The Medical Ward

A pounding headache assaulted Eric as soon she opened her eyes. She swore and shielded her eyes from the bright, overhead lights of the respawn room. Why exactly was she in here again? Oh, right, the RED spy had shot her. After remembering that, details from the fight slowly bubbled to the surface of her aching head. Goddamn spy, couldn’t just let her limp back to her base in peace. Nope. Had to kill her. Once her eyes had adjusted to the nearly blinding ceiling lights, she sat up, cursing once again as her body screamed out in protest. Everything was sore, and both of her hands felt as if the skin was on fire. Not being able to die was pretty handy, but did it always have to be such a big hassle?

Slowly, she convinced her body to stand upright, all the while cradling her head in her hand. At least there was no match going on, so relaxing for a while wouldn’t be a problem. One thing that could be more quickly resolved, however, was the headache that seemed to get worse with every breath. Advil, that’s what she needed for it. Where should she go for Advil again…? She paused, piecing thoughts together. Down the hall, by the dorms… yes, the medical ward, Ian would be in there, that’s where she needed to go. Duh.

With her thoughts more organized, and body aching a bit less, she set off slowly toward the medical ward. It felt like the walk took ages, but eventually she saw the familiar doorway come into view. Eric approached the room, but paused in the doorway. Ian seemed busy in the room, bustling from one desk to this cabinet to this drawer… Hell if she knew what he was doing. Her mouth opened, about to call out a greeting, but suddenly a thought occurred to her. Last time the two of them had spoken, she had been… well, a huge bitch. Was he mad about that? Hopefully not. Angry medics were never a good thing. Maybe she should try to apologize anyway, just to be sure. A sudden pounding in her head reminded her that she hadn’t come there to apologize, but to get Advil. So, that would have to wait.

Eric knocked on the doorway of the room to draw his attention away from a cabinet on the opposite on the side of the room. “Uh, hey, you busy..?”

"Uh, yeah..." She mumbled, wincing as another wave of pounding shot through her head. "I just need like some Advil or, some..." Eric stared at the wall to left of the medic, unwilling to look at him directly. At least so far he didn't seem mad. Of course there was still ample time for him to yell "nOPE GET OUTTA HERE BITCH". That was always an option.

She frowned at the question. For a minute she debated whether to admit what had happened, or make up some other excuse. After all, being rather easily killed by a spy was pretty pathetic. Well, in Eric's opinion. And only pathetic if you were her. A few moments passed before she gave in and replied, "I got in a bit of, uh, a scuffle with the RED spy." Might as well just tell the truth. If he asked further, however, the story would be a heroic tale of how she defended the intel and nearly killed the spy. Yeah, yeah that was good.

She didn't watch him, instead closing her eyes and sighing. The thought of apologizing seemed to nag her from the back of her mind, not letting her forget about it for a second. Eric continued to ignore it, though, and instead opened her eyes and focused on Ian as he spoke. Her eyes were drawn to the blue rag in his hands. It took her a moment to recognize the cloth, but when she did she couldn't help but mutter aloud, "Oh yeah, that." She had completely forgotten about the rag after she'd let Ian take it, considering she'd never used it much.

Pulling her hand away from her face she gladly accepted the bundle. Only when she held the rag did Eric even notice that it was wrapped around an ice pack. Shit, that was awesome, she hadn't even considered getting one. She continued staring at the rag for a few more moments before realizing Ian was still standing in front of her. "Oh, right, uh, t-thanks." She fumbled with the words as she spoke, focusing more on thinking about what she would say next. "Er, before I forget..." she mumbled, almost to the point of not being audible, "I just wanted to say, like, sorry, about back when we ran into the REDs. I was kind of a huge bitch and I really sort of shouldn't have been so, yeah, sorry..." She trailed off, still not looking up at Ian, but instead focusing of the blue rag in her hands.

She blinked, finally looking up at him. His response almost sounded too exaggerated to be sincere. Almost. While Eric could have persistent, she convinced herself that he was being honest. The last thing she wanted to do was spend the next few weeks fretting over this. After a delayed reaction she finally registered what he had said and replied quickly. "Ah, no, it's fine! I didn't really notice it was gone." She reached a hand up and began fiddling with the dog tags around her neck, taking a bit of comfort in running her fingers along the beaded string. "But, uh, yeah, thanks for giving it back."

She was a bit surprised to hear him ask the question once again. Was he seriously that concerned? True, it was a medics job to take care of teammates, but it almost felt a bit excessive. In the hopes of putting him at ease about her, she forced a cocky smile and laughed. "Oh, what, me? Never better, especially compared to the RED spy, shoulda seen how fucked up his pretty face got, it was hilarious."

She folded her arms indignantly and turned her head away with mock anger. " 'Wipe the floor with me'? Ian please, just WHO do you take me for here? Of course I kicked his ass! Sent him crawling back to his base with his tail between his legs! Of course, I had thought he was done, run off to his bitchy medic, but alas! He had cloaked, and shot me from behind!"

Sweeping arm gestues accompanied the overdramatic tale, along with droplets of water from the melting ice pack. Eric had to admit, just faking being in a good mood was cheering her up immensly.