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Nile Freeman had never broken a bone.
It was almost a point of pride in her family and in her unit. Sure, she had her host of injuries growing up. Twisted ankles playing sports, sprained wrist on prom night that she’d never admit to. But no actual broken bones, no casts, nothing more than wraps for minor injuries.
Her little brother Layne broke enough for the both of them. He snapped both wrists by ten with two spectacular bike crashes two summers in a row, almost exactly a year apart. Broke two ribs at his first ever football practice, even while wearing the required padding and protection. His junior year of high school was delayed by a week due to him shattering his kneecap in a fight, which he lied to everyone about when asked about later. And that’s not counting concussions and other minor fractures that always seemed to plague him.
It was a running joke in the family that Nile got the health luck, but not the love luck. Layne was always playing the injured card, usually legitimately, but he was never without a girlfriend. Nile, on the other hand, rarely had a partner throughout high school. Even when she enlisted, she was unattached.
But she didn’t mind it. Too much. Okay, that would be a lie, but you wouldn’t hear her complain about it.
Her first broken bone was on a plane to France, after being abducted by a woman claiming to be immortal.
She was actually proud of how she had reacted to busting her arm and leg during her fight with Andy. She didn’t freeze or react for more than her initial reaction to the pain.
And then she healed up fast. No casts, no months of having to wrap casts in plastic to shower, no pain after it healed.
She really got the tall end of the stick.
Of course, nothing could have prepared her for the pain of shattering a good chunk of her bones after launching herself out of Merrick’s penthouse.
She remembered the fall, the rush, the adrenaline coursing through her veins as she shoved Merrick through the glass in a bid to save Andy’s life. She remembered hitting the car, and she remembered the darkness immediately overtaking her vision. She didn’t even register the pain initially.
Waking to Nicky’s voice, it was a miracle she didn’t scream when she revived. So much of her body was in a fiery pain. Feeling her bones knit back together was something that got real old, real fast.
Booker and Nicky had to help pull her out of the car. There wasn’t a part of her body that wasn’t sending pain signals to her brain. And honestly, the fact that she didn’t have a panic attack at the sight of her hand busted and twisted in front of her was a damn miracle.
It would be weeks and a few bottles before she admitted to her new family that Andy broke her arm. Honestly, they were very impressed. So much so that they spent the rest of the evening regaling her with some of their own tales of injuries and woe.
It was kinda nice actually. She was in good company.