Anna sat with her head leaning back against the wall. She couldn't wait for Snake to get back from his mission so they could talk. She had missed his usual visits to her room.
"General Hawk!" She cried, jumping up as the general walked by.
He turned, his face pinched with stress, "Yes Anna?"
"When is the mission going to return? I'm waiting for Snake Eyes." She said.
"Ah, they should be here any moment, but Anna-" General Hawk said before Anna interrupted him, "There's the helicopter!"
"Anna!" General Hawk said, but she was gone, dragging a half asleep Storm Shadow with her. She knew later on she should have stayed and listened to him.
She waited impatiently at the glass doors as the helicopter landed.
"Excuse me ma'am!" someone shouted behind her.
She turned in time to doge three people running through the hall with a stretcher. She watched them run out to the helicopter where the men were jumping down from it. She wondered who had gotten hurt.
Duke jumped down and looked at Anna, his blue eyes telling her something bad happened. She looked back at the helicopter where they were lowering someone on the stretcher. She couldn't tell who it was, all they had was black pants on, their shirt had been removed probably to stop the wounds from bleeding.
All she knew was she hadn't seen Snake yet.
Then it hit her. The person on the stretcher was Snake.
"Snake Eyes." She whispered, opening the door.
A hand grabbed her arm, stopping her from going outside, "Anna, I don't think you should go out there."
"Let go Storm Shadow." She said, yanking her arm to try and get it out of his grip.
"You don't want to see him like this." Storm Shadow said.
"Storm Shadow, if you don't let go of me, so help me-"
He let go of her and she bounded out the door, "Snake?" She shouted. Duke ran towards her, grabbing her around the waist while she ran by him. "No! Let go of me, Duke!"
"Anna." Duke said, and she could feel panicked tears roll down her face. She couldn't take her eyes off the stretcher that was being pushed towards the building by Roadblock and Scarlett. The recruits that had gone with were still getting down from the helicopter, dazed by the events.
Duke turned her away from Snake's body, holding her head against his chest with one hand, the other pulling her into him. Anna allowed him to do so, and involuntarily started to cry. Duke didn't say anything, there was nothing to say to make her feel better. They stood in the same spot, both silent, until Anna finally was able to get herself under control.
"What happened?" She asked, wiping her face.
"I'm not sure on the details, Scarlett was the one who saw it all." Duke said, "She was pretty shaken up. All I know is Snake Eyes was shot three times in the chest."
"Is he going to be okay?"
"The medic on the helicopter did everything he could to stop the bleeding, but Anna," Duke ran a hand through his hair, "he lost a lot of blood."
"Snake Eyes won't go down without a fight."
Duke and Anna turned to find Storm Shadow standing a few feet from them. His face was grave, but something about him said he didn't think Snake would die today.
Duke nodded, "He's been fighting. Well, I need to report to Hawk, you can go to the infirmary but you won't see him for a while."
Anna sniffed and wiped her nose again, "I think I'll do that. Will you come with me Storm Shadow?"
The white ninja nodded and started walking toward the building.
Duke watched him go and said, "I'll be there after I talk to Hawk."
Anna nodded and followed Storm Shadow inside. They walked in silence down the series of halls that lead to the infirmary. There was a woman at a small desk who smiled when they approached her, "Can I help you?"
"Is Snake Eyes going into surgery?" Anna asked.
"Oh, well, I'm not really obligated to release patient information." the woman said.
"I'm his assistant!" Anna said, "I know him!"
"I'm sorry ma'am I-"
"It's okay, they can come in." Anna turned to find a red nosed Scarlett standing in the emergency room doorway.
"Alright, go ahead then." The woman said.
"Thank you." Anna said, walking by her to the door where Scarlett stood waiting.
"He just went into surgery, I don't know when he'll be out." Scarlett said.
"What happened?" Anna asked as soon as they sat down in the waiting room.
"A shooter came out of an alleyway and hit Snake before he saw him. The guy aimed his gun at me and before I could do anything Snake jumped between us." Scarlett said, her eyes watering.
"It's not your fault." Anna said, putting a hand on her tightly clasped ones, "There's nothing you could have done."
Scarlett smiled sadly, "I tried telling myself that, but it doesn't make it any easier."
The three of them sat in the waiting room for hours making small talk, anything to try and get their minds off of Snake. Duke and Ripcord joined them a while later, and Ripcord's natural humor managed to change the mood from dreary to light.
"So, Jinx," Ripcord started, making Anna roll her eyes, "you've been hanging out with Thunder a lot over here."
Storm Shadow glared at him.
"Yeah?" Anna said.
"Did you know he tried to kill every single one of us?"
"Ripcord, not now." Scarlett said.
"I just want to protect a fellow Joe." Ripcord said, shrugging his shoulders.
"There's no need." Storm Shadow said quietly.
Duke nudged Ripcord just as he was about to say something. Ripcord looked at the Captain who shook his head. They fell into silence, all eyes falling upon the door to the emergency room.
After hours of waiting, a doctor passed through the door. The five of them rose to their feet, watching the doctor make his way over to them.
"I'm assuming you're here for Snake Eyes?" he asked.
"Yes." Anna said.
The doctor nodded, "His surgery was successful." there was a sigh of relief that passed through the room as they all let their breaths out, "He will be under for the next hour or so. We expect him to wake within the day, but there is no guarantee."
"He'll be able to do everything normal right?" Anna asked.
"It'll be a while, but eventually Snake Eyes will be able to return to his normal daily routine." The doctor said, "If you ask me, he's very lucky."
"Can we see him?" Scarlett asked.
"He's still asleep, but I think I can allow one at a time." The doctor said.
Scarlett nudged Anna, "Go see him."
"Are you sure?" Anna asked.
"Yeah," Scarlett smiled, "but when you're done make sure you come get me!"
Anna smiled and followed the doctor. "We've transported Snake Eyes to his temporary room while he recovers."
"How bad was he?" Anna asked.
"Pretty bad, he'd lost a lot of blood and was in very rough shape when they brought him in." The doctor shook his head, "He's definitely a G.I. Joe for being able to live through that and not have any problems afterward." The doctor stopped at a door labeled 0254, "This is it."
"Thank you." Anna said, and pushed the door open.
The room was like a normal hospital room, light blue was painted on the walls with blue flower paintings hanging on them. Snake laid in a bed centered along the back wall, his helmet was still placed on his head, but she could see that it had been removed for surgery. He wore only the regular hospital gown, none of his black armor or sweatpants.
She drug a chair across the room to the side of his bed. She plopped down in it and flipped the TV on. She turned to Snake and sighed, "You look like crap."
She wanted his hands to rise up and sign something to her, wanted him to turn his head to look at her even though she couldn't see his face. Anna sighed again resting her head in her arms on his bed.
Hours later Snake finally stirred. The first thing he noticed was the pain in his chest and head. He opened his eyes and analyzed his surroundings. It was just a normal room, and he realized he was in a hospital. He sighed from the pain and found the button to call the nurse.
He looked to the right and was surprised to see someone there. It was Anna, her head laid on his bed, one of her hands clasped tightly in his. He couldn't help but smile as she stirred, her breath catching, and then settled back to sleep. Snake laid his head back and moved his finger off the call button. If he pushed it the nurse would come, and that would wake Anna. He liked watching her sleep, watching her at peace. He decided the pain was worth it.
Alright! Another chapter down! :D
Life's been so busy lately! I just had my grad party and found out who my roommate for college is! :D yaaay! And if you're looking for another fabulous story to read, head on over to the Star Trek 2009 category and check out my story Five Years! It hasn't gotten any reviews yet so that's a major blow to my writing self esteem, so read and review my friends! :)
So here it is! Chapter 10!