"Watch where you're going!"
"I am! Al, can you get the door?"
Alan scuttled ahead of the parade of people that were currently engaged in the extensive task that was bringing Selene home from the hospital. How one woman, who could barely get out of bed, had managed to acquire so much stuff in so short a time was beyond comprehension. They knew she had a habit of overpacking and could easily fall into hoarder territory if left alone for long enough, but this was ridiculous.
Alan held the door open and Scott pushed her wheelchair into the elevator that would take them from the hangars to the main part of the house. Virgil and John, who were acting as packhorses, weighed down by a million bags, would have to wait for it to return, there was no way they would all fit in. Gordon, who's idea of helping had been to nose in said bags, snatched out the new head massager that Adam had given his sister, and darted into the elevator after Scott. In short the whole thing was a confusing mess of too many people trying to do too many things and Selene just wanted to sleep. Not that that would be happening any time soon, she was sick of lying in bed and was determined to get back to some semblance of normality as soon as possible.
"This thing is really cool, I have to get one," Gordon said, dragging her attention back to him by arranging the thin, spindly finger-like prongs around his head and bouncing it up and down with far too much enthusiasm.
"Are you getting gel on that?" Selene asked, already knowing the answer. He nodded happily. "You had better wash it then, I'm not having that super hold stuff transferring to my hair when I can barely wash it as it is. Last time I used that stuff I looked like one of those old troll dolls."
Alan snickered as he pressed the button for the lounge floor, remembering the incident well. Selene had not been impressed but they had found it hilariously funny.
The elevator doors opened to the hallway at the back of the lounge where they could enter the lounge area or continue up to the sleeping quarters. Scott pushed her out, guided the chair around the side of the panelled wall where his launch chute and their portraits were located and stopped beside the sunken seating area.
"Come here," he said, bending down to allow her to loop her arms around his neck, then lifting her out of the chair. Steps and a wheelchair didn't mix and she still wasn't allowed to stand unaided. If she had just broken her ankle she could have used crutches, but her broken wrist ruled that out. If she had just fractured her pelvis she could have used a walker, but her ankle made that impossible. She didn't trust herself with a motorised chair and couldn't push herself with her broken wrist, so, for now, she was relying on the goodwill and patience of family to, as she put it, 'cart her arse around'. None of them minded in the slightest, they were just grateful she was in one piece and home with them.
"Which chair?"
She reluctantly pointed to one of the bucket seats, knowing it would give her more support and keep her more upright than the couches could. Scott lowered her carefully and gently into the chair, on alert for any kind of wince or pained sound that might indicate it had hurt her.
"Thanks, babe." She settled in the chair as best she could, knowing that even if she didn't like it she would have to put up with it. Ordinarily, she would never choose to sit in one of them, she was a snuggler by nature and liked to be close to people. If she had her way she would be squished up against someone's side, leaning against them or laying on them in some fashion. On the rare times she found herself alone, she would take advantage of it and stretch out full length, taking up as much room as possible. The bucket seats that acted as a launch chute for Thunderbird Three and Shadow were comfortable to the extreme, they had to be to act as pilot seats too, but she found them too lonely and too confining for her tastes. Unfortunately, she had very little choice at the moment.
John emerged from the hall, empty-handed of all but her handbag -liberated by Virgil from the car after she and Alan had been extracted- and a tote bag full of the books and magazines she had been reading in hospital. Everything else had evidently been deposited in their bedroom for unpacking later.
"Hi, everything alright?" he asked her.
She nodded. "Yep, managed to make it without trouble, but Gordon has somehow stolen my head massager." She gave him a pointed look, like he had let her down in the relocation of her possessions.
"Not guilty." He held his hands up in mock surrender. "He took that from Virgil's load, not mine."
"He was so quick," Virgil protested lamely, bringing up the rear with Grandma and Jeff in tow. Gordon grinned, totally unashamed of his thievery. "His hand was in and out before I even saw him."
"Have you got that list?" John asked him, ignoring the rest of the information to focus on the important things.
Virgil nodded, scrabbled around in the pockets of his flannel until he located it, and handed it to him. "Here they are, doctor's orders. Grandma has the rest."
"I don't need a list to tell me how to heal," Selene protested, but Grandma cut her off.
"Yes, you do, I know you, young lady, you'll be trying to get up the moment our backs are turned."
"I would not!"
"Yes, you would," Scott laughed, looking up from the wheelchair he was trying unsuccessfully to fold down.
"Unfair. I can be sensible."
"When you're asleep. Ah ha!" He located the hidden button that released the lock and the chair folded in on itself. "Got it!"
"Why are you all being so mean to me?" Selene pouted, ignoring his triumph. "Dad, they're picking on me again."
"I know you think they're mean, honey, but in this instance, I have to agree with them," Jeff answered firmly, trying to ignore the way her bottom lip wobbled in his direction. Maybe he was lucky he'd had all boys because no one ever told him daughters could wrap you so easily around their little fingers. If he'd seen Selene as a little girl he'd have been done for. As it was, it was a close call. He didn't know how John managed, because it was taking all he had to stay firm and not give in to her. "How about we make a deal?"
"What kind of deal?" she asked suspiciously. Selene was nothing if not practical, but also easily placated if the right thing was offered. John snorted in amusement, but declined to step in and help.
"You keep your backside in that chair and stay put like a good girl and I'll make Scott go out for food. How's that?"
On paper that sounded like a good deal, but her daddy had taught her never to accept an offer without getting all the details first."What kind of food?"
"What food do you want?"
Selene thought about it for a while. "I don't know, surprise me."
"Do I get a say in this, since I'll be the one going out to get it?"
"Doesn't seem like it," Virgil laughed. "Better get moving, bro."
"Fine, I'm going," Scott mock sighed, levering himself out of the chair he'd only just sunk down into. "Text me your orders."
Once Scott had left and the others had either wandered off to parts unknown -as was the case with Virgil and Grandma or settled on the couches, as Alan and Gordon had- John folded himself into the chair beside her and took her hand in his, lacing their fingers.
"Can I get you anything?"
She shook her head. "Nah, I'm good. Thinking I might just read quietly for a bit. I've got to behave, apparently."
"What about for Yule? Do you want me to fetch anything from the apartment?"
Selene sighed, a short, unhappy little noise. "Ordinarily I'd say yes, or I'd be out somewhere joining in with a ritual, but I had it drummed into me by Vera that we shouldn't practice when we aren't in tip-top physical form unless it's an emergency. She always says 'the Gods will wait'. So I should probably continue to sit here and let my arse weld itself to yet another surface."
"Yes, stay put, Scott will be back soon enough," Jeff called from his desk. She lifted her good arm in acknowledgement, ignoring Gordon's sniggering from behind his National Geographic.
"See, Dad's orders," she grumped lightly, not really meaning it. "Talking of Yule though, what about Christmas? It's not like I can do much to help but I have a few days to order some shopping if one of you can pick it up?"
"Stop right there," Jeff ordered, apparently still listening in and taking his self appointed role of Selene wrangler seriously. "There's no need for you to worry your head about any of that stuff, we've got it covered."
The look on Selene's face said she very much doubted that.
"You think we can't fend for ourselves now and then?" He actually moved his glasses further up his nose to peer at her. She was not intimidated in the slightest.
"Yes!"
"We're perfectly capable of putting together a meal and decorating a tree. We can invite your mom and brother and have ourselves a nice, relaxing," that last was said with a pointed look in her direction, "and above all, quiet, christmas."
"But-"
Jeff lifted his hand. "No, don't even think about arguing. You're going to do as you're told and leave it to us. You do enough around this place, now it's time to let us look after you for once."
"Better do as he says," Virgil commented, catching the tail end of the conversation as he came back into the room. "That's his dad voice, you can't argue with that."
"I can argue with anything," Selene answered back, just to be petulant, but there was no real threat behind it. Honestly, it was nice. She'd lived away from her parents for some of the hardest times of her life and then, just as things were starting to go right for her, she'd lost her father. She'd never expected to get as close to Jeff as she had, but she'd realised while she'd been in hospital just how much he cared about her in return. After the first night he'd visited her, the nurses had continued to refer to him as her dad and she'd just gone along with it, to the point that she hadn't realised she'd taken to saying it to him too. Now it actually felt awkward to call him Jeff. He'd fully adopted her as one of his kids and even if there had been anything she could do about it, she wouldn't want to. Though it appeared that being adopted meant that he could pull the dad card and boss her about just like her own had. She hadn't realised just how much she missed it.
As if sensing the direction of her thoughts, John squeezed her hand, offering his silent reassurance and support.
"Fine," Jeff replied casually, adopting the same tone that he used to use on the boys when they were small and refused to go to bed even when they were tired. "But I bet you wouldn't argue with Grandma or your mother, maybe I should let them tell you."
"Fine! You do Christmas and I'll just sit here. Damn, you play dirty," she accused, craning her neck to fix him with a squinty-eyed look.
"Never claimed otherwise."
"Now I know where John gets it from."
"Hey, unfair," John protested. "I never play dirty. I always follow the rules, I just use them to my advantage."
"That's still playing dirty, babe. Now, if you've all finished picking on me, can one of you pass me my book, please?"
"Which one?" John asked, letting go of her hand to drag over and start digging through the tote bag. "There's five in here."
"That dragon romance one. If I'm not going to get any action for weeks I might as well live vicariously through sassy women in New Orleans."
It was Alan's turn to giggle at the look of martyrdom on John's face as he searched for the right book.
"Don't get any ideas, you're sassy enough as it is," John warned her as he handed the book over, pointedly ignoring the comment on lack of action. She had been told, very firmly, that she wasn't allowed to do any strenuous form of activity until she got the all clear from the doctor.
"A woman can never be too sassy," she argued, awkwardly opening the book with one good hand and the fingers of her broken one. "Besides, I need to keep my sass up otherwise I'll be so bored I'll waste away to nothing."
-x-
"Scott's back," Virgil commented an hour later, the distant sound of Thunderbird One's engines coming closer by the second.
"Finally, I'm starving," Alan groaned, tossing his handheld console aside as he sat up from his sprawl on one of the couches.
"I'll go help him," Virgil said, setting down the magazine he'd been flicking through and dragging himself to his feet. "Gords, can you fetch us some plates and forks?"
"No problem." He was up and out of his chair in seconds, hurtling down the stairs to the kitchen.
"Maybe being unable to move is a good thing," Selene muttered under her breath, "that's the first time I've seen anyone else help with food."
"I wouldn't get used to it," John whispered back, overhearing her. "I'd make the most of the help while you can."
"Oh, I intend to, believe me. I have to get something out of this."
"Do you want anything to drink?" John asked, stuffing his own book back into her tote. "Juice maybe?"
"Is that your way of saying a coke or cider is out of the question?"
"You're still on pain medication," he patiently reminded her.
"I didn't hear a no…" She let her words trail off, leaving her meaning clear, even though she was joking.
"No," Jeff said, interrupting once again.
"Unfair!"
"Water, juice, tea or milk?" John offered.
"Fine, I'll take some juice," she answered, mock pouting. She didn't mind really, she wouldn't have taken anything alcoholic even if she had been allowed, but she would have killed for a can of cherry cola.
"One juice, coming up." He dropped a soft kiss on her head. "Anyone else?"
"I'll take a beer," Jeff answered, ignoring Selene's indignant huff.
"I'll take a milkshake," Alan requested.
"Got it."
"Your saviour has arrived!" Scott announced, strutting into the lounge. He flung his arms out triumphantly, bags of food hanging from them, almost smacking John in the face as he veered around him on his way to the kitchen. Virgil brought up the rear, carrying a large box of food cartons.
"What the hell did you get?" Selene asked, wondering if she was about to regret asking him to surprise her.
Scott nodded to Virgil who put the box down carefully on the floor. It was full of cartons, paper bags and boxes. Scott added his own bags to the pile.
"The easier question to answer would be, what didn't I get."
-x-
"Careful," John warned her as he gently lowered her to the bed only for her to immediately start moving around.
"I am being careful," Selene argued while still continuing to try to do a million things at once, like take her top off, plump up her pillow, and pull back the blankets.
"Will you wait a minute?" John ordered, huffing in exasperation. "You're supposed to be behaving. Now sit still and let me help you undress."
"Yes, sir," she sassed, giving him a mock salute, but dutifully sat still, waiting while he located her favourite t-shirt of his that she liked to sleep in. It was one he'd stolen from his father and worn often as a teen when he'd shot up in height but not yet filled out. It was oversized, worn thin in places, super soft from being washed so often, and depicted the starship Enterprise. In short, it was the perfect thing for her to wear, not too tight or too warm and not something she had to struggle with if she needed the bathroom in the middle of the night.
"I can't move," she groaned, rubbing her stomach, more to make conversation than the actual need to make him aware of her situation.
"Good, because you're not supposed to be. If eating so much is the only way to get you to stay still I'll make sure to send Scott out every day." His voice was muffled as he continued to dig around in the wardrobe in search of the elusive shirt.
"You will not! I've already put on weight from sitting around so much, if this keeps up I'll be the size of a house and unable to move because my butt will have fused to the bed."
"Don't be ridiculous, you're perfect, a little weight isn't going to change that." He reached right to the back of the hanging rail and emerged victorious, the shirt in his hand.
"I appreciate the sentiment, even if I do think you're lying to me." The look he shot her should have finished her off like the car accident had failed to do.
"I'm not lying, but if you're worried about it, even though you have no reason to be, you can always say no and just not eat it." He said it so casually as if that was actually a valid response to someone going out and getting food. He was crazy, that was not how she had been raised. If someone made an effort to cook for you, or provide food in any way, even if you didn't ask for it or particularly like or want it, you still ate it. Because that was the polite thing to do.
"I can't do that! Besides, I needed to eat, I just don't know what possessed him to buy so much."
"It was all your favourites," John said with a shrug as if that explained the absolute mountain of food Scott had dragged home like a caveman with a fresh kill.
"Yes," she explained patiently, as if she were talking to a toddler, "but he could have picked just one type of food, not six. I've never eaten chicken nuggets on a pizza with noodles as a side dish and I'm not sure I ever want to repeat the experience."
"Tough, because that's breakfast."
She groaned again. "Don't remind me, I actually feel sick."
"Seriously?" That got his attention as he looked about wildly for something to work as a vomit receptacle. "Where's the trash can gone?"
"Babe, it's fine, I'm not going to throw up, I just ate too much and need to rest. It's been a long day and I've been dreaming about sleeping in our comfortable bed with you for the past two weeks. That's all I need."
"I still want to find that trash can," he said, although her glare had him waving his hands in surrender. "Fine, fine, no more talk of the trashcan. Let's get you into bed."
"Are you going to join me?"
"We'll see, it depends if you can be trusted. Now, arms up."
"I can undress myself, you know," she grumbled. Of course, she could be trusted. Gorgeous as he was, doing anything related to sexy time, or in any way active for that matter, was the last thing on her mind.
"I know but it will be a lot harder for you than it will if you let me help."
"Never thought I'd be arguing about you stripping me," she joked.
"It's as much of a shock to me as it is to you," he assured her in a deadpan tone that made her giggle. He tugged lightly on the hem of her top to remind her of what they were supposed to be doing.
Her ribs were still quite sore -although the doctor had said that with the help of the laser treatment they were healing very well- so she was slow in lifting her arms and he was extra gentle while tugging her top up and off, as well as her bra. She kept her arms up while he popped his shirt over her head and eased her arms in.
While she used a cleansing wipe on her face and applied some moisturiser one handed, he set to work on her hair, brushing out the braids she'd had all day and doing them again so she could sleep. She hadn't been able to wash or brush her hair as much as she usually would, having to wait until he or a nurse was able to help, so had taken to keeping her sleep braids in all day too.
"Lie back," he instructed once he had finished her hair and she had slathered on her face cream. She did as she was told, reclining back on the bed against the support pillows Gordon had provided, allowing him to remove her socks and leggings. Once she was settled he pulled the covers back over her. "Comfortable enough?"
"For now, it'll be better once you join me and actually tell me what's going on."
John paused, the leggings he was attempting to fold dangling from his hand in a vaguely comical manner. He pulled himself together quickly enough, but the damage had been done, she knew him far too well.
"What do you mean?" he answered casually, knowing that it would never work but feeling like he had to try anyway.
"Don't try to bullshit me, I'm the queen of bullshit, you know that, I can smell it a mile away. You've been distant since you got back from Five, which wasn't part of the plan when I told you to go. So, what's wrong? What aren't you telling me?"
John's shoulders slumped, his eyes still focused on the leggings as he tried a different tact and instead of trying to fold them into a square, he simply folded them in half and then rolled them into a sausage. This seemed to appease his need for neatness even when it came to her things. She would have just tossed them over a chair or straight into the laundry.
"Babe?"
"I'm sorry," he started, turning to pick up the shirt he'd taken off her. "I wasn't trying to keep things from you. We only figured it out yesterday and I didn't want to talk to you about it before we got you home. It wasn't the time or the place, besides, I didn't know who might have been listening in."
"Didn't want to tell me what? Why would anyone be listening in?"
A confused little frown creased the space between her eyebrows and he had to fight the urge to tell her that it was nothing, that nothing was wrong at all, anything to make that expression go away. He didn't want her worrying about anything other than getting better. That should have been all that she had to focus on, but now he was about to drop a bombshell on her that could make things so much worse. He didn't want to, he'd give anything to not have to. He wanted to take every single problem she had, no matter how small, and fix them all for her without her even knowing. But a promise was a promise, and he'd vowed to never keep anything from her again.
"I had my suspicions, but EOS confirmed it for me," he sighed, moving around the bed to sit on his own side.
"Confirmed what? Babe, work with me here, I'm too full, sore and tired to play twenty questions."
"Confirmed that your accident wasn't an accident," he finally answered.
"Of course it was," she protested. "How could it have been anything else?" It had to have been an accident, a very shitty and unlucky accident. She studied his face, silently demanding that he tell her he was kidding, but his expression told her that he was in no way joking, no matter how much she wanted him to be.
"I wish I was lying, but I promised I'd never keep anything from you again."
Selene closed her eyes for a moment, sucking in as deep a breath as she was able to, gathering her strength. Would this ordeal never end? Seriously, they'd been squashed between bits of metal like sardines in a can, she'd broken more bones in one moment than she had ever before -her previous experience limited to that of a pinky toe- and she'd potentially lost the ability to have children without help, and now this? Why couldn't the world just fuck off for a while? Why couldn't life just cut them some fucking slack? Was it too much to ask? Apparently so, because here came yet another obstacle barrelling its way towards her, and it appeared that she had no choice but to meet it head-on, that's what they did. She had never been one to go down without a fight.
She let out the breath she had been holding and nodded, opening her eyes. "Right, OK, I'm good, lay it on me."
Once again John found himself marvelling at the strength she seemed to possess. No matter the situation she always seemed to tap into some hidden reserve that even she probably wasn't aware of and kept going.
"I had a feeling that something wasn't right with the accident, I couldn't put my finger on it but something just wasn't adding up in my head. You always tell me not to ignore my gut feelings, that my instincts are there for a reason."
"And you actually listened to me? You're learning. Quick, mark it on the calendar for me." She didn't know why she always felt the need to joke when a conversation was going to get hard. She knew it often pissed people off, especially her mother, but she was too old to change now, and thankfully John always took it in the spirit it was meant.
"As I was saying," he continued, giving her a little mock frown of warning, although she could tell he didn't mean it. His body language had loosened up, his shoulders relaxing a little, which she took as a good sign, that's what she had hoped for. "I asked EOS to look into the accident, instructing her to map the entire sequence of events from start to finish, including everything you and Alan had done on the day. It wasn't that I was checking up on you," he added hastily, "I just needed every scrap of information."
"I can understand that, I know you and your need for knowledge, and honestly I'd have been the same if it had happened to you." She patted the bed beside her, making her needs very clear, if she was going to have to listen to this she wanted him closer. "What did she find?" she asked when he had moved one side of her body pillow out of the way and stretched out comfortably beside her on the bed.
"She found that the taxi didn't malfunction as we, and the police, first suspected. It was hacked."
"Hacked? As in someone purposely reprogrammed it to ram into someone's car?" That didn't sound right. Who would do such a thing?
He nodded.
"Gods, that's awful. Why would anyone do that? It could have been so much worse, so many more people could have been hurt. What if there had been a family in the car? What if there had been kids? There were so many cars there because of the traffic, it could have been anyone!"
"But it wasn't, it was you."
"Thankfully. I mean, not that I'm happy about it, but I'd rather me than someone else."
"Sweetheart," he sighed, easing his arm carefully under her so he could cuddle her against his side. "It wasn't an accident in any way."
"What do you mean? How could it not have been?"
"There was no reason for the traffic either, EOS found that the highway signs had been checked by the same signal as the taxi. It wasn't bad luck that you were there and got hit, it was on purpose. You were planted there and the taxi aimed straight for you."
She stiffened, he felt it. The way she went rigid in his arms, the shock of his announcement rendering her speechless for a good minute.
"We were targeted?" she whispered, the disbelief, tinged with a little hurt, evident in her voice.
"Not just you, all of us."
"What do you mean, all of us?"
"On the surface, it looked like an isolated incident and accident."
She nodded to show that she was following. If they had been targeted it would have been pretty stupid to make it obvious that it had been done on purpose.
"The evidence was there, we just couldn't figure out the why. So we looked deeper, traced everything back, and realised that it wasn't just the once. You remember when Scott was injured that time?"
"When his jetpack malfunctioned, and you found that tracker? How could I forget."
"That's the one. We looked at that, and it still made no sense. Then I had a thought, what if all the issues we've been having with the press and the problems with Tracy Industries were connected? What if Scott had never been a target, but International Rescue as a whole?" He sounded more sure of himself now that he was simply relaying the information, this was his comfort zone.
"But why? Who would do that?"
"We don't know, but we kept digging, and in the space of three hours we were able to find at least seven incidents where rescues were performed due to malfunctions, all with parts manufactured by us. We didn't realise it at first because we weren't looking. And we found that it isn't isolated to the one factory that we know about. It goes deeper."
"Sabotage?" she gasped, shocked to her core that someone could do that. Who would want to hurt innocent people, make others lose their jobs and yet others take the blame for something that they had no part of?
"It certainly looks that way," he answered, his tone sounding more resigned than she'd heard in a long time.
Selene paused, her brain spinning like a hamster on a wheel trying to make some kind of sense of what she had just heard. "But… OK, I mean I get maybe targeting International Rescue, and by proxy, Tracy Industries, hell I even get them targeting Scott, but why Alan?"
"I don't think it was Alan they were aiming for," he said gently, letting his words sink in, his fingers absently doodling on her shoulder.
"Me? But why? I'm a nobody."
"Sweetheart, you aren't a nobody, you're very much a somebody. You're my wife."
"Cute as that is, that's not a valid reason."
"I wasn't trying to be cute, I was answering your question. This person is clearly exceptional at what they do. EOS was unable to trace them and as yet neither have I. They're like a ghost, slipping in and out of the systems undetected until it's too late, and then they barely leave a trace. This isn't some bedroom hacker that's doing it for kicks. They had to have passwords and access that the average person should never be able to get their hands on. The only other person that might be able to accomplish something like this would be me."
"I'm sorry, you're going to have to spell this out for me, babe, it's been a long few weeks and I'm not firing on all cylinders. I'm nothing compared to you guys, I'm not a danger to anyone. I didn't need to be taken out."
"If they are intent on taking down International Rescue, they need to keep operating as they have been, in secret." He paused, checking that she was still following. He didn't blame her for needing it explained, it was pretty unbelievable even to him. "They had to know that we would spot the patterns sooner or later but they clearly thought they had more time, that or they got lazy. When Brains found the broken parts on the space cannon and Kayo started investigating, they obviously panicked and escalated. We made our stand perfectly clear with the press conference, we would not go down without a fight. Kayo and Penelope had been looking into things, but whoever this has been good at covering their tracks. The only person that could have, and will, find them, is me."
His arm tightened around her shoulders, not enough to hurt, but enough to let her know that he was still worried about her and the situation.
"They couldn't target me because, as Kayo put it, I'm safe in space. But a surefire way to distract me and take me out of operation for a long time was to attack the thing I love most other than my family." His meaning hung in the air, the words not needing to be said, his silence made it clear enough.
"Take me out and they get you by default."
"That's certainly how it looks to us," he confirmed.
Selene didn't know how she was supposed to react. She was pretty sure that a normal person wouldn't feel as she did at that moment. Numbness had engulfed her, so much so that she had to choke back a laugh. Surely you weren't supposed to be used to things like this? Surely you weren't supposed to hear this kind of news, to be told that you had been deliberately hurt, and be so resigned to it? But, right or not, that was exactly how she felt.
It made too much sense. John was right, of course. She was just a means to an end for whoever it was that was doing this.
She expected anger, indignant and hot, to take over. She should be angry. She should be demanding to know all the details, to know exactly how and where they were going to fight this invisible enemy. But she was tired, so tired of fighting, of being seen as the weak link.
"Are you listening to me?" John asked gently, breaking through her thoughts.
"Sorry, did you say something? I must have zoned out for a moment."
"I said that I'll get you a new phone and number but that I'd like you to wait before calling anyone until I can set up the call and check their line."
"Wait, you want me to change my number? Why would you need to do that? It's not like anyone I talk to would be behind this."
"I'm not saying they would be, not deliberately, but hacking into a call would be child's play for someone with the skills our saboteur has. After we found that tracker on Scott's jetpack, Brains recalibrated the holographic cloaking device around the island, adding a signal disruptor that scrambles anything that isn't on our system. That, along with the thermal regulation system hiding the ships and our life signs, meant that we didn't worry too much about anyone finding us. We need to ensure it stays that way so, for once, can you just do as you're told?"
His tone wasn't shitty. It wasn't any more demanding or bossy than it usually was, but something about his words just rubbed her up the wrong way. She didn't know if it was because she was tired or that she'd spent the last two weeks feeling useless and vulnerable, but the anger that she hadn't felt before was making itself known now. This wasn't her fault, yet she was the one being ordered around? She was the one being told who she could and couldn't speak to and when. She never took orders well at the best of times and this certainly wasn't one of them.
It took a lot of effort to drag herself upright but she managed it, shrugging off his hands when he at first tried to stop her and then moved to try to help.
"I'm sorry, have we met?"
"Excuse me?" What was she talking about? They had gone from discussing her safety to this random introduction in a matter of moments and his brain couldn't quite compute.
"Hi, I'm Selene, I don't take orders, I consider suggestions."
"I wasn't giving you an order." John sat up too, needing to be upright to deal with this conversation, the quiet calm that had settled over them while they had been talking dissipating in seconds.
"No? Well, it certainly sounded that way to me. What I heard was you telling me to stay put, do as I was told and ask your permission before I spoke to anyone that wasn't your family."
"No, that wasn't wha-"
"No, I'm talking right now. I've just sat and listened to everything you had to say and now it's my turn. I will not be cut off from friends and family, not again."
"Sweetheart, you know that's not what I meant," he soothed, fighting to keep his tone calm but not patronising. "You know I'd never stop you from doing anything you want to, and that includes going anywhere or talking to anyone. I'm just asking you to wait until I can make sure it's safe."
As quick as it had come the anger washed away, leaving her feeling wrung out and more tired than ever. This wasn't a fight she wanted to be having, especially when she knew that he was right. She knew that he hadn't meant it that way, but something in her had rebelled all the same. She had fought too hard and for too long to just sit back like a good girl and not say a word in protest.
"I'll make you a deal," she started, her voice firm. "While I'm recovering I'll do as you ask and stay put, it's not like I can go flying about to visit people anyway. But this won't stop me from living my life. I will not be locked away again for any reason. When I'm given the all-clear I'll get another car and-"
"Brains is on it already," he jumped in before realising what he'd done. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt."
"It's alright, I was pretty much done anyway."
"I honestly wasn't trying to order you about or cut you off from anyone, I just want to keep you safe. I've told Brains to make you a compact version of FAB 1, along with all the protection Penelope's has. Reinforced body, armoured plating, shatterproof glass, everything. Nothing will break that. I already blame myself for not insisting on it sooner, but you loved your little car and honestly, I never thought that we would be targeted like this, I never thought that anyone would target you."
"Neither did I," she admitted, her shoulders slumping in defeat.
"I don't want to argue with you again," he continued, "but in this, I am putting my foot down. I don't care if you hate me, I will not have you hurt again. You are not a thing to target. I know you hated having to rely on us to get you places and wanted to be independent, but if you want your own transport and don't want to learn to fly, then please, take the car we give you and don't fight me on this."
"Contrary to popular belief, I am not unreasonable, I don't always feel the need to argue and fight you every step of the way in everything. I obviously need a new car anyway, and I can't say that I'm not a little nervous at the thought of getting back behind a wheel as I have absolutely no desire to go through something like this again."
"I don't want that either. I won't have this again, we will not have this again. I don't want to be worrying every time you leave the island." He risked pushing his luck by reaching for her hand, letting out a small sigh of relief when she didn't pull away. Her fingers laced with his, squeezing lightly.
"I can't lose you," he continued softly, his words catching in his throat. "You don't know how much this scared me, Sel. Seeing you lying there…" He shook his head as if trying to banish the memory. "I can't go through that again. I almost lost my mind and I can't focus on finding this guy if I'm constantly scared for you."
"I know." A small tug on his hand had him leaning closer, enough for her to capture his lips in a soft kiss. "And I understand, I do, I worry every time you come down for a rescue, but I've done too much and worked too hard to move past how worthless he made me feel. I clawed back my independence and nothing and no one will make me give it up again. I have not gone through this much shit just to hide away on an island now, no matter how nice an island it is. I made myself a promise and I won't break it now. Can you please try to understand that?"
"I do," he promised. "I do understand that, it's part of why I love you so much, your strength. I'd never try to break that or you. I never want to be like him, to make decisions for you and order you around. I'm not trying to take things away from you or keep things from you, I would never. I'm just asking you to please, stay where you are safe. Just until things die down a bit, to give us time to figure out what is going on."
"That's all I wanted, to be consulted and for my feelings to be considered. Believe me," she assured him, "I'm not planning on going anywhere for the foreseeable future. Right now all I want to do is sleep."
"Thank you for your cooperation," he joked, trying to lighten the still heavy mood.
"You're welcome." Now that she had done her 'I am woman, hear me roar' routine, she was conscious of the fact that she was aching all over and bitterly regretting having ever sat up at all. The bed, their squishy, perfect bed with its memory foam mattress, plump pillows and cosy blankets was calling to her like a siren. "Feel like helping me with the needing sleep part of my speech?"
"I thought I already was, until you got sassy with me that is. I told you not to get any ideas from reading that book." He would never get tired of the effortless way they could get over something so easily. They could have a tense moment, talk about it, and then let it go. He'd seen enough relationships to know that this wasn't entirely normal, but it was normal for them and he was so grateful for it. Any other woman would have stayed mad and probably gotten mad at him all over again for daring to joke so soon. But not his wife. "Take your meds, then we'll sort out your sleeping."
"So bossy," she grumbled, but didn't argue. The pills, which had been helpfully labelled in separate sections for specific times of the day, were luckily quite small and she was able to swallow the painkillers and sleeping pill with minimal effort.
"Come here," he ordered, opening his arms. She carefully backed up into them, allowing him to help her this time, trusting him to lower her to the bed as he laid down, knowing he wouldn't hurt her.
"Have you told anyone else?" she asked after she'd settled, finally finding a comfortable position, supported on one side by a body pillow with John on the other, another pillow under her knees, with her head resting against his shoulder.
"Not yet, we only found out for sure yesterday and I didn't want to bring it up over Christmas. I thought it best to wait, but I didn't want to keep it from you."
"I appreciate that, and I agree. Let's have ourselves a nice, quiet and above all, relaxed Christmas. We'll deal with everything else after. There's nothing they could do to us here, anyway. So we might as well make the most of it and let the others exist in blissful ignorance for a bit longer."
"Yes, but that's a problem for another day."
-x-
It took very little time for her to drift off, the strain of the day catching up with her. Slowly, and oh so carefully, he eased away from her and relocated the second side of the body pillow, encasing her in a soft cocoon. He wished he didn't have to let go of her so soon, he wanted nothing more than to hold her all night but she still had to be so careful of how she slept. The body pillows had been their compromise with her doctor, who had said he didn't recommend sharing a bed with a partner while recovering. Selene hadn't been happy about it, but John had to agree with him, he knew from much experience that if she fell asleep in his arms she'd soon be rolling over, instinctively burrowing closer into his embrace. He'd fantasised of this in the late nights camped out beside her hospital bed, had visions of the simple act of curling up in their own bed together and holding her in his arms all night, knowing she was safe and protected with him. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen any time soon, but at least he'd be beside her, even if all he could do was hold her hand, it was better than nothing.
"I promise you, I'll keep you safe," he whispered, dropping a soft kiss on her forehead. "And I will find the person who did this. Whoever they are, they messed with the wrong man. They sealed their own fate when they chose to target my wife. They hurt you." He brushed a stray hair back from her face, stroking his fingers down her cheek. The bruises had faded during her time in hospital, leaving her face as perfect as it had always been apart from a few tiny scars inflicted by flying glass. "They hurt you and I won't let them get away with it. I will find them and I will make them pay, I promise you that."
He lay beside her watching her sleep, as he had done for the past two weeks, for almost an hour. As he watched his mind kept turning over and over, skidding over things that made no sense with the whole situation. The most prominent of questions being, why. Why were they being targeted? They did nothing but good in the world, why would anyone want to put a stop to that? Why would anyone want to take them out of action? It made no sense.
It was no good, he was bone tired but knew he would never sleep like this even if he had been undressed and ready to do so. His mind was working too hard and it was too early. Selene called it being physically exhausted but not mentally tired, and he couldn't think of a better way to describe it.
He needed to move, he needed to walk and clear his head otherwise sleep would continue to elude him.
Being careful not to wake her he slowly eased himself up and off the bed. He tiptoed across the room, but couldn't resist pausing at the door, turning back to look at her.
This was right, seeing her back in his bed, in his room, exactly where she should be, even if she was surrounded by pillows like something from a fairytale.
"I won't let you get hurt again," he whispered. "I will protect you."
He opened the door, unsurprised when Armstrong -who had apparently been waiting patiently outside- slunk in through the gap. John debated whether to stop him as he jumped up onto the bed beside her but, as if he sensed that his mistress needed gentle handling, he simply curled up next to her on the pillow.
"OK, you watch over her for me, I'll be back soon."
The villa was quiet, most of the occupants still camped out in the lounge, the rumble of distant conversation floating up the stairs to meet him. He debated for a moment or two, but decided that he didn't really feel up to joining them. They would want to know how Selene was, to ask questions and include him in their conversation and he wasn't sure he could handle that. What he wanted and needed was peace and quiet that he knew he wouldn't get up there.
He bypassed the lounge door, continuing down to the kitchen, stopping to grab a bottle of water to take with him. He was much more of a stars and sky than a water and waves person, but at this moment he was craving a stroll along the beach. There was something magical about the sea when it was calm, the moon and pinpricks of light from the night sky above reflecting down onto the dark surface of the ocean below. It was soothing and something he often missed while on Five.
He left the kitchen through the already open sliding glass doors, meaning to skirt around the pool and down to the little pathway that led to the sand.
He paused, the sight of another person sitting on the side of the pool, their feet dangling in the water, bringing him to a stop. He sighed softly. Why was there always someone around when he didn't want the company?
He loved his brothers, he really did, but they could be so loud, so in your face, especially that one and he wasn't sure he could handle that much energy right now. Gordon was usually at the centre of everything. The one in the middle of the action, his laughter ringing out, his jokes coming thick and fast. So it begged the question, why wasn't he inside with the others?
Moving a little closer he could hear that his brother was talking into his phone in a low, tired voice. What was going on?
A frown creased his forehead. Now that he thought about it this really wasn't like Gordon at all. He hadn't been himself for days, but John had put it down to the same issues he had, worry over Selene and Alan, the stress of hospital visits and the upheaval of International Rescue being shaken so badly. I couldn't blame him for being less than his usual bouncy self.
He'd become quieter during the evening, not joining in with the banter and laughter they had shared while enjoying the food Scott had delivered. Instead he'd tucked himself away into a corner, like he didn't want to be noticed. John mentally kicked himself. He should have noticed it sooner, he should have recognised the pattern, hell he did it often enough himself.
Much as John wanted to slip past and continue on down to the beach, something told him that he needed to stay put.