Chapter Text
Gem felt as if every single one of her nerves was on fire. She could feel the heaviness of the blanket on her legs, suffocating as it lay on top of her, the mattress underneath her seemed to be sucking her in, it was too soft, and she could feel every individual crease in the sheet.
Her hair tickled at her skin uncomfortably, every single hair follicle sending another spark of discomfort across her neck and shoulders and back. There was cold metal in her arm, sharp and pointing and too cold and she desperately wanted to claw it out.
Every movement she made felt too quick, too hyper, every micro twitch of her body felt like a grand gesture.
Her tongue felt heavy in her mouth, the air she breathed in felt too strong on her lungs, every breath hurt in a way she couldn’t quite explain. It wasn’t painful, it just felt like she could feel everything, all at once, and it was too much.
Somehow, at the same time she felt as if she was view the world from underwater, like her vision was suddenly–not blurred, but fuzzy?–and her ears felt stuffed with cotton,
It was somehow way too much and also not enough in the same moment.
“You’re awake,” A voice, Skizz’s voice sounded. She heard him just fine but he felt too quiet, as if he was speaking from really far away, or speaking really softly, but he wasn’t, he was standing right next to her, and he looked fine, but he felt—desaturated.
That was it, everything seemed muted, like a gray haze had fallen over everything.
She felt a hand brush against her arm, right near the sharp metal that was still too cold and too sharp and too intrusive in her skin, and she flinched.
The hand pulled back quickly, and Gem heard Skizz mutter a soft apology, too soft, Skizz wasn’t supposed to be quiet.
“You’re experiencing withdrawal, Gemstone,” she heard him explain, “your senses are gonna be all over the place for a bit.”
Was that what this was?
“Withdrawal from what?” She tried to ask, but her tongue was still too heavy and the words sounded faraway in her ears, barely noticeable over the feeling of her tongue moving in her mouth, it was heavy and wet it wouldn’t do what she wanted it to.
“You remember the undercover mission you went on?” Skizz asked, and Gem found that she was slowly getting used to the quieter voice, that it was starting to become easier to hear.
Undercover mission…
Suddenly, everything came flooding back to her, as if a dam had broken, she remembered Silas, and getting his confession, and then having him cornered, and then suddenly being hit in the face with something pink and sticky and then…then things grew hazy from there.
She’d been drugged, Silas had drugged her and she’d lost feeling in her body and now everything felt too much and it overwhelmed everything else and—
Oh, withdrawal.
“That bitch,” Gem muttered, and the words still sounded like they weren’t her own, and her tongue still didn’t seem to cooperate in her mouth, but she said it anyway.
She heard Skizz chuckle, in his muted soft state which was just plain weird, and wrong, Skizz laughed loud, not quiet.
“Yeah he is.” Skizz agreed, “but he’s been arrested. And he’s surprisingly cooperative in helping his victims receive proper medical care.”
There was silence for a moment, that felt too quiet, yet somehow not as quiet as it had been, Gem didn’t feel like she was underwater anymore, just that the world around her felt somewhat muted.
Skizz’s talking helped, it made it easier to ignore how overwhelming everything felt
Gem saw Skizz lean in a little closer, a playful smile on his face, “I’ll give you one guess as to why that is.”
It took Gem’s brain an annoyingly long time to register what Skizz was asking. But eventually she managed to puzzle it out.
“Grian.” She slurred, “threats.”
“Yep,” Skizz nodded, “but you didn’t hear it from me.”
He was silent for a moment, before eventually saying, “I’m gonna touch you again, okay Gem, see if I can get you sitting up.”
“Okay,” Gem mumbled, steeling herself.
Skizz’s hands on her skin weren’t as painfully overbearing this time. They still felt like too much, like intrusions that she wanted to push away, but she could bear it this time.
“There you go,” Skizz encouraged, “now can you try drinking some water for me?”
She felt a cold glass be pressed against her lips. The water was too cold, and the glass was too hard, and it sloshed uncomfortably down her throat, but Gem managed to drink a few sips before she couldn’t take it anymore.
“That was good,” Skizz complimented, “it's going to take some time, but you’re already improving, Gemstone, you’ll be fine before you know it.”
They worked like that over the next few days, Skizz or Impulse, or occasionally Etho would come in and check on her and have her drink some water and, eventually, eat some food. In the later days more people came to visit, Pearl and Grian mostly, but she also saw Jimmy, Martyn, Joel and Lizzie. Cleo and BigB came in once as well for a medical check when none of her usual people could.
Gem improved fast, her senses evening out quickly as she managed to settle back into her normal, comfortable self, by the end of the week she was free to go.
“They’re holding a debrief tomorrow,” Etho informed her, the day after she’d come back to their shared apartment.
“Already?” Gem complained, “I just got off medical leave.”
Grian snorted, “and it’s a wonder they waited that long.”
“You don’t have to go,” Etho said, “technically only one of us needs to be present, and I don’t mind going.”
“No, we’re not gonna do that to you,” Gem huffed, “we’ll all go.”
She cast a stern look at Grian, who pouted and rolled his eyes, “Fineeeee,” he conceded, “maybe they’ll give us recognition this time.”
“Don’t get your hopes up,” Etho hummed, drily.
~
Gem had been zoned out for most of the presentation. Their officials had droned on for about an hour now and Gem had stopped listening about 45 minutes ago.
Something something a job well done, something something patients are being tended to, something something, Silas Hart is serving his appropriate time, something something this is a big achievement for the team.
It was the same old speech they always gave with a few words tweaked to make it relevant to their last mission. These people were not creative.
“And now, Captain Jimmy Solidarity would like to say a few words.”
Gem perked up at that, suddenly very interested in the stupid useless debrief they’d been forced to attend.
“Thank you,” Jimmy said, nodding to the person who’d introduced them. He turned to the crowd, flashing a bright smile.
“As most of you know, my partner Martyn Littlewood and I were the people in charge of this operation, unfortunately Martyn was not able to the debrief today.”
Next to her, Grian snorted and whispered, “yeah right, I’m sure he’s super busy taking a long nap in his room.”
“Who knows,” Gem whispered back, “maybe he actually couldn’t make it this time.”
“So I’m going to speak for both of us today,” Jimmy continued, “First of all I wanted to congratulate all the people involved in the operation, this was a group effort that could not have been achieved without your help.” He paused for a moment, “I also want to give a special thanks to Impulse S.V. and Skizz L’man of the medical ward, who chose to step up and help out even on their day off, your sacrifice does not go unnoticed.”
There were a few polite claps around the room, and the occasional cheer.
“And finally, I’d like to give a special thanks to our undercover crew, Gemini Tay, Grian Xelqua, and Etho Slab, if you three could come up to the front please.”
The room went silent suddenly. Gem looked at the two people sitting on either side of her, eyes wide.
Etho shrugged and gestured toward the front with his head.
The three of them got up and slowly began weaving their way through the various people in the room. Gem felt Grian elbow her and when she looked at him he was smiling.
“Look!” He whispered, gesturing toward the officials, “Tim’s made them mad .”
Gem couldn’t help but grin as well, watching their higher-ups bicker was always enjoyable.
They got up to the front and Jimmy gave them each a meaningful smile before turning back to the crowd, “These three detectives chose to bravely go undercover and worm a confession from Silas Hart’s mouth, if it wasn’t for their incredible work, then we might have never gathered enough evidence to stop him.
He glanced over at her, gesturing with his hand for her to come closer. “Detective Gemini Tay was especially pivotal, putting herself in danger to get close with the suspect, it was her who finally got him to confess, and without her we wouldn’t be standing here today.”
The crowd erupted in applause, a few whoops and cheers sounding from the few of her friends that were witnessing the debrief today.
“Would you like to say a few words?” Jimmy asked.
Gem shrugged and took the mic, “thank you, everyone.” She said, smiling out at the crowd, “but it was a group effort, I could not have done it without my team at my back, and I am forever grateful to know that they will always stick by me. On top of that, I’m just glad we were finally able to put Silas Hart in his place.”
There was some more applause as they walked off and went to sit back down.
Jimmy finished his speech and then the officials came back on again, talking about next steps and other stuff that Gem couldn’t be bothered to listen to.
Eventually, the miraculous, “thank you everyone for your time, this debrief has ended,” sounded over the microphone, and everyone was free to leave.
Gem saw Grian beeline for Jimmy the moment he was out the door, she and Etho were quick to follow.
“Jimmy!” Grian shouted, catching the captain’s attention.
“You said my real name,” Jimmy replied, sounding awed, “what’s the occasion?”
Grian grinned, “You broke the rules,” he sing-songed.
Jimmy furrowed his eyebrows, ‘I don’t know what you’re on about Grian, they allowed me to give a speech and as a captain I’m allowed to give my team recognition, no rules were broken.”
“I’m so proud of you.” Grian said.
“Yeah well,” Jimmy mumbled, bringing a hand up to rub at the back of his neck, “was the least I could do.”
“Jimmy, I want you to know that my respect for you has just doubled,” Etho said easily, “and I already had a lot of respect for you.”
“I appreciate it, Etho.”
“So,” Gem mused, “how nervous were you when you asked if they could let you give a speech?”
“I thought I was gonna pass out,” Jimmy said honestly, “I probably wouldn’t have been able to do it if Martyn hadn’t been there with me.”
“Oh is that why you let him sit this out then?” Grian asked.
“Yeah, that was the trade-off.” Jimmy explained, “I believe his exact words were: ‘I can’t stand in the same room as them any more than once a month’.”
“That sounds about right.” Grian hummed, “I really can’t either, but Gem forces me to.”
“You do it cause you support your team.” Gem said sternly, “don’t pretend like you don’t love us.”
Grian frowned at her for a few moments before his expression broke into a smile and he swung an arm around both her and Etho’s shoulders. “Yeah I love you guys. Let’s go home now.”
“Don’t have to tell me twice,” Etho scoffed, “I’m falling asleep in this place.”
“We’re gonna watch trashy movies, right?” Gem asked, “to celebrate?”
“Of course.” Grian and Etho chorused.
“We can’t break tradition after all.” Grian said, voice taking on a faux serious tone.
“Never.” Gem agreed.
They all laughed together as they went home, celebrating a job well done and enjoying to short recovery period they had been granted.