One Long Day

Chapter 2:

Will blinked blearily. He was hot. Really hot. He sat up, his head spinning and realised that he was lying on one of the infirmary beds, still in all his clothes. He looked around and saw Henry asleep on the bed the other side of Magnus. Ashley was sleeping too, slumped half on Magnus' bed and half sitting on the infirmary stool. The Big Guy was mysteriously absent.

Will glanced at his watch. Just after three in the morning. They'd crashed there just before twelve, after Will was done explaining the full story, deciding they'd all sleep better closer to Magnus. So that was only three hours ago. Will rubbed his eyes. That meant Magnus had another eight hours of dialysis.

He climbed off of the bed and pulled a second stool up to Magnus' bed. Glancing at Ashley, he noticed that she was shivering. Shrugging off his jacket, he wrapped it around her shoulders. She stirred but didn't wake up. He smiled.

Looking back down at Magnus, he realised her eyes were open.

"Jesus, Magnus!" he winced, dropping his voice to a whisper.

She was smiling softly, evidently just having seen him give his jacket to Ashley. "Sorry."

Will huffed. "It's fine, I think. Yes, my heart rate is slowly returning to normal."

Magnus lifted the hand that Ashley wasn't holding and swatted weakly at him.

Will dodged. "How're you feeling?"

"Better," Magnus replied.

"You gave us a bit of a scare for a bit."

"I'm sorry." She was sincere, her expression apologetic.

"Why are you sorry? You were only trying to get rid of the parasite, save both our lives." Will shuddered at the memories. "If you hadn't thought of a way to expel it, the sub would've gone down and we both would've died."

Magnus went to touch his arm but one of the tubes wasn't long enough, holding her back. Her face clouded with frustration and Will shifted closer. She smiled. "I should've known there would be some repercussions. You were right: it was stupid to mix the medications together."

"Wow," Will feigned shock and then grinned. "The great Helen Magnus just admitted she was wrong."

"I admitted nothing of the sort." Even drugged out of her skull and half asleep, Magnus was sharp. "I said you were right. Entirely different."

"No, no, no. Either you mix or you don't. No grey area here. You admitted you were wrong." Will snorted.

Magnus shook her head. "What does it even matter? I won't remember this conversation come morning."

"It always matters, Magnus. I was right. I was right."

Magnus watched his glee for a moment, smiling. "You're more right than you know."

"What?" Will was serious again.

"I meant what I said on the sub: you're doing better than you could ever realise. I'm proud of how much progress you've made."

Will smiled, not sure how to respond. He was sure he was blushing. Then Magnus yawned, saving him from having to answer. "I'll let you get some more sleep." He was quite prepared to go back to his hijacked infirmary bed.

"Will? You are most welcome to go back to your own room if you so wish."

While his own bed and a hot shower sounded more than just appealing, Will could see something in Magnus' eyes that stopped him from immediately accepting. He couldn't be sure of the exact emotion but it did tell him that she wasn't quite ready for him to leave.

"I'm... fine. Just get some sleep." He squeezed her hand.

She smiled, the relief barely visible and obliged him, closing her eyes. He smiled and waited until her breathing evened out before creeping back to his infirmary bed. He lay down, facing Magnus' bed and let himself drift off.

He didn't wake up until late the next morning. A glance at his watch told him it was almost ten and he stretched, wincing as various joints popped.

"Good morning, sleepyhead." Ashley called out to him.

He looked up to see her, still in her pyjamas, sitting on the edge of Magnus' bed. Magnus herself was sitting up too, tubes still attached. Both were smiling at him.

"Er, hi." Will blinked and sat up.

Ashley threw him his jacket, over her mother and across the gap between the beds. "You really need to wash that thing."

Will smiled dryly. "You're welcome Ashley."

Magnus laughed.

Henry groaned from his bed. "What time is it?" his words were slightly slurred.

"Late. Time to get up Henry." Ashley told him over her shoulder.

"Haha. You'll only have been up for ten minutes. Doc?" he complained.

Magnus' eyes twinkled. "I'm not getting involved, Henry."

Henry pouted. "Spoilsport. How're you feeling?"

"Well, thank you, Henry." Magnus smiled.

"How many more hours hooked up?"

"Only one."

"Not long." Ashley crowed, obviously pleased.

Will suddenly noticed that mother and daughter were holding hands and had been since he'd woken up. He smiled. Whatever he'd inadvertently interrupted had apparently been doing them good, healing the breach between them. Even if they weren't fixed yet, Will could see that they were well on the way to getting there. That made him happy.