The Lives of Two 19 Year Old S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents

Chapter 15 - What is it With Me and Hospitals?

"Hey," I said as I walked into Chloe's room.

"Hi," she replied with a small smile.

She looked absolutely terrible. Her leg was in a cast, she had bruises and scratches all over her, her head was bandaged and she was wearing standard hospital clothes.

"Are you OK?" I asked.

"Physically, I'm recovering. Mentally, I think I'm still in shock. I went in blinded and hating you, the person responsible for my safety which ultimately meant I didn't trust you or want to listen to you. And because of that Jessica-" she broke off.

"That wasn't your fault," I assured her. "Ethan, David and Jessica died knowing full well what this job entailed and that it could lead to their deaths."

"And your arm? You would have been out of there in time if you hadn't had to stop to help me."

"Nothing that happened was your fault Chloe," I sat down on the chair next to her bed. "Just relax and heal. We got the hard-drive which Fury has the tech team decrypting as we speak so hopefully we'll know more about Tayla by tomorrow and then we can go and save her."

"Are we cool?" she asked suddenly.

"Do you want to be?"

"Yes. I'm sorry for getting angry about you and Natasha. I guess I was just in a mood and it was a bit of a shock. You've known Natasha practically all of your life and you've been through so much with your sisters, I should have expected that you had more than just friendship."

"Chloe, there is nothing going on between me and Natasha except friendship and sisterly love. This whole thing has made me realise that I don't like her in that way anymore. After our sisters died we kind of replaced each others. I became her little sister and she became my big sister. So yeah, we're cool. Are you moving back in?"

"Definitely. I love Matthew but it was very awkward sleeping on his sofa with Caity there."

"Caity?"

"His girlfriend."

"He has a girlfriend? Did you know? Since when?"

She laughed.

"Yes, I did know. They've been about five months and they moved in together two months ago."

"Why didn't you tell tell me?"

"I don't know. I guess it never came up."

I held my left hand out to her and she took it with a smile. We stared into each other's eyes and both of us smiled. Someone knocked on the door.

"Come in," I called. Me and Chloe looked at the door as her personal medic, Praveena Patel, walked in.

"Ah good, you're here, " she said, looking at me. She looked at Chloe, "Are you ready to discuss your condition?"

Chloe nodded and Praveena took the clipboard from the end of the bed.

"So, your leg is broken in two places, your ankle is also broken and three of your ribs are cracked. You also took a nasty hit to the head so you'll probably have a concussion. Your bones will be healed in six weeks time, you will need to come back then. Is the 21st April a good day for you?"

Chloe looked at me.

"Sounds good," I said and Praveena wrote it down on her clipboard. "It's the same day I'm coming back for my final x-ray. Not that I won't be around before that."

"When you come back in April we'll discuss physio therapy for your leg," Praveena put the clipboard down. "I see that your busy so I'll leave you be but if you need anything just press the button."

She left the room.

"How are you alive?" I asked. "I mean, I'm glad that you are but a huge chunk of ceiling fell on you. You should be dead."

"I didn't even know. I passed out when you were yelling at Ethan."

"It must have been curved of something. Would you like me to collect your stuff from Matthew's?"

"Yes please. Then, when I'm discharged it'll all be ready."

I got up to leave be she grabbed my hand.

"Please stay. I get lonely."