Ivy stood quietly in the doorway of Carmen's room, her eyes focused on the thief's still form. She had to keep reminding herself that Carmen was only sleeping, though they had really no idea when she'd wake up, which was an idea terrifying enough all on its own. Sighing sadly, Ivy walked into the bedroom and sat beside the body of her friend, making the mattress shift slightly. She took Carmen's unmoving hand in her own, twining their fingers together.

The thief didn't stir, of course. Comas tended to do that to people.

"Carm." Ivy began to talk, the way she did everyday, at least three times. "Zack made gourmet burgers for lunch today. I'm a little less worried about him now than I was when we first brought you home." It had been a little under two weeks since they had smuggled Carmen out of the hospital, more than twice that since they had driven her half dead body to the medic station in Brazil. Three months had passed-almost to the exact day-since that terrible night in France.

Unfortunately, Ivy was still plagued with the constant fear of losing Carmen to her injuries.

"Hey, Sis." Zack walked in and settled himself next to her, his aquarium blue eyes running down Carmen's body. "Does she seem better than yesterday?" he asked solemnly.

"She gets better every day, but it still feels too slow."

"Right," he sighed, adjusting the tubes that ran from Carmen's mouth and arm. Placing the oxygen mask more fully over her lips and nose, he let his fingers trail down a thick scar on her cheek that slashed just below her right eye and curled down to the corner of her mouth. "That's never gonna go away, is it?"

Ivy blinked quickly, beating back yet another wave of tears. "No."

Carmen had more than just that one permanent reminder of her extensive pain. Her back was a mess of pale criss-crossed lines, four scars were hidden under her mass of auburn curls, the wounds on her stomach were almost nothing more than shallow red grooves in her flesh, and they still had no clue whether the thief's arm would even work once she was awake. Carmen's hair had grown an inch or so past her shoulders since they rescued her, but it was still shorter than Ivy remembered-and was used to.

Other than that and the obvious sickly pale gauntness that still clung to Carmen's features, she seemed relatively healthy. Her fingers had healed the fastest of her injuries, next to the fracture in her foot, and she had a steady blood flow and breathing pattern.

Ivy supposed she should try to focus on these small victories, though they were few in number. It was just too hard to look past the terrifying stillness of Carmen's shoulder, or how her face didn't even twitch with dreams. Ivy had been accustomed to the super thief's nightmares, and now that she saw this seemingly lifeless woman-stuck full of wires and tubes, heavily wrapped-her first reaction was fear. Paralyzing fear that Carmen had passed during the night when no one was sitting next to her.

I'll stay in here again for the night, she thought to herself. Can't be too careful, right?

Zack elbowed her lightly, forcing a small smile. "Dinner's ready, by the way."

Ivy nodded, giving him a grateful look. "I'll be out in a minute. Thanks, Zack."

His eyes softened, and he leaned down to give me a tight hug before striding back to the kitchen. "Oi, Sensei," he called to Shadowsan. "Food's on the table!"

She laughed at her brother's nickname for the ninja, then turned back to her unconscious friend. "Gotta go, Carm," she muttered, brushing delicate red strands away to kiss her forehead.

The siblings and Shadowsan sat at a small table in the kitchen, bowls of clam chowder set in front of each of them. Carmen's red laptop was open on the other end, showing Player eating his own plate of food. He had a habit of eating meals with them through video call now, always making sure to be available when Shadowsan was home at the warehouse and not occupied with a caper. VILE had only been active once ever since they'd gotten Carmen out, which meant that Player ate with them almost every other day.

There was an uncomfortable silence until Ivy had managed to gulp down a few bites. "Ok," she said, temporarily setting aside the bowl of mouthwatering soup. "we really need to talk."

Shadowsan's head shot up. "Is Carmen alright?" He had been caring for the younger thief as well, his fatherly persona making frequent appearances.

"Besides the fact that she's in a coma and is currently being kept alive by flippin' tubes? Yeah." Ivy sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. "But this is about her."

Player and Zack paused digging into their food, glancing up at the red head, and Shadowsan narrowed his eyes.

"We need to talk about... about what happened."

Zack screwed his eyes shut and grit his teeth. "A lot of stuff happened, Ivy, and I don't really think anyone here wants to talk about it."

Ivy suddenly growled, slamming her hand down on the table. "Having the death of someone on Carmen's conscious is not going to help her mental state, gosh dangit! We have to stop avoiding this topic! Just because she's not awake doesn't mean that there aren't going to be unavoidable consequences for her to face!" she yelled.

There was silence around the table.

"Ok, then," Shadowsan said, folding his hands together calmly as if she hadn't shouted at them. He cleared his throat, emotion clouding his dark eyes. "Let's talk. About Coach Brunt, right?"

The name sucked the life out of the room, and Ivy shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "Yeah," she muttered quietly.

The ninja ducked his head. "You're right, Ivy. Taking the life of another is hard on the heart and the mind. Carmen... will struggle."

Zack blinked sadly. "Shadowsan, were you close to Coach Brunt?"

He muttered something about "pushy children" under his breath before answering. "I never considered myself as such. She was my superior, even when the both of us were fellow faculty members. Even then, she was more of a nuisance." He paused. "But then again, I am sorry that a life was lost."

"Yeah, me too," a weak voice said.

Everyone spun in their chairs.

"Carmen!" Ivy exclaimed, tears in her eyes.

The thief was leaning heavily against the wall, her breathing shallow and raspy as her legs shook violently under the strain of standing for the first time in a month, but she was awake. She gave them all a tired smile, something Ivy hadn't had the chance to see for over eleven weeks.

Carmen promptly collapsed onto the kitchen floor.

Oh also what the frick thank you thank you thank you guys so much for 3k reads!! That means a lot 😉