Disclaimer: The characters and story originally created by Dmitri Glukhovsky in the book and video game series "Metro: 2033" and its sequels do not belong to me. Those properties are owned by Glukhovsky, 4A Games, and Deep Silver. This work of fiction is intended for entertainment purposes and is not meant to be canonical, though I tried very hard to make it fit within the parameters. I do retain my rights for the creation of my own original characters and ideas. I do not make any money from writing this story.

Song Recommendation: "One of Us" – The Word Alive & Bad Omens, "Don't Pray for Me" – Within Temptation

Chapter 39: Partner In Crime

Nataliya rushed in at the sound of the alarms which signaled sentience from Aleksandrya. She'd barely gotten out three words; his name, and an apology. But what did she have to apologize for? Artyom watched her hopefully, glancing over at the nurse as she checked all the wires and numbers. However, the chiming soon slowed back down, Aleks' eyes never fully opened, and she retreated back into oblivion. Nataliya gently shook her head, it wasn't time for her to awaken yet. The transient interface was premature, and maybe Aleks didn't even know what she was saying. She needed more sleep and more medicine. Nataliya assured him that everything was okay, that kind of thing happened sometimes, she wasn't in any pain, that it was a positive sign that meant she was getting better. But it only made Artyom feel worse.

Her quiet murmuring completely derailed his thoughts; his mind was now a blank and the only thing occupying it was the beeping of her pulse monitor and the echo of her act of contrition. He knew he wanted to keep talking, especially since it did seem to have an effect on her, but what was there to say now? Maybe he'd explain what he'd done after leaving her, 'Here's how we got you back.' But he couldn't say anything about Mikhail, and he still wasn't sure if he was ever going to tell her about the hooded stranger who had been following them, who had helped Artyom return underground. And furthermore, if the stranger really had been Hunter, well he couldn't talk about that either. He sat back in the chair with a defeated sigh and noticed the book he had brought on the small table next to him.

Artyom read five chapters of the pirate novel to the continually unconscious Aleksandrya before Anna and Katya turned up to take care of her as they had planned. They shooed him out of the room quickly, Katya was giggling the whole time, like she always does. Anna gave him some terse reassuring words but then warned that he had better not come back for at least an hour or two, and then she closed the door in his face. He nodded to himself, 'Message received, Captain Melnikova.'

He made his way up to the mess hall again, this time actually feeling some hunger pains. Maybe he'd sneak a little something extra in his pocket in case he wanted a midnight snack later. Perhaps Aleks would also be eager for some solid food, had they given her anything to eat or drink while she was in the Second Unit? It was unlikely that the fascists offered nourishment to their prisoners but then again Kirill explained how he often provided such aid when the officers weren't paying attention. Artyom trusted that the young courier had done all he could to help Aleks and thanked him again in his head.

Dinner consisted of a hearty vegetable stew, tinned fish, potatoes, and the usual dense flatbread that was made from dried powdered mushrooms. He sat at his favorite table but there was no sign of Ulman, Mikhail, Colonel Melnik, or anybody he recognized. A crowd of technical staff were gathered around two tables pushed together, singing a song Artyom didn't know and then toasting several times. Apparently, it was someone's birthday today. He wondered when Aleksandrya's birthday was, she said she was twenty-nine, so that's a big milestone coming up. Maybe they'd all be able to gather around her in the same way to celebrate.

Artyom's tray was quickly empty and he washed his own dishes before stashing some assorted field rations into his cargo pockets. He considered going down to take a shower or a nap to kill some time and freshen up. If Aleks was getting a bath then he could probably use one, too. But sleep would likely evade him, the sandman was too busy pouring every last grain he had into Aleks. He hoped she was dreaming something pleasant because she certainly deserved the mental escape.

As the warm water flowed over him, he found his thoughts begin to coalesce again. He could take a step back from the events and try to see the bigger picture. What was the last thing he said before she had surfaced? About the Vintorez and Mayakovskaya, right. So, they went up to the surface, trailing a squad of Nazi stalkers and an armored truck. They had discovered an important outpost that the Fourth Reich had emplaced for the purpose of finding D6. Artyom had already heard snippets of chatter in the common areas that an overwatch had been initiated, although of course, Rangers were utilizing a different more stable building. Would Aleks want to know what had come from the intelligence they had gathered? She might want to try and forget everything but Artyom knew that Melnik would have questions for her.

The highest of all priorities in this aftermath was determining if the Nazis were successful in their probable endeavors to extract information from her in any way possible. Those bruises and broken bones didn't come out of the ether. Had she been able to withhold such secrets even after enduring pain upon pain? Maybe that's part of the reason why Colonel Melnik had been so restless. Artyom hoped that maybe her condition had been bad enough from the building collapse that she had spent most of those two days in the Second Unit unconscious and unable to reply to any inquiries from Varnayev or Sturmann or whoever might have made those bruises on her neck.

But then again, she was quite good at keeping secrets. In fact, that was part of the core of her personality. Artyom had gradually delved deeper and deeper into this core, finding out more of her background with every passing day they had spent together. Now he was irreplaceable, especially in the eyes of the Colonel, who had assigned them together in the first place exactly because of his understanding of her. If it had been anyone else, there's no way Artyom would have been given the position of a senior partner on the merit mission of a new recruit. 'Find out what you can about her,' the Colonel had ordered, 'She confides in you… stay as close to her as possible.' And Artyom had been doing just that the whole time.

He put the same clean outfit back on, combed his shaggy dark hair into something presentable, and headed back to the barracks to deal with the laundry he had ignored before. Mikhail's room was still vacant, had he gone straight into another mission? Did another critical situation arise as soon as they had returned from the Second Unit? Even if he was assigned to a distant watch rotation, he'd still be allowed periodic breaks for rest and sustenance. If Colonel Melnik granted him access to the med bay and assigned Artyom to stay with Aleks and Mikhail was still his senior partner, then shouldn't he be here? Maybe he could stand at the top of the main lift for a while, where he could monitor the general layout and movements of people throughout the bunker. Monorail trains came and went, all manner of soldiers and staff hurried about, a few small groups huddled up to have a chat or a smoke. He thought he recognized his partner at one point; barely six feet tall, medium build, black combat dress, something red peeking out of his armor, but when the target removed their helmet, it was someone else entirely. An hour of this strategy yielded no results, an empty fishing net, and the few men he bothered to inquire of also had no answer as to the whereabouts of his partner. Nobody had seen him anywhere.

Artyom decided to go back down to the med bay, Nataliya had never returned with bandages or the instruments of blood donation. Had Katya and Anna finished their feminine rituals with Aleks? 'She'd do the same for us,' Katya had professed just before Anna had closed the door. They had a small duffel bag with them that rattled and smelled wonderful, likely containing some rare kinds of scented soap or perfume that they were generously utilizing on their comrade. The door to Aleksandrya's room was still closed and he wasn't sure if he'd be scolded for intruding on their delicate activities. Deciding to go stand at the desk by the entrance, he waited for Nataliya or anyone else to notice him so he could do his part in contributing to her regimen of treatments. Maybe Nataliya would be able to explain why they were giving her blood transfusions.

Some other nurse hooked him up for the procedure and gave very few words about any of it, apparently she wasn't part of Aleksandrya's care team. At least Nataliya might finally be getting some well-deserved rest, he thought to himself. He watched the dark red fluid flowing through the tiny tube and collect in a baggie near the floor. 'Here you go, Aleks, maybe this will help you wake up soon.' He fell into a sort of meditation as he continued to watch the cells leave his body. 'Take some of my strength. I made these but now they'll help your own cells do what they need to do.' Sukhoi had taught him some of these basic things, Artyom had gotten a cut or scrape at one point or another and every kid was initially afraid of the red water leaking out from the place that hurt. 'It's okay, son, your blood there is very good stuff. It has lots of things inside it that you can't see but they help your body fight infections and heal. Another kind of cell in there makes the bleeding stop and then your skin will be repaired – good as new!' Platelets made the bleeding stop. White blood cells fought infections, Artyom remembered. Hunter had even used this metaphor once, likening himself to a white blood cell that sought out what didn't belong, what was deemed a threat to the system, and set about eliminating it at all costs. Maybe he needed a blood transfusion, too.

With two kinds of new bandages, Artyom returned to Aleksandrya's room. The door was still shut but his watch counted off more than three hours since he'd been excavated by Katya and Anna. He knocked gently, there was no answer. Well of course Aleks wasn't going to be inviting him in herself but no voices forbade him from entering, either. Slowly cracking the door open, he saw Anna sitting in the chair next to the bed but didn't see Katya or anyone else.

"Hey, can I come in?" Artyom said softly.

"Yeah," Anna didn't turn around to speak to him.

"You okay? Anything new?" He asked about both women at the same time.

"No, nothing, I just didn't want to leave her alone so I waited for you to come back."

"That's nice of you," Artyom echoed their prior compliments again.

"What about you?" He was surprised that she cared, maybe she was just trying to be nice and make small talk but even that would be a departure from her normal apathy.

"I'm fine, thanks. Had a bite to eat and freshened up, just got done with my donation," he showed her the bandage on his arm. "Group A minus."

"Good, her chart says A positive so you aren't far off. It's better if it's the exact same type," Anna pointed to a clipboard that was hanging off the bottom rail of the bed. Artyom wanted to go and see what else it said but figured he probably wouldn't understand most of it. Medical talk was confusing, it was like a whole other language.

"Do you know what it's for?" He tried to look at Anna's face but she had nothing to display and very little variation in the tone of her voice.

"Well, it covers a lot of bases. Radiation kills off a lot of cell types but mostly it targets the lymphatic system and bone marrow. That's where all kinds of blood cells are made, especially white blood cells, and without those you can't fight for yourself. Anemia is when you don't have enough red blood cells, and since I'm guessing they didn't feed her, the other nutrients will help, too."

"You're pretty smart," he complimented generically.

"Thanks," Anna actually smiled a little bit when she looked over at him. That was unusual. "I uh, need to go have dinner myself, dad's expecting me. But I'll come back later tonight so you can get some sleep."

"Oh, you don't need to do that, it's okay—" he began to politely decline.

"Twenty three hundred," Anna cut him off as she rose from her chair. Apparently, he didn't have a choice in the matter.

"Alright," he conceded and watched her leave the room before greeting the woman of the hour. "Hey, Aleks, I'm back."

She looked much better, still roughly positioned in the same way as before, but her skin was clean and glowing. He wasn't sure if it was all the floral-smelling products that the girls had used to bathe her or if the medicine and blood packs were giving the effect. Katya and Anna had finally untangled her long hair with a painstaking effort and he noticed that the rest of the girls in the sniper division made her a sweet little get-well card. It was nice to know that so many other people cared about her. Even though Aleks had only been in D6 for a few days, she'd already made such an impression on people.

"Shall I read some more to you? Let's see, where were we," Artyom located the book and peeled it open to where he'd bent the corner of a few pages. "Okay, chapter seven. It was longer than the squire imagined 'ere we were ready for the sea, and none of our first plans — not even Dr. Livesey's, of keeping me beside him — could be carried out as we intended. The doctor had to go to London for a physician to take charge of his practice; the squire was hard at work at Bristol; and I lived on at the hall under the charge of old Redruth, the gamekeeper, almost a prisoner, but full of sea-dreams and the most charming anticipations of strange islands and adventures. I brooded by the hour together over the map, all the details of which I well remembered."

The beeping increased again but Artyom didn't jump up like he did before, instead he leaned forward in the chair and continued the paragraph. Could she hear him? Was she picturing all of his descriptions in her head, dreaming along?

"Sitting by the fire in the housekeeper's room, I approached that island in my fancy from every possible direction; I explored every acre of its surface; I climbed a thousand times to that tall hill they call the Spy-glass, and from the top enjoyed the most wonderful and changing prospects."

"…scha… mi… scha…" Aleks mumbled softly, her closed eyes scrunching up with anguish.

"Aleks?" Artyom stopped the narrative, placing a finger into the pages as he closed the volume and scrutinized her expression. "Did you just say—?"

But Aleks couldn't answer him, and no more sounds escaped her lips. Her face relaxed again but her fingers still clawed at the blanket. She went back to the normal rhythm. Had she really said what he thought he heard? Or did he only draw that conclusion based on the external factors which she had no clue about? Or did she have a clue after all? She could have heard Mikhail talking on the railcar, his voice broke through the barrier and unlocked a subconscious vault that she kept somewhere deep and dark. Would Artyom get any further into this core? It turned out that even her most recent damning revelation about her family was not the last bastion of her defenses. So, where was the key to this next gatehouse? Where was Lieutenant Vorobyov?

"Sometimes the isle was thick with savages, with whom we fought, sometimes full of dangerous animals that hunted us, but in all my fancies nothing occurred to me so strange and tragic as our actual adventures," Artyom continued the story, that part sounded familiar. Nothing he could ever imagine compared with the strange twists and turns of the reality he'd been living since meeting her.

Anna returned at the promised hour to take over a sizeable portion of the overnight hours, commanding Artyom to go and get some sleep in his own bed and not allowing him to refuse. It was difficult to settle down at first, but after turning out the lights and getting comfortable, he found that he was more fatigued than he thought. Watching over someone who was unconscious seemed like a very simple task, but the energy expended on the worry alone took its toll. Something had to power the train of thought that constantly circled around like the Koltsevaya line in his head, and it needed to be recharged once in a while.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Artyom dreamed of the ocean, of a grand wooden ship that smelled of salt and oil. He might not have been able to picture that kind of thing accurately were it not for the few illustrated pages within the novel. He'd never seen the ocean before, and had never been on a boat, either. Yet, his imagination could really be quite vivid if he gave it the opportunity. He fancied himself in the crow's nest at the top of the mainmast of the vessel, peering through the brass telescope at a distant tropical island. 'Land, ho! There be treasure on that island.' What could the treasure be, though? The pirates always hoped for gold and jewels but those things didn't have worth anymore. The currency in the Metro was ammunition, military-grade rounds that hadn't been re-filled with subpar powder and inferior metal projectiles. So, instead of a chest of doubloons, it was a wooden crate of 5.45x39 caliber.

There was a steadily-timed beeping creeping into the landscape. He looked down below him at the deck of the ship, Aleks was laying there in her hospital bed. Even in a dream world she could still slumber. The beeping got louder but Aleks didn't move. It's similar but it's not the same. He opened his eyes and saw his watch just in front of his face, glowing in time with the tone. 'Oh, it's morning already?' The room was still dark but his watch insisted that it was zero-eight-hundred. No more treasure-hunting, at least not until he opened up the pages of the book again.

Breakfast was just as boring and lonely as dinner had been, though he did get to say hello to Ulman before his former partner headed off to the morning briefing. He'd asked what Ulman had been up to since Artyom was assigned his new partner, asked if it bothered him that he wasn't his senior anymore, and might they be put back on a team together at some point? And of course, have you seen Mikhail? Ulman wasn't bothered by the change in routine, he'd been made to assist Melnik with diffusing the tension that Bravo team had caused at Chekhovskaya and then enjoyed a turn watching the listening post that Artyom and Aleks had discovered. Tatiana had gone with him and taken several shots at their antennas with her Dragunov, so that would set the Nazis back for weeks or months. D6 was safe for a little while longer. And no, he hadn't seen Mikhail yet and now it was starting to worry more than just Artyom.

Nataliya bade him a warm good morning, sipping a cup of tea behind her desk. She reported that there was still no cognizance from Aleksandrya but the doctor says she's improving and there was a very good chance she would return to the realm of reality today. The fever was gone, the blood transfusions helped a lot, and there were still no major indicators of radiation sickness. Artyom went to the ICU wing in the back corner of the sector and knocked on the door as usual, almost impatient to have another conversation with Anna, but it was Katya's voice that answered him.

"Come in," the fair-haired sniper called out with her usual bubbliness. "Oh, good morning, Artyom!"

"Morning," Artyom confirmed with a wave of his hand. Anna must have gone for her own breakfast or to the morning briefing. "Anything new?"

"She got out another few words but I didn't understand it," Katya got up from the chair and met him in the middle of the room. She was wearing a loose-fitting casual sweatshirt but with dusty olive drab cargo pants and combat boots contrasting her bottom half. Did she go on another mission overnight?

"What did she say?" Artyom glanced over at Aleks, everything about her was the same.

"She was talking about a Tolya and a Kirill, you know them?" Katya kept walking slowly, pushing Artyom back without touching him, indicating that she wanted to have this conversation outside the room.

"Kirill was the informant we met at Mayakovskaya, he works in the Second Unit but he's part of the Resistance," Artyom explained after Katya had sealed Aleks inside her room. "I don't know a Tolya, though."

"Oh, interesting, but that's terrible if she's dreaming about being there again," Katya crossed her arms and looked concerned for once. "She kept repeating another name, too."

"Let me guess… Mischa?" Artyom asked knowingly.

"Yeah, how did you know?" Katya looked at him suspiciously.

Artyom declined to answer at the moment, giving a mild shrug and looking away from Katya's curious eyes. Thankfully she didn't press the subject and continued her little report.

"She said your name a few times, too, you mean a lot to her. I get why the Colonel wants you to stay close by. Will you tell me what happened with the building and all? I didn't get the details but I heard it took some convincing before Melnik agreed to go get her."

"Yeah, well, she had her note from Hunter. That's what really did it." Artyom still had the cartridge in his pocket. Katya nodded as if she had already been informed of its contents, so he didn't bother to pull it out or explain. "So, we left here and checked out the tavern first, there was a Nazi squad in there and they were talking about her friend Andrei Ivanovich. He ended up helping us from the inside, gave us all the instructions and information about the tunnels that led to Tverskaya. Couldn't have done it without him."

"Yeah, but he betrayed her and saved her at the same time? I don't get it," Katya stuck her palms up.

"Well, I have this other note I found. It was in her hair clip when we got her back. I didn't read it, but it looks like it's from him, maybe it explains why he went back to Reich," Artyom patted his other pocket where the letter was still waiting to be delivered.

"Do you think she's going to stay with us? If it were me, I'd probably want to get away from all this and not be reminded about Hunter or the Nazis or anything," Katya was thinking out loud and not really expecting any responses from him.

Artyom started to contemplate the hanging question of her enlistment again. If surviving torture in the Second Unit didn't earn you a Ranger's badge, then Artyom didn't know what qualified as worthiness. Would he have to defend her again to Colonel Melnik? Would his approval depend on whether or not she said anything about D6 under pain of torture? Would the Commander have them go on a new mission and start all over again? 'No more surface missions for a while, please,' he prayed in his head.

"Are you even listening Artyom?" Katya prodded his chest strongly. Now she wanted him to reply to something, but he'd missed it.

"Uh, sorry," Artyom blinked and came back to reality.

"If you keep doing that in the middle of a conversation, she's never going to go out with you," Katya laughed at him through her nose.

"What? Who?" Artyom was genuinely confused. She didn't mean Aleks, right?

"Oh, never mind," she rolled her eyes but with amusement. "I asked if you'd tell me about the rescue mission. I heard you did pretty good on your first big op!"

"Right, yeah, it went really well," Artyom confirmed with a short nod but Katya was still staring at him insistently, she wanted more than just that. "Um, okay well, Colonel Melnik mostly manned the railcar and handled communications. Damir was great, very knowledgeable. Ulman was in charge of demo and he took down a lot of their traps. Mikhail was great, too, he mostly made the plan and did the heavy lifting. I didn't know he was a Lieutenant; I feel kinda weird about it now."

"I bet Ulman was happy," Katya grinned. "And you had Sparrow with you, that's good, he's really smart."

"Do you… know him pretty well?" Artyom suspected from the callsign nickname. Katya didn't use Mikhail's diminutive or patronymic name like everyone else did. How often did co-ed missions take place? He guessed that any time a sniper was required they'd be sure to take one of the girls with them. Most everyone here had already spent months and years working together, so he shouldn't be too surprised at their familiarity.

"Sparrow? Sure, he's been in the Order about as long as me. He was in command of an op I was on about two weeks ago at the Black Station. Gosh, he's a real cutie, and so sweet when you can get him to talk. All the girls adore him but he's never asked anyone out as far as I know. After a while we thought maybe he was... mm, not into women if you know what I mean? Especially because he dresses so well when he's off duty… but who knows. I don't judge. Why do you ask?" Katya shrugged her shoulders a bit more dramatically than a normal person.

"Well, I," Artyom looked over at Aleks' closed door, his follow-up question evaporated before he'd even finished thinking it so he drew a new conclusion from what Katya just said. "I think I know why he's never asked anyone out."

"Oh?" Katya followed his gaze, scrunching up her face while she worked out the words that were left hanging in the air, eventually connecting them to the door. "Wait a minute! So that's the guy she was talking about? Her Mischa is our Sparrow? No way! Oh my God!" Katya bounced on her toes and almost squealed with excitement, her bright blue eyes were sparkling and her mouth was hanging open. "So, that really connects the dots, huh? Cause' you know he's from Chekhov, too, right?" Katya nodded her head, delighted with her conclusion that Artyom couldn't yet fully understand.

"I'm still trying to figure it out," Artyom admitted reluctantly. It felt strange to be talking about this with a woman, a woman he barely knew, but she seemed to know both star-crossed lovers quite well and might be able to help him decipher the mystery. "Mikhail didn't make much sense when he was talking about it."

"Well, what did he say?" She narrowed her eyes as if she could sort out fact from fiction as it came out of his mouth.

"He freaked the hell out when we were on the way back with her. He showed everybody a tattoo on the back of her neck that none of us had seen before, a sparrow at that. Then he carried her all the way back here from Barrikadnaya by himself. He said they were together once, ten years ago. They both hated the Nazis so they had that in common, I guess. He didn't say anything about the middle of it or how it ended, the only other thing was that he got 'cut off' from her and that he escaped on his own but it wasn't planned out like that."

"Wow, that's… quite a story," that was the first time Artyom had seen sorrow wash across Katya's face as she absorbed everything he said.

"How do you figure? It doesn't make any sense. She was there for another five years without him? She never said anything about him before, and I'm proud to say I've learned a lot about her, so I think I would have heard of it already if it was something serious with them." Artyom still wasn't ready to believe in Katya's speculation wholeheartedly.

"Well, you gotta add up the two sides. He lost his memory and that doesn't just happen for no reason. And I mean, c'mon Artyom, she's got a sparrow tattoo and only he knew where it was?" She crossed her arms resolutely, trying to be convincing.

"Yeah, that's the part I'm stuck on," Artyom gazed off and narrowed his eyes.

"So, they got separated somehow. Oh my God. I wonder what happened? Does she even know that he's here? Has he come to see her?" Katya gestured at Aleks' door.

"No, he didn't even recognize her until we got her out of the Second Unit. And he made all of us swear not to say anything to her, even Colonel Melnik. He said it would make it worse for her if she knew about him. And besides all that, I haven't seen him for two days, his room is empty." Artyom tried to keep his voice down as he noticed two orderlies staring in their direction.

"Is he afraid to talk to her or something? Why doesn't he want her to know anything? What do you think will happen when they see each other? He's got to come by at some point." Katya listed off the same exact questions that Artyom had, but neither of them had the answers.

"I don't know, I think he's avoiding her for some reason. He was really fucked up about it, didn't say a single word after Barrikadnaya. You should have seen him on the railcar, he was a total mess."

"We have to help them!" Katya shook his shoulder vigorously.

"But how? He's my partner and I haven't even heard from him since he stormed out of here in a hurry. What if they broke up in a bad way and he doesn't want to see her again? It sounds more like he did something to her back then and now he regrets it. Maybe she doesn't want anything to do with him or doesn't want to be reminded about whatever happened." Artyom was still trying to work out the story,

Mikhail had almost seemed afraid of Aleks but there were so many other reactions bubbling beneath that disturbed surface to determine what he was really thinking or feeling. A sort of protective nature had taken control of his partner's body like an autopilot and he didn't give anyone else the chance to even touch her, wouldn't let anyone else share the burden of carrying her to the med bay. By the time they had pulled up at Barrikadnaya there was nothing to read on Mikhail's face, as if he'd used all the emotions up already and didn't have anything left to project. Or maybe it had all just switched and become internal, Artyom knew what that was like.

"Okay, we'll have to trade jobs for now," Katya looked pensive, gazing off to the side as she ignored Artyom's statements entirely.

"What do you mean? Trade what jobs?" Was he about to take over her next mission while she stayed here to take care of Aleks? That seemed outrageous yet intriguing.

"Well, I guess normally I'd be the one to talk to Aleks about that kind of sensitive stuff but you need to be here for her. So, I'll go make the rounds and see if I can find out where Sparrow is at."

"You'd do that?" Artyom was suddenly engrossed in this plan, and felt somewhat relieved to have someone to share this burden with. It was nice enough just to be able to express his thoughts on the whole situation, he never thought he'd be getting a new partner in crime. Now they were on a secret mission to find out the truth to the history and possibly reunite Mikhail and Aleks.

"All is fair in love and war!" Katya giggled behind her hand and then looked around for a clock. "I'll check back with you at like… thirteen-hundred or so, kay? If Anya can let me look through the roster, I might be able to see where he's assigned to. If it's close I'll even go talk to him myself."

"What are you going to say, though? Don't set him off again," Artyom shook his head nervously.

"Oh, don't worry, I've known him for five years already. Plus us women are good with this kind of stuff," Katya winked and began to head off with an exaggerated wave.

But Artyom was worried. Worried and curious.

Entering her room once again, he settled down like he had before, pulling the chair up close beside her and opening the book to where he'd left off. Another two chapters brought him an hour closer to her hopeful awakening, but even reading a story about hidden treasure was getting monotonous.

"The whole schooner had been overhauled; six... berths? ...had been made astern out of what had been the after-part of the main hold; and this set of cabins was only joined to the galley and fore..castle? ...by a sparred passage? ...on the port side," he paused and shook his head. "God, what the hell does that even mean? I don't even know what I'm saying anymore."

Placing the book back on the little table, he leaned his head back and stared at the ceiling. He wondered if Katya was having any luck with their mission yet and what she might say to Mikhail if she found him. It sounded as if they were on relatively good terms but maybe not quite close friends. Ulman insisted that Mikhail didn't talk much about his background and that had been true even as Artyom had gotten to know him. He hadn't really introduced himself when they were assigned together, had never offered his full name, or his rank, or that he'd grown up in Chekhovskaya the same as Aleks. Things about the mysterious Ranger had been revealed gradually, just like with Aleks, and now their stories were running alongside each other. Maybe Artyom could mirror Katya's operations and try to get more history out of Aleks, but how could he do that without seeming suspicious or giving away the things he was forbidden to talk about.

He was starting to understand how and why people kept such metaphorical armor around themselves. It seemed that speaking about a troubled past was like reopening a wound; he remembered talking to Aleks that first night in Avtozavod. She told him the truth about the Führer's strict policies, about how she lived with her mother. What could it have been like to live in the same close quarters with people like that? Aleks had risked certain death to get away from her stepfather and it always sounded like her mother couldn't care less about her own daughter. The Nazis kept searching for her, and for Ivanovich, and that was probably only because Aleks had discovered the Führer's darkest secret. Well, who didn't keep a secret or two, anyway? Even Artyom didn't go around telling people that he had destroyed the Dark Ones, shunning his detested Savior of the Metro title at every turn. He had chosen to withhold certain facts from Colonel Melnik when making his report, and he was even keeping a few things from Aleks by choice and by orders.

He was watching her steadily breathing, her chest rising and falling underneath the woven blanket. Sometimes it seemed as if she was dreaming. She'd make tiny movements and slight facial expressions. Extra breaths would increase the beeping monitor for a minute, and then she would settle back down. He had learned these patterns in two days, although he was always ready to jump up and call for the doctor if the monitor went above a certain number. The nurses came in periodically to do their own checks, switch out the IV bags, and scribble in their charts - yes, she's still alive.

But then the beeping increased again and didn't stop. Another machine started to make a different chime that he hadn't heard before.

"Aleks!" Artyom jumped up and called into the hallway, "Hey, someone!"

"Ar...tyom...?" She tried to speak as he entered her field of view, but her mouth was raspy and dry. Her eyes were fearful and bewildered as she looked all around the small room. She seemed to understand that she was at least in a neutral location but wasn't prepared to accept all these things that were attached to her. Artyom sat down on the edge of the bed so she could see him clearly.

"Don't get up, I'm right here," he took hold of her hand and pressed his other hand flat against her chest to keep her from getting out of bed.

"Doctor Orlov!" Nataliya came rushing in and dashed to the opposite side of the room. She examined all the monitors quickly and turned to Aleks with a concerned smile. "Sweetheart, you're in D6, in the med bay, it's alright, you're safe here."

The nurse took her arm with the IV apparatus to check that it was still in place and functioning properly. She ran the blood pressure machine earlier than its scheduled cycle.

"H-how? I... can't…" Aleks strained to even whisper anything, closing her eyes for a few seconds and then reopening them as if she hoped to end up in another dimension.

Artyom couldn't tell what she was trying to say. A young doctor with thick glasses, slicked-back brown hair, and a very clean lab coat came in swiftly and read the monitors again. The beeping was still sounding off rapidly and he gave a nod to Nataliya to silence them.

"Push another three cc of morphine," The doctor looked down at Aleks and Nataliya rushed over to the white cabinet on the wall. "Don't talk, just nod your head. Are you currently experiencing pain?"

Aleks nodded slowly, her eyes were brimming with tears.

"Are you feeling nauseous at all?"

Aleks gently shook her head, negative.

"That's good. Your radiation exposure must have been minimal. I bet you've got one hell of a headache." The doctor took the chart from the footboard and began to make some new notes, checking the time and the screens again. Nataliya came back over to the opposite side of the bed with a loaded syringe, inserting it into a blank port of the IV line.

"Tell... me..." Aleks rasped again, staring intently at the doctor.

Artyom looked over at him, too, trying to explain without words that Aleks wanted to know about her condition. She was trying to sort out what parts of her body were still working and which were broken. Only her right foot was flexing, she contracted her fingers, scrunching up the blanket nervously and not letting go of Artyom's hand.

"You've got a skull fracture, bruised ribs, and a broken tibia. Don't try to move it, it's immobilized in a splint right now. From the bruises on your neck, I'm assuming that your vocal cords took damage from applied pressure." The doctor switched to thinking out loud, he'd apparently been eager for Aleks to awaken and explain what she remembered. There was only so much they could observe from outside her body.

"It's going to be okay," Artyom consoled her again because the doctor seemed to have absolutely no sense of bedside manner, rubbing her arm gently. Tears were falling steadily down her face, was she in pain in her mind, too? Maybe she was simply relieved that she wasn't in Tverskaya anymore.

"He," Aleks raised her free hand and held it over her neck.

"Who? Varnayev?" Artyom asked warily. He'd been instructed not to remind her of what might have gone on in the Second Unit but he was also trying to help her say it if she wanted to. She nodded her head again and sat back, her limbs falling limp and relaxing, the morphine was doing its job.

"You should have your voice back in a few days, we'll get you some water," the doctor motioned to the nurse as he spoke. She was satisfied with the IV line and so went to retrieve the beverage.

"Ar… please," she tried to say more clearly, and now Artyom was tearing up as well. "Don't… go."

"It's okay," he promised, squeezing her hand again. "I'm right here, I'm not leaving."