Chapter Three: Waiting
When I wake up, my neck is stiffer than I've ever felt before in my entire life, my head is pounding, and I have no idea where I am, and then the thoughts filter back into my head that oh my god someone tried to hurt me to kill me even maybe, and that sets the sensors off in the infirmary. Gods, my head hurts, but I'm not seeing double, so that means that I'll hopefully graduate on time- with Jason. I want to be his partner- on the force, that is… but I can't really think right about now, my head is pounding too much.
...but at the same time, there's no way that I;m going to be able to relax like this, not with my head pounding like this. Thank gods they didn't send me to a real hospital, I mean, otherwise, how would I be able to keep up with everything? I might even have to flunk out…
"You okay there, Mary?"
I blink my eyes open, the sunlight streaming in through a window blindingly bright?"
"Are you a nurse?" I ask. I can't see, I'm too groggy from whatever meds they've put me on to really be able to move around to see.
"Unless they're allowing Academy recruits to become nurses while they're in school to become cops, then no… how are you, Mary?"
"Sore, Jason," I say as the shadow of the young fox looms over me. "I have the world's worst headache…"
"How about you come over and crash at my place when you get out of here? Where're you living right now, anyways?"
"Same place I basically have for the last eighteen years, Jason, the orphanage, and they're kicking me out for good when I get back from training… I'd love to come over to your place, though… how long was I out?"
"Just a couple hours, it's still the same day, Mary. The doctors already checked, they say you don't have any bleeding on the inside of your head, they want you to take two weeks and get caught up on healing before you even think about coming back for the physical part of your training, and they don't even want you doing bookwork, alright?"
"Says who?" I ask, crossing my arms over my chest. "I'll do what I want!"
"Are you okay, Mary?" Jason asks, and although he's smiling, I can see a lick of concern in his eyes.
"You care for me a little too much, Jason…," I say, smiling and giving him a soft tap on the shoulder that's caught a little bit by the IV lines that I'm hooked up to.
"Well, Mary, I mean, I like you a lot, so… look, you've been cleared to come back as soon as you're out of here if you don't have a concussion, that's just what I've heard them whispering about. Might as well put that whole "sneaky fox" thing to use for once. Wolfard's been placed on suspension pending a review by IA. Just, you know, thought I should let you know, be a good friend and all…," he says. "So, do you wanna crash at my place after you get out of here?"
"Jason, you know I do, but-"
"Is this gonna be that whole 'we're just friends' talk?"
Sighing and smiling, I put a hoof to my forehead and smile. "I'm not that predictable, am I?"
"Um, yeah, you really are… doctor's here, by the way, Mary…"
As he says that, one of the elk doctors, white coat perfectly bleached and stethoscope around his neck, steps into my room and then pauses, looks between Jason and I and then back and forth a couple of times before shaking his head and coming over to me. "You know he can't be in here, right? This is a prey-only infirmary wing, so…"
Gulping, Jason gets up from his seat and slips out the door, staring daggers at the doctor as he leaves. "See you later, Mary," he says, his voice trailing off as he leaves. "Catch you in the quad later?"
"Deal."
"What was that fox doing in here, Miss-?"
"My last name, Doctor, is Bellwether," I say, and I can see his pupils shrink to slits. "Look, doc, I want nothing to do with that, alright?"
"I'm leaving," the doctor says, jetting out of the room, a curious wolf nurse popping her head in to see them.
"What the heck was that?" she asks. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to overhear…"
"I'm Mary Bellwether… you know who my parents are, I'm sure, but yeah, I don't want anything to do with that… and of course, he wanted nothing to do with me... "
"Let me help you then," the nurse says, closing the door behind her, and I guess she can see my nervous look at the door, because she puts a paw out. "You deserve privacy, Mary, and you're not going to get any with that darn door open, now come on, why're you here? My brother an ass to you again?"
"Your brother? The drill sergeant? Wolford?"
"That's my brother, alright. Look, I'm sorry about him, he's an ass. "I'll do my best to get you taken care of, what happened?"
"Oh, some of my fellow classmates greased the floor in the showers… banged my head pretty hard…"
"Well, let's test and see, do you have a concussion…."
We do the test, and afterwords, the nurse, Maria, it turns out her name is, says I'm fine, I do have a little bit of a concussion and it's not that bad, but that I'm going to need to rest for a few weeks, which means that I'm going to be back a class when it comes to graduation… that sucks, Jason'll get his assignment before I do, which means we won't be together…
So imagine my surprise when he asks to wait a month to graduate so we can be together… I need to ask this fox out, I think...
