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Post by Ned on Dec 10, 2012 22:14:20 GMT -5
"Right," the pie maker nodded, pursing his lips. "In that case...let's talk up a storm." He scooted his chair forwards, extended a hand--with a grace that belied his tall, gawky frame--and gave the young woman his most winsome, confident smile. "I'm sorry. We never properly introduced ourselves in all of the hubbub.
"I'm Ned."
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Post by Lois Lane on Apr 24, 2013 5:00:12 GMT -5
The series of movements seemed to unsettle her and she shrank into herself a little. When she saw him extend his hand, she paused. What to do was obvious. It just felt... strange. The only time people had touched her in the hospital were to check her stitches or stick needles in her. The idea of her touching someone felt bizarre.
But despite her reservations, she followed suit and gave his hand a squeeze. "It's... nice to meet you, Ned."
She didn't address the implied 'What's your name?' Whether or not that was intentional wasn't clear.
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Post by Ned on May 15, 2013 16:23:01 GMT -5
"A pleasure."
Ned didn't address her failure to address the usual social niceties. Some things could be overlooked, especially for someone in her condition. Besides, he'd never been too well-versed in those trivialities himself, and it was a nice change from the humdrum of everyday conversation with people who really could care less how his day had been.
"Can I get you anything? Food, water--ice cream?"
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Post by Lois Lane on May 18, 2013 4:24:06 GMT -5
His offering ice cream made her grin: she thought it very kind and ice cream did sound like a nice departure from the jello cups they kept bringing her. But her grin faded and her gaze shifted downward then toward the window. "A pair of wings, maybe," she muttered.
"I saw my chart the other day; one of the nurses forgot and left it open on the table," she began to explain. "The male doctor who tries to get me to talk... he wrote..."
Her hands fiddled with her blanket as she trailed off.
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Post by Ned on May 20, 2013 0:46:09 GMT -5
"'Model patient'?" Ned offered, attempting to make light of the situation but wincing as soon as the words left his mouth.
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Post by Lois Lane on May 20, 2013 3:28:45 GMT -5
She looked up in time to catch the wince and it made her drop what she was going to say.
She felt bad enough that he was summoned to her bed side by the doctors. It was probably voluntary but he seemed... compassionate: he probably felt responsible though he didn't have to. In any case, he had to have better ways to spend an afternoon than endure awkward, depressing conversations in a hospital with an bed-ridden invalid he barely knew.
"Why are you here?" she asked, changing the subject. Both her intentions and tone were purely curious, not accusatory. "I know you found me in an alley but I doubt they can make you take me home. I'm not a cat."
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Post by Ned on May 22, 2013 17:13:54 GMT -5
Ned thoughtfully rubbed the back of his neck.
"That day in the alleyway--I thought I, er, saw another lonely soul." He paused to take a deep breath. "I don't know, is that weird to say? What I mean is, you seem like you're a long way from home. And I know how that feels."
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Post by Lois Lane on May 27, 2013 4:18:53 GMT -5
His words moved her and, unable to formulate a response, she remained quiet. After weeks of doctors and nurses speaking soft platitudes for the sake of bedside manners, Ned's sincerity was a good kind of jarring. She managed an almost bewildered nod as acknowledgment before swallowing back a strange lump in her throat.
"I imagine I gave you quite a scare," she said after a moment. There was an implied 'sorry' in her voice.
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Post by Ned on Jun 8, 2013 1:46:03 GMT -5
"Big scare, actually. Never frighten a man when he's handling his groceries," he chuckled.
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Post by Lois Lane on Jun 12, 2013 5:14:45 GMT -5
A small but genuine smile tugged at her lips. "I'll try and remember that," she joked.
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Post by Ned on Jul 3, 2013 14:10:17 GMT -5
"I mean, if anything, I must have given you quite the scare. Running into a big, tall guy wielding grocery bags full of who-knows-what in the rain. In a dark alley." Ned made a face. "Then again, it's me. The most harm I could do is accidentally topple over you with my six-foot-plus frame."
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Post by Lois Lane on Sept 27, 2013 4:19:33 GMT -5
She actually didn't remember all that much from that night: only a vague figure, a voice, and the helpless dread that came from the realization that she was going to die at that very moment. But she wasn't going to tell him that; it would make him feel bad. She didn't want that.
"You are very tall," she acknowledged after a quick glance over his lanky figure.
A lengthy pause followed. She opened her mouth a few times to talk but what she had to say each time didn't seem quite right.
"I am better, you know," she said, finally. Her voice sounded more assured but her eyes were planted on an arbitrary spot on her blanket instead of looking up at Ned. "They don't seem to think so but I'm better. I look better, don't I?"
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Post by Ned on Jan 3, 2014 0:45:05 GMT -5
"Yes," Ned ceded after an indeterminable pause during which he averted his gaze to his hands, "you look better."
He had to satisfy himself with the fact that it was a truth, even if a half-truth: the young woman had, at least, recuperated from the haggard conditions in which he'd originally found her, even if her body still bore faint traces of whatever nightmare she'd lived through.
See, there were the green-yellow patches of healing capillaries around her eye sockets and cheekbones, as though a painter had gently brushed them on.
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Post by Lois Lane on Jan 3, 2014 4:25:33 GMT -5
When she looked up, she looked markedly more hopeful. "If you could tell--"
Before she could finish the thought, the sound of approaching footsteps seemed to first startle then stop her.
"Hi, sorry to interrupt," said a doctor in a white lab coat after a courteous knock on the already opened door. "You must be Ned. I'm doctor Kendall, Jane's attending physician. Could I speak to you out here for a moment?"
For the most part, she kept her eyes lowered to a point on her bedding but she spared a brief glance over at the doctor. It was subtle but strange: the doctor stood right behind the threshold the entire time he was introducing himself. He was taking every precaution to try and not upset her. This observation visibly discouraged her.
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Post by Ned on Jan 4, 2014 2:53:56 GMT -5
"Y-yes, of course," Ned answered hesitantly.
He furrowed his brow, casting a glance over his shoulder at the bedridden young woman, and strode across the room towards the doctor.
"What is it? Is there a problem?" he spoke in hushed tones, slightly hunching his tall frame to level his eyes with the doctor's, and wondered how things could possibly get worse. Which he naturally assumed they would, because why else would Dr. Kendall ask to speak outside and out of earshot?
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