The first thing that filtered through the darkness was pain, centered mostly in her head. Slowly she started to notice other things, the monotonous beeping of medical equipment, the slightly stifling feeling of an oxygen mask, another hand on her own.
Angela slowly opened her eyes, bright lights causing a fresh throb through her head.
"Ange?" whispered a small voice on her left.
Gingerly, Angela turned her head to see Lena Oxton, whom she had become close to over the last month, a worried look marring her girlish features. Angela offered her a weak smile.
"I'm going to get the doctor, love." Lena said, patting the back of Angela's hand before leaving the room in a flash.
Angela took the moment of relative quiet to look around the room. She recognized the layout and machinery from her time working as head of surgery here at Zurich National Hospital.
She puzzled. She couldn't remember why she was here, what had happened, but judging by the pain in her head, she'd wager a concussion was the reason for the lost memories.
The door slid open again, her old colleague, Dr. Bossard, smiling warmly at her.
"Good to see you awake, Dr. Ziegler." He said, "I have to apologize. I'm afraid that our facilities aren't up to the same standards you are used to."
Angela smiled at him, closing her eyes against the throbbing for a moment, wondering why she wasn't being treated at headquarters by her medical team.
"You suffered a hairline fracture of your skull and a pretty nasty concussion as well but the rest of you seems to be ok. Just some bumps and bruises that we've already healed." He explained.
"What happened?" Angela said, her voice dry and raspy.
"I think I'll let Ms. Oxton handle that." He said, finishing her vitals and leaving the room.
Lena fell back into the chair next to the bed, something obviously very wrong.
"Please." Angela begged. She had to know what had happened.
"It's all gone, love." She said, voice quavering with emotion, "They're still trying to determine what exactly happened, but we do know that there was an explosion at headquarters. Reinhart pulled you out of the rubble of your office." Tears streaming down her face as she held Angela's hand.
Angela's eyes went wide. The building had collapsed. How many people that she knew had died. How many more people would die without her out there.
Angela started to sit up, trying to ignore the pain in her head, reaching with her free hand to start peeling off the heart monitor. Lena started pushing her back down.
"You can't leave, Ange! You're still hurt."
Angela's anger sparked, "I will be fine! I have to get out there!"
"I know you want to get out there and help, but you need to be ok first. I can't take you out there with a skull fracture. You'd only be a liability."
Angela sagged back, head pounding now, "I need my caduceus. If I have that I'll be fine."
Lena sat back, voice going soft, "Reinhart and Torbjorn are looking. They're trying to get as many people out as they can. They should be stopping by soon to check in."
Angela felt helpless. She hated feeling helpless. She looked back at Lena's sad face.
"Do we know anything else?"
The pain in Lena's eyes was unmistakable, "They haven't found Commander Morrison or Reyes."
Angela felt like she was falling, everything falling away as her brain struggled to understand. They hadn't been found. They could still be alive. Angela's heart was pounding in her chest, her need to get out there an there turning from an urge to a panic. Her hands tore at the patches on her chest, trying to throw her legs over the edge of the bed.
Lena snapped into action, grabbing the medics hands and pinning them down at her sides and climbing to use her own body weight to keep Angela in the bed.
"I need a doctor in here!" Lena called out to the hallway.
A pair of nurses ran in, one of them grabbing a syringe and pushing a mild sedative into the IV.
Angela's panic ebbed as the medication worked its way through her. She relaxed back into the bed, Lena sliding off of her, still holding her hand.
"I know, love, I know." She soothed, stroking Angela's hair, "I'm sure they'll find Commander Morrison."
Angela's eyes slid shut, trusting her close friend, the only person she had told.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Angela woke up, hearing Reinhart speaking to Lena.
"... still ongoing. They've found a couple of more people alive, but there are many dead." He rumbled.
Angela opened her eyes. Her old friend looked haggard and tired.
"You look like you need some sleep." She said quietly.
Reinhart turned to the bed, a tired smile spreading across his usually cheery face.
"How are you feeling Angela?" He asked.
"Feeling better now. What's going on?" She asked.
Reinhart's face fell, betraying the bad news, "We still haven't found any signs of Commander Morrison or Reyes. It's..." His voice trailed off, searching for the right words, "Es ist nicht gut aussehen." (It's not looking good.)
Tears started to roll down Angela's face. How could this have happened? Why couldn't they find Jack? A sob escaped her lips.
"I did find this though." Reinhart said softly, reaching behind him and placing her Caduceus acrossed her legs, "I know you would have wanted it."
"Thank you my friend." She sobbed, almost uncontrollably now.
Reinhart nodded, "I have to go back now. There's still work to be done." He said with a sigh, turning and leaving.
Angela couldn't stop the sobs anymore and curled herself up around her staff, feeling Lena slide in behind her and just holding her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A couple of hours later, Angela was sliding her arms through her white uniform that Lena had brought, and settled her Valkyrie suit over her shoulders. Once she had cried herself out, she had used her staff to heal her skull fracture and was preparing to head out of the hospital and offer her assistance to those still working on the scene. Lena pulled her hair up out of her suit and into a pony tail.
Angela thanked Dr. Bossard on her way out and flew out toward the destruction, Lena zipping along ahead of her. Her heart sank again as she saw the scale of the destruction. She saw Reinhart amongst the rubble, lifting and moving slabs of concrete that should have taken heavy machinery. She trained her healing beam on him, flying to his side.
"It's nice to see you up and about, doctor. That feels wonderful to these old bones." He said.
"I'm glad to help. Call for me if you need another boost." She replied, flying off, training her beam on each worker as she went.
She heard Torbjorn shouting from somewhere to her left. She boosted herself over the remains of a wall to see him cradling the head of an unconscious woman, legs still pinned in the rubble. Angela trained her Caduceus onto her still form, her nanite technology quickly going to works on the woman's wounds as another group came over to lift the concrete off of her legs. The woman began to wake, and groaned as the weight was shifted, Torbjorn pulling her free. They carried her off to the waiting ambulances.
Angela flew off to the next patient, trying desperately not to let her emotions overtake her with each body pulled from the rubble.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Exhaustion filled Angela so thoroughly she didn't have any room to feel anything else. She sank down onto a bench in one of the emergency personnel tents, pulling out her mobile to see if there was any news from anywhere else.
Curiously the text notification was flashing. Angela hadn't heard it go off so she pulled up the text. It was from Dr. Bossad asking her to call him immediately.
Lena came into the tent, plopping down next to her with a tired huff, unwrapping an energy bar as she read Angela's phone.
"Wonder wot that's about?" She said around a mouthful of nuts and granola.
"I have no idea." Angela replied quietly, pressing the call button.
The phone rang twice before her colleague's voice greeted her.
"Hello doctor. You told me to call you as soon as I could." Angela said.
"Oh yes. I got the results back from some blood work we ran. Standard stuff, and while I know this isn't the best time, you need to know." He said slightly ominously, "I'm afraid the report indicates that you are pregnant."
The phone slipped from Angela's hand, clattering onto the metal bench as her mind completely shut down.
Lena snatched up the phone, quickly talking to the doctor, trying to find out what had happened, an identical look of shock spreading on her face.
Angela just sat there, body completely numb, the word running through her head over and over.
Pregnant.
Pregnant.
Pregnant.
Lena grabbed her by the shoulders, giving her a rough shake, trying to snap her out of it.
"Ange, love. Ange. Come on and talk to me love." She said firmly.
"I'm pregnant." She said, stunned.
"I know love. I know." Lena said, a relieved note to her voice as she pulled her friend in close, "We'll figure this out."
