You're all really quiet about the last chapter. I hope I didn't scare you. I'm a mean author to my OCs.

However, I can now start adding more SExCat now that general introductions are out of the way.

I just wanted to say that this story has over 1,300 hits so far and I can't believe it. Thanks so much you guys! Make sure to let me know what you like about the story! I'm friendly I promise!

Cat awoke with a start, her hands flying to feel for her for the parts of her legs that were no longer there. Nothing but flat sheets and air. Cat felt her stomach drop into her stomach, and her eyes welled up with tears. She had been a fool, taken a risk she should have never taken. What the hell was she thinking? She wasn't a fighter, she was a runner, and she should have never initiated a pathetic excuse for combat with Cobra Commander of all people. She had acted on impulse, something she hadn't done in over twelve years. Cat knew better than that.

In the darkness of her hospital room, she simply cried.

It took an hour for Cat to get her sobs to quiet down, and she simply laid in her bed, blinking as she turned her head. She could see the Washington Monument from her window, and she sniffled and looked at her armband. To her surprise, she was in Walter Reed.

Cat wondered why she was there; she wasn't a soldier, and to the JOES, she must have been extra baggage after she lost her legs. She wondered who fished her out of the water and who dragged her sorry corpse to the hospital. And to receive medical care from one of the best hospitals in the nation? When did she earn this honor? When she let Cobra Commander escape?

The room was suddenly stuffy, and Cat couldn't handle it. Slowly she removed the IV from her arm, and, using all the strength she could muster, she used her arms to swing herself to the wheelchair next to her bed. She was dripping in sweat and seeing spots by the time she settled as comfortable as possible in it, but she had succeeded.

Slowly she rolled to the elevators, ducking under the nurse's station and hitting the button to the fifth floor once she was inside. Tears were still rolling down her face as she nudged open the door to room 513, an isolated and single room at the end of the hallway.

The room was lit up gently by the lights on the heart monitor, and carefully and painfully Cat rolled herself over to the bedside. Reaching out a shaky hand, she grabbed Number Three's hand, laying her head down on the mattress next to it.

"I screwed up, Diego," Cat began to cry again, letting her tears soak into the sheets. "I screwed up, and I've got nothing to show for it. I'm sorry."

Just like all the other times she would visit him, Diego gave a slight twitch of the fingers, a gentle squeeze to signal he heard, but he never moved, nor did he wake up. Cat immediately felt better in his presence, however, and felt her eyelids begin to droop as her body fought exhaustion and pain. When she was still Number Four, she would flee to Diego's room some nights when the nightmares were too horrible to bear, and they would take turns keeping watch while the other slept. His presence, even while stunned and comatose, was still comforting.

Roadblock stepped onto Cat's floor the next morning amidst chaos and nurses running around. He wondered what was happening as he walked to Cat's room, only to find the sheets empty and thrown back, and a doctor standing there stunned.

"Where is she?" Roadblock's voice had an edge of panic to it as he entered. The doctor looked at him and, realizing this was the immediate contact for the patient due to how many times Roadblock had been there, quickly explained that she was missing.

"Missing?" Roadblock's voice raised even higher. "How is she missing? She is missing half her legs!"

"Sir, please calm down," one of the nurses tried, pulling out a seat for Roadblock to sit down in. He collapsed into it, running his hands over his head before pausing in the act.

"Did you check room 513?" He asked suddenly, remembering the file that Storm Shadow had produced. The nurses glanced at one another before leaving the room, calling another nurse to help them. Twenty minutes later they were wheeling a groggy and in pain Cat back into the room, hooking her back up to the IV and resettling her in bed and muttering about incident reports. One by one they cleared out, until it was just Roadblock and Cat.

It was silent, as Cat sighed and leaned back on her pillows, looking everywhere but Roadblock as her eyes began to swim with tears again. Conversely, Roadblock was staring at Cat, trying to pick his next words wisely while stemming his growing rage.

He decided on kicking a chair over to the bedside, sitting down in it, and resting his elbows on the mattress, all while tapping his foot vigorously. He didn't know where to begin. Should he apologize for bringing her into his war in the first place? Or should he scream at her for disobeying orders and causing her to loose her legs?

He looked up when Cat breathed out a shaky sigh, tears falling. "I'm sorry, Block. I screwed up real bad."

He was silent for several heartbeats before he too sighed and grabbed her hand tightly in his, squeezing. "We both did."

"Do you think it can be fixed?" Cat asked, broken. She was referring to so many things; finding Cobra Commander, getting revenge for his comrades, obtaining peace for her friends, her legs...

"I don't know, Cat." Roadblock rubbed his eyes, not wanting her to see the emotions swirling in them. "But I do know that we're gonna try our damn hardest. We're JOEs; and JOEs never surrender."

"You're a JOE." Cat corrected, reaching for a tissue. Roadblock held up a finger to stop her, however, and placed a velvet box on her table.

"It's there if you want it," He spoke, before telling Cat he had to leave and finalize some matters. Soon after, a nurse came in to give her a dose of pain medication, but that little velvet box was in Cat's thoughts until she dozed off into a dreamless and black sleep.