[Sarah]

“Love,” she echoed, looking away. She’d been loved. she had loved. Why did this feel so much different? When she gained the courage to look at him again, he seemed resigned to bad news. She reached out to his hands and took them in her own. “I-“ she waited a heartbeat too long before continuing.

“They told me it was hopeless – that you couldn’t feel the same way I did but I had to try, and I couldn’t leave you like that,” he interrupted, and she let him air his insecurities.

[Sarah]

“I love you too,” Chrysies whispered once he was done.

“no you don’t ha-“

“I don’t have to,” she agreed, “but I do, I love you, and I think that’s why learning you were married hurt so much.” He looked guilty, pained, but that had not been her intention. She squeezed his hands and he looked at her once more. “You had your reasons and I had mine, but… we can move forward now,” she said, although it was more a question than a hard statement.

[Sarah]

Warden hummed his agreement and moved closer to her. His thighs made contact with her knees and she looked up at him curiously. He leaned towards her, but she stopped him before he could kiss her. “You need to eat and rest,” she murmured, her lips ghosting over his. His eyes narrowed but he did not protest. Warden had to know he looked half dead. Chrysies wondered how anyone else in the hospital had let him get so gaunt. She’d had friends once, and he’d had friends.

[Sarah]

She took his hand and let him lead her out of the hospital room. “Who was that guy?” she asked.

Warden chuckled softly. “Adam. He didn’t get punched because of you,” he said, and he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze.

She nodded shortly even though Warden wasn’t looking at her. The hospital couldn’t have changed that much since she’d been… gone wasn’t the right word but she certainly hadn’t been present either. Everything looked the same. Although Chrysies noticed the stares as they walked down the halls.

[Sarah]

The structuring of the hospital had not changed at least. She recognized the path Warden took to the lunchroom. Chrysies didn’t want to be apart from him. Beyond the revelation they shared about their feelings the length he went to just to get her back was worthy of her eternal servitude. Warden wouldn’t see it that way. In fact, Chrysies was sure he’d be pissed if she said as much. She wasn’t a servant she was a person, and she’d been lectured time and time again about it when she first started at the hospital.

[Hunt Complete]

[Sarah]

“Warden!” A frantic looking nurse caught up to her. Warden was swaying where he stood, and shehovered protectively behind him. Upon seeing her the nurse balked. “N-never mind Doctor,” the nurse corrected quickly. Chrysies glared at her back as she hurried away. Warden needed to eat, and sleep and she didn’t care who died to get him what he needed. Gods only knew he wouldn’t take care of himself if some emergency was going on.

[Sarah]

He turned on Chrysies quickly. Under normal circumstances the action might have intimidated her, but when he wobbled dangerously the action was almost comical. She reached out a hand to steady him before he fell over. From the look in his eyes she could tell he wasn’t happy with her scaring away the nurse, yet he did not refuse her offered balance. “Please,” she begged, “Eat and rest. There are other doctors in the hospital.”

[Sarah]

He scowled for a heartbeat before turning back towards the cafeteria. Chrysies thanked herlucky stars and walked closely to him in case his body did decide to give out on him. He slumped into the first available chair and she could feel his eyes on her as she procured food. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing. Warden could have literally been running on fumes from the way he looked. Chrysies returned to the table to find him asleep.

[Sarah]

His arms were crossed, and his head was lulled forward slightly. His eyes were closed. She noticed his breathing was bordering on snoring. Chrysies smiled softly to herself and set the food in front of him before taking a seat next to his own. She pushed herself closer to him and argued with herself about whether or not she wanted to wake him. His stomach growled loudly, and her decision was made. She shook his shoulder gently.

[Sarah]

“Warden?” she prodded quietly. “Love,” she said after a moment more of him not waking. He shifted and mumbled something sleepily. “You need to eat. Please,” she said, daring to speak a little more loudly.

Another body approached her table and when they paused in front of it her head snapped up. Adam. He had a cut on his cheek and a sad smile on his lips. “He’s nearly killed himself over you,” he said as he sat down across from her. Chrysies gave him a hard glare and turned her attention back to Warden.

[Sarah]

Chrysies couldn’t very well shove food down his throat while he slept but the thought was tempting. He’d kept asleep despite her poking and prodding so for now she was content to let him rest. She'd hoped he’d eat first and she knew sleeping in a chair wouldn’t be particularly restful, but anything was better than nothing.

“Debra called me here. Fuck I hate the coast, but I’d never heard her so scared, and despite what he might’ve told you we are friends,” Adam was going on.

[Sarah]

A part of Chrysies wondered why she were listening to him. Maybe it was because she felt like she owed him. Warden had done so much for her, but she knew it was Adam that had awoken her and not Warden. Well… Even if she owed Adam, he didn’t have to know about it. “He’s in bad shape,” Adam said after she met his previous words with utter silence.

“Do you have a point in guilting me?” she snapped without taking her eyes off of Warden.

[Sarah]

Adam sighed heavily but stayed quiet after that. Chrysies had taken one of Warden’s hands in her own and she stroked it gently, idly, as she watched him sleep. “You’re a doctor, aren’t you?” she asked Adam.

“Yeah,” he confirmed.

“Why aren’t you helping with the influx that just came through the emergency room?” she asked. Chrysies couldn’t force Adam away, but she did wonder why he insisted on being near Warden or her.

“I’m not that kind of doctor,” he said.

[Sarah]

She began to get the sense that Adam was overly self-important. Unfortunate. Although it did have her curious about the kind of person Warden was before she met him. Had he been that self-important too? Adam seemed like the kind of guy that surrounded himself with people that went just as hard and fast as he did. Warden was intense but he was kind and generous too. There was a vague picture in Chrysies' mind of the worst parts of Warden being turned to a higher setting.

[Sarah]

The image was almost amusing. As she were smiling to herself Warden’s eyes fluttered. His grip on her hand tightened slightly and she leaned forward in her chair. “Hey,” she said softly. “Is there anything I can get you?” she asked.

His eyes opened a bit more and he tried, to what success Chrysies didn’t know, to shake the sleep off. Warden looked at her, at her hands, at Adam. His gaze narrowed then, but when it returned to her it softened.

[Hunt Complete]