on thin ice [karen/frank - marvel]

forty three: chrysanthemums

Frank instantly felt the urge to vomit as he woke from the anaesthesia what felt like five minutes later. His eyes instantly searched for a clock, the time being 14:45. He was grateful there actually was a clock in sight, there still not being one in his room. The hands wobbled in his eyes and there was a doctor next to his bed, their soothing voice supposed to calm him.

He grabbed the bowl put in front of him and instantly threw up, letting the doctor take it from him once he had settled. It felt good to throw the anaesthesia back up as it made his veins itch when it sat in his body. It was almost going back on his detox, but fixing his spine without it would possibly kill him. "How are you feeling, Frank?"

He sighed, leaning back into the pillow. "Not too bad"

--

"Frankie boy!"

His eyes flickered to the door where all of his squad ran into the room, Scott leading the whole pack. In times like these, he realised just how big his squad actually was. The other eight of them had actually cared enough to show up when Frank wasn't even remotely nice to half of them in general. He made a pact there and then to change that. He grinned as they ran at him and Scott flung his arms around him quickly.

"Careful!" Frank shouted, Scott's grip immediately loosening on his neck. Frank managed to put his arms around him in response, smiling at his comfort and compassion. He knew he wasn't supposed to move that much, but the doctor was out of the room and it would most likely go unnoticed with the whole squad surrounding them. Scott's joy was overbearing, but Frank had actually missed his odd optimism when he was in Oregon, so he let it slide.

"Don't all rush in at once" Gabriela said, standing from the chair and pushing Scott backward toward the foot of the bed. Considering how tired she was, her movement was quick and Scott was soon further away from Frank. Gabriela was small next to him, looking up toward him like she did with Frank. He watched the two of them carefully, wondering if any of what he and Gabriela had talked about would affect her.

Scott just smiled as her hand pressed into his chest. "Hi, Gabby"

She smiled a little tightly after what Frank had said previously. "Scott"

"What happened, man? You all good?" Scott asked, heading around the other side of the bed to sit in the chair next to Frank. He was the only one to speak to him at length, the others in the squad having said their short pieces, mostly shaking his hand and moving on. Scott was fully invested, leaning forward on the chair ready to listen to what he had to say.

"I'm fine" Frank replied, Scott folding his arms as he sat forward in the chair. Frank looked between the group of them before back at Gabriela who understood the clear signal to get the rest of the squad to leave. She stood, talking to them briefly before they all made their exits after saying goodbye to Frank. Once they'd left, he turned to Scott instantly. "You didn't have to bring literally the whole squad"

Scott just laughed, "You think they let me come on my own? No way. LePaul gave me the day off so I can stay here but they've all gotta get back soon. She's on her way up, she had a problem with the parking meter or something. You should have seen her when I told her. She was shitting bricks! Thought it was her fault cause she suspended you the other week"

"Shit, man, really?" Frank was shocked, to say the least. They never really got to know him like Scott did and he figured them all scared of him. Scott was the only one who ever really talked to him about things. All this time Frank had put him down and possibly felt himself higher than Scott when really, he was the only one of them that actually had any balls.

She appeared before Scott could reply. Striding through the door, upright but obviously nervous. He could tell, but he would never let that slip. "Frank," LePaul said, approaching the side of his bed. She had a card in her hand along with a bunch of flowers. The colours wounded his eyes after being used to the white interior for so long. "How are you doing?"