Gwen
After having the injection, Gwen and Mordred were back in their room, sleeping. The moonlight through the window cast strange shadows that danced across their faces while they slept.
"Never been," Mordred said cheerfully. "But if you like it, I bet that I will as well..."
Suddenly, as they reached the crossroads of a street, a car came out of nowhere.
It hit the side of the Chevy, and Mordred went flying through the windscreen to land with a crack of breaking bones.
"MORDRED!"
Gwen screamed as the car hit her side and she felt her legs crush under the dashboard. She raised her hands instinctively shileding her face, the glass shattering and flying into her body, cutting her face and arms.
A sharp stabbing pain in her back and then it all went black.
Gwen's head shook violently, tears already escaping from her closed eyes.
"Noooo," she whimpered.
Mordred
Mordred grunted in his sleep and shifted uneasily.
That dizzying dive through the windshield, glass cutting his face and the pain when he hit. Scraping along the road, bouncing slightly
The crack of his ribs and arm breaking.
Trying to get up, and failing to...
Gwen
Gwen's arm moved and hit something.
Where was Mordred? She couldn't find him, and everything hurt. hurt so much. Her legs felt like they were boneless, why could she smell blood? And burning rubber? The sharp pain in her back anytime she took a breath. She was going to die, she could feel it.
So much pain... she'd give anything not to feel anything.
MOrdred
Mordred moaned slightly in his sleep.
Gwen. He had to make sure Gwen was alright. He tried to get up, and he couldn't. Blackness lapping at his vision and falling deep into it. He couldn't go to her, he couldn't help her...his helplessness overwhelmed him and the sharp stab of pain in his side and his arm when he tried to get up...
Gwen
Gwen whimpered again.
Her lungs felt like they were going to explode, it was so hard to breathe, so hard... if only she could find...
And then something truly strange happened, Gwen could see what was happening to Mordred, and then, she felt it. Everything... flying through the windscreen, landing on the ground, his pain, everything.
"No," she whispered.
MOrdred
Mordred moaned again. "Gwen..."
Because suddenly, he was there. In the car. Trapped. Not being able to move, and oh god, the pain on his back. He watched *himself* fly through the windshield. What was going on?
Gwen
"Oh God, no..." Gwen pleaded.
She was flying. And then she wasn't. She hit the ground with surprising force, dragging along the road, bones breaking, being showered with the glass, face dragged across the road.
Unbelievable pain.
How had he survived this?
Mordred
Mordred cried out softly in pain.
Oh god, the pain in his back. He could *swear* he felt the shard move around. Cutting the nerve endings. And he. Couldn't. Move. The stink of the car, burnt rubber and he needed to get out now.
He tried to breathe, dragging in air through tortured lungs.
How had she lived through this?
How did she manage to *keep* living?
Gwen
Gwen let out a wail, her hands grabbing at the blankets and squeezing them in her hands, her knuckles turning white.
She was tumbling, head over heels, her head slamming down on the road, and she could feel the gravel actually ripping through her skin.
She tried to get up, but toppled back over, her crushed ribs making it difficult to breathe. A sharp shooting pain in her arm told her it was broken, and the cuts from the glass were deep. They were cutting through her neck, her arms, anywhere there was bare skin, there was blood and glass.
Why hadn't he told her?
He almost died, and she hadn't known, she was too selfish, wrapped up in her own self pity...
MOrdred
"Gwen, love..." Mordred whispered through dry lips, eyes staying shut and locked in nightmare.
Not being able to move, that was the worst thing. And he couldn't find Gwen. Or she couldn't find him. It was all so confusing...
Couldn't breathe properly.
Couldn't even fight his way free, thanks to the glass he could feel digging in his back...and he couldn't feel below that.
Oh God, Gwen...
Gwen
"Mordred... oh God..."
Gwen's hand tightened around the blanket.
Then she was in the ambulance, and they were moving, but where? And her ribs were strapped, but if possible, that just made the pain a thousand times worse.
She was looking for Mordred... or herself... it was...
Pain, so much pain...
Mordred
Mordred keened softly in the back of his throat.
People were talking to him in French, and he didn't understand. He just wanted Gwen. Where was Gwen?
GWEN!
And ooooooohhhhhhh goddddd, they were moving him out of the car now. OH GOD!
Gwen
Gwen's head turned to the side, more tears falling.
A needle in her arm, people talking to her... where was Mordred? She couldn't find him in her mind, and then... there he was! And then... gone.
All gone...
Everything gone but the pain...
This was all her fault.
Mordred
Tears started to fall from Mordred's eyes as his breath came in quick pants. His hands fisted up the sheets.
Darkness.
Everywhere.
And he was lost in it...
Gwen
Gwen's back arched, splitting her stitches, but she couldn't feel it.
Then light... she was bandaged up, and being given pain killers. Vort and Spike was there... they were talking to a doctor, but where was Mordred?
And then suddenly, there he was, lying on the bed...
Oh God... no...
Mordred
Mordred thrashed his head on the pillow.
He couldn't move...couldn't move.
He couldn't feel his legs.
He couldn't MOVE!
And his back hurt, hell, everywhere hurt. But his back hurt the worst of all.
Gwen
Gwen's back ripped open, blood pouring all over her and Mordred.
She stumbled to Mordred's side, her ribs and arm aching. The stitches threatened to pull apart, and her head felt heavy, like it was filled with fluid, this pain was excruciating.
How had he lived with it?
Mordred
"Oh, oh GOD!" Mordred yelled, sitting up, panting and sweat soaked from the nightmare. He looked at Gwen, and found he'd only traded one for another. "OH GOD! GWEN!"
He 'ported them both to the medlabs.
"BEAST!"
Gwen
Gwen whimpered.
"My back..."
Her hands clawed weakly at her back.
"Owwwwww."
Mordred
"Don't touch, don't touch," Mordred freaked, holding her hands away from her back. "Don't!"
"On the bed," Hank snapped.
"Oh, of course." Mordred ported her to lie flat on the bed. "Oh, oh god..."
Hank washed his hands and got a syringe ready. "How you managed rto end up here again in almost the same situation..."
"Nightmares," Mordred whispered.
Gwen
Gwen struggled.
"It hurts..."
She looked at Mordred.
Mordred
"I know, love, I know..." Mordred soothed. And how well I know now...
Hank raised her arm and inserted the needle. "You should pass out in five, four, three, two..."
Gwen's eyes closed.
Hank got to work.
Mordred held her hand.
Gwen
Gwen weakly opened her eyes sometime later.
"Mordred? Where's Mordred?"
She looked around, searching for him.
Mordred
"I'm here, I'm here," Mordred said, and he got up from the chair where he'd been dozing to hold her hand.
"Good...well, this time I really must insist Gwen stay the night," Hank said firmly. "Those stitches need to stay in if there's any chance..."
Gwen
"Only if Mordred stays," Gwen said. She squeezed his hand. How had he gone through all of that.
"And no sleep. No more sleeping," she said tiredly.
Mordred
"You need to sleep to heal," Hank said as he got a bed for them put together.
"Always, love. I'll stay." Mordred squeezed her hand lightly. How had she survived that? How did she manage to get up every morning?
Gwen
Gwen smiled at Mordred, her heart breaking for him. He didn't deserve to feel what he had felt.
"I can't stand to be away from you..." Not after what she'd seen.
Mordred
Mordred smiled gently. "Nor I from you." He looked up as Hank coughed politely. "Thanks Dr McCoy."
"It isn't a problem," Hank said quietly. "Now, if you'll excuse me..." He went to go back to bed.
Mordred moved around to the other side of the bed where Hank had joined another of the hospital beds. He got into it carefully, letting out a breath as he nudged sore ribs.
Gwen
Gwen turned her head to look at him.
"How... how did you live through that?" she asked quietly, her hand searching for his.
Mordred
"Live through what, love?" Mordred asked, hedging for time as he curled his fingers around hers.
He turned his head so he could look into her eyes.
God, she was so strong...
Gwen
Gwen strained to read Mordred through his eyes.
"Through the accident... you were... you were in so much pain."
Her hand tightened around his.
Mordred
Mordred's face went curiously blank.
"I had to. So I did. How do you keep getting up every morning? God, love...you're so strong."
Gwen
Gwen gave him a small smile.
"Me? No. It's never hard to get up to see you."
Mordred
Mordred leaned over to kiss her, ignoring the protest of his injured ribs.
"Well, I'm glad you decided that...had to see that you were alive, didn't I?"
Gwen
Gwen kissed him back.
"Damn straight you did."
She held his hand tightly.
"But it's ok now, right? We're gonna be ok."
Mordred
"Yeah. Yeah."
Mordred squeezed her hand back gently.
"We'll be alright now, I think."
I hope.
Gwen
Gwen yawned.
Don't fall asleep, don't...
Her eyes closed and she drifted off to sleep.
Mordred
Mordred sighed and soon followed her to sleep.
This time without nightmares.