2020-01-24 - Not According to Plan.

(TXT to Jaime) Nicole : Hey, Jaime? It's Nicole.

"Jesus... there is no good way to say this to someone, is there..." Nicole mutters to herself before texting again.

(TXT to Nicole) Jaime : Hey.

(TXT to Jaime) Nicole : I'm at the hospital with Joey. Apparently... he was in a very very bad dream late last night and, well, he'll be just fine, but he has some healing to do.

(TXT to Jaime) Nicole : I know that is like... harsh to read. But I really wanted you to know and it's not something I can like, beat around the bush on.

Nicole is still wearing her pajama pants, sneakers without socks, and a hoodie, her hair in a messy pony, but she has straightened it just a little. She sits beside Joey's bed, watching him, mostly, as she texts his twin brother. She looks tired herself. How long has she even been here? What time is it? She seems to not even know, despite the time showing on her phone.

(TXT to Nicole) Jaime : How bad is it?

(TXT to Jaime) Nicole : He's a lot better than he was when he first came in.

(TXT to Jaime) Nicole : He had a head and chest injury that were pretty bad, but uh... he had some help with those. He's still covered in lacerations from shrapnel though.

(TXT to Jaime) Nicole : He went to the movies with some people and they all got dragged into a dream... and, I do not know all the details, but there was a monster that is indescribable, and there was like, Gladiator arena style fighting, and Joey had to fight it... and it exploded.

(TXT to Nicole) Jaime : I'm on my way.

Jaime is not a very eloquent texter. He usually only does it when bored in a hotel room on the road with nothing else to do, and so his texts are pretty short and to the point. However, it doesn't take him long to actually get to the hospital after he says that he is leaving, so one might have to wonder just how hard he pushed that old beater of a truck to get there when he did. The nurses at the nurse's station do a little bit of a double-take when he walks in, glancing back toward Joey's room in confusion, until they notice that he's not quite as muscularly built as his twin, and catch on when he asks to see his brother. At least there's no questions about whether he's family or not as he's lead back to Joey's room.

Joey is asleep for a good long ass while. The good news is he's 'fine' even if the damages look and report as 'scary as hell' and have gone in the chart as 'industrial explosion' because what else does one call being blown up by a Gilligan's Island Golem?! Thankfully someone took a chunk of the sting out of it. What's really happening at this point according to last update is they're just waiting for him to rest up and wake up and he might be still on the pain killers they gave him so that'll be fun.

Cracking an eye a slit he murmurs tired and dry, "You've gone... to a lot of effort... to play nurse, Nicole." With a since he goes to move and is just immediately tired and regretting that life decision. "Coulda jes' asked." For Jaime's sake there's some movement even if it's sluggish.

Nicole looks up when Jaime enters. When she sees it is not a doctor, she stands and goes to him, giving him a brief hug. She kinda looks a mess. Kinda like how she looks when she just woke up and stumbles out of Joey's room sometimes.

At Joey's comment, she turns back to him with a smirk. "Wait til you see the costume I have reserved for when you go home." Then looking again to Jaime, she smiles. "He seems to be doing much better."

Jaime walks into the room and gives Nicole a smile when she gets up and comes over. He wraps his arms around her and gives her a warm hug, dropping a kiss on the side of her head. "It's going to be okay," he assures. "How are you holding up?" Then he hears the mumbled words coming from Joey and says, "You sure went through a lot of trouble to get her to put on a nurse's costume for you. I saw her in the jello, man, I'm pretty sure you could have just asked."

Joey is groggy to to the point one finger lift and slowly, he grumbles to Jaime, "Well..." there's a pause and an uncomfortable deep breath, "I'm an asshole." It's not a shining moment but he's not out of the game and there might be more iodine on him than anything which is a good sign. Tiredly, but purposefully he gives Jaime a look and is quiet for a long while as they eye one another up; Jaime concerned enough to break the sound barrier. Joey concerned enough to take this time to worry about his twin's concern. He relents "You cna be the pretty one... this week." Which is Joey for, yeah yeah I'l l live.

Nicole nods and accepts that kiss to the side of her head from Jaime, lingering near even when Joey wakes. "He'll be fine... live to fight another day. Me?" She looks up at him. "I'm tired, but good. I was in bed when I got the call." Hence, the outfit.

She chuckles at the exchange between the brothers, then turns to Jaime. "Even without a wrestling match." She winks at him. "I'm going to go grab some coffee from the nurses station so I can stay awake. Anyone need anything? And by anything, I mean...." She looks at Joey and asks, "ice chips?" Then to Jaime and asks, "coffee? Juice? I think they have jello I can snag." Pause. "Heh.. jello."

"Yeah, no shit," Jaime tells Joey with a lopsided grin when he says that he's an asshole. "I'm always the pretty one. You're just the sexiest one." He wanders over to where Joey is and he reaches over and ruffles his hair, smirking. When Nicole says that she's going to go grab coffee he says, "I could use a cup of coffee. With some creamer. No jello." He chuckles. "Wouldn't want a wrestling match to break out."

Joey peers at his brother, or maybe it's a squint because it's bright. Either way he relents, "yeah. fair." Oh Nicole's offering to run errands? Cooooool. God he's groggy. He tries to figure out the cords and makes some reasonable logic he's in a hospital. Right. He says "jello good." he pauses, "Guinness?" He's probably serious but the actual expectation is non-existent. Looking to Jaime he faintly smiles, "Gonna guess... my plan worked great." Pausing he asks his brother and Nicole, "Hey, de la Vega... alive?"

Before she leaves the two brothers alone to talk a bit, Nicole pauses by the door and nods to Joey. "Far as I know, you got the worst of it. I think you saved him from getting it all, if I understood correctly. I think he was okay." She nods to Jaime, repeating, "coffee, cream, no jello." She grins then points at Joey. "And Guinness flavored jello for you." Hey, he's on pain meds, maybe he will actually think it is. She blows him a kiss and disappears into the hallway.

"Dunno," Jaime says, "Was your plan to get blown up and torn to shit by shrapnel? If so, then yeah, your plan worked out pretty much as expected." It's a good-natured ribbing, though. If he /didn't/ do it, Joey would wonder what was wrong with him. He sits down on the side of Joey's bed and shrugs his shoulders, "If he's dead, I haven't heard anything about it. Nobody's been reported dead, anyway, so far as I know. So I'm guessing he's alive." Though he glances toward Nicole to see if she knows the answer to that question when she returns from getting coffee and whatever other non-Guinness beverages there might be. "Thanks, Nicole," he says when she returns with coffee, taking up his cup.

Joey watches Nicole go with a vigilant fondness before shifting back to his brother. When Jaime stops giving him shit that is when Joey knows he is in super really fuckig may be dying bad shape. Thank god for twins who snark to let you know you are alright. Still he's satisfied withthe answer muttering, "He better not be fucking dead." The slow deep breath is uncomfortable but somehow satisfying.

Jaime sits down on the side of his bed and Joey's hand drops down atop his brother's hand. It's bruised and scratched to shit like he fought a box of cats but if boxers can't be taped up what good are they? "I got em. Gilligan and the Skipper started up hurtin all these people." He pauses and snorts, "Never been slapped so hard by a ginger before." he eyes Jaime and murmurs, "How we doin?" And by we he means Jaime since he has a chart and Jaime got less than optimal news.

"Pretty sure if the Police Captain was dead, it'd be on the news by now," Jaime says with a shrug of his shoulders. He doesn't know de la Vega at all, other than by sight and reputation, and knows that Joey knows him. They'd met that one time, and that was about it. "Oh I'm pretty sure you've been slapped plenty hard by a ginger or two in your time. It's probably the painkillers that are making your memory of it fuzzy." He flashes a lopsided grin. Then he shrugs and says, "I'm fine. Was worried about your dumb ass, but I see you're conscious, and you're on the mend. So I won't hold it against you too much. Other than that, I'm alright."

The faint grin works its way onto his mug; groggy not dying. "First time one blew up at me." Literally. With a casual optimism he says, "Well no one died soooo my dumbass plan...worked." Looking at his hand burised and dinged and then Jaime. He can't explain how or why having his brother there makes everything work right in the world, or why its better, or why he feels the same shit is now more manageable other than to say: It's a shame other people don't have this. "They might keep me to tomorrow which is dumb. Was thinking we could go head up into the woods for a bit. Somethin. Anything." He only remembers to ask after the fact, "You on the road this weekend?"