Fire & Ice | Soulmate AU 1 |

chapter twenty-two

I'm discharged from the hospital at around seven a.m. A different nurse than before bullies me into a wheelchair and wheels me down to the front entrance of the hospital as per their policy. Max has to help pull me to my feet. My various bruises make themselves known once my legs start to support my body weight, but I bite my way through the pain. Max slings one of my arms over his shoulders despite my embarrassed protests and we hobble our way across the parking lot to a waiting car that was sent by the League. The ride back to New York is going to be long, especially with the checkpoints that have been put in place, which is fine with me. I just want to relax and not think about anything for a little while.

I settle into the backseat beside Max and try to get comfortable. It's a worthless effort, though, because I have to shift around to present my League ID every time we encounter a checkpoint. We finally cross through the last checkpoint and leave D.C after about an hour. The security and safety precautions are kind of annoying, but it makes sense for everyone to be safe rather than sorry.

"Can you drop me at my brother's apartment, actually?" I ask the drive on a whim, slowly reading off the address so he can input it into his GPS when he agrees. Max merely raises his eyebrows when I look over at him.

"My head's a mess right now," I mutter to him. "I just wanna see him."

He studies my face for a moment before nodding in agreement.

I slip towards a less serious form of consciousness, sliding down in my seat. I unbuckle my seat belt and the driver thankfully doesn't say anything about it.

"Alright, come here," Max orders. "Lay down and sleep before you pass out and hit your head again." It takes a second for my foggy brain to process his words. I lean over, resting my head on his thigh and curling my legs up onto the seat. I pass out completely for the rest of the car ride.

Max shakes me awake an unknown period of time later. I recognize the street we're parked on, though, because it's where the old apartment I shared with Derek is.

"You can go back to the tower," I tell Max, sitting up a little faster than I probably should have and opening the passenger door. "I'll be back later tonight, okay?"

"Yeah, kiddo, I'll see ya," he agrees. I climb carefully out onto the street and shut the car door behind me.

The car waits until I'm halfway up the front steps to the apartment to actually pull away. I take a second to stand still and just breathe once I'm alone. I don't have my phone on me since I was afraid I'd lose it somehow in D.C., which was a good call considering it probably would've been destroyed if I brought it along.

I make my way up to Derek's floor, pausing for a second to collect myself again before actually knocking. There's some scuffling until I hear a female voice say they're coming to the door. Alexandra. Right. This really isn't the best state to meet her in. First impressions are everything, after all.

Oh well. Too late to turn back now.

The door opens and the petite blonde woman standing in the doorway literally gasps in surprise.

"Derek!" she exclaims. "It's for you!" I snort out a laugh at her response which makes a smile bloom across her face. Derek appears from behind her without a shirt on and his blue eyes widen comically at the sight of me.

"Jesus fuck, Lake, what the hell happened to you?"

I sigh tiredly.

"Mom."

His face contorts in a way that looks almost painful before he's grabbing my unbroken arm and dragging me into the apartment. Alexandra shuts the door and locks it behind us. Derek leads me to the worn red couch that came with us from the old house we lived in with mom and dad and sits me down.