(a/n): Hope it wasn't too much of a delay. This chapter is short, but I needed it to tie up one loose end. Hope you guys'll enjoy it. One small thanks to my reviewers.

Daniel Wesley Rydell: Glad you liked it. And don't worry, I'll keep on writing. It's what I do.

UTFreak: Hehe. If you want to, I guess. Although my first story does have TONS of errors. One thing for sure, you won't be having fun correcting them.
Sorry, that you found the action a little unsatisfactory. But please, do tell me what it was missing. I'm glad you like Tanya's reaction, though. That took quite some time to write and rewrite. At first, I wanted to cut it out.

Enjoy everyone.

Chapter 17: Medical

"Light breaks where no sun shines; Where no sea runs, the waters of the heart push in their tides."—Dylan Thomas

I spend one full day in medical and got frequent visits from Boris and Wraith. Romulus was constantly in my room until he was booted out by Veronica for "disturbing her patient." She went as far as threatening to stick him full of needles with sedatives. I told you she could be scary.

One of my surprise visits was from Malcolm. He came in yesterday, asking how I was doing. I smiled weakly, and we had a small conversation.

"How you holding up?" He asked sweetly.

"Okay." I admitted. I wasn't sure if I agreed with Veronica holding me in medical. I felt like I wanted to kick some more ass. Yes, violence breeds more violence, which Veronica hated. She was just like Zack, unreasonably over protective and extremely stubborn. They should try getting together.

"You were great back there." He gently sat on the bed. "You haven't lost your touch. Kicked my ass hard. You know how painful it is to sit on it now?"

I chuckled. "You weren't so bad yourself. You got good aim."

"Years at the tournament could train any hand." Then he grinned. "But you are a natural." He whistled. "You're a hotshot, dammit. Brock was whining how you only missed once throughout the match."

"If he decided to stay still more often, I would have never missed." I joked.

Silence followed. Strange, two years of absence and yet there was nothing to say. We just stared into space, thinking of what to say next.

Then Malcolm asked, "So, you found him yet?"

I knew of who he was talking about and smiled almost instantly. "I'm not sure. I hope so." I nearly whispered. His brow furrowed, and before he got a chance to speak, I shook my head. "It is so hard, you know." I barely reached a whisper. "I don't want to lose him. And yet it seems fate wants us apart." Then I closed my eyes.

Another long silence followed. It was a comfortable calmness that poured through my veins.

I could picture Dess, sitting next to me, putting his hand on mine. Tell me, Dess. Tell me why do you play so hard to get. Just reach out to me. Quit these painful games that we play and just come out and smile. Just come and put your hands around me and whisper sweet words into my ears. Caress my cheek in the morning and kiss me passionately like you always did. Dess...

I jumped back into my pool of thoughts and absorbed all their warmth and sweetness. Dess...how much I still loved you.

---

"Trini!" Romulus burst into the room the next morning, scaring the shit out of me as I sat up in bed in a split second. "Yay! Today's the day you could leave!" He ran up to me and collapsed on his knees. "How does it feel to be back on the team." He held out an imaginary microphone to my face.

I lied back down and groaned. How the hell did he get passed Veronica, I thought. Some things never change. "Wonderful." I didn't sound too enthused.

"How are you feeling? Any pain, after effects, comments, complaints?"

"Well beside the headache I just got, I was feeling fine." I smiled broadly.

"That doctor." Romulus rubbed his chin as if thinking, looking too sarcastic to be taken seriously. "Gave you the wrong dosage, didn't she?"

After a slight pause we both started laughing. Romulus was always Romulus. Always the kid on the block.

"So, how are you feeling," He asked, sounding more serious.

"I'm fine.

"No headaches?" I heard worry in his voice.

"No, no headaches." I shook my head, a sweet smile growing on my lips.

"Yes!" He jumped to his feet. "I was about to blame myself." He swiped the imaginary sweat off his forehead and added, " Phew." Then he smiled.

"You again!" Veronica shouted as she entered the ward.

"Uh-oh." Romulus nearly shrank, sounding like a kid who just broke a toy.

"What did I tell you? Stop disturbing my patient! If you have no injuries than get out, unless your itching for one." Her eyes nearly glowed red.

"Veronica, it's okay, really." I tried to talk some sense into her.

"Okay? Okay? This is not okay! You might be bored as hell, young lady, and want to go out there and, quote and unquote, kick some ass, but you are not in the condition to do so."

I sighed. "Veronica, you are just taking this whole thing too serious."

"Honey, you aren't taking this seriously enough. Do you know what kind of brain damage you can get from this hellhole?"

"Everyone seems to be alright. How come I'm the special case."

"You are no special case, Tanya. I mean—" She gestured at Romulus. "does he seem to be fine with you? To me it seems his brain got shrunk to a size of a peanut." True...

"Hey!" Romulus challenged. "Excuse me for just having a young and energetic spirit."

"And what about that oversized bulldozer?" She ignored him. "What was his name—ah Gorge! He is insane!"

"Well, he is the special case." I smiled sweetly.

"No, there is more where he comes from." She folded her arms and sized up Romulus. "And more where your friend comes from."

"So what about the others?" I said quickly, noting that Romulus was boiling.

"The others? They are just careful enough. And some just entered the matches."

"I'm careful. It was just one death, Veronica." I raised my index finger and looked at it with one eye. "Just one."

"Don't get used to it." She pointed at me. "Zack is blowing his top."

"That sounds like Zack, alright." I said it particularly to no one. "If someone even looks at me wrong, Zack'll kill them."

"And he ought to." She stated. "It seems that if he won't take care of you, you'll be in total mess."

I frowned, saying "I can take care of myself. Zack is just too overprotective."

It was Veronica's turn to frown. "I guess you are entitled to your opinion. But remember, the fact is still a fact, whether you deny it or not."

"And what fact are we talking about?"

"The fact that in this world many won't survive without a friend who is always there to offer his shoulder to lean on."

I opened my mouth to argue, but then decided against it. That fact I could never deny; without Zack I would have never survived on the moon alone. Never.

Instead, I sighed and lied back on the bed with an arm over my forehead. If something ever went wrong, Zack was always there. If there was anyone there for me, that would be Zack, my big bro, my father replacement. Am I really that helpless without him? I hated to think so.

Veronica turned to Romulus and smiled. "Now, since you don't know what's going on, you could leave right about now."

"Yeah, good idea." Romulus said quietly and waited one more moment to look at me. "I'll see you later, yeah, Trinity?"

I nodded in response and heard him leave the room, closing the door behind him. Great. Locked in with the scary Dr. Ross. She kept silent when she walked around the bed to look at my stats displayed on the screen beside my bed.

"I was told I could be signed out today." I said, trying at a conversation.

"Really?" She didn't leave her eyes off the screen as she scrolled through the data. "And who told you that?"

Romulus. "One of the nurses." I lied, hoping that would give some credibility to my wishes.

"Is that so?" She took off her glasses and looked at me. "I would rather you stay here for one more day. Your team has a match today, and I don't want you competing. I won't sign you out, either. Stay here for one more day just to be on the safe side." She smiled. "It's a good time to finally relax from all the tension, eh?" She flung something very small onto the bed and winked.

"What's this?" I asked as I picked up the small item; it was a rounded see-through dangling earring. It appeared there was something white inside of it.

"Here." She took out a hairpin from her bun and handed it to me. "It might help open the door to his many secrets."

"Whose?" I looked up at her as I took the pin from her hands, at first not realizing that it was sharp and heavy. It felt like a weapon and a deadly one at that.

"I have to attend to my other patients. I'll see you in a bit." She smiled and walked out of the room. There was a slight click after the door closed. Wonderful.

I waited a moment in the silent ward and then examined the small jewelry in my hand. I held it out with my fingers at the eye level and twirled it a full circle, wondering what the hell could it be and from who. It looked like an icicle with it's silver embroidery-like features. I twirled it another way in hope of finding something I could to apply the pin to. Whatever it was, it was one hell of a way to communicate. I narrowed my eyes looking carefully at the thin laces of silver. My eyes were having a hard time concentrating on the pattern, and I couldn't wait to see who came up with such a brilliant idea. There was nothing, no indentations, no extra holes, no nothing.

I sighed, placing the hairpin on the bed and rubbing my eyes. What's the point of giving a message if it cannot be read? I had a feeling only one person could come up with such a wise idea. Oh, I think you know who I'm talking about...

I placed the earring in my other palm and observed it carefully. The lock appeared to be supported by a round base that connected it to the earring. Frowning, I wondered if the base could possibly open. I took the earring with my thumb and forefinger and twirled the jewelry with my other hand. Well, I could force it open...more like break it open.

My eyes fell on the sharp pin beside me, and a smile suddenly flashed across my lips. No harm in trying. I took Veronica's hairpin with my right hand and applied it to the tip underneath the base. I angled the needle-like pin, and the base broke. Instead of falling off, it just hanged out, revealing a thin chain that it was attached to. I pulled out the base, and the chain slid out carefully with a thin roll of paper attached to it at the end.

My curiosity rose as I carefully unfolded the paper, noting it's fragile material and yet wanting to unroll it as fast as possible. What on Earth can one write to fit this tiny paper? When I finally unfolded the final edge, my question was answered. I breathed in heavily and exhaled in the same fashion. It simply said:

ZACK

Zack? He wrote this? How the hell did he get this through? Wait, why would he need to when he could just contact me on the—Oh crap! I turned off the damn communicator last time I talked to him. Aren't you a stupid idiot. I silently cursed and activated my wristpad. "Function. Communication." I said it clearly. After a pause, I heard a 'confirmed' in my earpiece as I was put through a secure line through the Electro-Trauma satellite. Yeah, believe it or not, another reason to kiss Cripton's feet. Sigh.

"Tanya?" Oh, how good it was to hear his voice.

"Zack, hi. Sorry about that." Idiot, what an idiot I turned out to be. "Everything is fine."

"You scared the shit out of me. I couldn't get through, what happened?" His voice was elevated a few decibels. Did I scare him that much?

"Heh." Here we go. "I turned off the—the line."

"Don't do that again. You had me on high alert here. I had to contact Lostis. Looks like he got the message through."

I looked at the piece of paper in my hand. "Yep. A genius, that Lostis is. So, is everything okay?"

"Okay doesn't even start to explain it. Lostis reports that you've been participating in matches with the current champion. What the hell is going on?"

"Yeah, I met him. It's Malcolm. Hasn't changed a bit. We had a friendly match, that's all. Nothing to worry about." I purred and kept calm, hoping Zack would cool soon.

"Oh, really. And what about that death that Veronica is sizzling about?"

I sighed. Despite having turned off communications, Zack was always on top of everything. Nothing ever escapes him. How he does it I'll never know. "It's just one measly little death, nothing too serious." I tried to sound comforting.

"Too serious? Lostis told you explicitly not to get killed, dammit." Okay, fine. I admit it. He's angry. "I don't want anything happening to you. Do you know how hard it is to sit in this damn cave and just listen to what is going on? It's killing me." I heard him breathing fast, and from shame I looked down to the floor. "Don't—" He sighed. "—don't do that again." His voice dropped to a whisper.

"I'm sorry Zack." And I was. "Things have just been in turmoil here. I'm sorry I had you worried. I'm okay, really." I never expected him to be this angry. "So, any news?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

"Yeah." Good, he sounded calm. "You won't believe this."

"What?"

"We found Dessloch."

"You what?" I jumped to feet as my heart raced. "Where, how—is he alive?" I was about to blow from excitement.

"Yes. Alive and kicking."

"Is he with you, can I talk to him?" Dess...I just needed to here his voice, his sweet voice.

"No, he's not with us."

"Oh." There was a sudden ache in my heart. "Where is he, then?"

Zack paused as he breathed in. "Tanya...Dessloch is..."

(a/n): hehe. At least I said he's alive. I wanted to cut that out too...So, I'm not that evil.