trans_9 | What if I bleed, What if I break; [Open to anyone in Medbay]

Claire had somehow managed to sleep through quite a lot in the last day and a half. Maybe she would've woken up sooner if she'd had any idea of what was going on around her, but whether it was the drugs or overall fatigue from blood loss and the energy it had taken to keep awake until shed been put under, she slept through the night and most of the day. She came close to waking up a few times, stirring in her sleep or voices pulling her up from her dreams, but she'd slip under again before fully waking.

After a while, she just couldn't sleep anymore, however. She wasn't particularly quick in the waking aspect, of course. She was aware first that she wasn't in her "bed" in the precinct almost immediately. Her stomach felt oddly numb, and slowly she blinked her eyes open, staring up at the ceiling above her, a look of slightly disoriented confusion passing over her face. One hand moved to her stomach, and she felt the bandage there, remembering.

I got shot. The thought was a little disturbingly calm. She briefly considered sitting up to get a better look around her, but there was a dull ache underneath the numbness, and she decided she was pretty good in the position she was currently in, for the moment. She did turn her head, though, when she caught movement in her peripheral vision.

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"Oh," he said simply, and a look of mild annoyance crossed his features before he could stop it.

He wasn't about to go whining to Claire about Leon throwing him out earlier though. He didn't need her to fight his battles for him. "I'm sure they were worried too." That was an idiotic thing to say, he thought a second later, but oh well.

Claire noticed the look of annoyance, and frowned a little more, but didn't say anything. At his response though, she had to bite the inside of her cheek and remind herself that he wasn't intentionally placing an order in the people worried for her.

"They were. Sherry said she hadn't seen Leon sleep a wink since the fight, and she was looking pretty tired when she came by, too." She could only hope that both her best friend and daughter were now actually getting the sleep they needed.

Seeing Claire's concern for the two of them made Steve start to internally curse himself. Why are you getting jealous of a little girl and some guy? She cares about them, so why don't you just get over it already?

"He's chief of security, so he... must have a lot to worry about all at once," Steve went on. That didn't really excuse him for acting like a dick, but having a lot on your mind always made everything harder. Why are you making excuses for him? "And she's too little to have to worry about losing her mom like that..."

Way to tell Claire what she already knows, idiot. "Ugh... Sorry. I'm just thinking out loud," he said quickly. "I'm glad they didn't get hurt too."

There was a slight flicker of emotion across Claire's face when Steve mentioned the possibility of Sherry losing her mother, which could be easily taken as it being something difficult for her to think of. And it was, she had no intention of leaving Sherry willingly. But that had as much to do with the fact that Sherry already had lost her mother as anything. Not that Steve would know that, of course.

"Yeah," she finally replied, pressing her lips together and looking down at her stomach again. "I'd rather it be me in here than them, to be honest. I can deal with me getting hurt, but people I care about..." She exhaled, shaking her head.

Jeez. He hadn't meant to come down here and depress her. And he hadn't meant to remind her again that Claire might have died and left Sherry without a mother. Why did he have to start talking about people's mothers anyway? There was a knot tying itself in his stomach just mentioning it. He tried to think of something to say to change the subject, but was coming up blank.

"Same with me," Steve finally muttered under his breath, but loud enough where she could have heard it.

She looked over at him at that, her brow furrowing as she tilted her head.

"I'm sorry." She hadn't even been thinking about the fact that he had just recently lost everyone he cared about. She felt awful, now.

If it meant he wouldn't have to remember helplessly watching his mother get shot, Steve would have taken a hundred bullets for her. But the last thing Steve wanted was to turn this into a pityfest for him, and especially with the look on Claire's face right now.

"No, it's fine," he said quickly, shaking his head. "It's not like that. Just-- I agree with you. If I had the choice of getting hurt or letting people I care about get hurt, I'd take it myself every time."

And that turned things awkward. Steve turned a bit red and promptly looked away. "It's just. How good people are."

"That's right," Claire nodded, wiping the sad look off her face, although the sadness in her eyes still lingered. "And you are a good person, Steve." She never questioned that.

Steve's face matched his hair all of a sudden. After a moment he worked up the courage to look back at her and crack a smile. An incredibly tense and awkward smile, but a smile nonetheless.

"Thanks. I should, uh. I should probably go so you can get some more rest. Shouldn't just sit here and talk you to death. Do you need anything?"

Claire knew that look, but she didn't really know how to reassure him, so she just shook her head.

"No, I'm good. Thank you for coming to see me, though."

"Yeah, of course." He stood up and smiled awkwardly at her again. "I'll be back sometime too. Just try not to give the doctors too much trouble, okay?"

Claire shook her head, laughing a little. "What is with everyone thinking I'm going to raise hell when I still can't feel much below my waistline?" She smirked, nodding her head at Steve.

"I'll be good."

What if I bleed, What if I break; [Open to anyone in Medbay]

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