(no subject)
Dreams are memory. Memory into dreams into nightmares.
She'd been hurt. She didn't remember how, not even in her dreams. But there'd been a lot of blood. Her head had hurt, really hurt and there was something wrong with her leg. The integrity was compromised. The foot was damaged. Broken.
Her hand kept twitching. Clenching. Spasms.
She couldn't move.
Charlie had found her, lying in wreckage. The car. Maybe there's been an accident. That escaped her, bits of information always escaped her. She didn't like losing that.
She didn't remember why Charlie was there. Charlie was sometimes there. When Sarah was gone. When Sarah was captured. Sometimes Charlie was there, afraid and confused.
But Charlie had found her, and Charlie had carried her into the house. Put her down on the kitchen counter, next to candles. Next to cake. Next to plates and silverware.
It was John's birthday. That was clear. That part was clear.
She couldn't breathe. Couldn't pull air in. Couldn't push air out. It felt like there was a balloon in her chest and it wouldn't stop expanding. And she didn't understand why, because she wasn't a person. Machines didn't need to breathe.
Machines didn't need to breathe, and they didn't get scared.
But that went away. That went away because John was there, and John was holding her hand. John was holding her down while Charlie did something that hurt. And then there was a sharp stabbing in her lungs, and she could breathe again.
He gave her drugs, Charlie did. Sedatives. Painkillers. Because of her foot, because she was broken. Injured. Damaged. They didn't react well, and she caught a fever. They didn't react well because he didn't know.
About the drugs.
About the pancakes.
Charlie's pancakes were better than Sarah's.
She caught a fever in the middle of the night, and she woke up. She woke up and took someone's gun.
Took a gun and went to John's room. Unsteady on her feet.
Took a gun and stared at him sleeping. Unsteady on her feet and wobbling.
Watched him sleep (was he really asleep?), and dropped the gun on the floor.
Dropped the gun and got in the bed beside him. Stayed awake until she passed out. From exhaustion. From blood loss. From pain.
Because she needed him and he needed her.