Well, he'd had better weeks.

These four walls had felt like an eternity and a matter of minutes all at the same time. The fever, sweats, drowning in potions from wit sharpening to draughts of peace, the voices. He had slept, sometimes fitfully, sometimes peacefully out of physical and mental exhaustion and the dreams had been vivid. The most important part of all was that he had done this without the sleeping potion he required to stop the shakes, the madness and the voices.

His patient notes, kept at the end of the bed in the room he'd been existing in alluded to the strange pattern of ranting, sleep walking, crying and unconscious states. He didn't look pretty for it, his angular face was pale and he had dark shadows beneath his eyes still. He'd only had one night of what one could call 'normal' sleeping pattern, which was the previous night. Going to sleep by midnight and waking roughly eight hours later was tediously boring, he decided, but in preference to leaving St Mungo's he kept the opinion quiet.

It had taken a while to feel clean what with the fever, but now in the December morning light, Johann Storm sat cross legged on the bed once more, barefoot, but dressed in his own clothes for the first time since he was admitted. Two pages of his patient notes were folded into origami cranes on the sheets, and a third was easily shaping between his long fingers as he waited.

A trainee healer paused by the open door and looked in. Johann narrowed his eyes, not recognising her as the one who had been on duty when he had first begun to rant, who had fallen to pieces and been shouted at by Hollingbury. He didn't remember much at all of his stay, other than it hadn't been lucid, or pleasant.

He did curiously, recognise the smell of Hollingbury when he did come into the room during the past few days. The man smelled pleasantly, his senses and befuddled memory suggested he might have been in enough of a state to inhale it deep enough at some point during his stay. Unfortunately he couldn't remember if he had hugged the badger, or wrestled him, or simply required holding like a child. His long limbs had a variety of scratches and bruises, the patterns of which corresponded to his own fingertips, or hinted to him having been grasped. 

The girl in the doorway looked to say something about the crane which Johann held on the palm of his hand, but seemed to reconsider at seeing someone in the corridor beyond and hurried away with her head down. The linguist watched her with interest, curious as to who was just outside - particularly whether they'd have his wand, the power to allow him to leave and how soon he'd have to return for questions about his continuing avoidance of sleeping potion.

He'd take the first and second, without the third, if offered.

---

OOC: Leaving this open for one, the other or both of my favourite level three double act...

The corridor was quiet, but it was the sort of quiet that was never still. Trainee healers and nurses passed him by; he nodded at every one of them as a non-verbal hi as they greeted him. Seemed like an ordinary day as usual, really. It was just his habit to poke his head out of the door once in a while when he was tired of sitting down for long periods of time.

Arcturus retreated into his office, leaving the door half-open for a bit of fresh air as he shuffled through the papers he had on his desk. Work had left his office a little more than messy; the tidying was slow but steady. He evened out the papers in his hand by thumping their edges on the desk and put them aside.

Hrm. He didn't feel like sitting down again. Well, that meant a checkup on patients, and he was more than happy to deal with patients than paperwork at the moment. Arcturus looked through the patient notes and came across a more than familiar well-thumbed stack of paper.

Ah yes. Johann Storm. Arcturus could only recall all the nights he had had to spend with this man as he gently but firmly nudged him to recovery. As far as he could tell, Johann had made some pretty impressive progress throughout his stay. Whether he would continue his streak outside of the hospital was yet to be seen, but for now Arcturus felt like he had accomplished something and he was enjoying that sensation of triumph for as long as it lasted.

He stepped out of his office carrying his notes and shut the door behind him before making his way to Johann's room. The trainee healer from the first night of the Storm ordeal (and that was what he was calling it from now onwards) was at his door for some reason, but she hurried away at the sight of Arcturus. He sighed. She apparently hadn't forgotten the brief outburst he had; he regretted that.

Arcturus knocked on Johann's door and walked in like he had done for the entire time. Nothing out of the ordinary was taking place in the room. The man was sitting on the bed as if he was just an outpatient waiting for results.

"Morning, Mr Storm," Arcturus greeted him pleasantly. "Good to see you looking better than you did these past few weeks. Then again, when I checked on you last night you were sound asleep at a reasonable time, which is a splendid thing indeed for you."

"Morning, Mr Storm, good to see you looking better than you did these past few weeks. Then again, when I checked on you last night you were sound asleep at a reasonable time, which is a splendid thing indeed for you."

Johann's eyes examined Arcturus' appearance in one sweep, the third crane made of his patient notes received a final fold between his fingertips as the healer spoke.

"Thank you, I certainly feel better than I have done in a few days." The slightly older man confirmed, "Yes, not much else to do here than sleep." He echoed Hollingbury's remark about being asleep at a reasonable hour. It had been partly that, partly out of his tolerance being broken for now, but mostly a good dose of being determined to get out.

"I look forward to enjoying absolutely mundane sleeping habits on my release from captivity," The German smirked, placing the three origami cranes in a triangle upon the blanket of the bed he sat cross-legged upon. "Don't worry, I'll get bored soon enough and come to stay again." He grinned boyishly at Hollingbury.

"Don't worry, I'll get bored soon enough and come to stay again."

"I hope not, good sir." Arcturus glanced at the notes and then closed them with a final flap. "As much as I may have enjoyed your company in this hospital, your folder needs to rest from the thumbing and fingering from both Joy and me. And so do you."

He eyed the man. "By this time you're probably tired of hearing this repeated to you, but I just find it necessary given your situation. Please stay off the Sleeping Draught no matter how much you want it. I can't guarantee that your symptoms won't come back sprinting towards you with open arms once you go back down that path. And I'm not sure if you can handle that round. You're still fairly mentally fragile in that regard."

Arcturus looked at the cranes he'd been folding. "Other than that, I trust you to have the responsibility to keep your fingers off any supply of Sleeping Draught and have some self-control. Which says a lot, since I don't usually 'trust' anyone in that manner, but let's just say I've picked up some faith in you over the past few days."

He turned away, tucking the notes under one arm. "I'm going to go and submit your release form. Once I get it, you're good to go. You don't have to worry about anything else, and your wand's in my sleeve since I had to take it before you decided to hex us in your raving."

Since he wasn't facing Johann, Arcturus' expression was a little more than relieved. But his tone remained without the relief - it was his way of getting a bit of respite without letting Johann know how much he was relieved that this was over. For now.

"...I trust you to have the responsibility to keep your fingers off any supply of Sleeping Draught and have some self-control. Which says a lot, since I don't usually 'trust' anyone in that manner, but let's just say I've picked up some faith in you over the past few days."

Johann tried to keep a straight face, but luckily the healer turned away just after and Johann afforded himself a drop of his gaze to the cranes thoughtfully.

"Good judge of character." The linguist spoke softly, a part of him shaking its internal head over the fact he had already considered how to procure a similar potion should it be hell outside of St Mungo's - back where the stress was.

"I'm going to go and submit your release form. Once I get it, you're good to go. You don't have to worry about anything else, and your wand's in my sleeve since I had to take it before you decided to hex us in your raving."

Johann's ears pricked up metaphorically about release and the location of his wand from the badger-haired healer.

"Brilliant, I was wondering where it had got to." The thought of Hollingbury keeping it in his sleeve was curious, "Its not been in your sleeve all week has it?" His keen dark blue eyes were back on the healer, studying his back, and his gestures in absence of seeing his face.

If his wand wasn't being offered now, then there was a reason. Johann cleared his throat, straightened up and slid his bare feet over the edge of the bed towards the other man. Despite his extreme wish to leave as soon as possible, he could almost hear his mother's voice when he was a child instructing him to 'say thank you to them for having you' as if Johann were six again.
 
"Healer Hollingbury," Johann spoke in a firmer, warmer tone, his boyish smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, "Arcturus, may I thank you for your time this week. I can't remember all of it, but I understand I must have been an unpleasant patient to deal with. Is there anything I can do to repay you for your kindness?"

The change in his tone made Arcturus give him the side-eye, although he didn't turn his head so Johann couldn't see it. He took a deep breath and sighed heavily. "You just want your wand, right? Like I said, I have to go and submit your release form, Mr Storm. I haven't been carrying your wand in my sleeve this whole time, it was only two occasions - the first night you started hallucinating, and today. I would rather not risk burdening my sleeve so that it dips into bodily fluids."

He turned around swiftly and said, in a much lower tone, "I'll tell you how to repay my kindness. Keep your hands off potions and stop drugging yourself. It's a favour not just to us, but yourself as well. I am fairly certain your life is not worth drugging just to get by for sleep, and I say this as someone who does night shifts on a regular basis for work."

Arcturus turned back around, shaking his head slightly. "Unpleasant or pleasant as a patient, it doesn't matter to me. You're still a patient, and I'll take care of you not just because it's my job to, but because I want to.

"Anything else before I go give in your form and then return and give you back your beloved wand?"

"I'll tell you how to repay my kindness. Keep your hands off potions and stop drugging yourself. It's a favour not just to us, but yourself as well. I am fairly certain your life is not worth drugging just to get by for sleep, and I say this as someone who does night shifts on a regular basis for work."

Sheesh! Johann's eyebrows shot up into his hairline. Hollingbury was having a bad day?

Arcturus turned back around, shaking his head slightly.

"Unpleasant or pleasant as a patient, it doesn't matter to me. You're still a patient, and I'll take care of you not just because it's my job to, but because I want to. Anything else before I go give in your form and then return and give you back your beloved wand?"

"Yes," Johann replied boldly, sliding to the floor and stepping barefoot towards the healer, "Did someone defecate in your cornflakes this morning, or did I hallucinate that you had this grumpy bedside manner?"

He'd caught the expression somewhere along the line between Colin or Adelia, the proper phrasing was more crude and Johann had chosen to replace it with a word that could be used in polite conversation.

Pausing just long enough for that to be interpreted, Johann shrugged and added primly, folding his arms.

"I won't keep you Healer Hollingbury, I'll be gone as soon as you release me."  His eyes flashed and the nagging voice in the back of his head became more determined to seek out a suitable source in Knockturn Alley to ensure that he would prove the healer wrong - the idiot in him absolutely prepared to undo a week's worth of treatment.

"Yes - did someone defecate in your cornflakes this morning, or did I hallucinate that you had this grumpy bedside manner?"

Arcturus hadn't moved from his position; he was facing the door. The expression on his face was less than polite, but he didn't show it to Johann. A slight edge of emotion had caught his tongue, and, while he was silently rolling his eyes, he was also regretting letting his heart take control instead of his mind.

"I won't keep you Healer Hollingbury, I'll be gone as soon as you release me."

The healer said nothing in reply, but simply left without looking back. In the time it took to go and hand in the papers and return to Johann's room, the cool corridors of the third floor and the familiar peaceful atmosphere calmed him down a little and gave him the chance to think over his actions when he returned. He was wary on ever letting his emotions out. It was a double-edged weapon to him.

He slipped back into Johann's room, careful not to shut the door completely, and turned to Johann. His fingers slipped into his right sleeve and pulled out Johann's wand. It was a bit warm, but that was something that couldn't be helped. Winter meant extra layers, and Arcturus was not a fan of the cold.

With some modicum of ceremony, Arcturus offered the wand to Johann with both hands. And, because the gesture felt awkwardly out of place in a hospital even though he felt like doing it, he said quietly, "I apologise for my tone from earlier. My answer to your question is - because I care."

Hollingbury left and Johann deflated somewhat. He felt a lot better than he had, but still not well. His mind was more preoccupied with escaping the place and avoiding what came after with people yelling at him. There was also the matter of who brought him in and where that got to. Johann didn't like being out of the loop.

When the healer returned, Johann was ready to leave, though he had no coat, and it was December. Instead he had the suit and shirt he had come in with, only the blood, ink and potion stains had been removed. The wand was offered to him somewhat ceremonially, and he extended his long fingers to pick it up, his eyes examining it keenly before his fingertips ran over the grain and identified the same bumps and textures that they always did.

"I apologise for my tone from earlier. My answer to your question is - because I care."

The apology took Johann by surprise. He had been anticipating the healer was in a continually bad mood and would not have offered these words in hoping Johann would get out of the hospital and not come back. There was a pregnant pause as Johann swallowed the witty retort and opted for something polite like his mother might insist upon.

"Its quite alright, you have a hard job, I am a burden." Johann replied evenly, sliding his wand away. "Thank you for looking after my wand, and also myself this week." He extended his hand to shake and then lowered his head ever so slightly.

"I hope the next time we meet is not here, but on more sociable terms." He lowered his arm and stepped back, before taking steps towards the door.

"It's quite alright, you have a hard job, I am a burden. Thank you for looking after my wand, and also myself this week."

Arcturus raised his eyebrows very slightly when Johann offered his hand to him. It was not often that patients shook hands; visitors yes, but patients was a different matter. Then again, he could count how many handshakes he'd received over a three-year period on the fingers of one hand, so it was still a rare occurrence to begin with.

He graciously took it in his hand, his mind preoccupied with figuring out if he'd washed his hands or not. He probably had; Arcturus was a bit of a clean freak when it came to the hospital. "You're welcome, Mr Storm," he replied. There was no point making any comment about the 'burden' bit - patients thought they were burdening the healers most of the time and Arcturus had been working in the hospital long enough to know they wouldn't accept otherwise.

"I hope the next time we meet is not here, but on more sociable terms."

He had to agree with this. "I hope so too. We'll see, I guess." He withdrew his hand. "Have a good day, Mr Storm, and take care."

For a moment, for him, the slight tinge of relief and sadness that always resulted from a patient leaving flowed through him. Then it was all over. Arcturus turned to watch him go, his mind already queuing up his duties in order of execution. Back to the job.