Midgar, Gaia -- Sunday

[intraspective]

Little changed in the hospital room overnight. The girl slept, the boy slept, and machines continued their monitoring—more to be safe than out of true need for them—and if the nurses came by to check on them (but always careful not to wake them) a little more often than necessary…

Well, there was nothing wrong with that, was there?

And in this manner, time passed until morning.

[For ze puppy. NFB due to distance.]

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[intraspective]

Doctor Sialeeds eyed the tableau critically--sleeping girl, sleeping boy, hospital bed.

Filthy sleeping boy.

Her eyes narrowed as she moved around the bed, checking the girl's readings and nodding as she made a few notes on the chart, before briskly moving to shake the boy.

Making sure her gloved hands touched only the blanket Kassie had draped over his shoulders yesterday.

[puppy_fair]

Hey, now. Just because Zack had been wearing the same uniform since he'd set out for a mission on Tuesday...

... Right, then.

He jolted awake with a start at any rate, hand flying up to his back for the sword that wasn't there, propped up against the wall on the other side of the room, instead. It took him a few more seconds to get his bearings, staring up at the doctor with wide eyes. Who...?

And then his brain filled in the blanks, and the past few days settled into his mind again around the haze, and he slowly, almost apologetically, lowered his hand and let it rest in his lap again.

"... Sorry, Doctor."

[intraspective]

"Yes," she said, cool and unimpressed. Unshaken, too, by his reaction. "You are."

Doctor Sialeeds was not known for her tact, no.

[puppy_fair]

Okay, Zack was a bit out of it today, but not so much that he didn't catch the tone that she was using.

He was a pretty sorry sight, still wearing his torn and bloody fatigues, but there had been way more important things to do. Like pace uselessly in the waiting room, and pass out with his face on Ino's bed.

And ow, did he ever have one heck of a crick in his neck.

"... Can I help you?"

[intraspective]

"You are aware of what a shower is, correct?"

Yes Zack, yes she was eyeing you distastefully.

[puppy_fair]

"...Yeees?"

Give him a few more moments, doc. He was still busy getting his brain around this whole 'being awake' thing. He could probably still use another few days of sleep, truth be told.

And about ten more potions. And something to eat.

[intraspective]

She snapped her fingers out at the door.

"Out," Doctor Sialeeds said, in a voice that brooked no arguments. "Miss Yamanaka has several tests to undergo that you will not be here for because it's sensitive medical equipment and she needs a clean environment. Out. Shower, change your clothes. Eat."

She eyed him.

"And if you accomplish all of that, you may be allowed in."

Fearless in the face of groggy SOLDIERs!

[puppy_fair]

Zack blinked a few more times, tiredly. And then he nodded a little, and heaved himself to his feet.

Naturally, he hesitated in the doorway.

"She is going to be okay?"

He knew she was. But he was also paranoid. Could anybody really blame him?

[intraspective]

"Out," she ordered, already rereading the chart. "Miss Yamanaka will be moved to the regular ward later this afternoon."

That answered his question, it did.

[puppy_fair]

It answered it enough, for the time being. Zack gave a small, tired nod, and then turned and left the room, dragging his heels behind him.

It was probably about fifteen minutes later before he peered his head into the room again, wet hair clinging around the sides of his face. A nurse peered in behind him a little apologetically, as if hoping that the doctor would be able to tell by her expression that she'd tried to keep him out, but... Well...

Had Dr. Sialeeds seen the size of this boy?!

"Clean," Zack reported, not quite stepping into the room. Not until he had the go-ahead from the doctor. But damn it, he wasn't leaving, either.

[intraspective]

"We'll talk about this later, Janay," Sialeeds promised, likely to the dismay of her nurse, but really, the girl had had her orders. She'd have to develop the backbone to enforce them. "Clothes? Food?"

For her part, she did not even bother to look up from the machine she currently had Miss Yamanaka hooked up to.

[puppy_fair]

Zack nodded a little.

"Tseng had them leave a clean uniform for me at the desk," he replied.

Food... he would worry about food in a bit.

"I thought maybe I'd wait to eat until Ino was up. I'm not... really a big fan of the roast beef and maybe they'll have something else later."

Or maybe he just wanted to eat lunch with Ino. Fear the clingy loyalty of the puppy, Doc. Fear it.

[intraspective]

A moment of silence while she considered if that was good enough for her. It was true, after all, that so far he'd been quite--decent--in listening to her orders.

Perhaps she'd show a little leniency.

"Sit," she said, "be quiet."

[puppy_fair]

Zack gave her a small, thankful smile, and made his way across the room, practically on tiptoe, before setting himself down in the seat that he'd been in earlier.

He didn't dare make a peep, now. If the doctor wanted him quiet, then he was going to deliver.

... While sitting there looking like a big, soggy worrywart.

[intraspective]

A worrywart who was supremely and effortlessly ignored as she ran several more tests, noted down the results, all without telling him anything--Tseng had told her, after all, to obtain as much medical information on Miss Yamanaka as possible--before glancing at him over her clipboard as two orderlies cleared away the machines.

"She'll wake soon."

[puppy_fair]

Zack's little smile went a little more genuine, and he nodded his thanks.

"I appreciate you letting me back in," he offered. "Thanks."

He reached for one of Ino's hands, but then stopped short, looking worried again.

"... How are her hands?"

[intraspective]

"Be gentle with them for the next few weeks," she said, having drawn in the breath to snap at him just before he'd asked the question. "And make sure she does the same. There's twenty-seven bones in a human hand and great number of hers were broken, even healed, they need the time to recover."

[puppy_fair]

Zack nodded a little. Nothing shy of an elixir was going to do away with the damage completely, he supposed. He'd ask Ino if she was up to taking one of his when she woke up again.

"I'll be gentle," he promised, and then got back to biting his lip, resting his hand on the bed beside Ino, instead.

Her gentle giant.

[intraspective]

Doctor Sialeeds nodded, finished what she was doing, and quietly left the room. A nurse would keep a discreet eye on them, but for the moment, they would have relative privacy.

And silence reigned for a small while, before the girl began to shift a little, like a prelude to waking.

[puppy_fair]

Her stirring earned a small twitch of his mouth from the worried puppy, and he reached out with one hand to smooth the hair back from her face.

"Hey," he whispered, his expression creeping into something just slightly more mellow than his usual smile.

[intraspective]

The touch only helped her to wake up faster, though it was soothing--and his voice, well, could Ino be blamed for the faint smile that touched her lips as her eyes opened?

"Hey," she said, because words failed her at seeing him awake for the first time after--everything.

[puppy_fair]

"How are you holding up?"

An actual conversation, over here? It seemed like they'd been alternating between waking and passing out at once another since yesterday.

[intraspective]

Ino took a moment to take mental stock of herself, how she felt, and shook her head a bit. "Better than I was," she said honestly.

Though, truly, that wasn't hard to be.

[puppy_fair]

Zack managed to bite that observation down. He'd been afraid since he'd found her that she wasn't going to wake up again, so this was an improvement.

"Hungry or anything? I can have one of the nurses bring up something for you to eat."

Or to drink with a straw, as the case might be.

[intraspective]

"Maybe something to drink," she allowed, lifting one of her hands to study it.

Ino hesitated, studying him. "You?"