Throwing Caution to the Wind

Chapter 19

Beep...beep... beep

That was the first thing he heard when he swam into conciousness. He became aware of the bed beneath him, then the needle in his arm.  His head felt like it full of cotton balls. He counted out 30 beats before he tried to move his hand.

He tried flexing his fingers, but they felt heavy and stiff.

He counted out another 30 beats on the heart monitor before trying to low his eyes.

As soon as the light hit his bare pupil he immediately shut them again. He counted out another 30 beats before trying to open his eyes again. This time, he opened then slowly. Giving his eyes a chance to adjust to the light before opening them a little more. Eventually he had his eyes completely open and be was staring at ceiling.

He became aware of a second heartbeat in the room. He turned towards the sound.

He got a sudden feeling of deja vu.

"Hey kid, you up" asked Mr Stark.

Deciding that words would be too much effort, Peter grunted.

"Yeah, I bet" Mr Stark said.

A few minutes later, Peter finally worked up the mental energy to talk.

"What happened" his words came out slurred.

"Well, you decided that getting shot, clean it with less than the bear minimum of disinfectant needed to be effective, subsequently get an infection, and not tell anyone anything until you collapse in my lab" Mr Stark told him. Behind the bite, Peter heard the care behind the statement.

"Sorry" he slurred.

"We'll have a real conversation when your not all doped up. For now, just try to sleep" Mr Stark said.

Peter didn't need to be ts twice, so he closed his eyes and fell back asleep.

******

When he woke up again, it was dark. He was more awake then he had been earlier. After a few minutes of lying there, he realized he had to go to the bathroom. He immediately tried getting up. When he sat up, he took a minute to let the blood rush to his head.

Then he started standing up.

"I would advise against that Peter" it was Friday.

"I can't stay here all night, I need to be home, my aunt will worry" he told her.

"Boss has already taken care of that, in compliance with Dr Helen Cho's orders of bed-rest for at least 3 days" she told him.

"I still need the bathroom" Peter pointed out.

"I can get Boss down here to help you with that" she offered.

"I'm fine Friday, really" he told her.

"I'm required to tell him if you need anything before he gets down here" she said.

"Don't bother waking him up" he said.

"He's currently working in his lab, so it wouldn't be problem" she told him.

He ignored her and stood up. He immediately regretted it. His thigh felt like someone had taken a spiked baseball bat to it. He quickly sat back down.

He was mustering up the courage to try again, when he heard the door open.

"I think Friday's already warned you against that Peter" said Mr Stark from the door.