Rescue and Recovery

Andy looked down and barely registered that Bri was awake when he was engulfed in an embrace that scared him more than anything. He blinked a few times and patted her on the back awkwardly. Why is she so worried? He glanced at the cards again, and he started to panic slightly. How long have I been asleep for?

He saw her body shaking slightly and he realised that she was crying. He removed his arms from around her and placed his fingers under her chin, tilting her head up so that she was looking at him. He noticed that her eyes were red raw as though she had been crying for a long while.

"Whatcha crying for?" he asked softly, smiling down at her. He was certainly more anxious about what happened now than he was when he woke up.

"Three days," Bri said. "You've been out for three days. You haven't so much as moved a muscle. And it's all my fault! I shouldn't have insisted that we go in there. It was an awful, horrible idea and I'm so sorry."

She wanted to tell him how glad she was that he was alive, how she had been worried that she'd never hear his voice again, and have to live with the knowledge that it was all her fault, but the words just wouldn't come.

She just sat, hugging him for a few minutes until she decided that her time could be better spent. She poured him a glass of water and handed it to him. "Professor Cooper said I should keep you hydrated if you woke up and one of them wasn't here. He just left, which means she should be here in about twenty minutes," she informed him.

Three days? Andy thought, rather shocked by that knowledge. He couldn't believe that three days had passed when it had only felt like moments ago, he was in the Forest.

He looked at Bri again, and took in her appearance; she did look rather disheveled.

"Have you been here the entire time?" he asked, but already assumed that she had been, if her appearance was anything to go off. He felt a twinge of guilt about the girl spending the last three days stuck by his side.

He graciously took the water from her and drank the entire glass full. He wasn't surprised that he was so thirsty anymore, if he had just spent the last three days sleeping.

Andy focused back on what she said. "Professor Cooper? Both of them?" He tilted his head. "What happened exactly?

Bri nodded; she had spent less than half an hour away from the Hospital Wing in the past three days so surely that counted as being there the whole time. Silent tears continued to streak down her face. She nodded again when he asked if both of the Coopers had been to tend to him.

The entire time he'd been out, she'd done nothing but watch him, but now that he was awake, she found it difficult to look him in the eye. She took the empty glass from him and filled it again, waiting for him to drink the contents, then setting it on the stand with the pitcher of water. She sat next to him and once more wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his shirt. She had something that she wanted to say to him but there was no way that she could do that while looking at him, not after what she had gotten him into.

"I'm so sorry," she mumbled into the cotton pajamas he was wearing. "You could have died and it's all my fault. Even James said so," her soft voice grew even softer; she felt positively sick about what had happened to him. "I'm a horrible, awful, terrible friend and it wouldn't bother me in the slightest if you didn't want to be friends with me anymore," she offered.

Andy shook his head, even though she wouldn't have been able to see the action, as her face was buried in his shirt. How could she think that he wouldn't want to be friends with her? That was crazy talk.

"Bri," Andy began, wishing she would look at him. She still hadn't told him exactly what happened, but he didn't seem to be any worse off, physically, than how he was when he entered the forest. Andy then picked up on the name she said. Of course James would have heard about this, especially since he was out for three whole days. Andy wasn't impressed to hear that the Gryffindor at accused Bri of being responsible for what happened though.

"It's not your fault and you're definitely not an awful friend. I went in willingly and I'm alright now, so there's nothing to worry about. I don't want to hear anymore of this, let's not be friends because of this' business. It's crazy." He smiled at her, trying to make her feel better about the whole ordeal, but didn't seem to be helping any.

Bri looked up when Andy said her name and then tried to smile back to him, but it didn't last long. She wiped her tears away and figured it was time to give Andy the short version of the entire story. "A plant thing bit you or something and poisoned you, and I had to leave you laying on the ground in the forest because I couldn't carry you out and go get Professor Cooper and the other Professor Cooper was there so she took me here to wait for you and he went to go get you and he brought a piece of the plant back and they looked really grave about it and I heard her tell him that him and Professor Hamilton would have to work fast. They kept coming back regularly to give you more and... and..."

She was trying very hard to calm herself, but talking about it wasn't helping anything. If anything it was just upsetting her more. "You nearly died," she said quietly, looking him in the eye for the first time since he'd woken up. "If they'd been only fifteen minutes later, you wouldn't have made it."

Andy sat and listened to Bri as she explained what happened. He was stunned to discover that he had almost died from their little venture into the Forest. He'd have been royally bummed if that was the way to go; by means of a stupid plant. Andy would have much preferred to be attacked by something ferocious and exciting.

He obviously was relieved that it hadn't come to that and that he was alive and breathing. He looked at Bri, who still looked on the verge of breaking down completely, but he really didn't know what else to say to comfort her any. Perhaps him just being there and letting her know that he was alright would be enough.

Andy reached out and took her hand in his, giving it a light squeeze. "Here I am, sitting here when I should be thanking you for saving my life," he remarked, smiling gently. Fifteen minutes wasn't a long time at all, and Andy was thankful for and sure that it was Bri's quick thinking that helped save him from the poison.

Bri rested her head on his shoulder and gave his hand a return squeeze. She still felt absolutely awful about what could have happened to him, but she realized that he was okay and that was something worth being happy about, even if she was still waiting for him to come to his sense and realize that it was her fault that this had happened to him.

"Don't thank me, thank the Coopers," she said. "And Professor Hamilton. They're the ones that did everything, not me."

She remembered something else that she wanted to tell him if when he woke up. "I have something for you," she said. She reached over beside the water pitcher and picked up a book, handing it to him. She'd had his dorm mates bring down the book he'd been reading. "I've been reading it to you from where you left off, though I suppose you'll have to read it over again since I doubt you remember anything from it."

Andy looked down at her head on his shoulder and was half tempted to stroke her hair with his free hand, but decided against it. It was just as well, as she sat back up again shortly afterwards, reaching over for something. He was curious as to what she could have for him, but then smiled when he recognised the cover of the book he was halfway through.

He had no idea if his subconscious took in any of the plot when she reading it to him, but it was a nice thought to know that she was there with him. Andy took the book and placed it on the bed beside him.

"Can't say I remember anything. Last thing I remember was being in the Forest." He ran his thumb over her hand unconsciously as he tried to push his mind to remember anything from his comatose state. He couldn't remember anything; it was all a big nothing.

He glanced back at Bri. "It's a good book though. Did you like what you read? I wouldn't have minded if you read from the start. It would have made more sense for you, that way at least. It wasn't like I could complain about you starting back at the start anyway," Andy joked, trying to make her smile. Andy realised that he hadn't actually seen Bri so upset before, and it was paining him.

"It was good, I wouldn't mind borrowing it once you're done with it," Bri replied.

The true depth of her exhaustion was starting to set in. Unlike Andy, who had done nothing but sleep for three days, Bri had hardly slept at all, and it was starting to take its toll on her. Still, she didn't want to leave, especially not now that he was awake.

She closed her eyes, intending for it to only be for a moment. "How are you feeling?" she asked.

"Sure. I'll be done with it pretty soon, if they're adamant about keeping me here. They probably will, so you can have it then." Andy really did feel perfectly fine, albeit his right leg was a touch stiff and sore. He assumed that was the leg that was poisoned but he hoped that he could persuade Healer Martinez to let him go early.

He glanced at Bri and saw how tired she looked. "A far sight better than you, I'd guess. You should sleep, Bri and probably eat something."

"Gee thanks," Bri opened her eyes and looked at him. "Just what every girl wants to hear."

He was probably right, but she didn't want to leave him there alone. If she did sleep, the furthest she would go would be moving to another bed in the wing. "I'm not hungry," she said stubbornly. "I had toast this morning." Technically it had been half a piece of toast and "morning" had been about eight hours ago, but Bri didn't care.

"I doubt that you'll be going anywhere for at least a week," she told him truthfully. "You need time to make a full recovery."

Andy coughed and ran a hand through his hair. 'Sorry! I really didn't mean it like that!" He stopped talking abruptly, knowing he'd dig himself a hole he'd be unable to get out of.

Andy sighed. He didn't know if Bri was bending the truth a little there, but he didn't want to push her into doing something she didn't want to do, besides, he was thankful for the company. Selfish, he knew, but she didn't seem to mind.

"A full recovery!? Pift!" Andy exclaimed. "I'm perfectly fine! See!" He made to sit up and was doing rather well at proving his point, until he was hit with a wave of dizziness that made him groan and fall back against the pillows.

"Yeah, if that's perfectly fine then I'm a leprechaun," Bri said. She got up off the bed, reluctantly letting go of his hand, and went over to another stand by the foot of the bed. She'd nearly forgotten what the Coopers had told her to do if he woke up and one of them wasn't there.

She grabbed a small vial of a red potion that she presumed was for pain or something and handed it to him. "They told me to have you drink this," she said.

While he drank it, she took the book from its spot on the bed beside him and sat at the foot of the bed so that he would have room to lay down if he wanted. She glanced at him again and was fairly certain that he wouldn't object. "Chapter One," she began to read aloud from the beginning. Her voice was slightly scratchy from all the crying but she didn't care, and it didn't hurt too bad, so she kept going and proceeded to begin to read to him.

Andy took the vial from Bri's hands and downed the entire contents in one go, scrunching up his face from the taste. He sat back against the pillows, feeling the effect of the potion take an almost immediate effect. He started to feel rather numb, both physically and mentally, but he tried to pay attention to the words from the book Bri was reading. Andy's head lolled to the side, too heavy to keep up anymore. Her voice was soft and though he tried to stay awake, her tone of voice, combined with the pain numbing potion, were lulling him to sleep once more.

"Bri," Andy whispered, trying to get the words out before he lost consciousness again. "Thank you."

It didn't take long for Andy to get tired again, meaning that Bri had barely started in on chapter one before he was probably seconds from sleep. She'd actually made herself tired by reading it and she hardly heard him thank her. She got up, closed the book, and put it on the stand beside him.

"You're welcome," she whispered back. She gently pushed his hair away from his forehead and kissed it, just as she had in the Forest. "Good night," she said softly.

Now that she knew that he was going to be okay, her mind could finally relax and she knew she would be able to sleep properly for the first time in days. She reluctantly left his side and crawled into the bed beside his. Exhaustion overtook her and made it feel as though her body was weighted down with sand bags; she was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

Andy stirred awake and groaned as the harsh light of the Hospital Wing flashed pain across his eyes in up into his brain. He sat up slightly, waiting until his eyes stopped hurting to have a look around. He was alone in the ward, which came as quite a shock. He couldn't recall being alone in the Hospital Wing before; Bri wasn't even there anymore.

Andy glanced around for a final time and then threw back the covers. He was sick of staying in bed, especially when he felt perfectly fine. He tentatively swung his legs over the side of the bed and, when no nausea hit him, he slid off the bed.

Standing, Andy grinned. He was finally getting the hell out of this stupid ward. Now... he though, where are my clothes?

After searching for some time, Andy found them on a shelf, cleaner now than they were when he first put them on. He got changed quickly and then walked out of the wing, finally glad to be out of there and not fussed over like some child. He was about to lose his mind if someone else told him that he should rest, keep his fluids up, blah blah blah.

Andy walked down the corridor but then stopped suddenly...

(Continued at the Empty Classroom)

(( Thread Finished ))