She dressed quickly that next morning and cleaned the lab, leaving it exactly as it was when she arrived. She assumed they had fixed the gun as she woke up in the morning with all wounds healed. She glanced at the RED Medic's bedroom door before sneaking out and into the silent base. It was too early for anyone but the night watch to be awake.
"So you vere going to leave vithout even saying goodbye?" the RED doctor asked from behind her.
She spun around. "Vould you stop doing that? Just appearing behind me or in front of me all ze time! Walk beside me from now on! After last night, I assumed ve veren't friends. I know I need some time to calm down. I hoped you did too."
"Of course ve are still friends. I'm sorry for my attitude. I vas angry. It seemed like I vas not your first choice. But it does not matter if you vere vith Spy."
"No, it doesn't. But ve both need zhis job. Ve cannot do zhis."
"I know. I just couldn't let you leave angry."
"I vill be vaiting for your Uber notes tonight. See you in battle, Herr Doktor."
It would be better for her if she kept their interactions short. She already felt like her chest was being crushed by her sadness without him coming to apologize. She held her head high and walked briskly out of the RED base. She never turned to look behind her but she could feel his eyes boring into her back.
She furiously scribbled a copy of her notes later that evening in her office. She caught up on her sleep when she first arrived but hadn't worked much that day. Once her team was awake, they threw her a party. She strongly suspected it was more an excuse to drink rather than joy at her return. She did have to admit that whoever furnished her lab made sure she had quality equipment. She finally finished and ran outside to go exchange the notes. The RED Medic was patiently with a manila envelope in hand.
"You're late." he greeted curiously.
"Ve had a few drinks to celebrate my return. I did not realize ze time."
"Wundabar! Here you go. Pay careful attention to ze vording, okay? It's a good read. Guten nacht, Doktor."
She would never get used to his mood swings. She walked back with the notes, more confused than ever. She sent the last few partiers to bed and cleaned before heading to read in her new lab. She frowned and reexamined the papers. There were a few spots that were written strangely. They made sense as sentences but it seemed he'd substituted some words for others. She began making a list of the words and noticed a message.
"Can we try again?"
She stared at the message in shock. There was no way to try again. Although, she wanted to. They hadn't even really had a beginning. She smiled and jotted down a response to put into her notes for tomorrow.
"Yes. How?"
Over the next few months, they snuck in letters to each other inside the Uber notes. Sometimes, they told each other about their day or little anecdotes about their past. Other times, it was flirting or scenarios for late, lonely nights. They made sure to switch up the code often to prevent being caught. It was very similar to just writing letters to each other.
During battles, the violence got heated. She had accepted the respawn system and the fear that came with it all. To let out the pent-up frustration, the two Germans had taken to attacking each other as often as possible. She thought of it as playful flirting. Her team often asked her what great wrong had caused the hatred between the two. She usually laughed in response.
Unfortunately, they had made little progress on the Uber research. Her last formula had actually made it shorter. They had divided the workload with him working on Spy Head's vulnerability and her fiddling with the Uber. She was working in her lab late one evening while her Spy was watching on. He was in one of his rare civil moods with her.
"So what's been going on with you and the other Medic? You've been at each other for months." he asked suddenly.
She shot him a warning look and indicated the camera. "Ve got in a fight. Ve both said some nasty things. Vhy are you in here instead of vith your friend?"
"I couldn't handle it tonight. He was telling Scout about a phone call he got this evening. From her."
"You still haven't told him?"
"What good did it do you?"
"He's BLU! Medic is RED!"
"He has a girlfriend. If I tell him, it will be the day I leave. That way I won't destroy our friendship."
"It's destroying you, mein Freund."
He winked at her and slid closer. "I can think of something that would make us both feel better."
"No, it vouldn't. Ve vould both regret it. You'll have to deal vith it. I am."
"Ha! Mon ami, I see the way you two fight. That is not coping."
"Did you come in here just to mock and attempt to seduce me or did you need somezhing? I have vork to do." she asked angrily.
"Neither. Forgive me if I am on edge. It has not been an easy year. Ever since that damned girl."
"A year? Zhat's vhen you realized?"
"Non, it was a few months before that. Do you have any idea what it's like to want someone of the same sex? There are very few places that are okay with it. It's still outlawed in many countries. And then the girl came along. I thought it would be the perfect buffer."
"But?"
"But he's happy. Without me. That is why I came in tonight. We are both unhappy and can do nothing about it for fear of being persecuted. Who else would understand but you?"
"Vell, Demo is separated from his best friend."
"Oui, but not his love. No one is to know about this. You are my docteur. Consider this an appointment."
"Ah, so you needed therapy? I vould've zhought you vere too proud."
"There is nothing wrong with needing help. Or just a sympathetic ear. Like with this project, why is it taking so long?"
"It is complicated. I need to make sure all ze chemicals react ze right vay and stay in balance. It cannot be permanent as zhat vould just create a stalemate constantly. However, it cannot be shorter vhich zhis last batch is doing. I need to find ze right combination zhat isn't harmful, permanent, or expensive. I'm beginning to zhink it can't be done."
"You give up too easily."
"So I've been told. I'm just tired of so much fighting. Can't something be easy?"
"That is life, mon cher."
"I'm done for ze night. Vant to go see if the TV in ze lounge is free?"
"I don't want to go out there. Not yet."
She watched him sadly. "Let's stay. I believe I have some books. Zhey are in German, though."
"I don't care. Read them to me."
She gathered the books then rolled her padded office chair over to Spy. She grabbed the harder plastic one for herself. She needed to make sure she stayed awake to give the other doctor her notes. Spy leaned back and lit a cigarette as she began to read. She usually read to Pyro on some nights so even though neither knew what she was reading, she liked to add pitches and hand gestures as she spoke. She read for several pages before Spy groaned and stood.
"Compared to French, German sounds terrible, mon ami. No offense."
"No offense? You just insulted my native tongue. You know, I miss vhen you veren't such an asshole."
He laughed at this. "I do feel better now. Go run along and deliver your papers. I'll be in the lounge if you need me."
"Vhy vould I? Goodnight, Spy."
She grabbed her lab coat and began the walk outside to the midpoint between bases. She was running late yet again. She shivered against the cold air and checked her watch. The RED Medic should've been there. He was always punctual. She never knew him to be late. She glanced around the area once more before strolling into the RED base. Maybe he'd had a breakthrough and was in his lab. She heard voices as she approached the doors.
"Medic? I have tonight's notes!" she called out.
"Come on in, darlin'!" a different voice responded.
She entered the back room and found the RED Engineer and Medic. They had piles and piles of bread along with some teleporters. She glanced at all the notes and speciman jars sitting on the counter.
"Vhat's going on? Vhat have you done to ze bread?" she asked.
"Ve've discovered somezhing. Show her, Engineer."
The Texan nodded and grabbed a fresh loaf from the pile beside him. He adjusted his goggles and sent the loaf through the teleporter entrance. A few seconds later, it exited over by the two doctors. The RED Medic pushed her back a step and broke open the bread. It was filled with green, pulsating growths.
She stared at him. "Does zhis mean vhat I zhink it does?"
"If you're going to ask if we can still teleport bread, the answer is yes." Engineer joked.
"How long?"
"I'd say about sixty-five hours now. We all use the teleporter a lot. Maybe longer for you, but I don't think that's much help."
"Are you okay, frauline?"
"I need to go tell my team. Oh Mein Gott. Are you sure?"
The RED Medic grasped both her hands tightly and gave her a meaningful, sad look. She nodded, took a deep breath, and hurried toward her base. Sixty hours? How could no one notice until now? She had done tests on everyone months ago! Perhaps it was part of the new teleporter technology. She pounded on the bedroom doors and gathered her team into the intel room to deliver the news.
"Ah c'mon, Doc! We're dying every other day. You really expect this time to be any different. Just heal us with your Medigun."
"It vouldn't vork, Scout. My gun and ze respawn vould just see ze tumors as pieces of you rather zhan foreign bodies."
"BLU wouldn't let us die, mate. Don't worry." Sniper shrugged.
"Vell I plan on doing somezhing vith my three days. I hope you all do ze same."
She stormed off to her lab to run some tests. Sure, the REDs were testing the bread over and over but what about them? Bread was nothing like the human flesh. Or at least she hoped. She grabbed Soldier on her way and showed him how to operate the MRI. She removed her glasses and coat before laying in the machine. She waited for the scan to be complete then nearly ran to the controls.
"What are we looking for, ma'am?" Soldier asked.
"Any abnormalities or signs of tumors. You've all been here longer so if I have somezhing, you do. So far ze organs are clear."
He pointed. "And what's that?"
She sighed. "Zhat, Herr Soldier, is a brain tumor. It's true. It's in a tricky place and much more advanced zhan I'd hoped too. I don't suppose you know how to do brain surgery, do you?"
"Not if you want survive it. Did you want to run more tests?"
"No. Zhank you, Soldier. You can rest now. I'll be studying zhis for a vhile so I'll take vatch."
"I'm not leaving you alone, ma'am. News like this is big. I'll sit here with you."
She growled but resisted the urge to shout at him. He really was looking out for her but she wanted to be alone. She shouldn't have been surprised. She was in her fifties now and had survived a war just to join this one. Death wasn't unknown to her. But at least she always had a way to fight it. She examined the slides over and over again but unless she had a specialist, there was no way of getting to the tumor. Everyone else was dying as well so what was the point? She hated the finality of it.
"Solider, I vill find a way to beat zhis. Ve vill not go down vithout a fight."
"Now that's what I like to hear! What sort of treatment are you planning?"
"Surgeries." she said smiling.
That next day, she scoured her medical texts and journals looking for alternative medicine. There were a few procedures involving radiation and drugs but she wouldn't be able to get the proper equipment in time. She still didn't know how bad the tumors had invaded the others yet. She tossed aside her current book and stood. Maybe the REDs had made progress. Maybe the Medic knew something about brains. She entered his lab and found them working on the bread from last night.
"Are you still teleporting bread?"
"Vhat? Oh hello, Medic! Yes, ve've been testing out different medicines to try and kill ze tumors. Nozhing yet, I'm afraid."
"I ran a test on one of my team and found a brain tumor. No signs or symptoms yet but it's dug in deep. Vhat did you specialize in, Doktor?"
"Isn't it obvious? Cardio. A brain tumor, hmm? Vhat about ze rest of ze body?"
"Clean. Absolutely clean. I specialized in trauma so I haven't found a good way of treating it. I do not have ze skills or ze tools. Vhat do you zhink?"
"It sounds like you'll be losing a teammate. Did you vant to help? Ve are very busy, you see."
"Nein. I do not see how bread vill help. Let me know if you figure out anyzhing. I doubt I'll be seeing you tonight."
She waited for a response but he had just discovered a new growth on this loaf. She shrugged and left the infirmary. She honestly didn't care about the bread. She still hadn't told her team about her tumor. She honestly didn't know if it was better for them to be ignorant of their oncoming demise or know and live the next two days to the fullest.
She went back to her lab and ordered some of the medicine for overnight delivery. The best she could do for now was testing. She began by turning her Medigun on herself and trying to see if it shrank the growth. Next, she tried injecting some of the Uber serum into her arm. She had to wait several hours before the high went away. Sadly, it did not affect it. Eventually, she fell asleep inside the MRI machine.