Dr Martinez came in to check on his one patient and raised an eyebrow at the scene, and the fact that Hector was
untied. He had a nice bruise on his chest from when Hector had tried to get away last time, and didn't relish the
thought of taking the Delta on again for his own good. "How are you feeling?" He asked warily.
"Peachy."
Andi, tucked in close to Hector, gave a smile at the 'peachy'. At the word itself and the tone Hector used when he
said it.
She'd been very good, she thought. She'd been very careful to leave all the medical choices and calls to the people
assigned to take care of Hector and she hadn't poked her nose into it, past reading the charts and watching. She
hadn't checked to make sure Cara was doing the right dosages or voiced any opinions. She'd paid enough attention
to what was going on to know they were doing their job and doing it well and other than that she'd tried not to be
thought of as 'yet another doctor' they didn't really need.
But if they asked her to move...
"Uh huh." Dr. Martinez checked the machines and the chart Cara handed him. Wondering if canoodling in bed with
the patients was an English method of treating them he hadn't read about. Not that he was going to complain. The
Delta was still in the bed after all. But he also realized he wasn't going to joke about it either because he wanted the
Delta to stay in the bed after all and one nasty bruise was enough for now. Both the MP and the nurse were acting
as if nothing was out of the ordinary and, even though it seemed rude, he couldn't think of a way to greet the Red
Cross doctor that would sound professional. "Mm hm." He cleared his throat and stated instead. Making notations on
the chart. Wondering why he never had any beautiful women crawl into bed with him when he was sick. Wondering
where the heck Hector had managed to find the time to meet and win over one that didn't mind doing that for him.
"So, uh" he looked at Hector's free hands again. "You're planning on staying in bed tonight, right?" Which, just
sounded horribly awkward now that he'd said it and he cleared his throat again. Technically, Hector shouldn't even
be able to get on his feet at this point but he'd seen the Delta do a lot of things someone as hurt as him shouldn't be
able to do too. He rubbed absently at his chest at the thought.
Hector had to laugh at the doctor's discomfiture. "Why? Were you going to try to stop me if I said no?" He asked,
more teasing than anything. He'd been told what a fight he'd put up at one time, he honestly didn't have any memory
with the fever and the drugs and everything else.
Martinez coughed and handed the chart back to Cara. "Look, I’ll talk till I'm blue in the face how its in your best
interest to keep your ass in bed and let the medicine work before you split open my carefully applied stitches, really
a work of art. But you'd just ignore me so I'll save my breath." He looked at Andi. "However, according to Sam, her
boss, once you're on your feet, she's to go back to the camp.' Oh yes, he was going to blackmail Hector.
Hector rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I get it. I'm in for the night, happy?"
"Ecstatic.”
Andi chuckled.
"Be nice." She touched Hector's nose with a finger in warning. Then she turned her head to look at the doctor. It was
true. She was bending and outright breaking all kinds of rules simply by being here right now. She wasn't going to be
able to get away with it forever. "We'll stay put for tonight." She promised.
"Good." Martinez managed. Thinking he should warn them about strenuous activity and deciding that he wasn't
going to. They wouldn't... she was a doctor... not with other people right there... The thought line was getting too
painfully awkward even in the silence of his own head. "So - ah, everything's fine. Don't tear those stitches." As close
as he could come. "And I'll be back to check things in the morning." He'd actually intended to double check what
Cara had already checked just to be able to physically see it for himself but... he'd do that some other time.
"Ooh, look at that. I got out of a physical, all that poking and prodding." Hector chuckled and looked at Andi. "Good
job body guard type person. Might have to keep you on retainer."
"Yeah, so I'm shutting the lights down when I leave." Martinez said, heading for the door. "Get some sleep or we'll
just drug you."
"I love how he makes it sound like I have a choice."
Andi was still laughing over the 'body guard type person' line when Martinez shut down most of the lights on his way
out and she wound her arms around Hector's shoulders, careful of the IV lines in the new dimness of the room.
"I thought they'd never leave." She teased, voice just loud enough to carry to Potter and Cara who were both
switching on small desk lights for their different work. Potter made a noise as he cleared his throat but otherwise
went back to acting as if he wasn't paying attention. Smiling brightly at Hector, Andi tucked herself more completely
against him as she settled in and asked in a softly cheerful voice:
"See? I told you I was fearsome." She kissed his chin lightly and asked: "So what were you thinking of paying for my
formidable services as a thugee?"
"Actually not much." He said honestly with a chuckle. "It’s a good minute if I can string together two or three coherent
thoughts." He'd been fighting the drugs in his own way for a long enough period of time that his head was all foggy.
"Remember to ask me when they stop drugging me. Unwillingly I might add." Of course, he said that now. He had yet
to be completely undrugged, and had no idea of the pain the doctors and nurses were sparing him from.
"Mm." She hummed softly, gently stroking her fingers through his hair as she watched his face. With every intent of
helping him slide into the sleep she knew he needed. "Maybe I should ask them to keep you on a drip indefinitely. I
like you when you're groggy. You say the most interesting things." She was teasing softly but her voice was low and
soothing. Right now, her world was perfect. "Go to sleep, my love" she whispered. "I'll be here when you wake up."
"Good, cause I don't see them letting me up to track you down." He said with a chuckle, eyes closing. He also knew
that her presence was the only reason he wasn't still tied down. They were far too familiar with Deltas in general and
him in particular to chance not tying him down. A minute or inattention from Potter, Cara in another room...and he'd
disappear. In a heart beat.
But she was here, so they didn't reapply the restraints, and he also had no intention of leaving either. Which made
everyone happy little campers in their own way as he drifted off into his first non drug induced sleep in quite a while.
Her sleep schedule probably hadn't had a pattern since she'd gone away to university in England. If there was
anything traceable about it at all in fact, it was that she usually slept light and short. Except - even by Red Cross
standards - Andi was exhausted. And so she slept long and late, wrapped up safe and warm in Hector's arms. And
when she woke up, she woke up slow with a soft contented sigh.
There was no slow awareness of who she was with. Even before her mind started she already knew she was home.
That this was Hector. Her Hector. And she was right where she was supposed to be. The whys and wherefores of
how she'd ended up that way came slower. In the night he'd shifted one of his long legs over both of hers and moved
his shoulder to shield her unconsciously and she didn't move for a long, lazy time, enjoying the feel of his covering
presence. Enjoying his warmth, and the clean smell of him. The warm, steady exhale of his breath against her throat
that sent her stomach spiraling in the strangest way and the feel of his body against hers. Her heart beat low and
slow in her chest and she thought... oh... thank You. Thank You for this...
"The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His
face toward you and give you peace..."
She whispered the words quietly so it didn't wake him because he needed his sleep, one of her long fingered hands
resting against the back of his head caressively. People thought it was an Irish blessing but it was actually a biblical
one. The blessing the priests were told to use to bless God's chosen people. She had always thought it
encompassed every good thing you could ever want for someone. And she wanted so much good for the man in her
arms. He'd never think to ask for it himself. So she asked instead. Asking God to keep the man she loved safe and
whole and loved. All the days of his life.
Hector slept fully and deeply. Perhaps a little medicinal help through out the night, but not much. Cara watched from
her desk, and when the Delta would move, she'd give him the lowest dose of painkillers she could intravenously so
he didn't awake from sharp pain shooting in his side. Low dose, because the point wasn't sedation. Strangely
enough, he seemed the most sedated she had ever seen him, even under anesthesia. Then in the early morning
hours she gave potter a pat on the shoulder and retired to her own barracks, trusting the doctor to keep the Delta in
line long enough for her to get a couple hours of badly needed sleep.
Potter had had to explain to his relief that the couple on the bed was not only all right, but sanctioned by Martinez
himself, then retired to get some sleep himself, leaving another MP reading a car magazine and the intertwined
bodies on the bed, in repose for the most part.
And when Hector did wake up, it wasn't anything dramatic, or even noticeable if you were father away from him than
Andi. Simply opened his eyes and he was awake.
"Morning." He said with a smile, seeing she was already awake, though doing a good job in staying absolutely still.
So it was that, along with just his body tired from everything it had been through, and his mind finally giving in, that
had let him sleep in as long as he had.
"Mm." She hummed it with a soft smile smoothing across her lips. "Good morning." Gentle she brushed the hair back
from his temple, body relaxed against his. In absolutely no hurry to move. What a wonderful way to wake up. "You
looked like you were sleeping well."
"I was." He admitted with a smile, his fingers on her back toying with the long strands of hair. Best sleep he'd gotten
in a long time that was for sure. Even beat that night in the Red Cross camp, if only because he didn't have to listen
for the choppers due to land any minute. Here, choppers landed all the time, but today none of them were for him.
He was still stuck inside the shiny, sterile infirmary. The only thing that kept him from bolting, since the MP on duty
wasn't paying attention, was the fact that the woman he loved was in his arms when he awoke. And bolting would
have meant moving and he didn't want to do that.
He looked so utterly at peace. It soaked warmth through her. It was funny how he could make her stomach do that
strange pleasant flipping thing with the light, careless touch of his fingers in her hair and also twist her heart up in
her chest at the same time and make her want to melt. She reached over to slip her fingers along his cheek, eyes
warm and soft and full of the way he made her feel.
"I love you too." She told him, voice soft. Unconsciously answering what his face already told her. Touched his lips
softly with her fingers and her own lips curved. "Even when I'm not on drugs."
He chuckled a bit and kissed her fingertips lightly. "Well, good. Because both of us on drugs might be too much for
this place to handle." He said with a smile and kissed her.
Just as Dr Martinez breezed. "Well good morning troops!" He said brightly. Fully aware of what he was interrupting.
And given what Hector had put them all through, he didn't feel guilty about that. "Good to see smiling faces in the
infirmary."
She had just slipped her arms around his shoulders and let herself sink entirely into his kiss when they were
interrupted. As much as she dealt with Molly every morning, Andi suddenly decided - she didn't like cheerful people
first thing in the morning. Not at all. The MP, who wasn't as good as Potter at pretending he wasn't paying attention,
quickly went back to his magazine. Andi made a sound of protest. She hadn't been throughly kissed in what, to her,
felt like a very long time.
"Tell him to go away." She pleaded softly, arms still around Hector. "Promise we'll still be smiling if he comes back
later?"
"Because I have so much sway over the infirmary, as you've noticed." Hector said, leaning his head against her
forehead. With his foot he worked the blanket down so the bandage was exposed. "Poke away, but I ain't moving."
"Does everything have to be fight with you?" Martinez asked with a sigh.
Hector just chuckled.
"I like your funny words too." She told Hector, eyes on his as she slipped a hand up to play softly with where his hair
curled against the back of his neck, nails trailing lightly. Distracting because she knew how much the poking and
prodding was going to hurt. "Even if you are horribly mangling your mother language."