Chapter 11
The medic jumped back in surprise, having not expected her to be awake already. Quickly getting over his startled state, he continued on with his play to somehow help her.
"I am merely making my rounds, and figured zat you would rather do this in private instead of with everyone around," he said honestly, sitting on the edge of her bed, "Things will get very hectic around here very fast, and this may be our only opportunity to do this in private."
She thought for a moment, deciding whether or not she should go along with this. She hadn't been traumatized while she'd been held captive – at least, not in the way he was thinking of – but this man obviously thought differently. In the end she deemed the act useless, shaking her head in denial and turning away from him.
Her answer not satisfying him in the least he placed a hand on her shoulder, forcefully making her look him in the face. He wouldn't allow her to be reluctant like this to her treatment; he'd come across this kind of case time and time again, and had learned to continue regardless.
"I am sorry, but we either do zis here while we still have a bit of privacy, or I can bring it up in front of everybody," he told her firmly, making sure to make eye contact, "I could do either. Ze choice is up to you."
A low grumble could be heard from her as she inched out from her cocoon of blankets. Though she hated to admit it, she knew there was no way to get out of this.
"Fine," she muttered reluctantly, hoisting herself up into a sitting position, "But understand this: aside from a bit of patching up, I don't need any of your help. Now that we have a new team I can get back to work."
"Zat is fair enough," he smiled. It was a small step, but to get her to accept even this kind of treatment, and hopefully it would evolve into something more.
He nodded and got up to get his medigun, happy to see that she was cooperating with him somewhat.
He soon returned to her side, medigun in hand. Even now he could see that she'd been though a lot at the RED base; her face and hands were still covered in scars and bruises after a few long days, and it was clear that moving put her through some degree of pain.
At the very least he wanted to help her with her physical pain; if she'd allow him to help psychologically as well, that would most definitely be a bonus.
With her consent he conducted a body search, looking for any possible fractures or strains. Luckily he found that there wasn't very much internal damage present: merely a broken bone or two.
Nodding and smiling he told her the results of his examination, to which she shrugged and sighed. Of course she already knew what was broken – she was the one in pain, after all.
"Just get on with it," she complained, staring at the wall beyond him blankly. It seemed that the longer he took to do this the worse her mood became.
He obliged, training the muzzle of his healing gun on her and pulled the trigger. Almost immediately the beam enveloped her, mending her broken bones – he was surprised she'd been able to work with her arms while they'd been broken – and softening her bruises and scars.
He could tell that within minutes she was feeling a bit better.
Letting out a sigh of relief she flexed her right arm, instantly finding that it wasn't nearly as painful as before. She experienced the same when she did something similar to test out her leg.
Now that her pain had been lessened her mood seemed to have lightened. Her voice a bit softer than before, she offered him her thanks, "I know I was… still am, rather… resistant to this whole thing, but… thank you."
"You are very welcome. I come across zis kind of thing in my line of work very regularly, so I usually know what to do," he chuckled, happy to see her feeling better.
For a moment the two of them sat there silently, not quite sure what to say.
After a little while the medic decided to try to strike up some kind of conversation to lessen the feeling of awkwardness that had quickly settled around them, "So… what was it like over zere on ze other side?"
Although he did want to gather information to assess her mental state, that wasn't his main reason for asking. He was genuinely interested in what she'd been through over there, having never heard of something like this happening for some time.
At first she was hesitant to tell him – she hadn't told this stuff to anyone yet – but after a few minutes of debating with herself, she decided to tell her tale. It's not like she had anything to lose by doing so.
"I was personally amazed when that medic spared me from death," she admitted, reminiscing of the event, "I mean, I know you doctors are all for saving lives, but I was an enemy… and trying to kill him, no less. It was my sole mission: to kill the medic so they'd be at a disadvantage. And he knew that, I know he did."
She took in a deep breath before continuing, "They kept me held in one of their rooms, but the medic made sure to visit me often and keep me company… even gave me back one of my knives behind his teammates' backs."
The doctor nodded, urging her to continue.
She did just that, almost without further hesitation, "I used the knife he returned to me to take out their demo man, but only after he damn well beat me senseless. They didn't exactly appreciate that… but when they tried to eliminate me he stepped in again, offering up himself in order to save me. That's when everyone else came in, I think."
He nodded curiously, beginning to understand the basics of what had happened during her captivity. Though he was unsure of how it would be received he asked her softly, "It kind of sounds like zis man, the RED medic, feels something strong for you."
The spy fell silent, her brain seriously going to work. She'd suspected that for some time now, but having someone else voice the fact made her fully come to the realization that he liked her. And with that realization came another.
The entire time she'd been held hostage in the enemy's base she'd tried to attack him only once or twice, while with everyone else she'd attempted to commit acts of sabotage on every possible occasion.
Though she hadn't realized it at first, she'd found herself growing closer and closer to the man as time passed. Deep down she'd known that this was the case, but in case it interfered with her plan she'd chosen to not acknowledge it.
"What is it?" the BLU doctor asked her quietly. He knew the signs: he'd struck a nerve or something similar and had probably uncovered some sort of mental breakthrough with her.
"I…" she started, her eyes darting about randomly. She didn't know what to think; she was here and he was there. He could quite possibly be injured or worse and it was all too clear that things wouldn't stay calm for long. All she wanted right then was to see him again to see if it was really true.
After a few seconds her eyes met the doctor's, and he instantly saw exactly how she was feeling. There was a certain sadness in her eyes, a longing to at least know if the RED medic was getting my alright.
She was about to tell him something when there was a loud noise outside. Immediately the two glanced to the door, hoping more than anything that it wasn't the enemies attacking; they'd had their new recruits for the same amount of time, but the possibility of a surprise attack was never out of the question.
Just a few seconds alter the door burst open, waking the demo man from his slumber. The medic and spy both let out sighs of relief upon seeing who was making all the commotion.
It was just the rest of their team. By the looks of things they'd finished getting a plan together and had started to familiarize themselves with their new teammates; they were all making jokes and laughing heartily, almost as if they'd known each other for a long time.
Quickly thinking up a point of conversation the medic asked so they could hopefully keep their talk secret, "So, you came up with a plan, I take it?"
The scout began to explain it to them enthusiastically, emphasising the parts where he was going to bash in some heads with his trusty baseball bat.
Although the plan sounded very well thought through and almost foolproof, the spy and medic weren't listening. The spy was trying to wipe the tears away that had formed in the corners of her eyes before anyone noticed, and the medic was deep in through about what he would do next.
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It had taken a little while for things to settle down after everyone had burst in, and the medic had gone off to do other things while they partied. The sniper had been reluctant to get his obligatory check-up during that time, but he couldn't get out of it.
He fixed up the Sniper's minor wounds before moving on, which was actually a good thing. His mind wasn't all there at the moment, lingering on his previous conversation instead, and he didn't want to operate on anyone while in this absentminded state.
Seeing that everyone was busy having fun in the calm before the storm he made his way to the door, slinking out so nobody noticed he'd be gone. He didn't want to put a damper on the party while he thought things over.
It was clear that he'd stumbled upon something big: a breakthrough in the spy's case. He wanted to help her, to get her back on her feet and smiling again, and he planned to do whatever he could to make that happen.
He hated to see anyone in that kind of mindset, even if they were in the middle of a corporate war.
He didn't know too much about the situation and didn't know how to permanently make everything better, but he had to do something even if it was only short-term. A few ideas were already swimming in his head.
For some time he sat there in the main hall, trying to elaborate on his ideas. By the time he'd decided on one it was nearing sunrise. Though he wanted desperately to go ahead with his plan now, he knew it would be too dangerous.
"Damn it…" he cursed, as he got up and stretched. He hated having to leave things hanging like this, especially when he was so close to working out the last details and putting the plan into action.
Entering the supply room he sighed. A few of his comrades were still going at it, but the majority of them had already passed out.
As he made his way to his cot he scowled at the bodies of his teammates; undoubtedly they'd drunk themselves into this condition, and he would be hard at work tomorrow cleaning up their mess.
"Dunyawannadrink?" the demo man slurred, as he wobbled around. He held a half empty bottle out to the doctor.
"Nien," the medic refused, pushing the bottle away. He couldn't let himself get drunk carelessly like the rest of his team, not now that he knew he'd have some serious work to do. In all honesty why these people would do this to themselves the night before putting their own plan into action baffled him.
Crawling into his bed and pulling the covers over his head he tried to get a wink or two of sleep before the sun rose and it was time to get going.
::End of Chapter 11::
WHOO! I've finally managed to get up off mah butt and type out what I've got! So you know what that means: more chapters for you in a smaller time.
So the team's assembled and the two of them are healed, and what does everyone decide to do? Get drunk, of course! Probably not the best thing to do in a warzone before launching a new mission...
Anyway, this chapter sets things up quite nicely for the finale chapters. Right now I've got up to chapter 13 drafted out over here, and way I see it there might be... 3, maybe 4 chapters left after that.
As well, I'm debating whether or not to put one scene in particular in here. My goal all along was to have it in the story, but it's got mature content... and for the readers under 18, I don't want to have an entire chapter blocked because of it. I think I might put it separately since taking it out of the story won't change the endign all that much.
I'm just not sure if I can do it. It's something I've never really attempted on a subject I know nothing about... and it's something that should be written with at least a bit of experience. So not only do I not want to ruin the story for younger readers, but I also don't want to burn your eyes with the horribleness of my attempt.
NOW... next chapter, if all goes as planned, should be up sometime within the next two weeks ^__^