Ben barrels into the room, heart pounding, certain he must have misunderstood. It's been a crazy day after all- Lexi has turned to the Espheni and has plans to destroy them all in a truly horrific way. Maybe Ben overheard the people talking wrong. Maybe he's overreacting. Plus, Hal isn't allowed to be severely hurt. He just isn't. It doesn't compute.
But when Ben sees him lying on the table, he knows. He knows that he heard right, that Hal is dying, unless they can figure out how to pull a miracle out of their asses.
Ben stands there dumbly, staring at his brother, trying desperately to figure out how to save his brother, but having no idea what could be done when Maggie approaches him.
"Anne injected him with some of Deni's spike fluid, but it didn't do anything," she tells him. "It just hurt him more, I think."
For the first time since he's come to this weird ass 'sanctuary' he ignores Maggie completely, just nodding vaguely as he takes a few steps towards Hal. His big brother looks scary pale and still, and yeah, he's seen Hal hurt before, but never like this. Not even when Karen had hurt him.
"Take my spikes," Ben says, looking at Anne. "If you can take them out, you can transplant them, right? Then he'd be able to heal, and he'd be okay."
"I thought about that, but we don't have any of the same equipment we had in Charleston, and it's not as simple as pulling a spike out and sticking it in someone else. Transplants are complicated. It could kill you both," Anne says. "Deni's still recovering just from having fluid taken from one spike."
"Cochise," Ben says decisively. Cochise is smart. Cochise knows things. "Talk to Cochise."
Anne nods and leaves, and Ben takes careful steps towards his brother. When he sees that Hal is stirring, Ben drops down to his knees.
Hal's eyes slowly open. "Don't do this." His voice is scratchy and hard to hear.
"What?" Ben asks.
"Could kill you," Hal says.
Ben shakes his head like it's no big deal. "I'll be fine. You just rest, okay?"
"I'm supposed to watch out for you," Hal says.
"You have, Hal," Ben says desperately. "You've looked out for me and Matt really well. It's my turn now. Just shut up and let me do this for you."
Hal's eyes flutter shut again, his head kind of nodding. Or at least Ben is going to interpret it as nodding.
"Hal? Hal!" Maggie yells.
Ben starts- he had totally forgotten that Maggie was behind him. He gets up and looks at her. "He'll be okay," he tries to sound convincing. "He'll have the spikes and he'll be okay."
"He says he doesn't want it though," Maggie says.
"He's being stupid," Ben says. "I'll be fine, and then he'll be fine."
"I don't know…" Maggie says, looking down at Hal.
"Maybe he's just out of it because of the transfer. If he's willing to risk Deni's life, he should be okay with this, too," Ben reasons. It's weak reasoning, he knows., and when Maggie continues to just look at Hal, Ben continues. "I'm not letting him die, okay? That's just not acceptable."
Maggie looks at him with uncertainty on her face that makes him want to scream. This seems like a no-brainer to him. "If it was me, I know I wouldn't want spikes in my back."
"You'd rather die?" Ben asks in disbelief.
Maggie chews on her lips and nods. "It just seems like it'd be-" she cuts herself off, looking up at him. "I don't think I'd like it."
"Well, we're not talking about you- we're talking about Hal. And his problem isn't with the spikes; it's with the risk to me," Ben argues, trying not to fill in that blank space. A lot of people think he's a freak, less than human, whatever. And he's mostly okay with it (and agrees with them on his bad days), but not from Maggie. "And I don't care. So we're doing it."
Ben starts pacing, trying to block out the sounds of Hal's heartbeat. Usually sounds like that recede to the background, but Ben can't control it right now. All he can hear is how uneven and weak it sounds. It seems even weaker because Hal's heartbeat is usually really strong and even comforting.
Soon, but not nearly soon enough for Ben, Anne comes back with Cochise and a machine in tow. They both explain the procedure, always peppering in how dangerous it is, not seeming to get that he doesn't care. If it saves Hal, it's worth it. Even if it means losing his spikes and everything that goes with them, even if it means dying. Hal's his brother.
Maggie looks like she's about to say something, but Ben shoots her a look. The last thing he needs is to give Anne some excuse to not do this.
In the background of all of this useless discussion is the sound of Hal's failing heart. It's the scariest sound he's ever heard, and it's a relief when they finally knock him out for the procedure.