Notes:

Appearently this system automatically took out my mid-chapter division marks. There was a little "~~~" at the POV change, but appearently a line with no punctuation gets removed. I've fixed this now in the last chapter and this one. Basically aside from the prologue, each chapter has two parts, which I would have made individual chapters, but they seemed way too short that way.

I know that medically this chapter is probably very unsound. I wrote it while avoiding studying for my anatomy and physiology exams though so I really didn't want to wack my brain over the physiological details of the injuries. Also I tried to work out the way Zane is sitting in my head and it worked, but from my description the way he's positioned through out this might not make sense.

Disclaimers:

Please refer to disclaimers on Chapter 1

Please Review and Give feedback, I enjoy reading peoples thoughts about this :)

Chapter 2 -Waiting Game

Zane blinked as he slowly came around he felt like he'd been run over. It took him a few minutes to regain he senses then he remembered what happened. Not run over, blown up. He groaned as he tried to move. The lights were flashing red and he could here the repetitive tone of the alarm in the background. Oh sure NOW it works. He pulled himself up into a sitting position against the wall and assessed things. He'd hit that wall pretty hard. His head was pounding so concussion, maybe, and broken ribs, Ow, yep pretty sure he had broken ribs. He didn't dare trying to get to his feet, his leg was throbbing pretty bad too. He didn't think it was actually broken, probably just bruised but better not to chance it. He didn't look down though as his eyes were drawn to the room.

The lab was a mess. Things sparking, wires hanging, it looked like your typical exploded lab. He sincerely hoped the beam that was down through the center of the room was meant for aesthetics and hadn't been weight bearing. The shockwave must have packed quite some force to knock it out of place. At the center of things was the remains of some kind of glass chamber shattered in the explosion, its shards spread out to the side opposite the door.

"Lupo?" Silence. "JO?" Ow. Ok it hurt a little to yell. Definitely some broken ribs. She wasn't answering. He scanned the room again, looking for anything that she might be behind. Then he saw her. Shit. She was crumpled against the wall almost out of sight.

He pulled himself across the floor to her side. She was still unconscious but what concerned him was the blood pooled around her. He unzipped the hoodie he was wearing and shrugged his way out of it, then removed the dress shirt he had on over his t-shirt, thankful that he'd dressed in layers today. Tearing shirt he wadded up some material and pressed it against the gash on her forehead. After a few seconds he pulled it back, realizing that it wasn't actually bleeding that badly. So where was all the blood from? Very gently he rolled her from her side onto her back. Shit. She moaned and started to come around as he took the hoodie and pressed into into her abdomen to try and stop the bleeding.

"Hey Jo," He whispered as her eyes fluttered opened, "don't try to move." Pain was written across her face.

"What... happened?" There was a whimper between the words as she didn't heed his warning.

"Lie still! I think some debris from the explosion caught you in the stomach."

"Everything's spinning."

"Yeah. You hit your head and you're losing a lot of blood. The alarms are going now, so help should be coming." He hoped he was right. He had no idea how long he'd been out or how much they had to clear through to get to them. He wasn't sure anyone even knew they were down here. For all he knew everyone might be preoccupied trying to deal with the other results of the power surge. GD's system should show that they were there, but than again the system should have been sounding alarms before the surge had built big enough to cause explosions. "Just hang in there, Jo."

... ... ... ... ...

Minutes felt like hours and he had no idea how long it had been. Jo had lost consciousness again and he wasn't feeling so hot himself. The hoodie he had pressed into her wound was drenched with blood, but he didn't know what else to do other than keep the pressure there. The alarms had gone quiet and the lights were now a solid red. He wasn't sure whether or not to consider that a good sign. He hoped it meant that they were getting the problem sorted out. Communication seemed to be out, at least to this lab, but then again this lab wasn't supposed to be operational anyway.

His mind was fuzzy, from the concussion probably, and he strained to remember what he's seen in the data before the blast. There had been power surges building up all across GD. This one had probably alerted Jo as it had been in an unused section and registered as an unknown security threat, the others should have set off alarms. It didn't make sense why they hadn't, in other circumstances he would probably be the one working on that problem.

Jo moaned softly.

"Hey," he tried to keep the worry out of his voice, "Welcome back." She gave him a small weak smile, and he wondered whether it was sincere or forced. Her eyes were screaming how much pain she was really in. She was hanging on, barely.

"I'm so cold" She whispered.

All Zane could do was nod, "Your body's in shock. I don't have anything to help keep you warm." He scanned the room, hoping there would be something, but there was nothing in sight and he didn't dare leave her. The pressure had slowed the bleeding from her abdomen, or at least it seemed like it, letting up would only cause her to bleed more, and he wasn't sure her body could handle any more loss. As it was he was pretty sure it was only managing the loss it had because she was lying down and staying still. He shifted position so that his body was closer to her, hoping that maybe his body heat would help a little. It must have made some difference because she relaxed visibly and rested her head against him.

"Thank you..."

"Did that help?" He wasn't sure if she was thanking him for the heat or just being there.

"A little... Zane?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think anyone's going to come?" It was a question that he hadn't wanted to think about. Jo needed help now, even if the pressure he was applying was slowing the bleeding there, he was pretty sure that she was probably bleeding internally as well. He could keep her company but he didn't have the skill to do much else, and if she didn't get medical attention soon she wasn't going to make it. Surely it would be noticed that they were missing, but there would have been explosions all across GD, most likely they were not the only ones needing help.

"They'll come. You're too important not to be missed." Inwardly he was wishing that there was something, anything, he could say right now to makes things, but there wasn't. "Just in hang in there, they'll come." He hoped that he sounded convincing to her, because he really wasn't to himself. They'll come, but will they get here before it's too late?