"Vause!" the sound of Nicky's voiced roused Alex from sleep. The book on her chest, which she had been reading before she let herself drift, slipped to the floor with a thud as she jerked back into consciousness.
"Jesus Nicky!" she breathed, struggling to bring herself to a sitting position without the bounce of normal mattress springs. Her free hand searched blindly for the book,
"Hey, relax!" Nicky entered the cube and sat heavily at the foot of the bed. "I heard you were back, I just wanted a progress report on Blondie."
Hearing the flippancy in her voice, Alex shot her a look, her face stern and unyielding to the obvious underlying concern of her friend.
"So how was she?" Nicky's chestnut eyes bore into her own. "She going to be ok?" Waiting for Alex's response, she scraped back her wild her with her fingers, threw it impatiently over her shoulder.
Alex sighed. "I don't know. I didn't really get to talk to her. She was…she wasn't really strong enough yet."
"Jeez Vause, I'm sorry. That must have been hard. Seeing her there and not being able to stay."
In response, Alex close her eyes with frustration, let her head fall back towards the ceiling as she massaged her taught neck with her hand. "It's certainly no fucking picnic." she murmured, bringing her head back to it's upright position to find sympathy splashed across her friends face.
"Will you go back? Are they going to let you?
"After the threat I gave them, they've got no fucking choice."
"So," Nicky tried her best to look positive, "that's something, right?"
Alex pushed her glasses up her nose, sharply drawing in breath. "I guess I'm just going to have to wait and see."