Ok, the hospital scene. I would like to point out that my knowlege of what it is like to be a patient in an American hospital is limited to what I have learned from ER, Grey's anatomy and House. I would like to thank Karen B. Jones for reminding me that throwing in a thousand tiny details is not what makes a decent story. I was getting caught up on things that had no impact whatsoever but that's over now.

On with the story. and as always, I love getting reviews and you guys are fantastic reviewers! I have also now turned on the anonymous review option so for those of you who have been unable to review, now is your chance.

(This chapter jumps about in time a bit. so a ... between paragraphs indicates change of perspective or scene, a ... depicts a longer passage of time.)


She stood in the ER waiting room, her head handing down and her arm cradled against her chest. The excruciating pain had subsided, leaving a dull ache that was deceptively bearable, until she moved even just a little bit. The car ride had been quiet, only the sound of her own breathing, heavy from the pain, had broken the silence. She was leaning her good shoulder against Megamind's chest with one of his arms around her hip, supporting her as Minion drove as quickly and as carefully as he could manage. Minion had parked the car in a quiet side street just over a block away from the hospital before turning to send a poignant look at his boss and gestured to an apparently empty glove compartment in the centre console of the car.

Megamind had nodded before turning to face the woman sitting beside him. He had suggested that she go in alone, his presence would only cause a panic. He smirked a moment later and indicated to his current state of dress, naked to the waist, causing a blush to spread up her neck. He had smiled as he asked her if she would be OK and she simply nodded, putting on her poker face before watching him lean over her, his shoulder brushing up against her, as he opened the door for her from the inside.

Now, she was watching the other occupants of the waiting room through her bangs, trying to spot anyone who may be showing more that a cursory interest in her. Over the years, as her 'celebrity' status grew thanks to her part in the rivalry of the city's resident hero and villain, she had become all too aware of the type of people who were likely to cause her some trouble. As technology became more advanced and camera phones grew in their popularity, she knew all to well that even a 10 year old could be a threat to her privacy.

The room was, naturally, full of sick people, all looking like they were trying to sink into whatever wall they were leaning against or trying desperately to find that elusive comfy position in the harsh plastic chairs. Whispered conversations drifted in and out of range as she noticed one man sitting in the far corner scribing notes furiously onto a piece of paper at the same time as muttering into a Dictaphone. From the looks of him he was neither injured nor sick and for some reason, Roxanne would have put money on the fact that he was not here for a friend or loved one.

She heaved a heavy sigh as she turned her face away and focused all of her attention onto er peripheral vision. Sure enough as soon as she looked away the man's eyes rose, studying her form intently as he continued to make his notes. Just to test her theory she shifted around the wall she was leaning against, moving innocently so that his view of her was obstructed. After a few moments she glanced around the room again noting with some amusement that the man had switched seats so he could see her once again. She contemplated going over to him to offer him a few choice words when a nurse marched into the waiting room gaining everyone's attention.

"Roxanne Ritchie?" The nurse said loudly as the rest of the rooms occupants turned away once again. Roxanne smirked as she pushed away from the wall, turning back towards the other end of the room.

"Oh and Sir? Yeah, you with the note pad." She yelled, watching with satisfaction as the man paused in his note-taking and looked up at her, "It's 'Roxanne'! Two 'n's and one 'e'! Got it? Good." With that she turned and followed he nurse back to the cubicles, preparing herself for a very long night.

"Sir, shouldn't we be heading back to the Lair?" Minion asked as he at in the car, waiting for Megamind to give him another order. It had been over an hour since Roxanne had left the car and gone to the hospital yet they remained parked in the same place. He had started to pull away as soon as Roxanne was out of sight but Megamind had stopped him, telling him to wait.

"Hush, Minion!" Megamind snapped as he cupped his hand over his ear, "they just called her name."

"Sir!" Minion span around in his dome and send a shocked look at his boss, "you bugged her?"

"Shut up Minion!" Megamind hissed as he focused on the faint sound coming from the ear piece he had pressed into his ear.

When she had been leaning against him in the car he had placed the small electronic bug in her hair. While it was one of the more basic devices, only transmitting sound for about half-a-mile, it was very small and very thin and he was confident that neither she nor the hospital staff would find it. He didn't feel particularly good about the deception but he needed to know what was going on and he simply couldn't go in there with her in person. He cursed himself, and minion, for not having a disguise generator watch stashed in the car and made a mental note to build a couple to keep in there in case of emergencies.

He closed his eyes in concentration as he could hear a doctor confirming Roxanne's details.

"OK Miss Ritchie, so what seems to be the problem?" The doctor in front of her was quite literally a walking cliché. A pale white man in a white lab coat complete with pocket protector, stethoscope around his neck, friendly yet detached expression and bags under his eyes from lack of sleep.

"Errm..." Roxanne said, suddenly feeling a bit silly and self-conscious, "my arm kinda hurts."

"OK, lets take a look shall we?" Dr Hagen said as he produced a pair of spectacles from his coat pocket. Placing them on his nose he leaned in for a closer look at the offending arm as if the diagnosis would be written on her skin. She cast a dubious look at the nurse who stood behind him, only receiving a shrug in response.

"Hmmm..." The doctor said as he reached out and took hold of her arm. She winced in pain as he extended it out in front of her, watching her reaction carefully. He let go after she bit back a yelp of pain when he tried to rotate her wrist. He turned to the nurse and rattled off a list of instruction that Roxanne could hardly follow before he left suddenly, the curtain swishing in his wake.

Roxanne cradled her arm against her, glaring at the doctors retreating back as he disappeared round a partition. The nurse smiled sympathetically as she prepared the needles and implements she needed.

"I thought doctors were supposed to have a good bedside manner?" She grumbled as she lay back against the bed.

"You'd be surprised. The way I hear it it is a pretty cut-throat business, if you pardon the pun." She laughed lightly, "it's us nurses that have the people skills! Sometimes I think the Doc's have their heads stuffed so full of science that they forget how to actually talk to people!"

"Feh!" Roxanne snorted, a smirk forming on her lips, "I know what you mean!"

"Now, Miss Ritchie," The nurse said as she picked up a clip board, "it would help if you could tell us what happened to cause these injuries."

Roxanne went pale as she tried to think of something to tell her. She wanted to tell the truth, that she had broken her wrist when she brained Metroman with a solid metal rod and that he injured her chest by shoving her carelessly out of the way. She rolled her eyes to herself as she imagined what people would say to that. The first thing would be 'Is Megamind forcing you to say these things?' and then they would move onto thoughts of mind-controll rays which would lead them inevitably on to an amateur diagnosis of Stockholm Syndrome. Thoughts of Megamind and the way he had been treating her recently flowed through her mind. The way he had held onto her as they flew over the city on his hover bike, the way he had kissed her that night in her apartment, the way he had saved her life, nearly loosing his own in the process during the museum explosion. She looked up at that thought, trying to remember what she had told the police. It had only really been a few hours ago yet is seemed like a lifetime had passed.

"I-I fell," She stammered, trying to remember exactly what she had said in her statement, "last night, when the museum was bombed, I was walking past and the explosion threw me into the fountain. I must have banged my arm then."

"Did it start hurting immediately?" The nurse asked with a raised eyebrow, Roxanne refusing to meet her eyes.

"Errm, no... no it was some time this morning that it started to hurt. I guess it must have been the shock." Roxanne said with an unconscious shrug which was quickly followed by a wince of pain. The nurse made far too many notes on the form before nodding and asking if there was anyone that Roxanne wanted them to contact. She shook her head and turned away as the nurse went about taking some blood samples for apparently routine tests.

She didn't like blaming her injuries on the explosion. She knew all too well that the news of her injuries would make the late breaking news, if not the headlines, and that the public would inevitably blame them on Megamind. She herself had in the past been quick to blame Megamind for one thing or another that had happened to the city with little or no explanation.

"OK, that's all of them!" The nurse said happily as she labelled up the vials of blood, "you will be taken up to have some x-rays done shortly, just sit tight, yeah? We just need you to slip into this gown before we take you up to radiology, OK?" With that the nurse left, closing the curtains behind her.

Roxanne heaved an unhappy sigh, every ounce of energy having been drained by the events of the past few days. Her mind was clouded by conflicting thoughts and emotions to the extent that she wasn't even sure of herself any more. She had willingly gone to Megamind the night before because she was concerned for his welfare! Maybe it was Stockholm Syndrome. Everyone said that people who were truly insane spent their lives unaware of that very fact. Maybe this was simply her version of it. She got changed in a daze and placed her belongings into a plastic bag hanging on the side of the bed. She was still lost deep within her thoughts when a porter appeared saying he was taking her up to radiology.

"Damn it!" Megamind cursed as he ripped the earpiece out of his ear, throwing it against the inside of the car, "She isn't wearing the bug any more, or it's out of range!"

"Well then, maybe we should head home Sir." Minion said as he turned the car on, he watched the hesitation on his bosses face and smiled reassuringly, "We can pick up a couple of the watches, not to mention a change of clothes for you Sir, then we could come back and see if she is OK. After all, Sir, we need to know more about her expected recovery time in order to plan your next evil scheme."

"Quick Minion! Back to the lair!" Megamind said as his face brightened quickly, "We shall return when we are better equipped to infiltrate this medical facility!"

"Good idea Sir!" Minion smiled to himself as he pulled sharply out of the side street, glad that his boss was getting back to his usual self.

…...

57 white tiles, 3 sporting brown stains that were both disguising and fascinating at the same time, made up the ceiling to the side room she had been moved into. There were 27 vertical slats to the blinds on the window and the small reinforced window in the door to the room had 197 lines of wire running through it.

It had been 4 hours since she had left radiology. They had taken her to an observation ward but soon found that neither her nor the nursing staff were going to get any peace while she was on the open ward. Patient after patient begged to be allowed out of their beds in order to request an autograph from the famous TV personality to such an extent that the nurses were tempted to ignore the persistent call buzzers.

The side room they had moved her into had a window that looked out over a courtyard garden but only gave her a limited view of the sky. She had discovered with vague interest that someone at some point had jimmied open the safety catches, allowing the full size window to swing open to it's fullest extent. Not that there was any way of getting down to the ground 3 floors below.

Roxanne contented herself with sitting in the visitor chair, which she had pulled with some degree of effort over to the window, and looked up at the small square of sky the view allowed. The day had turned out bright and sunny with a few fluffy white clouds drifting across the city lazily. She smiled to herself despite her abject boredom as she allowed her mind to spot shapes in the clouds, something she hadn't done since she was a kid visiting the city park with her mother. She was snapped out of her thoughts when the door opened and yet another fresh-faced young doctor came in holding a clip board and a large brown envelope.

"Sorry about the wait Miss Ritchie." He said as he flipped a switch on the wall. The light box flickered into life as he clipped on a set of x-rays and examined them closely, "oooookay... Well Miss Ritchie, do you want the good news or the bad news?" He said with a smile as he watched her sit back up on the bed.

"The bad news." She said quickly as she tried prevent the smile that tugged on her lips. This guy was the first doctor she had come across that had even a hint of a personality let alone a sense of humour.

"Bad news is you're going to need surgery." He said seriously, pointing at a specific part of her x-ray, "You are now the proud owner of a broken metacarpal, two shattered carpal bones, a clean break to the radius head at the wrist, a fractured clavicle and two fractured ribs. You, Miss Ritchie, are one very lucky woman."

"So, what's the good news?" Roxanne said as she sat back against the bed, she looked down at her hand, not really understanding how so much damage could have occurred when her hand was only really aching.

"Well, those broken ribs could have easily punctured your lung if they had been much worse. And, well, I'm pretty sure you get to keep your arm." The doctor said with a smile, his eyes twinkling under his dark eyebrows. "we do have some of the best surgeons in the country on the team, but... you know." He shrugged as he picked up his clip board and went to sit in a chair by the bed, "Now, I'm going to explain the operation to you, OK, and then the nurses will come in to get you prepared."

Roxanne nodded and did her best to focus on what the doctor was saying. He went through the process very clearly, pointing out on a diagram where they would have to attach pins to her wrist to keep the bones in place. The hardest to fix would be the shattered small bones in her wrist, some of he pieces would simply have to be removed. The broken ribs and collar bone would heal eventually on their own providing they didn't break further and the inflammation around the injuries would heal over time. Roxanne nodded when the doctor told her she was going to have to be in a cast for a number of weeks to allow her arm time to heal.

As the implications of this sank in, the doctor left, leaving Roxanne alone with her thoughts once more. The doctor was right about one thing. She was very, very lucky. Metroman had only shoved her out of the way, if he had used even a little more power, or had seen her as anything more than a minor irritation, then things may have been very different. She made a mental note to send him the bill for her medical expenses.

...

She could hear voices wafting in and out of focus, like someone was playing with the volume control on a radio. Her entire body felt heavy, like she was sinking into the mattress and she got the feeling that it was ignoring everything she told it to do. She could feel everything, she knew instinctively that she was in a bed, crisp sheets tucked in around her, yet she couldn't move her arms or legs. She took a deep breath, her mind seemingly unable to panic despite her situation so instead she focused on the sounds around her.

"Hey, you still with us?" A voice said as she felt something, or someone, grasp her hand gently. She forced her eyes to open but she couldn't focus on anything, just a bright white light.

"Oh thank goodness! You're awake! I thought I'd lost you!" The voice said again. Her mind reeled, trying to figure out what had happened.

"Wha..." She tried to speak but her throat was dry and raw, her voice croaky, "what happened?" She finally managed to ask, the hand holding onto hers tightened and a blurry figure came into view above her.

"You had surgery on you arm," The voice said softly, she knew that she knew who it was but for some reason her brain would not connect the dots. Instead she tried to focus on what had happened to her. Through the fog came the image of a hospital, with a doctor telling her that her arm was broken and needed surgery.

"Why didn't you tell me it was this bad? I knew he had hurt you but-but this!" The voice said, relief mixing with anger. Roxanne closed her eyes and tried to focus on the voice, tried to make sense of hat the person was saying. She had been with Megamind when she had been injured but it wasn't him that had hurt her, he had brought her to the hospital. She tried to tighten her hand on his and was relieved to feel his squeeze hers back in confirmation.

"Meg-uh," She said, coughing slightly and trying to swallow the meagre amount of saliva that had built up in her mouth to lubricate her sore throat, "Megamind..." She tried to smile as she felt his hand tighten and she hoped the expression made it to her face, "Megamind, I-"

"It's OK, Roxie." The voice said firmly, cutting through the fog in her mind. That one word struck a cord and forced her to come to the surface of consciousness, "He can't hurt you here."

"Wha-" Roxanne said as she blinked furiously, trying to get her eyes to work properly. She peered up at the blurry figure in front of her, his silhouette seeming to grow and expand as his form came into focus. A swell of disappointment filled her as the face of the city's hero came into view, a serious look on his face.

"I am so sorry Roxie! I should never have left you there with him!" He was saying as he leaned over her, her hand still held tightly in his, "I swear, as soon as I know you are OK I'm gonna haul him back to jail and make sure he stays there! Even if I have to sit outside his cell all the time!"

Roxanne's eyes began to focus more as he continued his heroic monologue, the pieces of the puzzle joining together. Her memories flooded back to her, everything that had led up to her current situation. She wanted to shout at him. To yell that it wasn't Megamind that had hurt her, that it was he himself that had done it and he didn't even realise it! Her body betrayed her by refusing to respond in the correct way so she simply lay there, trying to force her body to work. As she looked away from the hero who was busy declaring his intention to stop at no lengths to protect her, a doctor was busy looking over a set of x-rays on the light box on the wall opposite the bed, they had obviously been taken after the operation as the metal pins were glaringly obvious even to her foggy vision.

"She is going to be OK, isn't she Doc?" Wayne asked suddenly as he looked up at the doctor. The man didn't turn around, simply nodded and muttered a confirmation which appeared to be enough for the hero who went back to rambling on to Roxanne, seemingly unaware of the fact that she wasn't listening in the slightest.

There was something about the doctor that was holding her attention. He was distinctly average in size with a completely bald head sitting atop a long neck. The collar on his lab coat was pulled up against the back of his neck which made him look a little shorter than he probably was. His hand reached up to the x-rays on the light box, tracing the lines of the broken bones in her arm, now held together with metal pins. He seemed to nod absently, apparently pleased with the level of work that had been done. His spine stiffened after something that Wayne said and he turned slightly to look at her, his eyes widening in shock when he found that she was staring at him.

She smiled slightly at him and nodded, the slight quickening of her pulse made glaringly obvious by the ECG machine beeping incessantly at her shoulder. She held his gaze for what seemed like an eternity until his expression softened into one of relief before a question asked by Wayne had him breaking eye contact. His luminous green eyes, a colour impossible in the eyes of any other being on the planet, snapped up the the hero as a badly hidden glare found it's way to his face.

"I'm sorry friend, I guess you mustn't have heard me." Wayne said, that smile that was unmistakably his plastered on his face, "I was wondering if, now that Miss Ritchie is awake, should you be performing some of your medical tests to ascertain her level of health and recovery?"

The 'doctor' nodded, his eyes darting from his oblivious rival back to Roxanne as he walked around her bed towards the door. As Wayne turned his attention back to the woman in the bed, the doctor looked over his shoulder, making eye contact with her once again. He smiled at her and nodded, pleased with her progress. She smiled back and hoped to god that she didn't blush when he smirked and winked at her devilishly before exiting the room. A few moments later a new doctor entered the room and began to check her over, insisting that Wayne leave the room during the examination. Roxanne could only hope that Megamind had made it out off the ward before anyone could take too close a look at him.

"Why is he..." Roxanne croaked before the pain in her throat became too much for her to bear. The nurse passed her an ice chip to suck on to sooth her dry mouth and throat as she noted down the woman's vital signs.

"We figured you would want people to know about what had happened to you so one of us called the Mayor to inform him. He called Metroman and he got here right when you came out of theatre." The nurse said with a smile, "He says that that monster is going to really pay for hurting you this time! Honestly, what did he have to gain by blowing up the museum like that! I'm sure he must have known you were there! You are lucky to be alive!"

"You have no idea." Roxanne muttered as she turned her face away from the nurse, watching this new doctor looking over her x-rays.

Megamind stormed out of the ward, his fists clenched at his sides, trembling with the effort of simply putting one foot in front of the other. He had been sitting by her bedside for the longest time, ever since she was brought out of theatre and back onto the ward. His heart had nearly jumped out of his chest when the proximity alarm on his watch suddenly beeped, announcing with only a few seconds grace that Metroman was yet again approaching. He only had time to spin out of the chair and pretend to look over the heart monitor when the hero had burst into the room, a look of panic on his face.

The hero had swiftly moved to the woman's bedside, snatching up her good hand in his. One of her arms was curved over her chest, supported away from her body slightly by some strapping suspended from a metal contraption. Megamind forced himself to focus on the steady beat of her heart on the monitor, noting with a smile that it didn't even flutter when the hero had come in.

Noticing her x-rays up on the light box, the villain moved over to examine them, trying to block out the hero's self-righteous declarations of devotion and protection. Not to mention his promise to 'make Megamind pay for what he has done'. It took every ounce of his self control not to turn around and yell at the idiot that Roxanne's current state of health was entirely his own fault and no one else's.

His spine stiffened as the hero asked him a question and thankfully the man seemed to be satisfied by a vague confirmation of the woman's recovery. Indeed, the work shown on the x-rays did seem to be of a satisfactory standard and would, in time, heal the broken bones perfectly. The work that had been done on her wrist was intricate and precise, many pieces of shattered bone having been removed. Megamind absently stroked his goatee as he focused on that part of the x-ray. Her wrist would be giving her trouble for a very long time, she may even feel some minor effects of the injury for the rest of her life.

A shiver shot up his spine as something that Wayne said hit home and he turned around to shoot a glare at the hulking man but stopped short when he was met with a pair of sleep-clouded blue eyes. She was staring right into him, as if she could see everything he was trying to hide. The moment stretched on forever as he simply stared back at her, a change in the tempo of the incessant beeping of the ECG machine the only thing that managed to break through to him, and when her eyes had followed him across the room as he went to leave, he shot her a dazzling smirk and winked evilly. The look that crossed her face was well worth the risk of being spotted by the oblivious hero who was still busily gushing emotionally at her. The buzz had faded as soon as he left the room, leaving him with little more than anger at what Metroman had done and what he seemed to be completely unaware of. He tried to calm himself down as he marched through the hospital corridors on his way to the roof.

...

Roxanne sat up in the hospital bed, flicking through the meagre channel choice on the room's TV. She was trying to find something, anything that wasn't the news, that would simply give her mind something to focus on. With a sigh, she eventually settled on a shopping channel and resigned herself to learning all about the modern day miracle effects of a home gym system. It had been two days since she had woken up in hospital with Wayne clinging onto her good arm. Eventually the nurses had got him to leave and she had used what little strength she could gather to make it abundantly clear to them that she wanted no more visitors, not even the city's hero. They had thought she was joking until she threatened them with a lawsuit for breaching patient confidentiality when she hadn't given permission for them to contact anyone about her condition.

Her arm was in a plaster cast from her hand to her elbow, her shoulder was strapped up and she had bandages wrapped firmly around her chest. The parts of her upper body that were still exposed had gone various sickening shades of green and purple as the bruising to her skin and muscles developed. She glanced up ruefully at the drip bag suspended from the pole by the side of the bed. The painkillers were doing a good job of numbing the pain but still, even breathing hurt. Her arm wasn't giving her much trouble but she tried not to think about it, knowing from stories her friends had told her of unbearable itchiness day and night.

She flicked the channel over again and paused, glaring at the picture. Metroman was standing in front of the remains of the museum, his costume pristine and his smile dazzling, as per usual. It had been the breaking news banner below the posing hero that had gotten her attention and she shifted to her knees, moving to the end of the bed, closer to the TV.

"Once again, Metro City is indebted to our hero, Metroman, for once again foiling the dastardly plots of the evil Megamind," Roxanne rolled her eyes at the sound of the reporter's voice. She knew the woman who was now undoubtedly batting her eyelashes at the smug hero. She was blond and sickeningly skinny with a tiny waist that disappeared into an almost non existent butt that she had no doubt covered with the smallest, thinnest scrap of material the network would allow. She was the only person in the whole of metro city that seemed capable of diverting Hal's attention away from Roxanne and for some reason she just couldn't bring herself to feel sorry for the girl.

"I'm simply doing my duty to the city," Metroman said, his smile all but glinting in the afternoon sunlight, "I'm simply sorry that I couldn't prevent this dastardly plot from taking place in the first place. It was fortunate that the explosion went off in the middle of the night so only one person was seriously injured, but that is one person too many for my liking." The look of superiority was only matched in magnitude by the look of disdain Roxanne levelled at his image.

"Oh you have no idea you great stupid muscle-head!" Roxanne muttered, her voice croaky and sore, "There was someone hurt in the explosion you idiot but it wasn't me!"

"Indeed, we have heard of the tragedy that has struck our very own reporter, Roxanne Ritchie. Our sources say you have been keeping a vigil by her hospital bed, what can you tell us of her recovery?"

"She is putting on a brave face but I know she is deeply cut up by the whole event. There is no doubt that the bombing was intended for her. She has had surgery to correct the damage caused and now I'm pleased to say she and the rest of the city are safe from evil once again!" Roxanne frowned first in confusion then in shock and finally in anger as she watched the footage switch to a VT of the outside of Metro City prison. Metroman landed centre stage with Megamind dangling from a rope tied tightly around his waist.

He looked pissed. More so than she had ever seen him before. As the camera crew ran towards the pair the audio was muted out as Megamind undoubtedly let out a stream of language that by rights should have turned the air as blue as his skin, all of them aimed directly at the grinning Metroman who was standing over the incapacitated alien smugly.

"Metroman! Metroman! Have you arrested Megamind for destroying your museum?" Someone yelled from behind the camera. Metroman hauled Megamind up to his feet and pushed him in the direction of the approaching prison guards before turning to face the camera.

"Megamind is a criminal who deserves to be behind bars. I captured him following his devastating attack on the Metroman Museum during which he intentionally caused great bodily harm to Miss Roxanne Ritchie." The hero was interrupted by a very loud and very angry swear word. The camera span around to see Megamind straining against the prison guard, his face full of fury aimed at the hero.

"You have got to be the biggest, most idiotic, completely incompetent beep excuse for a muscle-bound hero this blasted rock has ever seen!" It was clear he wanted to continue but the prison guards managed to drag him inside the prison building, cutting off his rant in mid flow.

Roxanne turned off the TV and threw the remote angrily against the soft chair beside the bed before crawling in a very undignified manner back to the top of the bed, pressing the call button furiously. A few moments later a nurse entered the room, a calm smile on her face.

"Can I help you Miss Ritchie?" She said as she moved around the bed to make note of Roxanne's progress, seemingly oblivious to the mental state the woman had worked herself up into.

"Yes, you can get me whatever damn form I need to sign to get out of here!" Roxanne said, her tone harsher than she had meant it to be. The nurse looked up at her sharply, the smile fading from her face.

"I don't really think that is a good idea Miss Ritchie. It had only been two days since your operation. We need to monitor your-"

"I don't care what you need to monitor! I want to go home. I will come in as an out-patient if you insist on it but either way I am going to walk out of here today weather I sign those forms or not, now either you bring me the forms or I simply leave. You can't stop me!" Roxanne punctuated her rant by pulling the drip from her arm with her teeth, holding the wound against her gown to stop the bleeding. She yanked the plastic bag containing her belongings from the bedside cupboard and dumped them out onto the bed before glaring at the nurse, daring her to stay while she got changed.

"I'll go get the doctor." The nurse stammered as she hurried out of the room.

"Just make sure he brings the damn forms!" Roxanne yelled after her as she hurried down the corridor.

After the doctor had been and concluded that Roxanne was mentally fit enough to discharge herself, he allowed her to sign the forms under the strict instruction that she was to continue taking her pain medication and antibiotics and was to report for outpatient appointments and check ups once a week. Slipping her feet into her high heels, she strutted confidently down the busy corridors, her arm supported by a speciality sling that kept the weight of her arm off her neck and shoulder. She made it out to the car park before realising that she had no form of transportation and she had spent all her money on the out-of-hours taxi ride to old-town the night of the explosion.

With an angry sigh she began the long walk back to her apartment, the adrenalin fuelled anger keeping her pace brisk and her expression stony. The few people who noticed her on the streets either pretended not to or simply watched her go by in silence.

Roxanne's temper was beginning to dissolve into tired frustration when the first big drops of a heavy downpour hit her head. With a grumbling sigh she turned down a narrow side street, a short-cut she normally took in the van when she was able to take it home with her, but was brought up short by the sound of a car approaching from behind her. She turned to look and began to step off to the side to allow the car to pass but stopped when she saw there was nothing behind her. The hairs on the back of her nick prickled as the noise grew louder until it settled beside her. A sudden bust of light and form appearing in mid air shocked her into stumbling backwards against a dumpster.

"Miss Ritchie! Are you OK? Why are you out of the hospital?" A kind and very concerned voice asked as she regained her footing. When she looked up she was confronted by Minion's customary concerned smile.

"Minion?" Roxanne gasped as she winced when her shoulder complained about the rough treatment, "What are you...?"

"Sir instructed some of the brainbots to monitor your stay in the hospital. They alerted me to your early discharge and so I came to see if you were OK. You shouldn't be out of hospital, you have not yet fully recovered!" He pushed open the passenger door and motioned for her to get inside which she did with no protest what-so-ever.

"I saw the news Minion, I just couldn't stay in there knowing what people are saying. Besides I need to have a very long chat with Wayne about getting his facts straight before going around pointing fingers!"

"You shouldn't be out here on your own though, you'll catch your death out in the rain like this!" Minion sighed to himself in a way that made Roxanne believe he had had this very discussion with Megamind on more than one occasion, "I'll take you home, I cant let you wander around out here on your own like that. Besides, you look like you haven't eaten properly in days, you will need help with cooking while your arm is like that!"

With a nod of his head, Minion drove towards Roxanne's apartment, seemingly having made his mind up to help her out. Roxanne settled back into the comfy seat and wondered exactly when she had become so comfortable with all of this. She had got to know minion quite well over the years and she knew beyond a doubt that the fish didn't have an evil bone in his body. All he wanted to do was make his friend happy and for some reason he had decided to extend this consideration to her as well. Roxanne decided that she had little choice but to accept his help for the time being, especially as he stomach had started to grumble loudly at the very mention of actual cooking.


A/N: Ok, I do not like this chapter but hey, it is out of the way now. next time there will be more character interaction and...stuff.

Next chapter: Wayne gets a serious ear bashing, Minion does some babysitting, Roxanne breaks a few laws and Megamind gets an offer he can't refuse.