Another companion to 'A choice to the left' short and sweet I hope. A bit Ooc, but I'm not really sure there is an in character reaction to this situation. Oh well without further Ado…

Hospital Bed Lectures

Matt sat in his hospital bed, feeling sorry for himself. Mohinder Suresh and Molly Walker had left half an hour ago, in an attempt to find something to eat for the girl that wasn't hospital food or carry-out. Despite having met Mohinder only once, and not exactly having the best of introductions, and only seeing Molly a few times before the night he had been shot a week and a half ago the two had spent every moment possible with him; keeping him company. He had just spoken to Janice, his wife, who had been clearly trying to suck up to him after the press conference that had happened just three days before. The day before that when he had spoken to her she had told him point blank that he was the one who let himself get shot, he was the one who couldn't fly back to California, and she didn't want to leave her job to come and see him in New York; he was on his own. The phone call that just ended had her singing a different tune, she offered to be on the next flight, asked about his wounds, acted concerned. For once he didn't need to read her thoughts they were clear in her voice, she didn't want to lose him now that he had made something of himself; now that he was a national hero she wanted to keep him. He had told her to forget it, made some excuse knowing that he couldn't face her right now; not when it was occurring to him for the first time that he might not want to save their marriage after all.

The only plus, beyond the company he had in Molly and Mohinder, in his life at the moment was that he wasn't in any physical pain. Whatever Marie Collins had done stuck, from the way it had been explained to him was that right now one of the people that made this happen was currently feeling all the pain he was in due to his wounds. Once she had calmed some she had modified it slightly, leaving him with the slightest of twinges when he overdid it. Still, it almost made him want to unwrap a dressing and poke at the hole, considering what the bastard had done.

He looked up from his mild pity party when the door to his hospital room slammed open, standing there looking furious was none other than his former FBI partner Audrey. She glared at him, "What the hell were you thinking, going after Sylar like that?" He could hear the tenor of her concerned and angry voice flowing through his head, as well as the words death wish.

"Wha…?" Matt hadn't even had any morphine, and yet he was still confused.

"Don't you What me. I was pulled into my bosses office yesterday, congratulated on the Sylar case, promoted to leader of my own team dedicated to strange cases in the New York area and generally being treated like I have had a very successful undercover Op."

"Congratulation on your promotion then; it is a good thing, right?" He wished he could shrink slightly as she glared harder. He didn't think she would attack a wounded man but just in case, "I want to remind you that I am injured."

She glared harder, "I am well aware of you injuries, Mr. four gunshot wounds to the chest. And yes it would be a good thing if I hadn't found out that there was a Sylar case yesterday just before my boss brought me in, let alone that it had been solved, if my partner in my new team hadn't been shot four times in the chest meaning it would be at least six months before he is ready for the academy, and if I was actually a part of the undercover Op that some New York Congressman seems insistent that I had the lead on."

"Hold on, what was that about an FBI team?"

"Caught that did you? The big wigs upstairs have decided to offer you a job, once you're up and about; it's the only way to save face internally for the whole Sylar debacle. Our team will be charged with looking for connections in cases in the New York, to make sure that another Sylar never happens. So what do you say?"

"Say what?"

"That was the recruitment sales pitch, my first assignment was to get you to agree. So what's your answer?"

"I… uh… Yes, of course I'll work for the FBI." Some part of his head reeled, this kind of jump was unheard of in the field, and no one made the jump from traffic cop to FBI agent without even passing any tests.

Audrey's glower melted into a pleased smile, "good, I'll be by to check on you every couple of days, keep you updated. You'll still have to pass the entrance exam, of course your dyslexia will be taken into account, and pass Quantico, but that should be a snap. " She turned around and walked purposefully out, at the door she turned, "Oh, and by the way, I'm still monumentally pissed at you." With that she walked out.

Matt thought about the last ten minutes as he heard Molly's thoughts bouncing up the hall and summed it all into one sentence, "I can read women's minds and I still don't get them."

Another short one, hopefully with a little humor this time. Current count: 11 and falling, thank the lady.