Scarves and Scars

Hospital Visit

By early Saturday morning, Sam had stirred to semi consciousness and she took four Advil and her usual pill with an triple espresso. She hopped into shower to rid herself of the last tendrils of the previous night's drunkenness. Throwing on a random pair of pants and a somewhat cute top, she left a note for her houseguests with instructions to lock the house up. Sam headed for the train with a destination in mind.

The train ride was boring with nothing eventful. Neither was picking up some comfort foods/flowers to the eat to her destination. Checking in as a visitor in the hospital was a little more difficult for her. Building up the courage as she stood on the other side of the door was hard. Sam frowned, she felt awkward but refused to leave out of principle. Sam glowered at the looks the nurses tossed as they passed by. Slowly, she knocked.

"Who is it?"

"It's-... Uh, Sam. Sam Pond?"

"Come on in."

"Hey! Wanted to bring you somethings for whenever they allow you on solids and flowers." The blue haired man looked confused for a moment and Sam explained. "People give people flowers in times like this? Sorry, normal Get Well gifts for me and people I know were mostly promises of booze at a pub after discharge." Except for Fred and civilians.

Tensei laughed, roughly. "That sounds fun."

"Then, we'll go to a pub after you're free." Sam smiled, setting the vase on the windowsill. "Would you like some company?"

He nodded, gesturing to the seat next to his bed. Sam sat, obediently and silently. She questioned herself on what to say. "I hear you had an adventure." Sam decided to say.

"Same to you."

"Prognosis?"

"I'll live after years of therapy but I'll never be normal. No more hero work."

He sounded so bitter. Sam frowned, trying to chose what to say next. "It'll be normal. Your new normal. It hurts at first. It's painful but if you push through it. You'll be fine." Sam paused, trying to phrase her next words. "Trust me on this if nothing else. You're fortunate to have what you had for so long."

"Trust you? Trust you? How on Earth do you know anything about how I'm feeling? Because of your leg, you looked perfectly fine in your fight. You are still a pro!"

Sam stared at him, letting him see the damaged in her gaze. "Just because you can't see what was taken from me, doesn't mean I haven't."

Tensei sagged in his bed. "I'm sorry. I've been frustrated."

"I figured."

"Can you tell me? Only if you want too."

Sam kept silent. It probably would be for the best before that damned therapist dug her claws in, too deep. Telling him might just ease the pain of telling it to Potter, later. "I'll tell you mine and you tell me, yours." Sam decided. Tensei's nodded. She bit her lip and pulled out a small bottle of pills. "I'm not going into too much detail. It's a long story... I wasn't exactly born like you, I was created in a test tube. Everything I am was predetermined by a couple of mad scientists."

"Including these." Sam gave them a shake. "We were given a disease that is kept at bay by one of these, every six hours if not... Organ failure and eventually death. When I was rescued, I was comatose for a week while they analyzed the medication to replicate the product."

"I used to hate these. I was chained to the pills, preventing a normal life. Every six hours, it used to reminded me of what I came from. If not for those men, I wouldn't be alive but then, Nathan happened. He made me realize that those pills didn't solely reflect the memory of the experimentation. Rather, the people of recreated the medicine for my benefit with only a handful of said pills to work with. So now, I look more fondly on them. They remind me on Nathan who saved me from that Hellhole and the doctors who made sure I could live on."

Tensei stared, speechless. Sam offered, a tired smirk. "I never had a childhood, or a family or a normal life by most standards..." Sam finished. "I have a pretty good idea what you are going through."

"Were there more of you?"

"Yes, I don't know if we shared any DNA or not but they don't exist anymore. I do., that's all that really matters." Sam nodded, slipping the pills away. "You don't need to say anything. That was a long time ago, ancient history. Your turn, Iiyda."

The handsome, yet bruised face smiled at her and he explained what was robbed from him and how to the weapons heroine. Sam had a feeling that her story helped Tensei, a little. She had no idea if that was enough. She told him enough to get her point across and that point was delivered. Now, if her story was any indication. Tensei needed support. He needed his Nathan and his James. Hopefully, he could hang onto them, unlike Sam who lost her's.

A knock startled the pair, mid conversation. Sam's gaze jumped up to spot Aizawa, Hizashi and Nemuri at the doorway. "Whatcha doing?" Nemuri sang. Sam frowned, shifting. Why did everything that came from that woman's mouth sound dirty...

"I was fixing to leave, actually." Sam replied, standing up. "I need to finish some errands before I get some house guests. I hope you feel better, Tensei." She muttered her farewells and made her escape.

"Oh! She left you her number!"

"It's not like that!"

Sam walked, faster.

Much, much faster.

"What was that about?"

Tensei looked over to Aizawa. "Sam was just offering her sympathy and some advice. Pretty good advice for someone that you say is self destructive."

"Doesn't mean that she gives bad advice." Aizawa shrugged. The three newcomers shared a look, they'd overheard the heart to heart between the pair.

"How's hospital life?"

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Sam huffed, throwing down the the last bag. James had sent her a list with necessary things to get. She had fulfilled the list from hell for the items from hell and after dealing with the people from hell. Setting up the rooms could wait for tomorrow. They will wait til tomorrow. Sam growled, storming up to sleep in her bed. She would try tomorrow, that was her choice.