The next day, Grey threw Simmons out of bed by the time the sun had risen. If there had been a window somewhere close by, one would surely have seen the sunrise through it at that exact moment.
Simmons had missed watching the sunrise, actually.
Normally he would watch the sunset, but occasionally he was able to watch a sunrise here and there.
That would be one of the first things he would make sure to do when finally back in his room: he would watch the sunset today in the evening at least.
Grey had ordered him to get up and stand there for what felt like an eternity only in his boxer briefs while she examined him with the strange device she once again had on her head.
Jensen had tinkered something together for her which made it possible for her to see Simmons even though he was invisible: she had talked about a device that made a lot more spectrums visible than a human eye would normally see.
Simmons hadn't really understood it at the time as he had been heavily drugged when the conversation had occurred right after one of Grey's sedation-heavy examinations she had been forced to do in order to examine him properly before Katie had developed this device.
But while he knew there was a reason for her doing so given what he had been through, the whole situation was freaking Simmons the fuck out.
Hell, he was standing there completely naked save for his boxer briefs hanging somewhere in the middle of the air with Grey pulling and pushing at his scarred skin, examining and lessening the scar tissue in one-go while talking to herself and giggling sometimes like the lunatic she was.
Simply standing almost naked in front of a woman made the redhead want to drop dead and never rise again in general. Even more so when the woman in question was the rather crazy doctor they had.
His face felt hot and he nearly panicked just trying not to think about how his face felt like it was burning just then.
Since the incident, he felt panic rise in his chest whenever someone mentioned fire or he thought about anything along the lines of flames or burning. Which is why he rather preferred thinking in his mind about his face feeling hot instead of thinking of it feeling like it was on fire, as though it was burning hot.
When Grey finally, finally was over with her extremely embarrassing and disturbing examination, she gave him the okay to dress once more and get ready to move out of the room.
Putting all of his belongings on the service trolley, he decided take a shower and brush his teeth before Grey showed up with his breakfast. That would be the last meal he would have here in the infirmary.
Coming out from the shower, he noticed that he was finally able to shower and clean his body without feeling any pain.
He dressed hastily and put the rest of his clothes on the service trolley where his school things were resting.
There were also the books about the wolven on the trolley that he intended to put back once he was released from the infirmary.
His feet dangled off the edge of the bed while he sat on it, happily munching on his breakfast. There was no Grif around for once begging to get a piece of Simmons' dish so he could eat it in relative peace.
When his plate was empty, Grey got his tray and informed Kimball that he was ready.
In the meantime it was around eight in the morning so most of the inhabitants of the Sanctuary were awake. There were some nocturnal inhabitants, but many residents would be up by this time for their own breakfasts.
The door opened five minutes after eight with Kimball coming in. She looked as elegantly dressed as always, although her clothing style was more of that of a business woman than one might expect would belong to a woman who was hundreds of years old. Often one would get the mental image of someone being dressed similarly to when they had been born and raised when they heard of Abnormals who had much longer lifespans.
But that was definitely not Kimball's style. She always adapted to the actual time period she was currently living in whether that be in terms of the clothing people wore, the way people spoke, or the technology that was used.
She took a seat beside the redhead's bed, looking quickly at the place where she suspected Simmons' head to be given the body imprint on the mattress before she spoke, "It is good to see that you are feeling better and that your wounds are healing nicely."
"I'm glad too." He admitted, "I'm still feeling exhausted pretty quickly, but I feel much better than before."
"I'm glad to hear that too. I hope the remaining wounds will continue healing as satisfyingly as the others already have." Kimball remarked, a fond smile again appearing on her lips when she looked at the redhead.
Simmons nodded before another question popped into his mind, "How are the others doing? I mean Matthews, Bitters, Kai, and everyone else?"
"They are all doing well," Kimball replied with another soft smile, "Their wounds had already healed some time ago with everyone being back to their duties and helping out wherever I can use some extra help too." She explained, her smile widening as she spoke.
She cleared her throat, causing Simmons to stop before he voiced his next questions and listen to her, "I came to you to talk to you specifically about your injuries."
Simmons felt his body stiffen, although he kept his mouth shut and didn't say a word to Kimball as he listened to her attentively instead.
"Dr. Grey told me that your wounds are healing extremely well and that you are doing better with each passing day. Which is why I came today to check on you and release you from the infirmary since you're feeling so well. The rest of the wounds can heal just with you staying in your room and being careful to not overburden your body." Kimball explained, adding in a second later, "You will only have to drop by here on a regular basis for check-ups. Grey, myself, and you will all come up with an acceptable schedule for when you have to show up."
"Understood." Simmons replied in an almost military-like tone. He sat on the bed with his back straightened, relief flooding through his entire system.
He finally was permitted to leave and get back to his room! To see the sun again and get out of the horrible hospital-stench down here.
"You are free to leave, although I would prefer the trolley to be brought to your room by someone else instead of you pushing it all the way yourself." Kimball told him.
"We can cover that."
A new voice cut through the room, causing both of them to look up. In the doorway stood Wash and, to Simmons' huge surprise, Grif!
The wolven immediately entered the room and padded over to Simmons, nudging one of his hands resting on Simmons' knee with his snout.
When Simmons petted the head of the huge wolven and scratched him behind his ears, the wolven wagged his tail even more and panted happily.
Wash entered the room too, nodding to Kimball who had gotten up from her chair as she turned to Simmons once more, "Well then, Simmons, you are cleared to leave. Just make sure to be careful, okay?"
"I will, thank you." Simmons replied calmly, getting up from the bed.
He immediately felt slightly dizzy, his hand searching for the wolven's fur. Grif looked up to Simmons with a questioning glance.
The redhead shook his head slightly, a smile on his lips, "I'm fine. A bit weak, but fine."
"I'm glad to see you're doing better, Simmons."
Looking up, he could see the werecat smiling at him.
Simmons was surprised that the wolven and the werecat got along so well, but he guessed that it was a case of how with some special circumstances even "enemies" could get along.
Speaking of the "enemy," or more accurately, speaking of the werecat…
"Wait, your ears are gone!" the redhead blurted out, trying to look for the feline ears normally found in the Freelancer's fair blond hair.
A smirk appeared on Wash's lips, "My tail too. I'm old enough in werecat terms to turn fully human now."
The wolven beside Simmons snorted but shut up immediately when the redhead hit his shoulder lightly. This might also explain why Grif wasn't really that focused on going after the man anymore. He knew that Wash was a werecat still, but since Grif wasn't seeing the typical physical cat traits being exhibited by Wash anymore that may be causing his instincts to chase him to lessen.
Anyways, seeing both of them standing there made the redhead smile. He was happy to have such good friends who decided to show up to check on him when he was being released from the infirmary.
"Do you have a day off?" Simmons asked the cat, who only shook his head.
"No, I'm going to work after I drop your stuff off in your room." Wash informed him, "Given the situation, I suppose I should get going with that."
"Yes. Thank you, Wash." Simmons smiled and nodded, "I think I should get going also, so Grif can get to work too."
The wolven looked up to the redhead with a questioning grumble at that, but Simmons didn't notice it as he was already listening to Wash again.
The Freelancer seemed rather confused by Simmons' remark.
"Didn't he tell you?" the werecat asked.
"Tell me what?" the redhead asked, now blinking with a confused expression crossing over his features as well.
Wash blinked again before getting a hold of himself and answering while quickly looking to the wolven standing beside the redhead: "Grif had taken a leave from work today and for the next two weeks. He had too much overtime from the last few months due to working extra shifts when they had a lot to do after they received the additional order from Kimball to provide enough wood to rebuild the Sanctuary. He actually wanted to spend this time with you."
Simmons blinked. And blinked again.
He looked down at the wolven who replied back with a questioning glance of his own as Simmons asked, "You took a leave?"
The wolven nodded, which was quite a strange motion for a wolven to do in the first place, before again starting to wag his tail.
A huge smile exploded on Simmons' face at that, "Thank you very much. I actually wasn't really sure if I wanted to be alone right now."
The tail wagging became more intense and the panting started up again, clearly showing that Grif was happy about Simmons' appreciation of his actions.
"Well then, shall we go?" Wash asked, taking the trolley and starting to leave once Simmons nodded.
The redhead started slower, still feeling exhausted pretty fast. He took step after step carefully, stopping for breaks whenever he felt like he needed one.
They weren't even out of the section where the infirmary was located and Simmons had already needed several breaks. The redhead heard the wolven grumble after some time of this.
He looked up to Simmons, and then turned his head so he was looking to his back, only to again search for Simmons' eyes.
"You want to carry me up to my room?" Simmons asked.
Panting happily, the wolven nodded his head and lowered himself down a bit to give the redhead a better angle to climb up onto his back.
Simmons decided that Grif was most likely right about the fact that they wouldn't get anywhere at the rate with which the redhead was walking on his own.
For once, the redhead didn't fight the wolven's decision like he normally would just to start another of the arguing banter moments that they both enjoyed so much.
When Simmons patted the wolven's shoulder, he got up and started padding towards the elevator.
The shoulder patting motion was a sign to Grif that Simmons was on his back and sitting safely so he wouldn't fall off the wolven's back once he got up. It was the sign they had developed so that Grif would know that he could either start walking or that he should increase or decrease the speed he was currently moving with.
Indeed, it would have taken hours for Simmons to walk the distance to his room on his own as he still was feeling rather drained and exhausted, but, thanks to Grif, they were standing in front of his room in no time.
The trolley was already in his room near his desk, with Wash long gone.
Simmons climbed down from the wolven's back and walked over to his bed. He actually didn't really mind having the wolven around.
When he reached his bed, he almost laughed. This fucking mattress was still lying beside his bed, ready for Grif to sleep on.
He hadn't put it away and Simmons wouldn't fucking dare to put it away now.
He had become so used to the fact that the wolven was around him that he wouldn't dream of putting the old mattress away anytime soon.
Sitting on the mattress, the redhead soon felt the wolven settle beside him.
Looking around, Simmons actually noticed a duffel bag beside the sideboard with loads of Grif's clothes sticking out of it.
The redhead laughed at that, "You already moved in here?"
The wolven only huffed in reply, gently grasping the back of Simmon's shirt with his teeth and pulling him down onto the mattress.
It was clear what the wolven wanted to tell him: "Lay down and nap with me."
Simmons laughed lowly when he settled beside the wolven, pulling up the blanket and cuddling into the pillow lying in wait for him.
"Let's have a nap." He told Grif, "What do you think?"
Grif hummed happily at that, his eyes already beginning to drift shut.
Simmons reached over, scratching the wolven behind the ear that was closest to him.
The redhead soon heard a contented hum coming from the wolven's throat as he kept up with the petting until Simmons himself fell asleep too.