Secrets and Sins

Chapter 4

~Ava~

Ava, ever the heavy sleeper, was surprised to wake up to a doctor entering her hospital room. She had fond memories of Bea trying to get her out of bed when they had shared the apartment. It would always start with a gentle shake of her shoulder before often escalating to Bea dragging her out of bed by her ankles to dump her unceremoniously on the floor. A handful of times, on particularly stubborn days, Bea had resorted to pouring ice water on her.

Peeking out from Bea’s chest, Ava could see the doctor, a man in his fifties, examining the machines beside the bed and making notes on a clipboard. She was amazed Bea hadn’t woken ye. She was the lightest sleeper Ava had ever known. And Ava had (on multiple occasions) found herself pressed into a wall with a knife to her throat after trying to sneak into their bedroom after a late shift at the bar.

Not that it wasn’t super hot.

She shuddere,  remembering the sensation of Bea’s body pressed tightly against her own.

It made sense considering how tired Bea had been. Ava frowned as she recalled Bea’s exhausted expression when the Halo bearer had first woken after her surgery. Her girl obviously needed sleep. Ava buried her face back into the place where Bea’s neck met her shoulder, smiling when she felt Bea’s arm tighten around her. Hopefull,  the doctor would just leave them be.

Ava couldn’t help but sigh with disappointment when the doctor loudly cleared his throat to get their attention. Bea jumped away from her so quickly she fell off the bed. The sister warrior quickly got up, her face blushing furiously as she stared at her feet.
“Ssssorry.” Bea murmured to the ground.

As she watched Bea shuffle nervously, Ava couldn’t help but hate whoever had made Bea afraid of who she was.

“What’s u,  Doc?” Ava quipped, finally turning towards the tall man who had watched all of this silently.

~Beatrice~


Beatrice was struggling to concentrate as the doctor explained the severity of Ava’s wounds and the operating procedures that had occurred to save her life yesterday.
Her heart was racing with embarrassment and shame. Memories of the harrowing moment her parents had walked in on her kissing a girl from her science class at high school replayed over and over in her mind. They had screamed at Beatrice for her deviance, and just a few short months later, her father had coldly informed her that she would be attending a boarding school thousands of miles away from her home. She felt nauseous. That was the last time she had spoken to either of her parents face to face.

“...therefore, we have to insist that an MRI is ordered to give us a better understanding of the damage to the liver…” That caught her attention and snapped Beatrice out of her reverie.

“Wait a second, Ava can’t have diagnostic imaging, remember? I told the other doctor that yesterday.” Beatrice was proud of how steady her voice was considering the compromising position the doctor had found them in.

“I can’t?” Ava chipped in, an adorably confused expression on her face.

“That’s what your girlfriend here told us.” He replied, gesturing at Beatrice. “It’s against your religious beliefs?”.

“Oh right, yeah, it is.” Ava blurted out quickly, trying and failing to hide her surprise.

Beatrice wished the ground would swallow her up. She could feel the Halo bearer peering at her, but Beatrice avoided eye contact. The sister warrior appreciated Ava dropping it for now but knew that the other woman would definitely be asking her about it later.

Oblivious to the turmoil that he had created, the doctor replied bluntly, “I'm afraid we must insist on imaging to provide you quality care. Your appointment for an MRI is at 2pm this afternoon.” With that, he turned and left the room.

~Ava~


As soon as she was sure the doctor was out of earshot, Ava turned to Bea, “What the hell was that?”

“Ava I’m so so sorry! The paramedics wouldn’t let me come with you if I wasn’t family or…romantically involved with you. I should’ve never assumed that you would have been okay with it, I just didn’t want to leave you and…”

“Bea stop.” Ava cut off the poor girl mid ramble. “That’s not what I’m talking about. Why can’t I have an MRI?”

Bea gave her an odd look, “Um I don’t know how well having a ring of ancient metal embedded in your back would go down with the specialists? Also, it could react poorly with the machine. We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves by blowing up half a hospital?”

“The halo, of course. Duh.” If Ava could’ve face palmed, she would’ve, but her arms still weren’t functioning quite at facepalm level yet.

“We need to find a way to get you out of here.” Bea muttered, walking over to the small window in the door to peer into the hallway. “I’ll be right back”. She opened the door and walked out of Ava’s room.

A couple of minutes later, Bea pushed back through the door, dragging a wheelchair in behind her. Ava shivered a little at the sight of it. Wheelchairs reminded her of her time as a quadriplegic. Bea noticed, her face softening a little in understanding.

“It’s just to get you out of here Ava, as soon as you can walk, we’ll ditch it somewhere.” Bea reassured her.

Ava nodded, swallowing thickly as she eyed the wheelchair distrustfully. Bea came around to the side of the bed and carefully adjusted a few settings on the various machines before disconnecting the wires and tubes from her.

“What?” Bea asked, noticing Ava watching her.

“Do you just know everything about, well, everything?” Ava said, unable to help the huge smile spreading across her face.

“I mean, seriously, you're incredible. How do you know how all those different things work?” Gesturing towards the machines she had just been hooked up to.

Bea looked a little uncomfortable at the praise and shrugged, “I read. A lot.”

Bea helped Ava up and into the wheelchair. It was awkward and difficult as Ava’s bandages were so tight around her torso that bending at all was not an option. She winced as Bea lowered her into the wheelchair, her wounds twinging painfully at the movement.
Ava tried not to think about how close Bea’s face was to her own, even as she felt the other woman's breath warm her cheek.

Once she was settled, a blanket was thrown over her. Ava smiled in thanks to Bea, who nodded and then pushed a familiar grey cap down firmly onto the Halo bearer's head to make her less recognizable.

“Hey is this my hat?” Ava asked.

“Yes.” Came Bea’s curt reply from behind her.

“You just had it on you?” Ava couldn’t help the huge shit eating grin that appeared on her face as she craned her head around to see Bea.

The woman in question was pulling her hood up over her head, blushing bright red, before shrugging and saying simply, “I missed you."

Ava felt her body warm, she wished she could kiss her.

God, I love her.

Keeping their heads down and trying to appear nonchalant. Bea wheeled Ava out of the room. Avoiding any corridors with too many people, Bea rounded the corner near the reception desk of Ava’s ward, and Ava spotted their doctor from earlier. He was chatting to some nurses, his back to them.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Ava cleared her throat, trying to get Bea’s attention. The sister warrior looked up and froze briefly before guiding Ava’s wheelchair to the far side of the hall. Ava could see what Bea’s plan was.

A group of patients were huddled together, talking about something playing on the TV in the waiting area of the reception. If they could get there, they could disappear into them.
Ava couldn’t help but hold her breath as Bea pushed her closer to the group, willing her doctor not to see them. The seconds seemed to crawl by, but then they made it. Ava breathed out a sigh of relief as they put the group of patients between themselves and the doctor.

After that close call, they were home free. Ava cheered as Bea wheeled her up the street away from the hospital. Well, she cheered until Bea shushed her. Happiness bloomed in her chest. She had Bea back, she was home, and she was not dead.