Zed entered Elle's room in the infirmary stopping to frown when he saw Kay sitting beside her, holding her hand. He hadn't moved from her bedside, hadn't even twitched in the four days she had been there. They had brought in a bed for him but he wouldn't lie down, dozing instead in the chair beside her.
"Kay, why don't you go back to your room and get cleaned up, maybe get some rest," Zed said as he went over and placed a hand on the agent's shoulder. he looked down at Elle and was relieved to see how peacefully she appeared to be resting, fast asleep in a drug induced slumber.
"I don't want to leave her," Kay murmured. He needed to be beside her holding her hand and comforting her when Elle opened her eyes again.
"Kay, she's been sleeping for four days and with the medicine that they have her on, I highly doubt that she's going to wake up anytime soon. Go and get cleaned up. That's an order!" Zed sternly told him. It wasn't going to do Elle any good if Kay collapsed from exhaustion. Maybe if he could get him to his room, he could convince him to sleep for a few hours.
"Elle, I'll be back. I'll be right back," Kay murmured as he gently kissed the fingers of her good hand before standing and heading for the door with Zed following behind him.
*********
A little while later, Elle slowly stirred in the bed as her eyes blinked open. She looked around, surprised not to find Kay beside her. Even in her drug induced sleep, she could feel his hand gripping hers, reassuring her that she was going to be just fine.
She looked down at her left arm and tried to frown at the sight of the bandages. Something was wrong with her face through. It felt incredibly numb, like half of it was dead. She reached up, trying to figure out what was wrong. As he fingers touched her neck, she was startled to feel thick bandages wrapping her neck from the collarbone up. Her fingers moved higher to find more bandages, these covering most of her face from her forehead along her right cheek down to her chin. What in the world was wrong with her face?
She slowly pulled herself out of bed, detaching the monitors that she was hooked to and staggering in the direction of the bathroom pulling her IV pole along with her. A moment later she came back out. No mirror. Now what could she do?
Just then she caught sight of the reflective screen on the heart monitor. It was a poor mirror but it looked like the best she could do at the moment. She drug herself over to it and looked at her reflection for a moment, her face covered in white dressings, before reaching up with her good hand and slowly removing the bandages.
Elle's eyes filled with horror at the sight of her face. The skin was still swollen and discolored with red tissue bulging through the gaping cut in her face. It appeared that half of the skin was gone, leaving a large hole behind. She collapsed to the floor in tears, her mouth open in a silent scream.