Wednesday night; Supply run return; Slate, Ketty, Sadie, and Gabe
Once Slate was inside, his brother Josiah was already waiting with a group of nurses, some military, some civilian, and a gurney. Slate was reluctant to, but he put down on the gurney. He put one hand on the rail of the bed and then looked around for Sadie. When he spotted her in his wild wide-eyed crazy haze, he grabbed onto her uninjured arm to pull her along with them toward the emergency room. Of course they only got as far as the door of the room they were pushing Ketty to to work on her.
Sadie was so focused on watching Ketty and babbling stuff about her to the doctors and nurses that she stumbled when Slate grabbed her arm. She glanced up at him briefly before following after, her brow firmly knitted.
"What if they have to cut off her leg?" she asked, mostly to herself.
Slate was left to stand outside and stare through the window as they started dismantling Ketty's uniform in order to get to her leg and to put monitors on her as they tried to wake her up too.
"They're not going to take her leg." He stated firmly even though he had no idea if they would. His brother wouldn't amputate Ketty's leg, no way. He blinked a few times and seemed to regain at least a little control over himself to remember that Sadie was injured too. So he turned and found a passing nurse to tell her to find a doctor and then pointed out a room. He wrapped his arm firmly around Sadie's shoulders, careful not to hurt her injured one and started leading her to the room he'd indicated.
Sadie was going to ask Slate if he was sure--hey, maybe be knew since his brother was a doctor--but he started calling for nurses and she just frowned instead. Now that they were back and Ketty was being tended to, Sadie was started to remember how much her wrist really hurt. She went along to the room, in a quiet daze.
Slate felt uncomfortable in the silence now that there was nothing he could physically do in order to keep his mind from running rampant. He found a stool to help Sadie climb up into the bed that was in the room they'd entered. Once she was situated, he tried to think of someway to help her since he couldn't help Sadie at the moment. "I'll go find you some ice," He said though he didn't move right away because he wasn't sure if she was going to be okay by herself at the moment.
Sadie nodded and looked down at her wrist now that she could get a good look at it in the lights. The bruising was intense, and the thing looked twice the size it was normally. It probably wasn't, but it seemed that way at the moment.
Slate nodded. He paused a moment and opened his mouth to apologize to her but then thought better of it and just nodded as be headed for the door. "I'll be back in a minute." He assured before he left the room and pulled the door shut most of the way to keep too many people from intruding. He managed to find a nurse who gave him some of those instant cold packs, so he took a few of them from her and headed back to Sadie's room, flexing the fingers of his injured arm as he went.
A few moments later, he re-entered the hospital room and walked to the side of her bed. He set the packs down and then reached out to the makeshift sling so he could help her dismantle it. "Do you want to take the jacket off first too?" he nodded toward the flack jacket, which actually looked pretty amusing on her.
Sadie only looked up from her wrist when Slate returned and spoke. She blinked and brought her head back down to look at the jacket. "'Kay," she said, and winced as she moved her arm out so they could pull everything off.
"Did you hear anything about Ketty?" she asked, even though Slate had been out of the room for all of a minute.
Slate shook his head as he helped her out of the jacket and tossed it to the floor next to the chair that was in the room. "No." he answered. "They closed the blinds on the room." He added, probably because they were cutting through her uniform, for privacy and all. He picked up two of the ice packs and smacked them together before shaking them to get them cold, and then he found an extra pillow to prop her wrist up on with the ice packs all around it, four in total. "How bad's it hurt?" He asked so that he could make conversation of some kind.
"Probably not as bad as having a bullet in the leg," Sadie said, wincing as Slate set the ice packs up. Her face was still contorted as she looked him over. "Aren't you hurt too?"
Slate glanced at his arm but shook his head. "I'm fine." He insisted, even though he felt a little wobbly in the leg area. He needed to sit down, but he didn't want to. He wanted to pace actually, but he didn't. He just stood next to Sadie's bed and wondered if it was too soon to go check on Ketty. Was this the most civil conversation Sadie and Slate had ever had? Slate couldn't remember at the moment.
Sadie nodded and lifted up her good hand to brush the hair out of her face. "I don't know if I should call my parents now or wait until we get word on her. I think I should wait, 'cause they're gonna freak, but they're probably already worried that they haven't heard back from her yet," she said, not really intending to direct her rambling toward Slate. She was more just thinking out loud.
Slate watched Sadie as she rambled. It would have been amusing to see her ramble if everything wasn't so dire right now. He shook his head. "They've probably already been notified," He reasoned since no doubt word of their supply run not returning would have spread quickly. "Do you want me to check if they're in the waiting room...?" He was hoping not as he didn't know how the Shepherds were going to react since this was his fault and now both of their daughters were injured.
"I don't know," Sadie shook her head. "Someone must have already...we should just wait." She didn't know if she should talk to her parents just yet. They'd probably accuse her of being the cause of Ketty's injury somehow, distracting her with her civvy presence or something. Once they were assured (if they were assured) that Ketty as all right, then they'd talk.
Ketty was going to be fine damnit. Slate kept telling himself that anyway. Matos and Rainey weren't fine however. Slate had grown up with both of them. And he was positive it was his fault that they'd been ambushed. He wasn't sure exactly how in the details other than the fact that he hadn't realized it soon enough, but he was in charge and therefore it was his fault.
"Okay." He nodded and just stood there next to her bed, his injured arm hanging down loosely at his side and his uninjured hand running through his hair before it moved over his neck which was marked clearly with bluish-purple ovals from the chain that had been wrapped around it earlier. He cleared his throat because he felt he had to at that moment and then looked at Sadie. It was only for a second before he dropped his eyes to the toes of his boots. "I'm sorry your first time out ended this way." He told her.
Sadie looked up from where she'd been staring at the floor. She didn't know what to say for a moment, so she settled on, "At least it was memorable." And she really had no interest in leaving the city walls again anytime soon.
Slate blinked and looked up at her. He would've wanted to laugh at that but he felt to miserable and guilt ridden about everything. "There's that I guess yeah," He nodded slowly. He crossed his arms, remembering too late about his forearm and then grimacing and uncrossing his arms. He glanced at the clock impatiently and just as he opened his mouth to speak again, a doctor came into the room to take care of Sadie's wrist. So Slate stayed quiet, but stayed in the room at the side of the bed and out of the way.
After a round of x-rays and pain and a cast and further pain, Sadie was all patched up. Slate was tended to as well, and then it was finally time to see Ketty. The bullet was out, she still had her leg, and she was full of nice feel-good drugs. One of the doctors told them they could see her, and they definitely took him up on that offer. They entered to see Ketty lying in bed, awake, but sleepy.
Slate tried not to look as miserable as he felt. Ketty was awake - and she still had her leg! That meant she'd heal up just fine right? So he forced a smile as he walked in and up to one side of her bed. "'Bout time, Major. I was stuck in a room with Shep. Here I was thinking we reserved torture for the bad guys..." He smirked.
"Nice," Sadie muttered, moving next to Slate so she could get closer to her sister. "Are you okay?"
Ketty nodded, a slight smirk on her face. "Yeah. Well, except for the part where I've got to stay off my leg for a while." That was going to put a damper on most of her activities.
Slate forced another little smirk at Sadie and then looked at Ketty and then down at her leg as she spoke. "Yeah well...you're alive." Slate nodded. "A little R and R is a small price to pay." He reasoned. Right?
"I suppose," Ketty said, raising her shoulders a little bit in a shrug. She looked at Sadie's arm. "How's your arm?"
"Broke it," Sadie raised her cast. "The wrist."
Ketty looked at her for a moment and then turned to Slate. "And you?"
Slate looked from Ketty's leg to Sadie's cast covered arm for a moment. "Hmm?" He asked, eyebrows popping up before he looked at Ketty. He looked down at his arm and shrugged, giving her a nonchalant wave. "I'm fine." His voice had gone pretty raspy in the last couple hours but whatever, he did have a chain around his neck earlier today.
If he was leaving it at that, then Ketty was leaving it at that. She nodded and looked back at Sadie.
"Have you seen mom and dad yet?" Sadie asked. "We saw them while you were still out." And Mr. and Mrs. Shepherd, by the way, did not blame Slate for the ambush. Mrs. Shepherd had, however, insinuated that if Sadie hadn't have wasted time getting the pointless guitar, the group of them would have all gotten home in one piece.
"Yeah, they came in a little while ago," Ketty nodded. "I told them they could go home."
Slate hadn't really liked that insinuation. The guitar had not been the only thing they'd dawdled on. They'd spent the day there - and it had been on the itinerary that they were going to do so - and had given the Nomads time to set up the blockade. Without that, they might not have lost Matos or Rainey, and the girls wouldn't be injured. Slate stayed out of the family conversation though. He was actually surprised they hadn't blamed him, and almost offended by it and the fact that they'd insinuated it was Sadie's fault for just being there and getting a stupid guitar.
"That's good," Sadie nodded.
"You should go too," Ketty said. "You need to rest. I need to rest." She looked at Slate. "You need to rest."
Slate shook his head a little. "I'm going back out. Have to get Rainey and Matos." He nodded. "The supplies too." He informed them. That was if the General permitted him anyway. "But, I'll take Shep home before I go." He arched his eyebrows and looked between them both.
Ketty nodded and didn't comment further. She seriously doubted General Grant would let him go. He was injured and he had just carried her for the better part of five miles. But she could understand his need to bring everyone home. But if he couldn't do that, bringing Sadie home was just as good.
"That's a good idea." She looked at Sadie. "Don't hurt each other, now. You're already injured enough."
Slate nodded. "I'll try not to start any fights." he smirked. He looked at Sadie a moment and hey, went a good bit sappy for a moment when he leaned over to kiss the side of Ketty's head. He stood back up and pointed over his shoulder with his thumb as he looked between the two of them. "I'll wait outside for you," He said as he started backing toward the door.
Ketty smirked a little at the kiss. "I'll see you later," she said once he started for the door. Once he was gone, she and Sadie said their goodbyes with a hug involved and everything.
A few minutes later, Sadie emerged from the room. "Y'know, you don't really have to take me home," she said, just to let him know he had an out.
Slate shook his head. "Shep...don't fight it," Slate said as he stood up from leaning against the wall outside Ketty's room. He glanced at the window behind him and waved once more before he nodded toward the hall the exit sign was pointing toward. "Just accept it."
"Consider it accepted. I'm too tired to fight." Sadie looked down at her cast as they left the building. "I'm supposed to perform in three days. I'm going to have to get someone else to do guitar for me." Which sucked. She'd been looking forward to using her fancy new guitar. And now it was in a humvee in the middle of nowhere, probably broken.
Slate tilted his head a little as they walked and furrowed his brow a bit. "So...postpone it? Get someone else to play. I'm sure everyone will understand, get all excited even." He shrugged.
Sadie looked up at Slate. "While I always appreciate unsolicited advice, especially when it comes from you, I already know what I'm going to do. Get Paul to play my backup. I can still sing with one hand."
Slate shrugged. "Sorry," Yeah he was still kind of riding the guilt wave thing. "Just trying to be helpful," He didn't add the 'for once' part he wanted to. "I'm sure that will be equally entertaining?" He was too tired to feel too much of the snark vibe anymore.
"You don't sound very sure," Sadie arched an eyebrow.
Slate shrugged. "You're the one who does the drinking and entertainment stuff," And he was the one who'd bungled a supply run and dragged them back home five miles through the woods.
"Good point," Sadie nodded. "I'd forgotten."
They walked in silence for a few moments before Sadie looked up at Slate. "Thanks for taking care of Ketty. If you hadn't carried her..." Well, maybe it wasn't so good think about that possibility.
Slate took in a deeper breath then normal when Sadie chose to break the silence with that comment. His eyes actually burned a little, just for a second before he shook his head and looked ahead of them. "Don't...really," He replied quietly. It wasn't an option not to have carried her and he did it because he wasn't going to let Ketty die because of his stupidity especially after Jeff and Tristan had died because of it. It was his fault that it happened so she shouldn't thank him for picking up the pieces on the way back. "I'm too tired, I might get sappy if you go there, Shep," He attempted a joke with a nervous little chuckle that cut off when someone up ahead started heading their way from the direction of Sadie's place. Slate stepped in front of Sadie and stopped their trek.
"Sadie?" The person called out as they picked up the pace. Yep, it was Gabe. He'd been on the base when he'd heard what was happening to the supply run - correction, he knew what was happening to it but he hadn't known that either of the Shepherd girls had been on the supply run until he'd heard about the fact that Sadie had been the one to radio in their position. When he was finally relieved at work, he was only able to garner from the hospital that Sadie had been discharged and visiting hours were over for the night so he couldn't visit Ketty. So he'd gone to Sadie's but she wasn't there. Well, not she was and he was heading their way. Slate's muscles tensed and he stayed put as Gabe headed their way.
Sadie had an odd look on her face as she listened to the tone of Slate's voice. He was almost crying, wasn't he? She smiled just a little bit -- in a genuine, 'we both really care about my sister' kind of way, not a mocking one -- and was about to comment on the sappiness when Slate stopped her.
She froze behind him, definitely feeling on her guard even though they were both safely inside the town walls. When she heard Gabe say her name, her eyes widened and she stepped to the side to see him approaching.
To be honest, she hadn't really thought about him since all the shit starting going down, but now that he was there, she felt a little relieved. "Hey," she said as she moved past Slate, smiling a bit more, but not much.
Slate frowned when Sadie just passed by him to head for Gabe. Slate still didn't like the guy but he stayed put and let them have their little moment.
Gabe approached quicker once Sadie answered. "Holy crap, I was on the base and I heard - are you okay?" He asked, a little breathless as he sped up and looked her over. He was definitely more worked up than he should have been, but that could've been his guilt. He looked at her arm as he reached her and then reached out to pull her into a hug, moving an arm around her waist and one to the side of her face as he leaned over to kiss the top of her head. He glanced at Slate. "What happened?" He asked even though he knew already. His tone was more than a little accusing. He looked down at Sadie. "Is your sister all right? They wouldn't let anyone visit her at the hospital."
Slate's jaw tightened. He looked around them to see if their were other stragglers. "We were attacked." Slate stated the obvious, not missing the accusatory tone. The fist of his uninjured arm clenched a couple of times.
Sadie missed any and all tones as she hugged Gabe back. After Slate answered, she loosened the arm she had around Gabe and looked up. "One of them shot Ketty. In the leg, and then he cut her up. And then we had to walk back..." She turned to Slate. "But they said she's going to be okay, and her leg, too."
Gabe let out a slow breath as he looked down at Sadie when she explained. "Good, that's good," he nodded. "I'm glad you're okay," He moved his thumb along her cheek and leaned over to kiss her forehead again. He looked from Sadie over to Slate. "I'll take over escorting duties from here Colonel," He assured with a nod in the direction of Sadie's place. "It's not far." He watched Slate closely for his reaction.
Slate leveled his gaze and shook his head. "I'm not going home until I'm sure she's in her apartment." He stated firmly. He said he was going to take her home and he was going to take her home, damnit.
Gabe's eyes narrowed. "I think you've done enough for one day." He retorted.
Slate clenched his right fist again and if Sadie hadn't been standing with Gabe, he would've started swinging. He had enough anger to work off after all. "Stand down Sergeant, or we're gonna have a problem." He stated through some gritted teeth. "It's not that far. You can deal with my company until we get there." He stated, almost hoping Gabe challenged him now that he'd called ranks into order.
Sadie frowned and looked back and forth between them, only then realizing that Gabe was insinuating Slate was part of the reason why everything went wrong.
"Hey, calm down," she said, taking Gabe's hand from her face and lowering it. "We can all walk. It's not a big deal."
Gabe was definitely insinuating that, which was probably more in line with projecting since he had more to do with it than Slate had. If Slate had been a worthy commander, he would have gotten them back in one piece easily either having avoided the attack or properly defended his squadron. He was going to keep on protesting to Slate's insistence right up until Sadie cut in. He looked down at their hands when she took his and gave in with a small nod and a long exhale. "Okay," He agreed with a wary glance at Slate before he started walking with Sadie again.
Slate narrowed his eyes at Gabe. He definitely didn't feel comfortable leaving Gabe alone with Sadie once they reached her place. He still didn't trust the guy and Sadie had been injured today. He just didn't like the situation all around. Still, he lapsed into silence as they started walking and just watched their backs, literally, as they walked, glancing around occasionally at their surroundings.
Sadie stayed quiet as she walked along as things had started getting tense again. She wanted to set Gabe straight about Slate's involvement, but she was going to wait until they got back to her apartment. She thought doing it in front of Slate would have been counterproductive.
When they reached the bar, Sadie let go of Gabe's hand and pulled out her keys to unlock the door.
Gabe stepped to the side to let Sadie get the keys and unlock the door. He turned to look at Slate, expression somewhere along the lines of 'okay you can run along now.' All it was missing was a dismissive wave of his hand.
Slate stood still. He couldn't wait until he had the chance to let loose on Gabe and kick the shit out of him. It wasn't as if Slate wasn't already blaming himself, but still. Anyway, he kept quiet, but stayed where he was while Sadie unlocked the door and just waited.
Once Sadie got the door open, she put her keys away and turned around to look at Slate. After hesitating a moment, she reached up and put her arms around him to pull him down in a hug. "Thanks," she said, quiet enough so Gabe couldn't hear. "She's gonna be okay." She was assuring herself as much as she was assuring Slate.
Slate wasn't prepared for the hug but he leaned over and returned it after she first tugged him down. He closed his eyes a moment and nodded at her comment and let out an equally quiet, "I know." Hoping he sounded convincing even though he was still worried. "If you need anything..." He decided to leave it at that. Sadie would get it. He let go before he wound up getting all emotional about everything. He'd save that for at home. He had a punching bag that needed some ass kicking since he obviously wasn't going to be able to sleep and he wasn't going to be able to go visit Ketty either.
After a glance at Gabe, he gave Sadie a severely small obviously forced smile. "Goodnight," he said before he backed away a few feet before turning around to start heading in the direction of his house.
Sadie nodded and gave Slate a wave once they broke apart. She watched him until he turned around, and then she turned herself. Once she and Gabe were inside, she shut the door behind them and locked it.
Then she turned to Gabe. "So...what was that about?" she asked without sounding too much like she was scolding him.
Gabe watched Slate go and then followed Sadie into the building. He frowned at her. "What do you mean? He was in charge. He could've gotten you killed. Your sister too." He stated. And what was she doing on a supply run anyway? She wasn't military personnel. They didn't allow civilian tagalongs very often.
Sadie shook her head, frowning herself. "They set up a roadblock on our way back. It's not like he could have known about it. And the only reason we're alive right now is 'cause of him. He carried Ketty, like almost five miles."
Gabe shook his head. He was more angry with himself but he couldn't really tell Sadie that. "He did a pretty piss poor job of defending you all if two of you are dead and the rest injured - some enough to need carrying." He insisted. If Gabe had been in charge it would have been his fault, but he wasn't. Slate had been in charge and Slate let two of his people die and then had to carry one of the others five miles to keep her from dying.
Sadie frowned further and tried to cross her arms, but it was awkward with the cast, so she gave up. "Hey, you weren't there. You don't know what or how it happened, so don't argue with me like you do.
Gabe shook his head. "It doesn't matter if I was there or not. He's a colonel and he was unprepared. That's not supposed to happen and when it does, it should be handled better than it apparently was," He insisted and then pointed over his shoulder toward the door. "He knows it too, couldn't you tell?" It was a military thing. There was a level of responsibility involved and it had nothing to do with ambushes or unforeseen issues. You were supposed to prepare for anything and everything.
"Slate feels guilty when he burns toast," Sadie said with a dismissive shake of her head. "And you're right. He's a Colonel. And you're just a drill sergeant. So even if you think I'm wrong, shouldn't you still be respecting your superiors?" She was surprised Slate actually put up with Gabe's pointed comments without much protest. He had to be feeling even worse about what happened than she thought.
Slate had carried Ketty nearly five miles through the woods while bleeding himself. He'd been tired and overwrought with a large amount of guilt, so yeah, he was too exhausted and guilt ridden to do much other than give the warning's he'd given.
Gabe on the other hand was feeling guilty for an entirely different reason. He grimaced a little at Sadie's comment about his rank. He hadn't been a sergeant for years, damnit. He crossed his arms loosely over himself and watched her for a moment. He could either keep arguing, or just give in an apologize and stop acting so spastic and crazylike. "Sorry," he cleared his throat. "...What were you doing on a supply run anyway?" He asked, calmer and curious now.
Sadie lowered her shoulders and relaxed a little when Gabe apologized. "I was trading tequila for a guitar," she said simply, even though she was still kind of worked out after the argument in addition to everything else that had happened. She turned around and walked toward the back room to see if Dave had left her anything on the noticeboard.
Gabe's eyes widened a little and he moved to start following her, lagged a few paces behind. "Seriously?" he asked, clearly shocked.
Sadie threw him a glance over her shoulder. "Yeah." She wondered if she was going to get another lecture from another person about how unimportant a guitar was. "I needed it for my next show."
She walked into the back room and looked at the board. There was a note from Dave saying he was glad she and her sister were okay, and just a quick recap about the bar's business that night. Apparently it was slower than usual, probably due to the missing supply run. Sadie pulled the note down and turned back to Gabe.
"Wow," Gabe said, no lecture, just generally surprised at her dedication to that guitar. He hesitated before he followed her into the back, not sure if she really wanted him to or if she wanted him to wait for her out front. "Are you gonna be able to play it?" He asked though he doubted so with her cast, right?
Sadie shook her head as she switched off the light. "No. I don't even have it anymore, so I guess it doesn't matter right now anyway."
She crumpled up the note in her (good) hand and glanced toward the stairs that led to the second floor. "Are you going or staying?"
"That sucks."Gabe dropped his hands down into his pockets, hunching his shoulders a little bit. "I can leave if you want to be alone," He said with an extra beat in there as he looked up at her from the floor. "To be honest I'd rather stay, though."
Sadie nodded and reached out to grab his hand, with the note still wrinkled up in it. "Then let's go upstairs." She pulled him (gently, for once) and started for the stairs.
Gabe wrapped his hand around hers, crinkling up the paper further but not saying anything about it. He nodded, "Okay." He gave her a small smile. "Seriously though...besides your arm," And from the looks of it her head, "are you okay?"
Sadie shrugged and led him up the stairs. It wasn't until they were about haflway up that she answered verbally. "I dunno. I'm alive, right?" That should count for something. She glanced down at him as they approached the door.
Gabe frowned. That didn't sound well at all. He wouldn't have left his message and tipped the WAers off if he knew that Sadie and Ketty were going on the supply run. He hadn't known Slate was on the trip either but really, things could have gone with way with Slate since the guy had been giving him a hard time since he'd gotten here, which still wasn't very long ago. Not the point. "Yeah, you are," Alive. Thankfully. "I'm sorry, that you got attacked. And you're never been out before," So was she ever going to leave again?
"Yeah, it was some bad timing." Sadie definitely wasn't eager to head outside the Sinai walls again anytime soon. She also wasn't so keen anymore on her friends and family doing it either.
She got the door open and switched on the light. As she stepped into the apartment, she took a long look around. For a good part of the day she'd thought she might never get back there. Once Gabe was in and the door was shut, she led him straight into her little bedroom. She let go of his hand and climbed onto the bed right away, closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath as she laid down. She wanted to take a shower and everything, but first she just wanted to relax on her bed.
Gabe nodded, but he lapsed into silence as he followed her and he did double check the locks too before he followed her to the bedroom. He frowned a lot at the way she just climbed right into the bed. He headed toward the foot of the bed and started untying her shoes. He wanted to ask if she was okay again but decided to hold off for right now and just focused on helping her get her shoes off. This was pretty horrible over all. He didn't think this job was going to wind up affecting him as much as it was now.
Sadie propped herself up on her right elbow and looked down at her shoes as Gabe helped her out. Once the laces were looser, she kicked them off.
"Thanks," said with a small smile and pushed herself up further to sit. She reached out her right arm toward him, wanting him to come over so she could kind of curl up and lie down with him. For a few minutes, anyway. She and her clothes were still bloody and dirty in places, but she doubted the firefighting drill sergeant would really mind.
"Welcome," Gabe nodded giving her a small smile back. He walked around the side of the bed when she reached out. He climbed on in and wrapped his arms around her carefully before he laid down and pulled her in with him, taking a moment to kick off his own shoes. He didn't mind the messy clothes, it really didn't even cross his mind actually. He reached out and moved his hand to the side of her face and brushed some of her hair behind her ear before he leaned forward and kissed her forehead. "Do you want me to get you anything?" He asked.
After the kiss, Sadie turned her head down and leaned her forehead against him. She shook her head a little at his question. "Not that I can think of." She moved closer to him as she started to think over the stuff that had happened. It was a good thing they'd run into each other, even though it had been kind of stressful. But it was much better than sleeping by herself tonight.
Gabe set them rocking just a little bit as he moved to run his hand over her hair and along her back. "Well let me know if you think of something," He told her quietly. He stayed quiet for awhile, just holding on and rocking a little and abstaining from asking if she was okay. He did turn his head down and kiss the top of hers a couple of times though. "Do you want to get changed or anything?" He asked even though he didn't want to interrupt the silence that had fallen but wanting her to actually be somewhat comfortable so she didn't wake up all grody-feeling.
Well, Sadie was kind of grody-feeling already. On top of all the grossness from the blood and dirt, there was still the fact that some freakish Nomad-type had grabbed onto her, and made her feel like she needed to get herself cleaned off as well.
She'd been trying to convince herself to get up for a few minutes when Gabe spoke. She pulled her head back and looked at him. "I think I kinda want to shower." A one-handed shower. That was going to suck to get used to.
A shower was probably a good idea, to get cleaned up and change and all that. He looked at her when she pulled her head back and nodded. "Okay," He nodded again and then looked at her casted arm. "Want some help?" He arched his eyebrows.
Sadie looked down at it too. "I dunno. I need to get used to doing it by myself..." But she was super-tired and wanted to get to the clean-and-in-pajamas-in-bed portion of the evening as soon as possible. She brought her eyes back up to Gabe. "You can help just in case I need it," she decided, and pushed herself up into sitting position.
Gabe arched his eyebrows a little higher as she debated with herself. He sat up as well and leaned over to kiss the side of her head. "You can get used to doing it yourself tomorrow," He gave her a small smirk. "Tonight, you'll deal with my coddling." He nodded and then stood up off the bed and held his hand out for her.
Sadie looked up at him with a grateful smile. "Okay," she gave in, and took his hand to help get off the bed.
Once they were in the bathroom, Sadie asked Gabe if he could turn on the water while she attempted to undress herself. The shirt was easy enough since it had snap buttons and the sleeve was cut on her left arm, but the button on her pants proved a little more difficult.
Gabe agreed. "How hot do you want it?" He said as he reached out for the faucet to turn the water on. He looked back over his shoulder and chuckled a little at her issues with the pants button. He left the water for a moment and stepped closer so he could reach out and help her get the button undone and the zipper down. "Should we find something to put on your arm so it doesn't get wet?" he asked.
Sadie glanced up from her pants. "Pretty warm, but not scalding or anything," she answered and then accidentally flicked her finger on the button and winced. She dropped her hand down when Gabe helped her out.
"Thanks." She glanced up at him as she pushed her pants down. "There're some plastic bags under the sink in the kitchen. We can probably tie one of those." What a pain in the ass.
Gabe nodded. "Then I'll be right back," He paused before he left and smirked a little at the one-handed pant removal. "I'd sit down before you try to step out of those..." He suggested with a small smile before he left to find a plastic bag. He returned a few moments later, triumphant, and with a bag in his hand. He grabbed the handles of it and held it open so she could go about putting her arm in it before he started tying it up to keep the water out.
Sadie didn't see why she had to sit down, but in Gabe's absence, she stumbled a little and figured it out. So she took his advice and sat on the toilet to get rid of her pants and socks.
When Gabe came back, she stood up with a little smile. "Good job," she commended and put her hand into the bag.
Once the bag was tied up around her arm and tucked into the top rim of the cast, he pulled the shower curtain back. "How's the water?" He asked.
Sadie reached her hand in to feel it. "Pretty good," she nodded, and then ditched her underwear before she stepped in.
Things Sadie learned were difficult to do with one hand in the shower: opening screw-top bottles, lathering longish hair, and getting soap successfully on a bath puff. That last one was the hardest. But luckily Gabe was helpful.
"I feel like an old lady invalid or something," she commented after he helped her with the soap.
Gabe laughed, though he'd kept his chuckles to a minimum through out most of the shower and just waited for her to ask for help with various shower actions. "You should feel lucky then, since most old lady invalids don't get bath help from hot fire fighters," he bounced his eyebrows a couple times and smirked. "Do you want help with your back?"
Sadie grinned a little bit. "That is so true."
She turned around in answer to his question and let him help her out backwise. She moved her face out of the stream of water coming down from the showerhead and commented, "So I never expected when I met you that in just a few weeks you'd be helping me shower."
Gabe chuckled again as he set about using the little bath puff thing to clean her back. "Other then the fact that it required you to be injured, I can't say I have anything to complain about in this situation." He grinned and leaned over to kiss her check before he held the bath puffy thing out to her again once he was finished.
Sadie smiled a little stupidly at the shower wall as he kissed her cheek. Once she turned back around, she took the puff from him. "I'm so glad you're around," she said before she started to finish up.
Gabe gave Sadie a small smile, "Me too." He said before he could think better of it, not that this was a bad thing...except for the part where it put her and him in jeopardy. Right. He tried not to frown as he let her finish up and busied himself with picking up her towel from its rack so he could hold it out to her once she was done.
Sadie's smile went kind of stupid again when he agreed. Once he went for the towel, she rinsed off and then turned off the water. She opened up the curtain further and was about to take the towel when she realized she couldn't exactly wrap it around herself. So she let Gabe help her out instead.
Once she was all dry and cleaned up and had the plastic bag off her hand, they went back into the bedroom. Sadie looked for some pajamas quickly. She didn't want to delay lying down any longer.
Gabe went about moving their shoes to put them out of the way at the end of the bed to keep from tripping on them at any point. Then he started ditching his shirt and his pants, folding both and placing them on top of his shoes. "Are you sure there's nothing else you need before we lay down?" He asked.
Sadie shook her head after she pulled on a tank top (much easier to manage with a cast). "Just you." She smiled a bit and pulled on a pair or pajama shorts before she walked over to the bed to climb in.
Gabe let out a chuckle or two as he set his folded shirt down on his shoes and headed for the bed. "Okay, now that was sappy," He grinned as he climbed on in next to her and reached down to pull up the blankets before settling back. "But you hit your head pretty hard today, huh? So maybe I'll let it slide without teasing you too much," He grinned and reached out to move his arms around her again.
Sadie smirked a little bit and moved in closer to him. "I almost died today. I'm allowed to make cheesy comments in my euphoria at being alive."
Gabe frowned a little at that first comment and then nodded. "Well when you put it like that..." He forced a tiny smirk and then leaned over to kiss her. "I'm really glad you didn't die." Especially since it would've been his doing and he wasn't sure he could deal with that on his conscience. It was a weird thing to think considering he'd killed people before and hadn't even given it a second thought.
She kissed him back and then let her head rest down on her pillow. "Me too," she nodded. "You'd be really bored in this town without me."
"You...actually you have a pretty accurate idea how true that is," He amended his statement before he even started it really, and then he moved closer and adjusted his arms around her again, lifting one hand to run it through her hair. "I'd offer to sing you a song but I think that would just hurt your ears." He smirked.
Sadie smiled wider and then let out a few chuckles. "It'd be really funny, though. How bad of a singer are you?"
Gabe arched an eyebrow. "Well...I'm not that bad," He tilted his head a little. "I don't think. I'm not all musically inclined like some people though," He looked back over at her. "It's good to know you'll use me for a laugh though. That the kind of fact a guy can get behind." He grinned.
Sadie laughed. "I'm glad you're confident enough in yourself to let me laugh at you," she joked. "And you gotta know that now I'm totally intrigued about your musical ability. But maybe we should wait for another night for you to break out in song. I'll have to get some backup music going for you." When she'd be able to play it, at least.
"I think it's more like an 'inability' especially since most singing is done while drunk." He smirked. He laughed a little. "Only if the backup music is loud enough to drown me out. Maybe we'll get you some ear plugs too so you can just ogle me and pretend my voice isn't so bad." He grinned.
"That's not anywhere near as much fun as ogling you while listening to your 'not that bad' voice," Sadie shook her head with a grin. "I'll just have to get you drunk one of these days. Which we both know is so very difficult."
"Hey now...you know I only forfeited to help move us along to specialty number three so that it could properly be promoted to number one where it so rightfully belongs." He retorted with a smirk.
"Sure, sure," Sadie nodded with a skeptical squint. "That's your excuse. It's a pretty good one, but still, an excuse."
Gabe's eyebrows inched up just a little. "You do know you're making it nearly impossible not to challenge you to another drinking contest, don't you?" He asked before he couldn't help it anymore and he leaned over to kiss her a couple of times.
Sadie had no problem with kissing him back. It worked pretty well, therapy-wise. When they broke apart, she grinned at him. "Just name a time," she said with a little shrug.
Gabe was all for offering therapeutic support. "I'll do that," He nodded. "Don't know how much forewarning I'll give you though." He bounced his eyebrows up and down once and grinned. "Are you sure you want to get me drunk enough to sing? You might regret it once you do...." He smirked a little.
"No one could possibly sing bad enough to make me regret listening to them. 'Cause even if they're awful, I still get a good laugh out of it," Sadie grinned.
"Well, that's very noble. I guess we'll just have to wait and see," He replied and then decided to lean in for some more therapeutic kissing. He felt it was his duty, for sure.
Sadie appreciated it, but she was also tired, so she eventually pulled back with a smile. She adjusted her head on the pillow and moved closer to Gabe. "Do you have to leave in the morning?"
Gabe moved around a little to get situated as well. He nodded. "Unfortunately, yea," He nodded. "But I'll be back in the afternoon." He assured. "If that's okay?" He contemplated finding a way out of going to the base in the morning, but that would be irresponsible and he didn't want to appear to be so if he wasn't in the hospital himself or something. He kissed her forehead. "I'll try not to wake you up when I go though if you're still sleeping." He added.
"It sucks, but I'll be okay," Sadie said with a small sigh. "At least you'll still be around for a few more hours."
Gabe lifted his hand up and ran it through her hair a few more times. "Yes I will. And you'll be asleep. Cause you had a long day," He nodded.
"The longest," Sadie nodded in agreement. "Thanks for helping out." She leaned over and gave him one more kiss before she settled in on her pillow.
"Anytime," Gabe replied right away as he shifted a little in his spot and fixed the covers around them. He drew his hand through her hair a couple more times and returned that last kiss. "Quit stalling and go to sleep. I'll kiss you in the morning still, I promise." He smirked.
Sadie had to laugh a little at that. "Okay, okay, but only if you promise." She smirked and after a moment's pause, leaned in to quickly kiss him again. Then she closed her eyes just as quickly and rested her back down, a small smile on her face.
Gabe returned the kiss and smiled himself. He moved his hand through her hair a few times and along her back too. After a few minutes of silence he leaned forward and kissed the tip of her nose. Yep, he went there. He put his head back down quickly and closed his eyes with a little smirk. Sleep time, you betcha.