Fire & Ice | Soulmate AU 1 |

chapter thirteen

My body feels like it's been through the ringer by the time I wake up two days later. Everything aches in a way that must be similar to the feeling one has after getting hit by a bus.

Derek is there when I wake up. He gives me the entire run down of just how fucked up I am.

I'm in the ICU. I underwent two major surgeries, multiple blood transfusions, imaging, and countless rounds of IV medications while I was unconscious. I'm still covered in tubes when I wake up and it seems like I'm just going to have to deal with them for the time being. The nurse that checks me out once everyone is aware I'm awake doesn't even consider unhooking me from any of them.

"They're moving you out of here soon," Derek informs me with a mild smile. "Woulda been out yesterday if they hadn't fucked up and left one of the bullets in there. They're probably just hoping you don't sue them."

"Two?" I croak, my voice disgustingly hoarse from disuse. "There should've only been one."

"Apparently you were shot twice, kiddo," he muses, ruffling the messy hair atop my head.

"Damn," I huff with a slight smirk. "Should really be dead. My luck's gonna run out one day."

"Yeah, well, as you continue to insist," he begins, pausing to exaggeratedly roll his eyes back into his head before continuing, "it's part of the job."

I laugh loudly and we take some to catch up a bit while we wait for me to be moved out of the ICU. He tells me all about how Alexandra has finally agreed to move in with him which he's clearly very excited about. I tell him about how being an agent has been so far even though it's kind of a moot point considering where we are.

"You already know that I'm not particularly thrilled with this whole League thing," Derek says a little while later, sighing heavily. "They're your powers, though, and they're pretty cool, and it's your life, so I'm just gonna have to get used to it."

"It means a lot to me, Der," I say seriously, frowning as I shift in discomfort. The minimal movement is enough to cause a flare of pain to spread across my chest and down my legs. Yikes.

"I know," he says just as a pair of kind blonde nurses appear by my bed, "it's already growing on me, kid."

The nurses move me out of the ICU and into a general room a floor down in the hospital. I give Derek the "all clear" to go home once I'm all settled in. He tries to insist on staying a bit longer, but I know he has a pretty girl waiting for him to help her move into his apartment. He's also been sitting around for the last two days waiting for me to wake up. He seriously deserves a break.

I'm only alone for a little while before Max comes around. He's wearing regular street clothes and holding multiple manila folders. Uh oh.

"How ya feeling, kiddo?" he asks, sitting down in the seat to the side of my hospital bed.

"Like I got shot," I deadpan. "Twice, apparently."

"Yeah, you probably didn't even feel it. The shock from the first one probably overshadowed it completely."

"What are those?" I say, tapping the top of one of the manila folders in his lap with the hand without an IV stuck in it. This hand is still bruised purple and blue from the top of my hand to the beginning of my arm, however, so there must have been an IV in it at some point.

"Files on some people of interest," he replies with a knowing smile. "Rowan Rivera. Alexander Rivera. Isabella Rivera."

"Bella has a file?" I say incredulously.

He laughs lightly and shakes his head.

"No, not much. Just a birth certificate, actually. We, well, we processed Rowan, and boy, does that kid have a file, but Bella's a total mystery. She's MIA and so is Alexander. Rowan isn't talking. He's been in our custody since the day you were shot."

"He hasn't been charged?"

"Well, no, not with the information you gave me. We couldn't just release him, either, though, because you were unconscious and I need you awake to take a formal statement from you on his behalf."

"Okay, well, you need to ask him about Bella. He might know where to find her, and she's all he really cares about. She's really the only thing that has kept him in the game. Alexander's a sociopath, so." I shrug like what I'm saying isn't the deciding factor on whether my counterpart gets arrested or not.

Max opens one of the manila folders and starts writing down my "testimony" to Rowan's character and true motivation. He has an official write-up that will hopefully help keep Rowan out of prison once all is said and done. It'll likely contribute to finding Bella, as well.

"Alrighty, kiddo, this should help a lot," Max says, holding up the closed folder for me to see, "you should be focused on resting and healing for now. Nothing else. You'll be out of here in a few days at the most, but that doesn't mean you're jumping straight back into the action, understand?"

"Max—" I begin, ready to protest.

"I don't wanna hear it, Ford," he says, cutting me off. "Healing factor or not, you're gonna be on your ass for the next couple days at the minimum. You've been officially taken off of active duty since you were admitted. I know you have that 'I don't need anybody or anything' attitude going on, but too bad."

His words hit me harder than they have any right to. This is just another instance where I have to stop myself from viewing Max as a father figure. The only other person who has ever been concerned with my health when I was growing up was Derek.

I sigh and gingerly cross my arms.

"Fine," I agree, but the smile I offer makes it clear that I'm mostly just pouting for fun.

Max ruffles my hair like I'm a fussy three year old he can't get enough of on his way out of my room.