QED

Chapter 21 - Keira

The door to the medical wing opened. However, other than Phoebe, Freya and Joanne's previous visits, the person coming in was a surprise. Keira had lowered the jalousies of the room's glass front half an hour ago since she couldn't endure the pitiful glances of random QED employees anymore.

They told her that she should feel completely miserable. At least, she had gotten shot and had brought a light rib fracture out of the subway fight.

The actual problem weren't her wounds – it was that she felt fine. Yes, it hurt. But no, that wasn't a reason to stay in bed the whole time and do nothing. It was boring, useless and she was so dependent on others.

Cut short, she didn't like it at all.

Of course, Alice had another opinion. And that alone was the reason why she was still lying here. Well, maybe together with the results of the doctor's medical examination from yesterday.

As she thus couldn't leave this room, she was glad the others at least sometimes came to spend some time with her. Her current visitor turned out to be Isa. She carried a bag with something in it that looked much like a whole baguette.

After waving shortly, Isa sat down on the bed right next to Keira.

"Still here?" Isa asked her.

Keira rolled her eyes. "Someone had to have bad luck. Can you please tell me why even Phoebe with her concussion was allowed to leave today?"

"Ask our dear Alice, I'd say." Isa winked and began unpacking her bag.

"Yeah, I will. In case she ever comes down here again. I'm definitely also gonna ask her why we all had to sleep here yesterday while she just went home when she thought we weren't awake anymore." Keira leaned over to see what Isa had brought. "Oh, is that cheese?"

Isa nodded. "I also bought grapes and dips. I thought you could use something nice for dinner." Her gaze went to the table next to Keira's bed. "Except of Reese's, I mean. By the way, can I have some? I haven't eaten those in ages."

"Sure. Freya and Phoebe brought them a few hours ago."

"A few hours?" Isa's expression grew irritated, then cleared up again. "Ah, right. I sometimes forget how long I'm staying here. Well, until my husband complains about it when I come home."

"He loves you. Of course he wants to spend time with you."

"And here I am, spending this time with my computers." She sighed. "I'm probably the worst wife in history. Here, eat something. You'll need it to recover."

Keira took the part of the baguette Isa had ripped off the bread and lay some cheese on it. On top, she put a grape with a little bit dip to garnish it. As she had expected, it tasted fantastic.

"Thanks, Isa," she said in a wave of sentimentality. "You're making my evening right now."

Isa smiled. "At least someone openly appreciates my efforts."

Keira looked up, playfully outraged. "Who doesn't? Do you want me to search and threaten them?"

"Sure, when do you want the list?" Isa chuckled. "To be honest, I think most people do appreciate my work. Especially here at QED. We have quite a good working atmosphere here, I think."

"I surely could think of a person who neither appreciates me nor my work," Keira mumbled, her mouth again full of food. Isa understood the words nevertheless.

"Don't be too harsh with her. Even though it doesn't seem like it, she's human too and so she also makes mistakes. It's new for her as well that there suddenly are so many new core members in QED."