Disclaimer: The Invisible Man and the characters involved therein belongs to The Sci Fi channel. No copywrite infringment intended. I'm just borrowing them for entertainment purposes. Maggie Rourke and anyone else you don't recognize belong to me.
NOTES: You should probably read at least the first story in the Maggie arc, We Can Be Heros, to understand Maggie a little better.
"Fawkes." A low voice made its way into Darien's dream. "Damn it Fawkes. Get your ass out of bed. Maggie's awake."
He groaned and opened his eyes. Hobbes was standing at the end of the chair glaring at him.
"Good. You're awake. Maggie's up, come on."
"I'm coming, I'm coming." He stretched and climbed out of the chair. "Man, that's some shiner she gave ya there Hobbes."
"Shut up Fawkes." The area around his eye was deep purple.
"A little upset a girl beatcha up?"
"I told you to shut up." He growled as they entered lab 2.
Claire was bent over the hospital bed, examining Maggie's throat. "Good to hear you two are back to normal." She said as she straightened up.
Maggie smiled when she saw Darien. "Hi."
He leaned down and kissed her softly. "How do you feel?"
"Less jittery. How long have I been out?"
"Almost as long as I have. Claire made me take a nap after we gave you the inhibitor."
"So I'm back to the beginning." Maggie let her head fall back, her eyes closed.
"Only for a little while. We're going to have you back up and around in no time." Claire told her brightly. "I made a few adjustments in the formula for the inhibitor. You won't be able to use your powers at all for a week. If you do, you'll need to come in for another dose of inhibitor or you'll lose control again. Next week, I'll move you back to the mid level inhibitor and see how you do."
Maggie nodded. "What's happening to Dr. Johnson?" Hobbes perched at the end of her bed. "She's been officially arrested. The Official hasn't decided if we're going to handle this internally or not. I'm voting for internally. Give the doctor a taste of her own medicine."
"What I can't figure out is how she was drugging you. She must have been giving it to you almost since she first arrived." Claire looked at the folder on the table next to her.
Hobbes cleared his throat. "I think I know how she was giving it to Rourke." Claire turned to him in surprise. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the pill bottle he'd taken from Maggie's house yesterday. "Rourke kept saying that the doc gave these to her for the side effects of her powers. But she doesn't really have any side effects. I was gonna give these to ya t' check out."
Claire took the bottle and looked at the pills. They were large gel caps. "I'll run some tests on these. Of course!"
"What?" Maggie looked at her curiously.
"I've been trying to figure out why you snapped today. It was the inhibitor from this morning. Only it wasn't just the inhibitor. It was mixed with PCP. Dr. Johnson called this morning and said she was going to be late. She asked me to give you the inhibitor and told me where it was. I was suspicious when you said it stung."
Maggie was having trouble keeping her eyes open. "Why me?"
"The Official is going to interrogate her later. Find out who she was working for. Now, get some sleep." Claire picked the pill bottle and folder and left the room, Hobbes close on her heels.
Darien chuckled. "I think Hobbes has taken our orders to watch Claire a little too seriously."
"Nah. Now he just has an excuse to follow her around."
He pulled the blanket up and tucked it in tighter around her. "I believe you're under orders to get some rest young lady."
"Yes sir." She giggled and snuggled deeper into the blankets. "Wake me if you find out anything."
Darien leaned down and kissed her forehead. "I will."
Two days later, Eberts appeared at the door to the lab with a wheelchair. Maggie looked up from the book she was reading.
"Hey Eberts. What's up?"
"The Official wants to see you in his office. He asked me to come get you."
Maggie nodded and pushed back the covers. She slipped out of bed, holding on to the edge for a moment while her legs adjusted to her weight. Eberts rolled the wheelchair into the room, waiting for Maggie to sit down. "I don't need a wheelchair, Eberts."
"The Official insisted and the Keeper agreed." He shrugged apologetically.
With a sigh, Maggie sat in the chair and arranged the blanket Eberts handed her over her lap. "All right, let's go. This is really ridiculous. I can walk there myself." Eberts pushed her through the halls to the Official's office, smiling at her complaints.
Darien smiled when she was wheeled in, and raised an eyebrow at the chair. Eberts pushed her so she was next to Hobbes and took his normal place behind the Official's desk. Sighing, Maggie got out of the chair, positioned it between Darien and Hobbes and got back in, rearranging her blanket on her lap.
The Official glared at her and she smiled sweetly at him. Darien, Hobbes and Claire were all hiding smiles behind their hands. Even Eberts looked like he was trying to hide a smile.
"Are you finished Magdalena?"
She nodded mock seriously. "Yes, sir."
"Good. We've decided to take care of the Dr. Johnson situation in house." The Official told them. Hobbes and Darien exchanged glances over Maggie's head. They each wanted a piece of the doctor for what she did to Maggie. "Everything's going to be taken care of."
"Where did she come from?" Maggie chewed on her bottom lip. Darien patted her hand reassuringly.
"We may never know. Her tracks have been covered up so deeply, she doesn't seems to really exist before she came here." Eberts explained.
"Do you people not run security checks on the employees you hire?" Darien asked.
"She came back clear. Whoever she works for would have installed a high enough security clearance for the position." Eberts spoke slowly, as if he were explaining things to a child.
Claire spoke up. "Maggie, the Official and I have decided to put you on inactive duty. You need time to rest."
"Hey? What about us? I've got a broken nose." Hobbes protested.
"You can have the next two days off." The Official told them generously. "Now, go on. Get Maggie back to the labs and get out of here."
Darien and Hobbes jumped up, happy to have some time off. Darien grabbed the back of Maggie's wheelchair and started to push her out the door when something dawned on him. He turned quickly, bumping into Hobbes.
"Hey, Fawkes, why'd you stop? Let's go. I want to enjoy my time off." Hobbes tried to push his way past but the wheelchair blocked the door.
"Hobbes, think for a minute. What's today?"
"Friday." Maggie piped up from the chair.
"Okay so it's Friday, Fawkes, what . . ." He trailed off when he realized what his partner was saying. "Wait just a minute. We always have Saturday and Sunday off."
The Official sat at his desk smirking. "And you get to have them off this week too. Good-bye boys. Close the door on your way out."
Fawkes shook his head and pushed Maggie out the door. Hobbes pulled it shut behind him and they could hear him muttering under his breath was he left.
Claire looked at Eberts and the Official for a moment before they all burst into laughter.