Water. Right. That should've been the first thing she offered him without question. The cough was what snapped her to attention. His return to consciousness had been a shock, but now that it was wearing off, she was able to refocus on the basic necessities. She reached for the bottle on the table beside the bed and helped him take a drink of water.
Leah's face twisted in a sympathetic wince, eyes following the movement of his hand to his side. She didn't ask if he remembered what happened. Too many stupid questions at once weren't necessary. By way of a few different people, she'd learned the gist of what happened. How someone had snuck up on him. How Luke had saved him and brought him back. She had a mental note posted in the back of her mind to thank Luke, once things had calmed down.
Calm wasn't something she'd felt for a few days – maybe even before that, given Evan's mental state the few days before the mission. Everyone around her had managed some form of quiet calm, which she suspected was more an act for her sake (and the other worried parties in different areas of the infirmary) than anything else. She'd reciprocated, to a degree, by not speaking much whenever company was in the room. Silence kept her from unnecessarily antagonizing people out of frustration.
“Yes. Normal,” she answered with a nod. Her most necessary question was out of the way now. She'd only asked in case he needed more painkillers. Those required a medic to get. “You were out for a while. Probably missed out on the worst of the pain.”
Evan told her not to go and that was all she needed to keep her planted there. Someone would check on them eventually, but right now, she just wanted to be alone with him. To appreciate the fact that he was still with her. “I won't. I've been here the whole time. George has been here, too, and Danny. A lot of people have been coming and going,” she told him, assuring him that he hadn't been alone, although she didn't know the exact reason for his request until he spoke up next.
An apology. That, she realized sadly, had been expected. That he would apologize for this happening. Tears welled in her eyes, but she blinked them away. She'd been so good about not crying over the past couple days. A split-second glance behind her helped locate her chair before she sat down and she slid closer to the bed, using both her hands to hold his now. “Don't. Don't apologize. You're here and you're with me and that's nothing to be sorry for.” Memories drew her back to another time, months and months ago, when she'd put distance between them because of another accident. Back when she hadn't been as deeply in love with him as she was now. It was far, far too late to back out.