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Now Peyton knew how they'd all felt, everyone that had gotten burned on that last mission before the tower thing. Stuck in bed, bored out of her wits, with only her phone for entertainment.

Well, at least she wasn't immobile. She had a few bruises here and there, but they were nothing really. Certainly not compared to the damage America had sustained. She still felt really awful about that. So much so that she hadn't yet mustered up the courage to shoot the other girl a text to see how she was doing. She was scared she'd be mad at her, and if she was, Peyton wasn't ready to face that yet.

Instead she'd pulled up solitaire on her phone, and was working on making rows between checking twitter. Pretending her stomach wasn't tied up in anxious knots. Ignoring the odd glances the techs kept shooting her from their corners of the room.

The door opening pulled pale eyes up from her phone and onto the tall Lifer that was making his way anxiously over to her bed. Just the sight of him was enough to ease a little of the worry that was tying her insides up in knots and she'd answer the unspoken question on whether touch was allowed by reaching for his hand the second it was close enough to catch. Sitting up, she drew her knees in, pressing her cheek against the back of his hand with a sigh.

For just a moment she tried not to think about the mission or what had happened. The techs in their corners, and what they were there for. Then she straightened up, flashed him what she hoped was a reassuring smile, and slid over to give him room so he could sit beside her. "Mission. America and I were sent to this jungle base somewhere in south america to check things out because communications just suddenly stopped. You know, routine things."

There had been a chance for danger, but that was why Peyton had taken America. They were an team, worked great together. There shouldn't have been any problems. They could have handled any foe that had come up against them. "It was deserted. Things just left all over, as if whatever had happened, everyone had just stopped what they were doing and left." Which, they'd learned, was exactly what had happened.

"When we were searching one of the offices something crossed across the window, and we went outside to check things out." She waited for him to sit, gaze twitching up to the techs and frowning at their unhappy expressions.

She wasn't going to attack Noah.

She hoped...

Once he was sitting beside her she sought to link her arm with his, leaning into him. She was tempted to rest her head against his arm, but he'd caught and held her gaze, so she met those earnest green eyes, recognizing the worry in them, and wished with everything she had that she could take that worry away from him.

And yet, at the same time, knowing he worried felt good. It made hr feel cared for, even if she didn't like doing anything that might hurt him.

Nodding, she gave his arm a comforting squeeze, as much for herself as for him. "Yeah, there was definitely something out there. We followed these tracks, and it lead us to this camp." Pale eyes took on a slightly haunted look. "We found all the Hunters from the base. They were there, and they were dead. It was like some deadly hurricane had swept through and demolished everything and everyone."

The dainty Sun shuddered. "Then we saw the eyes. Glowing red eyes in the bushes, in the trees, and...and our's changed, and it was like everything melted away and there was nothing left but anger." Her voice dipped, remembering that seething, boiling rage, and the techs in their corners stirred, taking a step forward.

Swallowing, Peyton ducked in closer to Noah, watching the other Lifer's warily. "We attacked each other. Just blindly. I hurt America, pretty bad. I didn't want to, but I wasn't in control, I wasn't even home, not rational. Just a vessel for the anger."

Noah's question was answered with a nod, and she drew her legs up, leaning into his side and cuddling his arm to her chest. "I'm fine, a few bruises, nothing close to serious. I think she'll be fine." Logically Noah was right, and Peyton knew that, but there was that little piece of her that didn't work rationally. That part that whispered in the dark and made her just feel awful.

Friendship like the sort she had with America, or Taym, was still sort of new to the Sun. She hadn't had friends when she'd been younger, they moved too much, she didn't want to get attached. It meant she wasn't certain just how much a bond could take before it cracked or broke.

"I hate it in here," she admitted softly, sighing. The fingers of one hand played up the line of his arm absently. "It's impersonal, and boring, and it reminds me of... Well, you know what. I just don't like hospitals much. At least not being on the patient side of things."

"On the plus side," she murmured. "We made it back more or less in one piece, and the mission was a success." That news had come as a surprise, but she supposed based on the parameters they'd been given, it made since. Investigate, find out what happened. Well, they'd certainly found out what had happened.

Drawing in a deep breath, she let it go slowly, along with some of the tension she'd been holding onto. Having Noah here help, he was a comforting presence. Warm and solid and safe. "I got promoted." It was the first time she'd really thought about it. "Get to move upstairs now. We'll have a bigger place to hang out. My strawberry plant will have a nice big window to sit in now."

"Well, we did find out what had happened..." A hollow chuckle followed, then the Sun was turning her head to press her face into Noah's arm, blocking out the room, the techs, all of it but him.

She did look up as he congratulated her, and a slow, sweet smile slid over her lips as he pointed out the possibility of adding more plants to her window bow that she had a much larger one. "What sort of plants were you thinking?" She already had the one, and so far it seemed to be doing alright under her care. What was a few more?

"Spider plants are neat, like the ones with the white stripes on the leaves." Deciding which plants to fill her window with was a much more welcome and calming topic of conversation than what had happened on her mission. Peyton relaxed into Noah's gentle grip on her, eyes closed, and tried to pretend she wasn't stuck in the infirmary under observation.

"And cacti are always neat, specially the ones that flower. Pretty, but dangerous." Her type of plant.

"Next time we get off the island, we could maybe make a point to pick a couple little planters up. I think they'd make the room look nice."

"I would like that. Maybe set up a little terrarium with cacti, or other succulents? Hens and chickens maybe? I hear they can grow anywhere. Just pluck a bud off, stick it on the ground, and it'll flourish. A nice, fool proof plant." She chuckled softly, then moved her head against his arm so she could look up at him, meeting those soft green eyes. "It's doing well. There's some itty bitty berries starting to form where the flowers were. If enough grow I wanna make some strawberry shortcake. I've never made it before, but it seems fun, right?"

Sitting up finally, she arched her back to stretch it out, then let herself fall sideways against the infirmary mattress. Then she held a hand up to him, beckoning him to lay back with her. If she was stuck there, if he was going to keep her company for a while, they could get comfortable.

Cuddling sounded like a lovely idea.