I Promise You'll Get Better

Twelve

A/N: A day late, I'm sorry. Had a lot going on yesterday and I didn't have time to publish it. But here it is. ;P

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"The operation went well, thank goodness. Tweak's stable now. Peso saved her life."

Danielle and Daphne looked tired but relieved. Peso looked mainly relieved. Dashi was curled up on a chair next to Tweak's bed, but now she leapt at them and gave them a huge hug.

"You all saved her life," she said. "I need to go and thank the Captain and the Professor today as well. But... thank you. Thank you so much. You don't know how much... how much it means..."

"I think we can take a guess," Peso said, smiling and patting Dashi's hand with a kind flipper.

Tweak was silent, having fallen into a deep coma. Her side was bandaged up, her arm in a cast. She had regained some colour, but she still looked ghostly. Dashi reached out and held her hand—the bruised hand, the one that had connected with the wall so many times.

"I might stay here for a while," she said, rubbing Tweak's hand with her thumb. "You know... like she stayed here for me."

Danielle nodded. "Is Ranger Marsh arriving soon?"

Dashi had emailed Ranger Marsh, Tweak's dad, the night before to inform him of what had happened, and he replied almost straight away asking if he could come over as soon as possible. Kwazii had set off in the early hours of the morning to fetch him from his home in the Everglades, Florida.

"He should be in a couple of hours," Dashi said, checking her watch. "He had to know what was happening, he had to come. It wouldn't be fair on him otherwise."

"Have you spoken to Shellington at all since last night?" Daphne said.

Dashi went rigid. Danielle thumped her cousin. "Daphne!"

"What?!"

"What do you think?"

"I don't know, I'm just asking!"

"Well, you shouldn't..."

"In answer to your question," Dashi said, cutting them off. Peso replaced his flipper on her arm. "I haven't. I think he's still mad at me... and I'm still mad at him. He really shocked me last night. I never knew he had it in him to fight back. He's always such a reasonable person."

Nobody answered. Tweak's heart monitor beeped consistently. Two Vegimals passed the Sick Bay, chirping in low voices. The attack on Tweak had taken a toll on everyone.

"I miss Tweak already," Danielle said. "I really like her."

"Me too," Daphne said. "Do you want some time alone, Dashi?"

"Yes please." Dashi looked down at Tweak's sleeping figure, gently touching the gash on the engineer's shoulder. She heard the cousins leave, but Peso stayed a moment.

"I know you like confiding in your cousins, but..." he said hesitantly. "I'm here to talk as well. If you want to talk about what's going on."

Dashi smiled gratefully at Peso. "Thanks, Peso. I'll... I'll probably talk later. About the cone snail. What's going to happen."

"Of course." Peso gave her a brief hug, then padded out of the Sick Bay. Dashi placed Tweak's hand in her lap and gazed out of the window, gently stroking the bruised fur. The watery light cast dappled reflections over the pair in the corner of the Sick Bay. Dashi liked to imagine Tweak wasn't in a coma, but sleeping. Dreaming, maybe.