Frobisher

Part 7

When Alex finally awoke after the 'mass enhancement', Eddie was sitting by her bed. She appeared to be in a long room, white as always, with beds running down either side, some with chairs beside them, others with bedside tables. Some of the beds were empty, some weren't. Eddie sat in the chair beside her, his hands clasped around hers. An IV pierced her arm.

"Hey Frobisher, welcome back," he told her with a smile. She managed a weak smile in return, her head pounding and her body feeling as though she'd been hit by a bus. 

"Why does everything hurt?" she asked him, slowly moving into a sitting position.

"You took a hard hit, I don't think anyone's been pushed that hard before. Don't worry, you're in the medical wing, which confused me as I thought everywhere was the medical wing. But apparently some places are more medical than others."

Alex managed a laugh, despite it hurting. A lot. "How are the others? Cat and Arlo and Aaron?"

Eddie looked down at his feet before looking back at her, his eyes wet. "Anna..." he trailed off. Alex nodded. Anna was fragile, she wouldn't've survived that.

"Everyone else?"

"Toby and Arlo are fine, neither exhibiting powers. Aaron's fine but he's in here too, taking a blow like that. Eidi and Amar are great, both ecstatic to be seeing other people again. Cat's... it's complicated. She is the first successful F, apparently, though her power's fluctuating. Ebbing and flowing, dangerously. Me and Aaron are the only people allowed to see her. Me to calm her and Aaron when he's better, to teach her."

Alex nodded, taking it all in. "I'm sorry about Anna. I never got to know her, but she sounded like a wonderful girl."

Eddie smiled sadly at her. "It's all right, to me Anna died a long time ago. By the way, If I kiss you I won't hurt you will I?"

Alex smiled and leaned forward, planting her lips on his. It hurt, but she didn't mind.

Eddie pulled away and smiled at her. She loved his smile, it was always so full of mischief. He reluctantly stood from his chair and glanced toward the door. "I'm sorry Frobisher but you're dad said I could only stay until you woke up, he wants to talk to you."

Alex nodded knowingly at him. "It's fine, go. I have some things I need to straighten out with him."

He walked to the end of the room and knocked on the door, waiting. When it opened, he glanced back at her apologetically before turning the corner. When he was gone, Alex finally took note of who was around her. The bed to her left was empty, and the bed to her right contained a sleeping Aaron. Across from her lay two of the boys she recognised as gifted, both unconscious and now wearing the red clothes.

She lay there for only a short while before Aaron woke and she could talk to him properly. They chatted about everything, from Alex's life in the Mornesse and Aaron's connection to Byron to their favourite colour. Eventually, a doctor that had been checking each of the people in the room, reached Aaron and insisted he go back to sleep, but allowing Alex to remain conscious as there was a click from the door.

The door opened for her father to walk through. He was different to usual, more worried, his usually perfectly trimmed beard beginning to grow out. He approached her bed confidently though, standing at the foot and looking down at her.

"Have you considered my proposal?" he asked her simply. There was something in his voice she had never heard before. Hope? Worry? Whatever it was it was a new emotion for her to hear from him.

"I want to make a new deal. I will work with you, on different terms," she told him simply.

"I'm listening."

"I want a room for all of us. Toby, Cat, Arlo, Eddie, Dara, Aaron and Gracie. With a common area of a table and chairs. I want materials like books and copies, to teach Eidi. In return, I will work with you, but you can still use me, and Aaron has agreed to use him too, for your experiments. But Eddie, Gracie and Dara are left out of it. Also, we want socks."

"Intriguing, though practical. Having you all together will make it easier. Gracie does deserve an education, though I didn't previously have anyone to teach her. I will agree to your terms, but if you try anything, if any of you make a fuss, our deal is off. And for the time being, Cat stays in her room, for her own safety and that of others. She's unstable and her newfound powers are very volatile, she could hurt someone."

"What about your inhibitor things. Can't they control her ability?"

"Yes, but for most of my experiments, her power needs to be active, and if I put an inhibitor on her now, when I turn it off she could explode with power, not knowing what to do with it. She has to be able to control them before I can."

Alex nodded. it made sense. It had been days since the enhancement, but according to Eddie, Cat was still not getting much better. Edward stood at the end of the bed, looking uneasy and shifting his weight from one foot to another. He looked like he wanted to say something but didn't know how to. Alex frowned. She had almost never in her life seen him like this. Unsure, with no confidence and a face lined with worry. She almost felt bad for him. Almost.

"Out with it," she said finally, getting tired of his presence. "You obviously want to say something so say it."

Edward's eyes rose to meet hers. Was that a tear? Was he crying? "Alexandra, I- uh, I'm sorry about the enhancement, but I had a...deadline. I would never have put you through that if I didn't need to but, it turns out that the deadline doesn't matter," his voice was low and his eyes visibly wet. Alex's frown deepened something was definitely wrong.

"It's your-, uh... your mother. She's sick. Very sick. She didn't want to tell you, and I never did because I was sure I could cure her."

Alex's face paled. "No," she whispered.

"It's incurable is what the doctors said. But I wouldn't take no for an answer, and I expanded Oakleaf. Changed its goals. But now that we've successfully enhanced Cat, we know it can be done. And we know how to do it. But your mother..." he trailed off. 

He wiped a few tears before continuing, his hands gripping the bar at the foot of the bed so hard his knuckles were white.

"She's stubborn. Never lets anything hold her down. She never wanted anyone to look after her. You know how she is. She doesn't want to go through with the procedure. She doesn't have long left."

With that, he took a deep breath and wiped the tears from her eyes. "I'd prefer it if I could tell Aaron when her comes back around, but once you two are better I'll bring you to see her. I'm sorry Alex, I really am, I did all this to you and your brother. I hurt so many to save her, but it doesn't matter anymore."

With that, he turned away from her and left the room without even looking back, nodding to the nurse on the way out. She came hurrying over, insisting Alex lie back down and go to sleep. Alex ignored her mostly, tears in her eyes. Eventually, the woman pulled a syringe from the bedside table and pressed the liquid into the IV, easing Alex back lying down surprisingly gently as the darkness took her.