Work Text:
Grace should not really have been surprised at how heavy the Xeonite panels were given how thick they were. Although he didn’t remember the original panels he installed in the Hail Mary being this heavy.
He lifted the panel to add it to the underside of the higher tunnel in the lab. Rocky had said he needed more space now that he had more of his tools with him. He had to bring everything with him when Grace came back for him on the Blip-A. The problem was some of his tools did not quite fit in the pre-existing tunnel, so an expansion was to be added.
Rocky had flushed out the tunnel of ammonia so it was safe for Grace to take it apart. Rocky rolled around in his ball, watching Grace work. Grace would prefer that word bossy, given that Rocky was barking a lot of orders and warnings at Grace.
“Grace careful. Panels are delicate but heavy.” Grace huffed in response, unable to speak with the extra weight in his arms. He laid the panel up against the wall for a moment as he thought about how to properly get it into place.
It was a six-foot wide by probably seven or eight foot long panel. It was meant to be the floor of the upper tunnel, so Grace had to figure out how to get it under the tunnel whilst also lifting it.
Grace laid the panel onto his chest and shuffled under the tunnel in a couched position, sliding the panel so it was on his head. It hurt, but it would only be for a moment. Rocky stood off to the side observing. Grace lifted the panel over his head and positioned it in place against the adhesive. Thankfully Rocky had been able to make the adhesive react to the Xeonite panels only on contact and not reactive to oxygen so it would not dry out.
Grace watched as the edges of the Xeonite sealed themselves to the other panels of the tunnel. Grace removed his hands from the panel but kept them just a few inches away in case he needed to catch it again. After a few moments, the pair was certain the panel was locked in place. Grace dropped his hands from above his head. He smiled at Rocky and Rocky gave him his signature thumbs down.
Before either of them could realise what was about to happen next, the end of the panel fell from its place, hitting Grace in the chest. It completely knocked the wind out of him and knocked him off his balance.
Grace — very ungracefully — hit the ground on his back, hard. He coughed and wheezed at the weight of the panel on his chest.
“Grace, okay, question?” Rocky came rolling over to Grace’s side.
“Help me lift it off.” Using all of his remaining strength, Grace lifted the panel, so Rocky could wedge himself under the panel. With Rocky’s ball taking all the weight and creating a pocket, Grace crawled out from under the panel.
His chest was on fire, and it hurt to breathe. He knew that was not a good sign. Rocky pushed himself out from under the panel, letting it crash to the floor completely. They could worry about the
“Apology, apology, apology. Rocky not know why panel fall. Grace hurt. Rocky fault.” Grace rubbed his chest again before speaking.
“It’s not your fault, bud. It’s not like you made the panel fall.” Grace tried to take a slow deep breath in, but he could only take shallow breaths right now.
“Grace hurt. Grace see Armando, statement.” Grace, for once, agreed. He turned and made a slow approach to the Armando. Rocky pulled away from Grace as he moved.
“What? What is it, Rock?” Rocky looked — as well as a creature with no facial features could — almost disgusted at Grace.
“Grace make crunchy noise when move chest.” Grace sighed again. He knew the symptoms of broken ribs. His dad had broken his ribs when he was a child. He had been removing the door from the spare room to sand and repaint it when he fell down the stairs with it. He broke two ribs and cracked three others doing it.
“Yeah, I think I broke my ribs.” He continued to Armando. Rocky by his side every step in case he was needed.
Grace sat on the bed, his back completely straight to not jostle his ribs too much. He knew he had to lay back though and that was not going to be fun.
The pain made his vision go white — or was it because he was screwing them shut so tightly? He hissed a breath through his gritted teeth. Once he was laid on his back on the medical bed, Grace looked up to Armando.
“Scan and diagnosis.” The machine’s arms whirred around him as it inspected him from afar. One arm got closer and began to poke at his chest. Grace let out a whimper as it did.
Rocky squealed and rolled closer to the bed. Grace dropped his arm to the side of the bed so he touched the very top of the ball. Rocky purred and pushed his carapace up to meet Grace’s hand. Grace liked feeling the gentle warmth from Rocky’s atmosphere.
“Scan complete. Doctor Grace, Ryland. Three broken ribs. Rib five and six on the left-hand side and rib six on the right-hand side. Recommendation: Rest, no heavy exercise and breathing exercises.”
Grace groaned again before looking toward where Rocky’s ball was out of sight.
“I’m sorry, bud. The lab tunnel is going to be out of action for at least a few weeks. If I’m not careful about my ribs, I could injure myself worse.” Rocky purred again, it was his way of relaxing Grace when he was upset or hurt.
“No apology needed. Rocky understand. Rocky can wait. Rocky will fix adhesive so won’t happen again.” Grace smiled from the bed.
“Thanks Rocky.”