She pays attention when Zack talks.

"Everywhere, it hurts everything," which isn't very helpful but it feels like that. "My arms, my neck, I just don't move..." When she moves, that's the worst, ohshit, did she remember to shave her legs today? "I don't know if I feel anything," her brain is mush, she feels something, feel, Maggie. "It's like, ten, it really hurts..." Okay, she gave him his information, she wants to see Zack now.

[curse-of-stone.livejournal.com]

John will leave the room and write her a stat order for Morphine for her pain. He's actually surprised the girl is conscious and that she's breathing alright on her own. He also writes an order for a blood test, for oxygen through a nasal cannula and for IV fluids for the girl.

After all that's done, only then does he look for Zack. "The girl in room three says she knows a Zack that works here, but I gotta be honest she seems a bit confused. The aid is in there getting off her clothes and putting a gown on her now. I got some orders for the nurses for pain, ABG's and fluids so you may want to give them a few minutes."

[lilorphanmaggie.livejournal.com]

So, logically, it makes sense to get the clothes off first, but Maggie sort of wishes that it happened after she got the pain meds. Most of it, well, all of her shirt is cut off, it has to be, and she's sad because she really liked that shirt. That's why she's crying, not because she is in extraordinary pain to the point where she wants to scream. She tries to keep calm, but the agony is too much, and her heart starts to race and she has to breathe and that just makes the whole thing worse.

So she keeps apologizing to the aid, because she doesn't want her to feel bad, like she is hurting Maggie. While the initial experience was pretty awful, this is ten times worse. Seriously. Which is why, her brain goes blessedly blank after a time. It's just too much hurt. Nothing can be any worse than getting her clothes off. Absolutely nothing.

[curse-of-stone.livejournal.com]

Zack assumes it's a patient who has been here before (they call them frequent fliers) and since he often sits in the rooms of the lonelier patients - the ones that you hear whispers among the staff about 'can you believe that person has been in here for days and nobody has come to visit them' - he has no idea who it could be. He'd never expect it to be his Margaret.

But he can't help but to be curious and since it is kind of on the slow side, he pulls up the chart on the patient in room three and his face ... if you can believe it, somehow ends up even whiter than it was before. He won't waste another minute getting to her.

[lilorphanmaggie.livejournal.com]

Zack is a good person, in work and outside of work, he's got a great big heart and any patient he has ever had will say that about him, no doubt.

It's good that he doesn't waste any time getting to her, she needs him. She always needs him but tonight she really needs him. At the moment, she might need him a little less with the order for morphine she has been given. The oxygen is actually nice too, it makes breathing less work which is really nice because breathing was hurting for awhile there. She is currently half tucked into bed, the non-crispy side is under covers and the burned side is out. Maggie looks like a friendlier less horrible version of Two-Face. Except, her face isn't really mangled, which is nice.

[curse-of-stone.livejournal.com]

Zack doesn't know if her morphine has been given to her and if it has if it's kicked in yet or not. Usually it takes about a half an hour for it to kick in, but that depends on a lot of factors. She's got oxygen going, fluids running, he's happy to see that.

He'll crouch down beside her. When she opens her sleepy eyes, he'll be right there. He always loved watching her sleep, even now, she looks peaceful.

Zack will hum a few bars and then softly sing the first line of the song Maggie May. "Wake up Maggie I think I got something to say to you."

[lilorphanmaggie.livejournal.com]

She loves it when he sings to her, he has such a sweet voice and she feels like the best most special woman in the world when he does. Especially the Maggie May song. Even though it doesn't really fit because Maggie in that song seems to be older.

Her eyes slowly open and she smiles, it too is slow but it's big as she reaches over to him with her semi good hand, at least it's not burned. "It's late September and you really should be back at school?" God, she feels so much better seeing him, knowing that he's next to her.

[curse-of-stone.livejournal.com]

It only fits at all because of the first line. Zack's Maggie isn't anything like the Maggie-May of the song, but it is his favorite way to wake her up and kind of a catchy song. It's his way to let her know that he's there before her eyes are even opened.

"When I told you I liked when you come to visit me at work, I didn't mean like this, lovely."

[lilorphanmaggie.livejournal.com]

The bottom line is that she loves it and he should never ever stop singing it to her. Her fingers wrap around his and she seems to finally relax. It will be okay, he's here, and that means everything is going to be okay now.

"I just really wanted to see you," she whispers to him, her voice watery and tight with emotion. "I was like, 'well, I've got nothing better to do, I wonder what Zack is up to.' You know me, romantic and spontaneous."

[curse-of-stone.livejournal.com]

Zack lifts her hand up to his lips so he can kiss her knuckles. He's pretty sure her hand doesn't hurt terribly or she wouldn't be moving it so much.

"Well I'm here now." He says, strangely calm. Not because he feels calm, but because he's pretty sure that's what she needs right now. She needs a rock for lack of a better turn of phrase. He can freak out later. "You don't have to do any more crazy stunts to get my attention."

[lilorphanmaggie.livejournal.com]

Yes, yes, she needs calm right now. She doesn't want him to cry or freak out because if he did she would too and that would actually hurt the people around her. Her eyelids flutter closed and she takes a slow breath in, his lips are sweet and smooth on her skin, so nice.

"No more crazy stunts," she tells him quietly and opens her eyes once again to look over at him. "I am really glad you're here, Zack. You make me feel better, and you can make sure that they don't cut off my arm, okay? I just don't think it would be a good look for me."

[curse-of-stone.livejournal.com]

Oh don't try to make him promise that Maggie. If they found something life threatening in her that necessitated an amputation he would be the first person into the room with the consent form.

Though, having said that, he doesn't think they'll need to take her arm. It's not the severity of the burns that worries Zack, it's how much of her body was injured. It's not usually the burns that kill people, it's the infections they get because their skin can protect them from microbes. You can thank the damage caused by the heat for that.

"I don't think they're going to want to take your arm, honey." He says softly. "They are probably going to want to take a shit load of x-rays, though, to make sure you didn't break anything. Maybe a full body scan."

[lilorphanmaggie.livejournal.com]

She is really worried about the arm thing, but Harry burnt the shit out of his hand and they didn't take it, so she feels okay about the likelihood of them having to take her arm.

"They might find that a bit problematic," she tries to think if she broke anything. It doesn't feel like it, but then again she has never broken anything before. "I don't think I broke anything, but everything is just a sort of mess of pain right now," she admits with a slow sigh. God, she wishes her right lung didn't move so much, Jesus, who designed that?

"Can you make sure no one in serious trouble gets placed next to me? I don't want to mess up anything for anyone." She uncurls her fingers a little and rubs his cheek lightly with a finger. "You're so handsome, and I love you so much. I'm glad you're here. Thank you."

[curse-of-stone.livejournal.com]

"I know."

That they might find trying to X-Ray her problematic, that is. Hell, he's wondering if her blood work is even going to come out because of the whole magic thing. His mind starts running. What can they really do for here if every piece of equipment they try to use ends up failing them?

"I love you more than anything." He responds. "Do you feel like the morphine has kicked in yet?"

[lilorphanmaggie.livejournal.com]

Hopefully they can bandage her up and give her ointment for the burns, maybe some medicine, pain killers. She isn't worried about healing, not really, she is something of a wizard, a shit one, an awful one, but enough of one to get some of the benefits of it.

"You're like, stupid handsome," her words are a little messy, slurred. "Like, you've got nothing better to do then be hot as hell." That might answer his question if the morphine has kicked in yet, it's working it's magic.

"I'll be alright," she whispers to him. "Even awful magic users get healing benefits."

[curse-of-stone.livejournal.com]

"I know you'll be alright." He murmurs. "I just want you to be comfortable before people start poking you for things."

It's because there are people itching to into her room and clean her throughly that he wants to make sure her medication has kicked in first. It's no fun getting handled by people trying to clean you and bandage you up while you have the pain of burns all over your body.

The color, which was slowly returning to his face once he got to see her and talk to her, finds his cheeks at her compliment. Zack doesn't see a handsome man when he looks at his reflection. All he sees are the things that make him different from everyone else and how his features have changed since he became cursed - even after a decade of being this way ... he doesn't feel like the features are his own.

[lilorphanmaggie.livejournal.com]

"I don't think I shaved my legs," she admits softly, foggy eyes still locked on him as she smiles her morphine smile. "Will you stay with me while they poke me? Will you have to go? I'll understand if you have to go, you've got work to do."

Maybe she'll pass out, that would be nice, just float off somewhere with opiate clouds and marshmallow skies. Somewhere with no pain, and no consciousness of hairy legs. "You should come too, Zack, I don't like going places without you..." And she's stoned, super stoned, and that's real nice. Her fingers tighten around his again.

"Its adorable when you blush..."

[curse-of-stone.livejournal.com]

God, he wishes he could stay with her for the rest of the night and it's going to kill him when the dawn comes.

He actually has half a mind to call off for the next few days, so that he can sign her out (more than likely against medical advice) and take care of her at home. There's only so many things they're going to be able to do for her here and the bill for this trip to the hospital is going to be steep (call him crazy, but he doesn't think the Chinese place she works at is going to have health insurance for it's part time employees).

"Come where?"

[lilorphanmaggie.livejournal.com]

Yeahhhhh, the hospital might have to eat the cost on this one, she doesn't have insurance - though maybe she does through the Carpenters. Wouldn't that just suck? She won't ever stop being a burden to them, and a wound through magical means on top of that. Won't they be proud?

"Somewhere nice," she tells him softly. "Somewhere there's no pain, wouldn't that be nice? Some place we won't ever have to be apart..." The morphine sounds nice, he staves off pain and the reality of the situation, the fear of being alone and the knowledge that once again she failed, and that, at this moment she is probably a disappointment to everyone she knows.

"I love you, you know? Sometimes, I think, loving you is the only thing I'm good at."

[curse-of-stone.livejournal.com]

She doesn't have to worry about the hospital bill. Insured or not, he's going to make sure Maggie is taken care of and she shouldn't feel bad for that ... here is exactly where she belongs if she got hurt. Where he can look after her.

"I wish I could always be at your side." He says softly. "That does sound really nice."

He leans in to give her a kiss, then he'll have a better idea if she's in pain or not - it's an assessment technique he uses only on his girlfriend. "You're good at all kinds of things, but the best at that."