Petra's eyes flew open as she jolted awake with a gasp. Sweat was dotted across her pale face, breath racing. Her blue eyes looked tired and sick, the panic in them already beginning to fade. Letting out a large, shaky breath, Petra sunk back into the pillows, her eyes falling closed again. She was visibly exhausted, despite the fact that she hadn't budged from the bed for nearly an entire day.

"Another dream?" A gentle voice asked beside Petra.

She only nodded, opening her eyes again. The person beside her bed reached over, carefully pressing a damp cloth to the side of Petra's head. She flinched at the cold for a second, before relaxing again as it soothed the dull pulsing her head.

"I'm not going to recover at this rate." She mumbled irritably.

"You have to give yourself some time, Petra, you're already looking a lot better than when you got here yesterday." Lukas pointed out.

Petra sighed, knowing Lukas was right. She hated being laid up in bed.

It's been around twenty-four hours, maybe a few more, since Petra returned from her trip up to the crash site. She had been in and out of consciousness when Lukas carried her into the base, verging on the brink of hypothermia. Petra couldn't remember much after she arrived, only that she quickly became sick. She didn't know if it was her wounds that got infected or if those last few miles in the wind caught up to her, she hadn't bothered to ask Lukas as much.

Petra had spent most of the night feverishly tossing and turning in bed, as the blizzard they had all dreaded began to rage outside. The wind was still fiercely howling around the sturdy building, showing no sign of clearing up.

"How are you feeling?" Lukas asked, putting the piece of cloth down again. "Nurm said if you're feeling up to it I should get some food in you."

"Don't talk about food right now." Petra muttered, draping her uninjured arm over her eyes.

"Alright, well, tell me if you change your mind." Lukas said. "The food Jack packed for you hadn't been touched, so unless you were eating some solidly frozen airliner food on your return trip, it's been nearly two days since you last ate properly."

"It was a stressful trip." Petra muttered, brushing off Lukas's concerns. Seeming to remember something, Petra moved her arm off her face again so she was looking up at Lukas. "How's Jesse?"

Petra hadn't asked about the survivor she brought back from the crash site since they got back. Lukas had told her that while she was gone, one of the two critical survivors in their group lost the fight. At the time, they had seven crash survivors in their base, Jesse included.

"Well, she made it through the night, which is good." Lukas said, scratching the back of his head. "At first I didn't think she was going to make it, she was cold as ice and barely conscious. Even after she came too, she was so delirious and confused and... lifeless. Like she had given up all hope."

Petra listened in silence, nodding her head every now and then. It was exactly the same as when she carried Jesse back from the crash site. When she had been conscious enough to speak, Jesse had gone as far as to ask Petra to end her fight.

"It took us hours just to get her to take some water." Lukas went on. "She seems to be more conscious of her surroundings, or at least she did when I last saw her this morning. But she's become incredibly quiet, refusing to speak. At least she was whimpering and mumbling incoherently before, but now she's just... silent."

"It's horrible." Petra said softly. "I can only imagine what she's gone through."

"She may not be speaking, but we've found some hints as to who she is." Lukas explained, getting up from his seat beside Petra's bed. "One of Jack's friends, I think it was Sammy, she recognised her immediately."

"What?" Petra asked in surprise, frowning.

"Remember that abandoned hunting lodge we found?" Lukas asked, walking back with something he had picked up. "Sammy somehow recognised Jesse's face from a picture on the wall."

"Woah, and I thought I had a decent memory, talk about attention to detail." Petra said, raking her fingers through her red hair as Lukas sat back down.

"It bothered her so much, she went out immediately to do a double check." Lukas said, holding a small, framed photograph out to Petra. "She came back just before the blizzard hit, with this."

Petra looked down at the picture, raising her eyebrows. Looking at it, Petra quickly realised she too had seen the photo at the abandoned lodge. Not that she paid too much attention to the people in the photo the first time around. Properly looking at the photo again, Petra was quickly able to confirm that the short woman with tan skin and dark brown hair was definitely Jesse. She was standing in front of the lodge with two other people, a dark skinned woman and a tall, muscular built man.

"I recognise these people." Petra said, tapping the glass subconsciously.

"Really?" Lukas asked, looking between Petra and the photo.

"Yeah." Petra said, reaching up to wipe off some of the sweat that was starting to collect on her forehead again. "They were at the crash sight with Jesse. Both dead though..." Her voice trailed off.

Suddenly the memory of Jesse clinging onto the body of the woman beside her, hurt a lot more. Petra could only imagine how devastating it had to be for Jesse.

"That's awful." Lukas said softly, shaking his head. "They must have been close friends."

Petra slowly lowered the photo, letting Lukas take it back. He gazed at it a moment longer, before placing it back on the table. Sighing softly, Petra sunk back down in bed. Maybe it was because she's never saved the life of a stranger before, but she felt oddly responsible for Jesse.
Part of her wanted to see her, see how she's doing. It wasn't that she didn't believe Lukas when he told her Jesse was alright, but she wanted to check up on her herself. Maybe... maybe she could get through to her?

"You should probably try and get some more sleep." Lukas said, picking up the damp cloth again and reaching over to press it against Petra's forehead. "You're still really feverish."

"I'm going stir crazy." Petra mumbled, closing her eyes and tilting her head back on the pillow. "I want to be up, doing things, even if it's just... I don't know, looking at maps, going over our research, planning ahead for when this ridiculous storm ends, anything!"

"That's one of the things I'll never understand about you." Lukas said with a chuckle, as he began to fix the dressing on Petra's upper arm that had started to become undone in her sleep.

"Do I have to stay in here?" Petra asked, looking over at Lukas with an annoyed, yet somewhat desperate expression.

"I thought you weren't feeling well." Lukas pointed out, raising one eyebrow at Petra.

"Doesn't make this any more tolerable." Petra grumbled, rolling her eyes.

She flinched slightly as she accidentally looked up into the dim light above her head, immediately shielding her somewhat sensitive eyes from the sudden brightness. Oh, how she despised headaches.

"This isn't just because you're bored, is it?" Lukas asked, his face softening. "There's something else bothering you."

"If I could go back in time, I'd make the day you gained the ability to read minds never happen." Petra responded with a vague chuckle. "I am getting a tiny bit frustrated, but you're right."

"What's eating you?" Lukas prompted gently.

"Jesse." Petra admitted. "Maybe this is because I risked my neck out there to get her back, but... Yeah, I don't know why I did that either. It's just that, after I found her, I began feeling really... I don't know, responsible for her? It doesn't make sense, I shouldn't be caring this much about somebody I don't know anything about." She shook her head, sighing. "But I keep thinking about her, wanting to know more about her."

"It's not that odd." Lukas said, brushing a strand of blonde hair from his face. "It's only human, after everything you did for Jesse out there, you're going to want to get to know her."

Petra didn't respond, only nodding silently. It was quiet between her and Lukas for a bit, her eyes fixed on the ceiling above her. Lukas didn't bug her about the fact that she wasn't even trying to get more sleep, wordlessly continuing to nurse her fever.

"You don't have to stay here, by the way." Petra finally said, guiltily realising how long Lukas had spent at her bedside. "I'll be fine on my own, if you want to join the others."

"Why wouldn't I want to be looking after my best friend when she's sick?" Lukas asked, his ton genuine. He shrugged lightly. "Besides, everybody's just kind of sitting around while we're waiting for the storm to pass. Jack and the others have been playing the same card game for at least three hours now."

"Yeah, that sounds about as exciting as my predicament." Petra admitted with a vague chuckle.

"Okay, look." Lukas suddenly said, clasping his hands together. "I'll make you a deal."

Petra pushed herself up on one elbow, listening curiously.

"I know it's going to put your mind at ease, so you can go see for yourself how Jesse's doing." Lukas said. "But in return you've got to do the same for me, stop being stubborn and eat something."

"I can live with that." Petra said, grinning.

Lukas smiled back at her, giving Petra's uninjured shoulder a small pat. She gratefully accepted his hand to pull her to her feet. Petra felt a little unsteady on her feet at first, but she adjusted soon enough, giving Lukas a small thumbs up to show that she could stand on her own.

"Don't take too long, okay?" Lukas said, trying to sound stern.

"Won't." Petra responded lightly, before smiling. "Thanks, Lukas."

The base was pretty warm on the inside, especially with a fire burning away in the middle room. Despite that, Petra still grabbed a jacket to pull on over the clothes she had been slept in. She didn't intend to be up for too long, simply pulling some socks onto her bare feet and not bothering with actual shoes.

Petra could vaguely hear Jack's voice in the distance as she left the sleeping quarters. She turned in the opposite direction of the voices, walking to the room where the survivors had been huddled up.

It was pretty quiet, most of the survivors either sleeping or simply not paying attention to Petra as she walked through the room. Her eyes had almost instantly located the person she had been looking for, not sparing a second glance at the others.

There was a visible gap between Jesse and the other survivors, like she was deliberately keeping to herself. She sat in one of the corners of the room, partially wrapped in a blue sleeping bag. Judging by the sleepy look in her brown eyes, Petra guessed that she had been asleep not too long ago.

Over all Jesse looked run down and defeated, but still better than the previous day when she had still been out in the cold with Petra. She was no longer layered in everything Petra could find, but was still wearing the thick wool sweater the redhead had given her. It's rich plum colour brought a little life to her pale and lifeless form.

Jesse subtly glanced up when Petra walked over her, slightly slowing her step. For a moment it was like she looked straight through Petra, before her eyes finally located the redhead's. After blankly staring at her for a moment, Jesse's expression changed to one of confusion and recognition.

Petra gave her a somewhat hesitant smile, feeling slightly awkward. She didn't know how much Jesse could remember of the previous day, and on top of that she probably looked as bad as she felt.

"Hey." She said softly, uncertainly inviting herself to sit beside Jesse on the floor.

The shorter girl continued staring at Petra, looking like she was struggling to found where the puzzle piece with the redhead's face fitted into the picture. She still looked so distant and lost.

"You recognise me, but you don't know from where... right?" Petra asked.

Jesse gave a small nod.

"I'm Petra." She said, secretly glad that she could reintroduce herself properly. "I was the one who found you out in the snow, at the crash sight."

Jesse slowly nodded her head, seeming to recall who she was looking at. She didn't make as much as a peep.

It felt like everything Petra had been wanting to ask and tell the survivor evaporated into thin air. As many questions as she had, the confusion in Jesse's eyes made her forget them all instantly. She was going through so much already, being interrogated was the last thing she deserved.

"You probably want to be alone, I can respect that." Petra said, slipping a hand into her jacket's pocket and feeling for something she had taken before coming there. "But I thought, the least I could do, was give you this. I don't know anything about who you are or where you came from, but we found this and... you deserve to have it."

She carefully pulled out the photograph, holding it out to Jesse. At first it didn't look like Jesse knew what to do. But then, slowly, she slipped one of her gloved hands from inside the sleeping back and tentatively took the framed image from Petra. Jesse blankly gazed down at it, momentarily not even blinking.

But then Petra saw her brown eyes beginning to shine, her bottom lip visibly trembling. She recognised what she was looking at, and it hurt.

Petra almost felt guilty, although she knew Jesse deserved the closure. She slowly stood up, deciding it was probably kindest to leave Jesse to her grief.

"Wait."

Petra froze in her tracks, slowly looking back over. Jesse was looking up at her, brown eyes welled up in tears. It was the first time Petra's heard her speak clearly. Despite sounding grief stricken, her voice was soft and gentle.

"Thank you."

Smiling, Petra nodded to Jesse.

"Any time." She whispered softly, turning back around as Jesse's gaze fell back to the picture in her hands.

Petra knew there was still a lot to the survivor's story she wanted to uncover, but they had all the time in the world for that. At that moment, it felt like some of the weight was lifted from her shoulders, and she could finally get some proper rest.

___

And that wraps up this short trilogy!

I can't believe it took me this long to post all three parts because I wrote them all in like, two days. But! I had so much fun writing all of them!!

I heavily considered turning this idea into a book on its own and, who knows, maybe one day I will! But right now I like leaving it this way, as a chunk ripped from a much bigger picture. There's obvious history behind the group of researchers, and an even bigger story behind the survivors of the mysterious crash site - but that's all up to the readers' interpretation!

What did you guys think of this style of one shot, or short story I should say? Super AU based, doesn't tie in with the canon story at all? Also just, the whole topic and way I wrote it?
I won't change the way I usually write one shots, just curious on whether you guys would like to see me throw in more things like this!

Ahh, editing this felt good- A writing project I was working on is going a bit south, so I've kinda been lacking motivation for any writing-related stuff. I took the whole last week off writing and was dreading getting back into it, but this helped!
One shots are over all great for motivation, so take this as an opportunity to drop some suggestions! I've still got the ones you guys gave me at the start of this book, but you're welcome to give more!

Anyways, let me stop rambling! Please provide some motivational fuel by blowing up my notifications with comments, I love seeing your reactions!

See ya'll in the next one!