A/N: I do not own Young Justice
"Conner," I jolted awake. Cold sweat slicked my palms, my temples, the back of my legs. I shuddered. He'd been there when I'd fallen asleep, holding my hand as I nodded off for what felt like the first time in days. Now, he was gone, again. Come on Megan; what did I expect? That he would sit with me all night to watch me sleep? Like he used to…
Of course not… maybe. Yes; no. I don't know. But the way I frowned when I woke up and he wasn't there made me realize that part of me was at least hoping for it. Don't be stupid… I shouldn't be that way—not with La'Gaan laying in the med bay. But neither of us was fooling anyone. I wasn't even fooling myself. Not completely, anyway.
I care about La'Gaan. I do. I sighed to the empty ceiling. My life is with him now. Wasn't it?
I rolled up to a sitting position. Of course, Conner had moved me from that cranky plastic chair to one of the vacant hospital beds. He was thoughtful, that way.
"You're awake."
I jumped, nearly crashing from the bed. Conner frowned at me- I'm not sure if it was because he scared me or because he thought I should still be asleep.
"I couldn't sleep forever." I said, composing myself.
He still frowned at me. We were awkward- awkward and angry and hurt, on both sides; I wouldn't deny him his share of that. There was no way around any of it. My trying to find one just made things worse.
"I-" He looked from me to the small round plate in his hand. "You haven't left here a lot. I thought you could use a- breakfast."
A wry smile snuck up on my face. It was the longest statement he made to me in a long time, and it wasn't entirely coherent. "Thank you." I said, gingerly taking the plate from his hand. Toast- a little burned, with butter and black berry jam. Suddenly I couldn't remember the last time I was so hungry. It crunched in my ears between the silence.
He slumped, like he didn't know what to do.
"Do you," his blue eyes hovered around the room, on anything but me. "Need anything?"
"No," I said, a little bit too quickly. He nodded, and I realized I didn't want him to go- not yet. "Some company?" I hadn't asked for his company in ages. I glanced at my fingernails, away from him, in case he said no.
Instead, he sat down in the chair. I could tell, by the look on his face, the way his shoulders caved forward just slightly, the cautious tinge in his eyes- he wasn't there to change anything: he was there because he felt sorry for me; because he felt like he owed it to me, to what we were, to grant me my request.
At the moment, I didn't care.
"You two aren't having any interesting conversations?"
"That's not funny," I said, but the smile threatening the corner of my lips didn't make it too convincing. I missed his sarcasm. For a second, he almost smiled too- well, at least he wasn't frowning or scowling. This might be the most normal moment we've had in months. I couldn't remember the last time we weren't glaring at each other, or I wasn't crying like a basket case. I savored it- like I might not ever have had it again- because that was a real possibility. When did this get so complicated?
"He's not so bad." I said. My arms wrapped around my knees.
Conner looked from me, to La'Gaan, and back to me, then shrugged. "I would hope not."
I couldn't ask what he had against him. It was a stupid question.
Then it was quiet again, and we avoided eye contact, as usual—or, what had become usual.
"You know what I don't understand," he said, leaning forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
"What?" I said, cautiously.
"You've got all this power, and you don't really limit yourself with rules anymore-"
It stung. What was worse was that I couldn't argue with him.
"Couldn't you just wake him up?"
I'd upset her. She didn't even bother to cover it up with some denial defense that she knew I wouldn't believe. Her shoulders dropped. She looked straight at me, with hurt amber eyes.
She rubbed her jaw, clutching the top of her neck, like she was thinking about what to say. Her mouth opened, then shut. She just shook her head. "I can't."
My eyes narrowed. "Can't or won't?"
"Both." She said, stronger this time, before softening again. Her shoulders fell back and a blank look came over her face. "It's complicated."
I just shook my head. I didn't understand her, not anymore. She'd dismembered enemy psyches without even thinking about it. But now that a teammate, her own boyfriend, needed saving, she wouldn't do anything. Four years ago that might have been typical, for her to be afraid of herself. But now- I just didn't understand.
"You never even liked him," she said- not accusingly. Just a statement.
"I didn't say that."
"You didn't have to."
"Was I supposed to roll the welcome mat out for my replacement?" I snapped. Of course, I was the first to raise my voice- even if it wasn't by much. She wasn't a yeller- not even when we had argued, not even now.
There it was again- that look she had, like I had just struck her. "Megan," I rubbed my hands over my face. You would think by now I would know how to speak to her. We couldn't talk to each other anymore.
She raised a hand to me. "You don't need to explain."
So I didn't. I didn't want to argue with her. We'd done enough of that.
"Why did you come down here?" She said, after a short mutual silence.
"You know why." We both did. I stood up to leave. Can we really stay this way? Friends, teammates, confidants- I don't know; whatever this was. This was driving me insane. But I'd be back. I knew I would.
A/N: There it is. There should be an actual plot developing at some point- slowly but surely or whatever. Thanks for reading. Please review.