Bittersweet | Simon Riley

SEVENTEEN

Belle felt like her body had just been hit by a truck. Then run over about ten time. Even with the IV bag in her arm, her head was pounding and no matter how many pain killers they were pushing through her veins she didn't feel good. She took a deep breath, even through blurry vision recognizing the bright lights of the med bay. A soft curse left her lips as she realized she'd proven Ghost right. And another one when she heard his voice, muffled but definitely there, somewhere close. The door to the room opened as Belle was sitting up, vision spinning at the movement.

"You shouldn't be sitting up." Ghost said from the doorway and Belle moved to make a sarcastic comment, but a little groan left her lips. Within a few seconds Ghost was immediately across the room, standing at the side of the little hospital bed as Belle tried to regain her spinning vision. She let out a little huff, her knuckles turning white as her hands were fists.

"I'm ok." Belle managed to get out after a moment and Ghost rolled his eyes, audibly scoffing at her attempt to say she was ok. He had not just pulled her out of a burning building with a team of other panicked soldiers for her to try and pull that card.

"Lay down." Ghost said, his voice rough as he gently pushed his hand against her shoulder, avoiding the bruising. Even the doctors and medics had admitted that she was lucky she hadn't been hit by the shrapnel and had only walked away from the explosion with bruises. But in reality, Ghost was ok with the bruises, even if they might hurt her because that meant she was alive. And that's what mattered in his mind. "I'm not asking." He told her and she caved, laying back down in the blanket. She watched as Ghost pulled the blanket back up, as if trying to help her preserve body heat in the chilly med bay.

"You seem in a good mood." Belle mumbled, rubbing her face and avoiding looking at the IV in her arm, never one for needles and blood. There was a reason she was someone who worked with the mind rather than the body. Ghost grunted as he stood awkwardly next to the hospital bed and Belle's eyes went to his arm, raising her eyebrows a little. "What's with the bandages?" She asked, not believing he was injured for a second.

"I'm hurt." He lied, his voice deadpan. The nurses weren't letting him into the med ward to see her and he'd magically created a reason to be able to stand by her bed, but he wasn't about to tell her that.

"Bullshit." Belle murmured, heading pounding as she leaned back in the bed. Ghost grabbed a cup from the side table and walked to the sink in the corner of the room. Belle's eyes ran over him, her eyes narrowing a little as she spotted something very out of place. "Are you bleeding?" She asked, eyes lingering on his clearly dark red stained uniform.

"It's dried." Ghost informed her, filling the little cup up for her without even looking towards her as he answered. Belle rolled her eyes as Ghost turned the sink off, bringing the little cup of water to her. She mumbled a silent thank you before bringing the cup to her lips, the water definitely helping soothe the headache. But her eyes lingered on the blood. "Stop worrying, it's not mine." He grumbled, seeing how her eyes kept moving between him and the stains on his uniform.

"Because that's supposed to reassure me." Belle said before taking another sip of water, it helping a lot more then she wanted to say. Ghost crossed his arms as he stood next to her bed, eyes shifting between her and the door as if he was waiting for someone to drag him out of the room. Not that he would go with ease. "Who's is it?" She asked and he didn't answer, his eyes moving back to her and lingering for a moment. Belle frowned when he didn't answer then realized whose blood was on his uniform. "Mine?"

"I didn't exactly have time to shower." Ghost grumbled out and Belle watched as he uncrossed his arms, her eyes lingering as he started to unbutton his top. She was well aware that he had an undershirt on, it was required for uniform, but she still looked away. Ghost noticed how her attention was suddenly not on him anymore, rolling his eyes as he tossed the bloodied top into the sink. He made a small face as he realized that he was down a uniform top now and would need to buy another one.

"What happened?" Belle asked, still avoiding looking at him. Ghost stretched a little as he stood there, unmoving and standing directly next to her. He didn't know why he was there, but he refused to leave her side, not liking the feeling of her not being by his side. Of course, it was the one moment he had let her wander from his side she'd practically gotten herself blown up. He would need direct orders to leave her side.

"Building blew up." Ghost said bluntly, the frustration clear in his voice as he watched a few nurses pass by Belle's room. The med bay was a mess right now due to the explosion which had happened. The team which had been in the building had been airlifted back to base and Ghost had fought tooth and nail to get on that flight, he wasn't leaving her now. "It was trapped, they all were. It was a set up." He explained and Belle's brows furrowed a little as she processed what he had said.

"Is everyone ok?" Belle asked, looking back at Ghost again. Ghost's jaw tensed as she asked about other people's statuses, as if she hadn't nearly been blown up. He had told her not to be a hero, that included off the field.

"Can you worry about yourself for once?" Ghost asked, his voice low and filled with tension. He didn't want her to be selfless, he didn't want her to be sympathetic. Ghost wanted her to worry about her own well being and focus on her own recovery over the next few weeks. He didn't want her to be the better person, the person who cared about everyone involved. He needed her to be selfish, just this once.

"Simon." Belle groaned his name, a hint of annoyance in her voice at his clear dislike of her asking about the others. He met her eyes and jaw tensed, hating how fast he was caving to her.

"Yeah, no casualties." Ghost grumbled, giving her limited information so she wouldn't be jumping to her feet to help. And even if she tried, he would force her to sit back down in the little hospital bed. He wanted her off her feet as much as possible and would handcuff her to the bed if that's what it took.

"Good." Belle said softly with a little nod. Her eyes moved over Ghost, having never really seen him out of the standard uniform before other than a few times in passing while he was training. She glanced at the scars on his arms, the muscles that had clearly been built up over years of hard work and missions and his calloused hands which were still tinted red from her blood no matter how much he'd tried to scrub his hands in the sink while she was asleep. "That's good." She nodded and a comfortable silence fell between them as they simply looked at each other in the little hospital room which suddenly felt a lot smaller.

"I should get going." Ghost cleared his throat, blinking a few times and glancing towards the door again, already secretly dreading the talk he was going to get from Captain Price. But he would run into a burning building again if it meant saving her. He wasn't going to apologize for that. "Need a shower and everything." He said glancing back to her.

Another beat of silence sat between them as he didn't make any move towards the door. Belle looked at him, his hands tinted red from her blood then to his tired eyes. It was clear that he had been by her side the entire time and she had overheard the arguing with the nurses, even if only for a short moment. "You could stay." The words left her lips before she could even think about them.

Ghost blinked, as if thinking over her words, staring at her as if he was unsure if she had actually said that. He shifted his weight awkwardly, looking to the chair which was positioned by her bedside. "I could." He said, his words much less rough than they'd been seconds before.

Belle looked at him as if trying to read whatever was going through his mind. In all honesty, Ghost couldn't even verbalize what he was thinking if he even wanted to. She breathed out, her words much quieter then before. "The company would be nice." Belle told him and Ghost glanced between her and the door. A beat of silence and he looked to the chair.

"Give me a pillow." He said and Belle rolled her eyes, tugging one of the pillows out from the head of the bed and tossing it to him. Ghost grumbled a little, avoiding her gaze as he sat down in the chair which was definitely too small for a man of his size but he wouldn't complain as long as he got to stay by her bedside.