Even In The Grave, All Is Not Lost

Cross to Bear

A/N: I hope you guys had a good Christmas if you celebrate :) have been struggling with my writing due to worsened health but here's finally a new chapter. It's not the greatest and pretty rough, but hopefully the next one will be better.

. . .

Abby's appearance turned out to be entirely unwelcome for another reason - mostly because she came bearing 'gifts'.

"What are those for?" Raven asked, eying the IV bags with unguarded suspicion.

"The loss of fluid. Not strictly necessary in your case," Abby added in her direction, "but it will still be of help. We want you to get better as soon as possible."

Great. More needles.

No-one said the end of the world was going to involve getting poked and prodded to hell and back. She was beginning to feel like a goddamn pincushion.

Luna reached for her jacket, carefully working her arms into it - arms that had just been brushing up against Raven's in a way that had no fucking right to be so goddamn intoxicating.

Curse the fact that stress made her horny.

Like what the fuck kind of biological quirk was that?

And that's all it was. Stress and horniness.

Not Luna.

None of this had anything to do with Luna.

Raven turned her attention back to the IV stands in frustration.

It was hard to miss the fact that Luna's bag was slightly larger than her own. Her cellmate watched its approach with the same brand of resignation that Raven currently possessed.

Right. Luna wasn't all that fond of playing patient either.

Nonetheless, she held out her arm before Abby had even asked, and once again Raven noticed the faint traces of bruising on the top of her hand - though this time the reason for their existence finally clicked. Clearly, Luna was a veteran at this.

Something else she had neglected to share.

For someone who was way too fucking open the majority of the time, there was a hell of a lot she still kept under wraps.

Raven tried not to be annoyed. Mostly because she'd wanted Luna to keep things to herself. To protect herself.

This is what you wanted.

(only, deep down, she knew it wasn't

Knew that there was an unbearably selfish part of her that hungered for everything she shouldn't.

Hopefully, one day, she'd find a way to kill that part)

"You didn't come by this morning," Abby commented, a distinct note of scolding in her tone as she inserted the needle. Raven winced. That would be her soon.

Maybe if she made a run for it while the doc was distracted. . .

"I forgot." The touch of regret in Luna's voice suggested that this wasn't just a convenient excuse but the truth. And Raven remembered what she'd confessed about her difficulties with short-term memory lately. Prepared herself to rise to Luna's defense if the scolding continued.

Abby pursed her lips but said nothing further, even if it was clear from her expression that she doubted the explanation. Finishing up, she turned to Raven-

who promptly shrank back against the wall. "You know, I'm feeling pretty okay. Don't really need all that."

"I've had to listen to John complaining for the last half hour about just how much vomit he's had to take care of today." Couldn't have happened to a more deserving person. Raven's heart bled for him. "Your blood pressure is low and you're showing clear signs of dehydration. How much water have you managed to keep down?"