PLEASE READ.

The events of this story have been changed dramatically. If you're reading from where you think you left off, you WILL BE CONFUSED. Please re-read to understand. I'm sorry for the inconvenience.

When Eggsy rang Merlin and he didn't answer after the first two seconds, he knew something was wrong. But he had a mission to do, a job to complete. No amount of radio silence or dismissal would ever distract him from doing such. Eggsy was a good agent, and he'd been alone in the field before. It was his job to push worry from his mind and focus, remain undercover and gain information. However, when he arrived back in London and even Roxy hadn't updated him on the evening's silence, he began to grow nervous.

It was his thought that something had happened to his mum or Daisy, that someone had gotten to one of his mates and they were being held hostage. Mordred's brother had been taken during a mission once—Merlin hadn't told him until he had finished debriefing. He'd barged into his office, prepared speech already starting to flow from his lips when he found no trace of the older gentleman. Had Merlin gone on mission? No, he'd spoken to him earlier in the day, but his tone had seemed rather strained. It was all he could do to not run down the halls in search of answers through Roxy. He spotted the ends of her ponytail peeping out of the infirmary doors, and felt himself relax only slightly. "Fuckin' hell, Rox. You'd think that—"

Roxy had turned on her heel, one hand on his chest as she blocked him from the view inside the room. "Eggsy!" She said, a little surprised that he was here. "You're back." Shifting on her heels, she tried to push him away from the doorframe and back into the hall, knowing he was trying his best to see around her. Merlin had informed her of Eggsy's emotions towards his candidate, and it might not be the best time for him to see her.

The resident nurse had been checking for brain damage and response while she was still in a coma, and Merlin looked away from her medical records to spot Eggsy in the doorway. It wasn't his intentions to hide her injury from him, but he would be distracted from debriefing and post-op if he saw her. Considering he could barely focus on such a painstaking process, they didn't need any more distractions. Closing out the records on his clipboard, he joined the two of them in the hall and shut the door behind him. "Glad t' see y' made it back in one piece, Eggsy." He said with a smile, hoping to distract him from what had been going on inside.

"Yeah," Eggsy said, confusion washing over him. He glanced between Roxy and Merlin, both of them sporting their 'do no wrong' looks. He'd recognize them anywhere—they were spies, it was his job to know when they were lying. "Merlin, the fuck is going on?"

"Nothing tha' concerns y' until you debrief." He responded firmly, making it known that his resolve would not budge. Eggsy had no choice but to comply, swallowing his concern and trudging along.

That had been over two hours ago. Merlin had informed him as soon as he stepped out of the office, Eggsy's heart feeling like it had dropped to his toes. He had remained by her since, Rocky's head on his foot and heart monitor filling the silence of the room. There was a seventy-two hour window for her to wake up in, and all other candidates had been dismissed from training while they waited for her to lapse out of the coma. If she woke up before the seventy-two hours were up, there was minimal damage to her brain and recovery time would be quick and painless—if she stayed under, she would have to be dismissed from the program and sent to a regular hospital to recover. They were approaching hour sixty-three.

She looked so fragile when he first laid eyes on her, growing Dalmatian curled closely to the hospital bed. A bruise spread from her hairline to match one on her shoulder and leg. Merlin said he wasn't sure how she had survived with only two broken ribs, excessive bruising, and a skull fracture from a fall of that height. The only thing that had been a major issue were the few splits on her back that had to be stitched together. The steady rise and fall of her breathing soothed him, and he watched as her skin raised from chill, tugging the blankets over her further.

Eggsy wasn't quite sure what made him stay, desperately attempting to push down the feelings that had surfaced that day they had danced together. It was just because he had been worried about the mission, he tried to tell himself. The truth was that everything had felt right—too perfect to be natural, but easier than breathing. The song, their waltz, the way she had made him laugh. But he couldn't afford to face those feelings. She was a candidate, there was no guarantee that she would make it into the program. Even then, it was frowned upon by some of the uppers to have a relationship with a fellow agent.

But she was something special, wasn't she?

Merlin had mentioned something about pulling her file for him, though he wasn't sure he wanted it. Part of Kingsman training was being able to read small personality clues and traits in order to better understand the target, and what he'd gotten from Sam told him he didn't want to know much more. There was a knock on the door, and he turned to find Roxy standing in the frame. "Tea?" She asked, already holding one out towards him.

"Thanks." Eggsy replied, nodding graciously as he took it from her. Roxy stood next to him, observing the injured girl as well.

"Bit of a nasty fall. We caught it on the cameras, it's a miracle she's not pulp." Roxy commented, receiving a small hum in response. It was noticeably uncharacteristic of Eggsy to not be talkative after completing a mission, but she knew not to pry. He was probably still shook from the thought of his family being in trouble, but she knew it was a relief to know it wasn't them. Samantha's injuries were shocking, of course, but it was easier than having to hear that your mum had been choked out. "She'll be alright, you know."

That seemed to shake him out of it, albeit slightly. "Yeah… yeah." Eggsy said, running a hand over his face and forcing himself to sit up. "Sorry, 'm a bit out of it. Tired, s'all."

Seeing that there was no real reason to try and continue a conversation with him, she sighed and turned. "Get some rest, Eggsy." She said with a squeeze of his shoulder, exiting the room and leaving him in silence. He knew, of course, that she was right, but it didn't help to sway him into leaving. Eggsy wanted to stay until her seventy-two hours were up. Reaching out, he gently placed his hand over her own and began to relax into his chair. He had just a few more hours to go.

Eggsy woke with a start, feeling like the breath had been knocked out of him in a dream. He grunted at the sudden switch, rubbing at his eyes and cursing the chairs they kept in the med bay. It hadn't been his intention to fall asleep with only two hours to go in her seventy-two but—

His blood turned into ice. The hospital cot that had once contained the unconscious body of Samantha was now empty. Rocky wasn't curled at the foot, and the heart monitor she had been strapped to was missing. Everything moved in slow motion as he checked his wristwatch; it had been seventy-three hours. Eggsy's heart sank to his toes at the thought that such a woman had been kicked out of Kingsman without the chance to say goodbye. Merlin must have had her moved while he was still asleep, but that wouldn't make sense. More than once he'd been caught sleeping by Merlin, and every time he sent him off to bed and out of his way. He glanced back at the hospital bed again, lurching out his chair when he noticed the breathing tube lying between the sheets.

It was nearing four A.M., and he knew that any agent sleeping there would castrate him if he woke them. So he quietly ran down the halls towards his office, praying that he'd find her slumped against a wall and without any further injury, but as he threw the door open he found no trace of her. "...shit." Eggsy muttered under his breath, shutting the door and jogging back down the hallway. He began quietly calling her name, hoping for any sort of response. He checked the candidate's room, the room where they had lessons, and even outside. Everywhere he went, he found no trace of Samantha or her dog. He was beginning to wonder if something had happened to the two of them, but he was sure that he would have woken before then.

Entering the dining hall, he called her name and waited a moment, aggravated when nothing came back in response. He made his move to leave when a noise caught his attention. Something was moving inside of the kitchens, and it didn't sound graceful. Eggsy forced himself to swallow his hope as he pushed the door open, greeted by the wagging tail of Rocky as he tucked into a knocked down plate of leftover sausages. He felt his shoulders relax. If he found her dog, he was one step closer to finding Sam.

"Hungry, yeah?" Eggsy mumbled, distracting the dog long enough to take the plate from him and close the fridge. He glanced down at the dalmatian, and then once more at the fridge. "How the hell—"

A large crash from the pantry forced his attention away from the predicament of the dog, and he knew the answer when he threw the door open. Samantha was half laying on the ground, heart monitor beeping wildly as it leaned against a wall. She was surrounded by fallen breakfast items, hand (nearly) triumphantly clinging to a box of earl grey. "For fuck's sake—" Eggsy rushed to her side, reaching out to steady her movements.

"No—no!" She snapped, shoving his hand away. "Fuck off, I don't need your help." Eggsy's hand retracted as soon as he heard her tone, but he protested still. Before the words could even roll off of his tongue, she snapped at him once more. "I can do it m'self." Her voice was seething, but the iron determination behind it all hid the pain.

Samantha's hand was quaking as she tried to steel her arm and push off of the ground, bruises stretching over her skin as they flashed in the dim light. He watched as her façade fell when she managed to make it to her knees, the power in her legs shattering when she tried to stand. She collapsed into his waiting arms, and he heard the slight intake of breath as she jostled her ribs. "Y'alright?" Eggsy asked after letting her regain her breath, seated with her on the floor. Samantha nodded weakly after a moment, giving up her fight.

When she had been recovering from her surgery and returned home, it frustrated her to no end when everyone assumed that she couldn't handle her own messes simply because of her recently disability. The second she had woken up in the hospital bed and seen Galahad sleeping next to her, she felt no need to wake him. If she wanted to curb this ravenous hunger, she'd do so herself. "...yeah." Sam admitted, letting more of her weight fall onto his chest. The thought of bleeding onto his shirt crossed her mind, but she was too tired to care. "Sorry."

It felt natural as her head rested in the crook of his neck and she lay against him, so natural that he didn't even notice the arm that crept around her waist and held her there. "S'alright, love." Eggsy mumbled back, scanning over her for any gained injuries. The bruising on her ankle had gotten worse. He needed to remember to say something to Merlin. "How're you feeling? Took a bit of a fall, y'know."

Samantha managed a weak smile, the gash in her lip pulling at the motion. "Like hell." Eggsy chuckled, shifting his weight so she could rest more comfortably. "How long was I out?"

"Nearly seventy-two hours, but y'missed the deadline. I think." He'd have to view surveillance to find out exactly when she woke up and managed her escape—of which he was still baffled about—but it was comforting to know she was out of the danger zone. "Merlin was out his fuckin' mind with worry, Sam."

"Not dead yet." She said in an exhale, tired eyes beginning to shut against his warm embrace. Rocky paws at the door, squeezing through to take his place next to the pair and obediently lay down. She rests her arm against him, having to awkwardly rub her forearm on his back in lieu of a hand. "You can let the tech daddy know I'm still kicking."

Eggsy snorted. "'Tech daddy?' 'S that what we're callin' Merlin now?"

"...have you seen him?"

He smiled. Samantha was starting to fall asleep against him, and though he would happily let her do so usually, he needed to let Merlin or someone in the Med staff know that she was awake. "We gotta get you back to the ward, love." Eggsy said gently, already shifting so he could carry her bridal style. Samantha put up no protest, grunting when he would accidentally brush against a bruise or a stitch. He disconnected her from the monitor, deciding that he'd come back for it later once he'd gotten her settled. Rocky trailed behind happily as Eggsy carried her through the halls, and soon enough she was settled back onto the white sheets of her hospital bed. "I'll be back, yeah? Try and stay awake for us." Eggsy reached out and brushed a strand of hair from her face, earning a weak smile in return.

"Galahad," Samantha called when he had made it halfway across the room, hand already on the knob. "Thank you."

Eggsy turned at the sound of her voice, a gentle smile on his face. "...just don't make it a habit, yeah?" Tossing a wink at her, he exited the room and set off to inform Merlin.