(this one is longer than i anticipated but it kind of ran with me. let me know what you all think. trigger warning for needles and/or pain appreciation. i hope you like it.)
Zari yelled for Gideon to prepare the med bay with a fear and desperation in her voice that surprised her. Nearly as soon as the scream left her, she was tapping the button that she knew shouldn't be on her wrist. Within a second there was a portal before her, showing her a street from a different time and the front entrance of a seedy-looking pub.
She was in the door before she realised, watching as Mick scooped up the person that made her feel desperate and dramatic enough to act in such a way, no matter how hard she tried to deny it. Zari rushed to their side, seeing a piece of Sara's now torn up shirt pressed to Charlie's bleeding throat.
"Zari, how did—" Sara began, only to be abruptly interrupted, watching as Zari's eyes never left Charlie's terrified ones.
"What happened?!" Zari demanded, following closely as Mick carried Charlie outside.
"Don't think the vampire was actually a vampire," Mick rasped with more emotion in his voice than Zari would have liked; it made this all too real.
"She was trying to get intel. None of us knew he was on to us," Sara said sadly as they gathered onto the jump ship, Mick lying Charlie delicately onto the bench. "He had a knife to her throat so fast, none of us were prepared," she explained.
"She'll be okay, Z," Ava said softly, suddenly at Zari's side. Ava had never called her 'Z', to Zari's recollection, and it only made her feel more fearful despite its intent.
In her subconscious, Zari thought that she could hear Constantine chanting. She was too busy ripping her own shirt in order to hold a piece of the fabric against the deep gash on Charlie's bicep to fully register the sound. She noticed that Sara and Ava had backed away from them, she thought in their own way giving them some space.
"Constantine rushed them after he had the knife to her throat. I think the fugitive got scared because he cut her on the neck and then the arm before he threw her to the ground," Sara concluded as Ray flew the ship. "We couldn't catch him."
Charlie blinked her eyes weakly, looking up to see Zari staring at her with tears behind hers. She smirked slightly, despite how she was feeling. Her cockiness had a way of coming out around Zari no matter what the circumstances.
"Geez, Z. What's got your panties in a bunch?" Charlie joked to the best of her ability, her voice sounding weak and strained and alerting Zari to just how much pain she was in.
"Let me see your neck," Zari demanded, not acknowledging her attempt at light-heartedness even though it warmed.
"'S'alright, love. Jonno's workin' his magic over there," Charlie nodded, smiling slightly through lidded, pain-filled eyes.
It was only then that Zari understood: a healing spell. Probably the only reason that Charlie wasn't dead already, but that wasn't something that Zari could focus on right now. She removed the piece of Sara's shirt that was held tightly to Charlie's throat and couldn't hold in the gasp she emitted. If the deep wound looked like this after John began his healing spell, she couldn't imagine how bad it was to begin with. She didn't want to.
"Is it working?!" Zari practically screamed at Constantine, who was still chanting, eyes closed.
"It's working, love," Charlie said softly, her blood-drenched hand patting Zari's thigh comfortingly. "Not makin' me feel much better, to be honest," she admitted, quietly enough that only Zari could hear.
Zari felt like she had been hit by a brick at the realisation. Charlie had been an immortal shapeshifter. She had never felt pain like this before in her life, if she had ever felt pain at all. The wounds were deep, no matter who you were, but to someone to had never felt pain they must have been excruciating. She held her hand onto Charlie's bicep, making sure to keep pressure on the wound, looking at the woman wildly.
"It's not enough," John said suddenly, causing Zari's heart to drop. "It's working, she'll survive, but I don't have enough power to heal them both."
"So don't heal them both!" Zari said as though John was an idiot. "Heal her throat. We can fix her arm later."
"Looks like you're gonna have to stitch me up, Doc," Charlie said slowly, sticking her tongue out though she seemed to be on the edge of consciousness.
"Ha!" Zari scoffed, fighting the urge to push Charlie playfully as she would in a less dire situation.
"It might not be a bad idea," Ray added hesitantly. "Time's not really working in our favour right now. We'll be back to the Waverider as soon as possible," he shrugged sheepishly, staring at the course ahead of them.
Constantine continued to chant as Zari watched Charlie's pulse point begin to slow down it's rhythm. She considered it a good thing, as her heart had been racing from fear and pain. Her gaze made it's way to Charlie's face only to find the woman looking up into her eyes, her vulnerability palpable and unexpected.
"Hey," Zari said softly, not fighting the urge that she felt to reach up and brush the hair away from the shapeshifter's face.
"Hey yourself," Charlie smirked, throwing a wink in for good measure, causing Zari to relax slightly.
"How do you feel?"
"Like I got my arm and my throat slit, t'be honest," Charlie shrugged, wincing. "I'd never felt that before."
"You'll never feel it again," Zari threw out defensively before she could stop herself.
"That'd be good," Charlie chuckled softly, wincing in pain once again.
Zari removed her shirt from Charlie's arm to find the wound still gushing blood. She tried to hide the fear from her eyes, knowing that Charlie was still staring at her face.
"Ray? How long?" Zari asked, keeping her voice as even as she could manage.
"I don't know, Z. I'm trying. The first aid kit is—"
"I know," Zari snapped at him, looking to Charlie to find her eyes held fear once again. "You keep this," she picked up Charlie's hand and placed it on her bicep, keeping pressure, "here, and I'll be right back."
Charlie simply nodded, feeling a little more life coming to her as John worked his magic but still hurt and afraid. Hurt and afraid were two things that the shapeshifter was not accustomed to.
Zari was back at Charlie's side in less the thirty-three seconds (Charlie knew- she had been counting) with the elaborate first aid kit in tow. She opened it with one hand as she brushed Charlie's wild hair back with the other, a reflex at this point.
"Do I need surgery, Doc?" Charlie joked, life slowly coming back into her eyes. "Am I gonna make it?"
"Do you understand how not funny that is?" Zari responded, rolling her eyes as she threaded her stitch needle.
"Is that a threat?" Charlie joked again, but the look of nervousness as she eyed the needle didn't go unnoticed by Zari.
"Have you ever gotten stitches before?" Zari asked, regretting the question immediately as the words left her mouth. Of course she had never gotten stitches before. She had been immortal and self-healing until a few months ago. She rolled her eyes at her own stupidity.
"Naw, love. But I'm glad if my first time is with you," Charlie smirked, the spark back in her eyes. The spark Zari loved, no matter how much she hated it.
This time, Zari didn't hold back her instinct to smack the woman (right on the hip, harder than she'd intended) because she couldn't seem to be serious when she had just been dying.
"You're an idiot," Zari threw out casually, unable to keep the smile from her face. "Sit up," she demanded.
"Bossy, eh? I like that," Charlie smiled, winking over her shoulder as she sat up, baring her cut up arm for Zari.
"Listen…" Zari began slowly, already a nervous mess. "This is going to hurt but I'm only going to put a few stitches in. Just enough to hold it over until we get back to the med bay. Okay?"
"I trust you."
Charlie's words were spoken so genuinely, no joking, no flirtation, that it took Zari off guard. They stared into each other's eyes too deeply for a moment too long and Zari tried to ignore the way she felt her heart speed up in her chest.
"I wouldn't do this if I didn't have to," Zari said, sounding like she was defending herself.
"You do know what you're doing, right love?" Charlie asked, silly tone back in it's place.
Zari thought back to her life, her life before the legends. She thought about war and encampment and all of the times that she had to do this. She sighed deeply, pain expressing itself on her face. Charlie realised what she was remembering but knew not to mention it.
"You don't have to do this, Z," Charlie told her, reaching over and brushing Zari's hair out of her eyes. "I'll be fine."
Zari smiled with closed eyes, loving and hating the fact that stupid Charlie could take her from her stupid painful memories to making her smile in two point three seconds. She opened her eyes slowly to find Charlie looking at her so lovingly that it almost hurt. Almost.
"Naw, I got this," Zari nodded with a grin that she attempted to quell. "If you're ready."
Charlie simply nodded, fear lingering behind her eyes.
"Like I said, it's gonna hurt but I won't take long, I promise. And it'll feel so much better once it can heal," Zari explained, ignoring the way her hand shook as she made sure the needle was threaded correctly.
"Like I said," Charlie said soundly, "I trust you."
Zari's heart soared at the affirmation and at the look in Charlie's eyes. She turned the woman away from her slightly, to reach the wound on the back of her bicep. She watched as Charlie breathed in and out deeply, obviously preparing herself.
"Ready?" Zari whispered, more closely to Charlie's ear than she had anticipated.
Charlie just nodded, hand holding the edge of the bench in anticipation. Zari took a deep breath and took a hold of Charlie's arm; firmly enough to keep it in her grasp but not hard enough to hurt, she hoped. She entered the needle slowly, making sure to do it right, with more anxiety than she had ever had about stitching someone up before.
Charlie emitted a gasp, hand grasping the edge of the jump ship bench as she breathed out, head lowering. Zari couldn't help the pang of guilt that she felt for having to put her through this.
The needle made it's way through and Zari tightened the thread, unable to keep herself from watching every expression that the shapeshifter made. She entered the needle the second time and watched as Charlie's hand reached for purchase again, feeling a pull in her abdomen and maybe something else that she simply wished away. As she pulled the thread through the skin, she heard Charlie breathe out deeply, passionately, and she would have done anything not to feel the pull that it caused inside her.
"Only a couple more," Zari whispered, surprised at how her voice came out deep and arousal laden, wishing that she could run away.
Charlie just nodded again, this time making a point to reach behind her and hold onto Zari's shirt, recently ripped up from protecting this wound.
Zari had to take a deep breath and center herself. Okay, sure, she had a crush. By this point she could admit that (reluctantly). But this was not the time to be having sexy feelings and physiological reactions. She tried to shake herself out of it but Charlie's reactions were only fueling her.
Zari entered the needle again, a little more quickly this time as though to prove that this was simply professional. It didn't work. Charlie balled up her ruined shirt in her hand and breathed aloud, unable to hide her own passion in the moment. That was it. Zari tied off the knot quickly and with skill and pulled away from Charlie.
"That's enough until we get home," Zari spat, mind reeling with guilt and trying to shake the arousal from her fogged brain. "Gideon can take care of the rest."
They had been too caught up in each other and in the strange surge of emotion between them to notice Mick watching them; not with perversion or even lust. This was research material he had never dreamed of.