Disaster Leaves Your Passion Overrun

Shessh, it's impossible to find connecting lyrics for these lil' chapters. Title is from Dawn, by Poets Of The Fall. Before people think I'm a real martyr writing during exams, I have to put it out there that my exams run for like 2 months, they aren't all congested into a day. So my feat of continuing with the writing, isn't that impressive, haha! Enjoy! XD

Jill sat silently in the dull hospital room, gazing down at the form lying on the bed beside her. Like most people, hospitals weren't her favourite place; anywhere you looked you saw only pain and suffering. Everything seemed to have happened so fast, she was surprised they got Anna back so quickly. She never expected to get out so easily, and as she was sitting, the BSAA were on the information they had gathered, most likely raiding the research facility. Things never went so smoothly, so naturally she was on edge.

Jill shot a glance to the figure stepping into the room, immediately she retracted her gaze from them and back the young girl in the bed.

"I brought you a coffee too." Chris said cautiously, handing the up towards Jill, and taking a seat on the opposite side of the bed. Jill kept her lips firmly shut, and merely nodded to him. There was no denying she was angry, events of the past couldn't be so easily forgotten.

...

"Any change?" Chris asked, resting his elbows on the edge of the bed. He couldn't remove his eyes from the young soul in front of him; he just couldn't believe he had his daughter back. He was so happy, yet it felt so surreal a smile couldn't form on his lips.

"We just got to wait for her to wake up. She's fine, Chris. Just a bit dehydrated is all." She replied to him with little emotion, clearly conveying her unhappiness to him. Although he knew he would most likely regret it, he was compelled to question what was wrong with her.

"...Are you alright?"

...

"A little bit pissed off is all." She said sharply. As if he couldn't already tell. Jill let out an exasperated sigh.

"I could have stopped this! There was no reason for Luke to get shot..." She furrowed her brows as tears began to form. She barely knew Luke, but as with any person, she was compelled to help them. And on top of that, she grabbed any opportunity she got to be angry at Chris. Not out of spite, but she was in so much suffering and confusion all caused by her problems with him. She just had to let out some of the pent up pain. "I mean, what the hell were you thinking?"

Chris looked shocked at her; he didn't know what to say. But he knew as much as her, that her angry wasn't just due to Luke's fate, so he didn't rise to her. He wouldn't shout back, because that wouldn't be what she needed. He would let her release her emotions, if that's what would help her.

"I was the only one with my gun out, for God's sake, I could have stopped her! Why did you have to push me away?" He gently shook his head feeling terrible, as water began to stream along her fine features. "So you could be some sort of hero? Is that it? You felt the need to protect the weak girl?"

Again, words failed Chris.

"I can hold my own!" She spoke the words, not to tell him, but to tell herself. Since Africa she was always seen as the victim, the woman who needed support of her friends, who couldn't hold her own. And she hated it. Yet she could see herself, she had changed. She had become less independent, even at this moment she wasn't strong enough to control the tears which flowed steadily. "I'm not weak... I don't need you!"

Chris bit his tongue and attempted to hide the cut her words had just made, hoping she would regret the words she had just spoken. And that she did, his face immediately dropped, and at that sight her face softened too. This was her main problem in arguments, she always said something she regretted, yet pride would never let her retract her hurtful words.

A small nurse poked her head in through the doorway; Jill immediately placed her face in her hands and began to frantically remove her tear stains. The young woman's face dropped when she saw Jill's state, but Chris gave her a comforting smile.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but Mr. Johnson is awake now. I know you wanted to see him." Chris gave the nurse a smile, which she returned nervously and left the room.

"I have to go for a walk, I feel sick." Jill said stubbornly, before Chris even had the chance to talk to her. He sighed, and silently prayed at his daughter's bedside for some sort of sense in such a troublesome world.

Chris sat vigilantly by his daughter. He wanted to see Luke at some stage, but he was petrified he wouldn't be there when Anna woke, so until she did, Chris didn't move an inch. Jill had been away for quite a while now, and of course he began to worry. But he knew, sometimes space was the best thing for her. It gave her time to think, the privilege which had been taken away with the pursuit for Anna.

Although Anna was yet to wake, Chris wasn't scared. He wasn't nervous at all. Because he knew she would be okay. He had the strong feeling within him that his daughter would be fine, because although she didn't see it herself, he knew Anna was a fighter.

Chris shot his head up out of his thoughts, when the door to the hospital room was knocked. A heart warming smile came off Chris's lips as Jake walked into the room.

"Father and daughter reunited at last." He attempted to sound sentimental, as he leaned against the wall. "How is she?"

"Tired, by the looks of it." Chris replied, glancing back to his still sleeping daughter. "She'll be okay, they didn't hurt her."

A broad smile played of Jake's lips, and that was enough to make Chris follow suit.

"I've talked to the BSAA. I'll sort everything out; the most you'll get is a slap on the wrist. You focus on taking care of your daughter." Jake said sincerely. Chris nodded and thanked him. He was a good friend, yes he was a joker, but he had a heart of gold. "Do you know who took her? We've been looking at the information, and yeah it's great, it's enough. But there are no names. All we've got is Sherry and Luke Johnson."

Chris furrowed his brow and racked his brain, but came up short. He only met Sherry, Luke and Luke's mystery guardian angel.

"Alex? Someone said Alex. I don't know who he is. I got no last name, no information. But most likely he's the one behind it. You'll have to talk to Luke, and then wait till Anna wakes to talk to her."

"There's also the mystery surrounding who brought Mr Johnson in. The nurses at A&E said a woman brought him in; she gave his name and details, but refused to say anything about herself. Apparently she left in a hurry..." Jake said, surprised when a slight smile formed on Chris's lips. "Do you know who she is?"

"No. You didn't really give many details; there are quite a lot of women in the world." Chris said, receiving a scrunched up face from Jake. Chris could guess who the woman was, he didn't know her name, but no doubt that was the woman who helped them. She did as she promised, as always.

"Well, if you find out anything tell me please, because at this rate, I'll be retired before this investigation is over." Jake teased, glancing over his shoulder to see yet another person coming to visit Anna. He nodded to Chris, and left.

Jake's departure was quickly overshadowed by a high pitched, incredibly girly scream. Claire bounced into the room and threw herself around her older brother. Her actions, made it quite hard to believe she was almost thirty.

"I'm so glad both of you are okay." She squealed in Chris's ears, squeezing even tighter around his neck. "But you're such an idiot going on your own little mission."

Chris flinched as she swatted him jokily on the back of the head.

"So you don't know who's behind all this, huh?" Claire asked, removing herself from Chris's lap and onto a spare chair.

"...No." Chris paused before answering. He wasn't quite sure to tell Claire about Sherry or not, it would just bring memories he had hoped Claire had forgotten by now. At this moment in time, he didn't think it would benefit Claire at all to know the truth. So he went for the easy option, and decided not to tell her until a later date. "Whoever's been doing it has been doing it for a while."

"How do you know?"

"There were quite a few people being tested on. I have no idea how they kept it secret." Chris sighed as he saw the sadness in Claire's eyes. She was a sensitive one, he admired her for it to him it was a good trait to have, but she saw it as a burden. She always wished she could be more like Chris and Jill, they were strong able to keep it together. Whereas Claire seemed to care too much for the people sometimes, probably the reason why she joined Terra Save, it meant she could be a protector, not a fighter.

"And where are they now? Did you get them out?" Chris sighed at her words. She was so naive.

"They weren't alive, Claire. It's lucky we got Anna when we did." Chris said solemnly.

"So how do you know the research has been going on for a while, if the people weren't alive to tell you?" Claire asked innocently. Chris inwardly cursed to himself, he was hoping she wouldn't catch on or question on his previous mistake.

"Uh... Just, you can tell." He lamely babbled to her. Claire had known her brother for nearly thirty years now, she could read him like a book. He was badly attempting to hide something from her, and she wasn't going to buy it.

"Chris. You're the worst liar..." Claire tilted her head playfully, confused by his secrecy. "What is it? What aren't you telling me?"

Chris removed his eye contact with her, refusing to say a word.

"Come on." She giggled.

"Claire." He warned her, which quickly removed the smile on her face. He only held information from her to try to protect her, like any brother would.

"I'm not a child anymore, Chris. You don't have to baby me. Now what's going on?" Claire asked seriously, which made Chris regret not telling her in the first place.

...

"One of the people...uh..." He struggled to find the words to tell her, but she continued to stare expectantly at him waiting patiently. "There was something about Steve..."

Chris gently closed his eyes, not wanting to see the pained face of his baby sister. Claire's heart sank a little, she hadn't heard the name spoke in years. She had successfully overcome her pain of losing him, and subsequently she refused to talk about him. Perhaps it wasn't the best way, but to her it was the only way of getting over the pain and regret she felt since that day. Against her greatest efforts, tears began to form.

Chris reopened his eyes after feeling a delicate hand placed on his arm thinking it was that of his sisters. A gentle smile formed on his lips, when he saw the source of the hand wasn't hers. Even Claire raised a genuine smile as Anna began to sit upright from her slumber.

Gotta apologise for the boring chapters, but everything's a little disjointed with the shorter chapters and what not. I'm trying my upmost! Also for conformation, Alex said Luke died...I never did, so she was talking through her arse.

One more point, I'm hoping A&E is the same in America, but I have a feeling it isn't. So I don't know what the equivalent is in America, I was thinking ER, but then that means emergency room, so that didn't sound right...Cutting a very long story short, I'm British, forgive me for my not so American way of saying things.

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