Three days.

It's been three fucking days since she got in there.

Maverick glared at the pod, feeling sick inside when he looked at the vacant expression on Leyah's face.

He honestly wasn't surprised to discover that she hopped in the damn thing in the middle of the night. He was too tired at the time to even think about it. She was just as stubborn as he was and he knew she would have stamped and shouted until he let her get in the pod.

Maverick was still livid, regardless.

He drummed his fingers against his shotgun, slumping down in the chair he set next to the terminal connected to her pod. It said her vitals were okay and her brain was still active, and that was all Maverick needed to know.

He knew he shouldn't doubt her, she's performed some damn miracles before, but that didn't lessen his worry.

What if she didn't come out? Was he doomed to leave and know that he left the woman he possibly loved inside a sick science experiment for the rest of his days?

Love…Maverick never truly applied that word to anyone besides his mother and sister.

He was pretty sure he did care about her that much. It was shit that his fucking brain didn't figure that out until she jumped into a death pod.

All of the terminals at the center computer suddenly started to beep and go off. Their screens were flashing red and alarms sounded everywhere. Only Leyah's remained stable. Maverick wasn't going to take chances. He quickly flipped the chair he was sitting on over and he broke off one of the wooden legs. He got over to her pod and swung as hard as he could.

He grinned in satisfaction when the glass cracked a little. He swung again, grunting from the effort and the cracks in the glass webbed out a little farther.

Footsteps were his only warning and he saw James Hunter's reflection in the glass of the pod. He ducked as the doctor swung a fist and he jumped away, facing him.

"I'm not trying to hurt her!" he said loudly, holding up his hands, dropping the chair leg.

"Who are you?!" James demanded, wobbling a little on his feet.

Shit, he was probably in that pod for who knows how long. He must have been weak as fuck.

Maverick didn't have time for this. "Look, I'm trying to get her out. I'm not going to hurt her."

James was now trying to get over to the pod. "I'm not going to let you…" he trailed off as he wheezed a little. He stumbled and started to collapse.

Maverick cursed and quickly caught him, lowering him slowly to the ground. A loud hissing noise had him looking over at Leyah's pod and he hurried to its side. The machine pulled the IV out of her arm and Maverick caught her as she started to tip forward. Pressing his hands to either side of her neck, he felt her pulse beating strongly and regularly against his skin.

"Thank God," he breathed, running his thumbs along her jaw.

Her eyes finally fluttered open and she looked around hazily before meeting his gaze. Maverick felt his throat close up when she smiled at him. "Hey," she said weakly.

"Hey."

He pulled her close, just relishing in the fact that she was alright.

There was time to chew her ass out later.

Well, he wasn't yelling at her yet.

Leyah clung to Maverick, still getting used to being back in reality. "I'm so sorry," she whispered, trembling in his arms.

"You're still in fucking trouble," he grumbled, squeezing her tighter.

"I know," she barely managed to laugh. Her throat felt drier than the wasteland.

Maverick pulled away and said, "Let's get you and your dad back on your feet…then I'll chew your sorry little ass out."

Leyah's eyes widened and she looked around frantically. "Where is he?"

Maverick shifted to the side, revealing her dad's prone form on the floor. "He came swinging at me and I think that took the little energy he had left."

Without thinking, Leyah stood up as quickly as she could and she immediately regretted it. Her head spun and she felt wobbly. Maverick quickly wrapped an arm around her waist and easily lifted her out of the pod. He handed her a bottle of water and made sure she could stand before walking over to her dad. "Where do you want him?"

Leyah took a sip of water, leaning heavily against the pod. "In the room we were staying in."

Maverick was easily able to sling her dad over his shoulders and he took Dad to the storage room. He jogged back and let her hold onto his waist as he walked her over to the room.

Leyah finally was feeling less dizzy and better now that she had some water and she pulled out a stimpak, injecting it into her arm where the IV was. Normally, she would have just recovered naturally, but she needed all of her strength and wits to help her dad.

She tossed the used stimpak in a crate and started to inspect her dad, already feeling the effects of the medicine.

"He's severely dehydrated and probably weak from not eating real food for however long he was in there," she said, pulling at the skin on the back of his hand. The skin didn't recoil right away and that made her worry. What could she do with the limited resources she had?

She had to get him awake long enough to eat something.

She grabbed another stimpak and injected it into his arm. Thankfully, it was able to do it's work. James' eyelids started to flutter open and he looked up at her. "Sweetheart," he croaked, reaching up to her.

"Shh, I need you to eat and drink something, Dad."

Maverick, thankfully, had a bottle of water and some Fancylads snack cakes ready for her. She gave him a grateful smile before helping her dad take small sips of water and eating as much of a cake as he could.

After getting through one bottle and half a pack of cakes, he fell asleep again. At least he was sleeping instead of passed out this time.

Leyah took a step and she stumbled. "How long was I in there?" she asked, leaning heavily on the table.

"Three damn days," Maverick answered, crossing his arms with a scowl.

Shit.

"Mav, I promise to let you yell at me and I know what I did was wrong," she said, meeting his eyes.

Maverick sighed and uncrossed his arms. "Like I said, I'll chew your ass later. What else do you need?"

Leyah bit her lip and remembered that a medical bay was across the main chamber. "Can you help me get to the med bay across the room?"

After a slow walk, they finally made it. Leyah grabbed all of the supplies she would need for an IV and she and Maverick made it back to James. She was able to get the IV started and get fluids going.

She slumped down into a chair after she was finished. Her stomach was churning for a different reason now.

She blatantly betrayed Maverick and went behind his back to pull the stunt she did. She had no excuse and she felt horrible about it.

"Maverick-"

"You know what pisses me off about you sometimes?!" Maverick interrupted, glaring down at her.

Leyah bit her lip, shaking her head.

"You give so much of yourself and you don't even take time for your own fucking self. I know you jumped in that damn thing to save your dad, but Jesus Leyah, you have to think about yourself sometimes. Do you know how fucking terrified I was when I saw you in that thing?!" he snarled. He was starting to pace as he ranted. "All I could think was about what I would have to do if you never came out. How do you think I would have felt knowing I would have to leave you down here?! Fuck, did you even think about how all of this would have affected me?!"

Leyah felt like throwing up. No, she didn't think about any of that, and that made her realize just how much her decisions effected them both now.

"Maverick, I—"

"I'm not done yet! Leyah, you're probably one of the few good things that happened to me in 8 years and I almost lost it…again!"

They stared at each other for what seemed like hours. Tears pooled in Leyah's eyes and she blinked rapidly as her throat closed up.

"You're the best thing that happened to me too," she whispered, trying not to outright cry.

It was true, without Maverick, who knew what would have happened to her. She would probably be dead now and it was because of him she made it this far. He became the friend she could lean on and the companion that took her loneliness away.

Maverick huffed and paced a little more before stopping and meeting her eye again. He squatted down in front of her and took her hands in his. "Promise me one thing, just one teensy fucking thing, please?"

She nodded, still holding back tears.

"Don't ever pull a stunt like that again. We're in this together dammit and I can't stand the thought of losing you because of some dumbass mistake."

Leyah's tears finally fell and she nodded, sniffling. "I'm so sorry," she managed to choke out, leaning forward to wrap her arms around his neck. His strong arms clung to her and Leyah basked in how safe she felt. She kept repeating how sorry she was over and over again, burying her face further in his neck.

They finally parted and Maverick handed her another water bottle and a can of cram. "I'm going to be pissed about this for a while, but for what it's worth I'm pretty fucking glad you're okay."

"I really am sorry," she said once again, reaching forward to cup his cheek.

He sighed through his nose and stared at her with an unreadable expression for the longest time. Finally, he turned his head and kissed her palm before standing up. "You can make it up to me by resting and getting better. And by listening to me for fucking once."

Leyah grinned at him and tucked into her cram, glancing over at Dad.

This was going to be a long day.