Marcus
Human
LAPD Detective: Homicide
I don't need to fight to prove I'm right; I don't need to be forgiven.
Posts: 97
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Post by Marcus on Feb 24, 2007 23:16:57 GMT
Not remembering going to sleep in the first place was… disconcerting to say the least. It wasn’t that it had never happened before in the past, but he’d never had such a pounding head or generally felt so sore after such a thing before.
Initially, he didn’t recall much of anything, just registering that he was lying on a bed which was raised up slightly at the head and shoulders. The pillows weren’t comfortable enough to be his own at his apartment, so it slowly clicked in his mind that he wasn’t in his bed. His breathing didn’t sound right to his ears as that sense slowly kicked in, and he felt his brow furrow slightly; it sounded louder, which he groggily attributed to the mask he could feel over his mouth and nose. Steadily, the rest of his body and senses followed suit, cataloguing bits and pieces of information; his side was throbbing dully, like his head, his chest ached, so did the left side of his arm and leg. The back of his right hand felt slightly numb, and as he shifted it experimentally, he felt something on his index finger catch on the blanket.
It all added up to one thing: Marcus Rivera wasn’t reassured. Not in the least.
Endeavouring to try and open his eyes now that consciousness seemed to be willing to work with him, he struggled and managed to get them open at least halfway before the light in the room made them close again in a wince.
He hated hospitals…
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Katherine
Human
LAPD Detective: Homicide
I've been afraid of changing, 'cause I built my life around you.
Posts: 79
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Post by Katherine on Feb 25, 2007 0:45:16 GMT
Katherine had slept fitfully and only because the doctors had told her that there was no way she was getting out of bed until she was discharged and that that was not going to happen during the night. So she and Marcus had both ended up in the same after a slew of tests and x-rays. She'd been alone for a while, he'd had more extensive injuries and frankly, Kath' was not about to sleep at all until he was there with her. When he had finally been brought in he was still unconscious, as she had expected, and she'd eventually dozed off.
She had woken up with the sun and a cracking headache already; her legs ached continuously, something about deep tissue damage. She didn't know the real term; all she knew was that they hurt like hell when the painkillers started to wear off as they were now. But she was no longer bleeding and her head had at least stopped spinning after she'd slept. All in all she knew she was pretty damned lucky after the severity of the crash and she felt tired right into the core of her bones. The detective couldn't even muster the energy to further analyse her various bumps and bruises that colour her hair line, her arms and legs.
After a yawn that was part tiredness, part boredom she turned her eyes towards Marcus once more, a force of quickly developed habit. She caught his eyelids closing against the light and sat up a little straighter. "Marc'?" she called softly, aware that he was concussed and probably had a worse headache than she did.
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Marcus
Human
LAPD Detective: Homicide
I don't need to fight to prove I'm right; I don't need to be forgiven.
Posts: 97
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Post by Marcus on Feb 25, 2007 2:42:28 GMT
The voice, at first, sounded distant and like the doctors’ had the night before; muffled, almost, but then it clarified as it rang through his head, and he fought against the urge to just say ‘ow’. The simple word, his name, had caused a new, continuous drone of pounding in his head, mostly to the left side… the side he had cracked against the car’s window, or whatever had been to blame; the source of his concussion, at any rate.
Initially, he gave a small groan to acknowledge her. He knew it was Kath’, just from the name that had been stated; his sister was usually the only one who called him ‘Marc’’. Everyone around the station called him Marcus or Rivera, and their parents used the former… and in certain situations, the rather disliked and juvenile ‘Marky’.
When he was certain his head wouldn’t explode, he opened his eyes halfway away, and turned his head to the left, wanting to reach up and dispose of the damned mask that seemed to follow him everywhere, or at least in the last few hours, or however long it had been. It would take him a little while to muster that kind of energy, anyway, so he settled for meeting her gaze briefly, registering the fact that she too was in a bed, alongside his own, and seeing that she was safe, and awake, and apparently ‘better off’ than he was… well, that was enough to put him at ease for now.
Dimly, he was aware of someone entering the ward, but he didn’t glance in their direction, assuming it was just one nurse or another. It didn’t even occur to him that it could have been a parent, or even someone like Captain Hodge…
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Katherine
Human
LAPD Detective: Homicide
I've been afraid of changing, 'cause I built my life around you.
Posts: 79
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Post by Katherine on Feb 25, 2007 23:26:45 GMT
Katherine gave a small wave when her brother looked at her. Her expression betrayed everything; though the overriding emotion seemed to be annoyance rather than anything else, she knew Marcus knew her well enough to know, even in his state, that she was equally relived as she was bored, equally happy to see him awake as she was irritated to be stuck in bed.
The presence that moved into the room was neither one of their parents and not Captain Hodge either, nor was it one of their partners, though Kath' was expecting one or both of them at some point. The person was a nurse; she smiled congenially at the elder Rivera then moved over to Marcus' bed, she started doing... whatever it was nurses did; checking his monitors, and the wires that connected him to them. She didn't seem worried that he was awake, so Kath' wasn't either.
Green eyes moved form the nurse back to her brother and she managed a small smile, "Mornin'..." she said darkly, shifting her weight, "don't worry, it's just you an' me for now..." She was speaking, of course, of their parents who she had not seen yet herself, but was sure were either already hounding doctors or hounding any police officer they found. She wanted to groan at the very thought of the conversation that was going ot take place when they tracked their children down.
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Marcus
Human
LAPD Detective: Homicide
I don't need to fight to prove I'm right; I don't need to be forgiven.
Posts: 97
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Post by Marcus on Feb 25, 2007 23:44:43 GMT
The nurse went through one check after another, and then raised the head of his bed a little more to keep him ‘comfortable’. If he was meant to be comfortable, then Marcus wanted to have words with whoever had come up with the notion that hospitals were anything but uncomfortable. It was as the nurse was checking the saline drip that he turned his head to Kath’, listening to her bring him up to speed on the ‘state of affairs’.
He was oddly relieved to hear the elder Riveras had yet to arrive, though he expected it wouldn’t be long in coming. The younger detective almost groaned at the thought of it. It was going to be far from pleasant, and he gave Kath’ a groggy, sympathetic furrow of the brow, not able to do much else right away. Thankfully, the nurse then removed the mask for him, putting it within his reach, saying she would go and fetch a doctor now that he was awake. Giving a small nod of acknowledgement, he was soon looking back at his sister.
Pacing himself, he asked, “What time is it?” And then he backtracked. “What happened?” His voice sounded slightly hoarse, his throat dry, but he ignored it in favour of getting the questions out there, and hopefully, answered. The last thing he remembered was meeting Kath’s gaze between the partition in the trauma rooms, and then… nothing.
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Katherine
Human
LAPD Detective: Homicide
I've been afraid of changing, 'cause I built my life around you.
Posts: 79
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Post by Katherine on Feb 26, 2007 0:54:54 GMT
She gestured to her wrists. No watch. She had no idea what the time was and instead of the timepiece that she usually wore there was a thin white tape with her name and what she could only assume was a room number or something, like a lost and found tag. If she went wandering they'd be able to stick her back here without much trouble. Not that she was thinking much about wandering around.
Kath' looked at Marcus, "Don't tell me you don't remember? You passed out in the ER; you got a pretty bad concussion in the crash. They took you for x-rays while you were out." She explained, watching him through narrowed eyes, as if trying to judge for herself that his condition was satisfactory.
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Marcus
Human
LAPD Detective: Homicide
I don't need to fight to prove I'm right; I don't need to be forgiven.
Posts: 97
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Post by Marcus on Feb 26, 2007 2:24:14 GMT
Oh. Right. Marcus should have realised that; his own watch was gone, if only temporarily, after all. That reminded him that he was wearing a hospital gown under the blankets, and he almost groaned at that too. But it wasn’t important, and he couldn’t exactly argue when lifting his arm to look at the clip on his finger and the drip in the back of his hand was draining enough. Needless to say, the lift of his own limb didn’t last long.
“Yeah, ‘cause if I remembered, I’d ask…” he teased groggily, lifting his left arm cautiously, wincing at the bruises that he felt protesting, as he rubbed his closed eyes, pressing on the lids to try and wake himself up, if only by a fraction. “Ugh…” He felt like he’d gone on some kind of reckless, suicidal bender; his skull seemed keen to split down one side, and he felt oddly… ill. He supposed it all made sense in one form or another as he reminded himself of the concussion.
“I passed out?” he queried for verification, leaning his head back and rocking it carefully to the side so he wouldn’t brush against the wound from the crash, which he had no doubt was either stitched or… dressed in some fashion. He knew his hair was something of a mess all over, so that, in some odd way, was a kind of comfort. “If I had the energy, I might be embarrassed…”
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Katherine
Human
LAPD Detective: Homicide
I've been afraid of changing, 'cause I built my life around you.
Posts: 79
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Post by Katherine on Feb 26, 2007 4:45:54 GMT
"Oh." Katherine started; either registering his realisation of what he was wearing somehow or just latching onto one of the many things that were annoying her about the stint in Hospital. "They put me in a gown too, so how about I be embarrassed enough for the both of us, huh?" she smiled none-the-less, a tired smile was all she could muster but it was infinitely better than nothing so she went with it.
She shifted again, at first putting her weight onto her hip, to try and lie on her side, making talking to him easier, but her muscles ached so much. Not just a tennis-injury-ache, a full on cramp type ache that made her want to cry out a few curse words. But with the nurse still in the room she decided it might not be a great idea. "You passed out." She confirmed again, "Then you stayed out. They x-rayed you overnight, they x-rayed me and now we're waitin' for results and parents and a cup of coffee..." the nurse wasn't biting. She didn't even look up. Kath; sighed. She wasn't trying to lighten to mood particularly. She was just exasperated.
She hated hospitals.
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Marcus
Human
LAPD Detective: Homicide
I don't need to fight to prove I'm right; I don't need to be forgiven.
Posts: 97
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Post by Marcus on Feb 26, 2007 5:03:19 GMT
He had always secretly — and sometimes not so secretly — loved how Kath’ could predict the beats in any of their exchanges, almost as if she could step inside his head and catch what he was going to say or do even before he said or did it. It had bugged him endlessly as a kid; games had been made difficult when your big sister, despite her being shorter, could anticipate what you had planned.
Marcus managed a weak laugh, assuming he’d been given some kind of painkiller or another; it didn’t hurt to laugh as much as he suspected it should, but he wasn’t complaining. With the mention of coffee, he wasn’t sure if he was tempted or repulsed, and he seemed oddly caught between the two, something that puzzled and almost amused him briefly as he let his head rock to the side; his neck probably wouldn’t thank him for it in the long run, but he couldn’t roll onto his side. Either he’d hurt himself, or get tangled in cables and wires, and he wouldn’t be grateful for either.
“So… I didn’t miss much then,” he quipped drowsily, pulling in as deep a breath as he could manage afterwards. “On the parent note, though… are they here?”
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Katherine
Human
LAPD Detective: Homicide
I've been afraid of changing, 'cause I built my life around you.
Posts: 79
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Post by Katherine on Feb 26, 2007 23:31:57 GMT
Whereas Marcus couldn't decide where he lay on the coffee issue, Kath' had been craving a cup since not very long after she had woken up, but apparently her fluids were meant to be clear for now. She didn't get why, there was really nothing wrong with her beside her legs and she highly doubted that a cup of coffee was going to make the bruising any worse. Then again she wasn't a doctor...
Kath' made a 'very funny' face at her brother's quip, glad never the less that he was at least feeling up to joking with her at all. At his question she shrugged lightly, looking out of the blind and into the hallway, though she couldn't really see that well from where she was sitting. She shook her head and turned to face him again, "I haven't seen them yet, I'm thinkin' they're gonna charge right in when they do get here though. I haven't seen Wiles, or Carsen of Hodges either, before you ask. Just you dribblin' in your sleep."
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Marcus
Human
LAPD Detective: Homicide
I don't need to fight to prove I'm right; I don't need to be forgiven.
Posts: 97
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Post by Marcus on Feb 27, 2007 0:56:01 GMT
Note to self: do not throw oxygen mask at sister. He paused. She’ll throw it back. And hit you in the face.
Marcus was somewhat reassured, however, that their parents had yet to make an appearance, and he was sort of glad that Wiles wasn’t here either. As focused as his partner could be, he was the type to ‘hover’, for lack of a better word, and Marcus wasn’t sure he had the patience, in his state, for that kind of attention, good friend or not. He wasn’t sure if Carsen would be the same with Kath’, but he expected she was grateful for the lack of pestering from respective others at any rate. For now, the peace and quiet of just one another’s company was enough.
“Good,” he mumbled, mostly to himself. “Not the chargin’ in thing,” he added, opening his eyes again after they had closed for a few moments during the lapse in conversation. “Not lookin’ forward to that.” He could just hear his mother’s voice while she fussed and worried and questioned, and his head gave a fresh, enthusiastic throb in response to the mere thought.
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Katherine
Human
LAPD Detective: Homicide
I've been afraid of changing, 'cause I built my life around you.
Posts: 79
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Post by Katherine on Feb 27, 2007 18:18:09 GMT
Neither of them was looking forwards to it; their mother's up and coming reaction was in the forefront of Kath's brain currently. She was worried about Fey, she was thinking about the case in the recesses of her brain; but since there was nothing she could currently do about either of them, especially without having heard anything from Wiles, Carsen or Hodges yet, she was doing her best to keep focussed on her family. Even if that meant enduring the barrage of question from Margaret Rivera, which would no doubt quickly dissolve into clipped tones and an argument. Such was their family dynamic.
With a yawn, Katherine looked at her brother again, "I might ask for earplugs," she said, "then I can just nod and smile and let you handle all the questions."
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Marcus
Human
LAPD Detective: Homicide
I don't need to fight to prove I'm right; I don't need to be forgiven.
Posts: 97
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Post by Marcus on Feb 27, 2007 21:07:38 GMT
He grimaced. “That’s just cruel.” They both knew that handling all the attention from their parents was more than any one person could deal with. If they both intended to survive this particular experience, they needed to work as a team… a groggy, battered team, but a team nonetheless. He fully expected he and his father would watch from the sidelines, inwardly groaning, as the women of the family entered into another ‘round’ of whatever it was that one could call their encounters. Marcus wouldn’t exactly call them arguments, but it was the closest thing he could think of. He let his mind run with the thoughts of what was to come as the nurse carefully fitted him with a cannula, ensuring he sat still while she did so.
Unbeknownst to either of them, Hank and Margaret Rivera had just walked through the doors to the ER, having received a call from the department captain about both of their detective children having been involved in an accident.
It wouldn’t be long before Marcus and Katherine’s calm, sibling banter was interrupted.
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Katherine
Human
LAPD Detective: Homicide
I've been afraid of changing, 'cause I built my life around you.
Posts: 79
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Post by Katherine on Feb 28, 2007 4:01:20 GMT
"Hey," Kath' started, pointing a finger at her brother, "You were... ah Hell, whatever. But if Mom starts bitin' my head off I expect you to jump to my rescue, tell her you were drivin' not me. We'll save that gem for emergencies." She mused, aloud as though she were a general thinking through a plan of attack, or rather defence, against an incoming opposing army.
'Force' would have be a better term to describe her mother in her mind, Margaret Rivera was a force to be reckoned with and for all their stupid 'arguments' Katherine really looked up to her mother. Her father was a huge influence on her life, but she knew that without her mother's... passionate personality she wouldn't even have been a shred of who she was today.
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Marcus
Human
LAPD Detective: Homicide
I don't need to fight to prove I'm right; I don't need to be forgiven.
Posts: 97
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Post by Marcus on Mar 1, 2007 0:08:38 GMT
“When do I not stick up for you?” he ‘grumbled’, though not irritably; mainly, it was draining to raise his voice in any way, so everything was coming out mumbled or sighed somehow, much to his irritation. Hadn’t the nurse said she had called for a doctor? Marcus briefly wondered if he had imagined that, or if the man — or woman — was simply taking his — or her — time. It didn’t matter. The longer he could go without being poked and prodded, the better, in his book.
“Besides,” he continued steadily, “Mom’ll find a way to twist it. Ten bucks says she manages it.” He tilted his head to the side against the pillows to smile at her wanly, the expression slightly crooked. The movement of his head made him feel dizzy briefly, so he reminded himself to keep it to a minimum. “It’ll be fine,” he added in conclusion, hoping he looked as sincere as he felt as the words left his mouth.
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