It was the middle of the day as Solid Snake lay on the hospital bed. Whilst the sun was shining and the weather was pristine, Snake was laid down and had been motionless since his last encounter. Against that of the dreaded puppet master Tabuu. All the woes of the world had seemingly been lifted after the day Tabuu was defeated by the unlikely hero. Regardless of hero, everyone had rejoiced at the destruction of the omnipotent beings that had threatened to seek and obliterate their own land and Solid Snake was to thank. Whilst the legend lingered on that the mercenary had saved them, the man himself was all but forgotten. That was apart from voices that had been with him as he was unconscious, lay to recover after the hard fought battle.

"You're awake."

Snake responded with a wince of his already closed eyes and a non committal grunt. "Rise and shine, Mr. Hero." The feminine voice said again. Snake didn't open his eyes, but he did open his mouth.

"Whatever happened to 'Five More Minutes'?"

"Life's too short for five more minutes. Five more minutes might find you dead." The voice responded. Snake's eyes parted just a bit, but could not make out the washed out silhouette of who was coaxing him out of his siesta.

"Who said that?" Snake asked bluntly.

"Me" the voice said, softly in reply.

"Very funny." Snake grunted in reply, head sinking back into his pillow.

"Seriously, are you too famous now to talk to old friends?" the voice said again.

"…Samus?" Snake took a stab in the dark. He wasn't in the mood for guessing games but was pretty sure who it was.

"There we go." She replied softly, "I'm glad I wasn't just a fleeting memory."

"How long have you been here?" Snake asked.

"Once every two days for as long as you've been out of it." Samus smiled, despite Snake's inability to lift his eyelids.

"Couldn't make every day?" Snake asked jokingly, "Seeing another guy behind my back?"

"I could be accusing you of the same thing." Samus replied, "I couldn't make it every day because on the other days another person visited you, and the hospital abides by a 'one visitor for every patient' rule." She continued. "But it's relief to see you're still alive."

"Now I'm awake, I'm beginning I wish I wasn't. Every move I make seems to be complete agony." Snake murmured, attempting to get up, but only achieving a 2 degree angle increase of his previous vertical form.

"Maybe I should let you get a little more rest. I think I take what I said back, you need those extra five minutes." Samus grinned to herself.

"Not like any amount of beauty sleep could fix this face" Snake tried to muscle out a smile, but even that seemed like a marathon in his state. "Besides, I could use the company before the nurses come and knock me out with more painkillers."

"Why don't you take one of those tomato's with the big M on them, or just some food?" Samus asked in concern.

"I don't trust the stuff in this world. I prefer old fashioned medicine. Y'know, stuff that works…" Snake said, a bit disgruntled.

"I guess it'd be much better then simple food, I doubt even that could get a guy out of a 2 week coma."

"2 weeks!" Snake gasped, taking heavy breaths due to the strain it caused to provoke such an outburst out of him.

"Cool it, hot shot" Samus started, "Don't burst a fuse now, especially since it's already on the fritz." Samus concluded.

"I guess you're right…" Snake took her advice and cooled himself down, still stationary on his bed. There was a brief silence as Snake tried to lift up his eyelids, or anything for that matter, but eventually gave up.

"Solid Snake. Hero. Where all others failed, you were the saviour. Hard to believe really." Samus said, sitting down on a nearby chair.

"I prefer just to be called Snake or even Solid Snake. Hero is a title that's been tossed around to just about everybody nowadays. Even then I'm no hero."

"You saved a universe, Snake. If that doesn't make you a hero, I don't know what will. You need to learn to accept that sort of praise every now and then. Especially if you deserve it."

"Even then…" Snake tried reason with Samus. He tried to explain his argument but everything that came to his head would either take an age to explain or would be too intricate, even for his currently damaged state. "…alright. Just… do me a favour and don't wear it out."

"Alright, Snake." Samus smiled warmly. Snake once again tried to muster of a smile of his own in reply.

"So what now? Do I get a parade or something?" Snake said sarcastically, the grin on his face slightly more visible.

"Well, there was a celebration, but you slept through it."

"Sorry I couldn't make it."

"I didn't think it was your thing." She went on.

"It isn't." Snake explained. "But it would have been nice to at least catch up with my old friends. Especially since I won't be seeing them much once I'm out of here."

"You're not staying a while?" Samus asked; a hint of dejection in her voice.

"Well, I'll try, but 2 weeks… that's a long time. Even since the beginning of this little quest, it's a long way from home." Snake explained. "And I can barely even get up, never mind walk out of here. It'll be at least a few days before I get out of here, so we're looking at 3 weeks here."

"Well, anything I can do to help while I'm here?" Samus asked politely.

"Just keep visiting. I can use a voice to talk to." Samus's chest fluttered at the attention, and the fact this rather stubborn comrade wanted to see her as company made her feel special. It made her feel wanted. She didn't show the scars of emotion but on the inside she was grinning like a demented schoolgirl.

"Okay." She said, simply. "I should really let you get to sleep. You've really had it took to you and I've probably aggravated it a bit…"

"Aggravated? You woke me up; I personally think that's progress." Snake, despite being motionless, once again showed the signs of recovery as his friend simply smiled and started to walk off.

"I'll see you in two days." The voice said. Snake heard her footsteps leave his bedside, and he was alone to have those '5 extra minutes' he wanted.