~ Okay, Chapter Seven is here! Hope you all enjoy! This is the last chapter before the epilogue, soo... Yeah. We're almost at the story's end! So sad :(
Chapter Seven: I'm Here Now
Yesterday, Tony and I were interrogated for hours before we were finally taken to the hospital to see the girls. Then they were interrogated as well, but they didn't have to sit in a small room with metal chairs and evil-looking guys in suits. They got to lie in a bed, hardly awake, and recollect their side of the story. It is now morning of the next day, and I am exausted. We all are.
"You awake, dude?" Tony says. I am, since it's basically impossible to sleep in these chairs.
"Yeah," I say, standing up to stretch. I look around me again. It's a nice waiting room, but small.
"All right. I'm going to the vending machines. You want something?" he asks.
"Yeah. Something. I don't care what. Thanks." He gets up and walks away, around the corner towards the machines.
When we came yesterday, they made us sit in the waiting rooms, not allowed to see Hannah and the others yet. They were tired from the day's events. They were tired from being checked. They were tired, just because. That's what the nurses had said. Now, as Tony came back into the room, he was tailed by yet another starched-white nurse. I looked over to the clock on the wall. 8:17 a.m.
"You can come see them now." I am up and out of my chair before she even finishes her sentence.
The nurse comes along to show us which room is Hannah's, then leaves off to do other things.
"Here, dude," Tony hands me a butterfinger before we walk into the room, and he pops open a small bag of chips. I look down at the little bar in my hands and think of the time Hannah's voice led me to Blue Spot Liquor.
I shake the memory off and head through the door. Sitting up in the first bed with a cup of bright red Jell-O is Hannah. Casey is in the next bed over, by the window. As I suspected he would, Tony nods in hello to Hannah, and walks straight over to Skye.
"How are you feeling?" I ask her. She looks sleepy and a bit on-edge, no doubt because being in a hospital is what led to this whole mess. I will never trust a doctor again.
"I," she begins, "I'm fine, I guess. Just sore."
"Tell me about it. Those chairs are not comfortable, to say the least," I laugh lightly, and am surprised when she does too.
"Have they called my parents yet?" She asks suddenly.
"No, actually, they haven't. There was some complication or something. They said we might as well put off the news long enough for you to rest, because they wouldn't have been able to see you anyway. We should be able to call them now, though." I tell her, a questioning tone underlining the sentence.
"I guess...," she trails off, and I can tell she's still slightly out of it from the medications and what not. I take her Jell-O and let her drift back to sleep. I find myself staring at the soft planes of her face, and I reach a hand over and gently caress her cheek with a finger.
She smiles and a single tear slips out of her sleeping eyes, rolling silently down her face.
*Tony's POV*
We walk into the hospital room and there's Skye, looking out the window, almost oblivious to our arrival. She looks so wounded, emotionally, physically. It pisses me off the way people think they can walk all over such raw beauty. I want to break their faces. Instead, I only nod to Hannah and walk over to Skye's bedside.
She still doesn't register my presence, but I don't mind. The moment of non-existence let's me gaze at her unnoticed. She's got a gentle face, the lush brown locks of hair framing it perfectly. I want to kiss her, a moment I've dreamt about. But I won't. Not yet. Not now.
"Hi," she whispers, clearly noticing me for the first time.
"Hey," I say, almost as quiet. "You feeling okay?"
"Yeah, well enough, I guess." She tells me. I can see the torture in her eyes when she looks at me. I can see the love, the hate, combined with the guilty feeling of letting so many people down. That's what she thinks, that she's let people down. But she hasn't. She did everything she could, and she saved them all.
I sit down on the edge of the bed, at her right side. She reaches a hand out slowly, surprising me, and caresses my arm.
"Why did it take this much?" She asks suddenly, addressing several things at once. I don't know which she's speaking of, and just wait for her to continue. "Why did it take so long for me to make that small crack in the shell? Why couldn't I fight him?"
She sounds so scared, so mad at herself. "Skye, it wasn't your fault. He's a manipulative bastard. It's not like you could have foreseen that when you first met." I don't know if I said anything near the right words, and I sure as hell didn't say what I really wanted to. Shh, I'm here now, nothing can harm you. I love you, I'll never leave...
She reaches that same hand up and touches my cheek, looking into my eyes. Almost immediately, I'm overcome with the need to hold her. I curl my arms around her, and she melts into my chest, returning the embrace. And in that movement, that one connection, I know she feels it.
"I love you, Skye." I can't help it, and it's out before I even realize it was said out loud.
"I think I love you, too," she barely makes any sound at all, and tears begin rolling down her cheeks.
~ Right, so, did you think this was good? Is the relationship between Tony and Skye too much? Oh well... :) Review! Review! ~
