It was only hours after she woke up that she got most of her strength back. But Gina insisted for her to remain in bed.
Days following Claire's waking have passed. And only then...
"Claire? I need to help me with this patient," a fellow nurse of Claire's called out.
And then, just after helping out one nurse, another would call out her name. "Claire! Please help me..."... "Claire?..."... "Claire? Can you come here for a quick second?". The flood of injured men just kept on approaching and entering the old, healing home.
And soon, she would find out just how she took her free time for granted. "At home, I had all the free time I can ask for - outside of the time I work at the bar... here, I can merely take a deep breath.".
Then, as she was sat down on a chair, she let her head rest against a wall. And only then did she let out a breath of relief. Lifting her gaze and looking out the window, something within her caused Gabriel's words to flush back within her. His words he gave her in reply to where Garrett was.
Closing her eyes, she pictured him in front of her, just like on that day, when she woke up. 'He'll be back, he told me he had to finish something...'.
"Claire?" A voice pulled her out of her thoughts. She jumped in fright, turning around just to see it was another fellow nurse of hers. Her short break was officially over.
The young woman who stood before Claire had a clipboard in her hands. Seconds later, she handed it to Claire. "Can you please take care of this patient? I know you're on your break, but we are low on the number of nurses," she spoke.
Taking the clipboard from her hands, Claire's eyes scanned through the front page - but where her gaze remained was on the name of the patient. Lieutenant Mason O'Connell.
Her eyes widened ever so slightly in surprise. 'What happened to the Lieutenant?' she thought to herself, before putting the question into words. "What happened to the Lieutenant?" Claire asked, her eyes moving from the page that laid in front of her, to the young woman that stood by Claire's chair.
The youthful woman furrowed her brows as her gaze descended down to the ground. "I believe he was injured. Thankfully, the injuries he sustained weren't life-threatening.".
"He was injured?..." Claire recited the information she just received. This was her attempt to digest the news she just heard. "How?...".
"There was an ambush in the camp where both his and Captain MacIntosh's forces stayed," the woman replied.
And at her words, Claire felt her stomach turn. She choked on her words.
"A-an ambush??". 'An ambush at the camp?...'. And then, from that thought on, the reason as to why she was here slowly began to make sense. 'But... is that also the reason as to why Garrett isn't here now?'.
---
Claire approached a room and upon her entry, almost immediately, she saw the Lieutenant in bed. His eyes were closed. She approached his bed.
He must have felt her presence, so he opened his eyes and looked at Claire. From his emotionless expression, a small smile of acknowledgement evolved on his lips.
Claire replied with a smile. "How are you feeling today, Lieutenant?" Claire inquired.
"Better, thankfully. Thank you for asking.". A pause followed. "I'm happy to see that you're better too, Soldier.". A pause followed, Mason moved his gaze over to a table by the windowsill. His eyes landed on a jug of water.
Noticing his gaze moving elsewhere, Claire tried to follow it. Her eyes too ended up landing on the jug of water.
"Would you be able to do me a favour and give me a glass of water, please?" She heard his voice from behind. "I can feel my throat beginning to dry up.".
"Of course," Claire replied, before doing as she was asked. Within seconds, she headed back towards the Lieutenant.
Once handed, he gladly accepted the glass of water.
Taking a step back, Claire directed her gaze towards the floor. The small smile that was present on her lips slowly began to fade away. The question, question she was about to ask him, swirled in her mind.
And then, she put her thoughts to words.
"Was the camp really under attack?" Claire inquired, and to her words - almost immediately, he choked on the water.
Her attention was returned towards Mason, but this action of his gave her the answer she was looking for.
The Lieutenant froze. He kept his gaze on Claire. And she returned a gaze, looking into his, waiting for a reply.
But all he managed to mutter under his breath was "H-how do you know?". Though his voice was quiet, his words were loud enough for Claire to make out what it was he said.
Mason gulped. He remained silent, he felt a feeling swirl within his chest and stomach.
He let Claire realise something that Gabriel specifically told him not to allow her to find out. He remembered the worry in his eyes. 'I can't allow her to worry over something like that. Mention nothing about the previous camp... and if it comes to it, tell her that this is the camp we're meant to stay in.'.
Then, a knock was heard on the door. They both turned their heads only to see Gabriel by the door. His face contained a small smile, but upon noticing the expression on both Claire's and Mason's faces, the smile on his lips slowly ceased to nothing.
"Captain..." Mason greeted him.
Claire looked at him and said nothing. She gazed at him as a strange feeling spread through her chest. It travelled down to her stomach. It caused her to scrunch her brows ever so slightly at such a sensation.
For what he feared the worst, the expression on Claire's face told Gabriel just that. She found out what he tried to hide away from her.
He felt a chat coming, so before anything could have begun between both Claire and him, he excused them both. "Claire... can you come out for a bit...".
She too knew what was about to happen. She knew what kind of talk was about to take place. So, giving Mason a final look and a small smile, she followed Gabriel out of the room.
They didn't stop until they both reached an empty room. On the other end of the room, there was another door. A door that hadn't caught their attention.
Gabriel closed the door behind them both.
Facing Claire once more, he looked into her eyes and then his eyes travelled down her eyes to her lips. Her expression was emotionless.
Then, his gaze dropped down to the ground.
He took a deep breath before saying one word. "Sorry.".
Claire stirred her gaze away from Gabriel. She wasn't angry at him, yet was confused. Confused as to why he'd hide such a thing from her. So, she proceeded on asking, "Why?... Why did you think hiding the attack from me would be a good idea?".
Gabriel let out a gentle sigh. Such a question made him angry at himself. 'Why?...' he asked himself. "I didn't want you to worry about what happened back there in the camp. I didn't know how you'd react to the news after waking up.".
"What did you think would have happened had I heard the news right after waking up?" Claire asked, sharpening her gaze at him.
Gabriel pursed his lips as he shook his head. "I don't know, nor do I want to think of what could have happened.".
The sharp gaze that Claire held upon Gabriel softened ever so slightly.
"So..." Claire began, her voice also being noticeably softer. "You... you hid all of this away from me to... to protect me?".
A moment of silence followed right before Gabriel said, "Yeah...".
Her gaze upon Gabriel hardened, sharpened just as fast as it softened. She scrunched her brows at him. "Do you really see me being as weak as that?". She kept her voice low, its effect causing the words it carried to be that bit more venomous.
And upon hearing such words, Gabriel darted his gaze at her before widening his eyes.
Needless to say, he didn't expect to hear such words from her. "C-Claire... I- I didn't want to imply that you are weak in any way at all.". Gabriel paused as he felt his head beginning to pulsate from the growing anger he felt to Claire's words. "Since when does, I, protecting you, give any indication as to whether on not you're weak??".
To his words, Claire dropped her gaze to the ground. "I have nothing to say to that.". And with that, she walked past Gabriel, towards the door.
She placed her hand on the handle. And just as she twisted it to open the door, she saw a hand right above her head, restricting her from opening the door. Turning around, she saw Gabriel, centimetres away from her. His jaw was tensed as his ears flared a colour of red.
At first, he had his gaze down at the ground. Then, picking his head back up, his eyes went back onto Claire. He looked into her eyes. "Can't you see that I did this because I care about you, Claire!". His words caused a slight lump to grow in Claire's throat.
Him being his height, Claire ended up looking up at him. Such a height difference brought her back to their very first meeting. When he was a man who she knew nothing about, unlike now.
She felt her eyes well with tears at such a thought.
"Your words come with such irony, Gabriel. You know that?" Claire spoke out, breaking the silence between them.
Gabriel's face showed confusion, and Claire noticed this. "The day you told me that you've developed feelings for me. You told me that you couldn't afford to worry about me, nor can I about you. You did the thing that you said you shouldn't.".
Claire looked down at the ground as his words came back to her. 'I can't have you thinking, worrying about me... and nor can I allow myself to worry about you while I am out on the battlefield...'.
Neither noticed the silence that descended amongst them both. Both Claire and Gabriel were deep in thought.
"Can you at least tell me if my brother is okay?... Was he in the attack?" Claire was the one who broke the silence first again. Her voice retained the slight anger, frustration from only moments ago.
"No," Gabriel began, his tone managing to convince Claire. He saw slight relief stretch across her face. "While you were unconscious, some way in between our journey from Agluf towards the camp, Garrett and we split up.". Gabriel paused for a moment. "As I said before, he had to get something done...".
With her gaze still aimed elsewhere, Claire gave Gabriel a brief nod.
Then, a knock caught the attention of both Claire and Gabriel. Claire simply looked towards where such a sound came from all while Gabriel turned around. Their gazes both met Gina.
Claire couldn't help but widen her eyes ever so slightly. 'Did she hear our conversation?'. She tried swallowing the slight swelling in her throat. 'I hope she didn't'.
"Gina?...".
"Claire," she greeted her, holding a bottle or two of vitamins in her right hand. Gina noticed the straining of her own voice. She had a smile on her face, but very soon, she couldn't help but let her smile turn into a frown.
Gina turned her gaze from Claire to Gabriel.
Gabriel replied by looking back at Gina. Then, he turned and glanced at Claire, his gaze ending up looking at the ground. Then, as if he felt like he shouldn't be in the room, he cleared his throat before excusing himself. "Excuse me...". Then, he walked out of the room.
Left in the room were Claire and Gina.
Claire was the first one who began to enclose the distance between them both. She came to a halt when about a meter separated them both.
From looking at Claire in the eyes, Gina lowered her head and looked at the ground. A small, sheepish smile grew on her lips. "I'm sorry...". A pause followed before she continued. "I should have told you sooner. But Captain told me not to tell you anything.".
From looking at Gina, Claire too lowered her gaze to the ground. "Thank you..." Claire spoke lowly. "Thank you for everything you've done for me.".
To her words, Gina seemed to feel relief. Claire wasn't angry at her. She wasn't enraged by the fact that Gina had no other choice but to keep to herself what she wanted Claire to know, what she thought Claire should know.
Then, Gina furrowed her brows ever so slightly before she cleared her throat. "Was all of that true? All of what both the Captain and you just said now?".
To the thought that entered her mind a few seconds ago, it was proven wrong. 'She heard everything.'.