All The White Circles (Part 2)
Jennifer
Part Two: Riley
When I wake up, I'm in the infirmary and quarantined. I thought Buffy had taken me to the hospital but I could have been dreaming. I hope with every ounce of me that the whole thing had been one giant nightmare. But when I try to move and find I haven't the strength, I know that it happened. All of it. I had been taken captive by a vampire. And yet somehow I had survived those few torturous days. I reason with myself that my conditioning and impeccable physical record are the reasons. But I know in my heart that survived because of her. And if she hadn't come, I would have surely died.
I reach to my right and feel for the button to summon help. I need to talk to someone and find out what's going on and why I'm quarantined. I suppose I know. They want to make sure I'm not contaminated. Protocol. Damn protocol right now.
A field nurse enters the room and with gloved hands takes my pulse. She doesn't smile nor does she say much. So I decide to do the talking.
"I want to see Walsh," I tell her.
"She'll be in momentarily with the test results. She's been waiting for you to wake up."
"How long have I been out?"
"Twelve hours."
"Twelve?"
"Yes Sir. You needed," her voice trails away and she resumes her business as usual manner.
"Walsh will fill you in." She writes everything she did down on my chart and then leaves the room.
I look to the ceiling and sigh. I wonder how Buffy knew to take me here. But I quickly dismiss the thought when I hear the door open. I look to it and see Walsh enter carrying several files. She greets me with her usual gravity and pulls up a chair.
"How are you feeling?" She asks opting first for small talk.
"Weak. But otherwise relieved."
"Can you tell me what went on?"
"I was taken hostage by vampires. They uh, chained me up, beat me up and fed on me."
"How did you get out?"
"Pardon?"
"How did Buffy Summers end up taking you to the hospital?"
It hit me quite hard then that I couldn't possibly tell Walsh about Buffy. What better subject for the Initiative to study then a human with, for lack of a better word, super powers. I ball my fists up under the sheet and I betray so much of what I believe in when I say, "I don't know. I don't remember."
"You don't remember?"
"No Sir. The last thing I remember is being fed upon by a vampire. I passed out during it."
"And you didn't regain consciousness until just now."
My fists clench tighter. "Yes Sir."
She nods and writes her notes in her yellow legal pad. "Well your blood work has come back. You're not contaminated. We have replenished your blood supply and you should be walking around within a few days. However, I am deactivating you until you are one hundred percent able to return to the field... physically and mentally."
"But Sir,"
"There are no buts, Riley. You are my best operative and the leader of this mission. Somehow they were able to take you and somehow you survived."
"Understood." I comply.
"Good. Now Forrest is outside. He's been waiting to see you."
I nod. "Good. Please ask him to come in."
She smiles at me and before she leaves pats my arm. "We were worried. However you survived, I'm glad you did."
"Thank you."
She leaves the room and only moments later Forrest walks in. He pulls up the same chair that Walsh had been sitting in and places it beside the bed.
"You okay, man?" He asks. I'm glad he worried. I know who my friends are.
"Yeah, I'll be fine."
"So Buffy found you, huh?"
"Shh," I tell him shaking my head. "Not a word about that."
"Why? What's going on?"
"Later." I say. "How did Buffy know to bring me here?"
"She didn't. She brought you to the hospital. When she called to let me know she found you, I immediately informed Walsh. We went to the hospital and transferred you here."
"Does she know?"
"Walsh? About what?"
"No. Does Buffy know I'm here?"
"No man. It was a covert operation."
I shake my head. "Shit Forrest, she's... you had no right to move-"
"We have every right, Finn. You are a part of highly classified mission. You are government
property. It wasn't being left up to some hack at Sunnydale Hospital to fix you up. This is where you belong."
"But Buffy-"
"No but Buffy. Would you listen to yourself? Do you want to jeopardize the Initiative for a cute face and tight ass!"
His words angered me further and I moved, a little too quickly, toward him. My sudden actions caused me to get light headed and I fell back to the pillow. "Don't talk about her that way."
"Yeah, yeah, Riley. I know. She's special. She can be special outside these walls. But you have to know where to draw the line, man. Or you're going to give us all big problems."
I let out my breath slowly and ran my hand through my hair. "Tell her I'm safe, please. Will you do that?"
Forrest shook his head but then agreed. "Yeah, man. I'll do it."
"Thanks. Tell her I will talk to her as soon as I can."
"Sure." He nodded and started for the door. "Just get this taken care of. We need you back out there."
"Yeah, right." I watch him leave and then finally give myself leave to relax. I won't see her till I'm able to walk out of here without any problem. Well then, that's what I'll do...
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