Awakening

When Jack regained consciousness, the immediate sensation was likely that she was nowhere she'd been before - at least not within memory. She was presently shirtless, with the familiar, soft pressure of bandages clinging to her injuries. Her vision, though, was taken up by the head of the young man who'd happened upon her when she fell - hand cupping her chin, he was presenting breathing with clinical care into her mouth, a nervous sweat visible on his skin. It was one thing to find what looked like the victim of a hit gone totally wrong. It was worse to know for a fact that the hospital you worked at was horribly clogged, having only just gotten off overtime at his superior's insistence. With no car and precious few options, he'd hurriedly dragged the woman back to his own place of residence - but by the time he had her flat out on his bed, her vitals had gone negative. With the bleeding stopped, all he could do was desperately perform CPR - and hope for a miracle.

Jack woke gradually, a breath here. 


A breath there. 



A beat of the heart, faltering. 




Then another. And another.

Feeling like she had been hit by a semi, she struggled to open her eyes. Peering through barely slitted eyes, she regained consciousness with a start.

Dark brown curls framed her vision, strangely bright honey colored eyes staring intently into hers. Lips locked with hers at a slant, warm puffs of air still escaping from the sides of her mouth.

Pulling back slowly, she put a hand up to the young man's chest to gently push him away and smiled. "I think that's the best Kiss of Life I've ever received. Uh... thank you? I think?"

Asa about jumped - his mouth hung open for a few solid moments as he fell onto his knees, tanned skin going pale. "Ah- Wh-" If anything, he seemed more surprised than she was. "Oh, thank goodness, I wasn't really sure...it's a miracle you're even awake, it- Um." A touch of color came to his cheeks. "Oh, n-no, I wasn't...it wasn't meant to be, I mean, you were unconscious! No, I was...performing CPR, your- heart had stopped, it's, um. Do you mind? If I take your pulse?" So stammered out, he seemed a mixture of relieved, bewildered, and even embarrassed.

Jack sat up in the bed hesitantly, a grimace of pain briefly dashing across her features before they smoothed out into a smile. "Whoa there sweetheart, it's gonna be okay. Breathe." Looking around at her surroundings, her sight lingered on various knicknacks and mementos. Mentally noting the mainly spartan look of the room, before her gaze came back to rest on her newly found friend. "Kid, ya didn't do anything wrong. It's not like ya were coppin' a feel. Thanks for the save, by the way. What's your name, savior?"

He seemed willing, if nothing else, to reach forward and take her wrist without express permission, hand moving to check at her pulse. The young man laughs a little nervously. "Normally it's me telling the patient that..." he mumbles, glancing at her and smiling a little shyly. "Of course, I could hardly just- leave you there. Careful, now, don't sit up too fast..." "...your pulse seems good. Ah, well, er." Her smile seems to bring some color to his cheeks, the young man glowing a little. Jack's probably used to that. "I'm, ah, Asa Klein. You're welcome to stay as long as you need to. Um, what's your name?"

Jack's smile widened slowly, the oddly sharp ends of her canines peaking out. "I'm Jack. I'd say it's nice to meet you, but.. under the circumstances, I don't think 'nice' quite covers it." She flinched suddenly, a pulse of pain washing over her. Her skin goes pale, and she begins sweating faintly. "Hey babe, not to be ungrateful or anything, but why am I here in the first place?"
Asa can't help but notice the sharpened points, unsure exactly of what to make of them - but he's distracted by her sudden condition, leaning forward and placing a hand on her shoulder. He has a gentle touch, but a surprising amount of muscle for such a timid guy. "Wh-whoa, whoa. Easy now, you were banged up pretty bad. Your heart stopped for a little while, you're not gonna be able to just walk that off." In spite of the situation, he seems to have a slightly flustered reaction to her affectionate term, stumbling even more over his words. "Ah, er, well- I found you, in an alleyway, you were...in real bad shape, and- well, I'm. An EMT, y'know? There was a pileup earlier this evening and the ER is - chock full, right now. So I was on my way home since my shift's finally done, and that's- well, I said that part already. Point is, there wasn't any time to really- get you anywhere for urgent care. You needed first-aid immediately." Sheepishly, he adds, "It must seem weird to wake up in a stranger's apartment. Believe me, it was...an emergency."Jack shook her head in mild confusion, trying to gather her wits about her. "An alleyway? But.. I was in a forest, wasn't I? Trying to keep walking to evade... what hurt me. I was calling out for help when.." She trails off, pondering the circumstances in which the man found her. She blows the hair that had fallen in her face out of the way in aggravation. "It's not as strange as you might think, but that's neither here nor there. Kind of you, to bring me into your home like this. Most people would've kept walking, left me to die."

Asa nods sympathetically. "I think you can expect a bit of short term memory loss, Jack. If-" He pales a little. "If you were being attacked, especially, it might've been traumatic enough to scramble things a little. Gosh, do you want to call the police? Hm. I've been watching your eyes, and you seem focused enough. I don't think you have a concussion..." Blinking, Asa scratches at the side of his head, looking unsure of what to say. "...Well, uh. That's nice of you to say, but it's just- I mean, I could help, so why not, right? ...I don't know if I agree with you there. Maybe most people wouldn't have uh, taken you home to patch you up, but I'm like a medic, I have the means for that. I think you'd have had someone calling 911 if you'd been a little closer to the street. I heard you slumping over and that's why I came to take a look..." "Ah, gosh, I'm rambling, sorry. Listen, I'll - I can make you some dinner? Do you have any allergies?"

Jack snorted at that, some thought flitting through her mind in response to his queries. "Not to food, no. I'd love something to eat, but really. I should be fine from here. If I could just.. get my head together a bit, and figure out exactly where I am, I could probably go. I don't want to put you out of your way any more than I already have."

"Ah? No, no- I insist." He stands up straight, smiling a little nervously. "I mean, obviously you're free to go, but I don't really- As a licensed medic, I don't recommend travel until you've had a full night's rest. I can just whip you up something really quick. It's no trouble. I uh, like taking care of people." Asa blinks. "Oh, well, that's an easy one. We're in Pittsburgh."

Jack's eyes widened, to the point of being comical, staring up at Asa quietly before whispering after several moments, "Pittsburgh.....? But, I was in the South when I..." She trailed off musing for a few moments, before quietly asking, "What day is it? Of what year?"

Oh, no. Concern flashes on his face as he kneels back down. "It's, uh...July 20th. 2019. Are you- Oh, no. Do you remember any head trauma at all? You know your name and where you were supposed to be..."

Jack grit her teeth as she shoved herself to a sitting position, throwing off the blankets covering her, swinging her legs over the side of the bed, hesitating as she went to put her feet to the floor. Almost reluctant to do so, but determined by some inner will to move, to be productive after the new information she gained. "Don't worry about it, Asa. You've been very kind, but you don't have to worry about any trauma." "If you'd like to fix me something to eat real quick, I'd appreciate you grately, but then I really do need to go. When you were picking me up, did you happen to notice a wallet? Or any other gear on my person? I'm gonna need 'em, where I'm going."

"Ah- Wait, that's not- Look, Jack, your business is yours, but you're in no position to be 'doing' much, Jack. I...ugh." He steps over to her side and hesitates. "Listen, I'm - a medical professional. I can't in good conscience just let you walk around when it hasn't even been an hour since your heart re-started. You need food and rest, and-" Sighing, he holds out his hand, offering it to help her up. "...Yeah, you had a bag, I took it when I got you." Asa nods over to the food of the bed, where it hangs off a post by the strap. "I don't have any authority to hold you here, but at least tell me you're gonna check into an actual hospital!"

Jack took the hand that was offered to her, getting to her feet slowly. "Thank you for all you help, I-" She broke off mid sentence, leaning more heavily on him as she began to sway where she stood. "I, uh.. I don't feel so well.." She leaned her head against his chest to avoid falling over, breathing heavily as she did so. "I'm not very good at patience, I'm afraid." Resting her weight against him as gently as she could, she turned her head to rest her ear against his chest, and listen to his heart beat while she caught her breath.

Asa felt his nerves crisscrossing. There was no way the ER was any less crowded by now. First things first - he wraps an arm across her back, his other on her shoulder, supporting her as best he could. "Yeah, uh- Yeah, no. I'm sorry, Jack, I need you to...do your best, even so." He tenses a little when she leans against him - she can feel he's giving off a fair bit of heat. "L-look, come on, let's get you lying back down...it's late, whatever's going on can wait until the morning." So said, he'll try to gently usher her back onto the bed.

Jack nodded faintly, her eyes trying to drift shut against her will. "I didn't realize how hurt I still was. The pain, I'm used to, it doesn't help me gauge how badly I'm hurt. It just.. hurts. Gosh, I'm good with words right now." She reluctantly lets him shoo her back under the covers, cautiously pulling the comforter up underneath her shoulders and arms as she sat back against the pillows the best she could. Regarding him with softer eyes, her view of him going a bit fuzzy at the edges through the pain as she struggled to fight vertigo.

The EMT grips her shoulders comfortingly for a moment, giving her a shy smile, before he moves away. She hears him rustling for a few moments, before he returns, a couple of small tablets and a glass of water in hand. "Here. This should help a little with the nausea and dizzyness." Without further ado, Asa'll try to have her swallow them, his bedside manner impressive if nothing else. "Just lie down for now. You don't wanna re-open anything."

She blinked slowly in reaction, taking the pills from his hand and downing them with a faint expression of distaste. "I never did like taking my medicine, as a kid. How ironic that I wake up in a damn healer's room, and have to."

"Healer's a little - ostentatious." Asa laughs, moving away for another few moments - there's a warm washcloth over Jack's forehead soon, the medic kneeled down besides her with a nervously optimistic look on his face. "How you feelin?"

She turned her head to look at him through her lashes, fighting a minor internal battle before answering. "I'm alive. In my field of work, that's about the best you can hope for."

He gives a somewhat nervous look back at her. "Well- geez, I hardly even know what to say to that. I get the feeling that - maybe I shouldn't ask? Look, you're safe here, alright? I'll get you back on your feet."

Jack yawned sleepily, nodding as she did so. "Probably for the best, the answers you'd get would give you nightmares." She sighed long-sufferingly, realizing the extent of her exhaustion and general malaise despite her will to leave. "I'll stay the night, if you promise I'm not putting you out of your way. And, if you think it's best, I'll eat."  

She paused, then added: "I'm not really that great at taking care of myself either, come to think of it. I deal with food and sleep when they're mandatory, and that's about it."

For the most part, he tried to just ignore the grim implications of her words, and simply nodded. "Of course you're not putting me out of my way, and of course I think it's best. Mm. You seem like the overworking type to me. It's important to watch your health, y'know...but lecturing an injured person isn't part of the job." Asa exhales, standing up. "I'll put soup on, how's that sound? If you're not too hungry, try to get some rest."

Jack halfheartedly waved him on, rolling over on the bed, murmuring, "You can fix some for later. I think I'm gonna get some sleep now.."

"Good. Good good good. Sleep tight, Jack. Wake me if you need anything." The sound of Asa busying himself in the background is, hopefully, soothing enough for her to drift off to.