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Hannah was safe.

Well, as safe as anyone that close to death and in the ICU could be. She was alive though, and that had put at least part of Delilah’s mind at ease as she sat in the waiting room. Since she was not blood family, she could not go in and sit by her sister’s bedside until Hannah’s condition was stabilized. So there she sat, after having been patched up. Dr. Jacobs kept trying to reassure her but Delilah was sure he was trying to calm them both. How they had found Hannah would not soon be forgotten.

Forgotten…

Red eyes grew large as she dove into her bag to search for her phone. Looking for a Mei’s name, she sent the text:

Alive?
-Send

At home sitting on their living room sofa, Mei had been watching Edge of Tomorrow with her father when her phone buzzed and screen illuminated the glass beside her. Reaching over, not bothering to hit pause, she picked up the small technological device and unlocked the screen to read the message.

Yes? Are you okay?
-Send

“Everything okay?” her father asked noticing the furrowed brows on his daughters face.

“Yeah. One of my friends at school has been at the hospital for the past day.”

“Are they okay?” he asked, concern evident in his voice. “I can pause the movie if you need to go call them.”

Delilah’s hands had been cleaning onto the sides of the phone waiting for the little green light to blink. The moment it did, she released the breath she had been holding.

Can you talk?
Send
Without waiting for a replay, Delilah stood, and made her way to one of the healing gardens around the hospital. It was getting late and colder so she knew very few people would be out there without a cigarette.

Leaning over Mei gave her father a peck on the cheek then stood up. “It’s okay, I’ve already seen the first half of the movie. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” She gave her fathers shoulder a squeeze then retreated out of the dark living room down the hardwood hallway towards the stairs.

Once in her room, she closed the door with a quiet click and flipped on the light before taking a seat on her queen sized bed. Re-unlocking her phone she scrolled through her messages to the most recent text and instead of replying she hit the menu button and pressed call.

The phone rang once then twice before she heard the background sound of a nurse calling the name of a patient and someone nearby coughing. “Delilah? You there?”

The phone was vibrating before she made it to the door. Sliding the answer button across, she remained silent for a moment as she passed a nurse nearly yelling to the woman she was rolling down the hall. “Hold on.”

Her voice had come out a whisper as she made the last turn and half sprinted towards the far door. Pushing it open, Delilah was met with a quick blast of cold air. It caused her to shiver but woke her up at least. “I’m here.” She finally said, slipping outside into the night and finding an empty seat on the raised planter ledge. “Was trying to get out of the way of a nurse.” Using her other hand, she wrapped her jacket tighter around her. “God, it’s good to hear your voice. I’m sorry I didn’ contact you sooner. It’s been….” She stopped and gazed back towards the door. “Non-stop.”

“Hey, it’s okay. How’s she doing?” Weariness was evident in Delilah’s voice, a sound that carried through the cell phones. It spoke volumes of sleepless hours and levels of worry that has likely gone unmatched for some time.

“Alive.” Delilah gave a long sigh as she let her shoulder dropped in as close to relaxing state as they had been in awhile. It amazed her that Mei could pick up on it so quickly. She was glad for it. “They still have her in the ICU but the last update was she was stabilizing. I hope it’s a promising sign.”

Delilah went quiet for a moment. “Mei, you know I have to ask you not to let anyone know about Hannah’s illness. She’s very private about it and doesn’t want to be treated differently. If she knew I told you…” Her voice trailed off.

Cutting her off Mei spoke up “Don’t worry, I won’t say a word. If there is one thing I’ve learned over the past two years; it’s how to keep a secret.” How in the hell she’d managed to keep her powered identity from her family, except for Shen, was beyond her but somehow she managed to be discreet when sneaking about.

“And you? How are you holding up? You sound tired.”

The sound in Mei’s voice was reassuring. Delilah knew she would keep her word. Hell, they both had a secret to keep anyway. It helped now that at least she did not live at home.

The second part allowed her to just fall. “Mei, I’m beyond tired.” Delilah finally admitted, feeling the lack of sleep wash over her. “I spent most of last week living on adrenaline and now, I think I have finally run out.” Leaning back, she laid down on the cold cement container. “I can’t do anything else. She’s safe and her life is out of my hands. I’m not really sure if I am relieved or more stressed about it.”

“Would it help if I came down and kept you company? Or at the very least kept watch for you so you could go back to the dorm and take a shower?” Unfortunately hospitals don’t exactly extend the courtesy of a hot shower to guests and if she knew Delilah as well as she thought she did then chances are she hasn’t left the waiting room since they saved her friend.

“Mei, you would be a lifesaver if you could bring me a cup of broccoli cheddar soup from Panera. The food here sucks and I have had more snickers bars from the vending machine than I care for in a month.” Delilah smiled, throwing her hand up over her head, laughing to herself. “But if you are in the middle of something, or a date,” Delilah joked not knowing how the other girl’s evening went at the ball but she had met someone herself. “I’ll go back for the cheetos”

“No, don’t go do that.” Mei sighed and though she was alone in her room she shook her head none the less. “I’m just watching a movie with my father. Let me go downstairs and see if I can borrow the car okay?”

“Mei, you don’t need to.” Delilah commented, feeling a pain of guilt realizing the girl was enjoying a moment of peace. “Watch the movie with your dad. I’ll get my mother or someone to bring me something. Though, what time is it?”

“Delilah, it’s fine. I can be there in about a half hour to forty-five minutes okay? Just go back in the waiting room once you’ve gotten some fresh air and try to relax.” Though if the raven haired woman expected her to show up with only a cup of soup, she would be severly disappointed. There was no way that was going to be enough food especially if she’d been living off of candy for the last few meals.

“Mei, you are a lifesaver. I’ll be in the ICU waiting area. If I am not, then I just disappeared to the bathroom for a few moments. “ Delilah was smiling as she listened to her friend. Some days, she wondered how the two had gotten so close in such a short amount of time. Other days, she was just thankful. “Now to will myself to move.”

“Alright I’ll be there in a bit.” And with that Mei hung up the phone and retreated back downstairs into the living room to talk her father into letting her borrow the car for a few hours to which he easily agreed. One of the benefits of maintaining good grades despite the several sleepless nights patrolling the streets for youmas.

Almost an hour passed before Mei stepped through the automatic doors leading into the ICU waiting room. “Hey,” she spoke softly not wanting to startle Delilah as it seemed she was a bit out of it at the moment.

The hour had passed like the rest of the time spent in the hospital: in a blur of ‘paging doctor so-and -so.” Still, it had been nice to get out into the dark garden for a bit so now her mind was at least functioning again. The chocolate in her system was wearing off so she had started to drift out of the world until a female voice snapped her back.

Turning in her seat, Delilah gave Mei a smile. “Hey.” She responded before noticing the bag, no, two bags in Mei’s hand. “Something tells me there is more than soup here.” The smile became a smirk as the raven hair woman shook her head.

“Well,” taking a seat beside her, Mei set the larger of the two bags in Delilah’s lap. “You’d be right. Something told me a cup of soup wouldn’t be enough. I guessed on the salad, I hope that’s alright.”

Delilah looked at the bag in her lap with a touch of disbelief. How could she not have expected this? “Oh Mei, what am I going to do with you?” Delilah was shaking her head slowly, a laugh on her lips. It we welcomed as she nodded and opened the paper bag. Her soup, a thai chicken salad and…”Mei! Really a bread bowl? It’s been two days since I last ate. Not two weeks.” Her head shot over to look at the woman. “Do I look that skinny?”

Mei raised an eyebrow and smirked then held her arm out next to Delilah’s for a side by side comparison. “I don’t know…” she teased “you tell me.”

A heartfelt laugh escaped the creme haired young woman. “Just eat what you can and you can take the rest back to the dorm to eat later.” The smell that wafted in the air was tantalizing, causing her stomach growl; oh she was ready to eat and that piece of apple pie was calling her name.

Returning the look with one of her ‘really, really?’ facial expressions with a narrow eyes and pouted lips, Delilah kicked Mei’s leg with her own. “Witch.” She joked as the woman laughed. Maybe the worry had caused her to neglect eating right. She would need to adjust her diet later.

The sound of a stomach broke her thoughts and she laughed. A deep, needed laugh. “So what did you get yourself?” Delilah asked, standing and changing to a chair that had a table between it, pointing for Mei to join her. It didn’t take long for her to have the soup in the bread bowl and diving into it. “Oh my Lord. So this is what food taste like. I thought if it didn’t come covered in chocolate, it wasn’t real.”

“Oh no, that much is true. What you’re eating there is totally fake, just like how the exercise you’re going to have to do in the next few days is just an illusion or figment of your imagination.” Mei smiled knowingly before taking another bite of pie. Oh she would drag Delilah out kicking and screaming to go jogging with her if only to make sure the woman got some fresh air even if she had to walk in her powered up and drag her outside to do it.

Delilah just stopped, mid-bite and shot a look up at a strange angle. Putting the soup back in the bread bowl, Delilah groaned. “No, no marathon running. I know I’m slower than you but the pace you keep is killer. Once was enough.“ Leaning down, Delilah rubbed her legs thinking how sore they were after the one time Mei talked her into a ‘jog’. “You better come up with a plan B.”

“I jog slower?” The grin on Mei’s face grew to an almost uncomfortable size as she tried to keep from bursting out laughing. “Otherwise we could always go swimming at the public pool. Do laps for a half hour or so.”

“Ha Ha Ha. I’ll believe that’s possible when I see it.” Delilah rolled her eyes and went back to her soup. A few bites later, she processed the second thought. “Half an hour? Mei, look at me. You know very well my body is very much against physical labor.”

“No comment.” Mei snickered then took another bite of pie while it was still warm.

“You better be grateful there is a table between us.” Delilah, monotony said before flicking a piece of bread towards the nose of the other woman.

Just to spite her Mei picked the piece of bread up off her lap and stuck it in her mouth. “MmmmMmmm delicious.” Oh yeah, she was antagonizing her friend just a bit. “But seriously you do need to get out of here, even if it is just for a few hours. Sitting here worrying isn’t doing you any favors.”

Closing the lid to her now empty to-go box Mei stuck the container back in the paper bag and set it on the table “I’m just worried about you Delilah.” It’s understandable that she’d want to be close incase her friends condition changed or if she happened to wake up but if doing so meant she continued to neglect her own needs then it was time for something to change.

The bread bowl was nearly empty as Delilah started to pick at the sides. Her smile weakened for a moment at Mei’s all too true words. Sitting there wasn’t doing her any good and frankly, she felt horrible. Lord she would take a hose and cold water if it just came with soap. “Mei, I know you are right but it’s just hard to leave. What if she wakes up while I’m gone? What if…” Delilah inhaled slowly. “What if she doesn’t wake up?”

“If there is one thing I learned having a father and now brother in the military it is that you can’t let yourself think like that.” Mei sat back in her seat and tilted her head back, resting it against the wall behind her. “It’s hard, believe me, it’s hard. But you need to believe she’ll wake up. Believing anything but that will bring you nothing but despair.”

There were several times while her father was overseas where they would be unable to get in contact for several weeks which left seeds of worry and fear that their unit had been attacked or that the next time the doorbell rang it would be someone dressed in military attire to inform them that he had been killed in action. So yes she knew the effects of this train of thought and how it could affect ones health.

Delilah was silent. She was looking down at her hands as strands of hair fell down around her face. “How do yo do it Mei? How do you keep from going there?” Her voice trembled a bit but she pulled herself together long enough to notice a group of hair in front of her eyes.

Why do you think I run so much? An unspoken reply for it was something she hated to admit to; a fact that it wasn’t so much that she was running toward something but away.

Suddenly, her red eyes went wide. “Ugh! Why didn’t you tell me my hair looked like a rat’s nest.” Delilah commented, hands flinging up to the half bun her black hair was tied in. “I need a shower. It feels as if I haven’t seen soap in a week.”

“C’mon let me take you back to the dorm so you can shower and at least get some fresh clothes.” Gathering her things Mei slung her bag over her shoulder and picked up the garbage from their dinner to toss in the trash on their way out.

Delilah stood, not complaining about the offer. “Thank you Mei. I owe you one.” She nodded to her friend before turning to look back at the door to the ICU. Hannah, keep fighting. she thought before heading after Mei and the shower she was looking forward to.