Captain America: The Phoenix

13. You Lose Some

It was two in the morning, absolutely dark and quiet when they touched back down at the compound. The second the hatch opened, she ran off of the quinjet, Quinn sprinting into the building of the facility. It was quiet, most of the personnel surely asleep. She impatiently went up the elevator to the floor of the medical lab. Bursting into the doorway of the lab, only Dr. Cho was in there, pacing across the floor. She turned back however, upon hearing Quinn enter. Quinn glanced over to the glass box where the patient she expected to see was absent.

"Where is she? Did it work? Is she okay?" Quinn breathlessly hit the doctor with a barrage of questions.Dr. Cho held a sad expression, seemingly always unable to hide her emotions.

"No." Quinn muttered, understanding the doctor's expression. 

"Where is she?"

"We did the procedure and she was fine after. All her bruises were healed and she looked healthy again."

"Then what's the problem?" Quinn asked, her voice loud and frantic. "The serum reversed the external effects, but it only enhanced the abnormalities in her cells." Helen explained with such enormous guilt.

Quinn's eyes closed once more and she knew that there was nothing more to do. "Where is she?"

"She's downstairs in her last room. We made her as comfortable as possible. You should go say goodbye, Quinn."

She looked back up to the doctor, nodding before swiftly leaving the room.In seconds, she was back down, entering her mother's room. There was a nurse in there, one from Cho's team, sitting in the corner of the room. Quinn gave the nurse a nod, letting her know that she would take it from there. As the nurse left, Quinn turned her attention to the woman in the bed. The woman's eyes moved slowly, but she smiled brightly upon seeing her daughter.

"Mom," Quinn sat on the side of her mother's bed.Quinn was shocked to see her mom, restored to the appearance she had before she had gotten sick. She caressed the long dark brow hair that had seemingly magically grown back and the skin of her arms that was free of any bruises.

"You're so beautiful," Quinn said with a somber chuckle as she looked at her. She was in awe, almost being taken back to her childhood upon seeing her mom looking so young.Her mother let out a laugh as well, her voice thin and cracked almost like glass. "Yeah, why didn't we try that treatment earlier?" She joked.

Quinn's smile quickly disappeared, her lip quivering as her eyes begun to water. 

"I'm so sorry, mom."

The beautiful woman's thick, dark eyebrows furrowed together. "Why are you sorry?"

"These treatments, this sickness, all the pain you've gone through it's because of me," Quinn said, trying her hardest to hold in her tears. "I never asked you if you still wanted to do this. You only kept going because I needed you to. I'm so sorry." Quinn was in pain and she couldn't hold the tears back any longer.

"Hey," the woman cooed, having to use a lot of her energy in grabbing her daughter's hand into her own."If there was anything else that they could do so that I could live to see you grow and blossom, I would do it." She told her daughter, her eyes as well becoming glassy. "But life just isn't fair for some people."

Quinn sobbed, tears streaming down her face, shaking her head as she still felt a crippling guilt, despite her mother trying to assure her.

"You deserve more than this. For years, you have been living your life for me. But when I'm gone," she paused, to heave in a dry breath, "you can live your own life. And it's going to be extraordinary, Quinn." 

Her mother reached up with her free hand to wipe away her daughter's tears. Then her hand dropped back down to her lap, seeming as though there was no more energy left in her."You have been the love of my life, Quinn," the woman whispered.