Relief and exhaustion [Open]

[nothawkingbird.livejournal.com]

It seemed unreal, and yet Kate should have known. They should have looked harder. Other heroes came back before, it wasn't completely surprising for her. Even her father was back. But months past, and they were sure of it. Sure Cassie was gone forever.

Yet, they were wrong, and had no idea she was trapped somewhere. And the hell she went through before they somehow found her. It was heartbreaking. She had visited and made sure she was in Medbay all right, but eventually she stepped away to take a break while her friend slept. Plus with Scott back, he could give her much needed support and look after his daughter again.

She was going to go for a jog in Hydroponics, but she ended up flopping down on the alien grass. She didn't even realize how tired she was because she drifted off moments later. She dozed amidst the plants as some of the fauna occasionally sniffed her curiously.

Comments

[morphitudinous]

Billy was in full agreement, kindly looking the other way while she fixed her hair. He'd gotten the sense from Kimberly that girls liked their hair to be perfect 99.99% of the time.

"That exhaustion's set in for us," he noted, trailing his fingers over some grass and watching it bend. "After that last mission...I've worried, but I'm sure I'm not as invested as you are."

[nothawkingbird.livejournal.com]

It's just a little thing really, but appearances still mattered.

She slowly nodded as her hands went back down on her sides, "Like I said, she's my best friend, and I'm glad she's ok now. But that means all this time... we should have thought maybe she would have shrunk or something. We should have looked harder for her."

[morphitudinous]

Billy swallowed hard, eyes fixed on his knees. He'd had the same thought.

"All this time, I never even considered the possibility that she could still live. The explosion had had witnesses, we weren't sure she could shrink that far, and she never re-emerged. I think the site was searched at least once, but she was just too small to be detected except by the best equipment---that we didn't have on hand."

He sounded bitterly sad, still cringing at all the horror he'd guessed at from her condition.

[nothawkingbird.livejournal.com]

"Well not that far, but she had shrank really small before."

Kate sighed, "Is there any way we can get equipment that can do that? Detect someone alive that small?"