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Simon liked to believe they had settled into a clear routine since his rescue. Ava would come into the infirmary at around 5:35 pm, five minutes after her shift ended, pick up her medication from the nurse (he couldn't really bring himself to ask if it was for the radiation or her fucked-up leg) and sit down next to his bed to keep him company for a bit.
The silence between them was never quite comfortable, and any attempt at conversation was usually worse. He was making progress in his recovery, though, and considering he had almost been eaten alive by a fish monster, he found himself holding up pretty well. If "well" included horrific nightmares filled with the taste of copper and the feeling of blood filling his lungs, anyway. Despite this, he was alive. Count your blessings, he supposed.
Sometimes, when it was at its worst, he felt as though Ava's company kept him tethered to reality. Sure, he'd given her radiation poisoning, and she had him welded into a submarine to die, but she was real. Tangible, human, and a reminder that he was safe. He studied her, sometimes. The way she kept her hair neatly in order every day, the earrings and other jewelry, the only thing personalised about her outfit. The slight limp that became more noticeable if she'd had a long day, the dark blue eye following him, and the other that sat unmoving.
So when she had started staying only for minutes at a time, he had to remind himself that she was incredibly busy and couldn't be expected to spend all her time in the infirmary with him. She had other friends as well, if they could be called that. David and Jack, he was pretty sure, considered themselves her friends, even if Ava probably didn't. Now that he thought of it, he blasted both of them with radiation too. No wonder she wouldn't want to visit him. He pushed that thought to the side.
Still, when she didn't show up at all, Simon began to grow worried. His rational guess was that she had finished the course of medication, or that something important had come up and she'd be by later to pick it up. His irrational thoughts were much harder to suppress, though. She's not coming back now that she doesn't have to. Something bad happened, and you can't help her. The COI had her executed for what you did-
He sighed, falling back onto his pillows. Simon still had barely any idea of what was going to happen to them both. He figured he would get answers sooner rather than later, considering there had been talk of his release from the infirmary soon. The COI were not happy about a convict from Eden being released to roam free on one of their ships, not to mention the Butcher, but no one could deny that saving the blackbox had given humanity vital information going towards rebuilding society. Still, he assumed Ava was being hit with another wave of paperwork regarding his rescue. So much for plausible reasons she could be late. Simon yawned, calming down again. He was used to going to bed early these days, since his recovery was quite taxing on his body, so he figured he would just sleep if Ava wasn't coming, or at least until she showed up. He closed his eyes.
When he was woken up by the sound of the infirmary door flying open after only an hour or two of sleep, he was thrown into a state of drowsy confusion before remembering that Ava was still due to visit him. Or pick up her medication, anyway. Footsteps were nearing his bed, and he waited for them to approach. It never got quite dark in the infirmary, the room lit up by dimly glowing monitors, the glowing alarm clock on his nightstand and emergency buttons to call for a nurse. Simon pushed himself upright and waited.
He frowned at the sound of approaching footsteps, considering they were quite a lot heavier than Ava's. Maybe a nurse had forgotten something? They usually left around 6pm, the ship being too understaffed to support a night shift without critical patients present. Instead of heading for the desk at the end of the room, though, the silhouette approached his bed. Simon pushed himself upright, unnerved. When they got close enough to be visible in the dim light, though, he gasped. In front of his bed stood David, carrying a barely conscious Ava in his arms.
"Ava?" He yelled, scrambling to jump up from his bed. In lieu of a response, her face scrunched up in pain, which she promptly buried in David's shoulder.
"Shut up, you're making it worse!" David hissed quietly, setting her down on the bed next to Simon's carefully before snatching the painkillers from his nightstand. Simon's painkillers.
"Migraine." he supplied at Simon's worried look, still keeping his voice down. Stepping a few feet away to fill up a glass of water in the sink, he continued.
"It hasn't been this bad in a while, but all the stress you're causing sure isn't helping."
Simon nodded, rolling his eyes. "I'm sorry. I know I'm causing a lot of extra paperwork for you guys... because I didn't die."
David scoffed at his accusatory tone. "It's fine, convict. She cares about you, when she's not worrying to death about you, that is."
Ava looked up from her bed to shoot David a death glare. Simon was both intimidated and relieved she was at least picking up on bits of their conversation.
"So why are you stealing my painkillers?" Simon interjected, quickly changing the topic. "I know the nurses aren't working night shifts because they're understaffed, but I have a call button just in case."
David huffed at that.
"No use, they're out of her medication. We're due to receive supplies today, but apparently they ran into some issues. Found her just now; had a bad feeling about it. Usually she can go a few days without the pills, but seems I was right to be worried. Incredibly stubborn woman, I'll tell you that, but at least I can get some painkillers into her while she's not fully lucid. Whatever it is they're giving you must be strong enough for her, too." He turned away from Simon, moving to address Ava, who had sunk further into the mattress.
"You still with me? Come on, I got you some painkillers." David held the pill and the glass of water to her lips, patiently waiting for her to drink. Ava took slow sips but managed to finish about half of the glass. By the looks of it, glaring at David was the most they'd get out of her for now.
"There we go, now get some rest, okay?" David put the glass back on the nightstand between the beds (which Simon was previously able to claim for himself, but he didn't mind sharing, thank you for asking). After getting up from the edge of the bed, he tucked Ava in, pulling the covers up to her chin.
"Wow, your head must be killing you now, huh? I think you'd have me shot if I tried that any other time." he joked. Ava didn't respond.
"Wish that the only reason you accepted for resting wasn't something knocking you completely out of commission, though..."
Turning around to face Simon again, he sighed.
"Listen, convict, I'm leaving her here with you cause I don't want Jack sleeping alone at night either, God knows I won't be getting a wink of sleep with two sick people in my bed, and there's no way I'd let her go back to her room like this. You might as well help me out, considering most of this is your fault. Anyways, now that she's in... capable enough hands, I'm going back to bed."
David gave him a nod and made his way back out of the infirmary. Simon watched his shadow grow less and less defined as he moved away from the glowing light, then let his gaze drift over to Ava. She was not looking great by any stretch of the word, but her features were slightly less tense and her breathing even. Sometimes, after all they've been through, Simon forgot that Ava is not untouchable. Next to him, pale face pressed against her pillow, she looks undoubtedly human.
There was no way the painkillers worked that quickly, but he supposed she was just too exhausted to stay awake. A few strands of hair had made their way out of her usually well-maintained braid and now fell over the scar on her face. Simon wondered if her tight hairstyle was uncomfortable to sleep in, but he wouldn't want to wake her to undo it. Either way, he was glad she was getting some rest. Settling back into his pillows, he closed his eyes and drifted off again.
When he awoke for the second time, it was still in the middle of the night. Confused, he opened his bleary eyes and attempted to rub the sleep out of them. The clock on his nightstand read 4:07, and he couldn't place what had woken him up if it wasn't a nightmare like usual. A whimper made his head shoot to the side, and Simon's mind instantly cleared. Looking over, he saw that Ava was sat upright, one arm clutching her stomach while the other was shakily holding her up. Her working eye shot up, locking on Simon. He held the eye contact for a moment before sprinting over to her side.
"You think you're gonna be sick?" he questioned, careful to keep his voice low. Ava's lips remained pressed together in a tight line, but she gave a curt nod. He placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Okay, hold on."
Jumping to grab the bucket on the other side of his bed (that hadn't been used in a while, but better safe than sorry), Simon grabbed it and held it in front of Ava, who hunched over it immediately. At least her hair was still put up in a braid, so he didn't have to hold it as she was throwing up. He went to put a reassuring hand on her shoulder before his brain caught up. Right, he was out of hands.
"hurts...my head." she mumbled, slurring the words together.
"You're okay." he said, settling for verbal comfort instead. "Look, throwing up isn't fun, and yeah, it's probably making the migraine worse, but you'll feel better once it's over, I promise."
Ava didn't respond, instead letting out a choked sob as she began vomiting.
"Shit." He cursed, thoroughly concerned now.
"Look, Ava, I'm gonna call a nurse, okay?" Simon changed tactics, putting down the bucket once she let up for a second and guiding Ava to sit down on the floor with him instead. If she was crying, he was sure something was going horribly wrong. As he reached for the call button, he was stopped by a hand grabbing his arm.
"No..." Ava replied through gritted teeth before violently heaving into the bucket again. "Won't help; we're out of medication."
Her hand let go of his arm again, and he instead moved it to rub circles on her back. Ava relaxed slightly at the motion.
"Shhh, you're ok." Simon soothed as he felt her tremble under his hand. Her shoulders shook with both the sobs and the sheer effort of staying upright, and he began holding her up instead. Eventually, the vomiting ceased and ebbed into dry heaves, then nothing.
"All done?" Simon asked softly.
"Yes... 'm still nauseous, though. Think there's something for that in my room." Ava muttered, determinedly wiping away the drying tears.
"Alright, do you think you can stomach some more water and another painkiller? Should be safe to take more now." Simon replied, helping her lean against the side of the bed and reaching for the half-full glass on her nightstand when Ava nodded weakly.
"Slow sips; I don't want you throwing up the water." he reminded as she began to drink. After Ava had emptied the glass, he set it back down and got up to dispose of the bucket. He could feel her eye following him as he moved to toss the entire thing in the biohazard bin, because fuck trying to clean vomit out of a bucket with one hand. Returning to Ava's bed, he helped her get back onto it and sat down next to her.
"Okay, I'm going to your room to grab the medication." Simon said.
"I'm coming with. You don't even know where my room is." she growled, already moving to get up. Her left leg almost buckled under her weight, and he rushed to steady her.
"Alright, but you're holding onto me. I don't want you falling over."
Though she seemed discontent with it, Ava grabbed onto Simon's shoulder. He silently prayed that her room wasn't too far from the infirmary.
The further they walked, the more she held onto him for stability. By the time they reached her door, Ava was covered in a sheen of sweat, swaying heavily from side to side. Her limping had grown more pronounced, too, like it did on the really bad days. He supposed this counted as a really bad day. He just wished she would actually wear the brace she should be using, but chances were slim.
Pushing open the door, Ava steered them towards her bathroom, keeping the lights off. She let go of Simon then, grabbing at a cupboard for stability instead. Pulling open the handle and snatching the pills out of a compartment, she downed two immediately, swallowing them dry without even pausing for water. She let herself drop into a chair with a huff, looking back at Simon.
"I'm going to change because David decided to leave me in my work clothes for whatever reason, and you're going right out this door during that part."
As if tasting his unspoken interjection in the air, she added, "Look, it's 'disability friendly' in here, courtesy of Jack. Or don't, actually, unless you can see in the dark. You'd have to purposefully try to injure yourself if you wanted to get hurt here, though." He still wasn't quite convinced, considering that she was swaying an unnerving amount, but relented and stepped out into her room.
A few minutes later, Ava reemerged. She'd put on pajamas and her overnight brace, he realized. Maybe there was still a chance of her using it more often, but Simon wasn't getting his hopes up. He also realized that he'd never seen her out of her work coveralls, but saw nothing he couldn't have guessed. The skin visible on her left leg was scarred and healed unevenly, missing chunks of muscle in places. He was surprised they were able to save it at all, but glad for it all the same.
"I'm sleeping here." she decided. "You can...stay?"
Simon almost laughed at the awkwardness in her voice.
"Yes, I'm staying. David told me not to leave you alone anyways...damn, we should've left a note. Now he'll think I have kidnapped you!" he joked.
Ava smiled, before suddenly grabbing her head with a groan. Simon cursed under his breath, wincing in sympathy.
"Right, we should get you to bed before the migraine gets worse again."
"And you. I only have one bed."
"Yeah, both of us should get some sleep." he said, trying to carefully walk her to her bed while also having no idea how the room was laid out. Still, he wasn't going to turn on the light and exacerbate her migraine. Feeling his shins knocking into something, he reached out to grasp the edge of the bed and sat down on it. She the same alarm clock as him, Simon observed, and he appreciated the green glow it cast over the both of them, forming strange shadows on Ava's face.
"Want me to undo your braid? That can't be comfortable when your head's already hurting." Simon offered.
Ava hesitated for a second. David was definitely right about her being unwilling to accept help if even slightly coherent, Simon mused.
"I got it, thank you." she said, tugging roughly at the hair tie. It had become tangled in her hair, and pulling it out took quite a few hairs with it.
"Come on, no need to be so rough with it! If you untangle it carefully, the hair actually stays on your scalp. " Simon shifted around so he was sat behind her, up against the headboard, then started separating strands of hair from the hair tie and untwisting the braid. Ava sighed in conceit.
Even if she was still shaking slightly, he felt her relax against him as he worked to untangle her hair. Despite its current state, he could tell it was usually well taken care of, unlike his own, which suffered from his preference to keep showers short enough to avoid panic attacks. He still struggled with submerging his head underwater without panicking.
They sat in comfortable silence, Ava starting to nod off, as Simon used his fingers to detangle the knots. It wasn't too much work, considering she kept it neatly in her Dutch braid most of the time, though that came at the cost of it pulling at her head quite a bit. Still, he wasn't exactly working fast one-handedly. He could feel her starting to fall asleep, and after a few minutes she leaned her head back against his shoulder with a yawn.
Simon froze up for a second, halting in the middle of his work, before continuing to undo her hair. When he was done, he listened for her breathing. Deep, even breaths. He carefully moved himself back against the headboard as Ava nestled closer to him instinctively in her sleep. There was no way he was waking her up again by pushing her off, so with a sigh, he resigned himself to sleeping upright for the night.