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Whumptober Day 25: Surgery
I continue to skip around.
No. 25: SURGERY
Stitches | Being Monitored | “It’s for your own good.”
Algy, team, EvS; somewhere post-canon.
Algy disliked the circumstances as much as he disliked the fussing, but he didn't want to admit to either. He sat on the edge of the bed in a hospital gown, putting up with the others' friendly teasing and Ginger prodding playfully at his knee.
"So will it work better now? Will you be an Olympic sprinter?"
Algy aimed a dramatic kick at him, ignoring the twinge. Ginger pulled away just as dramatically.
"I can still outrun you, imp."
Biggles sat on the edge of the opposite bed, somehow still boyish even after all these years, wearing his pilot's jacket -- he had come directly from the airfield -- with his elbows on his knees and an unlit cigarette between his fingers. He smiled at Algy. "We'll keep your desk warm for you. And if you're back before you're cleared for duty, you'll be out on your ear, Flying-Lieutenant."
"Look who's talking," Algy shot back, and picked up a balled-up towel off the metal bedside table to throw at him.
He had no chance, because a ward sister came in, crisp and starched, to sweep them all out and inform Algy that the orderlies would be up to take him to the surgical suite soon. The others left: Ginger with a clasp to the shoulder, Bertie gripping his hand, and Biggles giving him a nod that conveyed more than words.
Algy was left to lean back on his pillows and contemplate the vague ache in his knee, the fact that he was going to wake up with a ligament reconstruction, and strangest of all, the idea that he'd lived long enough for parts of his body to start giving out naturally.
"Brooding?" said a voice from the doorway. Algy jumped violently.
Von Stalhein was lounging there, hair mostly grey now, wearing a long overcoat and evidently just as sneaky as ever. Algy glared at him.
"They're going to come to take me into surgery any minute now. Don't you get tired of sneaking in and out of places like some kind of stray cat? Why didn't you just walk in with Biggles earlier?"
Von Stalhein remained implacable as always. "I had the impression that earlier was for - family."
Algy shied away from the thought that von Stalhein seemed to be around the flat so much these days that he might as well be. Terrible thought, he hoped the anesthesia erased it. "And now is for ex-spies who creepily sneak into hospitals while other people are trying to rest, I suppose?"
Now the corners of the austere mouth twitched. "Knee surgery, I'm told?"
Biggles had been talking, evidently. Algy found he didn't mind in particular; it saved explanations. "Ligament repair. Routine these days, they tell me. Next they'll be replacing the thing entirely."
"I wouldn't be surprised," von Stalhein said. "All that chasing criminals is hard on the knees, I suppose."
Algy raised his head from the pillow, stirred from waiting resignation by sheer outrage. "You should know!"
"Ah, but you never caught me, did you?"
Algy sputtered for a moment. "I can call a sister and have you thrown out."
"I think they're on their way anyway," von Stalhein said, glancing into the hall. "I will be on my way as well."
"Wait -- you --" Algy was not quite sure where he was going with this, but the distraction had been -- not welcome, exactly, but ... distracting. "You don't need to sneak in next time, it's ridiculous. Act your age for once and use the front door."
A quick flash of a smile, then von Stalhein was gone, vanishing as if he had faded into the shadows, and a moment later two orderlies came in to wheel Algy down to surgery.
It occurred to Algy, as the anesthetic mask was placed over his face and he obeyed the order to breathe in deeply, that he had been far too busy being annoyed with von Stalhein to fret about the upcoming surgery. It was really a dastardly piece of emotional manipulation, the bastard; he felt they should all be more concerned about von Stalhein's clear tendency to ----~~~~~
(He woke some time later, drifting hazily back to consciousness in a post-surgical ward to find Ginger and Bertie playing a card game on the table beside the bed, and Biggles and von Stalhein sitting and chatting quietly on an adjacent bed. And he found that he didn't mind the company at all.)
No. 25: SURGERY
Stitches | Being Monitored | “It’s for your own good.”
Algy, team, EvS; somewhere post-canon.
Algy disliked the circumstances as much as he disliked the fussing, but he didn't want to admit to either. He sat on the edge of the bed in a hospital gown, putting up with the others' friendly teasing and Ginger prodding playfully at his knee.
"So will it work better now? Will you be an Olympic sprinter?"
Algy aimed a dramatic kick at him, ignoring the twinge. Ginger pulled away just as dramatically.
"I can still outrun you, imp."
Biggles sat on the edge of the opposite bed, somehow still boyish even after all these years, wearing his pilot's jacket -- he had come directly from the airfield -- with his elbows on his knees and an unlit cigarette between his fingers. He smiled at Algy. "We'll keep your desk warm for you. And if you're back before you're cleared for duty, you'll be out on your ear, Flying-Lieutenant."
"Look who's talking," Algy shot back, and picked up a balled-up towel off the metal bedside table to throw at him.
He had no chance, because a ward sister came in, crisp and starched, to sweep them all out and inform Algy that the orderlies would be up to take him to the surgical suite soon. The others left: Ginger with a clasp to the shoulder, Bertie gripping his hand, and Biggles giving him a nod that conveyed more than words.
Algy was left to lean back on his pillows and contemplate the vague ache in his knee, the fact that he was going to wake up with a ligament reconstruction, and strangest of all, the idea that he'd lived long enough for parts of his body to start giving out naturally.
"Brooding?" said a voice from the doorway. Algy jumped violently.
Von Stalhein was lounging there, hair mostly grey now, wearing a long overcoat and evidently just as sneaky as ever. Algy glared at him.
"They're going to come to take me into surgery any minute now. Don't you get tired of sneaking in and out of places like some kind of stray cat? Why didn't you just walk in with Biggles earlier?"
Von Stalhein remained implacable as always. "I had the impression that earlier was for - family."
Algy shied away from the thought that von Stalhein seemed to be around the flat so much these days that he might as well be. Terrible thought, he hoped the anesthesia erased it. "And now is for ex-spies who creepily sneak into hospitals while other people are trying to rest, I suppose?"
Now the corners of the austere mouth twitched. "Knee surgery, I'm told?"
Biggles had been talking, evidently. Algy found he didn't mind in particular; it saved explanations. "Ligament repair. Routine these days, they tell me. Next they'll be replacing the thing entirely."
"I wouldn't be surprised," von Stalhein said. "All that chasing criminals is hard on the knees, I suppose."
Algy raised his head from the pillow, stirred from waiting resignation by sheer outrage. "You should know!"
"Ah, but you never caught me, did you?"
Algy sputtered for a moment. "I can call a sister and have you thrown out."
"I think they're on their way anyway," von Stalhein said, glancing into the hall. "I will be on my way as well."
"Wait -- you --" Algy was not quite sure where he was going with this, but the distraction had been -- not welcome, exactly, but ... distracting. "You don't need to sneak in next time, it's ridiculous. Act your age for once and use the front door."
A quick flash of a smile, then von Stalhein was gone, vanishing as if he had faded into the shadows, and a moment later two orderlies came in to wheel Algy down to surgery.
It occurred to Algy, as the anesthetic mask was placed over his face and he obeyed the order to breathe in deeply, that he had been far too busy being annoyed with von Stalhein to fret about the upcoming surgery. It was really a dastardly piece of emotional manipulation, the bastard; he felt they should all be more concerned about von Stalhein's clear tendency to ----~~~~~
(He woke some time later, drifting hazily back to consciousness in a post-surgical ward to find Ginger and Bertie playing a card game on the table beside the bed, and Biggles and von Stalhein sitting and chatting quietly on an adjacent bed. And he found that he didn't mind the company at all.)
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DASTARDLY. I love this, perfect concept, of course irritation is the best distraction for Algy <33
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Of course Erich shows up sneakily just at the point when Algy's alone to fret about the whole thing, and also I am having feelings about the fact that Erich knows this is the point when maximum annoyance and distraction is welcome and decides to intervene, kind of like how nurses start asking you about your holiday plans just a second before they vaccinate you or whatever... well played!
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Von Stalhein was lounging there, hair mostly grey now, wearing a long overcoat
you made me think of silver fox von Stalhein in a long coat and now I can't concentrate.
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But yes, resistance is futile, he is going to be dragged into The Family whether he wants it or not (and let's face it, the complaining is all surface-level, and if he was having surgery, they'd be there too ....)
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HEEEEEE I love him and EvS
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They are just so FUN
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