Tempest: Chapter Sixty-Three: Nothing To Say
AN: So much worry about Roy and anger at Soothsayer! All will be revealed soon, I promise ;) I don't pretend to understand medical diagnoses, I'm only a senior nursing student, so any medical inaccuracies are on me in this chapter.
Amara liked to remember the good things between her and Roy, the awkward beginning when they sniped at each other, still finding their footing, how they'd learned to depend on each other, how he could tell when she was having a bad day –touch-starved and jittery, almost feeling the panic Mardon had once caused so effortlessly– and would hold her hand without being asked.
But now she couldn't really even think, how he'd sounded on the phone had terrified her to her core, and then when she'd gotten the phone call about him being admitted to Star City General Hospital before she'd hardly taken a step out of the zeta-tube, she felt like her heart had stopped, and it hadn't even started up again when she slid open the door to enter his room.
He was pale against the sheets, his red hair standing out against the pillows even in the darkened room. A nasal cannula was under his nose and hooking behind his ears and he looked to be sleeping peacefully.
Amara let out of breath of relief, bringing her hands together, one thumb rubbing at her opposite palm, trying to still the shaking there.
"Miss Harper?"
The doctor who had walked her to the door was a kind-faced man with dark eyes.
"Isley-Allen, actually," Amara corrected.
"My apologies," the doctor said swiftly and a glance to his name badge hooked to his white lab coat told her his name was Augustus. "His records list a sister as his next of kin."
A swell of warmth bloomed inside of her, but it faded quickly and all Amara wanted to do was cry. "We have different parents," she said instead, her lips twisting into a small smile, trying not to wince at the distant sound of alarms and nurses and techs rushing past; there was too much stimulation around her. "Is my brother going to be all right?"
"We're keeping him here the night for observation at the least," Dr. Augustus informed her, "we've drawn some blood for tests but tomorrow we hope he'll be cognizant for a neurological exam and maybe an MRI or CT scan if it's necessary."
Amara swallowed thickly. "Can I –can I stay with him tonight?" she asked, her words failing her just slightly.
"Of course," he said and Amara moved past him, shutting the door behind her. She set her laptop bag on the ground, approaching the hospital bed slowly. Her fingers caught at his wrist, pressing against his pulse, feeling the steady thrum of his beating heart before her phone buzzed suddenly, the noise and sensation jarring her.
Amara cleared her throat loudly in the silence, pulling it out.
Wally: Dude! Dick's gonna ask out Zatanna!
Amara dropped the phone onto the bedside table, rubbing at her eyes before dragging the cushioned chair closer to the bed and collapsing into it. She took one of Roy's hands in hers, bringing it to her mouth and pressing a kiss to the back of his hand. Another time Wally's news might've been a bit more attention-grabbing but not today, not right now.
"Oh, Roy," Amara murmured, blinking furiously as she took her other hand and brushed the hair out of his eyes.
She didn't know what to do in a situation like this. She knew how to shoot a gun, how to generate electricity, how to drive a motorcycle, how to take someone down with her batons, how to code, but this? They'd dealt with kidnappings and disappearances and an assortment of injuries, but neither of them had dealt with something like this, the possibility of a damaging disease had never occurred to them.
"I want to call Ollie," she told him quietly, keeping her eyes fixed on his slumbering face, "but I think that'll just piss you off, but once you wake up and we talk and once the doctor comes back in to see you, I'm going to call him, I promise, no matter what you say."
Amara thought back to the last time she'd seen Roy, she'd been teasing him about Jade so much that his face turned bright red. He'd been thinking about asking Jade to move in with him; they'd been dating for a few months now, but not as many as people usually were when they moved in together.
Jade had only just gotten back stateside a day ago and was making her way back to Star City at her leisure, she'd probably made it back to the city by now, but Amara doubted she had any idea of where her boyfriend was.
She kissed his hand again, worry coursing through her veins in the stead of blood. She should tell her mom and Harley where she was, but she knew they'd ask questions and she, she just didn't know how to answer any of them.
All she knew was that whatever this was, whatever Roy had, he didn't deserve it, any of it, but he always seemed to have a bit of bad luck, not as much as Amara had, thankfully, but getting kidnapped on a mission had definitely been a low point for him, leaving the League for awhile and coming back just in time for Amara to explode angrily at him was another.
Amara rubbed at her eyes with one hand, biting her lower lip when it trembled. She'd never been a big crier, generally only doing it when her emotions were running high with frustration or anger or panic.
"I'm usually the one in the hospital bed," she murmured. "If this is how you feel every time I end up in the medical ward then I promise I'll try to be more careful, just as long as you end up fine, all right?"
But, as expected, Roy said nothing, continuing to slumber in a would-be peaceful manner and Amara sighed to herself, tucking herself closer to the hospital bed and pillowing her head against the bed and her arms, settling herself into a fitful sleep.
Roy came around slowly but surely, awareness hitting him like a truck and his head ached something fierce. He blinked a few times, clearing the fog from his mind. He saw the white walls first and he almost groaned; now he was starting to understand why Amy hated the color so much.
And that was when he looked down and blinked in surprise. She was there, slumped against the bed, asleep but twitching, a crease on her cheek from the sheets and eyes moving rapidly behind her closed eyelids. Her fists had formed around the sheets like she was afraid he'd leave in the night. He could remember her being like that only one other time; when she'd broken her arm throwing him out of Europa Industries and had held his hand with her only good one while they both slept.
Roy moved a hand to brush over her head of hair, red now from the gem dangling from her ear. She'd been joking about dying her hair an outrageous color like blue or purple, but he'd never known how serious she was about it, he just knew that it was hard to accept her with the red hair in the stead of black or grey.
She stirred from the movement, no matter how light it was, which led Roy to believe that she'd barely been asleep. He slid his hand from the top of her head to rest on her shoulder as she lifted her head and blinked, her green eyes just a bit hazy and the skin around her eyes looked a bit raw. Then they caught his and he was sure that she'd stopped breathing.
"You look terrible," he croaked.
He didn't think it was possible, but she looked like she was somewhere between hitting him in the face and bursting into tears. And that was when she lunged forward and wound her arms tightly around his neck. Roy grunted in surprise, but he still drew his own arms around her back in response. Then he felt how her shoulders shook and how she burrowed her face against his shoulder.
Roy tightened his grip on her, sighing as he leaned his cheek against her head. "I'm okay," he murmured even though his head still ached.
"You don't know that." Amara's voice trembled and he ran a hand through her hair in what he hoped was a comforting motion. "What if it's serious? What if it's a terrible disease and—?" Her words were choked off with her throat suddenly closing on her. "I'm afraid, Roy," she whispered. "I don't want anything to happen to you."
"I should be the one saying that to you," Roy pointed out, lips twitching at the sudden stutter of sound of Amara choking on a laugh.
Amara pulled back, wiping at her eyes as she returned to her feet. "Please don't ever scare me like that again, or I'm going to electrocute you."
"You're sweet on me," Roy snorted and Amara rolled her eyes, settling back into her chair just as the nurses came in to do bedside report. Amara held his hand, listening to the hum of low conversation, a young student nurse tailing after trying to jot every bit of information down. She heard something about 'brought in by ambulance after a collapse' and 'patient passed out from pain in the head' and 'doctors coming to give a neurological exam and a possible brain scan' but then they left after the student nurse stumbled through introducing himself and doing a quick assessment of Roy, listening to his heart, his lungs, his abdomen, before following after.
Amara rubbed her fingers across her mouth, her brow furrowed.
"Your moms know you're here?" Roy asked her suddenly and Amara started in surprise.
"Oh," she said, "no, I hadn't really gotten around to it."
"Maybe you should tell them so they don't freak out." Roy cast a significant look in her direction.
"Maybe I should call your dad, too," Amara offered agreeably and Roy grimaced with a grumble of "He's not my dad," under his breath. "Shut up, yes he is."
Amara grabbed up her phone, the message from Wally the previous night flashing at her. "Oh, apparently Richard's asking out Zatanna."
Roy arched an eyebrow considering her as she absently thumbed through the phone. She was so oblivious of how into her Dick was that it was almost painful. But she also didn't owe it to him to date him, and if Amara didn't want to date anyone, no one was going to make her, especially at thirteen.
"That's not going to work out," he said as Amara texted Pamela her whereabouts and an apology.
"Why's that?" Amara asked absently as Pamela sent back a concerned reply and telling her that she'd bring her a change of clothes. It was a good thing Amara managed to get her a designation with the zeta-tubes (of course, she hadn't told any of the Justice League about that, especially since Poison Ivy was still met with caution and apprehension with most, if not all, of the League), but Amara still had a room at Ollie's manor with some spare clothes for nights when she was too tired after patrol, so it wasn't like Dinah couldn't have gotten her some things.
"She's not his type," Roy said with utter surety, doing his best not to look at Amara. She was very good at getting the truth out of him, frighteningly good, actually, but no less than he was with her. They'd spent far too much time together, to be perfectly honest.
Surprisingly, Amara left it at that as the student nurse entered again to fumble through giving him some oral medications for pain.
"You didn't tell me it was getting so bad," she said quietly, lifting a hand to smooth her fingers against his brow, but he batted her hand aside.
"I didn't think it was so bad," he conceded.
"Roy, they're talking about neurological exams and-and brain scans," Amara insisted, her words tumbling out of her mouth.
"Maybe it's nothing," Roy insisted vainly.
The dry expression on Amara's face told him that she didn't believe that, but they were interrupted by a knock on the door followed by the doctor from the previous night.
"Hello, Roy, how are you this morning?" Dr. Augustus asked, giving Roy a slight smile as he did so.
"Better than last night," Roy admitted.
The doctor nodded seriously before looking to where Amara was situated at his side. "I spoke with your sister last night when she arrived—" Roy looked to Amara sharply as though trying to gouge her reaction to being listed as his sister, but all Amara did was hide a smile. "—and based on how you were last night, I'd like to do a neurological exam."
"Okay," Roy said slowly, frowning, "and what does that entail?"
"It's a way to test your coordination, reflexes, muscle strength, mental status, but it'll take a few minutes," Dr. Augustus explained as Amara's phone buzzed.
"Mom's in the lobby with some clothes for me," Amara told Roy. "I could step out while you do the exam."
"I'll manage without you," Roy rolled his eyes and Amara sighed before ducking forward to kiss his brow before he could stop her, leaving out the door and taking the elevator down. She interlocked her fingers together and tried to take a calming breath. It was going to be all right, Roy was going to be all right…
She must not've convinced herself very well because the first thing she saw on her mother's face was concern.
"Oh, baby, how bad is it?" Pamela asked, smoothing the hair out of Amara's eyes, and Amara couldn't even bring herself to tell her, just falling into her open arms and clinging to her. Pamela held her tightly, humming soothingly in her ear. What if it was bad? How was she going to tell Ollie and Dinah? How was she going to tell Wally and Dick and Kaldur? How was she going to tell Jade?
"I don't know," she finally managed throatily, pulling back and wiping at her face again.
"Okay," Pamela said with careful understanding. "You're going to go into the bathroom and get changed, and then we're going to go up and see how he's doing, all right?"
Amara nodded miserably, taking the bag from her and disappearing into the bathroom. Star City General Hospital was one of the few hospitals that had bathrooms for overnight guests who slept in the rooms with patients that included showers. Even so, Amara took as little time as possible as she could manage with cleaning herself up and changing into a new set of clothes.
Pamela took her hand and didn't ask any questions when she left, simply taking the elevator with her up to Roy's floor and stopping outside the room just as the doctor left.
"So?" Amara's tongue felt swollen as she asked the question and the doctor turned to face her. "How is he?"
"Largely his reflexes are within normal limits," the doctor admitted, "he mentioned something about being an archer?"
"He's a superb marksman," Pamela agreed at her daughter's side and Amara frowned slightly.
"He missed," she said suddenly.
"Excuse me?" Dr. Augustus inquired.
"We were practicing a few weeks ago," Amara said slowly. It was one of the few times that Roy let her use his bow and it had been nice that day, so he'd shown up at her house in Central City and insisted they were going to go out shooting because he might need her arm one day. Amara was better with a gun than a bow for distance weaponry, but it wasn't the first time she'd fired an arrow. She hadn't been great but Roy's first arrow had completely missed the target. "He missed a target, he said something about his hand being off, but Roy never misses a target, never."
"Hm," the doctor frowned.
"Was there something else?" Pamela asked for Amara.
"His gross coordination is off, he had a bit of trouble walking in a straight line toe to heel, and he does seem slightly confused…"
"He's been a little off for weeks," the words broke solemnly from Amara's lips. "I wanted to see if his dad had noticed anything, but they haven't talked in awhile." She grimaced. "Is it bad?"
The doctor looked a bit reluctant and that was probably what made Amara's heart sink the most in her chest. "With the severe headache that had such a sudden onset, the mental confusion, and the trouble with coordinating his walk, I suspect there is a possibility of a brain tumor."
The words echoed dully in her head.
"Brain tumor?" Amara repeated faintly, feeling much like the air had been punched out of her chest.
"But you don't know for sure," Pamela pointed out and Amara could admire her level-headedness even if she felt like the ground beneath her feet had ripped open and she was tumbling down through it.
"No, but there's an MRI scheduled for the afternoon, we'll have a better idea then," Dr. Augustus acknowledged. "Do you know if he's been more aggressive than usual or had any vision problems?"
"The, um," Amara swallowed, her throat too dry, "the falling out with his dad was pretty bad and he left town without a word for a few weeks…that wasn't like him." She'd been so pissed at him at the time but what if it was a tumor that had caused his anger?
"It's typical of brain cancer patients, but we'll know better in a few hours," he promised before making his rounds to other patients.
"Cancer," Amara said weakly.
"They don't know that," Pamela responded, ever the optimist as Amara looked through the thin window into the room seeing Roy sitting with his legs hanging over the side of the hospital bed, his back to them, hunched forward.
Amara pushed the door open and strode around the bed to tentatively bring her hands up on either side of his head, hearing his harsh breathing. She didn't know what to say, but then he surprised her by winding his arms around her waist and pulling her forward and all Amara could do was hold him in his moment of weakness, feeling how his shoulders shook, knowing there was absolutely nothing to say.
They didn't usually get missions right on top of each other, but sometimes it was necessary. This time Kaldur, Artemis, Amy, and Zatanna wouldn't be going with them, something that Zatanna had been a bit apologetic about, but the last mission had taught her that she needed to work more on her spells. Otherwise Dick would've thought that was Bruce wanting to keep them separated slightly after the kiss he'd witnessed him give her the last night. Dick couldn't tell if he approved or disapproved, but he did know that Zatanna's eyes gleamed when she smiled, his heart picked up a little when she was around, and she enjoyed his attention, so they were going to see where it went.
"Rumaan Harjavti is the democratically elected President of Qurac," Batman explained as the holo-computer displayed the image of the man. "Harjavti has been praised as a fair, wise leader, a humanitarian." The image that followed was of him in his civilian identity shaking hands with the president himself.
Kid Flash grinned and elbowed Robin in the side. "Sure, any friend of Bruce Wayne's…" Robin almost rolled his eyes.
"But five days ago Harjavti allied himself with the dictator of the neighboring nation of Bialya, Queen Bee," Batman continued as though he hadn't heard.
Superboy made a scoffing sound. "Not a fan."
"Few are," Batman said flatly, "but Harjavti suddenly backs Queen Bee's baseless claim that Qurac and Bialya were one nation in ancient times and has announced the countries will reunify in two days at a ceremony in Qurac."
He played a clip from the news of the president addressing his nation, his thick voice echoing: "After this ceremony, I will step down as president so that our rightful monarch, Queen Bee, may rule." And then it switched to Queen Bee herself saying: "I laud President Harjavti for unifying our peoples and I will gladly come to Qurac to be crowned sole leader of our nation."
"And the Quracies are okay with this?" Kid Flash asked dubiously.
"Hardly," Batman stated. "They're well aware of the brutality of Queen Bee's regime, but Harjavti has censored the press, silenced all legitimate protesting and invited the Bialyan military into his country, to enforce martial law—" It was then that displaying images on the holo-screen short circuited to be replaced with an image of Amy looking worse for wear. Robin thought it might've been from reworking her code all night, but this was a different kind of exhaustion; her eyes were red like she'd been crying and there were circles under her eyes like she'd gotten a sleepless night.
"Oracle," Batman said.
"Batman," Amy said, her voice a croak, "if I'm interrupting a mission briefing, then I'm going to have to hang back on this one, and I need to see Black Canary and Green Arrow, urgently."
Robin and Kid Flash exchanged a glance and a few moments later the pair had appeared from where they'd been loitering in one of the rooms, both in civilian wear, and Dinah still frowning from the lecture she'd had to give M'gann about wearing faces that weren't her own.
"Amy, what's going on?" Ollie spoke first.
"Get to Star City General Hospital," Amy said shortly and then the connection cut off. Ollie's face bled white and Dinah's fingers brushed across his wrist in concern before they both went for the zeta-tube, not slowing down, even when they disappeared in a flash of light.
"What happened?" Miss Martian wondered aloud and if Robin had to hazard a guess, it wasn't good.
"They're saying it might be a brain tumor," Amara explained numbly. Her mother had offered to stick around for the day, but Amara had said she'd be all right once Dinah and Ollie showed up. Ollie looked like he'd gone into shock and wasn't likely to come out for years and Dinah was only slightly better. "They want to do an MRI later and…" The rest of Amara's words were lost as she pressed a hand to her mouth, almost like she was trying to keep from puking, but then she drew her hand back and began again. "I don't know what to do, he-he's been out of sorts for weeks but he didn't want me to tell anyone and now he's got splitting headaches and he's confused and his coordination and I'm scared and I don't know how to—"
Dinah gripped her shoulders tightly as Amara brought both hands to her mouth, tears overflowing from her eyes. "Hey, hey, look at me." Amara turned slowly. "They don't know that it's a tumor, do they?"
Amara shook her head.
"Then there's still a chance that it might not be," Dinah said gently. "It's not your fault for being a loyal friend, Amy."
"What if it is?" Ollie asked instead, his voice breaking. This was his kid, his kid, they were talking about.
"We'll deal with it then," Dinah insisted. "Roy's a strong kid and there are still options for cancer treatments, but we'll deal with that if it comes about."
Ollie wished he had as much faith as she did.
AN: Wow, feel-heavy chapter. I wonder how Roy'll be doing in the next chapter?
As always: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!
