Addicted

Wake Me Up

Arthur sat resiliently by Lila's side, playing back the last few hours in his head.

Sleep hadn't been coming easy to him that night either. He spent the hours staring at the ceiling, counting the rivets, or staring at the wall, also counting rivets. After awhile he decided to check on Lila, possibly offer an apology for his actions earlier. His stomach was swirling with guilt at how he had reacted toward her...again.

He stood from the bed and made his way to the door. When he got to the door of his own quarters he noticed the guards were in the midst of switching positions, as no one was there currently. Once the door to his quarters was opened he looked around the room, his eyes landing lastly on the bed.

His heart stopped for two seconds before accelerating into high gear. The bed was empty. There was no Lila anywhere in the room. From the hall he heard a door shut. The door to the flight deck. He launched himself into action, rushing down the stairs and grabbing any knights and squires he could on his way for help.

His mind fast-forwarded to when he had caught her in his arms before she hit the metal deck. He hadn't noticed until then how thin and light she had actually become since he had last held her to his body.

"Go get Cade! Quickly!" He called over his shoulder to the Squire that had followed him onto the deck. They hurried off, back through the door to the main deck.

His large hand stroked her face gently. Her cheeks were gaunt and her skin was dull. Arthur felt his chest tighten, guilt trickle into him yet again. He stood then and carried her quickly back to his chambers. Part way there he met Cade, filling him in on what had happened as they rounded the corner to his quarters.

His eyes opened, his elbows placed firmly on his knees as he chewed nervously at his fingers. Now he sat here, beside Lila, or what was left of her. He felt absolutely guilty for what had transpired from when his team brought her here until now. He hadn't acknowledged the seriousness and legitimacy of Lila's feelings. He let his anger get the better of him in most situations.

While they were on the flight deck he had told her that they would "work on this". He slowly shook his head as he let it hang between his hands. Why did he say that? Well to try and save her of course. But he knew that what had just happened wouldn't change the Brotherhoods code on fraternizing with other faction leaders. As those thoughts drifted around in his head there was a knock on the door.

"Come in," he called, not moving from his position.

He had been expecting Cade, coming to check up on Lila, but it was Preston Garvey who stood in the door. Arthur got up from his seat immediately.

"Colonel Garvey, what are you doing here?"

"Cade sent one of your teams out to me at The Castle and I was escorted back here. Told me it was urgent news with the General." As he finished his sentence he looked toward the bed beside Arthur. It took a few seconds but he realized that the woman in the bed was in fact the General. He walked quickly to the side of the bed and looked down upon her.

"What the hell happened to her?" Preston questioned, voice cool and collected, though Arthur could sense his agitation. Arthur filled him in on what had happened since Upsilon had found the General until now.

Preston let out a nervous and choked laugh as he rubbed at his chin.

"I don't exactly find this funny Colonel, so I would appreciate if you had some respect." Arthur glared at him from a few feet away.

"Oh, I'm not laughing because it's funny Elder. I'm more so shocked at the lack of care you seem to provide for Lila in her current state. As The Brotherhood I expected better. But she's left unsupervised, in a critical state, and you still continue to fight with her?" Preston shook his head. "That isn't proper care. I demand she be moved back to The Castle so her own can look after her."

Arthur felt his hands ball into fists in anger. "I believe Knight-Captain Cade would beg to differ. She is in too critical of a state to move anywhere."

Preston shrugged his shoulders. "Well I don't care what you all think up here. She needs to recover in her own space, away from you people." Preston had sneered the last word. That sneer lit a fire in Arthur, his hands shaking slightly as he stared down the other man.

"I would watch your tone Colonel. She hasn't even been 'home' since the night after we defeated the Institute. What makes you think she wants to go back there?"

"Well it's quite obvious from her current state she isn't getting at better. Let's not pretend you actually care about her. If you did care you would have done a bit of a better job looking after her rather than making the situation worse by-"

Arthur didn't let Preston finish his sentence. He had let the anger build long enough that the words spilling from Preston's mouth had pushed him too far. It happened too quick for him to realize. His solid fist met the bottom right corner of Preston's jaw with more force than Arthur had used in a long time.

Preston hit the floor, knocked out completely from the quick punch dealed from the Elder. Cade walked in just then and almost dropped the documents in his hand. His eyes kept flickering between Preston on the floor, Lila in the bed, and Arthur shaking his hand out to relax some of the pain from the impact on his fist.

"Take him to the med bay. Don't let him back in here until I say so," Arthur didn't meet Cade's eyes as he sat back down in the chair beside the bed. Cade called in a nearby knight and initiate to help him carry Preston away.

Arthur sat in silence trying to sort through his thoughts for what felt like hours, stealing glances every once in a while at Lila as she still slept soundly. Somewhere in it all Arthur had dozed off, his head and arms rested on the edge of the bed. He awoke to a soft, lingering feeling along his arms. He picked his head up and his eyes met another pair of blue eyes, not steely like his, but soft as the blue of a spring sky.