I was moving. Steadily. Like the rocking of a ship. But I wasn't walking.

Semi-consciously, I came to, realizing Wash was carrying me.

"What the hell is going on here?" I heard an urgent voice yell. It was Church. "What's wrong with Eleven?"

"Ells!" Tucker's frightened voice rang through. "What happened?"

"I'll explain everything once we get inside," Wash said. He sounded tired and hoarse. "We need to lay her down."

The Blues ushered us inside. Wash rested me on the couch, and, though I could hear them clearly, I didn't have enough strength to face them. I didn't want to think about what had just happened. I simply let my eyes rest and listened to their conversation.

"What is this, you asshole?" Tucker demanded. "What did you do to her?"

"It was an accident!" Wash retorted forcefully. "I didn't mean for anything to happen!"

Church cut off Tucker's angry reply sternly. "What the hell happened, Wash? Tell us."

Wash sighed heavily, sitting down on the ground beside the couch where I lay.

"This morning, I woke up to a weird noise and saw a trail of burnt grass outside my window," Wash said tonelessly. "I went to investigate, but Eleven heard me and wanted to come. When we went scouting in the woods, Meta snuck up on us and captured her. The AIs—all inside Meta's armor—needed a new host, and since they couldn't have Tex, O'Malley wanted me instead." Wash paused and gulped loudly. "Since Epsilon had been in my head before, he could go in again without any help at all. So he did and—and—he tortured me. All the memories again. They all came back." Wash took a shuddering breath before he continued.

"O'Malley said that the only way to get rid of the pain would be for me to allow him in my mind instead. So… so I did. I didn't have a choice. The pain. You don't understand. Once O'Malley was inside me, he ordered me to—to—" Wash's voice broke. "He wanted me to kill all of you… starting with her. But worse… he wanted me to… to hurt her beforehand. Oh, God!" He howled. "If Tex hadn't shown up, I don't know what I would have—"

"What?" Church interrupted, falling over to the ground with a loud thud. "T—Tex?"

"She's not dead," Wash said slowly to Church's squeak of disbelief. "She showed herself when we were in the woods and the second O'Malley saw she had her radio on, he left me and used her instead. They ran off together with Meta and the rest of the AIs."

Church made a small gargling sound of shock. "You—you're sure it was her? You're positive?"

"Church, we were in Project Freelancer together. I know when it's her, and that was definitely her."

Church was silent for a moment. "We have to find her. We need to go now."

"What, and leave Eleven alone here with her ribs all screwed up?" Wash scowled.

"Her ribs!" Tucker yelped. "You didn't say her ribs were hurt again!"

"Yeah, well, surprise," Wash replied, irritated. "Meta beat her up some before I could stop him. We need to take care of her first before we do anything about the other AIs, Meta, or Tex. You have to agree with that, Church."

Church said nothing, but I imagined he didn't exactly have the ability to speak at the moment. He probably nodded his head.

"Good," Wash continued. "Come on, let's get this armor off. We need to check for fractures."

Oh, shit, I thought. I wanted to show the guys that I wasn't unconscious—I wanted to "wake up"—but they weren't stupid. They'd know that I had been eavesdropping. So… I had no choice but to let them take care of me.

"Church, we need some painkiller. Do you have any in the first-aid kit?"

"Yeah," Church croaked, getting up and exiting the room. I had a feeling he wouldn't come back for a bit. He sounded on the verge of insanity… he probably needed some time to himself.

That left Tucker and Wash alone together as they began removing the top half of my armor.

Great.

"How did you know that Eleven had broken her ribs before?" Wash asked the aqua soldier distrustfully. I opened my eyes just a fraction to watch the communication between them.

"It looks like her ribs are completely trashed on the right side. It's kind of hard to miss, dude."

Wash frowned. "So she's had her armor off around you?"

Tucker stared back defiantly. "…Yeah. She has."

God damn it. Wash's hand twitched angrily as he discreetly shoved Tucker's hand away to remove himself the black under-armor layer I wore. Tucker noticed this and flashed a glare at Wash.

Wash ignored that look as he finished removing the black under-armor and lifted up my tank top gently just enough to show the skin covering my ribs. Tucker inhaled sharply and Wash frowned.

"Are—are they broken again?" Tucker asked.

Wash ran a finger over the ribs. I lay still as pain shot through my torso, but this was mere discomfort compared to the last time…

"No," Wash replied, his voice strained. A vein was throbbing in his neck as he gazed down at the ribs, and I resisted clenching my fists into tight balls. "The purple skin… those are just bruises. The ribs themselves didn't crack again." He ran his fingers lightly over my skin again. "We should be glad that a pneumothorax hasn't formed."

"Uh… what?"

Wash seemed to be enjoying Tucker's lack of medical knowledge. "It's when air gets trapped under the skin and squishes the lung. If that had happened around the bruised areas, we'd see her skin forming these crackly bubbles."

Tucker frowned. "How do you know so much about rib injuries?"

Wash didn't answer.

"Church needs to get back here with those meds," Wash said instead. "We have to give them to Ells or she'll be in a shitload of pain when she wakes up."

"Don't call her that," Tucker scowled. "She hates that nickname."

"You call her that all the damn time!" Wash shot back. "Why shouldn't I?"

"Because—Because—" Tucker spluttered. "I made it up!"

"You are so ignorant!" the gray soldier spat. "Do you know anything about her at all? I'm the one who started calling her 'Ells.' She worked on Project Freelancer, did you know that?"

Tucker was silent. "What?"

"She was one of the people overseeing the project!" Wash said, his voice rising angrily. "That's how we met. How we started dating. Our relationship ended so terribly, it's no wonder she hates the nickname now! God, you're a complete idiot!"

"You aren't right for her!" Tucker exploded. "You're a damn basket case. She said how much of a drinking problem you have. You're insane!"

Wash snarled and grabbed Tucker's collar aggressively. "I am not insane!"

Tucker didn't back down, though he did resist against Wash's grasp. "Yes you are! You don't deserve her!"

Wash's grip tightened and he leaned forward, inches from the aqua soldier's face, his eyes bright with fury.

"You have no idea what I've been through," Wash said quietly, his voice dangerously low. "You don't know a damn thing."

"I know for damn sure that she doesn't want you anymore!"

Wash let out a noise of rage and raised his fist to punch Tucker.

"What the hell is going on here?"

Church had just walked in holding the medicine. What a sight he was seeing—Tucker and Wash about to attack each other as I lay, still seemingly unconscious, on the couch with my tank top halfway pulled up.

Wash narrowed his eyes and shoved Tucker away. The two soldiers still stared at each other, seething.

Church was quiet as he walked by the two angry soldiers. He kneeled beside me and stuck a syringe in my arm, transferring the pain medication to my bloodstream.

"It's a miracle she didn't wake up with you two acting like idiots," Church muttered. He seemed to have regained his composure, but the medicine was making me drowsy. "You guys are making complete cockbites out of yourselves…"

Church's voice seemed far away. I was having trouble concentrating on how Tucker and Wash were responding… their words all seemed jumbled together...

…That was it. I couldn't concentrate any longer on their quarrels. I felt my mind slipping away and darkness enveloped me once more.

( I suddenly have a terrible urge to start making "Team Tucker" and "Team Wash" t-shirts… )