Tom and Pope ran through the hospital's doors, carrying Hal's limp and bloody body as they did so.
"Anne!" Tom screamed, the desperation in his voice ringing through each corridor.
Maggie came around the corner suddenly, her face concerned. "Tom, what the he…" She stopped dead in her tracks as her eyes rested on Hal.
"Hal!" Maggie screamed, rushing towards them quickly. She joined Hal's side, picking up her pace as Tom and Pope moved quicker.
"Anne!" Tom yelled out again as they rounded the next corner.
A door burst open now, and Anne appeared.
"Tom?" She looked terribly confused until she saw Hal, and then her expression shifted in an instant. "Oh, God. Here! Come with me!" Anne turned on her heels and quickly led the fighters towards an empty hospital room.
Tom, Pope and Maggie all rushed into the room just as Hal began to come to.
"Unghhgh…" Hal moaned, his eyes still tightly shut.
"Lay him here." Anne patted the bed and disappeared from the room for a brief second. When she returned she wore a white coat over her clothes, and pulled a gurney filled with several medical tools.
"Tell me what happened." Anne instructed firmly as she made her way to Hal.
"We were on a scouting mission, and Hal was stumbling down a street. That's all we know." Tom spoke so quickly his words were barely more than jumbled sounds. His terrified eyes never left Hal.
Anne nodded and moved to Hal's side quickly.
"Hal, can you hear me?"
"Please…" Hal turned his head away from Anne, his eyes squeezing shut even more tightly.
"Hal, I'm going to check you over really quick, see what we're dealing with here, okay?" Anne's voice was gentle and motherly as she bent over Hal.
She tugged softly at his shirt, and that was all it took to rip enough for her to get a clear look at his chest and abdomen.
Anne held in a small gasp as she looked at Hal's body. He was in bad shape. Hal had a large burn on his stomach, but the worst part was his chest and sides. Hal's ribcage was seriously damaged. With only so much as a glance Anne knew he had several broken ribs. The skin was heavily bruised and swollen in a few places. Anne suddenly saw that Hal's skin had a slight bluish tint. Then she noticed his breathing.
Hal was breathing terribly weak, and his chest was not rising and falling steadily. She looked up to find not only Tom and Maggie waiting to hear about Hal, but Ben, Pope, Weaver and Anthony also crowded around anxiously.
"Tom, we need to do a chest x-ray. Now." Anne gave him a look that expressed her concern and urgency. "Anthony, can you find Lourdes? Tell her to meet me in the x-ray lab. Immediately." Anthony nodded quickly and ran from the room.
"Tom, help me wheel him down to the lab." Anne began to clear a path for Hal as Tom hurried to the other end of the bed.
"Anne, what's-" Maggie began shakily, but Anne cut her off.
"I think Hal might have a collapsed lung. He could suffocate." Her voice was low and sad, but firm.
Maggie swallowed tightly and tried to push back the overwhelming fear she felt at the thought of losing Hal, but she was failing. She followed quickly as everyone hurried down the halls towards the x-ray lab.
Lourdes was already waiting for them inside, her expression serious and determined. She was setting everything up, and once it was all ready, Tom and Anne placed Hal in the x-ray room and left him alone. He groaned loudly, but he never opened his eyes.
Only moments later Anne put the photos of Hal's chest on a light board. She swallowed loudly and turned to the group with a ghostly pale face.
"His left lung has collapsed and there's a lot of trapped air. I can get to it and release the air, but I'm going to have to re-break one of his ribs. It's blocking my path." Anne sounding shaky and a little unsure.
Tom's face became washed of all color, and a thin sheet of sweat coated his forehead. Maggie closed her eyes and fought back her emotions as best she could. Pope released a long sigh, his features remaining hardened. Ben's jaw tightened and he looked at his feet.
Tom nodded after a moment and he gave Anne's shoulder a reassuring squeeze.
"I trust you." He spoke quietly, his eyes meeting hers.
Anne bit her lip and nodded, giving Tom a small and uncertain smile.
"Lourdes, grab me some plastic tubing, a scalpel, a bone saw, and get him started on an IV drip." Lourdes nodded and became a blur as she grabbed everything needed.
"Anne, there's no bone saw… We'll have to break it manually." Lourdes spoke hesitantly as Anne began to move towards the room Anthony had wheeled Hal into.
Anne stopped suddenly and she became visibly upset. She nodded stiffly.
"Let's go, then." Anne mumbled, rushing down the hall into Hal's room.
"Hal, I need you to listen, okay? You have a collapsed lung. I'm going to have to release the trapped air in your chest, but I'm going to have to re-break one of your ribs first." Anne was trying desperately to sound confident and authoritative, but her voice was trembling slightly.
Hal's eyes began to flutter open and he searched for the voice he had just heard. His eyes weakly rested on Anne, and he looked deeply confused.
"What…-" Hal started, but he drifted off as his breathing hitched. He closed his eyes tightly again, and his trembling hands tightened around the bed sheets.
Anne glanced up at the others around the bed, her eyes fearful.
"Captain, Pope… I'll need you to hold his legs. Tom and Anthony, hold his shoulders. This is going to really hurt, but I need him to be as still as possible."
Anne swallowed and looked at Ben and Maggie, who both looked like they were desperate to help, but neither had steady hands or emotions. Anne needed steadiness. She held their gaze for a moment longer and shook her head slightly at them. Then she turned her attention back to Hal.
Hal was beginning to stir beneath the hands that were now holding him firmly against the bed. His eyes were struggling to open, and a low pained sound passed his lips.
"Stay still, son. We're right here. Everything will be okay soon." Tom soothed Hal as best he could, but Hal didn't hear his father's words. He was too focused on the memories that played behind his closed eyelids. With the hands holding him down, Hal felt like he was back on the ship with Karen, trapped in place by tight restraints. His breathing deepened, which only worsened his condition. Anne began to hurry.
"Lourdes, hand me the scalpel." Anne mumbled, her eyes focused intently on Hal's chest.
When the blade was in her hand, Anne didn't hesitate.
"Hold him down." She instructed loudly, and then she pressed the cold blade to the side of Hal's chest.
The blade dug into his skin harshly, and blood began to roll down his side quickly.
Hal screamed out in pain, his voice trembling. He thrashed against the hands holding him down, despite feeling so incredibly weak and tired.
Hal settled down, desperately gasping for air, as Anne finished the incision that she needed. She turned to Lourdes, her eyes hardened.
"Get me the wedge and mallet." Anne's voice was much lower now. She was about to break Hal's rib again. Everyone in the room tensed up. Maggie kept her eyes firmly placed on Hal, needing to see him in this moment and wishing that he was seeing her.
Anne stuck what appeared to be a stick into the incision. Her movements were swift and certain.
The stick was wedged between Hal's already broken ribs, and the sound he released would haunt everyone in the room until the day they died.
Hal tried to break free desperately, but he didn't stand a chance. He howled in agony as the wedge went deeper and deeper into his chest, his scream so strained and filled with so much pain. Maggie closed her eyes briefly, feeling a tear escape and fall silently down her cheek.
Anne finally pushed the wedge in as deep as she needed it, and then she grabbed the mallet from Lourdes' hand quickly. Without hesitation or warning, Anne smashed the mallet into the end of the wedge.
The crack of Hal's rib echoed painfully throughout the room. A choked sob/scream escaped his dry lips. Stray tears slipped down the sides of his face as he attempted, weakly, to break free one last time. When he failed yet again, Hal fell back against the bed, defeated, still choking on smothered sobs.
Anne removed the wedge and tossed it aside. She then grabbed the plastic tubing that Lourdes was holding out. Anne carefully inserted the tubing into the bloody incision mark on Hal's side. She pushed it in far, most of it disappearing into Hal. He moaned hoarsely, but was now too weak and in too much pain to fight back.
Anne sighed shakily before placing her lips to the end of the tube that hadn't been placed inside Hal's chest. She began to hastily suck out the air trapped in Hal's beaten chest. She removed her lips every so often and blew out the extra air.
This process went on for five eternities. But finally, Hal began to breathe on his own. He sucked in air so quickly that he choked and began to cough painfully. He wheezed in and out loudly, his eyes fluttering open once more. He gasped slightly as Anne removed the tubing from his chest.
Everything after that was a blur to Hal. He was only half aware as Anne bandaged his chest and his many other wounds, because he was only half-conscious. He heard all the voices that spoke to him, but he didn't know what they were saying. He felt hands brushing over him, but he didn't know who they belonged to.
Hal felt disconnected from his body. He felt numb and distant. He tried to open his eyes so many times, but he couldn't fight the exhaustion that was consuming him. And soon enough, Hal felt him slip from the misery he was surrounded by in this world and into a bittersweet place filled with silence.
Hal felt the pain break through once more. His whole body ached terribly.
Hal's eyes began to open weakly, but he couldn't help but think that a part of him wanted to keep his eyes shut as tight as possible because he was afraid of what he might find when they open.
Hal forced his tired eyes open, though, despite his fears. He found that he was in a hospital room. A hospital room that he recognized. He was back in Charleston.
Hal was beginning to feel relief wash over him, and then he heard someone breathing softly from somewhere beside him. He slowly and stiffly turned his head, holding his breath tightly as he did so.
Hal nearly screamed out in terror as he layed his eyes on a blond head. Karen. Hal suddenly felt sick to his stomach as all the memories and pain flooded him. He wasn't in Charleston. This was just another cruel trick.
But then the blond head rolled back slightly, and Hal sucked in a tight, painful breath. It wasn't Karen that rested beside him. It was Maggie.
Hal opened his mouth as if to speak, but he found he could not form words. Instead, he just let his eyes rest upon the one person who had the ability to make his heart soar even when he was so tired and in so much pain.
He knew she was real this time. But knowing that this was reality didn't take away the excruciating memories that were haunting him. He knew it had all been a cruel trick, but it was so very real to Hal.
Maggie seemed to sense someone was watching her, and her eyes shot open. She settled her gaze upon Hal, and for a moment she didn't seem to register that he was awake.
It hit her suddenly, though, and she rose to her feet in an instant.
"Hal." Maggie breathed in, her eyes searching him over frantically. At first her eyes were guarded and emotionless, the way she was used to wearing them. But the longer she watched Hal, the more her facade crumbled.
Maggie swallowed tightly and closed her eyes for the briefest second. She drew in a tight breath of air and released it shakily. When she opened them again, she looked back at Hal, her eyes glistening slightly.
"Maggie..." Hal's voice was a croak, and a weak one. He said no more, though. He only let her name pass through his pale lips, and even though his voice was weak and pained, he said her name with more intensity and love than he ever had before.
Maggie sighed shakily and continued to look at him, finding it more comforting to hear his voice than she ever could have imagined.
"Lay with me." Hal whispered, sounding as exhausted as he looked.
Maggie hesitated, looking deep into his eyes for a moment. She found that she couldn't bear to look into them for long, though. When she searched through them, she saw so much agony and guilt and desperation that she couldn't stand it.
After a few more drawn out moments, Maggie moved closer to Hal. She gently lowered herself onto the bedside, careful not to make any sudden movements so she wouldn't hurt Hal any more. She positioned herself next to him, lying on her side stiffly. She brought her eyes up slowly to meet his.
"Maggie..." Hal sighed. He closed his eyes, seeming to be in pain. He weakly reached his hand out and found hers, grasping it as tight as he could. Maggie inched a little closer to Hal.
Hal opened his eyes again, and Maggie saw that they were red and bloodshot from unshed tears.
"I... I'm so sorry... I..." Hal stopped as he felt his voice becoming more unsteady.
"What are you sorry about, Hal?" Maggie asked quietly, feeling her heartbeat's pace quicken.
"I... Did nothing..." His voice was just a mumble now.
"Then why are you sorry?" Maggie watched him closely as his grip on her hand tightened.
Hal shook his head weakly, ignoring the pain that exploded in him with each movement. "No... Maggie, I did nothing... I... Didn't do anything to..." He trailed off, seeming to get lost in thought.
"Hal, you're not making sense. I think I should go get Doctor Glass...-" Hal cut her off, more harshly than he'd intended to.
"No! You don't get it! Maggie, I did NOTHING. Karen, she... She..." Hal's breathing began to deepen as the memories crashed over him quickly and painfully. He clenched his jaw and looked at the ceiling.
"What about Karen?" Maggie was unable to contain her anger as she spoke of Karen. She fought the urge to scream out simply at the mention of Karen's name, and she waited patiently for Hal to continue.
He was hesitant. He wanted to talk to Maggie, but he didn't want to have to remember it all.
Hal swallowed back his fears, though, and met Maggie's eyes once more.
"Karen killed Ben." Hal's voice was filled with a darkness and pain that even Maggie couldn't understand it. She knew, just from Hal's tone, and the look in his eyes, that he had been through absolute hell.
"Hal... Ben's not..." Maggie began, but Hal spoke over her.
"He died, Maggie. I watched him. He... Karen strangled him, and snapped his neck. She was trying to get me to talk about the rebel attack, but I wouldn't. So she killed Ben. Right in front of me, and Matt. And she nearly electrocuted you to death." Hal was beginning to hyperventilate as he recalled these terrible events, and as he spoke, Maggie knew what Hal was trying to say. Karen must have tricked Hal's mind into believing the events he was recalling were true. They must have felt real to him.
"Hal, Ben's alive. He's okay. So am I, and Matt's safe. Everything's okay now." Maggie tried to make her voice soft and reassuring, but Hal was too lost in his own painful mind.
"I let my baby brother die, Maggie. He needed me, he was trying to get away. He was so scared. And I let him die." Hal's voice broke at the end, and he closed his eyes to keep tears from escaping.
"I know it felt real, Hal. I know it had to. But it wasn't. Ben didn't die. Everything's okay now, Hal." Maggie spoke softly as she gave Hal's hand a gentle squeeze.
Hal shook his head, his eyes still squeezed shut. "It was all so real, Maggie. I... I watched him die. I looked into his eyes as she broke his neck. I watched my dad hold his dead son in his arms. It... I... I can still feel it all..."
"Look at me, Hal." Maggie's voice was firm. Hal didn't open his eyes, though. "Baby... Look at me." Maggie was pleading with him.
Hal opened his eyes slowly, and as he did, a stray tear rolled down his bruised cheek. He looked at Maggie, his eyes boring into hers. He looked so incredibly tired. He looked and felt like he was about to pass out from exhaustion, yet he still managed to keep his eyes open for her. He needed to see her. He needed her so badly right now.
"You trust me, don't you?" Maggie asked softly, her eyes flickering between his.
Hal nodded. "With all my heart." He whispered, sounding incredibly weak and pained.
"Then rest, Hal. Everything's okay for now. You're okay now. And I'm here with you. It's just you and me right now." She breathed these words to him, willing him to rest.
"Maggie... I love you." Hal whispered, his eyes still watching her intensely.
Maggie blinked, fighting back tears desperately. "I love you, too Hal. And I'm not going anywhere. It's just us now. Only us."
Hal breathed out shakily, and closed his eyes. He remained silent for a long moment, and Maggie figured he had fallen asleep. But without warning, Hal moved his weak, aching body closer to Maggie, holding in a low moan of pain as he did.
He rested his head against hers and sighed softly, his body settling gently into hers.
Maggie wanted to protest, to warn him not to move like that again until he was better, but she stayed silent. She wanted to tell him all those things, but she found that she was too overwhelmed with relief and happiness that Hal was here with her now. He had disappeared for so long, and he had been through such a tremendous amount of pain and grief. But he had found his way back to her, and he had longed to be with her as much as she had with him. So all that Maggie could do now was close her eyes and allow herself to rest next to the one person she had ever really loved.