The Strength of Ten

Rest and Recovery 2

A/N:Sorry I just added in this part that I forgot about cos I wrote this chappie in two parts so yeah...

Back in Six's recovery room, John was asleep with his head resting in his arms, his right hand pressing Six's to his cheek.

As Six stirred, her eyelids opening slowly, she almost immediately became aware of the presence by her side. Her first thought was to immediately attack the person, but her instincts told her not to. So, she opened her eyes fully and looked down, realising it was Four. She smiled. Thankfully she didn't attack him.

She took in the short cropped hair that she had 'styled' herself. It had grown out into wavy dark blonde locks again, though admittedly much shorter than before. She decided he looked nice this way and really didn't want to change his hairstyle.

She did a mental pat down on her body, wondering what had happened to all the wounds she had received from the Piken. That was the last thing she remembered before waking up here.

After taking in Four exhausted look and his haggard expression, she realized that he must've healed all her injuries. She knew they would have been fatal if they hadn't been healed. And she knew they wouldn't be easy to heal. No wonder he was so tired.

Her heart suddenly swelled with a completely different feeling from the anger and vengeance she was used to. It confused her and took her completely by surprise, but after a few moments, she realized it was love. For Four, for John, for the boy who saved her life and stole her heart, coaxing it back to life.

Gazing down at Four asleep by her bedside, she grinned and turned on her side, her other hand, the one not pressed up against his cheek, reaching over and running her fingers through his silky blonde locks.

For the first time since Katarina died, she felt whole, like her heart had softened and finally allowed in feelings other than fury and the need for revenge. It was amazing, the effect he had on her, the calm one, the collected one, but above all, the unemotional one.

As she studied Four's face, she noticed that it was paler than usual, and whenever her fidgeted in his sleep, hitting a spot on his torso, he grimaced subconsciously. She knew immediately he was injured, and her instincts told her he was injured because of her being unfocused for a second and being attacked by that Piken. Her heart clenched every time his face contorted in pain.

Then Four began to stir, shaking his head like Six running her fingers through his hair was ticklish, which it probably was. He finally lifted his head, his dark sapphire eyes blinking sleepily, his hair mussed from Six playing with it.

Six thought he looked cute and innocent, completely unlike an alien on the run from the FBI and other hostile extraterrestrials. As he sat up, his chest hit the bed frame and he let out a soft yelp. It seemed like he just chanced to hit the injured area.

Annoyed, he pulled off his shirt, temporarily forgetting that Six was in the room. When his shirt came off, he probed the injured area, and Six gasped. Four looked up and suddenly remembered that Six was in the same room.

"Oh God..." He breathed, blushing furiously. Six was still staring disbelievingly at the long, coarse, wide scar the colour of dried blood. She also noticed the sheen of blue surrounding the whole scar, proving that it had been a Mog dagger that had stabbed him.

"What happened?" She breathed. Four followed her gaze and pressed his hand over the scar, blocking her view.

"It's nothing." He denied, avoiding her gaze.

"John Smith! Don't you dare tell me that's nothing! Such a serious scar and you say it's nothing? To make matters worse, that was caused by a Mog dagger! What other injuries do you have?" Six demanded.

Four chuckled at her outburst. "Well, it's nice to know you have feelings and that you care about me." He teased, before turning somber. "But seriously, I'm ok. It just looks bad. I didn't have time to heal the scar in the battle just now."

"Then why did you keep wincing in your sleep just now?"

"You were watching me sleep? That's kinda creepy, Six."

"Not my fault you had my hand in a vice grip and I couldn't move. Now answer the question."

Four grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. Anyway, I was wincing 'cause my ribs are broken, ok? The impact from the dagger smashed them." Six winced, imagining the pain John must've been in, and was still in now.

John flinched in pain as he tried to assess the damage to his ribs. Six rolled over on the bed and twisted her body, kissing Four full on the lips in sympathy. She knew how painful broken ribs could be. Four grinned and wrapped his arms around her, deepening the kiss.

Finally breaking away to breathe, Six rested her head on John's chest, mindful of his injury. Before she knew it, the steady beat of John's heart against her cheek and the exhaustion of the previous fight overtook her, and her eyelids drooped, lulled to sleep.

~~~~~~~~~~

Back in the living room, Marina awoke to Eight shaking her. "What?" She asked groggily. Her dreams hed not done her any good.

"We need to go. Nine and I both don't want to waste more time. We need to locate Five before the Mogs do."

Seven nodded tiredly, brushing her hair out of her face. "I'll go get John and Six."

She opened the door to the 'recovery room' saying, "John, Six, we need to go. We can't afford to wa-" She turned around and stopped short at the scene in front of her.

"Oh. My. God." She stood shell-shocked, staring at them. John and Six were obviously asleep. That wasn't the problem. The problem was that they were curled up on the same bed. And Four was shirtless.

She stood gaping at the scene, rooted to the spot. Suddenly, Eight's voice rang out behind her. "Marina? What's taking so long?" He walked into the room, and, taking in the scene, started laughing crazily.

Hearing the commotion, Nine walked in, followed by Ella, Sam and Bernie Kosar. "Oh man! This is priceless!"

Bernie Kosar barked. Then he jumped on Four, startling him awake. Four jolted upright, his eyes shooting open. Then he relaxed, seeing Bernie Kosar.

Bernie Kosar barked again, and Four's eyes widened. He looked up and his cheeks coloured.

"Shit."

"What is it, John?" Six sat up, rubbing her eyes blearily.

Four just gestured around the room. Six looked up and blushed furiously, ducking under the covers.

Four sighed and pushed all of them out with his mind, shutting and locking the door behind them. He pulled the covers off Six before lopping on his shirt.

"Come on, let's go find out what the rest wanted."