There's got to be a morning after [VERY OPEN]

[craaazyisland]

It took a few moments for any thoughts to register for Steve when he opened his eyes. He recognized the inside of a quarantine bubble, that was for sure, but it took him longer to recognize the medical equipment hooked up to him, an IV in his arm and bandages wrapped around his bare shoulder and in a few other spots.

It didn't take long to recognize the feeling of having been run over by a truck, either. Every bone in his body ached, and even the slightest movement made him want to groan. It felt like he'd been asleep for a month-- a dreamless sleep, preceded by blurry, disconnected memories of what felt like a dream.

Memories of something he desperately, desperately hoped was just a dream. He had a sinking feeling it wasn't and part of him knew it to be the truth. But desperately hoping was the only way he could keep himself from screaming, which would hurt, so he'd keep on with that desperate hope anyway.

Steve lay awake and stared at the ceiling. Maybe if he stayed quiet they'd think he was still asleep, and he could put the truth and all the fear and sorrow that came with it off a while longer.

Comments

[ghost-bait.livejournal.com]

It was the seventh time that Miku had approached quarantine before turning around and walking away, but maybe this time it would be the lucky time. It needed to be the lucky time.

She had given herself lots of time to think after Nanoha's talk. She'd dreamt with no nightmares that day, luckily, and the spectre of Steve's monstrous face had started to fade. If Miku loved him like she thought she did, maybe it wouldn't show up when she finally saw him again.

She exhaled slowly and tried to calm the ball of nerves in her stomach bouncing around like rubber to little avail. She adjusted the two bento she'd made. One for Dr. Sera, whom she'd promised one on the advent of his success (which, despite the horrible scenario that had played out, had saved Steve), the other for said boyfriend, if he was awake.

Well, if he wasn't, maybe Dr. Sera would just get two. (He needed it, anyway.)

Miku put one foot through the threshold and felt her legs seize up like they had the other seven times. No, no. She had to do this. She had to see this all through instead of chickening out and hiding in her room until doomsday. Even if that did sound like a better idea.

She forced her next step, and the next, and the next, until she finally arrived at what she hoped was Steve's bubble. He looked terrible, all hooked up to things like he was, and wrapped up like the proverbial mummy. Miku sighed and turned, preparing to leave. "It would be like that," she murmured to herself.

[craaazyisland]

Okay, so the pretending to be asleep thing didn't work out so well when he heard her voice. Steve lifted his head only slightly, glancing out the front of the bubble and speaking in a hoarse voice.

"Miku?"

As though it heard him, the bubble slipped open and the barrier faded away. Huh. He wondered if that was supposed to happen.

[ghost-bait.livejournal.com]

A jolt struck through her in surprise, and she nearly dropped the lunches. She turned her head and, gracious, all the stupid, screwed-up feelings that had been roiling around her for days swelled up. It made her simultaneously want to run away or run to him. Clamping down hard on it, she stepped inside the bubble and started to walk towards his bed. "You're... you're awake."

Very observant, Miku.

[craaazyisland]

Awake and pretty confused, but he read her demeanor and all that desperate hope went flying away into dreamland with the rest of the past few... hours? Days? Weeks? He had no clue.

As she approached he gasped out a little breath (it hurt to do much more than that) and lay back on the bed again. "I-I'm sorry, Miku," he murmured. "I'm so, so sorry."

He wasn't exactly sure what for, but he didn't know what else to say.

[ghost-bait.livejournal.com]

The bubble drew back into place behind her and she put the lunches to the side, on a small table. She shifted on her feet for just a moment and gave him a sad, soft look. "It's okay, Steve. It's over now. It's okay," she soothed.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara had not forgotten what Claire had asked, and so once she knew where Steve was located, she'd made her way down. A part of her didn't know what to expect: Steve hadn't really liked her too much, and for all she knew her help might not even be necessary. Still, she wanted to know that she could do something for him, especially after what had happened to him and what it had made him do. She was really concerned with what he was going through right now.

She peeked and saw him staring at the ceiling, walking over to him. She closed her eyes and brought her Pactio card to her forehead, saying, "Adeat."

The change happened instantly and Katara was in her white cloak, a pin of her water tribe symbol keeping it all together.

"Steve?"

[craaazyisland]

It had been a while since anyone had stopped by and the drugs were making everything a bit foggy, so Steve was more than a little bit alarmed to see a girl in a long white cloak appearing by his bedside.

It took a moment for him to recognize who she was.

"What?" he murmured, for all the world suspicious.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Katara pulled the hood back, just so he knew that it was her and not some creepy person trying to harm him: she remembered how distrustful he had been of the ship in general. She held up a hand.

"It's me, Katara," she said. "You know, that girl that annoyed you that one time? I wanted to make sure that you were all right: I'm trying to give you some healing if you'll let me."

[craaazyisland]

"I think that depends on your definition of 'all right,'" he replied, in a deadpan tone of voice. He looked away from her to stare at the wall, slowly (and painfully) crossing his arms. "Just... leave me alone. I'm fine."

[silverduelist]

Yzak was the overly curious type. Nosy? A little. But in this case it was a mix of nosy and concern. Sitting around in medbay was boring anyway, and it wasn't as if he was wandering far or not planning to return. In the aftermath of the attacks, Yzak was grateful that those around him were only injured. Sure, some were worse off than others, but they weren't killed. They'd just take a little longer to heal.

He'd heard there were others in Contagion, so headed over there to check it out. He had no idea if anybody he knew had been attacked, so braced himself just in case. He was taken aback when he spotted Steve-- not because he realized who he was right away, but that someone looked to be in such shitty shape. But he was awake; that was a good sign.

That kid... he though, leaning forward. "Hey?" he kept his voice calm and low, something you didn't see often.

[craaazyisland]

Steve looked up at him, and recognized him pretty quickly-- obvious by the way he turned red and quickly looked away.

"What?" he asked.

[silverduelist]

Yzak just blinked at that. But hey, maybe he was like him - hated to be seen in a state like the one he was in.

"I was just coming in to ... see who was in here." Aside from Steve, Yzak didn't really notice anybody else. "You look like you had an unfortunate run in."

[craaazyisland]

He looked at the other man incredulously.

"Yeah. I guess you could call it an unfortunate run in," he replied, his voice laced with sarcasm. Was it possible this guy didn't know?

[flunkingspanish.livejournal.com]

Paco sat down with his back against the outside of Steve's bubble, taking a few moments to make himself comfortable. He was armed with his omnicomm to keep himself entertained while he waited, if Steve was still unconscious. He hadn't actually checked, since that...would be kind of rude, really.

"So," he said, staring off into middle distance. "If you're awake and want to talk, I'm here to listen and talk back. If you're awake and don't want to talk, I'm here for moral support. If you're not awake, then, uh, I guess I'll repeat this until you do wake up. Whichever you want, I'm cool. I've got reading material."

[craaazyisland]

"I'm awake," a tired voice answered back from inside the bubble. "But I don't know what there is to talk about. It's kind of a drawn conclusion."

Steve at least waited until he had Paco's attention before he made the bubble fade away. Somebody must have programmed it where he could control it... because it certainly hadn't had that feature the other thousand times he was thrown in here.

"You can come in if you want," he muttered.

[flunkingspanish.livejournal.com]

"Well, it doesn't have to be about what happened," Paco said with a philosophical shrug. "We can talk about other stuff stuff too. Distract you a bit."

When he entered the bubble and got a good look at Steve, he almost said something about how Steve looked like he'd been hit by a truck. But he didn't, he wasn't that thoughtless.

"How you holding up, dude?"

[craaazyisland]

"Like I've been hit by a truck."

He shrugged his shoulders again, and gave a barely noticeable wince of pain. "I don't know. About as well as you can when you turn into a monster and try to kill everybody you know," he replied. "I didn't attack you too, did I?"

[leafonthewind]

Wash had been awake for a while - he'd passed out while being carried to the medbay, but while his injuries had been serious, they hadn't been life-threatening.

It was the contamination they were all worried about, and by extension Wash was worried about it too.

He'd been vaguely awake when they brought the kid in. They had him lying on his stomach so that Stacy's machines and the doctors could do their work on the ragged claw marks and burns on his back, and his eyes had tracked over Steve as they put him in one of the other beds.

He still wasn't supposed to get up, but he waved vaguely in Steve's direction. "Good to see you've joined the 'verse again. They've been worried about you, far as I can tell."

[craaazyisland]

Steve glanced up at the address, then sort of shyly ducked his head back down. "Ah, yeah... I'll probably be fine."

He paused for a moment, then looked up again. "Are you okay?"

[leafonthewind]

Wash flipped his hand, dismissive. "Sure, sure, I've had worse." This was nothing compared to Niska. Bloodier, but less overall pain. Of course, if Zoe had been there, he would be singing a very different tune, but she wasn't and so the macho front was coming out. "It only hurts when I breathe too deep or try to sit up."

He wasn't trying to make Steve feel guilty, honest.

[craaazyisland]

His face sank anyway. After some of his other visitors he wasn't sure how many people actually drew the connection between him and the creature (even though Steve thought it was obvious since nobody else he could think of had his particular shade of red hair.)

"I'm... really sorry about all this," he muttered, leaning back against his bed again.

[restoresbalance.livejournal.com]

Luke came in a little later than everyone else. He'd wanted to have a little quiet around when he talked with Steve. All of this had been hard enough on the poor kid without anything else.

"You're not fooling anyone, you know," he said gently, smiling as he approached the bed. "Definitely not a Jedi."

[craaazyisland]

"Well, I thought you would have figured that one out already."

Steve had an awkward smile on his face as Luke approached, but it looked on the verge of breaking as the Jedi drew closer. Finally he glanced away, seeming to shrink down in the bed some.

"Did I attack you too?"

[restoresbalance.livejournal.com]

Luke drew up a stool and sat beside Steve's bed. The smile was gone, but the Jedi didn't look angry, or even concerned.

"That doesn't matter to me," he said, leaning his elbows on the edge of the bed. "You're all right now, and that's what's important."

[craaazyisland]

Steve shrank a little further, if it was even possible.

"I fucked up," he muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. "I wasn't strong enough to stop it."