June 7: Early morning care

Sew gave a non-committal grunt. If his head gave trouble, he would have to see the surgeon, of course, but as long as he felt fine, there was little need to have that man serenading at him while there were other sick men to care for. Besides, a cut was a cut, and he trusted De Guarde to clean it at least as well as any sawbones, and without dressing it all up in Latin and finding the shape of the wound 'fascinating'.

"When will he be here?", he asked anyway; not so much for himself, but to find out how long the boy would have to stay on duty.

Sew's sharp eyes had spotted the bruises; it was well that De Guarde pulled his weight, but he was in a far-from-perfect shape and visibly tired. Duty called, but Sew didn't feel quite comfortable leaving somebody he had worked closely with during the last half an hour without knowing that the other would be alright. And there was still that unexplained relief on De Guarde's face when Sew had come in.

"When it's morning, and he awakes." The lad shrugged. He would have preferred the officer to remain here but at the same time he knew he had duties elsewhere, or time for sleep. Whichever came first.

"I do not know.. but it might be for a couple more hours. I can wake him, if you would like, sir. " Though the surgeon on the other hand would have rather disliked it. He would not complain when an officer demanded his presence perhaps, or not as much as if it was a common patient.

Sew touched the neat bandage with one hand, then shook his head, slightly grimacing as the muscles in his neck protested. "Not necessary. You did well enough."

He gave the young man a searching glance:

"Is everything else in order down here?"

Certainly this was a legitimate question.

"Everything's in order, sir." De Guarde answered in greater haste than he meant to. "I've... i'm lookin' no.. I'm watchin' over t' men 'ere..and I promise you, yer marines are given a very fine treatment. They are. As good as I can. Promise."

He rubbed at his eyes and noticing the small portion of his shirt free, tucked it in very gently, trying though not to make it as evident he was doing it so. He could not be indecent infront of the officer! So the shirt had to be in.