Chapter Text
“Dev?” Liz’s voice is hesitant. “I’m sorry to bother you and if you’re busy I can go ask Alfred-”
Dev doesn’t even let her finish. “Mate, stop kicking yourself and sodding tell me what’s wrong.”
“It’s just a splinter,” she admits, scuffing the toe of her trainer against the floor. “I don’t really need your help, specifically, just an extra hand.”
But she’d asked him anyway, Dev realizes with a touch of awe. She’s trusting him not to get angry with her, not to say she’s wasting his time or being a nuisance – which he’d never do, of course, but Liz has something of a complex about asking for help for that very reason. Especially, for some reason, from Dev. Something about him being a doctor, about her bloody fucked up past, the way she’s always expecting him to be upset with her for bothering him with anything less serious than actively bleeding out.
“Of course I’ll sodding help,” Dev says easily, keeping his tone light. “Come on, let’s see it.”
He holds out his hand, and Liz offers him her injured one. There’s a red, inflamed area near the base of the thumb, with the splinter visible in the center of it.
With her free hand, Liz offers him a pair of tweezers – the fined-pointed kind. As usual, she’s chosen her tools well.
Gently, Dev pinches the skin around the splinter to expose the end of it, then grasps it with the tweezers and pulls it out. It’s easy, and only takes a second.
“There, how’s that?”
“So much better. Thanks, Dev.”
“Anytime, mate.”
She scampers off before he gets the chance to say anything else, or even decide whether he should.
Liz is having Feelings about Dev pulling a splinter out of her hand. Which is ridiculous. Splinters are not a big deal.
But it’s not about the splinter.
It’s more about the realization that Dev is always gonna be willing to help her, even if it’s something stupid and insignificant. Because she’s spent a lot of time freaking out over her own inability to tell Big Deal medical issues from the ones that make most doctors treat her like a paranoid nuisance – and Dev has never, ever acted like that. If he was gonna, the splinter should’ve done it, but he was patient and nice instead.
He didn’t have to be. Splinters do not fall under his job description. Dev’s just a really nice person, and he’s always been kinder to her than he has to be. He’s like that to everyone – and it means Liz doesn’t need to be scared he won’t take her seriously if an Actual, Important Medical Problem ever comes up.
She’s been terrified of that for years, ever since she failed to properly communicate the severity of The Worst Headache of Her Life and was told by an urgent care nurse that it was fine and didn’t require medical attention. Worst pain of your life is probably important, right? That seems important. But Liz had been scared and in pain and not thinking straight, so her stupid soup-ified brain hadn’t thought to mention that.
If she did that in front of Dev, he’d still care that she was hurting, even if she utterly failed once again to communicate the details. And then if it was something really bad, he’d probably notice, right? Dev is a genius, so if there was anything to notice, he would.
It’s a layer of safety and reassurance Liz isn’t used to having. She could get used to it, though, she thinks. It’d be a nice thing to get used to.