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Markus is awoken by a doctor, "I need to check his drip." The Beta doctor said in a quiet, calm voice. Markus complied, he liked Betas, not pressing, or bothering, almost like Omegas. The Alpha removed his guarding arm to let the doctor inspect, and adjust the IV. Markus curled his arm around Simon's waist gently, keeping his Omega close, and safe.
"Markus, ow." Simon whined quietly, eyes screwing shut tightly to keep the beams of sunlight from streaming in. "Ow."
"Ow what, love? Your hand, back..? What is it?" Markus asked, nuzzling Simon's sweaty hair, it, despite everything, still smelled just like Simon, it was comforting to know his mate didn't lose himself here.
"Yeah.. my hand." Simon's voice is quiet, and he whimpers when the doctor twists a tiny valve on the drip.
"That's hurting him." Markus said in a firm tone, causing the Beta to look up.
"Oh, I'll fix that, sweetheart. I'll be right back. I have to get the male Alpha phlebotomist, okay?" The doctor said to Simon more than anyone, and left at that, leaving Simon and Markus in a comfortable silence as the heart monitor beeped on.
"Are they treating you well?" Markus after a moment, arms guarding his Omega again, rubbing against the awful hospital gowns. He hated those damn things, making his arms itchy as hell, smelling like rubbing alcohol.
"I guess." Simon shrugs, looking at the needle, which is red slightly around where it had been inserted. Markus didn't have any issues with needles, but seeing one in Simon made his heart hurt. He wanted Simon to be okay, but, he hated the needle. "They took off my collar." Simon said, a stray arm rubbing at his neck, and Markus nodded. He knew something was different.
"Good, now I can kiss you all over." Markus smiled, and Simon chuckled as the Alpha brought his head lower to kiss playfully at Simon's neck, and the soft skin there. The Omega made a pleasant noise, but was interrupted with a knock on the door.
The Beta doctor, and an Alpha enter. The Alpha brought along a cart with a whole bunch of things that Markus had never seen, which frankly frightened him. "Oh, Simon, is this your mate?" The Alpha asked in a soft tone, tugging over a chair to sit. Markus noticed the Alpha man was scentless, good, he didn't want it to smell like another Alpha. Simon didn't respond to the Alpha's question, and Markus knew Simon didn't particularly like this guy. "I'm Jason." The Alpha offers a hand to Markus.
Markus takes it, and shakes formally, very firm, and strong. He's the Alpha here, after all, and if he hurts the Omega, he'll have hell to pay. "I'm Markus." He pauses, "What are you going to be doing to him?"
"First, I have to bring you both up." There was a faint buzzing as the bed formed into a chair slowly. Markus's ears flattened as he was forced off Simon, who whimpered. "I'm sorry, Simon, I know, up isn't fun. But, then I can take out the drip, that's what you want, right?" Jason pulled on some latex gloves, unwrapping a bandage. "Okay, I need your arm, buddy."
Simon begrudgingly offered his hand, letting the Alpha carefully take out the needle, and quickly apply a bandage over it. Simon growled when Jason touched him again to check something, pressing on Simon's elbow pit, making Markus feel sympathy pains. "I'm sorry, I know, you hate all the touching." The Alpha pulled back, "But, we have to put in another one."
Simon looked over at Markus, "Please." He whimpered.
"Is there anything else you can do? He doesn't normally act like this." Markus pleaded, running some fingers through Simon's hair as he sat crosslegged beside his Omega.
"No, there isn't anything. But, if he only needs it for maybe another day. His body has done great to replace everything he needs. He's just got a little bit like iron left." Jason said, trying to keep it simple, already preparing the next drip. "I promise it will be quick, okay?"
Simon sighed, and held out his arm. The situation went from controlled to tense as Jason accidentally pricked the wrong vein, and Simon's scent went awire. Markus was very close to pulling Simon away, but, the Alpha managed the drip in, and activated the IV again. "I'm sorry, Simon. I know, but, it was quick."
After Jason left, the Beta doctor taking his place, checking over things, the chair back to a bed, and the heart monitor beeping softly in the background as Simon became calm again, "Okay, honey, now, I have to rebandage your waist." Simon grumbled, but, let the Beta lift up the gown to reveal the bandage applied, gently unwrapping it to give Markus an opportunity to see how bad gunshot wounds could heal. The hole had maybe been the size of a dime, but was much less awful looking than he'd been expecting. Clearly, the wound had been worse, as the doctor replaces bloody gauze with fresh ones, but only after applying something that smelled sterile, and made Simon growl with displeasure. However, after Simon was wrapped up again, he was given some pain medication before the doctor left, promising to ask for his breakfast order soon.
"I despise Jason." Simon grumbled as Markus returned to holding him. "The first time, he poked me in the wrong place, tried to give me a bandage, poked me when I wasn't paying attention, so, I jumped, and he pulled away, and didn't manage to get the drip in for 3 minutes."
"He's just doing his best." Markus said, hearing Simon huff, he added, "I don't think he works with Omegas often."
There's a long pause until Simon kisses Markus's neck, "I missed you so much." The Omega whimpered, curling his body in more as Markus drags the sheet back up to cover Simon, even as the sun started to rise.
"It's okay, you always knew I'd be here eventually." Markus said softly, "So, what's the news with your stomach wound?"
"Pelvic wound." Simon corrected, "And, it's good, and bad. Good news is that, it's going to heal, and be okay. Bad news is that one of my ovaries was hit. So, I'm partially spayed." Markus knew, without seeing the tears how upset Simon was about it.
"You'll still have kids, my love." He tried to comfort.
"I know... But... those kids will never be born." Simon's voice was so quiet, and broken, that Markus barely heard him, but, comforted none the less.
As the week came to a close, Simon was out of the hospital, and Markus took the Omega to Jericho, where he'd left Josh, and North without anything more than, 'Don't do anything.' So, it wasn't a surprise when Markus arrived to see the base still in one piece. Several Omegas looked up at Markus from what they were doing just to stay quiet in his presence. Whether that was because of what he'd done, or because of his Alpha status, Markus couldn't pinpoint. But, Simon followed at his heel, worried, and slightly limping. While, he'd been cleared for leave, Simon was not ready for strenuous activities, which is defiantly something that Markus needed to bring up to the two other Alphas.
He found them on the roof of the ship, shouting at each other about some plan. Markus interrupted, "You two really can't work together, can you? Was Simon the only thing keeping you all this together before I came here?" The silence that ensued answered his question. Simon, somehow had been a leading factor of why Jericho was still standing. "Okay, what's the idea? What's happening?
"Josh thinks you'd like the idea of doing a march, which is dumb. With so many Omegas, they are just going to be shot." North growled, crossing her arms.
Josh would have started talking, but, they both knew what North had been planning. "So? that's a great idea! We should do a freedom march." Simon chirped from beside Markus, "We aren't willing to just be pushed down, and hide. We should do something like that."
Markus saw the look in North's eyes, and put a stop to it, "Josh, I like your idea. But, Simon, you're going to have to stay here." Simon looked over at Markus, betrayed, but stayed silent. "I know, but, I don't want you to get hurt again." The Alpha's voice was soft, and kinder than what North normally heard.
"No."
Markus headed to the streets, Simon beside him, ears flat to his head as Alphas from around them shouted at him. Markus held Simon's hand softly, whispering sweet nothings to keep his mate's attention off the surrounding noises until Simon seemed to calm down, his little docked tail wagging intensely as Markus began to shout to the surrounding people, "Omegas! Join the revolution! We wish to find peace among Omega and Alpha relations!"
It seemed to peak the interest of a few house Omegas, "We can supply food, and shelter from angry Alphas, and the cruel claws of OmegaLife!" One Omega left the Alpha beside him, and sprinted into the crowd of Omegas as defense against the shouting of the Alpha.
"GET THE FUCK BACK HERE, JEREMY! I SWEAR-" The Alpha growled, but didn't move to chase.
The march goes on, Omegas joining the ranks as Alphas shout out curses, or threats, Markus keeping quiet against it. Eventually, a cop car parks in front of them, and Markus stops, interested in what the police might do. Especially if case they got out guns, because he wasn't having a repeat of last time.
Markus surveys the situation before coming to the conclusion that the Alpha police defiantly doesn't have any plans to use any weapons. The march persists past the police car, as the Alpha man watches on, but doesn't make a move against them. Several more Omegas join them as there is no longer a threat, increasing the ranks to about one hundred at this point.
Markus looks over at Simon, who nodded, "Omegan rights!" He shouted, starting up the whole crowd, "End Omegan Slavery!"
"We are people!" The shout from beside Markus, as he thought of another line, frightened him briefly before noticing that it had been Simon. The Omega's ears perked up as the group of Omegas following them repeated his line. "Freedom for Omegas!" He shouted louder, pumping his fist into the air, letting the crowd shout back.
"Omegas are alive!" Markus tried, but no one repeated him.
"WE ARE ALIVE!" Markus could no longer hear North, or Josh shout along as the Omegas overpowered them. Well, until the police sirens interrupted them, and this time, it wasn't a single car. It was many, too many.
"Simon, I want you to run. I can't have you getting shot again. Please." Markus pleaded quickly, as the cars pulled up, and then the SWAT team.
"I'm not leaving, without our people, and you." Simon returns, yet, Markus can tell he's frightened, with his ears laying back. Especially, because Simon's fingers gently grasp the Alpha's bicep, leaning in his direction.
"If I turn around, will you?" He mumbles, eyes carefully on the SWAT team piles out.
"Yes." Simon nodded.
Markus raised a hand to his people. In the back, he could hear a gasp from North, but, he waved the people back. "Retreat!" He yelled, North sighing, as Markus could hear the surrounding Omegas book it as the team in front of Markus cocked their guns. The patter of shoes is all that he can pick up on before the shots are fired, loosing track of Simon in the crowd.