Focused on her work, it didn't even occur to her that she was in Marcus' bubble. Such was her split personality; nervous and awkward until she got to work, and then she was competent and sure of herself, and not easily distracted.

"I wear Gardenia as a perfume," explained absently. It was important to keep the patient focused on other things if possible. The sound of bones being set is unpleasant. Without warning, she gently pressed the slightly misaligned ribs to meet each other. They were only centimetres out of alignment, but to heal right, they needed to be perfect.

"I need you to be perfectly still, and I can mend the bones without a potion," she told her patient, Marcus wasn't Marcus to her at the moment.

Why couldn't she be like a hundred years old and ugly? This had to be one of the most difficult things he had ever had to go through and he had been through plenty of ordeals but nothing like this. He watched as she touched his ribs and he couldn't help it but he sucked in a deep breath, he supposed if he hadn't taken that potion before he would probably be in a lot of pain right now. As it was, he was feeling pretty good.

"I like gardenia's" he stated, trying to keep his mind off what she was doing. A whole lot better than vanilla anyway. Marcus, nodded as she gave her instructions and he held perfectly still. "I can do that" he murmured as he continued to watch her work with fascination.

"We grow them. I use their oil to make perfume." Damn. Why did he have to take a deep breath? It shifted two of the ribs just slightly. She didn't yell at her patient, however, she merely tried again. "Hold that breath for me," she instructed, pressing the two ribs back into place.

Cari mended the bones and cartiledge quickly; she didn't want her patient turning blue on her, that was never a good sign. "You can breathe now, I don't need you to hold your breath while I repair the muscle."

Hold my breath longer? Was she trying to kill him or something? Marcus, however did as he was told...a first for him that was for sure. He closed his eyes and hoped that she would hurry because that was seriously starting to tickle and he didn't know if he could hold in his laugh for much longer.

As soon as she said he could breathe again, he exhaled quickly and let out a small laugh. "You're very good at this. I can certainly see why they hired you." He looked down at his torso and marveled at the blossoming bruise that was there. Gee, when he hurt himself, he certainly went all out.

Caroline pressed her palm gently to her patient's chest, the most swollen, warmest spots would be where the tearing was. Ah, there... and... there. She healed the torn muscle in short order. "The brusing will need a paste," she told him, "So you'll be here a while, it's not instantaneous, and it's not a tidy little remedy. In the mean time," she stood and picked up the antidote phial and the Pepperup Potion.

"You need to take the both of these. Sorry, but the green one is a bit disgusting." She had brought healing paste, but it wasn't technically a potion, so hadn't explained what it was. "You'll want to get it over with before i work on the bruising."

There was method to her madness. Dangerous rib break, yucky potions to guard against poisoning and illness, uncomfortable bruising.

"Aww but it has such pretty colors" he teased and then quickly became serious again. She was being all professional so he figured if he didn't want to upset her anymore than he had already than he should behave himself.

Marcus took the two phials and downed the antidote one first. He swallowed it and took a couple of seconds to prepare himself for the Pepper Up potion. Closing his eyes, he downed the second phial in one go and immediately starting coughing and gagging. "Ugh...that...was...disgusting." He held out the two phials to her as he continued to gag.

"How much longer am I going to have to be here Caroline?" He looked at her his eyes still watering from that awful potion he had just taken. "I have my next class to prepare for."

Caroline raised her eyebrow at Marcus' - no, her patient's - quip. Taking up a large jar of violently yellow paste, she put on a pair of gloves and perched on the edge of the bed. "This isn't that much better, but at least you don't have to drink it," she told him, "Did you think the hospital experience was pleasant? I don't do it for the glamour."

See? Not pleasant. No one likes to stay once they're here. Well, no one who is quite sane. "You're here overnight so I can make sure everything healed properly, your students will understand." And trust me, you aren't the only one who is unhappy about it.

Oh look, her patient was Marcus again.

Marcus eyed the paste in her hands and sighed. How much more was he going to endure? It probably wouldn't have been so bad if things between himself and Caroline weren't so strained but he had no-one but himself to blame for that.

He didn't bother to comment on her quip, he would probably just annoy her even more. He did however groan when she said he was here overnight. "Can I at least quickly go down to my office and get some books and stuff so at least I won't bee bored. Unless of course you care to hang around and talk to me?" Now that was being totally hopeful, wasn't it? He had no hope in hell that she would hang around.

Cari shot him a look. "Right. Because I would let any of my other patients entertain that notion for even a moment," she replied, the sarcasm dripping from her words. "If I can find Ethan, I'll see if he can bring you some things."

And there was no WAY she was going to stay up all night talking to him. Not that she wouldn't be awake anyway, but it was being in his presence, and having to be nice to him. No. Sorry. Forget it. She'd already been nicer to him than he deserved.

"Oh yeah Zan, is going to love playing my goefer." Marcus leaned back on his hands waiting for to hurry up and do what she had to. He was sick of the place already and he still had another twelve hours or so in here.

"Well I can tell you can't wait to be out of my presence so do what you have to and then I'll be out of your hair." Yes he was starting to get sulky and maybe if he was a big enough pain in the butt, she just may let him out early. "Am I allowed something to eat and drink at least? I'm hungry."

"I don't have an NPO order on you. You'll get fed when Beezley is up to bringing food up to the hospital wing," Caroline said shortly, opening the jar of paste. "You'll forgive her if she's just a little late, I'm sure, in light of the circumstances."

Oh she knew what he was up to. It was like Briony and the dishes. Her sister had figured if she was bad enough at it, she'd never get asked to do them again. Marcus obviously figured if he were a bad enough patient, Caroline would give up on treating him.

If only that were an option.

Without expressing this opinion, Caroline set to spreading the paste, in a thick layer over Marcus' bruising, using her gloved fingers.

Some time later, light footsteps could be heard, a clear sign that there was a visitor of some sort in the hospital ward. Tray in hand, Beezley the house elf maneuvered her way through the ward, ready and willing to serve her mistress despite the recent turn of events. "Beezley is here, Mistress. Beezley has searched the castle for food, as Beezley's kitchens are gone, gone, gone," she said, shaking her head on the last note. She curtsied just a little, then placed the tray of food on a nearby stand. "Does mistress need anything else from Beezley?" she asked.

"She shouldn't have to be bringing up the food at all. The poor little thing has been through quite an ordeal Caroline, I could have gotten some food for myself." Marcus frowned at Caroline, he didn't exactly go out of his way and march for elf's rights but he did think they got a raw deal and he was not into having them serve him.

He watched as she applied the paste to his bruise and he had to resist the urge to giggle like a little girl. He could be quite ticklish at times and she was hitting the spot where he was most ticklish.


Marcus looked up as he saw what looked like a tray floating in mid air until that tray seemed to talk. "Beezley!" Marcus exclaimed, looking at the little elf with both relief and delight on his face that she was alright. "How are you feeling Beezley? Come and sit up here and talk to me." If Caroline, had no plans on hanging around and talking to him, maybe the house elf could keep him amused for a while.

It was the smell that made his nose twitch as he entered. Always stearing clear of this area, Helios was taken aback by the sanitary scent. Soldiering forward, gathering his bravery along the way, the young prince approached professor Lawson sheepishly.

Flicking his forked tongue first, he took great care in pronouncing his words with his serpentine lisp. "Sssir. May I ssspeak with you?" Embarassed with his own voice, the Greek bowed.

Marcus looked up in surprise at the young man that entered the room, he gave Caroline a sideways glance before turning his attention back to the young Huffie.

"I guess so" he said slowly, wondering what could be so important that he couldn't wait for him to leave the hospital ward. "Must be very important if you have tracked me down to the hospital wing. Please go ahead, I am all ears and please don't forget to tell me what your name is."

Of course! Introduce yourself, boy. "They call me Heliosss Sssunrider." Cringing at the sound of his own voice, Helios seemed to shrink with his confidence.

It was on the tip of his tongue, and took him a moment to gather the nerve, to say what he said next. "I wasss sssent to spy on you, sssir."

Okay the whole tongue thing was kind of freaking him out. Marcus, knew to always expect the unexpected when it came to the magical world but the tongue was...creepy. "Well nice to meet you Helios Sunrider." He would have offered his hand to the Huffie but Caroline was still tending to his bruises.

Well that comment made him sit up and pay attention. "Excuse me? Spy on me? Who in the name of Merlin, sent you to spy on me?" Yes bizarre things always happened in the magical world.

Crash!

Caroline dropped the jar of paste in utter horror. Don't children these days have any respect for the ill and injured?!

"WHAT do you THINK you are DOING?" she demanded of the serpantine boy. "Who gave you permission to be in here? This is a recovery ward! What house are you in? 20 points from Hufflepuff for DARING to set foot in the recovery ward without MY permission, because that's the permission that counts. It's a clear rule not to mention common sense."

Now here posed a dilemma... kick him out immediately... or keep him around to find out who gave him the delusions of espionage. So far, he was the worst spy she had ever seen.

"You are to tell us immediately instructed you to spy on Professor Lawson, and then you are to leave the hospital wing. Unless you wish to have lost 50 points and have earned yourself a detention," Caroline ordered. Ha, there. Upping the ante. "Have I made myself perfectly clear?"

Helios winced with the nurses' outburst. Did she really need to yell so much? Oh well, he was more than used to the staff treating him like he went around the school kicking puppies. Lawson though, he seemed...civil. Krissy seemed to like him well enough. Maybe too well.

"I hope you can underssstand that I cannot ssspeak the name." At least not infront of the nurse, she was probably in on it. "Ssso many sssecretsss in thisss ssschool. It will all catch up, in time."

Helios thought to just walk away now. He didn't need to get caught up any further in the schools intrigue, but something stopped. Was it curiosity? Could it be that he wanted to protect Krissys' favorite professor, for her sake? Maybe he simply developed compassion for another human being.

"I would like to help you." The golden haired boy spoke nervously, barely supressing his lisp. You would think the nurse would fix that for him.

So he's sent to spy on someone who sends him to spy on someone else, who he then offers himself to be a double agent for. Confusing yet? This was his punishment? This was more trouble than he could manage on his own.

Well he hoped she had another jar of that paste.

Marcus could not help but grin as Caroline went on with her tirade at the Hufflepuff. You certainly don't come into Avalon's turf unless you have been given permission. He was thinking about interrupting and telling her that it was alright and that she didn't need to yell but was wise enough to keep his mouth shut. He merely gave the lad, a small shrug. Yes Marcus Lawson was afraid of Caroline Avalon.

He looked at her for a moment and raised an eyebrow, "Aww I didn't know you cared Avalon." That was probably going to cost him a smack in the head for that comment.

Marcus gave the kid a faint smile and a look understanding flashed across his face. "Okay you can't tell me who it is. I'm sure we can work around that." He slipped his arms back into the robe and tied it back up.

"Mr Sunrider, I am apparently here for the night. So I wonder if you can do me a favor and head down to my office and pick up the text book on my desk titled Water Demons of the World and bring it back up here to me please." He turned and fluffed up his pillow and then pulled himself up onto the bed and stretched out. "And perhaps some parchment and a quill also please. And then we can talk." Marcus looked at Caroline for a moment, wondering whether she was going to object to this.

"Yes, sir!" In his excitement, Helios forgot about his lisp. The boy beamed as he bowed twice, once for each staff member.

Eager to help, or just get away from the nurse, Helios turned and made haste out the door.

Caroline narrowed her eyes dangerously at Marcus. "Marcus, I say this with all the compassion and care that I can afford you as a healer; shut up before I put a silencing charm on you," she threatened, standing up to retrieve another jar of paste from the storage cabinet in the corner of the room.

If Constantine Masterson was the Worst Patient Ever, he was just the Most Annoying. And now he'd given a the Forked-Tongued-Boy permission to return to her ward. Since when did he have the power to hand out ward passes.

Cari sat back down on the edge of his bed irritably. "I still have to cover the paste," she warned him nodding her head to the bandages on the table. "So you'll have sit up when I finish this."

Without much else to say, she continued applying the paste to the bruise, there wasn't much left to do anyway, "which is now," she said.

Marcus watched as the Huffie left and he wondered if he should have mentioned that there were quite a number of number of things in his office that were protected. He shrugged his shoulders, if the kid came back with boils, a tail and his hands stuck together then he will know that he touched something he wasn't supposed to.

He chuckled at the thought as he turned to look at Caroline and he snorted at her. Marcus, didn't bother to say anything he simply gave her a look as if to say 'I would like to see you try.'

With a small sigh he sat back up so that she could apply the bandages. Bloody hell that was the last time he decided to do anything heroic around here. Okay so maybe it wouldn't be the last time but he will have to make sure that he doesn't get injured, he didn't the lovely Healer would be able to take it.

"Oh that's attractive," Caroline retorted to the snort. "Raise your arms."

Caroline unrolled several feet of a long, wide bandage and stretched it across Marcus' midsection. "This is just to keep the paste from getting everywhere, it doesn't even have to be that tight," she explained. "Did you know muggles used to treat broken ribs with pressure bandages until they figured out that it didn't allow the lungs to expand, and it would cause pnumonia?" She just couldn't help being a know it all.

"Fascinating" Marcus drawled as he watched her work. "You must like doing things the muggle way huh? I would have thought a witch with your talent would have used her wand to put the bandages on." He looked up at her a small smile playing on his lips. "Or is this just a good excuse to get close?"

That was definitely going to cost him a smack in the head but he wanted her to get sick of him, so that he could go. He was not hanging around in the hospital ward all night.