Don't Be The Hero

Twelve

Jack pov

When Logan found out, he was pissed. He still wouldn't explain why he was gone, and I guess he blamed himself for not being there. He was yelling for the first few hours after he found out. I once went into the kitchen for a sandwich on I think the second night. I checked on Nina before going to bed. She was doing better, even if she was unconscious. I went up the stairs and down the hall. I found Logan's door opened a bit, so I did the obvious choice. I peeked in.

He was laying on his couch, a beer in one hand with several more beside him, and his phone in the other. Thankfully, he was facing away from me, looking out the window. But I knew better, that he could smell and hear me, so I bolted.

XxXxXxXxXx

Nina has been on morphine for the last two weeks. She woke up three days after her blackout, and I've been handling everything. I've gone to visit whenever I can. The first week she was laying on the table looking away from me, not talking. They had tried to put bandages over the burns, but Nina refused and wore a tank top, which Jean had said would sting. Nina didn't say anything. The look on her face just said, that she didn't care. The second week was better. All the black, charred flesh was gone, and all that was left were big, raw, red spots. She also got a haircut. The explosion had singed of almost a foot of hair, which we had cut to just past shoulder length.

Nina still wouldn't look at me. She just huddled in the corner with her morphine drip by her side. Leaving me to look at her back. I didn't bother to talk. She was upset. I was upset.

Today, was the second day of the third week, and I was surprised to see the professor, Logan and Jean all huddled around Nina who was lying on the table, looking at her back. "It's going to leave a scar, that's for sure." Logan said eyeing his daughters back. Jean gave him an angry look and hit him in the ribs. The professor spoke up. "Given your fast healing rate, it will be totally gone in maybe eight to ten years, maybe more, but I don't think it will be there forever." Nina sighed in relief. "Thank you." She said before sitting up and pulling her shirt back down. Jean removed her from the morphine. "If it ever hurts, come down here and I'll give you some pain meds if you want." She said disposing of the empty IV bag. Nina removed the needle and watched fascinated as it quickly healed, like she had to make sure it still worked that way. She gave it to Jean who threw it in with the bag. She left, squeezing past me, the idiot standing in the doorway. The professor said while he was wheeling out, "I hope to see you out on the course soon, Nina." I moved out of his way. No need to get my toes crushed. The door closed. It was just me, Logan and Nina. Logan joked a bit before leaving which surprised me. "Hey kid, don't worry, I have a few to match." he said lifting up his sleeve showing a thick pink line stretching around his arm to his upper back. Nina giggled and hugged her father before he followed the professor out. "Be back out there soon. Your slacking."

"Yes sir." The door closed once more, leaving me and Nina alone.

"How are you?" I asked before being tackled in a hug. "Perfect. Everything is perfect." She said stumbling a bit. Morphine. "Ok... I missed you." I said, being released, and dragging a plastic chair over by the metal table where she sat.

"I've missed you too. I'm sorry for being so..." She said looking for the right word.

"It's ok. I understand. You went through something that almost no one else can even describe. You deserve time off."

She laid on her stomach on the cold table. "You wanna see?" she asked. Before I could answer she lifted up the back of her shirt, exposing the pink swirls and lines. They almost looked like the fire itself, burning lines across her back. It looked like a piece of art. She took my hand and guided it to the middle of her back, tracing the swirls. "It's ok, it doesn't hurt." She reassured. Slowly moving my hand along her back, she said, "aren't they pretty? it's like a painting. Just on me instead of paper. You see that one?" I removed my hand as she pointing to a small burn below her shoulder blade. "It looks like a swirly seagull." She sat up, her shirt falling back into place. "But this one is my favorite." She said bringing up her left foot. Just below the ankle there was a small pink burn that looked oddly like a muffin. Weird.