Hector rolled his wrist a bit then used that arm to hold her to him a bit more snugly. "I'm fine." He tried again. "I'm
obviously not dead, or dying, and I really hate just lying here out in the open." He felt exposed, an exposure he knew
would just get worse if that damn sheet moved.
Being held was an entirely different creature from holding someone and Andi's throat tightened up impossibly as
Hector's arm closed around her. She wasn't about to think about what had almost happened to him. Even though she
knew it even better than he did because she'd seen people die that way before. Sometimes - it was impossible not to
in this part of the world. She shut her eyes and somehow found a way to tuck even closer, still careful not to affect
him or all the innumerable things plugged into him at the moment.
"You're not dying anymore." She corrected him and then cleared her throat, turning her face into his shoulder again.
Pulled in a breath before continuing in a more level tone. "Its truly only for a very short time. I promise I'll help you
escape myself as soon as you're well enough." She exhaled. Added softly: "You must hate hospitals desperately."
"Just a little." Hector said. The bad thing for Hector right now, was that one of the agents used as anesthesia for him
was sodium pentothal. Some people called it a 'truth serum,' either way as it worked its way out of someone's body,
their inner monologue seemed to get turned off. Which perhaps contributed to the nurse's envy of Andi when she
came in, for she and Potter had listened to his mumbled ramblings for hours.
"I broke my leg when I was five. The same day my mom died...I was in the hospital for four months because of the
traction and everything. Guess I associate bad news with hospitals. Along with pain, and more pain." He said. "The
shrinks have fun with that subject. Because I refuse to talk about it. They think talking just solves all the problems in
the world, but if it did, obviously the world wouldn't need me, would it? We could send in debaters and have a tea
party instead. So talking really doesn't solve anything except just leave people out there in the open with absolutely
no defenses. I'm really not one for not having defenses, I like them. Stops the pain I think. Physical pain I can deal
with. Carried the bullet for three days after all. Hey, do you know what happened to that bullet? Never saw it. Might
want to. I know, sounds gross, but it was a part of me for a while. Kind of like my appendix was, and I never got to see
that either. And it was perfectly harmless until it decided to become infected. Just like the bullet, if you ask me.
Wonder what they do with things like that? You're a doctor, you should know, right? Or is that 'don't ask, don't tell,'
like gays in the military and possible unethical maybe breaking the Geneva Treaty thing? You know, there were bets
on whether or not I was gay. Strange, orientation for men is judged by how much they go out and make whores of
themselves, then brag about it later. By the way, I'm not gay. I think, I was just patiently waiting. Didn't know for what
or who for the longest time. Think I figured it out. Pretty sure, somewhere I was waiting for you, then I found you. Fate
is funny that way, isn't it? Well, maybe not ha-ha funny, but little grin funny anyway. Shit, its bright in here, and
somehow I'm tired. I haven't done anything and I'm tired. Really don't want to go back to sleep, I miss a lot when I
sleep. I'll miss your whole visit if I keep this up. Don't want to do that. You know what? I love you." Then he paused as
his eyes went wide and he felt heat in his face that had nothing to do with fever or infection. "And I haven't been
thinking silently, have I?"
Andi had been quietly lying against him, absorbing his flow. Once he got started it just didn't automatically shut off
and she stifled a smile as she realized what was going on. Maybe they should keep all men drugged on sodium
pentothal. Constantly. And then her body was reacting instinctively to his last statement before her mind even
registered it. She jerked and the air she'd been breathing suddenly backed up in her chest. Her stomach was already
taking that familiar tumble into weightlessness before her head finished catching up. She went very still against him.
"No." She managed softly after a moment. And a difficult swallow. She shifted, propping herself up on an elbow to
meet his eyes. "No. That was quite out loud." She clarified.
"Damn it." Hector said and closed his eyes, cursing the inventors of whatever he was on. It was like he just couldn't
shut up once he got going, and she had always been able to get him to talk far more easily than anyone else. He
exhaled when she jerked, that didn't tickle, but it was his own fault. Damn it all to hell. Then he opened his eyes again
and met hers. "Yeah, I kinda figured it wasn't all in my head." Where it probably belonged.
She held his eyes. Her own dark and bottomless and turbulent. Her odd stubborn chin jerked upward fractionally.
Finally she drew in a breath that shook a bit and, eyes slipping to the side, quietly asked him:
"Did you want to take it back then?"
"Wouldn't make a difference. Drugged or not, I make a habit of not lying." He said. "But," since she had looked away
and looked thoroughly uncomfortable right now, and it wasn't like he could leave or anything, "if you want me to I will."
Her dark eyes flashed despite her best attempt to keep them from doing so when she looked back at him.
"Don't you dare." She warned, voice still soft and a bit shaken, but there was an undercurrent of fierceness under it.
Which she tried to tamp down with a curve of her lips as she added: "Please don't. In fact, I'd like," she hesitated.
Uncertain if he'd want to. "I'd like to hear it again. If you didn't mind. Saying it intentionally out loud I mean. If it didn't
bother you that is." She stopped herself before she could rephrase it again just to stall.
Potter on the other side of the infirmary was completely forgotten about, but that might not have had to do so much
with his current medicated state. "It didn't bother me when I said it unintentionally." He pointed out, she was the one
that had a mini-freak out over it. "But okay. Intentionally now, I love you." He said and kissed the top of her head.
Then settled back down. "So do you know what they did with the bullet?"
Andi snuggled back down next to Hector, absently tucking the sheet in against him to hold it in place considering how
much they'd managed to move it about already. Feeling - silly. Absolutely silly inside. Giggly and weepy and fiercely
possessive. And light. So very light. Her smile must be absolutely stupid which made it a good thing she was resting
her head in the hollow of his shoulder again. Silly. But she felt the absolutely need to call her Mum anyway.
"I like that." She told him, shutting her eyes as her body relaxed against the length of his. Oh. So very much. The
peace was starting to slip in now and it was warm and deep. "Quite a great deal."
"And your bullet is probably in a hazardous waste bin somewhere. Unless you have a big call for removed bullets as
souvenirs around here. In which case they might have saved it for you. What were you going to do with it anyway?"
"I don't know....make a paperweight or a nick knack out of it...maybe give it to Josh, not tell him where it came from of
course, but it should freak out my sister pretty good." He said, stifling a yawn. "Why am I so tired when all I've been
doing is lying here? Three weeks and the docs say I should be good to go. Are they going to keep me tied down for
three weeks?" He'd have some serious objections if that was the case.
"If they've any common sense at all." Andi remarked calmly. Still with that strange fluting trill going on in her chest.
What Hector didn't understand was that he was 'creating a monster', as her father would say. Once he gave her
something, or rather, once she accepted something from him, she was going to expect it from that point on. Hearing
that he loved her... she rubbed her cheek against his chest and settled in.
"If we can't find it, I'll shoot you again and we'll save that one instead." She told him mildly. Letting out a long, slow
exhale she closed her eyes, stretching her arm across his chest. "If we go to sleep now, we'll still be spending time
together. And you did wake me up far too early this morning..." she let her voice go low and lazy. Not half as tired as
she was pretending to be but thinking a nap might not be such a bad idea for either of them. Especially him. "Unless
you'd like me to ask another leading question and let you think out loud for another ten minutes or so."
He groaned at that idea. "I think I've bordered on mortification enough for one....time." He said, not sure if it was day
or night, the clock didn't say and there were no windows. "See, what I would have done is just told you in a week or so
that I finally saw the inside of the infirmary and left it at that. All this worry and panic for absolutely nothing. You
people run on that, I swear. If there's not an actual situation, you'd just blow a little one out of proportion just to get
your daily fix. They teach you that in medical school?"
"I'm not going to stick my finger down into that rather large and angry hole you've got in the side of you to make my
point simply because I'm not wearing sterilized gloves at the moment." Andi told him calmly, body still relaxed against
his. "But if you think what happened to you is mild or that I'm not very angry with you for being stupid enough to
almost break the box I've transferred my heart to, you're very, very mistaken. And you're also mistaken if you think I
wouldn't be very hurt if something happened to you and no one thought I was important enough to tell me
immediately. For the moment, I'd much rather think about how very nice it is to be in your arms again however. A wise
man might be tempted to make sure I continued to concentrate on that instead of how terrified I should be of what you
almost let happen to yourself." Her voice for the entire time had remained conversational and mild. As if she were
discussing travel arrangements or how to best poach an egg. And her body against his continued its slow, calm
breathing. Relaxed and warm. Her eyes, wisely enough, remained shut however.
Had he not been drugged (he swore he had a mild sedative infusing at all times through the intravenous fluids, but
couldn't prove it), he could have argued point by point. The 'hole' she referred to only got large when the surgeons
decided to mess with it. Until then it had been rather small actually. So it was all their fault. He didn't tell her because
he didn't want to worry her, or freak her out, and obviously Swan and Mark had gone behind his back and consorted
with Mike to make sure she was worried or freaked out. Because she was important to him, he hadn't wanted to put
her through that. As far as 'letting' it happen to him, things happened in his line of work, but he did his best to prevent
them. He hadn't 'let' it happen to him. It just did.
However he was drowsy, and sometimes it was hard to put coherent thoughts together. So all he said in reply, with a
chuckle and his lazy grin was: "Yes dear."
She exhaled and all the fight went out of her. Making her somehow... smaller and frailer.
"You're evil." She sighed it. Helpless against him. Tucking her face against the curve of his jaw, eyes still closed but
now it wasn't anger they were hiding. He got shot in his line of work. She understood that. That wasn't his fault. But
the staying quiet about it, not dropping out when he could and letting the team finish without him, fighting going to the
hospital - those were his fault. He'd almost let himself rot to death from the inside - and she'd seen what that could
look like. It implied a lack of value of himself to his own mind that scared her. In fact she didn't know if anything had
ever terrified her more.
"You're not allowed to do that anymore." Her voice was a whisper. Forced out through a tight throat. He needed his
sleep. But this was important. Whether he wanted it to be or not. She'd beg if she had to. "What you do effects me
now too. You're mine now too, Hector. I'm the one who is always going to be waiting for you to come home. And I like
the body you're wearing. Please - pay more attention to it when it’s hurt from now on. Please. Just that. Promise me
that?"
Because she couldn't ask him to always come back. But she could ask him to remember it was important to her that
he did.
"Okay." He agreed. "I promise to pay more attention to those annoying things if you promise to do the normal day to
day things. You know, like eat...catch sleep when you can...things like that." He couldn't be positive that she had
eaten her entire time here, and frankly he didn't even know how long she had been here.
Cara returned to hang another antibiotic for the injured soldier, and this was not what she was expecting to find. First
off, there were two people in the bed. And one of the patient's arms was untied. She looked over at Potter, who
shrugged from his stance at the coffee maker. "If he gets away, you get to track him down this time." She said to Andi,
hanging the medicated fluid on the pole.
She opened her mouth to protest with her usual 'I eat' claim. And then realized that she actually did have to think to
remember the last time she had. And that it had probably been dinner at the Red Cross camp the night before she'd
come here. And she truly wasn't sure how long ago that had been.
So she blew out a breath in a quiet huff instead.
"Fine." She mumbled with a decided lack of graciousness. Skipping a meal because you were busy and carrying a
bullet around inside yourself without a word for three days wasn't exactly the same thing. "I'll make it a point to eat
more often." If she was serious about it she was going to have to ask Suz to start reminding her. And if she did,
Suzette would take it as an excuse to be very, very persistent about it. But it was part of the deal if that's what he was
willing to trade for paying attention to himself.
She hoped he realized what he was asking from her.
"And I still think you're evil." She told him.
The nurse came in and Andi, without moving, cracked an eye open to see what she was doing. Laughed softly at the
threat.
"I'll sit on him." She agreed.
Cara looked doubtfully at the doctor for that statement, thinking that if he got completely loose, and she sat on him to
try and restrain him, the Delta would probably carry her with him off to wherever he was headed, which was probably
anywhere but here. She wondered if Andi knew exactly how much the unattached and younger set of few women on
this base were decidedly green with envy.
"What are you hanging now?" Hector asked, arching his head back a bit to look at all the various hanging bags that
were dripping into his veins. "Cyanide?"
"Vancomycin." Cara said with a chuckle. "If your temperature goes down a few more degrees, we can let you eat."
Because that would be a sign that his belly wasn't as septic as it had been. Which was why they weren't letting him
eat.
"Break out the ice. I'll get it down."
Andi chuckled against him.
"You'd just send it back up again with that horrid tobacco sauce of yours." She commented, shutting her eyes again.
Having caught the glance Cara had given her. She understood the general meaning behind it. That she was very
blessed. And that Hector probably hadn't realized he had a fan club here.
She was blessed. Men usually didn't go for odd faced, tall, bony, quiet women. They much preferred Suz with her
exotic eyes and her teasing accent and her - well stocked figure. Even Molly had probably had a better chance with
her perky attitude and bubbly smile. And speaking of which... Andi opened her eyes again and propped herself on an
elbow. It had been - quite a while...
"Do you know where the other two doctors that came in with me are?" She asked. Potter, on the other side of the
room, chuckled.
"Last I knew, making mince meat of the male population?" He suggested. Cara laughed.
"I think they actually went back to the Red Cross camp. 'For supplies' Mike told me."
Andi's eyebrows shifted that the nurse knew and was comfortable calling Mike by first name. Short time. Of course he
only ever introduced himself as Mike but still... it would be nice...