Darien twitched and opened his eyes, gazing blindly about at a total loss as to where the hell he was. Plain white walls, dim lighting, ugly hospital bed... Leavitt, he realized. He turned to look at Alyx, his neck protesting thanks to the position he'd fallen asleep in, head thrown back against chair, probably snoring at the ceiling, which Alyx would have found highly amusing and been certain to regale him with stories of at a later date. Wondering what had woken him up, he looked about the room, but everything appeared to be the same as when he'd zoned out some - he checked his watch - three hours ago. Serious power nap that was, but he had been quite tired by that point given the long work day followed by the stress of Alyx and her sudden need of emergency surgery. Oh, it had just been a roller coaster ride of Superman proportions. Three hours was the minimum for him to be in anything vaguely like useful, he could probably use a dozen more before actually coming close to feeling human again. Three would have to do, as it was a fair bet Bobby would have info ready to run down, either at the hospital or from the police reports. Someone, somewhere knew something and they would find it, no matter what it took.
With a soft groan, he stood and stretched, his lower back protesting, reminding him that a bed, preferably a soft one, was its preferred spot for enjoying unconsciousness. Yawning while scratching his stomach, he felt a definite need for caffeine and food. He'd missed both breakfast and lunch today, and what with one thing or another just hadn't taken the time to refuel. Maybe Claire could arrange for some grub if he asked nicely, somehow he didn't think the local pizza joint would be allowed to deliver here, even if they did have security clearance. He could, he supposed, make his way to that cafeteria he'd never found earlier, but his need to be here when Alyx awoke, to verify in person that she really and truly was all right, overrode any need of his. His hunger was a minor concern compared to what she was stuck dealing with.
Part of him hoped that when she awoke, her memory would have returned, that way they could deal with it and get it over with, the rest, however, hoped she never would. After all the shit she'd had to deal with in her life, the last thing he would wish on her was another round of degradation. He could only imagine how he would feel in her place. Not that he was clueless, but what he'd dealt with in prison had been at least somewhat willing on his part: that deal with the devil so to speak. He'd never been forced to do anything, really, and he'd come out relatively whole in heart and mind, his soul blackened long before he'd done that first hard time. Being held down and raped was not a trauma he'd ever suffered. Alyx was strong and stubborn as hell and with their help would get past this with a minimum of problems... hopefully. Even the strongest break eventually, he would just have to make certain it wasn't today. Or anytime in his lifetime. He liked Alyx just the way she was and wouldn't... okay, so maybe there were a few things that, while not change, per se, he wanted to know more about before voicing his opinion on them. He understood the need for a kind of limbo in their relationship status, understood as much as he could anyway her need to give him the out by refusing to get engaged, never mind married. While not particularly happy about it, given the choice of walking away, he'd take limbo any day of the week and three times on Sunday's should they happen to both have the day off.
Ah, who was he kidding, the chances of him walking away from her were nonexistent. He could no longer imagine a life without her, and there were days that fact frightened him. His life had become so tangled up with hers that he occasionally wondered what he had done, why he'd compromised his life for hers. Of course, he'd realized he hadn't compromised, not really, just expanded his world view to encompass more than his personal self-serving wants and needs. Coming to the Agency and being forced to grow up in a hurry had started the process, meeting Alyx had solidified it, and over those long months a new Darien Fawkes had been born. One who wanted those people who had stolen his life away to respect him and like him and want to be his friend. And by some miracle, that is exactly what happened. The Official might bitch and moan that none of them were as loyal to the job as they were to each other, which was true enough for what it was worth, but the Fat Man also knew that so long as one of them stayed, they all would. That made the Fat Man a mostly happy man. They did the job and did it well, even if it always wasn't with the preferred team spirit. Charlie Borden, just like himself, had adapted and learned to live with the new situation.
He never thought he'd be the kind to want to settle down with one woman, do the whole get married, and have kids thing. Guess you never know until you meet the right woman. He might have spent the rest of his life alone, his only dalliances those with random strangers, if that, given the gland, but instead, through what must have been one of the universes strangest coincidences, he got to meet the girl of his dreams not once, but twice, and on that second meeting get to keep her. What were the chances of that?
He walked back over to the bed, trailed his fingers along her arm, and curled his fingers about hers. He was tempted to drop the side rail and snuggle up next to her, she probably wouldn't mind, and he found himself wanting the close contact. Wanted to up close and personally verify she was indeed all right. So he was surprised when her fingers tightened about his. Although Claire had said Alyx would be in and out of consciousness she'd been out, at least as far as he knew, the entire time. He'd lasted about an hour before falling asleep and she'd not woken during that time.
"Hey there, sleepyhead."
She dragged his fingers up to her lips and kissed them. "Hey, bub," she growled, her voice sounding like she had a dump truck of gravel poured down her throat. She cleared her throat and winced. "Ow."
"Sore throat?"
She nodded. "Stupid intubation does it every time."
He fumbled about for the cheap plastic cup with straw and helped her hold it with her right hand, the cast restricting her gripping ability. She nodded after taking several swallows of the surely tepid liquid. "Better?"
"Yeah," she answered, gazing up at him with eyes dulled to pewter by pain and medication. "You okay?"
"Me? I'm fine." He looked her over, taking note of every bump, bruise, and scrape visible. Her bruised cheek had blossomed in full, the eye partially swollen shut, and distorting the smooth lines of her face. Her left wrist had dark purple bruises surrounding it, the imprints of fingers all the way up her forearm, both upper arms sported bruising that looked just as nasty. Claire hadn't been kidding about her being held violently. The blow to her head must have been a solid one if it had allowed her attackers to get any hand on her. She must have fought like a hellcat to get away and had simply been outnumbered, especially if her powers had been scrambled, which he was betting had occurred, else they never would have gotten near her. Bobby was right, to have managed this they would have had to know about her and what she could do. "Got room in there for me?"
"Yes, please," she answered, her voice a tiny thing.
He dropped the side rail and moving cautiously, they juggled positions until she was lying back on him, her head and upper body supported on his chest and none of the assorted IV lines or wires tangled in any way. An impressive accomplishment given how she'd been wired up. "How're you feeling?" he asked; arms wrapped carefully about her. He could just feel the bandages along her left side under the ghastly hospital gown she wore.
"I hurt, D. Everywhere, and could use a good dose of morphine about now. What'd they do to me?" The pain in her voice was living thing and he only wished he could do more for her. He knew the one box next to the bed was feeding pain meds into her, but clearly they weren't enough and for Alyx to say she was in pain she must hurt indeed.
"You were bleeding internally. Claire said they removed something from your spleen, which you still have, by the way."
"Yippee," she cheered in false enthusiasm.
"You also have some cracked ribs, along with bumps bruises and scrapes over most of your body. Oh, plus those other nifty injuries you knew about before coming home yesterday," he told her, trying valiantly to put humor into his voice.
"Ah, that would explain my inability to take a deep breath. Pressure bandage. I'm guessing I'm stuck here for the duration." She sighed heavily, disliking hospitals even more than Darien did.
"For a couple days at least, I'd guess. The Keep might move you back to the Agency for a while depending on how you're healing." He truly was guessing. He had no idea what Claire had planned when it came to caring for Alyx in her current condition. Considering she'd been sent home with a concussion - not a big deal, really - she might be sent home tomorrow if she healed at even close to her normal rate. Claire wouldn't want the Leavitt docs to become curious as to why their patient was having her stitches removed just three days after having been cut open. It wouldn't be the first time after all. He hoped the surgeon had done a good job stitching her up; she didn't really need another scar to add to her burgeoning collection. Not that she seemed to care; the scars were just physical reminders of incidents she could never erase from her memory anyway. Maybe she'd luck out this time and the physical reminder is all she would have. He doubted the memory from this attack would be a particularly good one.
"Stop brooding," she grouched. "I'll be fine."
She might be in pain and drugged to the gills, but she obviously could still pick up what was going on his head. "Can't help it, sweets, you scared me good."
She lifted a hand and waved it about. "Gotta keep you on your toes somehow. Don't want you to get all comfortable with our current arrangement."
Their current arrangement was nothing to write home about, as they still didn't share one. Alyx still spent more time loaned out to other agencies than she did at home in San Diego. Plus when in town, the Official couldn't exactly allow her time off, and worked her just as much as she could take. She had gotten to the point she would point blank tell them she needed a break before the meltdown occurred, and the bossman had learned to listen, though there had been times he'd been forced by circumstance to work her anyway, but these days he explained to her why, which made her much more amenable to the jobs. Typically out of guilt, in Darien's opinion. Play Alyx just right and she'd cave every time, and the 'Fish knew how to play all of them. Knew just the right heart strings to pluck to get the most out of them, especially when they were at their most reluctant. What that added up to was, on average, ten nights together in the same bed out of every thirty, with maybe another five or six, random afternoons or evenings with a couple hours together. Not exactly outstanding for a long-term relationship, but somehow they managed. Darien got the whole distance makes the heart grow fonder thing as their reunions were occasionally the stuff of legends, but that made the actual separations no easier.
So, her snark about keeping him on his toes was nothing more than her hand waving his sideways glance at his feelings for her. She knew he cared, she had no choice in that given that permanent mental link she had with him, but hearing it spoken aloud seemed to frighten her more than facing down a dozen gunmen all wanting to see her very dead. Bullets were easy, feelings, hers for him, were damn hard. He'd learned to live with it, but often wished she hadn't drawn that line in the sand, the one he was terrified to cross for fear of chasing her away. So he, like a good gambler, let it ride, hoping for the big payoff while settling for the little ones.
Alyx smacked his arm. "You're doing it again."
He chuckled softly and kissed the top of her head. "Sorry. This is going ruin my weekend plans," he mock groused. Not that there hadn't been plotting and planning that was now ruined, 'cause there had been and it now was, ruined that is, but he had to mentally change tracks to keep her from figuring out what was going on. One thing would inevitably lead to another if he wasn't damn careful and then the truth would be out and he'd have one hysterical and injured Alyx and that was never a good thing.
Right now, he would exercise his male right to protect the damsel in distress and revel in it. Hobbes calling Alyx Princess after one Princess Leia was eerily apropos. Both women strong and more than willing to fight for themselves, and finding partner who would allow them to do so. Support without suffocation. A hard thing to manage for even a borderline traditional male. Darien had been raised to hold open doors for ladies, to escort them with a hand on an arm, the whole nine yards thanks to his Aunt Celia and it was a hard habit to break. Casey had loved all that stuff, a true romantic in every sense of the word, yet still a damn strong woman who didn't require a man in her life to get by. Alyx... well she had never been the flowers and chocolate kind, like Casey had, and given their violent introduction - Alyx coming out on top - romance hadn't even been a real option. Did Alyx play the game? Oh hell yeah, could flirt the pants off just about anything, could be one of the guys and tell a bawdy joke with a straight face and laugh at them when told. She was a tom boy through and through, and Darien loved it. It was outrageously fun watching her flirt her way through a game of nine ball and beat her male competition without them realizing it. She smoked cigars, played poker and drank her whiskey (and tequila) straight, liked action movies and watched Die Hard every year at Christmas. Exactly the kind of woman Darien had stayed away from in high school and those couple of years in college. Now he couldn't imagine going anywhere else. He'd preferred those softer female types who liked sweet nothings whispered in their ears and playful persuasion to get them into bed. Even Casey had been one of those, though her personality had been a bit stronger than his usual. She'd been the mothering type, kinda went with the job and all, and Darien had reveled in it. Let her set the pace and persuade him into every step forward in their relationship. He'd even considered giving up his career, his real one and not the one she thought he did, for her. Yeah, he'd loved her, been hurt badly when she'd left, but had survived and learned a thing or two about women in particular and life in general.
"Plans?' Alyx asked, a tired curiosity in her tone.
"Yep, all going to waste with you stuck in here." He made an effort to sound entirely put upon and upset about the whole thing, but she didn't buy it for a second.
"Mook, we'd've been lucky if I was still in town," she pointed out, words decidedly slurred, as if her mouth wasn't in the mood to form the words her brain sent.
"You okay?" he asked sudden worry making his stomach roil in discomfort.
"Uh huh. Just a bit light headed... or something," her voice faded as she spoke, her right hand coming up to rub her forehead, the wash of confusion coming off her cranked his concern up yet another notch. "Now, what were you thinking so hard about this time?"
Oh, what a question. And oh, how to answer it. Perhaps the truth? "Uh, Casey. My ex."
She twitched. "Casey? Why?"
This was going to be a fun one to explain. "She was the ER doc who took care of you."
"Oh... Oh." Not the most witty repartee ever, but pretty much covering the whole mess. "My brain must've been really scrambled to not realize Dr. O'Claire was your Casey."
"I'd say scrambled was an understatement, babe." He hugged her tighter for an instant, wanting to hold on for much longer, but afraid he'd hurt her.
"I won't break, Dare," she said softly, titling her head to catch his face in the corner of her eye, then winced. "Urf, found the goose egg."
Gently he shifted her head until no longer putting pressure on the bruise. "You don't call this broken?" he asked her only partly facetiously. She sure as hell looked broken to him.
"Nah. Just banged up a bit."
On those words the door swung opened and Claire entered followed by Hobbes, each had files in their hands and she frowned the instant she locked eyes on him in the bed where he knew he shouldn't be. "You're both awake, good."
"We got questions, kid, and only you have the answers," Bobby stated seeming unsurprised to find Darien curled up with Alyx.
"No tag teaming, I'm having enough trouble focusing," Alyx grumbled at them, making Darien laugh softly.
"She's a bit fuzzy, but mostly coherent," he told them, easing the worry lines that had appeared on Claire's forehead. "Though she has mentioned the current level of pain meds isn't doing much."
Claire nodded and walked over to the IV line and made some adjustments to the drip speed. "You're adapting, as usual. I'll have the new version brought over by Kat later today. You'll just have to manage until then."
Alyx grunted in agreement. "Sometimes being me sucks. So who wants to go first?"
"I do," Claire got out before Bobby could even open his mouth. "Doctor's privilege. Aren't you uncomfortable?" she asked, as she drew the stethoscope from around her neck.
Alyx shook her head. "Nope, he's just what I needed."
Darien smiled to himself, a happy little sigh escaping. He liked being needed and her actually admitting it out loud where other humans could hear it.
Hobbes snorted. "Too bony for my taste."
Darien opened his mouth to say something, but Claire held up her hand. "No, we are not going there today. Imagine how Alyx would feel should you make her start laughing."
Darien could, knowing it would hurt like hell given the cracked ribs and hastily stitched together hole in her side, but even with that, he was tempted. "I'll behave, but we'll revisit this conversation someday and I ain't holding back then."
"Agreed. Now hush so I can examine her." Claire slid the diaphragm under the hospital gown to listen to Alyx's heart. "Sit up, please."
With Darien's assistance and some poorly swallowed groans of serious pain, Alyx sat up. Claire listened to Alyx's lungs, having her take in the deepest breaths she could manage with the bandages holding her ribs in place. After all this time only Bobby still played shy, and averted his eyes, as Claire shifted the gown aside to carefully move the bandage and examine the surgical scar. "Very good, you're healing as well as ever. I want you to remain here overnight and if you are doing as well as you usually are, we'll move you to Lab Two at the Agency tomorrow afternoon."
"Why not sooner?" Darien asked. His guess had been correct, but was curious as to the Keeper's logic.
"In the event something happens, such as an unexpected bleeder, I'd rather she... you were closer to a surgical team. We'll do an MRI tomorrow..."
Alyx groaned, carefully lying back down on Darien.
"You'll be out for it, I promise," Claire assured her, "and we'll go from there."
Alyx hated MRIs. The magnetic field generated by the machine totally screwed up and interfered with her energy ability, usually resulting in pain. They worked, and could take nifty pictures of Alyx on the inside, but she rarely went into one willingly.
"All right," Alyx agreed, "If it'll get me outta here that much sooner, I'll do it. Now what's up, Bobby? You have that bad news look on your face."
Bobby gave her a grim smile. "Ain't got much else, kid, unless you've started remembering..." he left the statement hanging, clearly hoping she'd fill in the blanks for him.
"I..." She tipped her head to the side, a clear sign she was digging through her memories for what had happened. Darien torn about how he wanted this to end. "No, damn it."
"What do you remember?" Darien asked, hands running lightly up and down her arms. "Don't push, just the clear bits." He met Claire's worried gaze, with his own. The good Keeper was just as concerned as he about Alyx suddenly regaining her memory.
Alyx grasped Darien's hand, entwining their fingers as much as able with the cast in the way. "I was having lunch with Lenny. Which I'm sure y'all figured out."
The higher dose of drugs had clearly kicked in as she usually tried not to let her adopted southern accent make an appearance. It usually showed up when she was very tired or heavily medicated. Now Lenny was an unusual situation in Hobbes' opinion. Leonardo Facinelli, a local mobster who had stepped into the vacuum left by the arrest of Johnny "Books" Castagnacci. An arrest made by the Agency when good ol' Liz Morgan had come storming back into his life. Lenny and Alyx had crossed paths on a job about eight months ago and they had come to a mutually beneficial arrangement. For a mobster he was an okay guy, running it like a business and staying out of some of the nastier corners, no drugs, no gun running - though his people were definitely equipped with top of the line weaponry - no pimps or human trafficking. Nope, he stayed with the tried and true extortion, protection rackets, and bookmaking. Yeah, there was plenty of money laundering going on, but he kept his nose clean and did his best to not draw the Feds attention. He and Alyx were very useful to each other. He had what looked like a Fed on his payroll and she had what looked like a mobster on hers. Both statements were accurate to a point, but only to a point. They got together about once a month for lunch and to trade info.
"You go in the VIP entrance?" Bobby may not strictly approve of the relationship, but he knew how damn useful it was, so only kept a watchful eye on the situation and gave advice when he felt it was warranted.
"A'course. Private parking lot and all. Same ol', same ol'. Meeting went fine. Had the Eggplant Parmesan. Lovely red wine. Left a couple hours later." She gave Darien's fingers a squeeze. "I remember walking out the back door heading for my car then... then..."
"It's all right, Alyx. Don't try to force it." Claire was at her side, fingers on Alyx's wrist as if checking her pulse, which wasn't needed as the quiet beeping of the heart monitor hadn't changed at all.
"All I can remember is a sharp pain in my side then... nothing until the emergency room." Alyx shifted, trying to sit up and Claire supported her as she did so. "I've this weird... echo is the only thing I can think of." She twisted cautiously to look at Darien. "I think it's from the blow to the head, but there's no faces, no voices, just a blank screen."
"S'okay, baby. It'll come back eventually." He regretted the words almost as soon as they had escaped past his lips.
"Kid, is there anything else you remember. Anyone you saw walking into Lenny's, not necessarily his people. It's looking like this was planned, so they had to be nearby." Bobby had this earnest yet worried look on his face and Darien was betting he held in his hand the police reports. There was a reason he was leading Alyx down this particular path, but Darien could only wonder why.
"Uh... maybe?" She shifted and Darien set a gentle hand on her back, the gown partially open and permitting him to see the multicolored bruises and scrapes on her back above the pressure bandage holding her insides together. A reminder of what had been done to her. For an instant red rage splashed across his senses, wanting to pound the snot out of the few survivors of the attack, but he locked it down before he'd done more than momentarily tense up. Still that flash had been enough for Alyx to pick up and she drunkenly turned about to look at him.
"D? You okay?" She blinked blearily at him, clearly having trouble focusing.
Claire must have caught something on his face. "Up, you. She needs to lie down."
Darien ducked his head. "Yes, Keep." He slid off the bed and back into the chair, leaving the rail down so he could be in contact with her, though if the glare from Claire were any indication he might want to refrain from touching skin on skin as a precaution. Luckily Alyx was so drugged the incoming signals were as fuzzy as she was. So she may have figured out he was upset, but not the details of why. He planned to keep it that way or Claire would boot him out and not allow him to return.
She lay down, the head of the bed raised so that she could see about with ease. "There were some gang-bangers hanging outside of the convenience store. Mom's, I think it's called. It's part of the Kings territory. Family runs the store. Lenny has an uneasy truce with them. They stay on their side of the street, he stays on his." She turned to Darien. "Drink, please."
He assisted her with the cup and straw combo again, setting it back on the rolling table when she signaled she'd had enough. "Anything else?"
She cautiously shook her head. "That's the only thing of significance I can remember. I wasn't followed and there was no one in the alley when I left." She scratched the back of her good hand with the uncoordinated one. "I know it doesn't make any sense, but as far as I can recall there wasn't anyone near me when I was attacked."
Bobby nodded in resignation. "They knew you were coming and planned accordingly. Even you can be tricked, or so Fawkes here says." He hooked a thumb at his partner.
Alyx nodded. "I can, but it takes some serious training. I can't imagine why anyone besides Changeling would go to all the effort. Easier to just shoot me from a distance. I'd never see it coming and be dead before I heard the report."
Scary but true and the risk they ran every day they walked outside. It was little wonder one Bobby Hobbes, secret agent extraordinaire, was so paranoid. "Maybe they didn't want you dead, just... hurt," Darien suggested, knowing it had happened before.
"The SWRB's?" Bobby pondered that for a moment. "Last time they went after you to get to her. I suppose this could have been a grab gone wrong, but it doesn't feel like it." Leaving unsaid the reality of why would they go through the trouble to rape her. The SWRB weren't likely to hire lowlifes who'd decide to go off book on a job. Probably. Who really knew with nut jobs like them.
Just then the door opened and a male nurse walked in, rolling a mayo cart before him. He wore plain blue scrubs and the standard white shoes, but had a crew-cut that screamed military to Darien's eyes. Brown hair, brown eyes, nothing special from what he could see. Alyx, however, apparently had a different opinion, though not one she voiced aloud.
Instead, Alyx froze, her fingers digging into the sheets convulsively. Claire greeted the man, but Darien noted him only peripherally, watching Alyx who had gone still and silent, even as the heart rate monitor proceeded to spike, the lines doubling their speed across the little screen. She watched the man as he walked about the room, made notes on the chart, took her temperature, during which she closed her eyes and swallowed visibly, then swapped out the nearly empty IV bag for a new one. Just regular saline or what have you from what Darien could tell, but necessary fluids for anyone with Alyx's injuries. Claire seemed to find nothing wrong and spoke softly with the man before he left the room. He certainly wasn't the first nurse to stop by and do the routine with Alyx, but her reaction was completely odd. She didn't relax until he had left the room.
Maybe she remembered more than they thought, the nurse had been male after all and the only others he had seen in the room had been female. It made sense. Why wouldn't she be... twitchy around unfamiliar men after what she had been through, even if she had no conscious memory of the incident. Her heart rate slowly returned to normal as he watched, seeming to indicate he was on the right track. Something about that nurse had set her off and there could be only one logical conclusion given what he knew. That didn't bode well for the memory staying buried any longer than necessary and given her unconscious reaction he wasn't looking forward to seeing her conscious one. Oh, this was just getting better and better.
Claire had quite plainly taken note of Alyx's unexpected reaction as well, giving her the once over and double-checking all the various wires and tubes before deciding all was well. "Alyx really needs to rest, so..."
"Going as fast as I can, Keepy," Bobby assured her, but tapping the file in his hand. "Cops said it was one of Lenny's guys, a Carmen Gionetti who found you and called it in."
"If you say so," Alyx told him. "He's a good guy for mob muscle, if that's what you're asking, and, no, I've never had any issues with him."
"Kid, they are mobsters," Bobby reminded her. "His boys might see you as a threat-"
Alyx shook her head then pinched the bridge of her nose, blowing air out slowly. "Sorry, made me dizzy for a sec. Carmen would have beat the crap out of anyone who touched me, just 'cause I'm Lenny's 'pet Fed'."
Even Darien could hear the quotation marks around those last two words. "And take you out if Lenny said to, I'm betting."
Alyx nodded in agreement. "Yes, he would, but he'd do it properly, not rough me up for shits and giggles and fail to finish the job. No, this had nothing to do with Lenny other than happening outside his place," she assured them.
"In his place too," Bobby waved the file. "He owns the building where it went down."
She shrugged as much as her abused body would allow. "And? Maybe someone was hoping to pin the blame on him. I don't know, and until I do, I'll back Lenny and his people one hundred percent."
Hobbes gave her a stiff nod. "I figured. Just needed to find out where you stood."
Alyx sighed, shifting in a clearly vain effort to get more comfortable. "I know, Bobby. Sorry for being snippy, I'm not used to being the victim in one of our... your investigations. I wanna be out there finding the bastards, not playing damsel in distress, y'know?"
Bobby chuckled. "I know, kid, but on this occasion let us handle it. You just work on getting better."
She stuck out her tongue and gave him a pitiful raspberry, not able to drum up enough energy to make a real effort. "This lying around thing sucks."
"But is absolutely necessary," Claire stated in her best no-nonsense doctor tone. "Your only job is to heal, Doctor's and the Official's orders."
Alyx huffed and turned to Darien. "I'm gonna go stir crazy."
"Not a chance, sweet thing. Claire'll dope you up so much all you'll want to do is sleep." Darien set a hand on her arm, getting a head full of exactly how much she needed that sleep right now. "Me'n Hobbes are gonna head out and have a chat with Lenny, and probably check out the scene, see if the cops missed anything. I'll be back later." He glanced over at Claire who nodded. Even she knew Alyx would be calmer and probably heal faster if Darien were nearby, and he would be, every moment he could spare from looking for her attackers.
She raised his hand and kissed the back of it, making him swallow a sigh of pleasure. "All right, I'll behave... for now."
"That's my girl," Darien said around a grin.
"Off with you," Claire waved her file at the door, a clear order to make haste and leave Alyx alone.
"Yes, ma'am." Hobbes ducked his head as Claire mock swung at him and scooted for the door. "C'mon, Fawkes, daylight's a'wasting and we've got things to do."
"Things to be, people to do, Hobbesy. You always get that baskasswards." Alyx chortled then regretted it instantly as her ribs surely complained viciously. "Ow," she squeaked, hand going to her side in response.
Claire shook her head, but the smile gave away her amusement. "That's what you get for not following orders. Just for that I'm going to hunt up some bland and tasteless food for you to eat."
Alyx rolled her eyes and turned to Darien. "Save me?"
He laughed softly. "Later. I'll bring a cheeseburger."
"Woot," she cheered, then sobered. "Be careful, both of you. I got a bad feeling about this."
Bobby looked at Darien who'd said the same thing the night before when Alyx had been brought in. "We'll be fine." He leaned over and kissed her on the forehead then backed away and out the door Bobby held open for him. Kingsley stood outside said door, gun in full view and quite obviously on alert. He wasn't about to let anything happen to Alyx on his watch.