Chapter Eight.

Sarah was allowed out of the hospital on the third day, but with severe restrictions. They was to be no moving quickly, not stretching, no exerting herself. She was allowed to go back to school the next day, but was not allowed to carry anything, which was fine since Tony said that he was going to carry for her. She was forbidden to play any sport or do any sort of exercise until the doctor said so, and walking to and from school wasn't allowed. That meant no physical training. Practically, Sarah thought, everything I do is not allowed.

There was another thing that apparently was needed. SHIELD had placed a guard on her at all times until she healed. Agent Maria Hill knew Tony and the others from previous events, and apparently Nick Fury decided that she was the best person available.

So this was how Sarah's Monday morning played out. Agent Hill drove her to school in a militarised SHIELD vehicle, marched her into the Tomorrow Academy and intimidated absolutely everybody in the building, because she just had to be fully armed. Just in case.

Sitting in English, she wished that she was able to bang her head on the desk because for the second time that year everyone, absolutely everyone, was watching her. Tony sat to her right and Agent Hill behind her, eyes like a hawk. Even with them taking their seats at the back of the classroom, their classmates managed to stare at them for the majority of the period. The stitches in her back ached occasionally, and she attempted to hide it, because whenever she moved her face slightly from a comfortable neutral expression, Tony and Agent Hill were onto her in a flash, asking her if she needed pain medication, to leave the class, anything at all.

Their concern got to her in Advanced Physics. Since Tony had donated a fair sum of money to the Science department (he wouldn't say why, but she guessed it was something to do with the explosion that occurred a year before which took out most of the science department and the money may have been why he was allowed to continue at the school after that), they had been able to stream the classes that they hadn't been able to before, and both Tony and Sarah ended up in the Advanced Classes for all the sciences that they took. The entrance tests had been a breeze.

Sitting there listening to the lecture by their teacher on the basics of biophysics (which was easy, by the way,) she felt a spasm slowly start to form at the base of her back and slowly increase in intensity. Not wanting to alert Tony or Agent Hill to it, she slid into her neutral facial expression and held it. The spasm climbed up along the slash held together by the stitches, and she held every muscle in her body tense in attempt to make no noise and deal with the intense pain that was slowly climbing up her back. A sudden jolt hit her hard, and she couldn't help but gasp. Agent Hill was on her in milliseconds.

"Sarah, what's wrong?" Sarah grimaced.

"Nothing." Her voice came out in a strangled gasp. Tony's face filled with concern.

"Sarah?"

"I'm fine." Her voice came out stronger that time, and she took another deep breath in as another jolt rocked her body. Not being able to hold tense, both Tony and Hill saw it occur. Hill had her comms unit up and working in seconds, and was attempting to get in contact with the doctor. Tony had his hands on her shoulders, and he felt another spasm climb up her back. He turned to Hill.

"Agent Hill, we need to get her out of here and for someone to look at this." Hill nodded while listening to the doctor.

"I'm fine!" Sarah's voice rang loud and clear. She shrugged off Tony's hands and stood up. As she straightened her back pain shot through, and she curled over. Tony grabbed her before she could lose her balance, and the room went silent.

The silence was broken by all the windows on the left wall shattering and the echoing sound of gunshots.

Agent Hill screamed over the comms unit as everyone dropped to the floor shouting and screaming. Tony was crouched over her, and Agent Hill was screaming directions at everyone in her accented English, swearing in what Sarah made out to be Japanese and was shooting, a gun in each hand, at the windows. Tony glanced over to his backpack, which Sarah noted as interesting considering they were being shot at but the thought left her as another spam ran down her back. Shaking on the floor in the middle of a fire fight was not the situation she wanted to be in. Most of their class had managed to make it to the door and out of the classroom, and only Sarah, Tony and Agent Hill remained, trapped towards the back of the lecture room being overturned desks. Agent Hill paused to reload and relay instructions to Tony.

"Get Sarah out of here, the blueprints of the school say that there is a passage out the back of this classroom, that door that no one ever touches. Go, and I'll hold them off as best I can." She threw a small device at him and he caught it easily, looking down at it.

"Activate it as soon as you're reasonably clear. I've got SHIELD helicrafts heading this way and when you activate that, they'll start shooting like there is no tomorrow. I'll be fine." Adding the last few words to appease the concerned look on Tony's face, he looked back down to where Sarah was still lying on her side on the floor, and nodded. Helping her up slowly, and shouldering most of her weight, he half-carried her to the door and kicked it open. Going through what he assumed was a staff corridor, they ended up in the staff room, and Tony continued to half-carry her out of the building where all students had gathered and SHIELD agents had blocked off the school, including the street that they were on. Tony activated the device and both him and Sarah looked overhead as the helicrafts rained down, moving to the back area of school, and started shooting. It was over in a matter of seconds.

Not waiting to see if Agent Hill made it out, Tony started dragging her to the nearest ambulance.

"Tony, I'm fine! You do not need to drag me around like a five year old and as if I'm made of glass."

He glared at her. "You were on the ground back there, and you're still in pai-don't even try to deny it, I can see it in your face. Now you will come with me and have your back looked at." His gaze softened.

"Please."

"Fine."

Sarah resented her back. It made her incapable of doing anything to defend herself, and now she not only had Agent Hill guarding her, but about 5 different agents as well, on a rotation roster. They didn't come into her room though, and for that she was grateful. She needed her privacy.

She also didn't need for them to see Batman climbing through her window at 11 at night. She only heard the rustle after he was in her room and she tried not to show that she hadn't noticed him earlier.

"Bruce, what are you doing here?! I have guards on rotation and I don't know what terms you are on with SHIELD." He surprised her by not having a snappy comeback for her to enjoy but instead rushing to her side, and taking her into his arms in the gentlest hug she had ever experienced.

"Are you okay?" The mask he wore made his eyes black as night, and she could see the amount of concern radiating out of them. She stared back, slightly lost, not wanting to accept how safe and happy she was with his arms around her. Then she realised what she was doing and broke the stare.

"Bruce, I'm fine. I had a few spasms this afternoon but the doctors said that it was normal for that to happen with the amount of damage that my body has taken, and the stressful situations that I've been in. They've banned me from going to school until the stitches are out." She felt the tiniest pull at her heart when he took his arms away from around her, and then shot it down. He was her friend and one of her closest at that.

No feelings. Not allowed.

He held up his hand, gesturing for her to wait a minute, and then climbed out the window again. Sarah took a seat at her desk, shuffling through the designs she had drawn up as soon as she had been released from hospital for the third time that week and had gotten home. She was not going to let herself be defenceless again, and she had to do something about what was going down. Looking up, she saw Bruce slowly working a large piece of glass through her window. She hissed at him.

"Why are you giving me this now!? Couldn't you wait until morning or something?" He ignored her and once the glass had been carefully placed leaning against her wall, he went back outside. She slowly wandered to the window and whisper-yelled at him.

"Don't you dare have your Jet parked on my roof Bruce Wayne." She saw him making his way down again and moved out of his way.

"Now what would make you say that?" She rolled her eyes and slowly (she hated this, the way she had to walk to compensate for her back) made her way over to the glass. She saw the small metal framework inside and approved. Response to touch was always easier to work with in terms of not only design but programming. And she needed both for this 'project' to work. Bruce pulled the last bit of equipment through the window and helped Sarah fix it to her wall and attach everything up. Standing back to admire their handiwork, she noted the vast change her room had been under in such a small amount of time. Her room, now that the glass had lit up and was set for programming, had a blue tinge to it, with the glow from the glass causing patters to rest on her opposite wall. She liked this light. It was comforting; technology was always something she took comfort in. The rest of the tech was either stored under her bed in her custom made safe (brilliant thing, considering she designed the lock). That was for later.

"Thank you Bruce. I owe you one." He (gently) put his arm around her and (lightly) pulled her against his side.

"No owing. This one's on me." Since when did he get so tall? She was close to six foot, and she just reached his shoulders. She glanced at her clock.

"Bruce, it's going on 3. You probably need to go." He nodded in agreement, but paused as their eyes caught. His hand moved from her shoulder to rest against her cheek, and she realised that her brain wasn't working. Bruce seemed to catch himself, and before she could comprehend anything, he was gone, his silent Jet not making a sound. The back of her legs found the edge of her bed, and then she was sitting there. She didn't realise she had moved to lying position until at least half an hour later, when her mind seemed to return to her control.

She was questioning things now.

Did she like Bruce? Did she have feelings for him?

Did he have feelings for her? But then the little voice in the back of her head, quietly, almost to quiet to hear, mentioned one name.

Tony.

She wanted to leave her room; she wanted to go sprinting across rooftops or through streets, anything to stop thinking.

She might have had the ability to shut her mind off, but her heart continued to beat on.

Finito for now.