Disclaimer: Any recognizable characters, dialogue, and/or situations are not my own. I repeat: I do not own anything.

Where is she?, Chase wondered as he entered Thirteen's apartment, clutching the drugs she had sent him to retrieve. He spotted her creeping out of her bedroom. Knowing Darrien should be sleeping, his suspicion rose.

"She hallucinated," Thirteen stated by way of explanation as she reached for the drugs in his hand. "I need you to go back out. I just called in more clotting factor."

What?

"So, she's bleeding in her brain now?" he asked her in an effort to assess the gravity of the situation. This is not good, he thought.

"We double up the dose—she'll be fine."

He could tell Thirteen was trying to brush off the new symptom as nothing more than a small set-back. Well, he knew better. It was time to stop giving into her demands.

"No. We bring her to the hospital, we do a CT scan to locate the bleed, drill a burr hole in her skull, and maybe she'll be fine," he said, clearly trying to convey they were in dangerous territory.

"We can drill a burr hole here," she countered, her voice quiet.

Chase knew she realized she was running out of ways to help Darrien. Drilling a burr hole in her apartment would definitely be pushing the limits of what they were capable of doing outside the hospital, and soon she'd have to relent. However, he wasn't willing to wait. Chase needed to remind Thirteen of the seriousness of the situation, of what she was capable of losing.

"You're not just risking our careers here. You could go back to prison." Chase couldn't keep his concern for her from coloring his voice; he didn't want to see her suffer anymore than she already had. He didn't want her to leave again.

"I made a promise," she stated simply, as if that were the only explanation Chase needed.

Confused by what her promise had to do with the situation he asked: "You made a promise?"

"I will not take her to the hospital," Thirteen's voice was clear and stern as she stared intently at him.

Fine, I don't need your permission. "Great, then I will," Chase said, resigned. He wasn't going to attempt to convince her anymore. It was time he did what he thought was best.

"No," she responded, her tone defiant.

Chase was done with the other doctor's disregard for the consequences of their actions.

"I'm going to move you then I'm going to pick your friend up, take her down to my car, take her to the hospital, and try to save her life," he stated calmly, all traces of an argument gone as he looked directly at her.

The time for arguing had passed, but Thirteen's expression grew visibly angrier.

"She's staying here," she stated, her voice both protective and dangerous. Chase was strongly reminded of a mother bear.

However, he wasn't about to give in; not this time.

"Move," he said, gesturing with his hand.

Thirteen simply gave him a hateful glare while continuing to guard the door to her bedroom.

"Move!" he shouted.

When she gave no indication of moving, Chase grabbed her by the shoulders—I'll just move you myself.

Chase had stupidly thought that all he'd need to do was move her out of the way; however, he should have known, given her previous display of stubbornness, that she would not give up Darrien without a fight—literally.

As soon as Thirteen regained her balance from being forced to move, she began attacking him. It seemed as though she was attempting to punch every inch of Chase she could reach.

With a hard blow to the side of his face, Chase lost his balance and began to fall. Luckily for him, there was the half-wall separating them from the dining area he was able to grab a hold of to steady himself. If the situation weren't so serious, Chase would have been impressed with the strength of her left-handed punch, but the situation was serious. He was angry with the lengths she was willing to go to in order to stop him. They were supposed to be on the same side.

Quickly, he stood up and turned to face Thirteen who was still behind him. I bet she's hoping I'd stay down and give in. Probably realizing he was not going to give up as easily as she had expected, she resumed her actions.

Blocking another blow, Chase grabbed her arm with one hand and her neck with the other. The move caught her by surprise and she was left struggling to defend herself; she began to choke from the strength of his hold.

Mustering up all the strength he could manage, Chase shoved her away from him.

Thirteen hit the ground—hard.

Shit!

Chase was completely in shock of his actions; he had not meant to hurt her so badly. It took a few seconds of staring at her for him to regain his composure.

When a defeated Thirteen twisted to face him, Chase finally spoke.

"She's going to the hospital," he stated simply, leaving Thirteen on the floor. When this mess was over and dealt with he would make amends.

I sincerely apologize for the long delay between updates.

I have a variety of small excuses none of which caused much delay. The truth is I just didn't have the will to write; my interests were centered on reading. However, I do have two new chapters to post, so I hope that helps to somewhat make amends.

Thanks for reading!