Work Text:
Carpenter let out a long tired exhale, body aching deep. She looked up at the building before her, resting a hand on the doorframe of the Lych-House. The throb of the grazed bullet wound on her bicep. She hasn't had time to check the quick wrap on it for a while. But that's not the issue, Carpenter can barely stand up and the stupid door is locked. With a groan she knocks her forehead to the door. There is a faint meow that comes from the other side.
“For fuck's sake.” She breaths out, it tapers off into weak laughter. Okay first things first is the key. At least one cat is still kicking and Acantha's car doesn't seem to be here. So there's that. Carpenter glances down to the welcome mat, one foot on and one foot off. Please let it be that easy. Just one good thing. Luck be on her side for this as she steps to the side, eye twitching slightly. Carpenter keeps her hand firmly on the doorframe as she bends down. Her calf spasms and she grits her teeth as she pulls the mat to the side.
Some god must be on her ass or maybe it's just the cats themselves inside willing it, but her eyes meet the dirty house key. Without any hesitation Carpenter has it between her fingers. Shifting the mat back into place and standing back up, more sweat building at the back of her neck. She simply puts the key in the door's lock and turns it with a relieved click. Without hesitation she shoves the door open a bit too quick and gets a displeased yowl as she makes eye contact with Ends, his tail flicking behind him. She steps in and closes the door behind her with a click. Presses the key on the small rickety table next to the door as she relocks it.
Carpenter barely gets her coat off before bile starts to tickle her throat, she swallows it down as she hangs it on the coat hook by the door. She'll have to clean the wound in her arm but she has other issues right now as her leg threatens to give out under her. She's able to move herself a few feet along the wall before she slides down to the floor, back resting against it as she thuds her head back in a heaved sigh. She has to swallow down bile again.
Her boots feel heavy as hell, caked in mud and steel-toed. She barely has the energy to think about getting them off, but she pulls her good leg in and starts to unlace her boot slowly. Tosses it to the side, closer to the doorway. By now Odds has pattered up, already purring. Ends pittered away to somewhere else after Carpenter's entrance. It's slow and pained as she pulls her bad leg closer, vision a bit bleary around the ends. But Odds is pressed up next to her thigh and purring, eyes closed. It makes it a bit easier as she blinks the tears from her eyes. Now she can feel the constant pressure of bile in the back of her throat. But Carpenter has always been resilient so she gets her other boot off and drops it to her side.
Once she gets ahold of her shit, then she'll get up and raid Acantha's medicine cabinet for a painkiller or probably two. But right now she focuses on her breath and brings her hand to Odds side. Feeling her little body expand with each breath, Carpenter tries to match it. It helps. The process is slow as hell and she has to swallow down whatever is in her stomach a few times. Her body shivering, she can't even tell if her leg hurts anymore. At least not fully, because fuck it does. She knows that but with her body racked with shivers and the constant work of her throat muscles it's all pretty fucking overwhelming. But Carpenter feels stable enough now.
“Sorry ya’ mouser.” she drawls, giving Odds a scratch before pulling herself up. For a terrified moment she thinks her leg is going to give out right under her as she stands, hand pressed to the wall. She wobbles but stays standing. Carpenter lets out a long sigh as she makes her way to the bathroom, the door is open and she steps onto the tile floor. The cold of the tiles can be felt through her worn socks and she shuffles forward and steadies herself on the sink. She avoids looking at herself in the mirror by glancing down at Ends peaking his head around the doorframe.
Once the medicine cabinet is open she turns back to it. It's a bit of rustling around, picking up bottles and looking at them and putting them back. It takes a moment but she finds the painkillers. She shifts on her leg again, letting out a hard exhale and grips the bottle harder and for a moment gags. A hard heave made her shoulders quake and she was left shaking moments after, the pain spiking as she dropped the bottle into the sink. Both hands now gripping hard on the edges of the old porcelain sink. Carpenter's head dipped, and she closed her eyes and tried to steady her breath as she swallowed down her bile once again.
Fuck. It was all she could think. She needed to get the painkillers down and get to the couch as soon as she could. But she could feel the spasm of muscle in her leg and in her throat. The bullet wound throbbed harder in her shoulder and she hoped it hadn't started bleeding again. As she swallowed down again she glanced down to the doorway and saw Odds and Ends watching her curiously. Okay. Yeah, she could do this. So, Carpenter grabbed the bottle again and opened it. She thought for a second and poured four into her palm before closing it. She turned on the faucet and got a palm full of water and popped two of the painkillers into her mouth and swallowed down the water after. She did that a second time. Then Carpenter swallowed down a few palms of water and turned the faucet down. The Lych-House silent again aside from her own heavy brother.
She kept swallowing as her throat spasmed and sweat dripped down her back. Okay. Couch time it is. Through the hot pain she moved out of the bathroom, hand always on the wall as she moved along. It was slow as she moved, not in speed but in feeling. She glanced into the kitchen as she passed it, nothing out of the ordinary. No notes of anything wrong. She'll have to check upstairs later. But she makes it to the couch as she gags, the taste of pill coating filling her throat as her leg gives out under her. Carpenter shudders as she's able to catch and steady herself before she falls.
With a wheeze she sits back on the couch, after a dizzying moment she slings her legs onto the couch and lays back. With slow breathing and Odds crawling up into her stomach Carpenter starts to drift off as the pain fades.
It's nice as she passes out to the warmth of a cat and purring. The sound of crashing waves not too far off. Good.