Chapter 20
After a few agonizing hours, the doctor finally returned to Liz's room to do their evening assessment and change her dressings. Clay and Davis were visiting the room as the rest of the team and Blackburn went to rack out for a few hours as the lack of sleep was finally catching up to them. As the doctor came in, everyone tensed up and cut their conversation, hoping for some good news. At this point, Liz was starting to get crabby; she was tired but refused to sleep as she had finally had some quality time with her best friends and was craving comfort.
"How are you feeling today?" The doctor asked as he helped prop Liz up to look at her shoulder before he stripped off the dressing.
"I'm ok, ready to leave." Liz snapped a bit as she rolled her eyes. She hated hospitals and spent way too much time in them.
The doctor stiffened at her remark but ignored her attitude as he could not blame her. He saw her body littered with her war wounds and her medical file online, and it was not a small list, "Well, let's take a look and see if we can send you off to sleep in your bed tonight."
Clay was on her right side, and as the doctor peeled back the dressing and tried to look away, he did not want to see her in that state, knowing the pain she was experiencing as the dressing was lifted away from the burn. But he could not entirely peel his eyes off her. He tried to offer comfort through his gaze as he was shifted back from her bed to make some room. Liz closed her eyes, winced, and let out a tiny whimper as Davis reached over, put her hand on her left thigh, and gave a slight squeeze. With this, Liz opened her eyes and searched for comforting eyes of Clay. She struggled to see his whole face behind the doctor, but she had to stay still leaned forward while the doctor was cleaning her burn.
Davis caught on to Liz's frantic actions trying to get her head into position to see Clay but coming up short. She cleared her throat as Liz shut her eyes again, trying to get Clay's attention as he was caught in a blank stare. When she got his attention, she shifted her head, pointed towards Liz's feet, and flashed her eyes from his body to the bed a few times, hoping he would catch her hint. Clay looked at her for a moment, trying to get her cryptic message and then slowly caught on as he got up and headed over to her bed. He slowly got up, moved over to the foot of her bed, and shifted her legs, carefully watching for the wounds on her upper right leg. Liz opened her eyes with the new touch and met the blue orbs she was craving to see. With his contact, she instantly relaxed as her body knew it would be ok before her mind even processed his touch.
Clay sat on the edge of the bed far enough back to still be out of the way and keep his distance from her leg wounds to not bump them and allow her dressing to be changed. As he sat down and shifted to face her, he leaned forward, grabbed her right hand, held it in his trying not to move her arm, and gave it a light squeeze. He looked up from her hand and met her eyes as she winced again and squeezed his hand. Looking into her eyes broke his heart, he knew she played the tough soldier and would not show her weakness even to him at times, but he saw how much pain was swirling in her eyes, along with a hint of worry. She knew she would recover fully, as Trent and her nurses have told her, if she stayed on track but dealing with burns can be unpredictable. Her burn was not overly deep but still thick enough to cause problems if not healed properly. She was scared she might not be her regular on the team, viewed as weaker or slower by others.
As her eyes locked onto Clay, she did not budge; she did not blink; she just stared into his baby blues as she let herself calm down and release all negative thoughts as the doctor finished up with her shoulder and moved onto her hip.
As the doctor moved to her hips and went to lift the blanket to get a complete look at her thigh and hip, he mumbled something about maybe Clay and Davis stepping out for privacy. Davis heard this request but did not budge as she was in a trance, watching the intimate moment being shared between Clay and Liz. They were in their little world that they heard nothing, did not notice the doctor, or acknowledge anyone else. Nothing else mattered to them other than the other person. Their comfort and touch were a drug to each other, and they were in their slight euphoria by the high. No one moved, and so the doctor, being thrown off, shrugged and continued to proceed with changing her dressings and assessing the wounds. He tried to keep her gown in position and the blanket covering her to keep her modesty but soon realized no one's eyes shifted from their gaze, so he shrugged and finished up.
"Ok, Petty Officer Fox, everything looks good and healing. I think I can permit you to sleep in your bunk tonight."
And at that remark, everyone's eyes shot towards him with a smile. Liz was finally out of her prison as she described it. She did not do well, being restricted to a hospital bed.
"Thank God, finally!" Liz proclaimed as she shifted and let out a slight squeal; being overjoyed, she was free.
"As long as you promise to follow your medics instructions completely and come to physio as ordered."
"Yes, she will; we will all ensure it." Davis piped in as she knew Liz was going to try and object. She hated being babied, as she called it, when she was given orders for recovery and was smothered by the team.
"I will send in the nurse with your discharge papers then."
…
Liz moved slowly as she tried to hobble alongside Clay as he held her up on her right side, with Davis ahead of them leading the way towards her bunk. As they rounded the corner, they came face to face with the team sitting at the fire pit, staring into the flames, not talking much.
When they woke up, they got a text from Davis with information that the doctor was checking her out, and it was looking like she would be released, so they should not come and wait for her.
"Hey, lookie here, Pebbles is up and walking. Welcome back." Sonny chirped as he got up and raced to her to hug her.
Clay backed away as he hugged her but did not fully let go of her hand. He could not, even if he tired as her hand clasped his so tight; she was holding onto him for support. As Sonny pulled away, the rest of the team lined up to give her their gentle hugs and welcome her back.
"Hey, Jellybean. How are you feeling?" Jason asked as he pulled her in.
"I'm ok. I am doing way better and happy to be out of there and sleep in my bed. It is not much being a cot, but it is better than the hospital bed any day. Happy to be here and see all your ugly mugs up close." Liz laughed as she hugged him. "I'm not broken; you guys don't have to treat me like glass."
"We are just trying to keep you up and standing this time." Brock piped in as he came in for his hug, chuckling.
"Hey there, lil miss, how are you doing?" A voice called out from behind them as he came up towards Liz. "Looks like the hens are back to their smothering."
Metal came up behind them, and Liz turned towards him with a big smile. She still did not remember what happened after they made it to the secondary rally point where Delta waited for them. But she heard a few things through her team, who got a glance at the AAR from Delta.
"Tell me about it; I'm already being treated like I will break with one touch." Liz chuckled, "I am not sure what happened, but I heard you got me out of there… Thanks."
"Don't mention it. If I wanted to show my face around Bravo again, I needed to haul your ass out of there in one piece." Metal told her as he put his hand on her left shoulder and gave her a small pat.
Neither Liz nor Metal did the mushy feelings or thank you, so this exchange, as small as it was, took the team off guard as they stood around, unsure of what to say.
"Who are you calling smothering hens?" Jason laughed as he put his hand to his chest, pretending to be offended. He knew how awkward the exchange was between the two and aided in changing the mood and subject to help them escape their embarrassment.
"Have you seen you guys?" Metal boomed with laughter. "You are worse than a bunch of women swooning over a baby."
The team snorted and scoffed as they all headed back towards the chairs at the fire along with Metal.
"Fire or bed?" Clay asked as he moved close to Liz, still holding her hand but going in to grab her arm and pull her into him for support. He could see her getting tired mentally and physically, being up on her feet was taking a toll on her, and he knew it.
"Bed," Trent called out as he sat at the fire and watched them.
"Alright then, let's go." Clay laughed as he moved her toward her room. Davis followed as she knew Liz would want to sleep in something comfier. She tended to sleep in a tank top and shorts; being in sweats and a long sweater was her worst nightmare.
Liz just scoffed and rolled her eyes with a smile toward Trent as she said goodnight to the boys. The three of them made their way toward her room, and Clay helped her to the door and let Davis take over when they went inside.
He gazed at her momentarily and gave a stiff nod as she peered up at him. He needed to get out of there now, or else he would not be able to later. If he did not leave now, he would grab her again and never let her go. While he passed her arm off to Davis, he felt cold and empty. "Night, Darlin'."
And with that, he left the two girls alone in the room to make their way to her bed and clothes.
As Davis helped her get ready for bed and take a quick attempt at a shower, she could feel the tension radiating off Liz.
"You know you will have to be the first to do something."
"I don't know what you're talking about. What am I doing?" Liz questioned. She was not entirely on the same page as Davis but had an idea of what she was talking about, and it consisted of a tall blonde, blue eyes sniper.
"He will never make a move. He's too scared to ruin everything you have worked for. He respects you too much, although it breaks him inside to be without you. After years of dancing around them, you two finally realize your feelings, which crushes him to feel this way. I can see it tear him apart daily."
Liz sat there on the bed in silence as she swirled Davis's words in her mind, coming to a realization. She was right. As much as she and Clay needed each other, a line would be crossed. He was worth the world to her but was she willing to cross that line with the team hanging in the balance?
