Jeans and a few other things[Jeremiah&Joseph]

[mugs]

Joey and Charity tumbled to the ground and Jeremiah winced as he heard Joey's head hit the floor. Ouch.
Although he was worried about his brother's well-being, he was rather impressed by the chivalry Joey showed by using his last moments on his feet to make sure Charity wouldn't get hurt. Joseph wasn't so bad all the time.

Charity pushed herself off of Joey's chest as his hand flew to his head in pain. "I think he hit his head. Whadda we do?" she asked anxiously.

Jeremiah knelt by his brother and placed his hand under Joey's head. There wasn't any blood. Hopefully he had only a bruise.

"You alright, Joe? Can you sit up?" he asked, his voice laced with quiet worry.

He pulled his hand out from under Joey's head carefully and his heart stuttered when he glanced at it.

Maybe there was some blood after all...

[josephmarshall]

Joey was actually more concerned that Charity was alright. After all, he never got hurt too bad. Of course, she landed on top of him alright, so at least she didn't hit her head.

He couldn't even pause to enjoy the awkwardness and hilarity of the situation before pain shot through the back of his head.

"Oh, Oh! I'm soooo sorry! Did I hurt ya?" Charity gasped, pushing off of him as soon as his hand went to his cranium.

"I think he hit his head. Whadda we do?" he heard her ask Jeremiah.

Jeremy, the ever protective brother, was at his side in an instant, hand cushioning his head. That helped the pain of the bruise that was probably forming on his head.

"You alright, Joe? Can you sit up?" That was odd. Jeremiah was really worried.

"Yeah, sure I can. I'm just fine. Just a little dizzy," Joey said, feeling a twitch of impatience as Jeremiah watched him sit up with wide eyes.

Jeremiah opened his mouth, closed it, then held up his hand.
Joey stared, then touched the back of his head. Some slippery warm fluid..

How had he started bleeding? He felt around carefully, not pressing too hard. He outlined a shallow scrape at the very middle of the back of his head. They must have slid on the floor a short distance when they fell.

Not wanting to frighten Charity, he checked his hand and shoved it into his pocket when he saw blood on it. He was fine, but the blood was sure to alarm people.

[CHARITY NELSON]

Charity pushed herself back a little further as Jeremiah, being the good older brother he was, came to check on his brother. She wasn't sure it was such a good idea to have him sit up, but she wasn't going to argue. She didn't know what to do in this situation. At all. Any other situation, and Charity could have helped, but she never did cope well with serious injuries or... blood.

Charity's eyes widened as Jeremiah pulled his hand back and there was blood on it. Joey. Was. Bleeding. That was not good. And it was her fault. He could have caught himself if, while they were falling, he hadn't turned so he could catch her. She started stammering, pulling her knees up to her chest as she exclaimed in a panicked voice, "Oh! My! GOD! Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" She started rocking a little bit, still clinging to her knees, "Joey is bleeding. And it's my fault. It's all my fault... All my fault."

Okay, so she was a wuss when it came to blood. Small cuts she could handle, but a head injury? That wasn't good. And it was all because of her. That's all she could think about now- Joey was seriously hurt. And it was because of her. What did Jeremiah think? What did Joey think! What was she thinking?! Joey couldn't think because his head had been thoroughly beaten by the floor, thanks to Charity. "Joey, I'm so, so, soooo sorry!" At this point, she couldn't even look at him from both remorse and fear she would be sick.

[mugs]

Jeremiah's head snapped up as he heard a sharp intake of breath

Charity was sitting with her knees pulled up under her chin, her breathing beginning to accelerate. Her eyes were wide and frightened, "Oh!My! GOD! Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god! Joey is bleeding. And it's my fault. It's all my fault... All my fault."

Jeremiah shoved his hand covered in Joey's blood into his pocket and used his handkerchief to wipe it off. He then had Joey put it on the back of his head over the cut.

He put his clean hand on Charity's shoulder.

"Charity? Charity, love? Look at me." She looked away from Joey, looking a little sick. "Joseph is okay. He's got a cut on his head. It's not serious. It's shallow, but deep enough to bleed. He's alright. Don't worry about it. It's not your fault at all."

She looked like she was either going to vomit or pass out, so Jeremy got to his feet, pulling her with him.

"Can you run to the counter over there and ask if they have a first aid kit? Or an ice pack?"

[josephmarshall]

(let's just pretend that Joey has a shirt on, and no cigarette in his hand..)


"Oh! My! GOD! Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god!" Charity was hugging her knees and rocking a little bit, "Joey is bleeding. And it's my fault. It's all my fault... All my fault."

She was going into full panic attack mode. Joey felt his heart sink at her horrified stare, then she looked away, seemingly ashamed. Why did she..? It suddenly dawned on him.

She REALLY thought it was her fault.

"Joey, I'm so, so, soooo sorry!"

"Charity, it's not your fault. Don't worry about it. I've gotten much worse. It doesn't even hurt," he lied smoothly, accepting the handkerchief from his brother.

He tried to stand, but Jeremiah held him down firmly. While Jeremy sent Charity off to fetch something, Joey stared at his bloodied hand with disgust.

Way to kill the first impression, Joe. Nice job.

The blood was thickening slowly and the stabbing pain began to ebb into a throbbing soreness. Joey couldn't even bring himself to look at Charity. He covered his face with his clean hand, his elbow on his knee.

God, he was such an idiot! He could easily have avoided that. He should have seen it coming. He could have rebalanced himself, or lifted his head more. Now she was terrified and guilty, even though she had done nothing.

"Charity, I'm so, so sorry," he said quietly, his eyes shut tightly.

Quite an interesting shopping trip this had turned out to be..

[CHARITY NELSON]

Charity bit her lip as she continued to about hyperventilate. She had practically convinced herself that Joey was going to die and that she would go to jail for murder or something like that. She could picture it all- the whole trial, who her cell mates would be in jail, all of it.

Of course, she was stopped in her rocking when Jeremiah put his hand on her shoulder and told her to look at him. She reluctantly did so, but really, she was thankful for the distraction since she felt sick. Legitimately sick.

She looked over at Joey then as he insisted it wasn't her fault and that it didn't hurt. She shook her head, "No, I shouldn'ta been on yer back like tha'.... An'... It doesn't hurt? Yer head is bleeding and ya say it doesn't hurt...." She shook her head then was pulled to her feet by Jeremiah, and she nodded a little, taking a moment to catch her balance before going to get the first aid kit.

She was back a minute or so later, and she handed off the first aid kit and sank down on to the floor again. "What're you sorry fer? It's not like ya knocked us over- I shouldn'ta jumped on ya like tha'...."

[mugs]

Charity returned with the first aid kit and knelt on the floor by Joey. Jeremiah rolled his eyes as she chattered to his brother, sick with worry and guilt.

"No, I shouldn'ta been on yer back like tha'.... An'... It doesn't hurt? Yer head is bleeding and ya say it doesn't hurt....What're you sorry fer? It's not like ya knocked us over- I shouldn'ta jumped on ya like tha'...."

"Charity. Stop."

He opened the first aid kit and pulled out gauze, band aids and tylenol before he came to what he was searching for. He used some gauze to soak in rubbing alcohol and rubbed it on his brother's cut.

Joseph's muscles tensed up and he clenched and unclenched his hands from the sting.

Jeremiah patted his brother's shoulder comfortingly, then pulled a needle and thread out of the box. He began stitching his brother's cut easily. He'd had to do it a few times over the years. it was nothing new.

[josephmarshall]

"No, I shouldn'ta been on yer back like tha'.... An'... It doesn't hurt? Yer head is bleeding and ya say it doesn't hurt...."

Joey looked at Charity, an eyebrow raised. "I'm fine. Don't worry about me, Charity. I'm just glad I didn't fall the other way and crush you. I can deal with this. I've had worse."

The rubbing alcohol sent a sharp pain through his head and he had to bite his tongue to hold back the curses threatening to escape his lips. His hands curled into fists and his muscles locked.

Holy. Fricking. Eff.

That burns..

"What're you sorry fer? It's not like ya knocked us over- I shouldn'ta jumped on ya like tha'...."

"I'm sorry for freaking you out. I'm really okay. It's not a serious injury. And it isn't your fault, so just let it go."

[CHARITY NELSON]

Charity shut her mouth quickly and pouted a little as Jeremiah told her to stop. She shook her head a little then, wincing as he cleaned out Joey's cut, making Joey tense up from the pain.

She shook her head again as he said he was glad he didn't crush her, "I'm a cowgirl. I've had horses, cows, an' donkeys fall on me. I don' think you woulda crushed me." She sighed, biting her lip, wincing again as Jeremy pulled out the supplies to stitch up Joey's head.

She didn't want to be rude, but really, she didn't want to watch, so she looked at the floor. "You couldn'ta known I woulda freaked ou'... An' ya didn' know I was gonna knock us over.... Really, I'm sorry. I shouldn'ta freaked ou' like tha'...." In hindsight, she had definitely overreacted, and she was frustrated with herself. She peeked up to see if Jeremiah was done stitching, and she had to suppress a gag when she saw that he wasn't. Charity had had stitches before, sure, but just seeing them put in made her sick, she really couldn't explain why.

Besides, it had to have hurt, since his head wasn't numbed. Charity really wasn't sure how he could even do that. She had a fairly high pain tolerance, but stitches? She couldn't do them without being numbed. Not. At. All.

[mugs]

Jeremiah stopped stitching momentarily, as Joey stiffened again. He grimaced at his brothers eyes shut tight. He wished he had something to numb him up with.

"Hey Charity? I wouldn't usually ask this, but.. could you try to find some way to distract him, make him relax? I don't care how. tell him jokes, or hold his hand or something, but I can't stitch while he's tensed up. It stretches the skin differently."

He looked at Charity, who looked likely to be sick, watching him sew up the cut. He had to admit, one would not find it a pretty picture. Blood and skin and hair. Not fun.

He chatted lightly to Charity, to distract her from the blood, "My sister went to medical school. She taught me when she came home for summer holidays. I've been stitching up Joey for a few years. He knows what to expect. And I was considering going into medical school myself, before I transferred to Barrie."

[josephmarshall]

"I'm a cowgirl. I've had horses, cows, an' donkeys fall on me. I don' think you woulda crushed me."

Shrugging carefully, Joey replied, "Yeah, but still. I wouldn't want to make you hurt like this."

"You couldn'ta known I woulda freaked ou'... An' ya didn' know I was gonna knock us over.... Really, I'm sorry. I shouldn'ta freaked ou' like tha'...."

"Oh, come on, Charity. It's not your fault. It's not anyone's fault. It just happened, alright? Don't be like this, okay? You don't need to stress out over me," Joey smiled at her.

He winced feeling more of the tugging skin.

He felt the needle go into his head again, then it was pulled out, and back through where the thread had already been sewn. Pain shot through his head again.

"Ffffffuuuck!!" Joseph gave a strangled sort of yell.

Jeremiah must have stitched it a little wrong and was correcting it. His brother reapplied some rubbing alcohol. The sting was worse this time.

"Motherfu- Holy... Ah, shhhit.."

Jeremiah usually had something to numb with. And now Joey really wished he had it.

[CHARITY NELSON]

Charity rolled her eyes a little as Joey said that he wouldn't want her to hurt like that, "So ya admit it does hurt?" She shook her head a little then as he said she didn't need to stress out over him. Did he not understand women? They stress when people get hurt, it's just a fact of life. At least, it was for Charity. Injuries equal stress.

Charity looked up at Jeremiah as he asked her to distract Joseph. She nodded a little bit, "Sure thing...." Okay, now there was a problem. What on earth was she supposed to do to distract him? She didn't know very many jokes.

And then there was the fact that Jeremiah was trying to distract her so that she wouldn't be sick, she was sure. Of course, then Jeremiah wasn't totally focused on stitching, so he messed up and had to undo a stitch, which apparently really hurt if Joey's reaction was any gauge of the situation. She jumped as he yelled, she herself adding to the noise level with her squeak and exclamation of "Holy frick!" She closed her eyes for a second, swallowed hard, and forced herself to calm down before starting into one of the only jokes she knew. The muffin joke.

"Hey Joey, have ya ever heard th' muffin joke?" Without waiting for his response, she launched into the joke, talking a little too fast to be normal, since her heart was about to pound out of its chest right then, "So there's two muffins in 'n oven.... One of'm turns ta the other an' says, 'Holy crap it's hot in here!' Then th' other one looks a' th' firs' one 'n says, 'Holy crap, a talkin' muffin!'" Okay, so it was a crappy joke, but it was the only one she could remember, and the increased stress level wasn't helping her thought processes much either.

[mugs]

"Holy frick!"

Jeremiah jumped a little at Charity's outburst. He looked back quickly as Joey let out another chain of curses from the tug Jeremiah had caused on his skin.

"Hey Joey, have ya ever heard th' muffin joke? So there's two muffins in 'n oven.... One of'm turns ta the other an' says, 'Holy crap it's hot in here!' Then th' other one looks a' th' firs' one 'n says, 'Holy crap, a talkin' muffin!'"

Jeremiah snorted. Wow. Very nice. He stitched up a little more, then finished, tying it off.

"Okay, Joey. I'm done, but I need to put more alcohol on it."

He watched Joey's hands ball up again, then gently applied the liquid.

[josephmarshall]

Joseph curled his hands into fists when he felt the needle weaving again. Yuck.

"Hey Joey, have ya ever heard th' muffin joke? So there's two muffins in 'n oven.... One of'm turns ta the other an' says, 'Holy crap it's hot in here!' Then th' other one looks a' th' firs' one 'n says, 'Holy crap, a talkin' muffin!'" Charity said, her voice high and quick.

Joey glanced at her from the corner of his eye and smiled weakly. Laughing hurt right now.

"Okay, Joey. I'm done, but I need to put more alcohol on it." Jeremiah said, patting his shoulder. Joey just squeezed his hands together.

It felt like fire had been set to the back of his head. It was burning and stinging, but his skin registered that there was no flame, only liquid.

He brought his fist up to his mouth and bit down on it, hard. This time he made no sound but a small kind of whimpering from the back of his throat.

When the sting subsided, he pulled his hand from his teeth and wiped his sweating face. He brushed his eyes subtly, horrified to find moisture caught there. He ran his hands through his hair and sighed deeply.

Well... That could have gone better.

[CHARITY NELSON]

Charity bit her lip and looked incredibly repentant as Jeremiah jumped in reaction to her jumping, which in turn made him tug on the stitches and make Joey swear again. "Oh my gosh, I'm sorry!"

Charity smiled a little as she got a smile from Joey and a bit of a laugh from Jeremiah- so the joke hadn't been a total loss, at least. She bit her lip again as Jeremiah tied off the end of the stitches, then told Joey he'd need to put more alcohol on it. Charity winced even before he applied the disinfectant, and when he did apply it, she shut her eyes and turned her head away. She could practically feel it- she'd had her fair share of cuts cleaned out with alcohol, and it burned like the apocalypse.

When Joey made a sort of whimpering sound, she opened her eyes, one at a time and peeked over at him, watching him as he bit down on his fist to keep himself from yelling. Bitin' the bullet. She bit down on her lip as he did that, waiting until he seemed to have relaxed to speak, "Are ya alrigh'?" She didn't want to look at the stitches, but she knew Jeremiah would have done a good job.

She looked over at Jeremiah, "I'm impressed- I couldn'a done tha'...."