The Doctor

After their eventful landing in what they now knew to be some place called 'Lincoln Park', Jenny and Alec had branched out to see whether or not they could find anything that would be of help to the others. They needed medical supplies, food, water and clean clothes, preferably of the kind that the women here wore. The tattered remains of Jenny's dress hung at her knees and she fiddled with the hem as they walked, loose threads tickling her skin.

They'd branched out pretty far from their initial landing spot, but now exhaustion was beginning to get the best of them. They were both half-starved and exhausted, the adrenaline coursing through their brains not being enough to keep them going for long. Jenny's hands were already shaking, she couldn't remember the last time she'd had a decent meal. The vampires were not the only ones that struggled to eat. In fact, they probably had it easier as many - including Jenny herself once or twice - had offered themselves to be a small snack to tide the vampire over for a while.

As they had walked side by side, probably looking every bit as tired and strung out as they were, Jenny's hand had slipped into Alec's for the reassurance, and also so that they wouldn't get separated in the crowds. Apparently, there were people out and having fun at such a late time of night. Well, it was early in the morning, she supposed, and the people that were out did look like they were the last dregs of a heavy night of drinking and partying, whooping and cheering and vomiting in nearby bins.

"We need to find somewhere to rest, and we need to get something to dress that cut," she said quietly, knowing that their base was somewhere behind then, but there was not a lot that they could do to get back there now. They needed to get supplies and things first, and the cut on Alec's head looked nasty. She knew the one on hers had stopped bleeding, at least. She didn't think she could walk that far, and more than that, she was hungry and dirty and she wanted to just get clean and find somewhere to sleep for a while that wasn't a bunk or a hard, wooden or stone floor. She wrinkled her nose and then looked up at him with something approaching a grin, adding teasingly, "And you still need to have a wash."

( Thousands Of People )

( Close Encounter )

( Stopping For The Evening )

Alec was out with his co-workers again, wondering once again why he'd agreed to this night out, his co-workers were insane when they were out. It was like they were trying to forget all their worries and just live excessively because they could. He supposed it was all about the pressure and ultimately the stress that came with being a doctor, the whole having somebody else's life in your hands.

After the next round of drinks and having watched the most senior doctor on staff hit on the youngest nurse on staff, Alec decided enough was enough, he needed to get home. "Alright," he announced over the ruckus. "I gotta get going." The group he was with groaned in protest, but let him go easily enough, too preoccupied with the latest rounds of shots that had been ordered and now delivered.

He grabbed his leather jacket on the way out and slid into it just as he opened the door and left the bar, glad to take his first lungful of clean air, or relatively clean air. He blew out a breath and did up his jacket, closing the collar around his neck.

Tonight was a cold one.

( In Need Of Medical Attention )

( Highlight Of The Night )

Since moving to Chicago, Bastian had alternated between going to the local VA hospital and a public institution for his medical care. As a veteran, he felt comfortable enough dealing with military doctors, especially when it came to his leg, but sometimes he didn't feel like spending all day sitting in a waiting room rehashing his days as a Marine with boys young enough to be his sons. So over he'd trundle to the nearest hospital, parking his truck in the pay lot before taking the elevator downstairs to the big reception area.

The Cajun was sitting in a molded plastic chair reading an outdated issue of Time magazine, picking the order forms out of his lap as they fell out from between the pages. Just a routine checkup for the most part, although he expected to hear more about the bits of metal in his calf. He fully intended to have the shrapnel removed, just not until after the boxing tournament. If he stood a chance of losing some mobility in the limb, he wanted to make the most of the full capacity of it while he could.

"Mr. Sonnier?" Bastian looked up over the edge of the magazine, glancing towards the receptionist. "Dr. Reed will see you now. You can just go on back." The big carpenter got up from the chair, leaving Time behind. He hitched his pants on the way past the desk, his wallet chain jingling as he walked. He wasn't really wild about hospitals, but this was a necessary thing.

"And remember just because the cast on your arm is solid that doesn't mean your head is," Alec muttered to the patient he was finishing up with. The kid was only 15 and big into skateboarding, but Alec figured it didn't hurt to say considering the skate-fanatic had already been in three times this week to have his cast fixed. He ushered the teenager out and turned his eyes to the man approaching.

( Consultation )

An hour after hearing the little bleep on his computer, Toby was still at a loss as to how to reply to the email message he had received from Kathleen. What did one say to something like that?

Okay, maybe he deserved a bit of an ass kicking for not getting into contact, but he had never claimed to be a super awesome friend, he was very shit at communicating when it wasn't in his face. It wasn't that he had forgotten about Kathleen, and he had wondered where she was, it was just that with his coffee shop being in the works and he was supervising that a lot, getting his hands in with the painting and everything, and now Kris disappearing, staying in contact with people wasn't something that had jumped straight to the forefront of his mind.

He nudged the coffee table with his foot. Wolf whined pitifully from where he was sat at Toby's side, his head on his master's lap. One hand scratched absently behind Wolf's ears, the other was petting Spacey who had finally decided that she loved him enough to notice when something was wrong and she had curled up on his stomach as he was slouched in the couch.

He wanted to be angry. He should have been angry at the comment Kathleen made about his wife. She had no right, she didn't even- He had never really spoken about her but he always thought it had been clear how much he loved her. Instead he was just reeling, hurt from the comments and entirely unsure how to deal with what had just happened.

( Not Tears, Dust )

( Strictly Not Allowed )

( Workaholic )

A day off after working a six-day week and Alec was enjoying it; he'd slept in late and then thrown on some casual clothes before rummaging out his riding jacket and his house keys, intending on putting miles of Chicago behind him as he let the bike out on the roads.

He'd gotten about four blocks before he realised that there was no way that the amount he had in the tank would actually last him long enough to make this great expedition. Alec swung into a gas station and stepped off the bike, making sure to kick out the stand so it didn't end up falling over ... he hated ruining its paint.

Alec rubbed his fingers through his hair as the other one fed fuel into his bike, green eyes watching the pump until he was sure he would have enough for an outward and return journey. "That'll do," he muttered, easing the pressure on the trigger on the mechanism itself, hearing the momentum slow until the pump went silent. A couple stray droplets of petrol hit the asphalt beneath his boots and picked up beneath the treads as Alec closed up the cover on his fuel tank, rummaging out his wallet to pay for the gas in the store attached to the place.

He eyed the line and took a deep breath, willing his impatient mood away. Alec had never been that good at waiting. He managed the first couple of minutes successfully, but then spent the next four tapping his foot and chewing on the edge of his thumbnail.

( Passing The Time )

( Your Phone Sucks )

To: Java Man
From: Super Alec

Am bored. Very bored. What're you up to besides pursuing your business venture? I'm supposed to be catching a couple zzz's given that it's my first break in what has been an 11 hour long shift of weird behaviour and crazy people. Thing is, I can't sleep, so I'm bugging you instead. Text me back.

Alec was fully conscious now, completely and painfully aware of all the various drips in his arms and the fact he'd been admitted after his housemate had found him, which meant he had some serious apologising to do to Toby. So far the doctors couldn't explain his sudden collapse given his sudden and miraculous recovery to full health as if nothing had been wrong with him.

None of it made sense and they were still waiting on the results of the stuff the paramedics had brought in with Alec, hoping that it might reveal something about his strange illness.

Alec was looking forward to being able to sign himself out, he hated being a patient, hated lying around in bed when he could be doing something else, the only time to lie in bed was if you had someone else in it with you. He didn't and therefore he had no reason to stay where he was.

He drummed his fingers against the nearby railing and tipped his head, seeing if he could grab the interest of a passing nurse, maybe he could sweet talk her into letting him out of this bed. He was pretty sure he could do it.

( Alive And Well )

( First In )

( Fences )

After being dropped off Alec had gone straight to bed where he had stayed for several hours before he'd finally woken up to a chest ripping and body shaking cough. This time it felt different, more intense, and he couldn't ignore the way in which his chest along with his stomach had started to burn.

It was with a blind fumbling and staggered run that Alec barely made it to the bathroom, immediately doubling over the nearby sink to grip at the porcelain until his knuckles were the same shade of white.

Alec tasted salt, felt his stomach give, and then grimaced as his entire body shook in the lead up what happened next.

( Not Pretty )

( Taking A Sample )

As if it wasn't bad enough being told to take a couple days off work, Alec had been told to wait until a Nurse Daniels could give him a lift home. Pfft, lift home, what did he need that for? Never-mind the fact he'd keeled over right in front of everybody, split open his eyebrow, and proceeded to babble nonsensical stuff at the perturbed intern that had picked him up.

He was never living this down.

Currently he was sat in one of uncomfortable plastic chairs in the general waiting area, keeping his eyes focused on something other than the people staring at him. What? Didn't they have something better to do than stare at the doctor with a bruise on his face?

Hopefully Nurse Daniels would be finishing shortly and Alec could do his best to sweet talk her out of taking him home like some kind of sick child. He'd never been taken home sick in his life, he wasn't about to start now. Stubborn? Oh hell yes.

( Muffled )

( Regular Court Jester )

( Gonna Be Okay? )

It was not hard for Ralphael to get into the Fairmont, nor to be very quickly ushered by James the doorman (who was off shift and worried about his young friend) up to the suite where Jessica was staying in, rapping his knuckles smartly on the door.

"I'm glad you're here," he said, for what must have been the eighth time in the past five minutes, "Very worried about her. She didn't look good, not at all, definitely doesn't look good... I hope you can catch who did this to her, or convince her to talk to the cops. Need to get this sorted out."

He knocked on the door again and fidgeted, looking at the smartly dressed man curiously. "I know she said to let you in, but... who are you, exactly?"

On the other side of the door, Jessica had an ice-pack against her nose, wrist cradled against her chest. She had taken her frustrations out on the bathroom wall down on the lower floor, feeling the shock impacting up her arm and now she had a dull ache in her wrist and forearm. She hoped she hadn't broken anything - except the tiles that had chipped away and the skin across her knuckles. The beginnings of a black bruise were forming around her left eye, along with a dark one along the length of her jaw, a cut low along her jawline marked where Faith's third punch had landed. Her nose was a little swollen, as was her lower lip. Underneath her shirt, there was a bruise where she had been punched in the stomach and another in the shape of a boot against her side, that darker bruise giving way to several other ones, revealing the damage done by the force of that kick.

Her shirt still had blood on it, she couldn't get it off without thinking she was going to scream in pain so she had yet to change. Her ribs had already taken more than a battering in her life, they were easier to break than they had been three years ago. She swallowed and hobbled towards the door, unlocking it before she put the ice against her nose again.

"'s open," she muttered, knowing it would be Ralphael on Bethany's behalf. She backed up from it. The last thing she needed was a door being opened in her face. She just wanted to sleep it all away, but she couldn't quite get comfortable when she had tried, so she'd given up. "C'mon in."

( Mutual Friend )

( Not A Fair Fight )

( That's The Spirit )

( Home Safely )

[NPC Ralphael was written by Mands & NPC Nurse Haley was written by Willow]

She carefully drove her small SUV-hybrid down the residential street to avoid slipping on any icy slick spots. The satellite radio played a classic 80s song. The music of the 80s strangely appeal to her now since late Fall. The Shade of Winter by the Bangles seem a good match for the gray overcast skies over Chicagoland.

The trip from the heart of Chicago to Toby’s house was uneventful with the usual traffic for this time of day, shortly before the mad rush hour. Kathleen had left her things under the stairs at his house last night, because her stay at the Holiday Express near the airport was only for the one night. The Fairmont was more long term, till she found an apartment to lease.

Toby had said for her to drop by later in the day, and that either he or his housemate would be there to let her inside to get her things. She hoped that he would be there because felt like having something eat, and maybe they could go get something or order in. She preferred to have company for dinner, than eat alone in a restaurant, even as nice as they might be back in the Fairmont.

Alec had just finished his shift for the day and for the day after that, apparently he was allowed a day off, which was a welcomed relief. He'd spent way too many hours in the hospital since his arrival in Chicago and the whole point of coming to Chicago was to get away from work and experience life or as much as you could in a city where demons roamed the streets.

It didn't take him very long to get home, the engine of his bike clearly audible from over a block away. There was nothing more freeing or exhilirating than riding a bike at full speed down a long empty stretch of road, Alec loved it and he also loved the potential danger. What? He was a bit of an adrenaline fuelled danger junkie, always had been.

It was as he was pulling up outside of the house that his brow furrowed beneath the dark visor of his helmet, there was an unfamiliar vehicle on the drive. Alec cut the engine and kicked out the stand, pulling one leg off the seat of the bike before easing it down onto the stand. He reached up and unbuckled his helmet, sliding it off his head to reveal that wonderful helmet hair of doom. Alec quickly sorted that out by reaching up and rubbing a couple fingers through the short strands, tipping his head at the woman stepping out of the car.

"Hey, can I help you?"

( What's Your Poison? )

( Exchanging Numbers )

Session Start (All Work No Play/Infelicitas)

All Work No Play: Let me guess, you fell asleep and left your computer on. Again. You have any idea how sad it is that your online status says '48hours, 55 minutes and 30 seconds'? ;) Toooby, wake up, I'm bored, entertain me!

Infelicitas: I'm awake!! I'm just trying to download something and it's taking a really long time. So technically, yes, I have fallen asleep with my computer on, but not right now. Kinda glad you weren't in the other day when I woke up from crashing on the keyboard and I had imprints on my face. That was embarrassing. And I'd left my contacts in. My eyes feel like they're on fire.

Infelicitas: Anyway, I don't exist to entertain you! :p Don't you have some doctor to do that? No, wait, that's you ;) And it's totally not sad that my status says that. It's quite epic. I'm going for 100 hours. Just because.

All Work No Play: Uh-huh sure you are, I can practically feel your lightening quick wits from here ;) Y'see I didn't really need to be there to see it, you've just told me and I can now use my very active imagination to envision it. Either that or just wait for you to do it again and snap a pic!

All Work No Play: It's slow, very slow. There was a mad rush over New Years and now it's like a (excuse the wording) graveyard o.O. You, dear Toby, need to get out more. I'm totally dragging you away from your precious computer and into the real world for a night.

( I hate you )

( In Your Dreams )

Once he had some free time and he wasn't working a ridiculous from dusk to dawn shift at the hospital Alec had made a call - first to Toby, to let the other man know he was in town and looking to meet up and it was agreed that he'd make ahouse-call and then a second call to that woman Faith, to basically ramble about the other night and how he had his suspicions about a guy working within the hospital's morgue. Mostly it was just an excuse to drop a message and see about meeting up again or something to that effect, it wasn't often he got to meet a Slayer or a woman like that.

Currently he was stood outside of what he hoped was the right house for Toby or else he'd be very embarrassed when somebody opened the door and gave him this blank stare when he asked the question "are you Toby?" unless a woman opened the door and then it would be fairly pointless.

He raked his fingers through his hair and then curled his hand into a fist, rapping his knuckles against the wood. Hopefully he had gotten the hang of this direction thing, he was definitely not getting as lost as he had in the beginning.Yay, progress?

Alec glanced over his shoulder as he thought he heard something in a nearby bush.

Toby tilted his head when he heard a knock on the door and Wolf barked. It was unusual for him to do so, but his feet could be heard on the other side of the door as he headed towards it, excited at the prospect of more attention and someone new and fun to play with him.

"Hang on!" he yelled, flicking the coffee pot on again considering he'd gotten distracted and the water had gone cold. He then padded out into the hallway, almost tripping over his cat. He had been expecting Alec for a little while now, ever since the doctor had called him and he was quite excited. He'd even cleaned at the prospect of the guy coming over. It would be nice to have someone else living in the apartment, after all, he was a social creature and living alone did not really suit him.

He reached the door, glasses perched on the end of his nose. He pushed them up as he pulled it open, greeting whoever was on the other side with a huge, welcoming smile.

"Alec, right?"

( Introductions )

( Nitty Gritty )

( Serial Killers, Axe Murderers And Vampires )

Izzy sipped her hot chocolate as she perused an article in the latest issue of Popular Science, taking a break from her Christmas shopping in the cafe of the mall's bookstore. Shopping bags laid at her feet, the fruits of her efforts to find presents for the people she'd come to consider family since arriving in this dimension. The tech-witch had been on the go since the mall opened that morning, trying to get all the shopping done today and the stop in the bookstore cafe was a way to recharge the batteries before continuing to brave the throngs of other shoppers all looking for the best deal.

Alec officially hated maps and poorly explained directions, he was lost and had been for the last... three hours. He'd been determined to find his way around Chicago, bad weather and all, but clearly he was failing miserably. Eventually even Alec Lee Reed had to admit defeat and he did so by entering the local mall and looking for somebody who might have some idea of how he got to the hospital he was supposed to be working within. It would be pretty bad of him to turn up late on his first day, he didn't really relish the thought.

A couple shops later and he found himself in the depths of a bookstore cafe type place and was doing his best to explain things with the map and the scribbled notes of a co-worker who went by the name of Lauren, she was his contact in Chicago and had met up with him to exchange information but unfortunately her phone appeared to be off today, Alec had tried.

"I'm pretty sure I went that way," he shared with a rueful smile and a small laugh as the girl behind the counter gave him a sympathetic smile. "Can you tell I'm from out of town yet?" Alec was fortunately blessed with an easy charm that managed to win over most people, a few exceptions here and there.

( Crash Course )

( Dealing With Magic )