Fifteen Bells: [ACTION/WRITTEN]

[simplestgift]

[Archie woke up yesterday.  How is this new?  Well, after getting some fairly critical stab wounds from Grell, he was put on a ventilator and kept under sedation for a few days.  The ventilator was exchanged for a less impressive-looking concentrator yesterday and he was taken off sedation.  He spent yesterday sleeping anyway, since anesthesia doesn't generally leave you bright-eyed immediately afterward.

This morning, he is talking and eating Jell-o, which is a new experience. The most important bit comes written on the journal network in wobbly handwriting courtesy of the heart monitor clipped on his finger.]

I have been informed that I may have visitors. I'd like to know everyone is all right.

Kennedy

[Anyone who comes in will find him looking predictably weak and pale but lucid and in good spirits, or possibly catnapping after a dose of painkillers.

OOC: Purely for the sake of mercy, Archie is unaffected by the event.]

Comments

[simplestgift]

[Archie's smile vanishes.] Is something the matter?

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

Nothing is the matter. You are recovering well, Lieutenant.

[simplestgift]

Oh, good. [He's going to let this one go. Maybe McCoy is in ultra-professional mode and will pipe down after a few days.] Was it really necessary to keep me in coma for a week?

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

[ bluntly: ] Yes.

[simplestgift]

Why?

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

Because of the injuries you sustained from Miss Sutcliffe's attack, you were experiencing respiratory failure and had to be placed on a mechanical ventilation system. I placed you in a medically-induced coma so you would not awaken and try to pull out the breathing apparatus and to allow your body time to recover from the trauma of the attack.

[ a beat. ] Miss Sage was responsible for treating your outward injuries.

[simplestgift]

I'll have to thank her. [Respiratory failure?] I stopped breathing?

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

Make sure you do.

[ blinking. ] Are you experiencing auditory problems?

[simplestgift]

There's nothing wrong with my ears. I was stabbed in the back.

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

Lower back.

[simplestgift]

Yes, precisely. Quite a distance from my ears.

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

Most people suffer confusion and poor memory skills after coming out of a coma. [ a pause. ] Since your memory skills seem satisfactory, I came to the conclusion you were experiencing some other, seldom known symptoms.

[simplestgift]

[He stretches a little, as much as the bed and the things attached to him will afford him.] You're terribly dreary today, Doctor.

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

So I have been told.

[simplestgift]

Oh, so it isn't only your favorite patient suffering from your utter lack of...[Wait.] Is there an experiment going on?

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

Yes.

[simplestgift]

I see. [The "troll" part of his brain turns on, and he tries to think of how amuse himself with this. When he speaks, he's mostly thinking aloud.]

You're very unfeeling, Doctor.

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

[ ... ]

Thank you.

[simplestgift]

Yes. One might even say you've no heart at all. Utterly inhuman.

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

"I can assure you that I have a heart, Lieutenant."

[simplestgift]

"Of regular size?"

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

"Ten to twelve ounces."

[simplestgift]

"Have you a soul, then?"

[hippocraticly.livejournal.com]

His comment seems to strike a chord in the doctor and McCoy blinks.

"... An old soul, Archie."

[simplestgift]

...Interesting. And just touching enough that the attempts at trolling still temporarily.

"Have the kittens been born?"