Xenomorph

Waiting for Gavin - Disquiet

The news rocked Tiny's world in the worst possible way. His small thirium pump had stalled at the news. Shot? Someone had shot Gavin? How? When? Why? His LED burned red as Chloe continued to cling to him, crying into his small shoulder. Tiny was too stunned to cry at first. He simply allowed Chloe to hold him. Gavin had been shot, and Chloe was crying. That didn't bode well for his physical condition. It wasn't like those other smaller wounds that Gavin had come home with, bound and looking sheepish as he told stories of drug deals gone awry and fighting in the streets. This was bad enough that Chloe had come home to break the news to him in the early hours of the morning, and Elijah hadn't returned at all.

Elijah did return, eventually. Chloe had moved to the parlour by then, the saline tracks drying into her delicate cheeks. She'd busied herself with cleaning. It was one of the ways she handled stress. Falling back on her hostess programming. Tiny had a similar method. He'd curled up anxiously on the sofa for a while before being overcome with the need for activity. At that point, he got to his small feet and ran a circuit of the room, hands and feet skittering across the carpet and up onto chairs and cabinets. He then settled in place once more while Chloe righted whatever items he'd knocked aside. It was late afternoon by the time Elijah's car pulled up and he stumbled out like a ghost. Tiny had never seen him so pale. Not even during those long nights when Gavin had briefly disappeared from their lives.

Chloe hurried to meet him at the door, burrowing into his chest the moment he was inside. He seemed dazed and tired as he returned her embrace, closing his tired eyes as he rested his chin on top of her blonde head. His skin may have been pale, but his eyes were red, with dark shadows underneath where he'd been awake all night. He'd clearly done his share of crying at the hospital and in the car. Now he was simply drained. He allowed Chloe to guide him into the front room and lay on the sofa, languishing in the fading afternoon light. The day was grey and miserable, very much matching his mood. Elijah rested one arm over his tired eyes as he lay there. Tiny chittered miserably. The news was clearly not good.

Tiny felt truly miserable as he padded through to the kitchen. Chloe had cut out a section of pie, clearly hoping she could coax Elijah into eating some later. The little jam pockets were still sitting on the plate where Tiny had left them earlier. He hopped up and picked up the small triangle he'd made for Gavin. The pastry would go bad after tomorrow. He'd been so excited to have made something for Gavin. Gavin wouldn't get to eat his pastry. He felt saline trickle from his eyes as he clutched the small triangle hard enough for the pastry to flake and crumble. He had jam all over his claws. Seeping into his joints. It was sticky.

The next few days were no better, and Tiny felt as lonely as ever. Elijah couldn't leave Cyberlife unattended, so he was mostly splitting his time between the office and the hospital. He barely returned to the mansion at all besides to shower and change clothes. Tiny would skitter to the door hopefully each time he returned, but he'd always shake his head. No positive news. No Change. Gavin had survived the emergency surgery, but he'd lost a lot of blood prior to being found. He was extremely weak and had flatlined twice during the operation. At the shake of Elijah's head, Tiny's chest would drop and he'd return to the front parlour.

Chloe was also out of the house a lot. While Elijah was at the office, she was at the hospital. She'd told Tiny about Gavin's physical condition. He was breathing on his own, but he'd shown no sign of waking since the surgery. They had to feed and hydrate him intravenously to keep his body functional, and though they'd replaced the blood he'd lost, it seemed the damage had been done. After almost dying twice during surgery, Gavin's body had placed itself in low-power mode. Chloe called it a coma, but it sounded like an emergency shutdown to Tiny. If he lost too much energy, his body would force him into stasis until he was charged enough to function. It seemed the same thing had happened to Gavin with the massive blood loss.