Chapter 12

Captain Blue reluctantly left the medical bay and returned to his quarters. Not that he had much of a choice since he had had an escort courtesy of one of Doctor Gold's assistants. Yet as much as he had tried to convince the Doctor that he was fine, the moment he stepped into his room and the door closed behind him, he realised how tired he really felt. But he would never admit it to Doctor Gold.

Slowly, he lowered his tired and aching body down on to his bed. He carefully rearranged his pillows so he could prop himself up and reclined back into them, an involuntary sigh escaping his lips. Within minutes he was asleep

A while later Blue was awakened by the doorbell to his room, chiming. Groggily he called out "Come in"

The door opened to reveal Lieutenant Green. She walked in, a huge smile on her face. But the moment she saw Blue lying propped up in his bed the smile faded and she stopped

"Sorry Adam did I wake you?" she asked, although the way he was blinking as if he was trying to wake himself up, answered the question for him

"Let me guess, Destiny asked you to check up on me?"

Green chuckled "She wanted me to make sure you were resting and I wanted to see how you were doing?"

"I'm okay thanks Serena" He shifted slightly trying to sit himself up a bit more. Stepping forward, Serena plumped the pillows behind him and fixed them so that he could make himself more comfortable. "Thanks" he said, smiling up at her. His eyes fixed on hers, and for a moment neither of them moved.

"Any news on how Paul's doing?" he asked Green, breaking both the silence and eye contact. She shook her head

"Doctor Gold told the Colonel that he had been sedated"

"Yeah he had" Blue confirmed "But I'm not sure how long the doc was planning on keeping him under for"

Green took a seat on the edge of Adam's bed; her hand was inches away from where his was resting. In that moment, she wanted nothing more than to reach out with her hand and place it on his. To Serena it looked like he needed the comforting touch of another person. She could never begin to understand how he was truly feeling right at this moment after everything that had happened. Especially when Adam was used to Paul being the one who couldn't get hurt and now he was the one who was fighting for his life in the medical bay. She could see from the look on his face that Adam was trying his best to hide how he was truly feeling at the prospect of losing his best friend, but he couldn't fool her; she knew he was scared.

"How are you holding up?" he asked, shifting his focus from thoughts of his friend to her instead. He hadn't missed the concerned and worried expression on her face as she walked into his room and he knew that it was because of him and Scarlet

"I'm doing okay" she answered him. In part she was telling him the truth. Physically she felt fine, but other than that she was feeling as worried as everyone else was right now. Not only was she worried about losing a friend she was worried about how, if it did happen, it would affect Adam. From a professional perspective she was worried about how Scarlet's loss would affect their fight against the Mysterons.

"I think the worst part is the not knowing" Blue said with a sigh "I mean we don't know what was going on in that lab to begin with...what it was they were working on...and if it was such a danger... why wasn't anything said..."

"It's okay Adam" Serena could tell that he was starting to get angry and frustrated so she tried to calm him down

"How is it okay Serena?" he snapped "Paul's in the medical bay dying and no one will tell us why...how is that okay" She desperately wanted to hold him in her arms to comfort him, and was about to do just that; but at the last moment she realised that due to his injuries that that simple gesture could cause him more pain. Instead she placed her hand on his. As if grateful for the contact, he gripped her hand in his. For an instant both of them looked down at their hands, then back up at each other. It was then that she saw the fear and pain in his eyes and she knew it wasn't because of his own injuries.

"I know you don't want to lose him Adam, none of us do"

"How is Destiny, have you had chance to speak to her?" he asked changing the subject suddenly

"Not really, she was on duty earlier when I was and I know that the Colonel has offered to let her take some time off, but I think she is just wanting to keep busy" she replied with a small sigh

"I know how she feels, if it wasn't for this stupid thing" he said indicating the sling on his arm "I'd be on duty myself rather than sitting here..." he finished, his voice trailing off

"Adam, you need to rest, you could have died in that explosion too...if it wasn't for Paul..."She stopped; she knew that she didn't need to finish that thought out loud. Blue just nodded at her, he then let out a sigh of his own which quickly turned into a yawn. He tried his best to hide it but it was too late.

"I'll leave you to get some rest and don't worry I'll let you know if anything happens, okay"

With that she got to her feet and turned to face Blue, once again adjusting his pillows.

"I'm glad that you're okay" she said quietly as she leaned forward and gave Blue a quick kiss on the forehead. Then she froze and a look of embarrassment crossed her features at the same time as her cheeks turned a subtle shade of red. With that she turned and swiftly left his quarters.

Blue leaned back into his pillow and closed his eyes, and for the first time since this nightmare had began, a smile formed on his lips as he drifted off to sleep.