Febuwhumpday8 - Tumblr Posts

That's My Job

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Febuwhump Prompt - No anaesthesia

Prompt - ‘Protecting you is the only thing I care about, it's my job to make sure you're ok.’

The rain hammered down, soaking you and your clothes leaving you shivering as you slumped against a tree. You knew it had been stupid to go off on your own, even stupider not to tell anybody where you were going, but you just wanted some time to yourself.

It hadn’t been easy to sneak out, what with the threat of the Whispers hanging about but you managed it and now you were paying the price. You were a skilled enough fighter especially compared to how you were in the beginning but you had been with this group months into the outbreak and, after he warmed up to you and accepted you weren’t going to leave his side despite his best efforts to pull away from you, Daryl had trained you himself.

He rolled his eyes one day as he watched you struggle with a walker before he put an arrow in its skull and grumbled about how you had to protect yourself better. You had smiled up at him and begged him to teach you how to use his bow and the look he gave you still made you smile despite the blood soaking your pants.

He’d started easy, hand to hand fighting then taught you how to use a knife, taught you how to track and then he finally taught you how to use the bow and arrow. Even though you joked and flirted your way through his lessons you had paid attention and eventually you were able to handle your own against walkers and humans alike.

Each time you used the skills Daryl taught you, you watched him smile over at you and nod proudly before turning back to whatever he was fighting.

So it wasn’t like you couldn’t deal with the walkers, you’d proved over and over that you were more than capable. What you weren’t capable of doing what watching out for obstacles as you pulled back from the walker and ended up falling down a steep hill, a sharp branch had dug its way through your pants and pierced your thigh from top to bottom leaving you slumped at the bottom of a muddy hill, crawling until you were slumped behind a tree, bleeding out quickly.

The rain was that horrible kind of rain, freezing cold coming down hard and fast, stinging the slice on your thigh as it did and you had to bite your lip to keep from crying out, tilting your head back as you arched your back against the tree in pain.

You really hoped Daryl realised you were missing sooner rather than later.

You didn’t know how long you sat there for, burning pain in your thigh, but eventually you felt your eyes beginning to drift closed. Your head nodded up and down as you pried them open, knowing that if you fell asleep now then you were as good as dead, either from the blood loss or from a walker bite.

But it was a struggle, the light headedness from the blood loss had you scrunching your eyes shut to fight against the spinning and you felt like you were going to throw up at any minute.

You felt your eyes blink shut heavily and couldn’t find the strength to open them again.

Daryl hadn’t noticed you were missing, too busy up making sure they were prepared for when the whispers’ inevitably made their move. It wasn’t until Judith came to find him, calling his name to get his attention that he knew something was wrong.

He made his way over to Judith, kneeling down so he was eye level with her.

“Everything ok?” He asked, looking her up and down but other than her flushed cheeks and panting breath she seemed fine.

“I can’t find Y/N.” She told Daryl, worry clear in her voice.

“What d’ya mean you can’t find Y/N?” He asked, scanning the area like that’d make you magically appear from around the corner.

“I looked everywhere and asked the others but nobody’s seen her.”

Daryl silently cursed as he stood up preparing to go out looking for you. He knew you liked to roam the perimeter sometimes but you’d be warned against as of late, no way did he want you out there alone, not with the Whisper’s getting cockier.

“I’m coming too!” Judith yelled as she ran after him causing him to stop in his tracks to look down at her.

“No, you ain’t, you’re gonna stay here and keep an eye on things.” He told her before he took off again, rolling his eyes in annoyance as freezing cold rain started pouring down heavily.

Daryl jumped onto his bike turning to Judith who watched him with wide eyes.

“Go on, you got your job, I got mine.”

He waited until she nodded before starting the bike and heading out, picking a direction and hoping it was the right one.

Daryl felt like he had searched every damn bit of the woods as he shut the bike off once more and started looking around, you still nowhere to be seen. He was soaked wet through and as more time passed the worry began to grow until it was consuming him.

He stepped over a fallen tree trunk, dealt with a walker and almost fell on his butt down a steep hill before coming to the conclusion that you weren’t here. He let out a frustrated string of curses, glancing around once more before he left and paused when he saw a walker laying dead in the distance.

He knew it was a long shot, knew anybody could have killed it and he should probably just head back to his bike and look somewhere else but with a sigh he headed over to it, frowning as he looked around and saw nothing more than the walker.

Then he heard a snarl coming from down the steep hill he’d almost fallen down before. He turned towards the sound and looked down before moving into action because there, faintly in the mud, not yet washed away by the rain, were marks created by somebody falling down the hill.

“Y/N!” He yelled, looking around and not seeing you.

His eyes darted in every direction before he spotted the walker, it was trapped under a tree but trying to grab something. Quickly, Daryl made his way over to it and almost collapsed in relief as he saw you sat against a tree but any relief he felt was washed away when he saw your closed eyes and bleeding thigh.

“Shit,” he cursed as he made his way over to you, sitting down on the wet and muddy floor and rooting through his pockets for anything he could use to stitch you up.

There was already so much blood, your entire upper right pants leg was practically stained red and the lower part had a fair bit of blood stuck to it too. He had no clue just how long you’d been out here bleeding, cursing himself for not realising you were missing sooner, but he knew he couldn’t move you, didn’t know how long you’d been unconscious for.

No, he had to stitch you up out here and then get you back. He just hoped like hell you’d stay asleep because giving you stitches without anaesthetic was something he’d only had to do twice and it was a nightmare he never wanted to experience again.

It took him a few goes to pull your jeans off, the blood and rain causing it to stick to the wound and he winced for you as he had to pull it off roughly causing more blood to leak from the wound.

Thankfully he had the supplies to help, knowing that even with his best attempts to stitch you up he needed to get you back home and to the clinic as soon as possible. He took a breath before placing the needle at one end of the cut and pushed it through the skin but didn’t get much further than that as your eyes shot open and you let out a whine of pain, hand reaching out to grab his wrist.

“Hey, hey, s’just me.” Daryl said, voice low and rough as he took your hand off his wrist, not wanting you to nudge the needle and hurt yourself even more.

“Daryl?” You slurred out, scrunching your eyes shut before looking at him through half lidded eyes.

“Yeah, baby, it’s me. I gotta stitch you up, Y/N/N.” He told you, moving your hand to the side and cursing everything that you’d woken up before he’d even started.

“No, it’s fine,” you told him, trying to push him away but too weak to lift your arms, “don’t need stitches.”

Daryl looked at your bloody thigh and thought differently and with an eye roll he shifted, spreading his legs out on either side of you and pinned your hands down underneath them causing you to whine again.

“Sh, quicker we do this quicker we get out of the damn rain and back home, yeah?” He said, turning his attention back to your thigh and pushing the needle through before tugging on the thread and glancing up at you as you let out a cry of pain, tears pooling up in your eyes.

“Please, Daryl, stop.” You begged miserably but Daryl continued, pushing the needle through again knowing you needed this despite how badly your crying made him want to stop.

“Doing good, Y/N/N,” he told you quietly, trying to block out your pained gasps and high pitched whines as he continued to stitch you back up. “S’that’s it, good girl.” He kept up the steady stream of praise, getting half way through before you sat further up.

He looked up at you, ready to gently push you back down until he saw your face and quickly moved his leg, gently tilting your head to the side just in time for you to throw up, crying miserably as you did.

“Alright, you’re alright,” Daryl assured as he rubbed your back gently waiting until you had finished vomiting to gently move you so you were slumped against the tree, completely soaked and shivering.

“Gonna get you stitched and then we’ll go home, alright?” Daryl asked, not expecting an answer.

He watched as you blinked at him tiredly and then turned back to the cut that was half stitched. He picked the needle back up and tried to go as fast as he could whilst making sure the stitches were good enough until you got back.

“Just a few more then we’ll go.” He murmured, eyes focused on the wound as he got lost in the repetitive motion.

The rain was washing away the blood now that your jeans were off and the wound was nearly stitched but even without all the blood surrounding it it still looked nasty and had Daryl wincing in sympathy. It ran diagonally from the top of your thigh and stopped just before your knee, the cut was jagged and some parts were deeper than others but he was pretty sure his stitches were decent enough to last at least until you got home.

It felt like hours to you but eventually Daryl was pulling away and looking at his work before he wiped his hands on his pants. He looked down at your jeans that were pulled down below your knees before he moved to take them off fully, leaving them on the ground and standing up before leaning down to pull you up as gently as he could.

You let out a pained groan as Daryl scooped you up in his arms, carrying you bridal style so as to not hurt the cut on your thigh even more, he already knew that the ride home would be hell on your leg, the speed of the bike on the uneven floor would make for a long, bumpy ride back.

It wasn’t long before he was placing you on the bike before climbing on himself, having to wrap your arms around him and warning you to stay awake and hold on.

He was right, it was hell on your thigh and you spent the entire ride back in more pain than you thought possible, your face firmly buried in Daryl’s back as you sobbed and cursed, feeling every bump and dent in the ground.

You felt yourself swaying with dizziness, the world around you seemed to spin as you tightened your grip on Daryl, fighting to keep your eyes open but felt them fall shut and you just barely managed to mumble Daryl’s name before you passed out.

“Shit,” Daryl cursed for the fiftieth time that day as he slowed down, holding your arms around him and doing his best to make sure you stayed upright on the bike as he continued to make his way home.

Thankfully you weren’t that far away, another ten minutes and you were pulling up, the gates opening for you as you did. Daryl made quick work of parking the bike before he picked you up again and making his way up to the clinic, hoping like hell Denise was already there.

Thankfully she was along with a worried Judith who sat on the bed, hopping off immediately once she saw you and Daryl.

“Is she gonna be ok?” She asked as soon as Daryl walked in.

“Course she will be,” Daryl told her before turning to Denise. “I stitched her up but I don’t know how long she was out for.”

“Let’s have a look then,” She said and pulled a glove on turning to you and poking and prodding at your thigh. “You did a nice job with the stitches, other than keeping her sugar levels up and getting some vitamins in her and letting her rest there’s not much else we can do. Keep her here tonight, we’ll keep an eye on her. Keep the stitches clean and she should be fine. Though she’ll probably have a bad cold as well if she was out in that storm.” She said, looking out of the window and seeing the rain pouring down, before looking back to Daryl who had taken a seat on the chair next to the bed.

“You did good, Daryl.” She said, patting his shoulder before heading into the other room to check her other patient.

“She’s gonna be ok?” Judith asked again in a small voice causing Daryl’s eyes to soften.

“Told you, she’s gonna be just fine.” He assured her with a smile as he took your hand in his. “Just gotta take real good care of her.”

“We can do that.” Judith nodded, walking over to Daryl and sitting on his knee, Daryl wrapping his free arm around her.

“Yeah we can,” Daryl agreed because at the end of the day that was his job, taking care of you was his main purpose and the fact that you managed to get hurt weighed heavily on him. “You should get home.” Daryl said as he noticed Judith lean against his chest and close her eyes.

“Know I’m here,” Judith mumbled him with a shrug, “I wanted to make sure Y/N was ok, I knew you’d find her, you always protect her.”

Daryl couldn’t help but smile at that because, yeah, he did and besides the few incidents like this one he had to say he thought he’d done a pretty good job about it.

“Go t’sleep, kid.” Daryl said and Judith was quick to follow his instruction.

Daryl sat in the chair, his eyes resting on you, watching your chest rise and fall letting him know you were ok. Eventually he felt his eyes get heavy and leaned his head back on the chair, letting them fall closed.

He didn’t know how long he had drifted off for but he woke up to you squeezing his hand and quickly opened his eyes to look at you. Before he could speak you shushed him gently, gesturing to Judith who was still asleep against his chest, before smiling softly at the two of them.

“How you feelin’?” Daryl asked quietly, voice barely above a whisper but you heard him fine, the only other noise to be heard was the howling wind and sound of rain coming from outside.

“Sore but better than I was.” You told him, shifting slightly and wincing at the pain that shot through your leg.

“Stay still,” Daryl told you with a fond eye roll, “the hell happened, Y/N/N?”

“I just wanted to clear my head for a bit, you know? The walker came from nowhere and I dealt with it but it caught me as it went down and I ended up slipping down that hill and slicing my leg on a branch or something.” You told him, wincing as you remembered the pain. “Thanks for stitching me up.”

“Make my job real damn hard, you know?” He told you with a smile causing you to laugh softly.

“Your job?” You asked.

“Keepin’ you safe, can’t do that when you’re sneaking off and falling down hills.” You looked at him for a moment, your face softening as you squeezed his hand again.

“Thank you,” You told him, swallowing past the sudden lump in your throat, “for protecting me. All these years and I never once thanked you for it. Hell, we both know without you I’d have been a walker's chew toy years ago.” You told him, chuckling quietly.

“You don’t gotta thank me, darlin’, s’my job.” He told you again and he was close enough that he could bring your hand to his lips and press a kiss to them without shifting you or Judith. “Even if you are a pain in the ass.”

“You know you love me.” You grinned at him, the grin melting into a smile at his words.

“I do, so damn much,” He told you honestly, “So no more sneaking off without telling me.” He warned.

“No promises.” You smirked, feeling happier than you should considering you were laying in a hospital bed with however many stitches holding your thigh together but when Daryl was around you just couldn’t help it.

__________

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Febuwhump Day 8: Panic

Fandom: Star Wars

Timeline: The Bad Batch/Clone Wars

The batch looked around, it was only their second mission but it was important. They had their orders to assist the 212th on one of the middle rim planets. Still consided shinys Cody watched them closely to make sure they made it out of this hell hole alive. Of course he watched all his troops closely but he always watched shinys closer.

    Hunter had a lot on his mind. Of course there was the mission, but also the safety of his brother. As squad leader he had to keep them safe, it was his job. The planet was bright, it was bright and it was load. Sure Hunter had been born with his super senses but he'd never experienced something quite so much.

    The clone kept his calm for most of the mission. He couldn't do anything about the sensory problems now and even if he could it wasn't safe. Hunter knew he was pushing down the enviable, but right now he couldn't afford to do anything but suffer through it.

    Cody saw something was wrong with the squad leader but wasn't sure what. Maybe he just had a constantly worried face? Cody wasn't sure what was wrong but something definitely was.

    The battle was nearing its end. Cody hated it when shinys ended up on front lines. They had the training but nothing can properly prepare you for the real thing.

    The crash of a droid next to Hunter started him. "Hey! Get your head in this or your gonna die!" Cody yelled. The sargent snapped. His breathing speed up. A nearby explosion made him yelp as he sank to the muddy ground. "Hunter, gets up." Cody's voice was laced with concern. He moved beside the shiny and provided cover.

    "It's so much" Hunter spoke between gasps. "I.. I can't."

    Cody had seen this before. He knew he couldn't do much but keep the soldier from dying. "What is it?" He spoke loudly yet kindly.

    Hunter winced at the noise. The battle field was as quiet as it could be so the movement confused the commander. "What startled you?" Again he yelled.

    "Please stop yelling." Hunter spoke at a normal tone.

    "What?"

    The man drew more into himself, covering his ears. His eyes had already been glued to the ground. He moved his arms to move the blacks from around his neck in a tearing motion; the texture being too much.

    This concerned the commander more. Responding to the harsh movement Cody dropped to the ground, grabbing for Hunter's hands. "Hunter you've gotta calm down!"

    "Stop yelling... Please" he begged.

    It hit Cody. The heightened senses, that's what was causing the panic. He didn't think that would be a problem, then again he never thought of the negative effects of their mutations. "Okay, sorry." This time he whispered

    Cody pushed Hunter's hands over his ears, "keep them their."

    Hunter frantically moved his arms to one of his vibro-knifes and flung it past Cody, straight into a droid. Cody looked back at where the droid had stood for a brief second before going back to helping Hunter.

    Hunter's breathing hadn't really slowed, his legs were still tightly pulled up against his chest, and he had once again gone to tear his shirt's collar. This time blood would be drawn before Cody could do anything to stop it.

    Once more Cody moved Hunter's hands over his ears. It didn't really help with the noise but it was a start. It also kept the clone from trying to tear himself apart so Cody would take it.

    Hunter's comm buzzed, "Hunter we are at the rendezvous, where are you?" Tech asked. Silence.

    "Hey Hunter you good." Wrecker would follow. Again the brothers were met with silence.

    "Hello boys, this is Commander Cody. Hunter's alright just overwhelmed. I got him. Go ahead and meet with the others." Cody used Hunter's comm as he spoke to the men.

    "Alright." Crosshair followed.

    Cody stayed with Hunter until he was able to claim down. Once Hunter's breathing was under control the two moved from their position to a much safer one. There the commander was able to claim down the sergeant. After all was well, as well as things can be in a war zone, Cody and Hunter would return to the fight.

    The battle would be won and the batch was safe. "Hey, before you go" Cody started, following Hunter to the Marauder. "Comm me if you ever need anything okay?"

    Hunter looked into Cody's eyes and smiled, "thank you for your help today. I never expected for a battlefield to be so... much."

    "You never do."

    "Anyway thank you. We will. Comm us if you ever need somebody for a suicide mission." Hunter joked.

    "Will do." The two shook hands and off they went, returning to their prospected families. A beautiful friendship bloomed from the mud and tears on the battlefield. One that would last for quite some time.

@febuwhump prompt: "why won't it stop?"

***

"I don't understand." Spike muttered, cradling his left arm with his right as he sat on the cold concrete bench of the bus stop.

Annie glanced over at him. "What is your problem?" She asked in a snotty voice. Mao fawned over the kid so much that it was hard to be around Spike without getting pissed off. It wasn't even jealousy exactly it was more... well, Spike himself was a brat. He mouthed off constantly, he drank and smoked and stole - and he was only 10!

Frowning, Spike shrugged and clutched his arm a little tighter as if self-conscious. The movement made him hiss in pain and his face screwed up like he was fighting back tears.

Annie was surprised. She'd never seen a trace of uncertainty or sadness in him before. With a long-suffering sigh she turned from her position watching down the road for their bus and grabbed his arm to yank the sleeve up before he could react by fighting her off.

He yelped as the dirty fabric of his stained sweatshirt swept over his blistered skin and Annie couldn't keep from wincing at the sight.

"It's a pretty bad burn," she acknowledged after inspecting it. "We'll have to put some ointment on it and cover it up so it can heal without getting infected. Ugh, you're so much work, kid."

Glaring at her, Spike wrenched his arm back and stared down at the disfigured flesh. "I don't understand." He repeated. She watched him grit his teeth before taking a deep breath and finally looking at her with as innocent and respectful of an expression as he could possibly make. "The steam only hit me for a minute. It still burns. Why won't it stop burning?"

It was Annie's turn to shrug. "That's just how burns work." Then she frowned at him. "Have you seriously never gotten burnt before?"

Spike rolled his eyes and tilted his neck back and forth to crack it. Eventually he huffed another sigh before replying to her, though his eyes were trained on the ground by their feet.

"Never been around hot food or nothing." He remarked quietly.

Well. He was an orphan, after all. He'd spent most of his years on the streets. When Mao had originally stumbled across him, it had been when Spike was reeling from a fever and did such a piss-poor job of making off with Mao's wallet that the older man had been able to follow him with ease to the alley that Spike called home. It was still the place they could typically find him whenever he ran off from the youth center where Mao had stuck him.

Annie's shoulders slumped. Somehow Spike's simple admission and his childlike confusion over such a basic concept had managed to deflate all of her typical irritation over being saddled with babysitting the kid. Annie's own childhood had been marked with misery and hardship of course - her mother had been a flake who just disappeared one day. That had left Annie with a junkie dad who occasionally was able to provide useful information to the syndicate. It was her uncle, Mao, who had eventually agreed to take Annie under his wing and bring her into the outer realm of his world.

She had discovered an appreciation within herself for weapons and threw herself wholeheartedly into learning everything she could about guns and bullets and grenades and knockout gasses and brass knuckles. Self-defense was such an important skill to hone, but perhaps equally useful was merely having access to things that could hurt or kill someone else. She spent hours of her days on the shooting range or hustling antique guns from flea markets and pawn shops and estate sales. It was her passion and had become quite an addiction, truth be told.

In fact, once she was able to drop Spike off at the youth center to have his arm tended to, she was planning on going to a sale at a museum that was closing down over on the east end of town. She'd heard a rumor that they had cannons - actual cannons! - that would be up for auction. Now that would be something to own!

But first she had to do something about this little snot-nosed boy who was still putting on a brave face despite the tremors that coursed through his upper body now and again. He kept kicking his heels against the bench which at least made any shakiness in those limbs not evident to any onlookers. At least he was smart enough to know he shouldn't show any weakness if he could avoid it.

Annie glanced down the road and finally saw the familiar shape of the bus wearily working its way towards them. She held out her hand to Spike.

"C'mon, kid. I'll weasel some burn cream from the nurse at the YC for ya. It'll help a little with the pain. Best thing aside from that is to distract yourself. Why don't you find a good book in the library there and hole yourself up for a few hours reading?"

Spike warily put his good hand into hers and let her pull him to his feet. Considering how often they butted heads, it was no surprise he was hesitant to fully trust her.

"Yeah, maybe." He was still sort of curled in on himself even now that he was standing up. It gave him a vulnerability that made Annie nervous. She hated to be seen as weak and wasn't comfortable being in the presence of someone who might cast her in that light by their own timidity.

"What's the matter? Don't tell me you can't read either!" She cried.

Spike straightened up, shoulders going back and chest puffing up with a child's arrogance. "Shut up! I can read plenty!"

Annie eyed him suspiciously. Who would have been around to teach him letters? The shiftiness of his eyes seemed very telling to her.

She thought longingly of the cannons and how fun it would be to add them to her collection. Then again, where would she even store the damn things?

The bus groaned to a halt in front of them and Annie yanked Spike along after her as she climbed aboard.

"If you keep your trap shut about this, I'll help you figure it out." She told him in a fierce whisper. "I don't want nobody knowing I did you a kindness, you hear? I'm supposed to be working on my tough reputation and Mao sticking me looking after you all the time doesn't help that any." She sighed as she shoved him into one of the seats and claimed the one next to him. "Anyway, he'll be over the moon if I can get you on the right track. So. First the burn, then the books."

Spike pinched his lips together and gave a curt nod before directing his attention out the window. Good. That meant Annie could daze out for the duration of their bus ride. There'd always be another chance to own something as cool as a cannon... and in the meantime, well, it was smart to do things that put others in her debt. That was something she'd learned from Uncle Mao real quick. Favors made the world run smooth.