Between The Lines

23.

It was a chilly night, like the other night. It felt like morning was coming soon. I tried not to make it apparent, but I was tired, like I hadn't slept in years. And my leg was killing me. Gabriel gave me a boost over the fence; Eli walked through (duh). I led the way out of the richer districts; neither of them had been there before.

We had to stop so that I could get my phone from that tree. I didn't turn it on; it would be absolutely full, and I didn't want to be yelled at over the phone. I also wanted to be able to see it all through till the end, till Eli was able to get back into his body. It was a long walk; they had to go slow for me and my limping along.

"Why'd you do it?" asked Gabriel at one point. No one was on the sidewalk, or the street.

"What do you mean why'd I do it? It's pretty obvious, isn't it?"

"Not only that. I mean, it was going pretty far.... I just want to know why you were letting it get that far. That was crazy, Danity."

"I don't think it was crazy, just really scary. But it wasn't as scary as what might've happened to you, Eli, and even Kylie-who's involvement was completely unnecessary. If I didn't do something, who would?"

Gabriel scoffed. "We would've figured something out."

"How? If I hadn't been there to run through that ghost-boy... what would you have done?"

He rolled his eyes. "Okay, you got a point. But then we had to save you."

"You barely did anything. It was mostly Eli who... saved me. Eli, you saved me."

He frowned, glancing at Eli. "We're both not getting it, Danity."

"For our hit-and-run, we had to bring the driver to justice-and we did. I was able to get back in, but Eli couldn't. Okay, you tried to mug me-and I don't blame you, Eli, really-but you hadn't been brought to justice."

"And he still hasn't," said Gabriel, "-no offense."

I frowned. "Well, you're right... but he redeemed himself. He fixed it by saving me. Do you think it might work now?"

Gabriel shrugged. "Let's hurry up and see. If not, well... sorry, Eli."

The three of us started at a faster pace, past the library. I led us through the back of the hospital, near the ambulance drop-off place; I didn't want Mom and Raff to see me quite yet. We went up the stairs, for added measure, though Gabriel complained about it-even though I was the one with the injury. We didn't see Kylie, but I made a mental note to check on her later.

We burst into Eli's room quite rudely. It was empty. Maybe Bethany had gone to the bathroom or something. There was nothing on him; he just looked like he was sleeping.

"Well, Eli," said Gabriel, "time to tuck you in." He nodded towards the foot of the bed. "Yeah, we will."

"We will what?" I asked.

"Remind him. He might not remember, remember?"

"Ha ha," I said. I tried following Gabriel's eyes since I couldn't see anything. "You should get going, Eli. I kind of don't want your wife catching me here. I'll try to take care of everything. You just take it easy." Eli's hand twitched, which was a great sign.

"He's... in," said Gabriel. "Are you sure you don't want to stay? I am."

"I'll be in the hospital until the morning probably, then I have to deal with my mom and then sleep a few years off. Just come look for me if he wakes up or anything."

He nodded and gave me a salute. "I copy."

I headed towards the door.

"Danity?" I turned. Gabriel looked a little shy then, blushing. "Thanks... you know, for everything. You're probably the craziest, awesomest girl I'll ever meet."

I smiled.