Delia gave a start, coming to her senses in darkness. She had no idea how long she lay there, not thinking; it could have been a minute or a whole eternity. She then began to sense that she in fact had limbs, though she didn't know where they were.

She knew she had limbs because she felt her fingers, and her hands, and her wrists, as well as her toes, feet and ankles. But in space, she couldn't for the life of her figure out where they were. For a moment she was worried, but then she realized how spectacularly marvelous it was to have limbs in the first place! If she could feel them, then she would place them later; that was merely a minor detail. Then she sensed her throat and her mouth, remarkably intact, and her torso. But then she realized that she FELT something stroking her back.

The movement was gentle and started just below her shoulder blades and ended at the small of her back. She knew she wasn't stroking her own back, how could she if she didn't know where her body was in space?! Delia began to cautiously stretch her mind, testing her senses.

She felt pressure on one side of her body…was she laying on her side? She had a dry, metallic taste in her mouth as she swallowed. She breathed in and for the first time registered scent, smelling a pungent odor that slightly burned her nose. She then heard sounds, which blended together and didn't really amount to much of anything in her mind. For a moment, she concentrated on her back.

The thing, whatever it was, seemed to follow her spine, so she continued down and finally discovered her legs! They were bent at the knee, curving her spine as she lay curled up. From her shoulder blades she then easily placed her arms, tucked against her chest. Very pleased with this discovery, Delia pondered the sounds she was hearing and the stroking of her back. There was a lilting tone, which was followed by another familiar lower tone. Where those…voices? Delia didn't know; while she heard them, she definitely could not make out what they were saying. No bother.

The stroking continued and Delia found that she rather enjoyed the feeling. It was gentle and reassuring, and after a few minutes of thought, she had another epiphany.

Patsy!

Of course, now the low voice and the stroking made sense! She felt that she was forgetting something rather important, but she brushed it off, not wanting to worry about it. Instead, she took pleasure in remembering Patsy; how on earth could she have forgotten her?!

Delia toyed with the idea of moving but stopped. She found that if she could in fact move, (she actually wasn't sure if she could at that point), she was quite comfortable where she was, and to be completely honest, was beginning to get very drowsy, even though she was technically semiconscious.

And if Patsy was sitting there stroking her back in the middle of the night and speaking with someone in their room, (again, why was there someone in their room?!), it didn't matter if Delia fell back asleep, Patsy was watching over her. She was safe. And she needed sleep.

Wait.

Why did she say that?

Delia felt her heart quicken.

Oh…SHIT.

She had CANCER surgery tomorrow!

How the hell did she forget?!

Oh dear, she thought, she had to stop thinking about it if she was going to get some sleep.

But of course, as one tries to NOT think of something, that thought comes to the front of their minds and for a moment, everything becomes an angry cluster-fuck. Delia tried to restrain her desperation, because if she moved her newly found limbs then she would only wake-up even more, and be even further away from her goal.

But she felt a mumbled moan escape her lips, and the voices stopped, and Patsy's hand froze in the center of her back.

No, Pats, she thought, don't stop!

She released another soft whine.

The rubbing continued, but as she went to continue her explorations of her body, she distinctly heard the words, "More morphine."

Delia was about to wonder where on earth and why the hell Patsy had morphine, but then she was plunged back into her waking dreams.