Chapter 51 – Heart to Hearts

Boomer's POV

Boomer valiantly managed to last a good hour before his exhaustion began to get the best of him. Between the lack of adrenaline and Bubbles head resting comfortably on his shoulder, it was a miracle he even made it that far.

Sleep was looking very, very tempting right now.

A yawn cracked his jaw before he could stifle it with his hand. On the way up, his elbow accidentally jarred the slumbering beauty beside him and woke her. Bubbles blinked sleep filled eyes as she pushed herself up into a sitting position and tried to become somewhat coherent.

Damn it, he hadn't meant to wake her up.

"Sorry, didn't mean to disturb you. Go back to sleep." He muttered and rubbed at his eyes.

His counterpart blinked once more up at him before her gaze sharpened and a sudden gasp escaped her lips. The first thought he had was that she had tried to move her injured foot or something like that, but it wasn't a look of pain overtaking her face. It was more of a horrified type of shock.

Almost like the face she wore when they were thrown up against a Simian patrol or some…thing…shit!

Electricity seemed to shoot through his vein as Boomer whipped around towards door, now fully alert and awake. They might have caught him unprepared but he wasn't about to let those damn Monkeys get the best him! No one was taking him or Bubbles anywhere!

The Blue Ruff was fully ready to jump to his feet and kick the shit out of some Simians…only…there were none. The doorway that led into their temporary shelter stood completely empty. There wasn't a soul in sight, not one speck of life. Boomer felt his eyebrows scrunch together as confusion set in.

What the hell? Had they slipped away before he turned around? Were they hiding behind the door?

…Noooo. He watched for several seconds but nothing happened. No calls for surrender, no gunfire, no ambush whatsoever. He was thoroughly perplexed now. If it wasn't an enemy ambush, then what the hell was Bubbles gasping at?

He turned back around to question her on the subject but before he could spit anything out she beat him to the punch.

"Why didn't you take care of this?!" She cried, staring at him in horror.

"-Wha?" Was his intelligent reply. "Whadda mean?"

What in the world was she talking about? Take care of what?

"This!" Shrugging off the blankets from her shoulder, the angelic blonde reached up and gently took ahold of his chin.

Her touch reignited the previously numb part of his face and a sudden line of fire arch up from his jawline towards his temple. The suddenness of the sensation drew a hiss from behind his gritted teeth as Boomer tried not to wince.

Ow! Damn it, he had completely forgotten about that gash running up the side of his face. Now the mother trucker stung like it had just been reopened.

"And this!" With her other hand, Bubbles raised Boomer's right arm up to eye level for him to inspect.

The shredded remains of his sleeve stared back at him, dyed nearly black with dried blood. It was then that he remembered he hadn't taken care of that particular wound either. In fact, he hadn't patched himself up at all.

Shit, he couldn't believe he had forgotten about that. All thoughts of his own wellbeing had somehow gotten lost in the night as he tried to find a safe hiding place for Bubbles to rest. In his defense though, it had been a long day.

"I kinda, forgot about it." He said lamely with a mild shrug.

Bubbles looked at him in disbelief for a moment before shaking her head. "I can't believe you would let something like this go. That's really dangerous Boomer! I don't want you getting hurt on my account." She finished quietly.

Something inside Boomer squirmed with guilt at the crestfallen look on her face. Man, it wasn't like he had forgotten on purpose. It just…slipped his mind was all. Now he was making her feel bad.

Awesome job Little Boy Blue.

Boomer raised his good arm and rubbed nervously at the back of his head. "…Sorry, I didn't mean to. I just wanted to make sure you were alright and I guess in the process I uh, kinda forgot about um… everything else."

The admission caused him to blush a nice shade of cherry red but it was the truth! He wasn't going to lie. He was pretty sure that would go against the friend code. At least, he thought it would, but he was still rather new at all this.

Bubbles sighed softly and regarded him with a knowing look. "What am I going to do with you?"

"Patch up my arm?" He ventured gingerly.

A small smile cracked the blonde's stern face and she let out a light chuckle. "Yes, that is definitely what I need to do, seeing as you can't be trusted to look after yourself. Grab some bandages and scoot closer so I can get a better look. Come on."

Knowing better than to argue with a trained medical professional, Boomer did as he was told. It was a bit awkward to have her sitting so near to him. The whole concept of personal bubbles went completely out the window as she leaned down to assess his arm.

…But it wasn't as uncomfortable as he thought it would be. Maybe that had something to do with the fact that he had carried her around on his back for half the night? That would kind of make the whole personal distance thing relative.

Whatever it was, Boomer lost his train of thought as he watched Bubbles slip her hand down into the depths of the blank and withdraw a knife from her belt. It glinted brightly in the faint moon light as she held it aloft, sharp and deadly as a newly honed blade. There was an intent look to her face as she eyed his sleeve with a sense of purpose.

Uh oh.

Boomer swallowed nervously as she took up his arm and picked at the cloth. He wasn't really sure how he felt about having a feverish person who was in a lot of pain using a knife near his arm. What if she slipped and it cut into him?

...Actually, given the current state of his arm it probably wouldn't do any real extra damage.

He shouldn't have even doubted her though, his fears turned out to be completely unfounded anyway. Bubbles wielded her sharp implement with surgeon steady hands and not once did she slip. In less than a minute, she had cut away the portion of the sleeve that covered the worst of the damage and they were finally able to get a good look at his wound.

Bubbles let out another gasp she took in the sight of his ruined arm. He wasn't really all that surprised by it, he had seen it already -if only for a brief moment. It was pretty much the same, a large portion of his skin was still missing and the muscle underneath was practically shredded.

The odd thing was that none of it really hurt all that much. It ached a bit, but not like when he had gotten the damn wound. That had fucking hurt like hell. It was kinda weird that it hadn't really been bothering him throughout the night. Maybe his body had somehow dampened the pain or acclimated to it.

Or all his nerve endings could have simply died.

Boomer watch in morbid fascination as Bubbles took up the disinfectant turned water and began cleaning the wound as best she could. Even when she accidently jarred one of the loose pieces of flesh, he barely felt more than a tingle. Definitely some dead nerve endings then.

With a quickness and efficiency that underlined her training, Bubbles had his wound cleaned and bandaged in less time than it took for him to rip up the bandages. When she finished up with that, she moved on down to his hand.

That was the one injury he hadn't really gotten a chance to examine properly. He had glimpsed at it once or twice during their escape, but that was mostly whenever he had to open or close a door. Most of the time he had used his left hand to do all that stuff to avoid injuring the right one further.

Now that he looked at it more closely, he was able to see the extent of the damage that f-ing drill robot had done to it.

The ends of his fingers were all black, purple, and yellow. They were also nearly twice the size they should have been. Huh, he hadn't really noticed that before now. At least he couldn't see any bone through the ripped skin. He guessed that was a good thing.

Bubbles tisked lightly as she looked over his hand and took up her knife again, cutting up the bandaged into small pieces for his fingers. Now that he thought of it, using a knife would have been a lot easier and smarter than ripping them up with his hands.

Gah, he was such a dope sometimes.

His self recrimination was thrown off track as Bubbles gently took his hand and began to straighten out his fingers. Now that hurt like a son of a bitch. Oh did it hurt! But he knew it was a necessary pain if he wanted them to heal properly.

One by one, Bubbles straightened and bandaged all his fingers. By the end of it, it almost looked like he had a purple cast on. Damn, he should have looked for some blue sheets instead. Blue was way cooler than purple. Hindsight was always 20/20 wasn't it?

Leaving his face for last, Bubbles looked up at the wound and prodded it gently with her fingers. Boomer winced a time or two but at least the pain kept him mind off the fact that she was touching his face. Talk about invasion of personal space…not that it was all that unpleasant.

She had surprisingly soft fingers.

"Sorry, didn't mean to hurt you." She mumbled as she turned away and reached for the first aid kit.

Reaching inside, she pulled out a few band aids and some of the gauze. She looked back at him with a soft frown. "This isn't going to be the best patch job I've ever done, but at least it will keep the wound covered. This might sting a little."

Softly, she laid the length of gauze down the side of his face and taped it into place. It felt like having a piece of wool glued to the side of his cheek, but if the medical professional said it needed to be done, then who was Boomer to argue?

After she was all finished patching him up, they took a moment and sat there in silence. It was a peaceful sort of silence, almost relaxing. In fact, it was really relaxing. Boomer felt his eye lids grow heavy as he let his shoulders slump.

A small, weak giggle broke the peaceful atmosphere and caused him to blink his tired eyes back open. Arching a brow, he turned his head and regarded his giggling companion who was valiantly trying to hold in her laughter.

"What's so funny?"

She waved a hand lightly as she tried to stop, but the giggles continued to another minute or so before she was able to get a hold of herself. "It's just that- we kind of look a bit like mummies don't you think?"

Boomer looked at the both of them wrapped up in musty, old bed sheets and immediately got the mental picture of them shuffling around with their arms outstretched, moaning for brains or whatever it was that mummies wanted. The ridiculous mental snapshot caused a smile to raise the corners of his lip.

"We look like incompetent mummies you mean." He replied with a chuckle.

Bubbles nodded and burst out into another fit of giggles. Boomer found that he couldn't resist the urge to join in himself and soon the two of them were leaning against each other for support as their laughter filled the empty room.

A minute or two later, they were able to get control of themselves and quiet down. Boomer chuckled once or twice more as he wiped a tear from his eye.

"Hehe, you know, haha, that-that really wasn't all that funny. Hehehe" Bubbles told him as she knuckled her eyes, still giggling like a little school girl.

"No, no it wasn't. We must be really tired." Boomer replied with a smirk.

"Exhausted." His counterpart agreed.

"Then why don't you go back to sleep? You need it. I'll keep a watch out. We'll leave at first light."

Bubbles snuggled deeper into her blanket cocoon and shook her head at him. "Nope."

"And why not?" He asked with a quirked brow.

"Not tired." She said simply

Boomer felt his brows furrow in confusion. What? But- "But you just said-"

"That I'm exhausted –but not sleepy tired. Just like, mentally tired you know?" She interrupted, looking up at him as if she fully expected him to understand her meaning.

He didn't.

It was baffling to him that she wouldn't want to sleep after a day like today. He sure as hell would have leapt at the chance. Stars knew he was ready to drop. How in the world could she not want to sleep? Time and time again Boomer found himself stunned by her total unpredictable nature, this was just another one to add to the list.

The Blue Ruff was really too tired to put up a decent rebuttal so he just shook his head at her. "You're crazy, you know that?

She gave him a secretive smile. "I might have been told that once or twice."

Boomer snorted in amusement and shook his head again.

"Besides" She continued, looking down at her pile of blankets. "It was really you doing all of the work tonight. I mean, you must have carried me eleven miles at least."

…Yeah, that was probably a good estimate. They had run an awful lot with those stupid Simian patrols chasing after them. It was a surprise that they had even managed to sneak away at all.

"So you should be the one getting some shut eye…and some crackers." She passed him the box.

Boomer took a few crackers and popped them in his mouth. He had been right…they did taste like shit. But food was food right? Who was he to complain when he had something to eat?

"I didn't do all the work. You did a lot too." He said off handedly as he chewed another handful of the stale squares.

"Like what? Getting caught by a robot and destroying my ankle? Oh yeah, that sure took a whole lot of focused effort." Bubbles replied in a bitterly sarcastic tone of voice.

It shocked Boomer so much that he paused mid-chew. Hesitantly, he swallowed his mouthful of crackers and glanced at his counterpart from the corner of his eyes.

Bubbles was an emotional person, that was pretty obvious, but he had never heard her say something so, so-depressing. It was totally against who she was as a person. She was freakin' Bubbles Utonium! The happiest little Powerpuff Girl and the one who made everybody smile!

Seeing her look so defeated was almost like a slap in the face for him. He didn't even think she knew how to frown before now. This wasn't like her at all and he was sensing that there was a deeper meaning behind it all.

Boomer set the box down and scooted around to face her. Bubbles kept her eyes on the blankets covering her knees and picked at it absently as his looked down at her. He knew she could feel his eyes on her but she refused to look up and meet them.

Oh no, he wasn't about to let this self-pity party drag her down. Anyone else he would have, but not her. That would just totally ruin his whole perception of things. He had to snap her out of it.

"Come on, it wasn't like you purposefully threw yourself under the wall as it fell on you. It was out of your control." He said gently.

"But I should have seen it coming! I could have moved out of the way if I had been paying attention!" She argued back, a small fire heating her word. "Did you know that that robot snuck up on me? I actually let an eight foot tall, steel encased robot sneak up on me! How pathetic is that?!"

Her plaintive cry made his chest feel all constricted again. Already tears were beginning to fill up her eyes and Boomer felt a bit of panic rise up in him. He really didn't want her to have another breakdown. Cheering her up the first time had been a total fluke, he had no clue if he could do it again and frankly, he didn't want to try.

Crap! He had to think of something to say. Quickly!

"You're not pathetic. We were in the middle of a base wide battle. Everyone was confused and off balance. I'm sure a lot of other people missed things like that too. You can't anticipate everything." He told her with a brief frown.

"But I should have! I'm a Powerpuff Girl! I have a responsibility to look out for people, not be the one getting them into trouble! And because of my incompetence, you're stuck here to!" She cried.

Boomer almost didn't catch her whispered words as she bent down to wipe her eyes. "I've been nothing but a burden this whole time."

Instinctively, Boomer knew she wasn't just talking about this mission. He didn't know how he knew, he just did. Maybe it was special counterpart ESP or some crap like that. It didn't matter thought, what mattered was that Bubbles thought she was worthless.

He could relate to that more than she probably realized. Hell, he had felt that almost every day of his life! Between Mojo and his brothers, it was easy to feel inadequate. He didn't really have the skills his brothers had and what he did have didn't even really do all that much.

If she had called him a burden, he could have fully understood and accepted that, but calling herself that?

"That's a load of bullshit." He stated brusquely.

His response made her snap her head up to gape at him. Boomer felt his stomach flip as she stared at him in confusion but he pushed the feeling down. He couldn't let his nerves get the best of him now, not when he had her complete and undivided attention.

"How could you possibly think that? You've saved literally hundreds upon thousands of people in your lifetime! You've fought off two hundred feet tall monsters while you were in kindergarten! Hell, you've saved the world before bedtime at least a thousand times! How does any of that make you a burden?" He asked in a harsh but not unkind voice.

Normally, he was soft spoken and quiet, but now it was like someone had thrown a match into a pool of kerosene. For some reason the thought of Bubbles doubting herself pissed him off. She shouldn't have even been feeling doubts to begin with!

She was like- the most perfect poster child for being an upstanding human being you could get!

She was kind, and considerate, and she always had a smile on her face. Other people loved to be around her and those orphans practically worshiped the ground she walked on. How could she not see that she gave everyone strength just by being herself?

That Resistance base practically fed off her positive energy, he had been watching it over the past few weeks. Every time she had been around, all the downtrodden attitudes of the soldiers seemed to disappear. She would say just the right thing to them that would cause them to break out into smiles and laughter. He had never seen anyone else that had that kind of ability.

Boomer realized he was staring intensely down at her tear stained face and immediately his butterflies returned. A blush came across his face and cleared his throat roughly before looking away.

"It's-it's just that…you do a lot more than you think you do. You're not a burden. Trust me." He finished quietly.

She didn't response right away. Understandably, she still in shock, he almost felt the same way. He had never felt such a fierce sense of defensiveness in his life. It's like some part of him reviled the thought of her doubting herself.

It was very strange.

"Do-…do you really mean that?" She asked in a quiet voice, finally overcoming her astonishment.

"Of course. I wouldn't have said it if I didn't mean it."

Boomer would have been perfectly fine with leaving it at that, but once again his brain decided to ignore him and kept on going. "Everyone feels a little weak at some point in their lives, even our sibling. It's natural yeah? But, you can't let it change who you are. You're Bubbles, the Blue Powerpuff Girl and one of the insanely happiest people I've ever known. And usually for no good reason too!"

He turned back at her as his voice gained strength. "Whether or not you know it, you give a lot of people hope…they look up to you. If you start doubting yourself, you're not just selling yourself short, you're selling them short too. People have faith in you Bubbles. Are you really going to let something like this outweigh that?"

The blush had turned his face totally red by now, he just knew it, but it didn't really matter that much anymore. He had said his piece and while it had been way more direct than anything he had ever told anyone else before, it seemed to have worked.

A thoughtful look was cast over Bubbles face as she studied him. His breath seemed to be stuck in his lungs as he waited for her to respond.

Please let what he said get through to her. He had spoken only the truth…if she didn't believe him then he had nothing else left to convince her.

Reluctantly, a smile worked its way onto his counterpart's face. Small at first, but then rapidly growing until it almost split her face. Boomer felt a smile of his own form in response.

"Well, if you really meant all that then I probably shouldn't doubt you huh?" She said shyly, a blush glowing on her cheeks.

"Damn straight." He replied, getting another set of giggles out of her.

You know…now that he thought about it, she had a really nice laugh. It was much better her sobbing, much, much better.

"…Thank you Boomer." Bubbles said after she had quieted down.

His blush returned full force as he scratched at the back of his neck in embarrassment. He had never received such a heartfelt response like that in his life, it was sort of weird but nice…and it made his stomach do flips again strangely enough.

He really was going to need to get that checked out if it kept up. A stomach bug was the last thing he wanted right now.

Before it could grow too silent, Bubbles picked up the cracker box and took a few before handing it to him.

"You know, I don't think I've seen you without your beanie this whole time since we've met again." She quipped, looking at him appraisingly.

Damn, he had forgotten about that too.

Reaching up a hand, Boomer felt his loose hair and frowned heavily. Frowned, not pouted.

That had been his favorite beanie. It had been with him for years and that made it pretty special. All of his other articles of clothing barely lasted a few months. That beanie had been with him through ambushes and the changing of the seasons. Laugh all you want, but there had been a special bond between them.

"Yeah, I really liked that beanie too." He sighed and brought his hand back down to his lap. "It feels really weird not to have something on my head, like all my hair is trying to fly away or something."

She let out a small laugh and reached over, grabbing a lock of his hair gently. A blush instantly took over his face as he felt her rub it between her fingers before quickly letting go. How else could he have reacted? Her hand was like, super close to his face. Anyone else would have reacted the same way at the abrupt gesture.

"Oh sorry, couldn't help myself." The blonde apologized as a small blush dusted her cheeks.

What the hell did that mean?

"You actually have really nice hair." She continued.

"Actually? You had doubts?" He tried to play it off as he fought to get his cheeks to turn back to their normal color.

She shrugged. "Well, you know. You keep it under that beanie all the time. I would have thought that it would all icky and stuff, but it's not. I was surprised was all."

"I take good care of my hair, thank you very much." He mumbled with a little pout as he ran a hand protectively through his golden locks.

Bubbles favored him with an indulgent smile. "I'm sure you do…although it could use a trim. Any longer and you'll start to look like you're mimicking Brick."

He pulled at a strand and realized she was right. It was getting a bit too long for his tastes, but in his defense it had been a rather hectic past few weeks.

"I haven't really had a whole lot of time to take care of it, with the moving and the raids and all. I usually cut it super short every month or so and then throw my beanie on. I just haven't had a chance to this month." He said simply.

A thoughtful look took over Bubbles face and Boomer felt a little bit of apprehension rise up inside. He was getting used to that look, usually she got it whenever she was playing with the kids. It was always a prelude to some sort of mischievous little scheme…and it was directed at him now.

Oh boy.

"You've been cutting your own hair huh? Well, how about when we get back, you let me cut it for you! I'm pretty good." She finished with a sweet, utterly convincing smile.

Boomer eyed her suspiciously and brushed his hair in a protective manner. "Are you really? Or are you just saying that?"

"No! I really am! I cut Buttercup's hair and-"

She cut herself off and smacked him lightly on the arm as he gave her a deadpan stare.

Rolling her eyes, she continued. "It's not that bad looking, besides that's how she likes it. I also cut Blossom's hair, and the Professor's too!"

"Hmmm." Boomer hummed nonchalantly…which earned him another soft slap on the arm.

"I'm good! Trust me!" She pouted.

And of course, that stupid pout did him in. Boomer sighed as his defensives crumbled away and he shrugged in surrender. If it turned out she was horrible at it, it would always grow out in a month or two.

"Okay, fine. I guess it can't turn out too bad." He relented.

"Good-hey! What do you mean too bad?"

He just smiled innocently back at her, which thankfully resulted in her giggling again and not another smack to the arm. Sure they were light, but his limb was still pretty tender. Not that he'd tell her that. Geez, might as well staple the word sissy to his forehead or something.

A stray thought passed through his mind as he watched Bubbles chuckle into her blanket cocoon. It had been bugging him ever since he had started staying at the Resistance base and since they were having heart to heart talks, he figured now was as good a time as any to ask it.

"Hey, speaking of the Professor…I've been meaning to ask…" He trailed off hesitantly.

What was the best way to ask this without coming off as an uncaring asshole? Normally he wasn't really concerned about how he said things, but Bubbles was in a kind of delicate state right now. He didn't want to accidentally say anything to start her crying again…or piss her off.

That would really suck.

While he groped for the right words to say, Bubbles finished his question for him. "About what happened to put him in a wheelchair?"

"Well…yeah." He shrugged awkwardly.

Bubbles frowned lightly and began picking at her blankets as the air took an uncomfortable turn.

Crap.

"You don't have to answer or anything. I shouldn't have asked in the first place. It was stupid of me." He hurried to assure her.

"No, it's fine. I'd be curious too I was in your shoes." She replied as she shook her head softly.

With a deep sigh, she stopped her fidgeting and glanced up towards the ceiling. "It happened…six years ago. I had just turned fourteen and finished my first level of medic training. That qualified you for active field duty in the Resistance."

Boomer nodded in understanding and motioned for her to continue.

"The Professor had already gone through all his training and more besides. He was awarded with the title of a full-fledged doctor and qualified to handle field surgeries and stuff like that. Since I was brand new, I got assigned to be his assistant." She explained.

"The battle that day had been really horrible. I can't remember a whole lot about it, but it was so bad that all of the medical personnel were confined to the M.A.S.H. Headquarters. Normally we would be sent out into the battlefield to collect our wounded, but not that day."

Bubbles eyes grew distant as she began to relive memories that had probably been long buried. Boomer felt a tiny bit guilty at forcing that upon her, but his curiosity was nipping at the bit to learn what happened and that kind of outweighed the guilt at the moment.

"Just because we were confined to the medical area didn't mean we weren't treating anyone. Whenever the general rotated out squads and companies, they ordered the retreating group to collect as many of our wounded as they could. They would be dropped off at the M.A.S.H. and from there we treated them. "

She coughed awkwardly, as if trying to clear her throat, before continuing. "There were a lot of injured that day, rows upon rows of them lined outside the tents. The Professor and I were working in one of those tents, trying to amputate a soldier's leg to save his life."

Bubble broke off abruptly and wiped at her damp eyes. Boomer sat there for a minute, having no idea what he could do, before he awkwardly patted her on the arm. The gesture broke his counterpart out of her trance and she smiled weakly at him.

"Sorry. *sniff* Anyway, The Professor and I were working on a patient when it happened. At first it was barely noticeable, like one of those low hums that don't really register to your ear you know? But it didn't stop or fade away, it just grew louder. And then, suddenly, the screaming started."

Memories lit up her eyes as Bubbles stared past him, seeing something that was long in the past yet still so fresh in her mind. He vaguely wondered if she had told this story before or if this was the first time she had really talked about it.

Either way, it made him feel…warm, to know that she was opening up to him. Sappy as it may seem, he kind of liked this friendship thing they had going on. Boomer blinked those errant thoughts from his head as Bubbles continued with her story.

"The Professor and I had no idea what was going on since we were in the tents. We thought it was stray missile or something and the Professor being who he was, refused to go see what had happened. He said we couldn't afford any distractions when we held this patient's life in our hands. So, he kept working and I stuck by his side."

Her distant eyes focused on his once again and Boomer felt the weight of her emotions as clearly as if they were his own.

"Outside I could hear the screams growing louder with each passing second. When gunfire started filling the air, I knew it wasn't just a missile or bomb that hit us but something bigger, something that could fight. I remember the sky seemed to grow dark and the only light I could see through our tent was the flashes of orange and red of the fires that began to spread throughout the camp."

The past terror reflected in her eyes and made his stomach clench. He had a hunch of what was to come but her story had taken him in and he waited with baited breath to hear her tell it.

"I was terrified at this point, as you can imagine. I was only fourteen, I had never really seen combat before or been in situations where people had died. The whole experience had me off balance already but throw in this mysterious attack and I was almost ready to turn tail and run away. The only thing that stopped me was the promise I made to myself the day I joined the Medical Corps. "

Bubbles' postured straightened and her voice grew stronger with conviction. "I promised that I would do all I could to help those who were injured, no matter what the circumstances, no matter what the injury. I vowed that day that I wouldn't run away from what scared me, I would face it just like the Professor."

Gradually, her shoulders slumped and she let out a small humorless laugh. "The Professor, he was really amazing. Even when chaos was spreading throughout our camp he kept focused and ignored it all. He just kept working on this poor man on the table, not caring if the world was coming down around him. It was incredible."

Boomer swallowed nervously as she glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "We actually managed to stabilize him you know? We were able to take off his leg and sew him up during the whole attack. The Professor was finishing up the last stitch when it happened."

She grew quiet and despite his common sense telling him to wait, Boomer spoke up. "What happened?"

"A Collector." Bubbles stated simply, as if commenting on the weather.

It really shouldn't have been shocking to him. Everything she had been saying was glaringly familiar in its description and really, what else could have gotten past Resistance lines to their hospital unit but a Collector? Those things were hell a hard to take down, let alone stop.

He could barely imagine the horror of having one of those monsters let loose in a place where the injured were taken to be healed. There would have been barely any guards on hand; it would have been a bloodbath. Hell, it was probably was a bloodbath.

Shaking herself, Bubbles cleared her throat lightly and started up again. "We had just finished the last stitch when, in an instant, the top of the tent was engulfed in flames. It wasn't like a slow burn or anything, more like one moment everything was fine… and the next, embers were falling down around us and smoke was everywhere. The Professor ordered me to help him get the patient out of the tent before it collapsed."

Boomer felt himself lean forward as he sensed the answer to his question was near. It was like some morbid curiosity had grabbed him and wouldn't leave him alone until he learned the secret. It also made him feel like a huge jerk, watching his only friend struggle through her memories just because he wanted to know what happened.

Damn, now the guilt was outweighing the curiosity.

"We picked him up and blindly made our way through smoke to the tent door. It was suffocating being stuck in there, I remember how relieved I was when we finally made it out…only to walk right into the Collector's path. It was literally almost right on top of us. I can still see its red eye glaring down at me." She broke off with a shiver.

Boomer winced in sympathy as he imagined the scene. One semi unstable fourteen year old seeing blood and death probably for the first time in her life, carrying out a man whose leg she just help amputate from a burning tent right into a Collector's path?

That was rough, really rough.

"Before I knew what was happening, the Professor had shoved the soldier into my arms and was yelling at me to run, to get as far away as I could." She smiled weakly at him. "Even with a Collector staring him down, his only goal was to save his patient."

What must that have been like? First off, to have a father that actually cared about something other than himself and his goals. And second, to have to be forced to leave him behind?

The Blue Ruff found that he couldn't really comprehend it.

He had never had anything like that. A father figure that you actually liked? Psh! Yeah right, he wouldn't have given two shits about what happened to Mojo back in the day. He still didn't, but that was understandable given how the monkey had backstabbed them.

"…Did you? Run away with the dude I mean." Boomer asked as the silence began to grow heavy.

His counterpart shook her head slowly. "No, I tried to. I'm not too proud to admit it, but I was terrified and when he gave me an out I leapt at the chance. Unfortunately, even though we're stronger than your average human without our powers, we're still human. I had been working for almost twelve hours straight and was exhausted. When the Professor shoved the patient into my arms he was just too heavy for me. I barely made it a few feet before I collapsed to the ground."

It was hard not to clench his fist in anxiety. It was stupid, he knew that. Obviously Bubbles made it out of this story okay. Well, okay probably wasn't the best word choice, but she made it out alive and so did the Professor. He knew that, but the tale had totally sucked him in. He couldn't stop himself from feeling worried at what was about to come next even though this happened years ago. He always did get way to into stories.

"Collectors are programmed to search for weaknesses and attack them. That's one of the things that make them so deadly, they are constantly searching for any advantage they can get. Almost like a human." Bubbles stated in a detached manner, almost like she was reciting from a book or something.

"When it saw me fall to the ground with the soldier, it immediately came after us. We presented the weakest target. An easy target." Her voice started to catch again and she had to pause to wipe her eyes.

"Sorry, ahem, um…yeah, The Collector came after us and fired its harpoon. It would have went straight through me and the soldier I was holding if the Professor hadn't leapt in the way. He…he took the hit, without a second thought he jumped in between us."

The tears finally proved too much for the Blue Puff's self-control and they started pouring from her eyes. Boomer watched her with remorse heavy in his chest as she tried vainly to wipe them away. He was still at a loss as to what he was supposed to do in this situation, but he knew he had to do something. He was the one who asked her to relive this traumatic memory. So he had to comfort her somehow.

'Think, think, think.'

Hesitantly, he placed a hand on her back and began to rub it. He had seen that in a movie once, he hoped it actually worked to some degree.

It must have been somewhat right because after a few seconds, Bubbles offered him a watery smile. It made that little glow in his stomach grow just a tiny bit warmer…which was weird, but kinda nice too.

"The- *sniff sniff* -The harpoon went straight through his spinal cord. *sniff* I remember just sitting there and staring at him pinned to the ground. He looked straight at me and tried to speak, but then he collapsed. I thought he had died in front of me. Just like that."

A sob rose up out of her. "It-it was hor-rrible." She buried her head into her hands and began to cry in earnest.

Oh shit…

Umm…

Slowly Boomer slid his hand around her shoulder and pulled her into a hug. He didn't have a clue why he did it, but it seemed like the right thing to do. He was acting all on instinct at this point because he sure as hell had no idea what he was supposed to do.

Thankfully, she didn't pull away or slap him or anything like that. Instead, she actually leaned into him and used him as a support. This was obviously an old, emotional wound that had never fully healed. If she needed a shoulder to cry on, Boomer was all too willing to let her have it.

He rubbed her shoulder absently as he thought about what it must have felt like to live through something like that.

It sounded horrible. Like really horrible. He could only imagine what it must be like to see someone you deeply care about taking a hit meant for you. The man who literally made and raised Bubbles had sacrificed himself in front of her to keep her safe. His respect for the Professor had just gone up tenfold.

At the same time, he couldn't envision how something like this had affected Bubbles, who had such a big heart. It would have been a crippling blow to someone like her. How was she not completely traumatized by it? Or was she, but just good at hiding that fact?

Either way, it was amazing that she was able to push past it and become one of the Resistance's top stars.

He had learned only a little bit about the Resistance in his time at the base, but he knew it was big. And he also knew that the girls were the most idolized personalities in it, besides this Field Marshal dude. Whoever the hell he was.

But the girls were the moving force, they were the ones that gave everyone hope it seemed like, especially Bubbles. It was incredible that she was able to be like that, after going through what she did. He knew she was strong, he had gotten enough bruises from her to prove it, but he never knew she was that strong.

Overcoming physical wounds was easy, it sucked balls and hurt like a mother but it was easy. All you had to do was eat and get lots of rest. Emotional wounds on the other hand…those were an entirely different bag.

He had always respected his counterpart on some level, but now he really did. It took a lot of fortitude to move pass something like that, especially the guilt part.

Hell, he had been nursing the guilt of getting their powers taken away for a decade and that wasn't even entirely his fault! Just thinking about what she must have felt as she watched the Professor collapse caused all the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on edge.

Over the course of his internal dialogue, Bubbles quieted down. Hopefully she had cried herself all out for the night, these sob fests were causing him to feel all these weird things. Like…sympathy and…empathy?

Yeah, maybe. It was odd. He hadn't ever felt that way for anyone before. Yet another amazing effect Bubbles seemed to have on people.

Boomer stayed quiet and let Bubbles sit there, still leaning against him. He would let her have as much time as she needed to continue. After all, he wouldn't want someone rushing him on such a delicate topic. And it wasn't like he was uncomfortable or anything, it was actually…kind of pleasant.

"I don't know what happened next." His counterpart said after a minute.

Her statement caused him to blink and make a questioning sound in the back of his throat. How could she not know what happened next? She had lived through it. Was the experience just too much for her to handle so she blocked it out?

Bubbles shrugged one shoulder as if she could hear his internal questions. "I blacked out. The last thing I remember was watching the Professor collapse…then I was waking up in a medical tent at Central Headquarters with a burning pain in my stomach. Blossom and Buttercup were there in the room with me when I woke up. They said that I had been found with the Professor and the wounded man we saved on the ground next to the Collector's ruined chassis with a harpoon through my stomach."

"It got destroyed? How?" Boomer asked.

"No one actually knows. They said that there were burn marks all over it and it looked like something had punched straight through its optical sensor into its central core. There were no witnesses besides us and none of us could remember what happened." Bubbles replied with a mystified shake of her head.

"…wow." Boomer said after a moment.

That was kind of crazy. It just up and got destroyed like that? What could have caused that kind of damage and not be noticed by anyone?

His line of thought was broken again as Bubbles spoke up quietly. "So yeah…that's how it all happened. Now you know."

He wasn't quite sure how he was supposed to respond to that. Nonchalantly? Happily? Seriously? Should he actually say something or just make some noncommittal sound? Ugh, he really wished there was a hand book for this sort of thing.

Life would be so much easier.

"…Thanks…for telling me. It must have been hard." The words slipped out of his mouth before he could think them over.

It seemed to be the right thing to say though. She offered him a small smile and then laid her head back on his shoulder.

"Welcome." She hummed quietly.

The talk seemed to have worn her out again. With a quiet sigh, her eye lids began to drift close. And to think, all it took get her to sleep was one critical injury, hours of running for your life, and two or three sessions of emotional therapy.

Good God, was today over yet?

The blonde Ruff leaned slightly to get a view through the window. The night was pressing down on them and dawn seemed to still be a ways off. It wouldn't be too neglectful of him if he took a few minutes of shut eye himself would it?

...

Nah, it wasn't like they were going to be ambushed the second he closed his eyes or anything. Besides, if they were still being followed they would have been found out by now. An hour had passed by.

It all seemed pretty legit, so he was going to take it.

He could barely keep his eyes open anyway; even his eternally wandering mind was too tired to give anything much thought. Reaching out, Boomer pulled another blanket from the dwindling pile and laid it over the two of them.

The cold that fought so hard to chill him to his bones was replaced by a pleasant warmth and Boomer felt his eye lids grow heavier by the second. In less than a minute, he was out; sitting against the wall with Bubbles' comfortable weight leaning against him.


A/N: And there you have it! Emotional turmoil mixed with just a smattering of light hearted humor. I'm still not sure if I entirely liked how I wrote this chapter but at this point I figured I might as well roll with it *shrug* Anyways, so now you know about how the Professor ended up in a wheelchair. That was a story I wanted to tell to more in depth than the brief run down I gave everyone back in Act 1. I figured the poor man deserved his heroic moment. Such a good father. So let me know what you thought of the chapter! Good? Bad? Okay? I love me some reviews :D :D :D

Reviewer Recognition Time!

Lily: :D I knew you'd like it! And no problem about the reviewing Kidnapped. I like the story and it's fun to see writers evolve. ;) Keep up the good work!

tweetybird99: Lol I'm in the same boat, I feel so mean making him all tongue tide and hesitant around Bubbles but at the same time, I don't. I just love writing those kinds of situations. Hehehe, it's my evil side coming out no doubt. As for the BC/Mitch stuff, that kind of makes me happy. I did drop hints about it but I did want to make it a sort of out of the blue type of thing. Glad it worked. Thanks for the review!

Scourge: Death by mushiness? I suppose there are worse ways to die ;) But wow, I'm glad I was able to help get your mind off of the math test. It seriously warms my heart when people review and tell me that this silly little story has brighten up their week in some fashion. It seriously get me in a giddy state, almost embarrassingly so. Glad last chapter put you in an awesome mood. I hope this one did the same! Have a good one mate!

Meleexx: Thank you, thank you. OH and I don't know anything about more Attack on Titan shows, but the latest manga was just released. *shrug* I'll tell you if I find anything else about it.

TheWonderfulWorldOfJazz: Thank you very much. I'm glad you've been aboard with me! It doesn't seem like it's been 50 chapters which I suppose is a good thing. Hopefully I'll be able to keep up the pace through the next 50 :D And thanks for your kind words about last chapter. The overall consensus has been that last chapter induced various fits of giggling and squeals which means my mission was accomplished! Ha HA! Thanks for the review!

crazyformario: Hehehe, it's like your reading my mind! I already planned to have him do that ;) Because what's Butch without some tough love? :D Thanks for the review!

Silent Reader: Oh trust me, you aren't that bad at all. I had to suffer through college with a friend that I strongly suspect is almost bipolar. He would go from feeling great about everything to utterly depressed and pissed off about everything in his life in a span of a day. So trust me when I say that you are in no way bad in that regard ;) I would definitely love to read your story! I think the best thing about fanfiction is that readers and writers can connect to each other and share the stuff they write to grow in their capabilities. I'll have to think of a good way to get you my email address without putting right into a public forum :p I'll probably have something figured out by next chapter, but I look forward to reading it! And just so you know, that second review you left me darn near melted my heart! I'm so honored that my words could have such an effect on people. Seriously, thank you for that. Have a good one!

ROC95: Thank you very much for your constant support!

No-Named-Dude: Thank you! These last two chapters were pretty much the breakthrough chapters in the Blue's relationship so I wanted them to be special! I hope this last chapter didn't drag out the moment too much. Well thanks for your review!

Thanks guys for all the great reviews! I love hearing your reactions and opinions to the things I write. It's all really great feed back. And of course I have to take a moment to thank all the silent readers out there who slog through these author notes :D You guys are awesome!

Next week: We're back with the gang as they search for the Blues. Brick's having a hard time with it, poor baby. Tune in next week for 'Self Revelations'! Have a good one guys!