by Danny
Danny Hearn was half-asleep, existing in a world of dreams and the much-harsher world of reality simultaneously. In one of these realities, he was floating. An angel was looking down and smiling at him. In the second, he was lying on the floor of a damp cave covered in cuts and bruises, with a fair few broken bones.
Against his will, he was pulled from one into the other by the cold sensation of an ice pack thrust against his throat.
"Whu--?" he managed to mumble. He looked up and noticed that one of the local nurses was kneeling down, tending to him.
She looked at him and smiled. "Hi Danny," she said. Familiarity was in her eyes, along with worry.
For a second, Danny wondered how she knew his name. Then he realized that they'd met before, mere days ago, but it had seemed like months since then. "Rachel..." he said softly. He suddenly remembered that it hurt to talk. He winced and put a hand to his throat.
"I've had the ice on you for a while now. The swelling is starting to go down. It should get easier to talk fairly soon. Though it'll still probably sting for a couple of days," Rachel Johnson explained.
"Hey! It's the bird you met on parade day! Remember, you went back to her place!"
"Yup..." Danny croaked out. Rachel nodded, assuming he was speaking in reply to her.
"Then you made a dickhead of yourself and ran out of there. Never let it be said that God doesn't give you second chances."
Rachel sat, cross-legged. The look of concern on her face grew more exaggerated. "What happened to you out there?" she asked, looking him up and down and taking in his injured state.
"I... I can't quite remember," Danny mumbled.
"Oh, such brilliant lying. Why you never became a renowned actor, I'll never know."
From the first aid kit next to her, Rachel pulled out a small bottle of disinfectant and a cotton swab. She dabbed the cotton in the liquid and began applying it to his various cuts and scrapes. Danny winced slightly.
"Oh, don't be such a baby," she said. A small smile crossed her face as she did so, but it quickly disappeared and was replaced once again by worry.
"Sorry."
"By the looks of you, you've been through a lot worse than a little sting."
"Yeah..."
He shifted slightly so she could reach his far leg. He placed his weight on his left arm and yelled out loud in pain. Hurting his throat with the yell, he yelled again. He then learned his lesson. Rachel looked down at his arm and reached out a hand.
She touched it once, tenderly. Danny winced. She moved her hand slightly, feeling his arm. Danny yelped out loud.
"I think you may have a broken arm," she said. Anxiety was present in her voice.
"And a couple of ribs," he replied softly.
"What?"
"Broken ribs. I can feel it."
"What happened to you?" she said. She sounded choked up.
"See that? She was fighting back a tear, I swear. She still digs you."
"I got caught in the storm, I guess," Danny said after a slight pause.
"You came in with those... those metas. What were you doing with them?"
"They must've found me on the beach."
"Bloody hell, Danny. It's not like you have any secret identity to protect. Why the evasiveness?"
Danny didn't feel explaining out loud to Hal that there were some things about himself he just didn't feel like going into around this person, some things he was nervous about, scared about, unsure about. His past, his powers: they didn't make the best first impression on a girl.
"I'll give you something for the pain, then start wrapping that arm up. Okay?"
Danny nodded. Rifling through her first aid kit, she took out a needle filled with a clear liquid. She pushed the air out, then pointed it at a vein on his good arm.
"I always hated needles."
She injected painkillers into Danny's system. He seemed unfazed by it. And within a few moments, the pain from his broken bones was feeling remarkably better.
"Heh. You know, that feels pretty damn good."
"I'll bet it does," she replied, grinning.
"Can I have some more?"
"Not right now."
Danny frowned, then slumped his head back to the floor. Grabbing his arm, Rachel began to wrap it firmly in a bandage, leaving it immobile and positioned close to his chest. In a couple of minutes, she was done.
"There. How's that?"
"All right," he replied. He stared upward at the ceiling of the cave for a moment before looking back at her face.
"It'll be a little harder to get those ribs properly bandaged. I'll see what I can do for now, though."
Danny nodded again. She helped him to sit up, propping him against the cave wall. He still felt his broken ribs screaming in pain, even through the painkillers.
"Damn. That hurts," he said.
"I know. I'm sorry." She pulled a roll of bandage from her first-aid kit.
"Wow. You've got everything in there," he said.
"I could do with some more money in there."
He laughed, hurting his throat.
"Sorry," she said, grinning. She began to wrap the bandage around his chest, trying her best to make him as immobile as possible.
"So, Danny..." she began as she bandaged.
"Yup."
"When we get out of here..."
"Yup."
"I mean, when the storm is over, and we can go back home..."
"Yup."
"Maybe we can get some dinner together sometime, or something."
"BINGO!"
Danny remained silent for a moment. Then he said, "I'm going to be really busy. You know, rebuilding and stuff. Getting the business back up and running..."
She seemed a little taken aback. "Well, yes, of course. I mean, after all that. When we have some spare time," she said.
"Maybe. I mean... I'll see. I'm not sure where I'll be. But, you know. Maybe."
He looked up at her, and flashed a small smile. She returned it, lacking her earlier enthusiasm.
"You're brushing her off? Moron."
Danny and Rachel had been sitting in silence for some moments now.
"You know... I think my nose is broken as well," he finally said. Not the best conversation starter, but he'd panicked.
"How do you know?"
"It really bloody hurts."
She smiled. "Well... I'll have to reset it, probably."
"That'll suck, won't it?"
Rachel nodded.
"Shit."
Elsewhere in the cave, Dirk Bell and Chance were sitting across from each other, keeping an eye on the restless public.
"I'm worried about the others," Chance said.
"Mm? Oh, right. The others."
"We have a few people outside -- outside, in the storm."
"Right, the storm."
"You're not paying attention right now, are you?"
"Not a whole lot, no."
Danny approached them, an odd-looking bandage strapped to his face, his arm in a sling, his chest wrapped tight, his clothes torn and stained with his own blood.
"Danny! Are you okay?" Chance asked, turning to his injured teammate. His voice sounded concerned, anxious.
"You look like shit, man," Dirk added.
"I'll be fine... nothing permanent. I don't think." Danny slowly lowered himself to a rock to sit. He winced and placed his good arm against his chest as he did so.
"But Rachel wants to run some tests once the hospital is back up and running. X-rays and shit. You know," Danny added.
"Rachel, huh?" Dirk asked.
"Yeah, the nurse."
"Right. Nurse Rachel." Dirk had a grin on his face as he spoke.
"What?" Danny said.
"I saw you two," Dirk replied.
"There's nothing... I mean, it's not like that."
"Sure..." Dirk laughed.
Chance just looked a little bit taken aback. "Are you sure this is the best time?" he asked.
"For getting laid? We're close to death. It's the perfect damn time!" Dirk replied.