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It had been months since Wolffe had found himself on Coruscant for an extended period. General Plo had some Jedi Council duties to attend, so the Wolfpack was grounded until further notice. On the way, Wolffe had reached out to his brothers. As expected, he only got one response right away, so he spent the first morning back on Coruscant with Cody. It had been too long since he’d seen his brother, and even longer without it involving life or death situations.
As usual, they met outside the Jedi Temple after seeing their Generals there. They spent the rest of the morning catching up, asking about each other’s boys, and taking full advantage of the chance to finally relax.
Near midmeal, Wolffe’s comm pinged. His brows shot up when he checked it.
“What is it?” Cody asked, concern already clear. If he was any of their other brothers, he would have already been hanging over his shoulder to read the message himself.
“Fox. The bastard learned to message back.”
Cody huffed a laugh. “He sure knows how to keep us guessing. What’s he want?”
“Don’t know. Just wants me at his office when I can.” He rolled his eyes, putting the comm down.
Cody straightened. “I should let you go figure that out, then.”
Wolffe groaned as he stretched in his seat. “Yeah, probably. But he can wait a few more minutes, I think my back was finally starting to relax.”
Cody shook his head with a smile. “Wouldn’t want you going soft on us. Besides, I should check on the boys and the General. Tell Fox I said hi.”
Wolffe gave an affirmative and watched his brother walk away.
His comm pinged again. With a sigh, he began making his way to the Corries.
Wolffe may have taken the long way to Fox’s office. He’d spotted Hound and Grizzer at the end of their patrol shift and walked with them to the massif kennels. The hounds leapt in their cages to say hi, and he let them all have a sniff of his hand and a pat. Ever since he’d almost gotten away with jailbreaking the hounds a year back after a wild night at 79s with the boys, one that was cruelly stopped in its tracks by Fox, they’d come to recognise Wolffe. Hound, who may have aided in the drunken heist much to Fox’s chagrin, had even let Wolffe name one when they met again, having received a new batch just a month prior. He saw little Boof now, shoving to the front to demand his namer’s immediate attention.
Since then, Wolffe had always found excuses to drop by the kennels, often with treats. But he hadn’t been expecting to drop by the Corries’ barracks just yet, so they had to make do with pats and attention.
When he finally made it to Fox’s office, he walked right in without knocking. His brother was at his desk frowning at a datapad. A cup of caf sat on his desk. The oversized mug had been a gag gift from Ponds, but considering that Fox had lived on the stuff since he’d first been introduced to it, no one was surprised when it unironically became his go to mug.
Fox didn’t look up when he entered, instead launching right into it.
“I told you to be here an hour ago.”
Wolffe rolled his eyes as he stood in front of the desk. “I get busy too, Marshal Commander.”
Fox ignored the jab, opening something on the datapad and sliding it over to Wolffe. He talked as Wolffe picked up the pad and read.
“We’ve been getting reports for a while now of suspicious covert operations and disappearances just a few levels down from the surface. We think there may be Separatist connections. We got a lead on the whereabouts of one of the suspects and are planning to capture them today.”
Wolffe skimmed the pad. “Great. Why am I here?” He slid the datapad back over to Fox, who shrugged.
“You’re always the one wondering what we get up to around here. Since you’re grounded for a few more days, thought you might want to see some action.”
“Not exactly what I had in mind when I asked if you wanted to catch up. You know, me and Cody just went to get food and talk, like normal brothers. He says hi, by the way.”
Fox sighed dramatically. “Alright, if you don’t want to help out here, I guess we can-”
“Hey, no. I didn’t say I don’t want to join. I absolutely want to uncover a Seppie plot.” He crossed his arms and shrugged. “We can stop for caf and food when we’re done and I’ve seen what the Corries can do.”
Fox made a show of pondering that idea, leaning back in his chair. “I guess I can make that work.” He stood, downing the rest of his caf and grabbing his helmet. “Let’s go.”
Wolffe faltered as his brother swept past him, quickly following when he disappeared out the door. “What, now?”
Fox rolled his eyes and slid his helmet on. “Yes, now. The rest of the boys are ready and waiting.”
Wolffe made no effort to hide the wicked grin that spread across his face as he followed his brother into the field.
Wolffe stayed alert as he walked down the street, ignoring glances sent his way at his clearly not Corrie red paint and purposeful strides. The squad Fox had gathered were spread across the block, watching for anyone who matched the description they were given of the Separatist conspirator. He was almost at the end of his route and about to circle back when something in the alley he passed caught his attention.
He snapped his gaze over and saw a figure disappearing hastily down it. He raised his comm as he began to pursue.
“Got eyes on the target and in pursuit.”
Affirmatives and orders came through the comm as he chased the figure. The alley was full of garbage and random junk. They disappeared around a corner, and he followed close behind.
He frowned at the empty alley before him. There was no sign of the Seppie. He pulled out one of his DC-17s and held it ready, searching every part of the alley as he slowly continued down it.
About halfway down, he heard a light thud behind him and spun. He was hit by a kick to the face, sending him staggering and his helmet flying off. Another hit his chest and grounded him momentarily before he rolled backwards to his feet. He kept his knees bent and ready for the next kick, catching it and using his weight to pull the attacker off balance.
They cried out as they barely managed to stay upright. They twisted out of his grasp. As they reset, he raised his blaster, firing stun bolts. They crouched low to avoid them, then sprung towards him. They caught him in the chest again, shoving him backwards into the alley wall. He caught himself on it, barely avoiding hitting it with his unprotected head.
He grit his teeth and surged forward, sending an elbow into their chest and briefly winding them. He used that to push them away and raise his blaster again. Their eyes widened, and they caught his hand to yank it to the side. They twisted his arm, but he managed to keep his hold on the blaster even as his grip loosened.
He grabbed their extended arm with his free hand and turned until his back was to them. Keeping his feet firmly planted, he crouched slightly and threw them over his shoulder into a sprawl on the ground.
They blinked up at him in surprise before setting their face in determination. Before he had time to straighten, they pulled their knees up to their chest, planting their hands on either side of their head, and kicked straight up at his face. He was sent staggering backwards, almost losing his footing as his head spun from the impact. Before he could recover, a weight suddenly slammed into him. He was shoved sideways and this time the side of his head did slam into the durasteel wall.
Pain shot through his head and sparked across his vision. The desaturated world swam before him. The figure backed away, sending glances down either side of the alley before taking off.
Wolffe tried to pursue, but found that he was on the ground. He didn’t remember falling, but now the wall was the only thing keeping him semi-upright where he’d sunk against it. He flexed his hand and realised his blaster was gone too. He tried to look for it, but the world spun nauseatingly and spots filled his vision whenever he moved his throbbing head.
Instead, he resigned himself to slumping against the wall. He leaned his head against it only to pull back at the unexpected sting. A groan escaped him and he let his head hang.
Sounds around him had him blinking his eyes open. When had he closed them? He looked up from where he now lay slumped on his side with the wall at his back and found his brother’s red helmet looking at him. Why was Fox here? Another trooper further back said something, drawing his attention momentarily until Fox said something, bringing it back to him.
“Hey, Wolffe. Can you hear me?”
Wolffe gave him an affirmative grumble before moving to push himself upright. Fox said something, but whatever it was, was lost to Wolffe as soon as he got his arm under himself. The world tilted with white sparks of pain and black spots dancing across it. He slumped back down with a groan.
“Sithspit! Stay still, di’kut!” He felt his brother’s hand land firmly on his shoulder, anchoring him to the world. He groaned, letting his eyes slide shut. The hand shook him. “Hey, no sleeping either. What the kark happened?”
Wolffe groaned at the shaking but peeled his eyes open. He slid his gaze around what he could see of his surroundings. Right, he was in an alley, that was important. He spotted his helmet in the hands of another trooper, that was probably why his head hurt so much. He remembered the explosion of pain, followed by a glimpse of a figure fleeing.
He grabbed the arm holding his shoulder, cutting off whatever Fox was saying. With the attention on him, he poured all his focus into remembering how his mouth worked. “Seppie.” He pointed further down the alley.
Fox seemed relieved for some reason before returning to Commander mode and ordering some troopers to continue the search. Wolffe closed his eyes to block out the movement of the troopers that sent the world off its axis again. He reopened them when Fox squeezed his shoulder.
“Do you remember anything else?” Fox asked.
Wolffe tried thinking back. He wasn’t entirely sure what his brother was referring to by “anything else” so he just tried to recall his most recent memory. That memory was the explosion of pain that had sent his world spinning. The memory brought his attention back to the pain in his head, most notably, the stinging pain in the side of his head pressed into the duracrete ground below him.
He groaned and tried to push himself up and get the stinging to stop. Fox swore and tried to hold him still again, but this time he was persistent. Wolffe won the battle and was helped upright until he leaned against the wall. Fox swore again at something. Now that he was upright, Wolffe brought a hand up to investigate the stinging, but it was caught. He tried to glare at his brother, he was starting to get sick of him keeping him from moving.
“You’ve got a pretty karking good gash there.” Oh, he probably shouldn’t be poking that. “How do you feel?”
Wolffe hoped his groan would be a good enough answer. Fox seemed to think so.
“Think you can move? We need to see the medics.”
Wolffe took stock of his body. All the pain seemed to radiate from his head, maybe a little came from his chest. The world still spun, but he didn’t want to stay in this alley any longer. He gave his brother an aborted nod, clenching his jaw against the pain.
After waiting a moment for it to pass, Fox began pulling him to his feet. He wanted to argue that he could do it himself, but the jab he had prepared died on his tongue when the world tilted around him. He leaned heavily into Fox.
“Woah!” Firm hands caught him and held him steady. One of his arms was slung over Fox’s shoulders and once the world slowed down, they began to walk.
“I invite you to join in on a fun and easy mission and you go and get concussed in an alley. This is why I never do osik with you guys.” Fox grumbled.
Wolffe furrowed his brow. “‘nvited you t’ eat. Li’e norm’l br’thers.”
Fox huffed. “And I’m sure Cody enjoyed that.”
“Woulda b’n better w’th you.”
Fox didn’t say anything to that, which suited Wolffe fine. They’d begun walking down a busier street with bright lights and loud noises that he could feel in his skull. He leaned further into Fox with a groan.
“Come on, Wolffe. Not much further then you can get checked out and pass out.”
Sleep sounded fantastic. His body was heavy and he was exhausted. He was pretty sure he wasn’t meant to be this tired.
Time meant nothing to him as they walked. He stayed focused on keeping his feet under himself and not throwing up all over Fox whenever anything particularly loud or bright passed them. He blinked when he heard familiar voices ahead of them and spotted more Corrie red figures gathered around a couple of ships. Two held a person firmly between them. The humming of the ships made his head hurt.
He tried to force himself to focus as people talked around him. He heard Fox beside him giving orders and saw troopers organising and preparing to move.
He was distracted by a glint in the corner of his eye, sending a spike of pain through his head. Frowning, he looked up. It wasn’t until it glinted again that he spotted the source on a rooftop. He narrowed his eyes as his sluggish mind recognised the shape of a humanoid figure crouched on the roof. A moment after that, he recognised what they were holding, what the glint had come from.
Without warning, he shoved Fox to the side. At the same time, he saw a flash of red shoot from the roof towards them. Searing pain filled his chest. He collapsed to the ground with a pained gasp. Voices shouted around him. The movement and noise made his head spike with pain for a moment before the world went dark.
Wolffe hit the ground heavily. Fox was unable to catch him as he stumbled for balance from the sudden shove, and grimaced when his brother’s head bounced off the duracrete ground. That couldn’t have been good for the concussion he already had. He didn’t dwell on that for more than a moment before his attention was drawn to the burning wound in his chestplate.
He snapped into focus when a trooper called out. He ducked for cover from the direction of the shot and scanned the rooftops and levels above them. Nothing stood out, whoever had fired the shot was long gone.
“Hey, stop!”
That shout drew his attention to his men. The two holding the Seppie had been shoved aside as the conspirator fled. Thorn and Stone fired stun bolts after the fleeing figure. After a few seconds, there was a thud and they lowered their blasters.
“Got em.”
Target secured, Fox returned his attention to his brother hurt and bleeding on the ground. Wolffe still hadn’t moved from where he’d fallen. As Fox got close and crouched by his side, he could hear something off with his breathing, his chest rose and fell erratically and the breaths themselves sounded raspy and ragged. The bolt had hit almost dead centre of his chest and still smoked lightly. He carefully put a hand to his shoulder and tried shaking him awake.
“Wolffe, rise and shine, soldier.” Nothing. “Wolffe, come on, wake up.” Still nothing.
Fox let out an unexpectedly shaky breath and gave Wolffe’s shoulder one awkward pat before retreating and looking for the medic. As if summoned, Shiner appeared beside him, eyes trained on the fallen Commander. As the medic looked Wolffe over, Fox told him how they’d found him in the alley. Shiner checked Wolffe’s eyes, faltering with an amused huff when he opened the right one to reveal the prosthetic before moving on to the left. Throughout his ministrations, Wolffe didn’t stir once.
Shiner pulled back, motioning to some of the other troopers hovering around. “We need to get him to medical, now. I don’t like his breathing, and hitting his head again after that concussion has me worried.” Some may find his honesty poor bedside manner, but Fox, and the rest of the Corries, welcomed the straightforwardness.
Stone helped Shiner get Wolffe onto a stretcher and onto the waiting gunship. The other had already left to prevent another attempt at anything and get the conspirator into custody. As the ship lifted off the ground, Shiner secured a mask to Wolffe’s face and set to work removing his chestplate.
Fox just watched him work. He watched the too shallow puffs of air rapidly fog up the mask. The blood on the side of his face that had dried on the walk back to the ships was wet with a fresh layer after the wound had reopened from the fall. The fall that had been Fox’s to take, not his di’kutla selfless little brother.
He stepped forward when Wolffe gasped and began to twitch as Shiner inspected his head. The medic swore as the twitching turned into convulsions. Fox was shoved back away from the stretcher. He balled his hands into fists, but got the hint and stayed out of the way while his brother seized. He watched as Shiner rolled him onto his side and started timing.
It stopped shortly before they landed at the barracks. As soon as they touched down, Shiner was rushing Wolffe to the medbay with the team waiting for them. Fox watched them disappear inside. As much as he wanted to follow and look after his brother, he had work to do, and he wouldn’t be allowed inside anyway until he was stable.
He noticed the trooper still holding Wolffe’s helmet and took it from him with a thankful nod. He walked briskly through the barracks as he went over everything he had to do. A heavy sigh escaped him when he realised he’d have to comm at least Cody about this, being their only other batchmate on Coruscant currently. They could watch their brother together once they were allowed to visit him.
In his bunkroom, he placed Wolffe’s helmet on the bunk to be picked up later when his brother could think straight. His hand lingered on the helmet. He’d just wanted to spend time with Wolffe doing something they’d both enjoy while he was on Coruscant, a fun and easy mission. But, of course nothing could come easy for him, or any clones on this cursed planet. He shouldn’t have even tried, should have come up with some excuse, like usual.
He pulled his hand away and turned to leave the room. He had work to do.
The medbay was quiet when Fox entered. It had been a long day and he was exhausted. The interrogation had gone about as well as he’d expected, and the investigation into the shooter had revealed next to nothing, but at least they had confirmation of a Separatist plot and that the entire mission hadn’t been over nothing. It could have gone for being a lot simpler though, save everyone the headache. Some worse than others, he thought grimly as he took in Wolffe.
His brother was asleep on the medical bunk. A bacta patch sat on the left side of his head and another covered his chest. A cannula sat under his nose to support his uneven breathing and an IV filled with meds was connected to his arm.
Unsurprisingly, Cody sat in the chair beside the bunk. He looked up when he heard the door open and nodded a greeting to Fox. Fox nodded back and pulled a chair over to sit beside him. Neither said anything for a long while, both just watching Wolffe sleep.
“He hasn’t woken up yet, but they said to call when he does.”
Fox nodded.
Knowing his brother wasn’t going to say anything, Cody continued. “How’s the mission going? Catch the bastards who did this yet?”
Fox would have been caught off guard by the quiet vindication in Cody’s voice if he hadn’t been feeling the same. “The investigation’s come to a halt until we can identify the sniper or get something from the interrogations with the one we’ve got. They’ve admitted they’re enemies of the Republic, but not much more beyond that.”
Elbows propped on his legs, he ran his hands down his face with a long sigh.
“If I knew this would happen, I wouldn’t have brought him. Sith’s hells, I should have known this would happen, nothing ever goes smoothly here.”
“What would you have done instead, gone out for a nice brunch with him?”
Fox snorted. “That’s what he kept bringing up.”
“He would have enjoyed the mission a lot more. As much as he groaned about finally getting a break, I could tell he was itching for something to do.”
“You should have seen him when I invited him. No one would ever believe us if we told them the fearsome Commander Wolffe gets excited as a puppy for something to do when he’s bored.”
Cody chuckled. After a long pause he asked, “Do his boys know?”
“I commed his General.” Fox let out a long sigh.
Silence filled the room again. Neither brother tried to disturb it, preferring to sit in their thoughts and each other’s company as Wolffe slept. Wolffe was the one who finally broke it.
Fox had started dozing in his seat when a low groan had him snapping his head up. Wolffe’s brow was furrowed as he stirred, slowly waking up. Cody commed for the medics before he sat forward.
When his eyes finally blinked half open, they drifted around the room before noticing Fox and Cody beside him. Or rather, his eye drifted, his prosthetic was dull and nearly unmoving in his right socket. Dread filled Fox at the sight of it and he hoped that it wasn’t damaged, it had been enough trouble getting this one, or so he’d heard.
“Can’ see.” Wolffe grumbled, brow furrowing deeper and already quick breaths getting faster. Of course, even disoriented and hurt, he would immediately register that as a problem.
Cody reached out for his hand and squeezed it groundingly while Fox hovered. “It’ll be fine, vod. The medics are on their way.”
Wolffe grumbled something else but it came out too slurred to be comprehensible. Sure enough, Shiner entered the room, attention immediately focused on the now awake Wolffe, ignoring anyone else in the room. The concerned frown he already wore deepened at the Commander’s panic.
“You’re safe, Commander. You hit your head and got shot. What do you remember?”
“I can’ see.” Wolffe insisted, breathlessly.
“That’s fine. We had to deactivate your eye for your recovery. It will be reactivated when you’re stable enough.”
Shiner spoke clearly and concisely, and Fox could see Wolffe absorbing each word he said. At the realisation that he’d see again, he sagged, eyes drooping. Shiner tapped him to get his attention, a light ready for his routine checkup.
“Stay awake, Commander, got a few things for you to do.”
Wolffe groaned, but complied. By the time Shiner was done with his examination, Wolffe was drifting off again.
“How is he?” Fox asked when the medic rose to type into his datapad. He glanced up at the pair on the other side of the bed.
“Hm? Well, his concussion is pretty bad, he did not need that second knock. A good amount of the shot was absorbed by his armour, but any further to either side would have likely collapsed a lung. As it is, he’s going to be struggling with breathing for a couple weeks.”
“Why is his eye deactivated?” Cody asked.
“He had a second seizure after waking during treatment. We found that his prosthetic was still processing input like normal. He was unable to process the information it was feeding him which led to a lot more disorientation and another seizure before we could figure out the issue. We decided to deactivate it until there’s no risk of further stress or damage.”
“Kriff,” Fox swore.
“He’ll be in here for a few days, then he can be transferred to his battalion’s medbay to be monitored there.”
Cody thanked the medic while Fox watched Wolffe sleep.
“How long can you stay?” Cody asked.
“I told the boys to comm me for anything urgent, otherwise I’m not leaving.”
Cody stretched and sat back in his seat. “Better settle in then.”
It was a minor miracle that Fox wasn’t called out of the room by the time Wolffe woke again. He grumbled as he stirred, clearly not happy to be waking up. Cody chuckled as he leaned forward again while Fox rose to stand near the end of the bed. They’d made sure to stay on his left side so he could see them, hopefully distracting him from the fact that he was half blind again, Fox highly doubted he’d remember being told it was temporary.
It was still unsettling seeing his right eye sit unresponsive when they fluttered open, Wolffe’s attention immediately drawn to Fox and his bright red armour, then Cody right at his side. He grumbled something unintelligible as he looked between them. His voice came out breathless and slurred, a killer combo against any clarity he might have had in that moment.
“Dare I ask how you feel, Wolffe’ika?” Fox said, ignoring Cody’s scolding look.
Wolffe’s brow furrowed as his eye refocused on Fox. He grumbled discontentedly. He shifted on the bed, then froze with a pained gasp. Cody had his hand on his arm to stop him.
“Don’t move, Wolffe, you were shot.”
“We wer’ meet.” Wolffe said, still focused on Fox.
“You were meeting up with Fox?” Cody clarified.
Wolffe nodded.
Fox huffed. “We’re way past that, vod. What you’re feeling now are the consequences of meeting up.”
Cody sent Fox a look as Wolffe tried to puzzle through what he’d said, finally lying back again as he focused.
Fox rolled his eyes. “Alright, don’t scramble your eggs even more. You wanted to meet up? I’m here.”
Cody shook his head with amusement, drawing Wolffe’s attention again.
“‘nd Cody?”
Cody nodded. “Yeah, you managed to get us all together for once.”
Once the words registered, Wolffe smirked victoriously, having achieved the impossible. All that was missing were Bly and Ponds to make the victory a truly unforeseen one. Fox supposed Rex could come too.
They waited for him to say more, but Wolffe seemed content to just lie there with his brothers nearby. Neither Fox or Cody had much else to say either, so the three just enjoyed each other’s company in the relative peace and quiet of the medbay.
Fox had to admit, he was a little disappointed. Of course, he was concerned about his brother and hated seeing him so hurt and not himself, this was his vod’ika. But a selfish, duty-bound part of him was disappointed that he wouldn’t get much out of Wolffe as he was. He had to have seen the sniper to have pushed Fox out of the way, but whether he remembered or had seen clearly in the first place would have to wait to be seen. He hated that part of himself in this moment, but he couldn’t help it.
“Was ‘nother. On th’ roof.” Wolffe said, as if compelled by Fox’s thoughts.
Fox nodded. “We know.”
“Was gonna… Was on th’ roof.”
Fox took Wolffe’s hand this time from where he was once again seated beside him. “Don’t worry about it right now, we’ll get them. You need to rest.”
Wolffe’s brow furrowed, very clearly not letting it go now that his concussed mind had remembered something he knew was important.
With a sigh, Fox stood and shuffled along the bed to get closer to Wolffe, Cody shuffling to swap places. Fox pulled his little brother’s head up as much as he dared, bending to meet it with his own. “I promise you, Wolffe’ika, it’s fine.” He pulled back to meet his eye. “Now rest. The sooner you do, the sooner you can help.”
He tried not to be unnerved by Wolffe’s dim right eye as the other managed to meet his. With a huff, his brother laid back down, eyes drooping despite his petulance. Cody made no move to swap back, so Fox sat by the head of the bed as their brother began to drift off again.
A pounding headache was the first thing Wolffe was aware of as he woke up. He bit back a groan as an echoing pain in his chest also became glaringly obvious. Voices to his left swam into his awareness as he mentally warred with his screaming body. The voices stopped, and he almost thought whoever it was had left until one called out.
“Wolffe?”
He knew that voice. Fighting back another groan, he began the arduous process of dragging his eyes open, a process that felt very familiar though he wasn’t entirely sure why. When they blinked open, he frowned at his painfully familiar limited field of vision. A flash of red to his left caught his attention and his heart leapt out of his chest.
He winced against the sharp pain through his head as it shot over to see, his brother. Fox sat next to him in his red Corrie armour, Cody beside him. Both watched Wolffe with clear concern, or what passed as clear concern in Fox’s face. Wolffe took a shuddering breath as he took them in.
“Can’t see,” was all he got out when his mouth finally remembered how to work.
Cody took his hand, squeezing it. “That’s fine. Nothing happened to your eye, it’s just been deactivated while you recover. You got a hell of a concussion, brother.”
Wolffe’s brow furrowed. Concussion? Then why did his chest hurt?
His attention darted to Fox when he remembered, and he began to push himself up. Both his brothers jumped up to hold him still.
“Woah, vod. You’re not going anywhere until you can remember what day it is and breathe without help.”
He only then realised something sat across his face, under his nose and providing fresh oxygen. It then clicked that his trouble breathing may not have been entirely panic-induced. He slumped back down with a wheeze, his body thanking him and his brothers backing off.
“Do you remember what happened?” Fox asked.
Wolffe thought back. He remembered Fox inviting him on a mission, meeting with the team, walking through the streets of Coruscant. A specific street came to mind, but he couldn’t yet place why. He remembered a glint on the roof and put a hand on his chest.
“I was shot.”
Fox huffed a laugh. “That and then some.”
Cody just rolled his eyes then turned those brotherly instincts back on Wolffe. “Don’t worry if it doesn’t all come back, it was only a little over a day ago that it happened. A couple more and you’ll be handed over to your medics.”
Wolffe groaned. Bruise did not need to be lecturing him of all people on getting hurt while off duty.
“What about the mission?”
Fox’s mouth pressed into a thin line. “The one we’ve got isn’t talking and we don’t have any leads on the sniper yet. But we haven’t stopped working on it.”
Wolffe closed his eyes against the anxiety of only having half his vision and thought back. He was sure he’d gotten a clear enough view of them, if only his head would stop throbbing and work with him.
“Don’t worry about it, Wolffe,” he heard his brother saying. “We’ll get them, just focus on recovering.”
Wolffe ignored them and combed stubbornly through the shreds of his memory of the last few days. He heard one of his brothers sigh. He finally hit something useful, opening his eyes again to find Fox, when a voice sounded from his right.
He jumped with a pained wince, turning his head to see the other side of the room and the Corrie medic walking in.
“You’re awake, good.” Wolffe blinked at the medic while his heart raced once again. The medic checked his vitals while he tried to calm down again.
“How do you feel?” the medic asked once he recovered.
“Sore and tired. What’s wrong with my eye?”
Cody frowned at the question while the medic answered. “Nothing. We had to deactivate it when you reacted badly to it while concussed. We’ll reactivate it in a couple of days, just to be safe.”
Wolffe nodded. He could handle a couple more days without it. He’d be fine.
They let the medic do his check in. Shiner, Wolffe remembered his name was when Fox said it. He deemed Wolffe recovering well and told the other two to make sure he kept resting, then gave him some more pain meds and left. As if he needed babysitters, he huffed to himself.
Once Shiner left, the room went quiet. Remembering he’d had something to tell Fox, Wolffe thought hard. His head might not have been hurting as much thanks to Shiner, but the meds weren’t helping him think either. Then it hit him.
He sat up a little to face Fox, the pair leaning forward to stop him before realising he wasn’t trying to get up again.
“The sniper, he… I remember.”
That got his brother’s attention. “What do you remember?”
With that encouragement, Wolffe did his best to recall every detail he could. A lot of it was hazy, and he wasn’t sure he made a lot of sense recalling some details, but Fox never seemed to mind. He gave Wolffe his full attention, occasionally humming or asking a follow up question, but mostly letting him take the lead.
By the time he hit the end of what he remembered, he could feel exhaustion pulling at him again and his body protesting fiercely against him. Seeing this, Cody stepped up, a hand on Fox’s shoulder and Wolffe’s hand.
“Alright, that’s enough. He needs to be resting, not giving mission reports.”
Fox seemed reluctant, but let his brother pull him back. Some of the intensity lingered in his face as he thought over Wolffe’s description of the sniper. Cody gave Wolffe’s hand another squeeze and helped him lay back down.
“Get some more rest, brother. I’m sure Fox appreciates the help, now just focus on you.”
Like Fox, Wolffe let himself get pushed back down, his energy waning. He had no idea how long he’d been awake for, but it felt like that long too much. Cody sent him that caring smile of his that soothed the most anxious shiny. He didn’t argue the use of it right then, too busy taking his fantastic order and drifting to painless sleep.