Lurking - Station 19 Fic

New Life

Travis's eyes fluttered open and the first thing he saw as his vision refocused and a new feeling of numb pain overcame him, were his friends, Jack and Vic, who were sitting beside him, Vic's head lying against Jack's shoulder.

At first, Travis didn't quite know where he was, almost wondering if he were dead, but as he saw he was lying in an unfamiliar bed in an unfamiliar room with unfamiliar walls, he recognized he was in a hospital.

Jack and Vic quickly sat up when they saw him awake, suddenly looking hopeful, Jack reaching out to grab ahold of his hand. "Hey Buddy, you're awake...."

"Travis...." Vic breathed out in relief with a tired smile, her eyes seeming lit up with happiness.

Travis managed to grin at them tiredly, happy to see them. "Hey guys, you okay?" He was glad to see Vic's face was now cleaned up and bandaged, relaxed to see she no longer appeared hurt.

"We're fine, buddy."

"Vic, you're-you're okay?" He asked just to be sure, looking at her with guilt, still feeling terrible about it.

"I'm alright, Travis." She just smiled at him.

"Good, because Ripley woulda killed me if you weren't." He sighed in relief, earning some soft chuckles from them.

"And am I okay?" He blinked, frowning a little, struggling to remember what had happened after leaving the warehouse.

"You are now. The doctors found nothing serious, don't worry. Except for some cracked ribs and major bruising, but Travis, you are going to be fine." Vic was smiling down at him, it now her turn to be holding his hand. "I just wish we would've known sooner so none of this would've happened..." She frowned a little and Travis remembered all that had happened, realizing the truth now had to be completely spilt.

"I got her caught up for you, Trav," Jack said quietly, looking serious. "Though I don't know if I should've been the one to tell her."

Travis frowned a little, suddenly feeling bad, sighing. "I-I know, I'm sorry I didn't tell you, Vic. If I woulda just said something, none of this would've happened and you guys wouldn't have gotten hurt. This is all my fault...." He frowned deeply, looking sad and his friends frowned at him.

"Hey, no, don't blame yourself," Jack said to him. "This is not your fault. Now look, we don't have to talk about this now, alright? I called everyone from the station, they're gonna stop by soon, okay?"

Travis smiled a little to hear that, wanting to feel comforted by all his friends, it feeling like the first time in forever that he actually felt like himself and that people loved him again. "Mmmm, good. Is-Is Jace here?"

He probably shouldn't have asked the question so soon but Travis was curious to know, after what had just happened with Jace confessing his love to him.

Jack quickly scowled and Vic's posture quickly shifted too. "He's right outside. I told him I wasn't going to let him see you." Jack huffed with a nod towards the glass window where Travis quickly looked to indeed see Jace right outside, watching them with a sort of sad look.

Travis just remained calm. "I'd like to talk to him."

"What?" Jack's eyes went narrow, both of them frowning at him. "Why would you-"

"Jack, it's alright, I'll be fine."

"No, I'm not letting him near you, not after what he did to you!" Jack protested and Travis just continued to frown at him.

"Jack. It's alright." He just stated softly with a calm look and Jack looked away with an angry huff, clearly annoyed, not wanting anything more to do with Jace.