A/N: Holy god, I have neglected this guy. I've got a lot of stuff roughed out, so I really do plan on finishing it. I just re-edited my other fic on this site, and it was a real pain in the ass. So I'm going to skip that here, sorry for any typos in previous chapters. I'll get to them someday. Otherwise, I hope to get this going consistant again, and finished. So, sorry! For anyone who was annoyed. :D
It was a struggle to open her eyes, they felt so heavy and sleep kept tempting her back into the blackness. She thought she could lie there forever, but slowly the reality of the lumpy cot beneath her made her painfully aware of the aches in her body. Her bliss denied, she made the final push to rouse herself fully awake and managed a large yawn. As she breathed in deeply the smell of chemicals and sick cloistered her nostrils, making her a little dizzy as she propped herself up on her elbows. She recognized her surroundings as the clinic she had come into earlier in the day. It was darker now, less clean than she had originally thought, and the smell was almost enough to make her want to lie back to stop her head from spinning. Clearly the small amounts of jet she had still been taking had more of an effect than she thought. She pushed herself up, certain that if she could get in an upright position her mind would settle. She flinched once as she pulled her arm too far from the IV, the needle still inserted into her vein and taped down.
"You up?" Doc Church was sitting at his desk across the room, typing away at the computer. He had paused what he was doing and watched her over his spectacles, waiting for an answer. "Well? Feeling any better?" He said impatiently. Even off the jet she found that the medics manners had not improved any, which didn't really surprise her. He was a no-nonsense kind of man, and she supposed that made sense in his line of work. He seemed professional, and he hadn't asked any unnecessary questions, which she had appreciated.
She didn't answer right away, the spinning seemed to subside as she took steady breaths and she considered how she was really feeling. She was still pretty filthy, in dire need of some kind of bath, but that was nothing new. Her worrying about it was though, she didn't feel the sweats beading on her skin either, and there were no jitters at all. There was no desperate craving, no wondering when she was going to get her next hit. She felt a little groggy still, but that was the worst she could find to complain about.
"I feel fine." She said with a hesitant smile.
Church snorted. "Hope it's better than fine. That was an expensive cocktail your veins just sucked down." He stood from his desk and started to unhook the IV, pressing a bandage over the small wound when he was finished. She swallowed and a heavy pit landed in her stomach as she realized that she didn't have a cap to her name, not for a long time. She had been carelessly relying on the kindness of Gabriel and Fisher to get her through so far, no concerns for how it might have effected them. And before that, she had relied on the unkindness of slavers.
"Is there some work I might do for you, for payment?" She asked, slightly ashamed. It was unkind to accept the treatment without being able to pay, she knew that and wouldn't be surprised if he had her kicked out of town.
"Naw, that great lurking behemoth covered it for you." With his work done, he returned to his desk and waved her away. "Now off with you, that fella of yours probably sitting outside, and if I have to chase him out again I'm going to lose my patience and inject him with something he really isn't going to like." From most, Anya would consider that teasing, but from Doc Church, she believed he firmly meant it.
"He's not my fella." She frowned unhappily, yet another thing she owed them, and she had given nothing in return for Gabe's help. Doc just grunted noncommittally and continued his typing. Anya pushed herself up, taking a small experimental step to be sure she wouldn't just collapse as soon as she was too far to hold herself up. But despite being groggy, she didn't seem to too weak. "Thank you for your help." She offered before she headed out the door.
"Thanks for your patronage." He nodded once, he clearly wasn't in it for the warm feeling that healing brought him.
Stepping out into the sunshine was quite a shock, the dimness was only obvious now that she was in the full glare of the sun. She blinked several times, hiding in the shadow of her hand while her eyes started to water.
"Picked up some glasses in their junk shop, I broke my last pair over a week ago." Gabe was at her elbow, parked on a bench attached to the outside of the building. He was wearing a pair of darkened goggles himself, though he had pushed them up to his forehead. She hadn't noticed him suffering much under the glare of the sun and realized that he had probably gotten his own pair so it didn't look like he had gone out of his way to get one for her. She accepted them sheepishly and felt relief the instant they went on, the fit was a bit big for her face, but they blocked out the worst of the sun and that's what was important to her.
"Thanks," She gave a strained smile and inspected her surroundings more closely than she had before. They both stood on the raised porch of the clinic, and most everything looked like it was up off the ground, buildings connected by bridges and stairs, all the way up to the higher edges of the crater. Everything seemed to spread from the wet basin in the center, a large black bomb was planted in the middle, and a man stood caressing its side lovingly while others bathed in the water. She could feel the filth of the water as she watched them, knew they were killing themselves in that poisoned well.
Gabe followed her gaze, "I've heard they're a bit off. But harmless. Well." He corrected. "To others anyway. Come on," He tugged at her arm. "Fisher's down at the Brass Lantern, let's get a meal in you." He started to lead her away but she gripped his arm hard enough that he stopped.
"Gabriel, I…I can't afford to pay for any of this," She swallowed, she had already taken so much, she should have stopped them before, but she had been too blasted, wallowing so deep in her own despair that she hadn't cared. "And I can't pay you back yet." She wanted to promise she would, but what use was she? She had no idea if that was a promise she could keep. But Gabe only laughed at her.
"Anya, do you know how much water goes for? Real clean stuff? Cheaper here, I suppose, they've got a filter. But in some of the other settlements?" He shook his head. "Anya, I'm your friend, so of course you don't owe me anything." Anya felt herself flush a little as he said that. "But even if you did, you certainly paid your way. Please, don't worry about it." He seemed so earnest that she couldn't push the issue, she didn't want to insult him by refusing his suggestion that she could get a free pass for their friendship. But she didn't want to be a financial drag on him either.
"Alright," She smiled and let him lead her down to the Brass Lantern. Fisher was sitting inside, chatting up the barman, apparently quite popular now that it was common knowledge he was related to the towns own Sheriff Simms.
"Ah, there you are. Everything go alright?" Fisher nodded for them to sit and sipped from his cola.
"Yeah, I feel great." She smiled enthusiastically. "Thank you guys so much, I know this trip was a lot of trouble and I really appreciate it."
"Bah, not so much trouble." Fisher patted her hand amiably. "Bout time I got my old grizzled self out in the world again." He looked around at the empty tables surrounding them in the dingy diner. "Might be room for franchising. If you know what I mean." He spoke conspiratorially. They both grinned, it was easy to agree that this dark and frankly, poor smelling place, lacked the charm of Fisher's café. And when their meals of 'squirrel on a stick' literally arrived as a squirrel, roasted on a stick, Anya had to agree, that this place was a dump.
"So I heard you got yourself a nephew." Gabe mentioned as he was picking through the remainder of the bones on his plate. Fisher's face split into a grin then, looking quite excited.
"Yes I do, as a matter of fact Lucas is letting me take him out for some shooting this afternoon."
"Well that should be fun." Gabe grinned as he tried not to think about what was crunching between his teeth. Anya found herself smiling too, it was nice to see a family being brought together in the wastes, instead of being torn apart.