"WELCOME BACK!"

The returning Chief of Medicine didn't even take two steps into the Medical Bay before being assaulted by a barrage of bright, pastel colored decoration covering the otherwise somewhat bleak-looking infirmary.

As Raphael wondered if the stock of candies he bought abroad was perhaps laced with hallucinogenic, he stared glaze-eyed around the room until he had to focus on the inevitable, impossible-to-ignore ray of sunshine standing across from him at the other side.

Living up to his namesake, Uriel was waving excitedly at the veteran doctor. How could this spastic man, who was dressed like he materialized out of a children's cartoon, be the Chief of the Research Department was far beyond Raphael's comprehensive logic.

He ground his molars against the flat, sugary disk of a lollipop before he took it out of his mouth and looked around the bright-haired blond to see all of the available MedBots standing to his sides and clumsily waving as well.

"Why are the robots wearing party hats?" he demanded to know right off the bat, in a complete disregard to anything else in what could just as easily be a drug-induced scenario. "I won't even question why you're wearing a hat, too..."

"I wanted you to have a nice welcome when you come back," Uriel grinned and turned to gestured towards the MedBots topped with the colorful cone-shaped headwear. "Besides, don't they just look like the happiest little robots?" he giggled, clapping his hands.

Raphael rolled his eyes, sighing lowly before turning away to put his belongings at his workstation in a corner near the entrance, donning his white coat and stethoscope. "These boltbags don't have enough sentience between them to know what 'happy' is, even if you'd draw a smiley face on their lenses- and don't," he dryly commented and walked over to the MedBots, snapping off the hats one by one and sending three of the total five of them to go into sleep mode until they're needed. "What's more," he stopped, turning the pile of pointy hats in his hand. "This all means that you either went and bought these for no practical reason, hopefully from your own savings and not the company's funds, or put some of your time to make these by hand, something I'd chalk to an utter waste of time." Despite the criticism, he just turned to put the hat pile on an empty spot on a nearby shelf instead of throwing them away.

Uriel just smiled throughout, putting his hands in the pockets of his lab-coat. "I missed you too, Raph."

The doctor turned to the Chief Researcher, giving him a tired look before snatching the pointy hat off his head. "I haven't even been away for two weeks," he huffed and added the hat to those he took from the MedBots. "It was a medical conference out of state, not and expedition to an uncharted land. And before you say anything about aircraft casualties, I have more chances of dying here than in a plane crash," he added as soon as Uriel tried to say something and put the candy back in his mouth.

Staying silent for a moment, having what he was about to say dismissed, Uriel rotated his shoulder from side to side. "Still, I missed having you grumping around-" his words were cut short when he heard the solid block of flavored sugar cracking between Raphael's jaws. "Ah...alright, not the best choice of words," he chuckled and ran one hand through his hair, "but...you know, it's been boring around here."

Raphael chewed through the rest of the candy and flicked the little stick to the nearest bin, looking around again. "You call this boring?"

Looking around too, Uriel shrugged a little and looked back at the doctor, who seemed to be busying himself almost popping his jaw trying to loosen part of the candy that stuck to his teeth. "Boredom may have had something to do with the total amount of work eventually put into this, but I would've made time for this even if I wasn't bored," he smiled, seeing Raphael giving him a side glance while taking another flat lollipop from his pocket, ripping the transparent wrap off and popping it in his mouth. "You know it's unhealthy, right-?"

"Shut up, Uri," Raphael scoffed and narrowed his eyes at the researcher, turning back to his workstation. "I don't know if it's some form of memory loss or you're genuinely trying some new rehab method by just getting of my nerves time after time, but you might want to set an appointment with Lucy," he muttered, scratching at his short and coarse black hair, fingers running through the graying streaks, sounding unbelievably sincere. "That is, of course, unless your condition turns out to be so bad that she'll be scheduling you a meeting with Cain."

Uriel followed him with a little skip, not taking much of an offense in the harsh sounding words. "You need a nap," he exclaimed, decisively, when the doctor sat down at his workstation and turned on the monitor. "You didn't even stopped to take a rest since the flight back, you just left your luggage in your room and got here to make sure the Medical Bay is still intact, didn't you?" he smiled and leaned on the desk.

Raphael didn't even grace him with a look and stared at the monitor as it brightened up. "Please, Uri. I have more than a week's worth to catch up on, and-"

"No, you don't." Uriel's smile widened until his teeth were exposed, and soon enough the dismal doctor realized what he meant - on his desktop were carefully organized folders containing every report written while he was away, from activity within the Medical Bay to equipment and stock ordered.

For a few moments Raphael just looked through the reports in complete silence before he leaned back in his chair. Still saying nothing, his tired expression softened; his eyelids dropped a little and his mouth curved, showing just a hint of a smile.

He kept staring at the monitor for a while and Uriel could see how his body untensed, shoulders slouching and head tilting to the side a little. "No wonder you got so bored," even his voice changed, slowly revealing just how tired he really was, "these are as mundane as it gets."

Uriel sounded a short, innocent laugh. "It wasn't actually too different from my own reports, just a couple more minutes on my daily schedule," he admitted, backing away from the table once Raphael stood up again. "Sorry for not letting you know sooner; you didn't really give me a chance."

"Bullshit, you were just waiting for me to find out," the doctor spoke without a shadow of a doubt, leaving his stethoscope on the table before heading to the exit. "Come one, let's say hello to the old man and pass by your lady-twin before I pass out."

Not even able to comment on the rightful accusation, the researcher hurried after, quickly catching up. "Wha- Lillian and I aren't that similar!" he protested in a huff.

Raphael rolled his eyes and swayed his head from side to side, as if considering the claim. "Yeah, you're right," he nodded, starting to bite into the hard candy again. "You couldn’t throw a punch if your life depended on it."

"Hey!" Uriel frowned and turned to punch Raphael's arm, flinching while the doctor appeared to unfazed and unconvinced.

"Told you," he teased. "But you'd be surprised how many people asked me personally if you two bubbly Mr. and Ms. Sunshine are related."

Uriel looked back at him, confused. "What, as the holder of medical records?"

"No, as a genealogy prophet."

"What did you tell them?"

The doctor shrugged. "That I wouldn't be surprised. Keep them guessing."

"Huh." Uriel hummed. He smiled and sighed, shaking his head. "But...you know, right? That-"

"Of course I know," Raphael cut him off. "This also falls under doctor-patient confidentiality. I respect that."

Uriel stifled a laugh, looking up at the tired man. "You respect that, but call the Hippocratic Oath a 'load of shit'?"

"Hey, people are entitled to their opinions," Raphael shrugged. "It's a moral code, not a legally binding contract. Like swearing on the bible."

"Ah. Now it all makes sense," the researcher chuckled, still flexing his fingers on his punching hand.

Raphael caught a glimpse of that and patted the young man's shoulder. "Get her to teach you how to throw a punch. Or go to Sam if you're too embarrassed," he looked up again as the two headed towards the main office. "Come on, ol' Isaac isn't getting any younger."