asher_talos | (no subject)

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Whether they really were in Darrow for the long haul or it was just another temporary trick that the Island was playing on them, there were a few things that the city provided that Asher was taking full advantage of. Unfortunately for Daniel and Celia, today's thing happened to be proper health care.

The doctors on the Island did what they could with what they had, but none of that was the same as having an actual pediatrician with access to all that modern day medicine had to offer, not just what some stupid Island deemed okay to have.

There were shots, blood and now there were tears and a pair of dramatically quivering bottom lips. The lollipops and stickers each child had gotten hadn't seemed to pacify them any, and Asher didn't blame them. He would have been insulted if someone had offered him those things, too.

Ducking into a less crowded corridor, Asher let the twins get the crying out of their system. Walking down the street with two sobbing children would probably have drawn some unwanted attention, so he decided to avoid it altogether and let them have their meltdowns inside.

Hopefully it didn't take to long. The doctor's office smell really set his teeth on edge.

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Despite showering, Danny can still smell placenta on him. He's busy sniffing the sleeve of a new set of scrubs when he hears the crying and almost turns around on the spot. A baby's first scream is one thing, a beautiful thing and a professional relief that he welcomes. Crying beyond twenty minutes old is just kind of annoying though, especially ten hours into a twelve hour shift.

Trying not to catch the blond guy's eye, Danny rubs the back of his neck and side-steps an empty hospital bed wheeling its way down the corridor. And then suddenly there's an old man in a wheelchair behind him, prodding him with a walking stick to get out of the way. In a moment, Danny finds himself abdomen-to-face with one of the screechy-noise-makers and he schools his expression a second too late to hide his feelings over that fact.

Celia had taken to sulking beneath the mound of coats and winter accessories on the seat beside Asher. He could hear the rustling of her lollipop wrapper between sniffles, so he figured she was on her way to being over the trauma of the afternoon.

Daniel, on the other hand, looked as though he was going to start up all over again as he stared up at the man in scrubs. "No more needles, please," he pleaded, offering the man his sticker, as if that would help spare him anymore pain. He didn't offer the candy, though, Asher noticed. He thought is said something about his son's priorities.

Appointments with the dentist were definitely something to look into for next week.

As soon as Danny accepts the stickers, one glance up at the adult of the group tells him he's made a wrong move.

"These are pretty cool," he comments, turning them over in his hand before holding them back out to the boy. "But I don't give needles to people, I take people out of mommies. Whole different kind of pain," he tries to joke, ruffling the kid's hair.

"Fuck," Asher swore under his breath, knowing exactly what was going to happen before it did. Seconds later, the full blown sobbing started back up, both from Daniel and from beneath the pile of coats beside him.

Stickers forgotten, Daniel rushed over to Asher and scrambled onto his lap. "Way to go," he said. He knew the other man couldn't have predicted the reaction, but that didn't mean he couldn't be annoyed about it.

"Woah, woah, what did I do?" Danny panics when the sobbing starts, taking a step back and lifting his hands, as if to prove he has no needles. There are hospital lawyers who step in for less than this. "I'm an OBGYN, I have nurses give injections, I swear."

"The M-word," Asher replied, rubbing Daniel's back as the boy buried his face against his shoulder. "Theirs isn't here at the moment. That, and they've been jabbed like pincushions today so they were already upset."

Meanwhile, Ray was who knew where, doing who knew what and he had to deal with this.

It takes Danny a few moments to cotton on before he remembers what he'd said and even though he has no cause to, he still feels a little guilty. The Catholic in him almost welcomes it.

"I had no idea, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to..." He gestures at the little boy. "Break your son. Or your pile of coats."

Obviously displeased with being referred to as a pile of coats, an arm pushed through the layers and whipped a small pink mitten over at the man. It didn't land anywhere near him given that it was a blind toss, but the arm vanished all the same as if the point had been made either way.

"It's fine." It wasn't, but arguing wasn't going to fix anything. "They'll be okay." They weren't right that second, clearly, but they would be.

Bending down to pick up the glove, Danny clutches it tightly, fingers rubbing against the wool.

"There's a, canteen, near--a canteen on the next floor," he says, pointing up, "or a snack machine nearby if lollipops aren't cutting it."

Asher vaguely remembered Ray maybe saying something about going for food before he vanished. Honestly, he'd only been half listening while filling out the forms for both kids. That was probably where he'd gone to.

"Thanks," he said. He leaned back slightly to get a better look at Daniel as the boy studied his lollipop. "You wanna go find Ray? Show him your battle scars?" Asher asked. Or at least show him the obnoxious neon green band-aid, because despite all of the fuss they were making there wasn't much to see.

"No," Celia replied from the coats.

When the corridor fills with people and another bed rolls by, Danny steps a little farther away, unsure whether the other guy knows the conversation is over, as far as he's concerned.

"So...I'm a doctor," he points out, giving his ID badge a tap on his chest. "Dr Daniel Castellano. Right here. I should probably get back to my patients."

He didn't need to know that Danny had actually been on his way to the doctors' lounge.

"Congratulation... to you and your patients," Asher drawled, not really caring if the guy was a doctor, nurse or astronaut.

"Glove," he said, holding his hand out for the mitten.

"Right. Yeah." Danny holds it out, giving the boy a closed smile as he peers down at him. "Cool eyes."

He fails to mention that they kind of look like they should belong to a werewolf.

"They both have them. Genetic," he shrugged. He didn't want to say that it came from their mother's side, but he didn't think he had to when he obviously didn't have them.

"Complete heterochromia," Danny diagnoses, sounding impressed, and he can't help but drop into a crouch to take a proper look. "I've only ever seen that in a text book." If both kids have them, the odds are that means only one thing.

"Twins?"

Daniel leaned further into Asher as the doctor moved closer. "He's not a side show attraction," Asher said. The man's text book probably never hit him for staring too long, but Asher would.

"D'you know Dr. Fitch?" Celia spoke up, head finally poking out from beneath the coats.

Danny leans back in turn, careful not to offend or scare. "Sorry. Sometimes firsts can feel kinda rare in obstetrics, it's just baby after baby after baby, so," he gestures at the boy, "I find this kinda cool."

When he sees another pair of eyes under the pile of coats, Danny can't help the smile of surprise that flickers across his face. "Wow. That's something. I know a Dr Fowler. Does that count?"

"Delivering normal, healthy babies... How tragic for both you and your patients." Maybe he did know Fitch. That attitude was familiar, but it could have just been a general medical professional thing.

"Does Dr. Flower know aunt Dani?" Celia asked around her lollipop.

"That's not what I meant at all," Danny replies, turning to give the man a strange look. No two births are the same just like no two babies are, but he doesn't think that means he can't appreciate other medical phenomena along the way.

Rising to his feet, he rests his hands on his waist and blows out a long breath of air, pretending to think about the little girl's question. "Well, I dunno. Maybe. He knows a Danny." At that, he chucks a thumb at himself.

"Sounded that way," Asher insisted, shifting Daniel so he was facing forward.

Celia looked unimpressed. They might have gotten their mother's eyes, but that expression? That was all Asher. "And that's daddy and that's Daniel," she said, pointing to each in turn before turning her finger at the doctor, "and you're not my aunt Danica. You're a boy."

"I'm a man," Danny corrects and though there's an insistence in his voice, he sounds good-natured enough. "Who're you?"

"You're a boy and my aunt Danica is a girl and she has teef that come down like this," Celia rambled, using both index fingers to mimic fangs against her mouth. "Daddy has them, too, but they're not scary."

It was a good thing Asher wasn't an operative or something. Celia would have just spilled everything to anyone who would listen.

"'m Celia."

"Huh." Danny isn't sure what a normal reaction should be after hearing something like that. He does know, however, that it probably ought to be directed to the adult, rather than the child. "You some kind of fetishist?"

"Vampire," Asher said, not bothering with the detail that it was actually former vampire. Despite the fangs, he thought that much should have been obvious.

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