Sea (Love)Sick (on hold ish)

Chapter 21

[Trigger Warning- Mentions of blood.]

It was bright in heaven.
The clouds felt odd and thin, and her clothes were thin as well. Heaven was also a lot smaller, a lot closer to the ground, and really, once Red looked around, wasn't Heaven at all.
"Good morning, captain," a voice called to her. She wore all white clothes, which Red first took for an angel, but when her eyes finally focused, they were nothing more than nurse scrubs.
"How are you feeling?" The nurse asked, walking over to her. Her throat was still sore from her cries. "Fine," she croaked. She tried to sit up, but her shoulder ached and sent needles of pain in her body, beating her into submission and forcing to lay back down. Red winced and bit her lip, daring to look at the wound. Luckily, it was covered by gauze and tape, with an IV where her bicep and forearm met. She looked away from her arm so she wouldn't think of blood. That, and the battle.
"Nurse, um-" Red began. "Noel," the nurse cut her off with a smile. "You can call me Noel." Red nodded. "Noel, would you know where my crew is?" She asked. Noel handed Red a cup of water and pointed to the bed next to her. A small girl with stitches in her forehead and gauze spread throughout her body lay unconscious in the bed, mouth parted.
Red wanted to pull the wires and IV out of her body and rush over to Shannon, carry her to the ship and make sure she's alive. ..Is she? The thought sent her heart racing, and she tried raising herself to sit up again, tears threatening to build up in her eyes. But the painful needles spread through her once more, along with the quickening of her heartbeat sending the nurse to usher her to lay back down.
"Is she okay?" Red asked in a panic, voice shaking. She wiped her eyes with her good arm, trying not to cry. It was frowned upon for a captain to cry in front of her crew, even if it was just one member, who was unconscious. Noel nodded. "She's going to be fine, she just needs some time for the stitches to heal. The rest of your crew are okay as well."
"Where are they?" Red asked, looking around the room. The nurse then smiled and walked to the door, saying a few words Red couldn't hear to people she couldn't see. Then a wave of relief and happiness came over her as Barry, Gabi, Ross, and Dan all walked in and smiled at her.
Barry had a bruised up arm and stitches on his bicep. Gabi was in crutches, Ross had a cast on his right arm, and Dan, besides a bandaid on his eyebrow, seemed fine. Barry rushed to her side and gave her a good handful of pecks on her cheek, mixed with another good handful of "I love yous," "I was so worrieds," "I'm so glad you're safes," and many other sweet nothings. While Gabi and Dan smirked, Ross had gone over and kneeled at Shannon's bed, eyes filled with worry. He nudged her shoulder, whispering her name and urging her to wake up. To his surprise and relief, with some time she slowly but surely opened her eyes and groaned, a small smile forming on her face as Ross placed a little kiss on her nose. "You alright?" He asked gently.
Shannon weakly nodded. "Just dandy," she mumbled before letting her eyes close and drifting off once more.
"When are they cleared to leave?" Ross asked the nurse, getting up and holding Shannon's hand. Noel looked at some sheets on her clipboard, reading through the details. She thought, then spoke. "Well, Red still needs her shoulder stitched, and Shannon's need to settle in, so they should be out by the end of the day."
The whole room smiled at the thought.

~

It felt weird to be back in the ship again, with so much chaos that just ensued. Ross and Shannon settled in early, Gabi and Dan took a mug of ginger ale to bed, since they were told not to have alcohol, and Red and Barry carefully lay on the bed, caring to their wounds. After some comfortable silence, Barry spoke.
"This is my fault."
Red blinked at him, unbelieving. "B-Barry.." She began. "It's not. It's mine. I shouldn't have left. I shouldn't have gone with Oliver, I'm sorry-"
"You went out with Oliver?"
"I-" Red knew she had said too much. "It-It wasn't a date-"
"First you leave and don't tell me where you're going, now to lunch with this guy? Are you sure you're the Red I agreed to sail with?"
Red shifted uncomfortably on her spot on the bed. She thought, then kissed Barrys cheek as she got up and left. He watched carefully as she walked down to the second floor, and grew curious as she came back up with a pint of vanilla ice cream.
She say back on the bed, uncovering the pint and pulling a spoon out from her pocket. She scooped out a spoonful of ice cream and pointed the spoon at him. "Say 'ah.'" She said, memories of months ago flooding into both her and Barrys mind. He couldn't help but sigh, smiling softly.
"Ah."