The Hunter

Second Chances

Finn woke up feeling like she had been hit by a bus. She groaned as she sat up, at least this time it wasn't because she had been. Slowly she turned herself so her feet were on the floor and she could balance as she leaned forward to grab the phone on the bedside table. She dialled the number and raised it to her ear. Every movement hurting more than it had before she'd been such an ass in the training room.

"Finn, long time. How's it going?" The voice on the other end of the line was cheery and Finn winced.

"I've been better. I'm moving house to your area, I need some of your potions." Finn's voice started off gravelly and didn't improve much by the end of her request.

"I don't think I've ever heard you this rough before." The voice said cautiously.

"Yeah well, it's been a lot of years since I was this rough." Finn answered, then she tried to clear her throat. "Look, just come see me would you? I'll be in the same place as usual."

"What's your ETA?"

Finn winced and looked out the window. "House is there now, but I'll be at least fifteen minutes getting downstairs." Finn waited for a response. When there was only silence after a full minute she spoke up. "Viv? You there?"

"Fifteen minutes? Are you sure a hospital wouldn't be better?" Viv spoke cautiously.

"You know my answer to that." Finn said, and she inched herself to the edge of her bed so she could attempt to stand. "Just bring me something for the pain. Maybe something to speed up the healing of the broken ribs if you have it made up."

"The what?" Viv's shocked question snapped out of the phone.

"See you in a few. Quiet when you come in, I'm not alone anymore." Finn hung up the phone and set it back in its cradle. She frowned and then slowly started to make her way to the stairs. "I'm going to regret that." She spoke to herself now. Offering advice on how to move down the first two steps with the least amount of pain. Encouragement to sit down on the top step so she could slowly move herself down the steps. Chastisement over her entire predicament. She had just gotten her feet to the floor of the lower level when the front door opened and a rail thin woman with her hair in a severe bun on the top of her head stepped in.

She looked at Finn and her eyebrows slowly moved up her head as though by sheer strength of incredulity she could bury them into her hair. Finn stood and nodded to the newcomer. Viv let her shoulder bag drop to the floor with a lot of clinking.

"No. Finn this is a hospital trip!" Viv said as she moved quickly to offer physical support to the injured woman.

"You're a nurse, just look at it and tell me how to fix it." Finn answered and let the woman help her to a chair in the kitchen. Finn sat as still as possible while Viv grabbed her bag and then cut into the shirt that was hiding the injury. She sucked air in through her teeth when she saw the damage. 

What had originally been a cut through skin and muscle and some damage to the bones was now an angry, dark bruise that did nothing to hide that the original cut had been reopened with impact.

"Finn, none of my potions can just fix this." Vivien said, shocked at the damage. "How did this even happen?"

"Originally?" Finn eyed Vivien. "I miscalculated the reach of someone's claws. Then I jumped into the house at an angle and landed poorly." Finn swallowed heavily as Vivien started applying a salve to the injury. "Athena patched it up, but then I reopened it throwing some shit around."

"And the bruising? Some of this almost looks like frost bite, which would be weird if I didn't know you could have legitimately been somewhere cold."

"Yeah, no that was Alice. I -" Finn swallowed, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. "I took my temper out on someone who couldn't defend themselves. Alice showed up for her monthly check in and stopped me from being a total idiot, but I wasn't giving her options to do it nicely."

Vivien frowned and made notes in a journal. "Justifying assault does everything to support the theory that violence can be the answer." She said and snapped the journal closed. "I know you have a violent role to play, but I honestly don't think we should even need you." She put two bottles of a reddish liquid on the table. "The pain killers you already have should work alright with this, but those will help you to sleep. Be in bed when you take one, you won't want to fall on your face. Keep the house here, I'll be back in a couple days with something to actual help heal." Viv added a jam jar to the table. "Rub that in to the outsides, try not to let it get under the skin, until I get you the other stuff."

Finn nodded her understanding and pinched the bridge of her nose in her fingers. Vivien stopped at the door to the outside, turning to Finn as Gloria stepped out of her bedroom. "You realize this will have changed your timeframe right?"

Finn nodded again. Vivien nodded in acknowledgement of Gloria standing in the room, and then she left. Gloria walked into the kitchen and stared at Finn where she sat in obvious pain.

"This is where you ask me for another chance I suppose?" Gloria asked and Finn shrugged.

"I was going to start by apologizing for everything I've done wrong so far." she opened her eyes and looked up at Gloria. "But basically yes."

"Everything you've done wrong?"

"I'm used to being on my own. Things I've done, the things I continue to do, make it hard for anyone to trust me." Finn held up a hand when Gloria opened her mouth to speak. "But I'm not a complete moron. I should have changed my behaviour to the new situation as soon as I realized you may be here longer than a night or two. I have not treated you well at all, and for all of the things that I did while I was not using my brain I apologize."

Gloria tilted her head to the side. "Why do I know that statement is the most honest thing you've said to me so far?"

"Your contract." Finn said simply.

Gloria's eyes widened. "Oh, this could be useful!"