Harry Callahan was in his kitchen, talking to Spot and waiting for his youngest daughter to arrive back at home. He heard footsteps on the basement stairs, but they definitely weren't Dairine's. He went to investigate.
"Nel?" he asked surprised to see the former King at the top of the basement stairs.
"You look terrible. Do you want to sit and have some coffee or something?"
"Harry, it's Dairine. She's been gravely injured."
Harry sank onto the floor, "No, no, no. This can't be happening. I was just talking to Spot and she was fine. I can't lose her too!"
There was a bang of displaced air and Tom and Carl came into being. They saw Harry on the floor and said nothing.
"We should get back there. Roshaun and Miril are all alone, and we will need all the help we can get for when we take off the stasis," Nelaid said, a bit helplessly.
Harry got off the floor, and was more or less carried through the worldgate.
The sight he saw as soon as he arrived was not a cheerful one. Roshaun had tears running down his face, Miril was absolutely distraught, and Dairine was lying on a bed, pale as death. Harry collapsed into the nearest chair, consumed by grief.
Nita and Kit had finally finished their mission and re-appeared in Nita's back yard. Nearly instantaneously, both their manuals went off.
"We don't get five minutes to ourselves around here, honestly," Nita complained.
"It's from Roshaun," Kit said, surprised.
"And marked High Urgent," Nita added worriedly.
They both finished reading the message at the same time, and they sprinted for the worldgate in the basement.
Upon popping out in Wellakh, Nita noticed several things. One, her dad was already there. Two, Roshaun was crying, which she had never seen before. Three, Dairine looked scarily close to dying. Nita rushed over to the bed and held her sister's hand. It was cold as ice, which freaked Nita out a great bit.
"Kit, please message Matt. We're gonna need him."
Carmela was shopping with Filif and Sker'ret when both of them stopped suddenly.
"We need to go now." said Sker'ret.
"What is it?" Carmela asked, worried.
"That was a message from Roshaun. Dairine is severely injured."
Roshaun hadn't moved the whole time. Everyone he had messaged had shown up, and they were all dealing with it differently. Mr. Callahan was just sitting there with his head in his hands. Tom and Carl were in two seats, looking shocked. Nita, was the only other person crying, and Kit had his arms around her. Filif was rustling with nerves. Sker'ret was watching everything, an eye for everyone, and several pointed at Dairine. Carmela was pacing. Nelaid had left to deal with the incident. That was supposed to be what Roshaun was doing, but neither of his parents blamed him for not going. Lady Miril was standing behind Roshaun, with her hands rubbing his shoulders.
After too long of this torture, a boy stepped through the worldgate. He wasted no time in coming over and examining Dairine.
"Broken neck, concussion, some minor burns. What did she get hit by?"
Roshaun became aware everyone was looking at him, "some sort of energy weapon. She had a shield going, but the force of the weapon was too great for it. She went flying into the stone banister."
"The main problem here is the broken neck and severe concussion. We can fix both, but it will be very costly in terms of wizardry," the boy glanced around the room, "with everyone here, though energy isn't the problem. Bones are finicky to fix. Especially the skull and neck. We'll have to be careful, but she'll probably pull through to utterly ravish someone else at poker."
That comment made Nita smile a bit.
Soon enough, the boy was directing the creation of a wizardry to heal Dairine's bones.
"Okay, Nita, plug your name in there, Kit next to her. Very good." Then he turned to the rest of the wizards assembled, "I don't know all your names, but plug them in!"
The boy turned to Roshaun, "Place your memory of the event there, please."
Roshaun complied. Soon, Lady Miril was lifting the stasis and the boy was healing Dairine. It was a tense while, but finally the boy was done.
"She's out of the woods."
All the Earthlings sagged in relief, and Nita went over to hug the boy. Judging by these reaction, that meant Dairine was going to be okay. Life would be simpler if earthens did not use so many odd expressions. Nelaid came into the happy scene.
"They caught the attempted assassin," Nelaid announced.
Both Roshaun and his mother exchanged a surprised look. That did not happen around very often unless the royal family themselves caught the people with wizardry.
Then, Roshaun turned to the boy, "thank you so very much, cousin. I'm sorry, but what is your name?"
The boy cleared his throat, as if performing, "my name is Matt, I was here to save her life, and, by the way, I'm gay."
Much to Roshaun's surprise, Nita went bright red.
Roshaun was very confused, as the word 'gay' translated through the speech into to two very different things. Kit, however, began laughing and Nita buried her face in her hands. Matt bowed.
"Dairine will be unconscious for at least two more hours, and when she comes to, I wouldn't move her for another day or so, then after that, make sure she takes it easy. She'll be good for an assisted trip back home via worldgate on the third day, and then by the fourth for wizardry once more."
Nita whistled, "she's not going to be happy about any of that."
Everyone in the room nodded sympathetically.
"Okay, well," Roshaun began, "guest rooms can be arranged for all of you if you wish to get cleaned up, or if any of you wish to spend the night. Everyone else can wait in my study," Roshaun pointed to the door leading to it.
Nita and Kit both requested rooms for the night, as did Harry Callahan. Matt, who was suddenly extremely tired was given a guest room. Everyone else only planned to stay until they could talk to Dairine.
Roshaun decided the best course of action was to take a quick shower, change into something more comfortable, then wait in the study with everyone else. He did indeed shower and change. As he moved to go into the study, he saw Nita and Mr. Callahan sitting with Dairine. She was regaining a bit of color. It hurt to look at her, because he knew that she had risked herself to save him. He couldn't have lived with himself had she actually died for him. Nita looked up and saw him.
"You can sit with us if you would like, be here when she wakes up."
He waved his hand no, then realized she may not know what that meant, "No. She'll want to see her family first. I wouldn't want to ruin that." Roshaun walked over to the jar of lollipops by his bed. The ones Dairine had brought earlier are in there. He purposefully avoided them.
"Roshaun, she'll want to see you too," Nita says, with an odd look on her face.
Rohaun kept his voice toneless, "she should see her family first. I'm not family." He opened the door to the study and goes to the farthest corner of it. Unfortunately, the room being a study, the farthest corner is not really that far. Nita followed him and sat down in the study as well.
"Feel free to any of the books," Roshaun offered. He, himself went to his desk and picked up the book he had been planning to read. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. He flipped to the title page.
Dear Roshaun,
I know this is in English, but unfortunately this book was never translated into Wellakhit. I saw this the other day and thought of you. While the book obviously does not relate to you in some ways, in lots of other ways, it does. Give it a try.
Dairine
It took great effort not to see those words and start crying again. Instead, he picked up the first lollipop, a good distraction, and began to read. He had just finished the last of his lollipops and was getting out some from the pile he kept in his desk when Dairine's father came into the room.
"She's awake!" he yelled with joy.
Nita was the unspokenly universal second person to talk to Dairine, so she went back into Roshaun's room, though not before sending him a hopeful sort of look.
Dairine woke up with a splitting headache in Roshaun's bedroom. Her dad was sitting next to her.
"Oh my god Dairine. You're awake. You're alive." Her dad gave her a huge hug, crying, "I couldn't lose you too."
"Hey," she managed, thoroughly confused.
Then, Dairine remembered, the energy weapon, blacking out after hitting the banister. Thahit was no longer in the sky. It must be late at night. How long had she been unconscious? Why was she in Roshaun's room? Most importantly, was Roshaun okay?
Dairine started by asking that question, "is Roshaun okay?"
Her dad looked surprised, "why wouldn't he be?"
Dairine breathed a sigh of relief.
Her dad hugged her again, "I'm going to get Nita. There is a whole bunch of people waiting to see you.
Nita practically ran into the room, "Dair!"
Dairine decided not to fight a losing battle and give into the hugging that was undoubtedly going to be happening all night.
"God, Dair, you really gave us a scare. I arrived home and got a message that you were severely injured and might die. Then, I got here and you looked dead. They had you in stasis, Dair. You had a broken neck and severe concussion."
"Did I? That explains the horrible headache then," she tried for some humor.
Nita begins laughing nervously, and Dairine joins her. They sit together for a while.
"Neets," Dairine begins, "is Roshaun okay?"
"As far as I know." Nita said, also surprised.
"I'm going to send you another visitor."
Roshaun looks up from the book as Nita comes back in, and Tom and Carl go out. They had tried to get him to go next, but he had assured them that since he lived here, he could go later. Most of these people were going back to their home planets after seeing Dairine. Roshaun turned to the next page and absorbed himself in it.
"Hey, Roshaun," the voice came from above. It was Nita. She sat next to him.
"She was asking for you, you know."
"Okay," he tried hard to sound like he didn't care.
"If anything ever happened to Kit I wouldn't forgive myself. He's like my right hand. I can't imagine myself without him," Nita looked at him for a reaction, and seeing none, she continued on, "I know you feel guilty Roshaun, but just because she was on your planet when she got hurt, doesn't mean it's your fault."
At that he looked up at her, not bothering to hide the pain in his eyes, "Yes, it does, because that weapon was aimed for me. She jumped in front of it."
He saw Nita's look of surprise, "yeah, but you would be dead if she hadn't done that. And, strong as she is, Dari couldn't live with that a second time."
He looked at her.
"I'll get you some more lollipops. At this rate, you'll need a lot more," she smiled at him.
Roshaun put his head between his knees. He soon became aware of someone else above him. Couldn't they just let him grieve in peace? This time it was Filif. And Sker'ret.
Roshaun looked up at them tiredly, "yes?"
"We are both going home, cousin. Message us if you need anything," said Sker'ret.
"You go well cousins."
Roshaun followed them out the study door that led to the corridor, intending to find his mother. He walked through the hall, brushing the walls of this familiar prison. He turned the corner and heard voices.
"How's your dad holding up?" It was Kit.
"I think he's talking to Nelaid. Once we found out she was going to be okay, he was pretty much fine, I think. He's going to see her again later, once the shock has worn off," Nita responded.
"Why would anyone want to hurt Dairine? Well, other than Dairine being Dairine."
"She's not that bad."
A laugh, "you do remember Ireland, right?"
A groan, "some parts I try to forget."
"Like the Ronan thing?"
"Oh please, Kit, jealousy is so not good on you."
A suspicious silence ensued, and Roshaun realized that he was going to have to be the one to end it. He sighed and walked down to where the two of them were, coughing slightly. They sprang apart guiltily.
Roshaun raised his eyebrows at them, "it is not a wise idea to be doing that where the staff could see. It could damage the fragile opinion my people have of Earth. It may already be ruined." He sighed and shook his head, thinking of the day's events, the sound of Dairine hitting that banister ingrained in his head.
"Here," Nita handed him a handful of lollipops, "I have a feeling you are going to have a long night."
"Thank you, now I must find my Lady Miril."
Roshaun continued towards his parents' quarters. He was surprised by Nita's concern for him, if he could call it that. They had never been particularly close. Frankly, he had never been particularly close with anyone but Dairine.
Dairine was still in Roshaun's bed, but for the first time, she was alone. She called Spot over, and began looking at the Wellakhit news. There were multiple accounts of Dairine saving Roshaun, and in all of them it said something about the Guarantor crying over his alien friend. All the accounts said they did not know what the state of the alien was.
Nita came into the room, wearing a peculiar expression.
"Why'd you do it?"
"Do what?" Dairine asked, thoroughly confused.
"Save his life."
"How did you find out about that?"
Nita laughed, "because he has been eating lollipops since I arrived and sitting in the corner all depressed like. He feels guilty."
Dairine was surprised, "I honestly wasn't even thinking, I just was acting."
Nita shook her head, "well I'm glad you are okay. You see everyone?"
"Yeah, everyone but Roshaun," she tried not to sound disappointed, "How'd you get so many to come?"
Nita shook her head, "I told you I got a message. Roshaun messaged everyone. Well, he missed Mehrnaz and Darryl and Ronan, but let's face it, the last person you want around in a injured state is Ronan."
Both the sisters laugh together.
"Hey, Neets, do you know if he was actually crying?"
Nita nodded, "pretty much until Matt said you were okay."
"Wow. And we still need to finish that movie," Dairine said.
Nita yawned, "so sorry. It's been a long day."
"Oh yeah, how did your confidential mission go?"
"Confidentially well. Listen, I'm gonna hit the sack, see you in the morning."
"Bye Neets."
With that Dairine is left alone again. She pulled up some Wellakhit literature on Spot, intending to understand the culture better. She never got the chance to begin, as the door opened. Spot shut his lid and scurried away. So much for having any backup. She looked up into his eyes, trying to show that she's fine, and that it's not his fault. His own eyes are filled with worry and guilt. And he is just standing there, in the doorway.
Dairine tries to lighten the situation, "don't just stand there. This is your room you know."
He keeps looking at her.
If he doesn't say something soon, I swear even in this injured state I will throw something at him!
Must you always be so violent?
"Must you always hear my thoughts?"
"It has gotten better."
Dairine put on a skeptical look, "yeah, no, sure. I only felt your reluctance to stop Nita and Kit's make out session from all the way back here."
"That's what you call making out?"
"Well, generally, yes, if-" Dairine cut off, sure she was blushing "never mind. I don't want to discuss this."
"Well, shall we discuss what we are both avoiding, then?" Roshaun asked, pulling up a chair.
Dairine sighed, "Yes we should. It's already been covered in all Wellakh's news things. They have several theories as to why the Sunlord was crying over me. My favorite is that if my blood watered the ground, you would be de-throned. People also have interesting theories as to why I jumped in front of you. Some say it was a rite of passage from my planet. That was a pretty good one too."
Roshaun took her hand in his obviously not fooled by her attempt at humor, "do you want to know what really happened?"
Dairine nodded, "yes, please."
Then, Roshaun sent her his recollection of the event. Dairine saw everything, felt everything as Roshaun had. She saw herself slam into the banister, and heard the terrible crunch to go with it. She felt Roshaun's fear as he ran over, and the moment when he couldn't find a pulse.
Dairine squeezed his hand gently, "I know you won't understand my position, but I'd like for you to see it anyways."
And she passed him the feeling of not being able to lose him again as she was saying the spell and jumping forward. And then, darkness. Dairine glanced up, and saw understanding in his eyes. He knew why she had done it, he just couldn't accept it. And, right now that would have to be enough.
"So when can I leave this room? No offense, but I'm tired of it already."
Roshaun looked royally annoyed, and Dairine was glad to see that familiar expression on his face, "No one has told you yet? You are not allowed to move until tomorrow evening at this time. But I think they moved it back to the next morning to be sure."
Dairine groaned, "oh God that sounds like torture. How am I even going to function?"
"Lady Miril has it all worked out, I am sure."
"Where are you going to sleep?"
Roshaun looked around, "perhaps in my puptent, or possibly on the couch."
Dairine nodded, as if she knew all the answers. She suppressed a yawn, she was utterly exhausted, but she didn't want Roshaun to know that. She wanted him to stay a bit longer.
"Wow, for once I am more dressed up than you are," Dairine teased.
He gave her a haughty look, "I know that you wish to be rid of them, however."
She shrugged, "incidental." She suppressed another yawn.
"Lady Miril will be coming in soon with your sister to help you out of those."
"Oh gee, I get to be a doll."
Roshaun turned his annoyed face on her, "I suppose you could sleep in that."
She tried to look cheeky, "I could if I wanted too. But I can undress myself thank you very much."
However as soon as she tried to move more than just her hand, a wave of horrendous nausea and terrible pain washed over her. She fought it down and tried to pull off the topmost layer.
Roshaun moved her hands away, and gently eased her back to lying down. Then, he grabbed some scissor looking things and went to cut the fabric.
"No! Don't do that, you'll ruin it!" Dairine half yelled, giving herself a headache.
"Dhairine, I have to. Unfortunately, for you, I can feel the pain you are trying to hide every time you move. These clothes don't matter, they can be replaced. You getting hurt," his voice was raw, "that matters."
"Of course I know that I hurt you today, Roshaun, and I'm sorry, but you were going to die. Nita's almost died several times, my mom did die, and I thought you were dead for the longest time. And I know I pretend to be strong, but that today was selfish. I didn't want to live with another death, especially one I could have prevented, and I know Nita lives with that guilt every day, but I just can't okay? I can't." Now Dairine was crying. It made her headache worse, but now that she had started, she couldn't stop.
She felt Roshaun's arms unbelievably careful arms surround her, and they stayed like that, him holding her as she cried. Finally, she regained control, but Roshaun didn't let go of her.
"I know why you did it, and maybe this is selfish, but when I saw you laying there in stasis, I would have given anything in the world to be able to switch places with you," Roshaun carefully loosened himself, for which Dairine was grateful. It would kill her to admit it, but it probably would hurt if he weren't careful.
"I'm sorry I hurt you."
"And I as well. Now, can I please get some of these clothes off of you?"
Dairine laughed, "wow, such a gentleman. He even asks before undressing a lady."
A/N: I've never had a concussion, so sorry if the symptoms were wrong or if it's not realistic. The way I described the concussion moves the plot more, but I did strive to be fairly accurate.
