Heavenly Moonlight

~6~

Tori and Christian were wheeled to Professor Ruben Erikson's room a little while later.

The nurse who wheeled Christian stepped forward and knocked on Ruben's door.

"Come in," a gruff voice called out.

The nurse opened the door for Tori and Christian to get in. Tori and Christian wheeled themselves in. Ruben Erikson was laying back in the hospital bed in a hospital gown, a huge scratch on his left cheek, his left arm in a cast, bandages wrapped around his head, and looked absolutely miserable.

The nurses stepped out, saying they'd give them some privacy.

"Hey," Christian said and they wheeled over to the side of the bed.

"Hey," Ruben said in a gruff voice then began coughing. He reached over to the tray that sat beside his bed for the glass of water. After he was done drinking, he set the glass down and asked, "How are you all doing?"

"Alive," Christian said. "You?"

"Alive."

Christian glanced around at the room, noting the familiar decor that all the other hospital rooms had. "This is just a mighty fine place to be in, isn't it?"

"Absolutely," Ruben said dryly. "Nothing like feeling like shit with people having to help clean your shit."

Christian couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah. Nothing like it. So what are all your injuries?"

"Broken arm. Bruised ribs. Busted head. All in all, pretty banged up, but I am definitely one of the lucky ones."

"We're all lucky," Tori said.

Ruben tilted his head agreement. "True. We were really fortunate."

Christian's mind wandered back to Skylar, thinking that she was one of the unfortunate ones and tears sprung to his eyes. He quickly changed the subject so he wouldn't start crying.

"We checked on Agent Greene," Christian said.

Ruben nodded. "I checked on her too. Keeps saying that these are actually 'minor injuries,' and I shudder to think of what 'major injuries' she could've gone through before."

"Don't know, don't wanna know," Tori said hastily.

Christian playfully nudged his sister. "Aw, come on. Don't tell me the girl who loves all the gore and scary movies is afraid to hear about a couple injuries?"

"That's because what's in the movies are fake, real life is real," she snapped.

He laughed.

Tori shook her head and looked at Ruben. "I swear, he does everything in his power to annoy me."

"I do," Christian said and stuck his tongue out at her.

Ruben chuckled. "That'll be sibling love for ya."

"Do you have any siblings, Ruben?" Tori inquired, a look of mild curiosity on her face.

Ruben shook his head and winced. "Ah, no. No, I don't, though I've had friends who've had a dozen or so siblings and I've been around them enough to know what sibling interaction is like. Oh, and how's Trevor?" Ruben asked.

"Still in surgery," Christian answered, worry for his friend causing somersaults to form in his stomach. "That's why we came in here. To check on you and to try to take our minds off of it."