33

The world was dark as Quinn struggled to regain conscience. She slowly managed to open one eye and then the other, though as soon as they were open she quickly closed them. The room she had awoken in was stark white, all the glass and instruments silver and gleaming. She winced at the brightness and welcomed the darkness behind her eyelids. A hand brushed hers and she forced herself to open an eye.

Mark sat on the side of her bed, not looking at her, his hand lay resting right beside hers. She gently brushed a finger over the top of his hand and she saw him close his eyes. "Hey," she said quietly. He still didn't look at her. She tried to sit up but felt something constrict around her midsection and chest at the movement. Her whole body stiffened as she fully opened both her eyes, despite their protesting. A silver strap was laid across her stomach and just under her chest, as well as a strap tied around either of her ankles.

"What the hell-"

"They didn't want you hurting yourself if you threw a fit when you woke up." She looked at Mark, knowing that this would probably one of the only times he'd speak for the next couple hours. "How you feeling?" she asked. He shrugged, still not looking at her. "You're not hurt right?" He shook his head and ran a hand through his dark hair. He squeezed her hand and she nodded.

He fell silent and remained such for a couple minutes, so Quinn took her time to examine the room she was in. It was a simple room, though not simply furnished. It seemed to be a hospital room, but at least twice the size. Three other beds like hers sat to her left while glass cabinets filled with tools and bottles and cases rested against the opposite wall. A door sat at the foot of Quinn's bed. She sighed and rested her head back against her pillow, closing her eyes again. There wasn't any use for keeping them open, and no point in talking since she knew Mark wasn't going to.

There was silence for a long time, Quinn even managed to drift in and out of sleep a couple times, but then she heard raised voices coming down the hall. "Come on Caim I was fine!" Quinn sighed as the sudden noise blasted into her eardrums. Even though her headache was now gone her head still hurt a little.

"They didn't need to have you involved-"

"I volunteered." Everything was silent again before Quinn heard the door open. "Hey Mark," Kitchie greeted. Mark didn't reply. Quinn felt the end of her bed shift and assumed that Kitchie had sat down. The other pair of footsteps, Caim's she guessed, stopped by the end of her bed as well. "Is she awake? The Professor wants to talk to her, Wolverine too, but personally I want to get her out of here and outside. What you do think? We were going to go out anyway so let's just break her out and get going. We can take the bus from the stop at the end of the road so no one will notice we're gone."

"Even if we take the bus they'll notice," Caim said quietly. Kitchie sighed loudly. "Geez Caim you're such a downer sometimes. Let's just undo these straps and get going."Quinn felt a tug around her ankles. "And her IV?" Caim's words made Quinn's eyes flash open and dart to the side, looking for the hanging bags. There were two hanging beside Mark, their needles resting in the arm with the hand that Mark was holding. "Hey Quinn!" Kitchie cheered.

Quinn looked at him and wasn't surprised at the huge grin. "Ready to go?" Her gaze switched from him to Caim, who was holding an ice pack to the side of his head. Quinn let out a nervous laugh. "The ice looks good on you," she commented. "It matches your mood." Caim blinked once, his expression turning from slight annoyance to blank. Kitchie laughed. "He told me how you hit him." He laughed again and looked up at Caim. "But you're fine, right?" A little bit of nervousness crept into his voice at the end and Quinn saw something break in Caim's eyes, releasing some warmth. He nodded and smiled slightly. "Yeah, I'm fine." He looked at Quinn. "I have to congratulate you on the whole thing, you did really well."

Quinn smirked. "You sound surprised." Caim rolled his eyes and Kitchie managed to release Quinn's ankles. He scooted up a little bit on the bed and started on the strap around Quinn's stomach. "I can get that," she told him, but he ignored her and she sighed. "Kitchie?" Out of the corner of her eye she saw Caim shake his head and mouth: "Let him help, he hates feeling useless." She didn't know what to say in reply. "How you doing Mark?" Kitchie asked, undoing the buckle. He looked at the other male but Mark once again didn't acknowledge him. "Just leave him alone, he'll be fine," Quinn answered, fumbling with the strap around her chest. She didn't want to take her hand out of Mark's while he was like this. After a couple seconds with Kitchie and Caim watching her with confused looks she undid the strap and sat up. "Alright, let's head out."

As she moved to get up Mark's hand tightened on hers. "You're not going..."

Quinn looked at her friend, who was still not looking at her. "You nearly killed yourself, those IVs are helping you. I'm not going to administer you to a hospital because you're careless." Quinn stared at him. "What are you talking about?"

"You were dehydrated and malnourished. You've been on an IV for two hours. It's something, but you shouldn't be off of it so soon."

"Malnourished and dehydrated?" Quinn paused. "I'll eat, I'll drink. There we go problem solved." She went to pull the tape off her arm so she could pull out the needles. Mark grabbed her wrist before she could. "Please Mark?"Kitchie asked. "She'll be fine with us we promise. We'll look after her, you don't need to worry. You see the way Caim's overprotective of me, he'll do the same for her." Quinn looked up at Caim, attempting to stifle a laugh, and he shrugged one shoulder. "She'll be fine," Caim agreed. Mark looked at Quinn who returned his gaze. "And really Mark, are you seriously going to be able to stop me from going? Both you and I know you won't be able to." He narrowed his eyes and let go of her hand.

"Fine," he mumbled, standing up and wrapping his arms around himself. Quinn bit her lip. "Come with us," she said. He shook his head. Quinn stood up. "Please?" She stared at him until he glanced at her. "Why?"

"Because I don't want to leave you here, not like this. I may be a bitch and rude and sometimes self centered, but I'm also your friend and I know when you're not ok. You're not ok. I'm not leaving you alone when you're not ok. So you're coming with us and that's final." She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out the door while Kitchie and Caim followed behind, both smiling slightly.

AN: I know it's much longer than usual and I apologize but I needed to cram all this into one chapter. The next chapter they'll actually be out doing something and there will be explanations.

Thanks for reading!