Get out

The body can be healed but not the mind

Ray had no idea why the boss had called him, but he was worried it had something to do with the minor surgery he had performed on Alex' hand. It had been a very risky move having to do it out in the field like that without the opportunity to sterilize everything as well as he'd like to, but it looked fine when he left. He just hoped he hadn't developed any fevers or anything like that.

He knocked on the boss' bedroom door, saying a small prayer that he hadn't messed up anything badly enough to get fired.
"It's Ray," he said, not opening the door until he got permission. "You wanted me?"
"Yeah, come in," he heard from the other side, and he took the door handle to pull the door open and peek inside.
"Is everything okay?" Ray asked both of them, but looked at Eddy. He seemed to be completely out of it, which only made Ray's worries about Alex intensify.

Eddy unburied his face from Brett's shoulder so he could look at Ray. He only stared for a bit before hiding his face again. He was thinking of Alex too, hoping it wouldn't be awkward when he saw him in the morning. Eddy would like to enjoy their time together, not to be unbelievably sad!

"We're... okay ish. I have a favour to ask of you," Brett said softly, stroking Eddy's back carefully. He hoped this would work at all. "Do you mind taking a look at Eddy's hand? He had an injury..."
"Yeah, I've noticed that," Ray interrupted Brett, taking a step forward. "I can look at it."
He went over to them, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "May I see?"

Eddy moved a bit so he could lift his hand and give it to Ray, "You can."

He had to turn away from Brett a bit so he could comfortably give Ray his hand.

Brett kept his arm around Eddy, but allowed him the freedom to give Ray his hand.

Ray carefully took the hand, turning it over to look at it.
"Tell me if this hurts," he said, carefully pressing on a few points he didn't expect to hurt first to test the hypothesis he had made from the nights studying this very hand. When Eddy didn't seem to react to that, he moved to pressing a point he would expect to hurt, if his hypothesis was right. He sure hoped so, because in that case he could probably fix it. It would be risky, even riskier than what he had done for Alex because this type of thing he had only learned how to do in theory, but he would be willing to try if he was right and Eddy accepted it.

Eddy hissed softly when Ray pressed the point the man expected to hurt. It hurts, "Hurts."

At this particular moment Eddy didn't exactly mind the pain. It was at least something, even if a reminder of the torture he had endured.

"You have no idea how happy I am to hear that," Ray said, trying to make half a joke. He got serious again when Brett shot him a look. "Uh, I suppose I have good news."

Eddy guessed if Ray ever remembered a certain incident, that he could argue that Ray was weird for watching him sleep and being happy for his pain. Yes that would be a good rebuttal if need be. Eddy would keep it in mind just in case, "What is it?"

"I might be able to fix it for you," Ray said softly, looking over at the boss as well. He would need his approval for this, no doubt, as it would both take up a lot of his work time and be super risky.
"You can fix it?" Brett asked, surprised but happy. He turned to Eddy to see his reaction, but squeezed him a bit.

Eddy seemed a bit surprised but also very worried about what it would all entail. Especially if something went terribly wrong, would it just make it worse?

"Y-you can," Eddy stammered. He had gotten so used to the way it was that he wasn't sure how to feel.

"I mean, it's... in theory it's pretty simple, straight forward," Ray said softly, not really sure how to break the fact he had never actually done this procedure before. The good news was that it seemed to be exactly like the example in the textbook, so he wouldn't have to improvise at all. Just follow the recipe.

"Can you tell me about it?" Eddy wanted to know details, but he was also a bit nervous about hearing about it. To ease his anxieties he pressed closer to Brett. In actuality he wasn't sure how that would help. It wasn't like Brett could protect him from words! The notion of him even seeking protection was ridiculous.

"Well, to explain it really simply, it's... there's a bone in your hand that normally runs through here," Ray began, pointing on his own hand to demonstrate. "But yours seems to have been broken and healed again, but slightly off giving it a slight angle and pressing on some nerves and the tendon in your hand rubs against it when you move it, causing pain and strain as well."

"I guess if you fix that then my fingers will also align properly?" They didn't always seem to be the way they were supposed to be considering they were also involved in the accident, "Also how will you fix it if possible?"

"Well, it should align your fingers somewhat as it is the tendon that is pulling them slightly off their placement," Ray informed him while trying to think of a gentler way of saying 'I'm going to break your hand'. He couldn't think of one. "And well... for the cure... I'll have to break up the original fracture and align your bones to let it heal the correct way."

"You have to do what?" Brett asked quickly, furrowing his brows. "That sounds awful!"

"Aw yes the medical field, just legal torture with good medications for it," Eddy said a bit jokingly although he wasn't really feeling it or anything really, "My hand has been broken once along with my wrist, a second time won't kill me. As long as I get a sling and brace or cast for it, I suppose."

He would be an idiot and try to do stuff with his hand out of habit, if it weren't in something.

"A brace will probably be the best option, yes," Ray agreed with a small nod. "I can make arrangements for that to happen within the next couple of days, actually. If you'd want to. There's just one little detail you should know before you make that decision."

"What's the little detail..." Eddy thought it must be a pretty big or at least a very important one. He most definitely wanted to hear it and Brett probably did too.

"Well, the thing is... I have never performed this procedure before," Ray admitted honestly. "The only reason I am suggesting this is because of the risk of your hand getting more damage over time from the constant rubbing of the tendon against the bone and the fact that your case is exactly like the textbook one."

"The worst that can happen is that you completely mess up and make it worse or it naturally gets worse. Either way it getting worse is a possibility, or assured with it doing so naturally. With that being considered I think you propose a less likely risk. That being said, we can proceed with breaking it again." Eddy glanced at Brett to see if he came to the same conclusions or wanted to do it a different way. Or with another sketchy doctor.

Brett nodded in agreement. Any chance of giving Eddy his playing back would be worth trying.

"I'll start preparing for it, then," Ray said, standing up. "I'll let you know when I'm ready."