Lost Count

Repaid

When Pavel woke up he found himself being watched by the woman who began accompanying them, along with her daughter. He was a bit out of it, not remembering exactly how he got there. There were a few hazy memories, of falling and losing consciousness. Two people lifting him up and dragging him back to the train. Soft black hair and glittering blue eyes looking down at him.

But now the only eyes looking at him were a warm shade of brown. They belonged to Nastya. The little girl was cute, keeping her attention on him with her mouth pursed in focus. When he opened his eyes she smiled toothily and called out to her mother to let her know he had woken up. Katya looked up from her work and did a once-over of his position on the low bed, sighing and smiling at him as she turned around fully.

"You are a lucky man." She shook her head and stood to walk over to him. "I was worried for quite a while about your state. But the transfusion went over well and you seem fine."

"I certainly am feeling quite lucky right now," he replied, shooting her a small smirk. "Waking up comfortable, warm, and with such a nice young lady to watch over me!" Pavel directed the last part of his statement to little Nastya, ruffling her hair as she giggled. Katya moved closer to check his vitals and he laid back down in order to allow her to do her job. She asked him a few questions about how he was feeling. "Any nausea? Migraine?" She felt his forehead for a fever and announced that his temperature felt normal. A few quick presses to his abdomen, asking if there was any pain from the pressure. None.

"Well you seem to be perfectly fine right now. No symptoms of acute radiation syndrome so far. Just let me know if you start experiencing any of the things that I just checked for. Within the next few days or weeks, and if nothing seems out of the ordinary then you're good to go," she told him, letting him sit up and swing his legs off of the bed. Pavel stood and shook her hand, nodding and promising to tell her if anything came up.

As soon as he stepped out of the room he nearly ran face-first into Anna, who was walking down the hallway to the back of the train. He took a few hasty steps back and held his hands out in front of him, not eager to antagonize her any more. He just wanted to stay out of her way; she made him uneasy. Anna was surprised to see him walking around for just a moment before her gaze hardened into something determined.

"You're awake."

"Ah, Anna! It's, uh, good to see you. Erm, did you want something?" He asked, crossing his arms and quirking a brow while trying to stay nonchalant. Anna tilted her head to the side and fixed him with a strange look. Pavel couldn't quite discern her expression, but she narrowed her eyes and tilted her head.

"Come on, Red. I need to have a word with you." She pointed her thumb over her shoulder down the hallway, turning on her heel and expecting him to follow. Did he even have a choice? The sun was bright above his head when they exited the train, walking to the other side away from Stepan and Idiot who were gathered around the small fire at the front of the train. He looked around, trying to see if Artyom was anywhere nearby. "He's scouting. We've decided to steal a boat once night falls and Artyom is doing a quick survey of the area before we go." Pavel opened his mouth to ask her how she knew when she whipped around to face him. She put her hands on her hips and pursed her mouth.

Pavel quieted immediately. "You almost died, Morozov. Radiation is no joke and you nearly took a lethal dose of the damned stuff while you were out on your little adventure. What were you thinking? Artyom and Krest practically carried you back here." He could tell she was angry; while she didn't raise her voice high enough for others to hear, she was talking fast and harsh. "I hope to whatever God is out there that you don't wind up getting yourself killed. It would destroy Artyom. He was a mess when they brought you back, and we cannot afford to have him distracted." That was a lot of information to take in at once. Pavel's mind completely skipped over any Artyom-related feelings (those could be dealt with later) and instead focused on her comment about radiation sickness.

"Katya mentioned I needed a blood transfusion. But how in the world was she able to get one of those Rangers to donate? They don't even know me, nor trust me much from what I've seen." He knew that they were uncomfortable around him; they still didn't completely trust him. And for good reason. Some of them probably knew who he was at this point, and didn't appreciate much what he did before they ended up allying forces. That's not even mentioning his blood-type being notoriously hard to accept other's. Anna froze and crossed her arms, looking off to the side across the river.

"Consider my debt to you repaid. You helped save Artyom's life, so I return the favor." She wasn't looking at him, still gazing off into the distance. Anna had donated her blood to save his life? Anna? She had the same blood-type as him? There were too many questions swirling around in his head right now to even begin processing what in the hell was happening. Pavel laughed to himself at his wild luck. "You still haven't proved yourself to me yet, and whatever Artyom sees in you is completely lost on me. But I guess that doesn't matter," she sighed, finally turning to face him again. Her expression had completely changed now, something just akin to resignation. "All that matters now is that we all stay alive. And that includes you. So start pulling your weight like the rest of us, and we'll watch your back."

She pushed past him and back to her fellows, leaving a very confused Pavel in her wake. He didn't turn around to stare after her like some sort of dog. But he did walk over to sit down on one of the barricades around the train, eyes scanning the horizon as his brain began to wrap itself around what had just happened:

1. Artyom had saved him when he fell, along with someone else that he hadn't met yet.

2. Anna donated her own blood to save his life from deadly radiation. This was to thank him for doing the same for Artyom.

3. Anna was a Spartan Ranger, and knew them well. So her vouching for them and claiming he would be accepted once he started 'pulling his weight' was a big deal.

But what in the world did Anna mean by those comments about Artyom? That he saw something in him? About his reactions to Pavel's possible death? What was she trying to--?

Oh no.

Did Anna know? Did she suspect his feelings towards Artyom? Pavel thought he'd been keeping it fairly under wraps, especially now. There were just too many other things to be worried about, strange and wrong feelings were most certainly not one of them at the current time. While Pavel was horrendous and concealing his emotions during times of peace, whenever shit hit the fan he was able to just compress everything into a tiny little box until he was ready to deal with it.

Namely, never. He never wanted to deal with it. He never wanted to deal with any of these agonizing aches in his chest whenever Artyom fixed him with his soft gaze. Or when he smiled at a joke. It had been much too long since Pavel had seen the other man smile. It was concerning. Even his body language was completely different from before; it was closed off and almost cold at times. Like he didn't want anyone near him.

It was something that bothered Pavel greatly. Even though his own heart was an absolute mess, the least he could do was check up on his friend and maybe help him. Artyom deserved that much. He didn't deserve to be shunned and ignored just because Pavel couldn't sort out his shitty feelings. Hopefully he was just reading too much into what Anna was saying, and she actually didn't suspect a thing. I mean, how could she even know? It's not like this is a conclusion to jump towards. He's a man, and men don't normally feel these things about each other. It's just--

It's just something that will pass.

Even if Artyom did find out, he would never be so cruel as to use it against Pavel. That was something he could be sure about.

Perhaps it was time for a talk with Artyom.