I'm so sorry for the wait! This one decided that it was going to be difficult for reasons I don't fully understand...but I've finally finished it! It might seem a little stale compared to some of the other chapters but I promise that things shall improve as I move forward! Any reviews? I'd love to hear your thoughts! Tell me what you think might happen, who you like...anything!

Chapter Eleven

As soon as Drummer had the plane on the ground Mikayla was struggling to get to her feet despite the obvious pain that she was in. Precious few words had been spoken on the entire journey back to the hangar as the team each seemed to watch the constant vigil that the young woman kept over Barney's unconscious form. The only person who dared to touch her was Gunnar, reaching out with his large hands to steady her when she started to sway a little in an effort to keep herself upright. And when she went to take a few steps it was Gunnar who quickly caught her again.

Together they stood in silence as the team assembled and quietly debated who was required to help move Barney off of the plane safely, settling on Lee, Caesar, Doc and Toll Road as the younger group, Trench and Yang all backed away to give them the space they would need. It was a somber affair within the hangar as they carefully left the plane and hurried as best as they could to load Barney into the van that stood waiting at the bottom of the ramp. A grim looking Tool waited for them by the open door as they brought Barney's mangled form past. His eyes followed them from the moment they left the plane until they had started to load Barney into the van, at which point they lifted upward and instead looked for someone else.

Even in her beaten state, Mickey was well enough to step away from Gunnar's firm hands and walk into Tool's waiting arms. For a moment he just held her close as his eyes once again turned to watch the others do their part, ensuring that their leader was safely secured inside before they climbed out and immediately headed back toward the plane. Only Doc stayed in the back, leaving just enough room for Mikayla to climb in beside him before the doors were closed and both Tool and Gunnar made their way to the front of the vehicle to begin the journey to the hospital.

Still holding the rough woolen blanket over her shoulders, Mikayla's dark eyes stared down at Barney's unconscious form. If there was even the slightest change in movement, she would see it. She would know right away if they were going to lose him.

Her body jolted a little when she felt Doc's arm wrap around her, hugging her gently to his side. "He'll be okay," he murmured to her. "Barney's been through tougher scraps than this."

But the young woman didn't reply, afraid of letting him hear the doubt that was running through her mind. Mikayla hadn't seen the horrors that Barney had endured over the years as Doc had. She didn't know what kind of dangers he had survived. She had seen other terrible things over the years, but nothing that hit home quite like this. Church had planned his attack perfectly, making it personal for both of them as he lured them into a trap and then toyed with them the way a cat toys with a mouse before he goes in for the kill.

The journey to the hospital was just as silent has the plane ride had been. As soon as they arrived, Tool cut the engine and hurried through the doors to alert the nurses to the emergency that was sitting in the back of the van. Several of them materialized in minutes, two of them removing Mikayla from the back while several others directed Tool, Gunnar and Doc to help them load Barney onto a stretcher and get him inside. She tried to watch them work even as she found herself shepherded into another room and the door quickly closed to block off her line of sight. They then began to fuss over her. Her wounds were checked, the cuts and bruises evaluated as they gently coaxed the blanket away from her body and attempted to get her to relax on the edge of the hospital bed.

Hisses of pain escaped her lips as the alcohol soaked cotton was pressed against her skin. The dried blood slowly began to fall away as their busy hands attended her body and the various marks that had been made, their voices babbling in medical terms that mostly went over her head. For what seemed like an eternity she was subjected to their treatment, including x-rays to check for broken bones and a drip to replenish her body of the fluids that she so desperately needed.

Finally, when they were satisfied that their job was done, they left her to sit on the edge of her bed. Her clothes had been removed and discarded due to the amount of dust, blood and sweat that had been on them, and so she wore only a hospital gown to cover her body from prying eyes. She wasn't allowed to leave, they had been rather firm on that, but they had also been unable to provide any word of how Barney was doing or where they had even taken him. The anxiety was beginning to mount as she sat there, her fingers wrapped tightly around the edge of the bed as they sunk deeper and deeper into the mattress on which she sat.

Was he going to be alright? He had still been breathing when she had been hurried away by the nurses, but nobody had yet come to tell her if there was any change. Where were the others?

A soft knock on the door brought her head snapping up in an instant. There was only a momentary pause before the handle began to turn and the door was pushed aside, revealing the figure of the only other woman Mikayla had encountered over the past several days. Luna stepped into the room and closed the door again, turning to face her counterpart with one of the most neutral expressions Mickey had ever seen.

"Here," Luna said, offering out the bag that she had brought with her. "I figured you might be more comfortable in these than that hospital gown."

Mickey blinked at her. Only after giving herself a bit of a shake did she reach out to take the bag that was offered to her and slowly pull it back until she was able to hug it against her chest. She continued to stare at Luna for a minute even as the other woman turned her back to give her a little privacy in order to get changed. But then she started to move, pulling the bag open as she moved through the articles of clothing and slowly began to put them onto her body in place of the hospital gown.

"I'm not sure how things will fit, so I stole one of Smilee's belts just in case."

Her dark orbs looked down into the bag. Yep, there was most definitely a belt in there. Even in her state of mind she could feel the corners of her lips curve upward slightly at the idea of a belt being snagged by a team member. That kind of comradery wasn't something you could fake.

"Are these your clothes?" Mickey asked quietly as she slipped one leg into the pair of jeans.

Luna gave her a bit of a shrug without turning her head. "Figured I was the best candidate to help you out for clothes. After the hell you just went through, real clothes can be a good thing."

Mickey wasn't entirely sure what to say. "Thanks…"

Another few minutes of silence passed between them as she slowly slid her way into the clothes that Luna provided, finding that even though she had thought herself to be a few inches taller than the blonde, the clothing fit rather well. The legs of the jeans had to be rolled up a little in order to avoid the appearance of wearing floods but they definitely did the job. There was even enough space around the waistband for her to know that the belt wasn't really necessary…but she strung it through the loops anyway so that Luna's thievery wouldn't be for nothing.

"Okay, I'm good."

Pivoting on her heel to face her again, Luna folded her arms over her chest and looked her up and down for a moment with a smirk of her own. "Not bad," she commented. "The colours look pretty good too."

Truth be told, neither one of them had really considered the colours until that moment. Mickey hadn't seen her reflection in so long that she was willing to accept Luna's words as a compliment just so she didn't have to face the bruises on her face and the dark circles under her eyes. She didn't need to be told that she looked like living hell. She could already feel it. But she had to admit that after being held captive in the same clothes for a number of days, having clean material against her skin was a welcome change no matter what it looked like.

Still, she wasn't about to be distracted by jeans, a tank top and a sweater.

The worried look was back within a few seconds. "Is he alright?"

Luna sighed softly and rubbed at her forehead. "Truthfully? I don't know. I haven't had a chance to check since you guys left."

Her hands flew up to her face as the growl of frustration sounded. The nurses had practically forbade her to leave this room until a doctor could officially look her over and she wasn't sure that she could yet trust Luna to just let her walk out of there without following orders. But why on earth would the girl care what she did or didn't do? It wasn't like they really knew one another. Were it not for Barney then the two of them would likely never have crossed paths anyway.

"You coming?"

Mickey's head shot up out of her hands as she stared at the open door that Luna now nodded to, having pulled it aside and already gestured that they should just leave before they were caught. Well at that point she didn't need to be told twice. Mickey staggered her way to the door and reached out to grip the framework for a minute in order to find her balance. She had no idea of how far they would need to go into the hospital to find him, but she was determined that she was going to make it there. She just hoped that she didn't encounter too many nurses along the way who might insist that she return to the other room to be looked at.

"It's about time you girls showed up."

A frown etched itself onto her face as she peeked around the corner of the door and into the hallway. Leaning up against the wall with his arms folded tightly over his chest was another of the team's younger recruits, the one who had first confronted her when she had arrived at the hangar and later helped to carry her out of the building before it exploded behind them. What was his name again? Hell, she couldn't remember even if she cared enough to try right now. But he wasn't exactly alone either. There were two other boys standing there with him in various positions. The first she recognized as having been the one to reach her first in the building. The second one she hadn't officially met yet.

"What can I say? A girl needs time to do her hair," came Mickey's sarcastic response.

The man rolled his eyes, pulling away from the wall. "He's in the OR right now. Apparently Church did more damage than Doc thought."

Though her face didn't show it, her heart sunk at his words. "Where are the others?"

"They're in the waiting room."

"Well then, let's go."

She didn't wait for anyone to speak. She just started moving down the one side of the hallway without even knowing if she was headed in the right direction. The footsteps were painfully slow for her as she tried to maintain her balance by gripping at the wall, fighting off the dizziness that was slowly creeping into her body. But she had to move, the inner voices demanded. If she stopped moving there was always a chance that she wouldn't make it in time. And that wasn't acceptable, not now.

A touch to her arm made her jump rather violently, almost collapsing against the wall as she tried to spin around and weakly defend herself against the person who grabbed her. But he had caught her flying hand with ease and now used some of his own strength to help keep her upright, looking at her with a slightly softer expression than before. And for a moment, Mickey was caught off guard by the look that he gave her.

"First of all, you're going the wrong way," he told her a little gruffly as he slowly released her wrist and allowed her hand to fall to her side. "But it's going to take us all day to get there if that's how you're moving."

Before she could protest he had slipped an arm around her back and bent forward to hook the other beneath her knees, lifting her smaller frame with such ease that he almost made her feel completely weightless. Her arms were around his neck in an instant to instinctively protect her body from the threat of being dropped. It was so weird to feel like that she thought. Even though this man had been one of the ones to help carry her out of the building during the rescue mission, she hadn't exactly given him a second thought since their first hostile encounter.

As she caught herself staring up at him, Mickey quickly gave herself a mental kick and narrowed her eyes at him. "Just watch the hands, okay?"

In response, the young man just rolled his eyes before he adjusted his hold to something a little more secure. Then he turned on his heel and began to march down the hall toward the others, who ultimately parted to either side of the corridor to let him past and lead the procession back to the waiting room area. It was a silent affair that had them all flanking her protector as close as they dared without the risk of stepping on his heels. Mickey continued to hold on for dear life lest he decide to drop her, even though in the back of her mind she knew that she was probably as safe with them as she had been with Barney. They'd probably protect her, if only for his sake.

The five minutes that it took them to reach the waiting room seemed like an eternity to Mickey as she continued to hold tightly to the stranger's neck. And the more she held onto him, the more she thought about how right he had been. If his normal pace was taking longer than she would have liked then she could only imagine how long it would have taken here to get there on her own. Never mind the fact that she had been going the wrong way entirely when she started. But she was slightly glad not to have made the journey on her own, for even as she sat in his arms she could feel the weariness creep into her body. When was the last time she had slept? She didn't know. She'd spent much of the previous night watching over Barney after he had been brought into the cell with her. Perhaps she had dozed off then. She couldn't really remember.

Gunnar was the first to notice them coming through the doors, and he bolted to his feet almost instantly. "You're supposed to be waiting for a doctor," he grumbled down at her. "Smilee-"

"She's still kinda beat up," the man holding her protested a little, his eyes narrowing slightly at Gunnar. "Her balance is a little off."

At this however, Mikayla turned her dark orbs up to look at him. "Maybe my legs don't work, but my tongue is functioning just fine."

It didn't take a genius to see that he wasn't overly pleased with the sharpness of her tone, but that didn't stop him from gently setting her on the ground again when she shifted her weight in his arms. Gunnar's hands were out in an instant to help her find her balance if needed, and Mickey gratefully reached out with her one hand to grasp his forearm firmly.

"Has there been any word?" she asked him anxiously.

Gunnar slowly shook his head in response, dropping his gaze a little so that he no longer had to look Mickey right in the eye. But that was the only answer she needed. The doctor's hadn't been out yet to speak to them, and so that meant that Barney was still in the operating room fighting for his life. And in her experience, his lack of eye contact meant one of two things. Either Gunnar wasn't holding out a lot of hope that Barney would be able to pull through, or he partially blamed Mikayla for what had happened and didn't want to say it aloud.

And she could hardly blame him. At this point in time, she blamed herself as well.

She'd walked right into the trap that Church had set for her, somehow putting a foot out of line that allowed him to look her up and discover who she was so that she could be used as a pawn against Barney. After years of not speaking to one another and attempting to push aside the harsh feelings that she had felt toward him for his constant absence she was finally being forced to confront her own personal feelings. She didn't exactly appreciate him for it either. She'd done quite well with her life up until this point. And now Church had gone and blown it all to shit.

A heavy sigh escaped her lips as she released her hold on Gunnar's arm and looked toward the others, noticing their various expressions and stances seemed to be much like that of the Swedish giant before her. Nobody seemed to want to make eye contact…and none of them looked overly hopeful.

"I see."

And so their waiting game was to continue. Squaring her shoulders as best as she could the young woman stepped toward the first vacant seat that she caught sight of, hoping perhaps that her body would allow her to at least reach that point on her own and retain what little dignity she seemed to have left. The first step proved to be rather shaky, and she could already feel the others looming behind her for the first sign of struggle. So when her knees started to buckle it didn't surprise her to find that one person had caught her around the waist while another had grabbed hold of her elbow. A quick glance to the side told her that it was Gunnar who had her elbow, and so she believed it was Smilee, as she now knew him to be called, that had secured his arm around her waist.

Out of instinct, her free arm had wrapped around her abdomen to lay on top of Smilee's in order to reassure herself that she wasn't going to go anywhere. "It's alright boys, I'm fine."

Not that either of them was likely convinced, she thought to herself. So far she was definitely not showing anyone that she was capable of walking without some form of assistance, and she knew already by the look that Lee wore when he glanced in her direction that he didn't approve of her attempted mobility. In response, she sent him a small smile to try and reassure him.

She didn't expect him to get up out of his seat and make his way toward her as the other two were setting her on her feet once more, looking down with the same firm look that he usually seemed to adopt in these serious situations. His eyes never once left her as he moved to secure an arm around her back and stepped into Gunnar's place, thus removing both Smilee and Gunnar from the situation entirely as he began to guide her over to the empty chair between himself and Tool.

"He'd be livid with you right now," Lee growled quietly.

"Maybe," she acknowledged. "But right now I'm not the one who really needs to be worried about."

Lee didn't have a response for her then. Instead he slowly adjusted the way that he held onto her body so that he could lower her into the chair and relied on Tool's silent nod so make sure that she wasn't going to lose her balance and fall over entirely. Only when the signal was given did he release her and seat himself beside her again, leaning forward with his elbows pressed into his thighs and his hands clasped before him. There was no telling how long they would be sitting there. A few minutes…a few hours…all they could do now was try to make themselves comfortable until the doctor finally arrived with whatever news he was burdened to carry.

With slight difficulty, Mickey tucked her legs beneath herself and leaned into Tool's shoulder, reaching out to gently hold one of his larger hands in her two small ones just as she had done with Barney that night in their cell. No words were spoken…there were really none to say. But Tool understood and slowly reached to cover her hands with as much reassurance as he could muster in this dark situation.

They just knew that they were in for a long wait.