Intermission
Part Two
"Hey, look, it's my favorite roomie!" Sumik laughed as Cheetara attempted to sit up in the bed she was in. The infirmary lights shone down at her as she sunk back into the soft white cushions. At first she expected that the reason was due to dizziness or a headache, until she realized that there were a series of tubes running through her nose and down her throat preventing her from moving far.
Pumyra rushed over to the side of the bed and put her hand against Cheetara's forhead. "Still warm, but your temperature's going down." she told the cheetah. "We were getting worried about you." Pumyra said, checking the data readouts on the respiration systems. "Tygra thought you had lost too much blood, he wanted to amputate your arm, but that crazy panther of yours wouldn't let him touch you."
Cheetara mustered what little strength she had to lift her head just enough to see Panthro, keeping watch over her from at the end of the bed. Through his look of concern he smiled back at her and gave a little squeeze to her foot. "I knew you'd pull through." He was about to say something else, but waved it aside for the moment. Normally, she would have asked what it was, but she was concentrating on keeping from choking on the tubes jostling around in her throat. She looked pleadingly towards Pumyra, hoping that the healer would understand what she wanted.
"Tygra said I should leave it in for at least another hour to make sure you're breathing okay on your own." she said, flipping a switch to elevate the bed. From her seated position, she was now able to see Tygra, leaning up against the doorway. He nodded to confirm his instructions.
"Is that really necessary?" Sumik questioned. "She looks like she's breathing okay already."
"According to the monitors, it's still shakey." Pumyra told him.
"You're not trained to diagnose these things." Tygra said as he was about to leave the room. "Let the professionals handle it. That's our job." Tygra shot a nasty look at the protective panther beforeleaving.
Pumyra sighed and retrieved a pen and pad of paper for Cheetara and set them on her lap. "In case you need anything, this way you won't be totally unable to communicate."
Cheetara was about to pick up the pen with her right hand, but it was only first now that she felt the thick wrappings of gauze wrapped around her arm. Memories of the battle began to return. Sumik was still looking towards the door, and now spoke up. "So, what bit his ass?"
"He's pissed at me. Pissed I forced him not to amputate." Panthro said quietly. He turned to Pumyra. "You think I did the wrong thing?"
"I think he's upset." Pumyra offered.
"That's not an answer." he said, getting up to move to Cheetara's side. He picked up the pen and handed it to her left hand, the held the pad steady infront of her.
"I'll be right back. I need some coffee, maybe something to eat. I haven't left since the bunch of you came back. Call me if anything happens." Pumyra told Panthro, who merely nodded. The puma grabbed a small portible monitor, then briskly walked out.
"Looks like she's pissed, too." said Sumik, watching her leave. "But good company is better than lots of company." He scatched at the back of his head, wincing as he touched the goose egg just behind his ear. "Pain, pain, go away, come again some other day..." he said in a sing-song voice as he rested against the pillows. "We're starting to become a regular thing around here, eh, Cheetara?"
After each of the previous four attacks by the lunataks, both he and Cheetara had ended up in the med bay, with injuries ranging from superficial to minor. They had never before had to spend the night like they had this time, but they seemed to both always manage to get hurt. Sumik laughed as a private thought crossed his mind. "We shouldn't be calling ourselves Thundercats, we should be calling ourselves Blundercats. Or maybe Thunderclutzes!"
Had she been able to smile, she would have. Instead, she drew a smiling face on a sheet of paper which Panthro held up for him to see. The cougar grinned and gave her the thumbs up sign.
Wilykat entered at this point, waving at occupants.
"So, they don't trust me alone in here with them." sighed Panthro. Wilykat stopped short, brow furled.
"They didn't send me. In fact, they didn't want me in here. But if I'm going to learn to be a healer, I think I'd better start making rounds as soon as possible, don't you?" Wilykat walked over to Sumik's bed and picked up the chart. "Playing rough again, were we?" He teased. "Lacerations to the upper arms, fractured ribs, and a fractured ankle...as well as light head trauma. You trying to get out of work?"
"Heh, always. What's the general diagnosis, doc?" Sumik askedwith a grin.
"Hmm..."
"FUBAR?" asked the cougar with raised eyebrows.
"Not quite FUBAR..." Wilykat assured him.
Panthro spoke up. "Cheetara says she's FUBAR." he read from thepad of paper.
Wilykat crossed over to where the cheetah lay. "You can't be too bad." he said, picking up the clipboard hanging off the end of the bed. He glanced at the notes and bit his lip. "Alluro really got you good."
"And then Kit really got him good!" Sumik reminded Wilykat. "Your sister is one tough lady."
"Yeah, well, make sure you remember to treat her like a lady." Wilykat couldn't help be a bit defensive for his sister, although it was inevitable in his mind that she and Sumik may at some point become more than simply teammates.
"Oh, I do." Sumik said quickly, raising a hand in protest.
"Alright guys, if you want to spar, do it somewhere else. Not here." Panthro said as he brushed aside the hair matted across his lover's cheeks. Cheetara kept as calm as she could, yet wanted despritely to rip the contraption out of her throat. She closed her eyes and leaned her head against his hand as he stroked the side of her face. She let out a soft whimper as pain streaked up her side and across her back. Panthro looked over to Wilykat. "What all's wrong? You can read the charts,right?"
Wilykat looked back to the pages. "You know about her arm already. She's got bruises on her side where she got kicked, bruises on her neck, and left leg...minor cuts on the arms and face...one of her lungs was partially collapsed when she got here, that's why she's on the respirator..." Wilykat reread one of the sentences over and over, trying to get himself to speak the words on the page.
After an immense pause, he looked up to the others. "Cheetara, um, I know you can't talk right now," Wilykat said, "But just a yes or no. Uh, were you aware that...well, did you know that you were--"
"Stop!" shouted Tygra appearing at the door.
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