Jack Pine
Well-Known Member
188604/ post home invasion/ three hours later
One of the ST technicians walked towards the cryo pod leaned against the nearest wall, motioning for the group to step aside, especially the reluctant Sarah "Ma'am, please stand back as we lower the pod."
As the tech said this one of the cylinder like pods lining the walls with machinery attached to the back that held a different person in each, began to slide from an up right position to a laying position as it slid along a curved track running across a the floor and up the wall behind the pod. It would stop with a slight jerk with the glass now beginning to unfog as the contents reached room temperature.
"Activate transfer, in three....two.....one." another tech counted down, the sound of a hum followed by the thump of a defibulator followed, the body within jerking as electricity coursed through. As the fog fully disappeared and the hum stopped. The pod's identifier read Sarah Pine. Wires pulled taught as the hemlet was winched away, and an arm with a round black pad that had been held to her chest would lift and rotate out of the way as the round glass canopy slid open.
It would be a few moments before the raven haired figure within would blink groggily, her first breaths blowing the chilled fog from around her face. Eyes of piercing blue opened slowly as the mind behind them recognized the chill of cryogenics and slowly stretched, her hands keeping away from the edges almost out of habit. But this had happened before, and the Brunette standing at the edge of the pod remembered when that was her waking up.
"Sarah? What's going on?" She pushed herself upright, looking around herself to try to figure out where she was. "I... I don't remember the mission. I remember the ST right before it, but..."
"Um, you died." Sarah said before she threw her arms around The Doppleganger. It was evident that she had been crying.
"Died? What? But I'm right here... Oh, sweetie..." Thorn's arms wrapped around Sarah's shoulders as she drew her in close. It was hard to not note that her arms seemed too long. A quick turn of her wrist revealed no datapad embedded, let alone the series of scars up her arm.
"This... This is not my arm." A quick pull at the hair brought it into her field of vision, distinctly not her color. "Not my... Sarah, whose body am I in?"
"Mine, because we hadn't had the time to create a proper body and yours was... we couldn't recover it." Sarah gave with a slight sob.
"Oh." All she could really say, considering the situation. Looking down momentarily, she noticed her nudity and blushed slightly. "It's kind of cold in this pod. Any chance..."
"Yeah I'll grab some of my clothes I brought for you." Sarah said walking off momentarily before returning with a T-shirt and jeans.
"Considering I'm waking up in here, probably means I did something dumb." Thorn looked away, noting the growths on her chest before flushing and directing her eyes up. The shirt went on first before she scooted out of the cryo bed and pulled the jeans up to her new hips, trying and failing to see over the her breasts to clasp the pod's sides. "I'm sorry I screwed up."
"I should have stayed with you. I should have been there." Sarah said as she waited before wrapping her arms around Thorn again after she had finished dressing.
"No, good chance more people would have died if you'd been the one staying behind. I should have stayed in the lab." Thorn's arms came up under Sarah as she rubbed the other woman's back. "I might want to take some time to get used to this. Everything's short."
"That's because you're 6'2 of beautifulness." Sarah said with slight soft chuckle and an even softer smile.
"So... No more piggyback rides?" Thorn pouted, her brow furrowing as one of her eyebrows started lifting up. "I mean, I never quite thought I'd be... Well, in you quite like this."
"Sadly not for the time being at least. Besides you're still with me even if I'm not around" sarah said with another laugh.
"You splurged for sensory sharing?" Thorn joked, her eyes brightening as the chlildlike grin spread across her lover's features. At least until she stood up and stretched again, hearing her back give a loud pop, and she took a step, the changes in her center of balance throwing her for a loop as it seemed to try to put her flat. Worse, every time she corrected, the mass of breast didn't, countering her intended action. "How do you walk with these?!"
Sarah giggled for a moment, "Walk with a swish to your hips. It offsets the weight difference." she said trying hard not to laugh as she put her hands on Thorn's shoulders to keep her steady.
"Am I the only one who thinks this whole loaner body... Wait, how did I die bad enough that you can't stick me in a healer tank and I can be my old self in a few hours? Or have a spare ready to go... Ish?" Thorn held on to the side of the tank as she took a few cautious steps.
"um, three grenades to the face." Sarah said a little sheepishly.
"That sounds like me. C'm'ere. I'll try to not do that again." Drawing Sarah into a hug, she decided better than to ask many more questions.
"So is this incest, having your girlfriend in your spare body?" a technician had asked the question as he walked by, and Thorn immediately raised a middle finger to his laughter.
"Ignore him, he's an ass. Though that was clever I will admit." Sarah said gently pushing the flipped bird down as she held Thorn.
"Sometimes easier said than done." Thorn gave a slight huff. "So how long are we going to be able to swap for each other when one of us doesn't want to do something?"
"ha ha, not needed. Besides there is another ass that needs your attention, mine. So, now we need to figure out what to do with you."
"Other than healthy exploration of your own body?" Grabbing a handful of Sarah's butt, Thorn grinned. "Wow, your sense of touch is a lot more sensitive than mine was."
Come to think of it, everything seemed brighter and clearer, as though Sarah's eyes were better, which wouldn't be surprising, considering the damage Thorn's had taken over the years. She could also hear on her left side, sharper than normal. "Sensory alone's gonna take some getting used to. How long was I out and what's going on with my body?"
"Um, your body is in the morgue for processing, and about twenty hours." Sarah said sheepishly at the mention of Thorn's broken body.
"Considering they're gonna be building me a new one more likely than not, ... They didn't know about the growth inhibitor, did they?" With Sarah's sheepish demeanor noted, Thorn pulled her tighter into a hug. "This is gonna be weird for a while."
"Damn straight. But I'm happy your back, don't ever make me have to go through that again. I was the first one there, and.....you died in my arms. Next time, we are getting you better gear, better body, and an escort. Me being escort." Sarah said hugging Thorn tighter as she spoke, her face buried in Thorn's shoulder.
"I promise, I will never die on you again. I never got really trained for the Revenant and that was so far outside of my usual operating mode I'm surprised I didn't get anyone else killed. I'll get trained up on the power armor and I'll stick to long range cyber support, okay? I don't..." Her voice trailed off as she considered what to say. She ran a hand up into Sarah's hair and started massaging the scalp before continuing. "I don't want to see you crying. It hurts to see that."
Sarah unburied her face to look Thorn in the eye as if searching for something a moment before kissing her deeply, feeling Thorn lean into the kiss and pull her tight.
Thorn felt odd, being a doppelganger of the woman who cried for her, even if some part of Thorn knew it was only temporary. Breaking the kiss to breathe, Thorn's forhead met Sarah's, her eyes still closed. "I'm sorry. I'll never leave you like that again."
"Damn right, and I didn't even get to get payback either on the bastard who shot you. But, I am never letting you go anywhere without me, and I'll get duct tape if I need to and tape myself to you." Sarah said bringing her hands up to cradle Thorn's face.
Thorn's expresion suddenly turned sheepish and fearful and she stiffened slightly at the command, even knowing that Sarah was saying it out of worry and care. "Please don't. I love you to pieces, but please don't."
"Alright, just don't be reckless from now on. That's Jack's job after all. Now how about we get that new body some food?" Sarah said placing her forehead to Thorn's before taking her hand to lead her to the elevator.
"I was wondering why my stomach felt weird..." Thorn's voice trailed off as she let Sarah pull her away.
"I must have drank too much last night..." The cyborg groaned. As if the chewing out from Jack wasn't enough, his hangover had just begun to catch up with him. The Neera incident the same day as Thorn's death must have been quite a bit for the boss to take in, and in both cases, Beaumont had failed to accomplish what he had been told to do - that is, keep the fluffy one a secret and the short one alive. Could one really blame him for putting his false liver to good use? His gaze just so happen to catch on to the two Sarahs exiting the Cryo chamber as he made his way towards his lab. "...I'm seeing doubl- wait... wait..." He lifts a finger, letting his thoughts collect. "Riiight" He murmurs as his hand lowers. He remembers the memo he had received, informing him that until he finishes with what had been cleverly named "Project Rose" that Thorn's consiousness would be inhabiting a backup of Sarah's. Issue is, it's going to be one pain in the neck to deal with putting that body back into freeze.
He pulled himself from his seat and approached the two, deciding to do his job for a change. He lifted up his wristwatch, holding it in front of him and stepping out in front of Thorn. "Alright, whichever one of you is the brat, raise your arms to each side and say 'Aaah.' I gotta run some diagnostics to make sure the ST transfer isn't going to be harmful to either the body or the user." There were a few button presses. Interesting how detached he was even after the incident, where even he broke down violently from his failure to resuscitate Thorn.
"What, I can't just have an identical twin? Hunger waits for no one doc!" Thorn's declaration was an attempt at hiding that this was new and mildly terrifying for her. Though she did lean over to ask Sarah if that was, in fact what she was feeeling.
He'd look to the one leaning over and press a few buttons on his wrist to activate the scanner. There are a couple blinks from the edge of it, and the scan would be complete. A 3D model of Sarah's form would appear on the holographic projector. "Let's see here..." He scratches the side of his head for a second, eyeing over all of the data and pressing a few keys on the holo-keyboard. "Don't seem to be any flaws in integration. That's gonna make things easy when yanking you outta there. Vitals are good. Condition is good. Jack really knows how to hire them Cryo-engineers because you seem to check out. By the way, work on your Sarah impresstion a little bit before you see Jack if you wanna try pulling that prank. I don't know her very well, but I get the feeling she wouldn't pull that kind of stunt on me in a situation as important as a bioscan." He lowers his arm. "I'll leave you two to get the food while I go and plug this data into my computer."
That was then......
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NOW
Rose let her eyes close as she sat down. Her eyes were red and puffy, cheeks still wet from her last bout with her emotions as she sat down the edge of the ST pod. "I said I'd train up. Said I wouldn't leave you like that again. I'm sorry I couldn't... This is my fault."
The technician signaled that the process would soon complete.
A defib unit could be heard discharging as the ST head cradle retracted, soon leading to a soft hiss prior to the pods transparent two hatches to part.
Sarah sat up slowly in a groggy manner like someone coming out of a deep sleep. After fully sitting up, she looked around lazily.
"Hey," was all Rose could manage at the moment, reaching down to haul a backpack into the pod. "Sorry, you're finally up. Her voice seemed distant, and her tone apologetic. "I brought some clothes. What's the last thing you remember?"
Sarah looked at Rose immediately as she spoke, "Rose, oh hey, what did I......"Sarah's voice trailed of as her expression took on a look of pure confusion. Something was....off, missing, but what it was either just didn't connect, or didn't want to. Sarah looked down at her midsection and placed her hands to her stomach, her eyes began to suddenly grow wide as tears began to stream. A shrill cry was heard as she wrapped her arms around herself as she leaned forward and drew her legs up, "WHERE ARE MY BABIES?!"
Rose slumped, her heart skipping a beat at Sarah's cry. Her eyes welled again as her breath hitched and she drew a hand up to her mouth. "You... He murdered you. I couldn't... I'm sorry. When you died, we couldn't save the twins."
"No no no no no no no, not my...." Sarah trailed as she began to sob fully pulling her legs tight to her chest.
"Sarah, ow..." the stitches on Rose's shoulder tore as she turned and wrapped an arm around her love's neck. A gentle tug drew Sarah's forehead to her bosom as a red stain started to grow around the wound in Rose's shoulder. "You still have one, babe. I'm sorry, it hurts, and it hurts to see you cry. It's my fault..."
"That bastard killed my babies......I wasn't able to protect them or my family. How many more did I fail. How many more dead?" Sarah managed through her sobs as Rose placed an arm around her.
"It wasn't you. If I had moved faster and put my knife in him right... Our children would still be two months away." Rose pulled Sarah tighter, her free hand opening the backpack and pull a box of tissues out. Electing to not tell Sarah that Jack was in the hospital and a few others with him, she debated her next words. Emotions could be bottled, and mourning could wait until her love could smile. Beginning to rock gently, she continued, "It wasn't you. I... Bob told me I was in a blood rage when he and Creature saved us."
"How many Rose?! How many." Sarah asked again, unable to let go. She gripped the front of Rose's shirt, pulling herself up some to look her in the face with eyes red with heavy crying, face still wet with tears. Her expression was of sorrow and despair, her free hand still clutching at a baby bump that was no longer there.
"How many more?" She whispered.
Rose looked down and and away. Her hand deposited the box of tissues to Sarah's lap and grabbed her hand. "Carl's in the recovery ward. Broke his leg in the drop for Alamo Protocol."
Hesitating, she continued. "Jeanne will be coming out of one of these tubes in a few hours. She got caught with shrapnel during the firefight. Jack's in the ICU. Amit's missing. I'm supposed to be in recovery. That's all I know. That's just what I heard when I woke up. I'm sorry."
Sarah slumped against Rose's chest, the fight now completely gone. She looked down at her fiance's midsection where she knew another child developed. Sarah ran a hand over Rose's stomach gently, trying to take some comfort in this knowledge. "Is Isabelle....is she and the twins...ok?" Sarah asked listening to Rose's heart beat.
Rose gave a small shadow of a laugh. "Isabelle's tougher than me. She's fine. Okay, freaking the fuck out that Jack's hurt and Amit's not where she can check on him." placing a hand over Sarah's, she smiled gently. "Our daughter's okay, too. Next time, I'm putting triplets in you."
"I hope they find Amit soon, did he get separated after running from the house?" Sarah asked thinking of her nephew.
"I don't know what happened. Everything gets fuzzy after I hit the wall. I don't remember anything after he killed you. Nobody's told me what happened with Amit." sure, she was lying, but Sarah didn't need that stress right now. "Come on. You need water. And clothes. This pod's still cold. I was the last person in that body and it went into the pod hungry. Also you have brat sharpied across your ass."
Sarah moved to she swing her legs off the table as she tried to stand up a little unsteady, but paused briefly at Rose's words. "That's only because it wants everything. Who was the genius holding the marker." Sarah tried to give with a forced smile as she asked. Her tears had stopped, but only because she had nothing left to cry with.
"You were. So people could tell us apart for the weird week." Rose stood up after Sarah, watching carefully, considering that body was about fifteen pounds underweight for her normal. Reaching into the backpack, Rose drew her ffiancé's favorite shirt out and held it up. "Won't be much, but you'll feel better after food, okay?"
"I don't really want food right now. But yeah I could use some clothes." Sarah said lowering her gaze.
"I just want to go see my brother, then go home." She added as she put the shirt on.
"Don't make me put you on those IV nutrients my sister lives on." Truth be told, Rose didn't want to go home. The crime scene tape was still up across what was left Jack's door(and the what was left of the house in general), and she hadn't mentioned how Jimmy and John were awake already after being murdered in their own home. "Sarah, sweetie... Jack should be awake soon. Let's get up there. I'll summon the car."
Sarah nodded slowly as she pulled a pair of pants and shoes out of the bag and slipped them on. Rose gave a warm, reassuring smile as she offered Sarah a hand up. The movement pulled at her shoulder, and she spared the red splotch on her shirt a glance. A quick note to self covered that the stab wound felt better than seeing Sarah this dejected. She couldn't allow herself to get caught up in the emotions just yet. Not if she wanted to take care of her love.
It only took a few moments of Rose guiding Sarah, a quick elevator ride, and a question to an orderly to find Jack's room in the ICU. Granted, the whole ward smelled like death, and ar a certain point, it would be easier to ST jack and place him in a new body for the time being, letting the broken one heal until it was ready to go into cryogenic storage. But Rose's thoughts could wait. "I've put in the paperwork to put us both on crisis leave. Neither of us is going back to work until a shrink thinks we're okay. Maybe even convinces Jack of it.."
Sarah followed as her fiance lead her to the medical floors a few floors down. As they approached the room a doctor was exiting, the sound of a crying woman inside for the few moments the pneumatic door was open. He stepped forward as the door slid closed, "Miss Ironhart, Miss Pine, I would strongly suggest keeping it brief. Mr. Pine has been stabilized, but he will need extensive recovery, possibly even physical therapy. I would suggest physiological therapy even, but he has made it clear in his medical file not to do so. He has suffered several puncture wounds to his right side, one puncturing his lung. His hand on the same side has received a very deep stab wound from glass. Two .455 caliber bullet wounds, through the left shoulder and left thigh, two approximately 12 guaged sized slugs to his abdomen, all went clean through. Several fractures, lacerations, and bruises. Surgery was successfully performed, taking care of the internal bleeding, and sealed up his open wounds. Meds have been administered, and he is currently not conscious." The doctor read off from his pad, showing x-rays and photos as he went.
Sarah's breath caught in her throat as the list of injuries went on.
Rose simply felt her eyes narrow as she put her arm around Sarah's waist. "Thank you, Doctor. He's a tough bastard. I trust that with your help, he'll be back on his feet in no time. May we see him?"
"Yes, be aware that Mrs. Pine is currently in there as well. Feel free to enter when ready."the doctor answered as he walked passed and away.
"You ready, Sarah? We can come back, later." Grabbing the door handle, Rose wasn't entirely sure she was ready to see her boss that badly wounded.
"No I need to see, I've had refused to see him most of my life, and I am not about to restart now." Sarah said putting a hand atop Rose's, urging her to activate the pneumatic door.
With a small motion, Rose triggered the door. "Please tell me we're still on for Love Day. I could really use some good news with this shitstorm."
Sarah perked up slightly, "definitely."
One of the ST technicians walked towards the cryo pod leaned against the nearest wall, motioning for the group to step aside, especially the reluctant Sarah "Ma'am, please stand back as we lower the pod."
As the tech said this one of the cylinder like pods lining the walls with machinery attached to the back that held a different person in each, began to slide from an up right position to a laying position as it slid along a curved track running across a the floor and up the wall behind the pod. It would stop with a slight jerk with the glass now beginning to unfog as the contents reached room temperature.
"Activate transfer, in three....two.....one." another tech counted down, the sound of a hum followed by the thump of a defibulator followed, the body within jerking as electricity coursed through. As the fog fully disappeared and the hum stopped. The pod's identifier read Sarah Pine. Wires pulled taught as the hemlet was winched away, and an arm with a round black pad that had been held to her chest would lift and rotate out of the way as the round glass canopy slid open.
It would be a few moments before the raven haired figure within would blink groggily, her first breaths blowing the chilled fog from around her face. Eyes of piercing blue opened slowly as the mind behind them recognized the chill of cryogenics and slowly stretched, her hands keeping away from the edges almost out of habit. But this had happened before, and the Brunette standing at the edge of the pod remembered when that was her waking up.
"Sarah? What's going on?" She pushed herself upright, looking around herself to try to figure out where she was. "I... I don't remember the mission. I remember the ST right before it, but..."
"Um, you died." Sarah said before she threw her arms around The Doppleganger. It was evident that she had been crying.
"Died? What? But I'm right here... Oh, sweetie..." Thorn's arms wrapped around Sarah's shoulders as she drew her in close. It was hard to not note that her arms seemed too long. A quick turn of her wrist revealed no datapad embedded, let alone the series of scars up her arm.
"This... This is not my arm." A quick pull at the hair brought it into her field of vision, distinctly not her color. "Not my... Sarah, whose body am I in?"
"Mine, because we hadn't had the time to create a proper body and yours was... we couldn't recover it." Sarah gave with a slight sob.
"Oh." All she could really say, considering the situation. Looking down momentarily, she noticed her nudity and blushed slightly. "It's kind of cold in this pod. Any chance..."
"Yeah I'll grab some of my clothes I brought for you." Sarah said walking off momentarily before returning with a T-shirt and jeans.
"Considering I'm waking up in here, probably means I did something dumb." Thorn looked away, noting the growths on her chest before flushing and directing her eyes up. The shirt went on first before she scooted out of the cryo bed and pulled the jeans up to her new hips, trying and failing to see over the her breasts to clasp the pod's sides. "I'm sorry I screwed up."
"I should have stayed with you. I should have been there." Sarah said as she waited before wrapping her arms around Thorn again after she had finished dressing.
"No, good chance more people would have died if you'd been the one staying behind. I should have stayed in the lab." Thorn's arms came up under Sarah as she rubbed the other woman's back. "I might want to take some time to get used to this. Everything's short."
"That's because you're 6'2 of beautifulness." Sarah said with slight soft chuckle and an even softer smile.
"So... No more piggyback rides?" Thorn pouted, her brow furrowing as one of her eyebrows started lifting up. "I mean, I never quite thought I'd be... Well, in you quite like this."
"Sadly not for the time being at least. Besides you're still with me even if I'm not around" sarah said with another laugh.
"You splurged for sensory sharing?" Thorn joked, her eyes brightening as the chlildlike grin spread across her lover's features. At least until she stood up and stretched again, hearing her back give a loud pop, and she took a step, the changes in her center of balance throwing her for a loop as it seemed to try to put her flat. Worse, every time she corrected, the mass of breast didn't, countering her intended action. "How do you walk with these?!"
Sarah giggled for a moment, "Walk with a swish to your hips. It offsets the weight difference." she said trying hard not to laugh as she put her hands on Thorn's shoulders to keep her steady.
"Am I the only one who thinks this whole loaner body... Wait, how did I die bad enough that you can't stick me in a healer tank and I can be my old self in a few hours? Or have a spare ready to go... Ish?" Thorn held on to the side of the tank as she took a few cautious steps.
"um, three grenades to the face." Sarah said a little sheepishly.
"That sounds like me. C'm'ere. I'll try to not do that again." Drawing Sarah into a hug, she decided better than to ask many more questions.
"So is this incest, having your girlfriend in your spare body?" a technician had asked the question as he walked by, and Thorn immediately raised a middle finger to his laughter.
"Ignore him, he's an ass. Though that was clever I will admit." Sarah said gently pushing the flipped bird down as she held Thorn.
"Sometimes easier said than done." Thorn gave a slight huff. "So how long are we going to be able to swap for each other when one of us doesn't want to do something?"
"ha ha, not needed. Besides there is another ass that needs your attention, mine. So, now we need to figure out what to do with you."
"Other than healthy exploration of your own body?" Grabbing a handful of Sarah's butt, Thorn grinned. "Wow, your sense of touch is a lot more sensitive than mine was."
Come to think of it, everything seemed brighter and clearer, as though Sarah's eyes were better, which wouldn't be surprising, considering the damage Thorn's had taken over the years. She could also hear on her left side, sharper than normal. "Sensory alone's gonna take some getting used to. How long was I out and what's going on with my body?"
"Um, your body is in the morgue for processing, and about twenty hours." Sarah said sheepishly at the mention of Thorn's broken body.
"Considering they're gonna be building me a new one more likely than not, ... They didn't know about the growth inhibitor, did they?" With Sarah's sheepish demeanor noted, Thorn pulled her tighter into a hug. "This is gonna be weird for a while."
"Damn straight. But I'm happy your back, don't ever make me have to go through that again. I was the first one there, and.....you died in my arms. Next time, we are getting you better gear, better body, and an escort. Me being escort." Sarah said hugging Thorn tighter as she spoke, her face buried in Thorn's shoulder.
"I promise, I will never die on you again. I never got really trained for the Revenant and that was so far outside of my usual operating mode I'm surprised I didn't get anyone else killed. I'll get trained up on the power armor and I'll stick to long range cyber support, okay? I don't..." Her voice trailed off as she considered what to say. She ran a hand up into Sarah's hair and started massaging the scalp before continuing. "I don't want to see you crying. It hurts to see that."
Sarah unburied her face to look Thorn in the eye as if searching for something a moment before kissing her deeply, feeling Thorn lean into the kiss and pull her tight.
Thorn felt odd, being a doppelganger of the woman who cried for her, even if some part of Thorn knew it was only temporary. Breaking the kiss to breathe, Thorn's forhead met Sarah's, her eyes still closed. "I'm sorry. I'll never leave you like that again."
"Damn right, and I didn't even get to get payback either on the bastard who shot you. But, I am never letting you go anywhere without me, and I'll get duct tape if I need to and tape myself to you." Sarah said bringing her hands up to cradle Thorn's face.
Thorn's expresion suddenly turned sheepish and fearful and she stiffened slightly at the command, even knowing that Sarah was saying it out of worry and care. "Please don't. I love you to pieces, but please don't."
"Alright, just don't be reckless from now on. That's Jack's job after all. Now how about we get that new body some food?" Sarah said placing her forehead to Thorn's before taking her hand to lead her to the elevator.
"I was wondering why my stomach felt weird..." Thorn's voice trailed off as she let Sarah pull her away.
"I must have drank too much last night..." The cyborg groaned. As if the chewing out from Jack wasn't enough, his hangover had just begun to catch up with him. The Neera incident the same day as Thorn's death must have been quite a bit for the boss to take in, and in both cases, Beaumont had failed to accomplish what he had been told to do - that is, keep the fluffy one a secret and the short one alive. Could one really blame him for putting his false liver to good use? His gaze just so happen to catch on to the two Sarahs exiting the Cryo chamber as he made his way towards his lab. "...I'm seeing doubl- wait... wait..." He lifts a finger, letting his thoughts collect. "Riiight" He murmurs as his hand lowers. He remembers the memo he had received, informing him that until he finishes with what had been cleverly named "Project Rose" that Thorn's consiousness would be inhabiting a backup of Sarah's. Issue is, it's going to be one pain in the neck to deal with putting that body back into freeze.
He pulled himself from his seat and approached the two, deciding to do his job for a change. He lifted up his wristwatch, holding it in front of him and stepping out in front of Thorn. "Alright, whichever one of you is the brat, raise your arms to each side and say 'Aaah.' I gotta run some diagnostics to make sure the ST transfer isn't going to be harmful to either the body or the user." There were a few button presses. Interesting how detached he was even after the incident, where even he broke down violently from his failure to resuscitate Thorn.
"What, I can't just have an identical twin? Hunger waits for no one doc!" Thorn's declaration was an attempt at hiding that this was new and mildly terrifying for her. Though she did lean over to ask Sarah if that was, in fact what she was feeeling.
He'd look to the one leaning over and press a few buttons on his wrist to activate the scanner. There are a couple blinks from the edge of it, and the scan would be complete. A 3D model of Sarah's form would appear on the holographic projector. "Let's see here..." He scratches the side of his head for a second, eyeing over all of the data and pressing a few keys on the holo-keyboard. "Don't seem to be any flaws in integration. That's gonna make things easy when yanking you outta there. Vitals are good. Condition is good. Jack really knows how to hire them Cryo-engineers because you seem to check out. By the way, work on your Sarah impresstion a little bit before you see Jack if you wanna try pulling that prank. I don't know her very well, but I get the feeling she wouldn't pull that kind of stunt on me in a situation as important as a bioscan." He lowers his arm. "I'll leave you two to get the food while I go and plug this data into my computer."
That was then......
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NOW
Rose let her eyes close as she sat down. Her eyes were red and puffy, cheeks still wet from her last bout with her emotions as she sat down the edge of the ST pod. "I said I'd train up. Said I wouldn't leave you like that again. I'm sorry I couldn't... This is my fault."
The technician signaled that the process would soon complete.
A defib unit could be heard discharging as the ST head cradle retracted, soon leading to a soft hiss prior to the pods transparent two hatches to part.
Sarah sat up slowly in a groggy manner like someone coming out of a deep sleep. After fully sitting up, she looked around lazily.
"Hey," was all Rose could manage at the moment, reaching down to haul a backpack into the pod. "Sorry, you're finally up. Her voice seemed distant, and her tone apologetic. "I brought some clothes. What's the last thing you remember?"
Sarah looked at Rose immediately as she spoke, "Rose, oh hey, what did I......"Sarah's voice trailed of as her expression took on a look of pure confusion. Something was....off, missing, but what it was either just didn't connect, or didn't want to. Sarah looked down at her midsection and placed her hands to her stomach, her eyes began to suddenly grow wide as tears began to stream. A shrill cry was heard as she wrapped her arms around herself as she leaned forward and drew her legs up, "WHERE ARE MY BABIES?!"
Rose slumped, her heart skipping a beat at Sarah's cry. Her eyes welled again as her breath hitched and she drew a hand up to her mouth. "You... He murdered you. I couldn't... I'm sorry. When you died, we couldn't save the twins."
"No no no no no no no, not my...." Sarah trailed as she began to sob fully pulling her legs tight to her chest.
"Sarah, ow..." the stitches on Rose's shoulder tore as she turned and wrapped an arm around her love's neck. A gentle tug drew Sarah's forehead to her bosom as a red stain started to grow around the wound in Rose's shoulder. "You still have one, babe. I'm sorry, it hurts, and it hurts to see you cry. It's my fault..."
"That bastard killed my babies......I wasn't able to protect them or my family. How many more did I fail. How many more dead?" Sarah managed through her sobs as Rose placed an arm around her.
"It wasn't you. If I had moved faster and put my knife in him right... Our children would still be two months away." Rose pulled Sarah tighter, her free hand opening the backpack and pull a box of tissues out. Electing to not tell Sarah that Jack was in the hospital and a few others with him, she debated her next words. Emotions could be bottled, and mourning could wait until her love could smile. Beginning to rock gently, she continued, "It wasn't you. I... Bob told me I was in a blood rage when he and Creature saved us."
"How many Rose?! How many." Sarah asked again, unable to let go. She gripped the front of Rose's shirt, pulling herself up some to look her in the face with eyes red with heavy crying, face still wet with tears. Her expression was of sorrow and despair, her free hand still clutching at a baby bump that was no longer there.
"How many more?" She whispered.
Rose looked down and and away. Her hand deposited the box of tissues to Sarah's lap and grabbed her hand. "Carl's in the recovery ward. Broke his leg in the drop for Alamo Protocol."
Hesitating, she continued. "Jeanne will be coming out of one of these tubes in a few hours. She got caught with shrapnel during the firefight. Jack's in the ICU. Amit's missing. I'm supposed to be in recovery. That's all I know. That's just what I heard when I woke up. I'm sorry."
Sarah slumped against Rose's chest, the fight now completely gone. She looked down at her fiance's midsection where she knew another child developed. Sarah ran a hand over Rose's stomach gently, trying to take some comfort in this knowledge. "Is Isabelle....is she and the twins...ok?" Sarah asked listening to Rose's heart beat.
Rose gave a small shadow of a laugh. "Isabelle's tougher than me. She's fine. Okay, freaking the fuck out that Jack's hurt and Amit's not where she can check on him." placing a hand over Sarah's, she smiled gently. "Our daughter's okay, too. Next time, I'm putting triplets in you."
"I hope they find Amit soon, did he get separated after running from the house?" Sarah asked thinking of her nephew.
"I don't know what happened. Everything gets fuzzy after I hit the wall. I don't remember anything after he killed you. Nobody's told me what happened with Amit." sure, she was lying, but Sarah didn't need that stress right now. "Come on. You need water. And clothes. This pod's still cold. I was the last person in that body and it went into the pod hungry. Also you have brat sharpied across your ass."
Sarah moved to she swing her legs off the table as she tried to stand up a little unsteady, but paused briefly at Rose's words. "That's only because it wants everything. Who was the genius holding the marker." Sarah tried to give with a forced smile as she asked. Her tears had stopped, but only because she had nothing left to cry with.
"You were. So people could tell us apart for the weird week." Rose stood up after Sarah, watching carefully, considering that body was about fifteen pounds underweight for her normal. Reaching into the backpack, Rose drew her ffiancé's favorite shirt out and held it up. "Won't be much, but you'll feel better after food, okay?"
"I don't really want food right now. But yeah I could use some clothes." Sarah said lowering her gaze.
"I just want to go see my brother, then go home." She added as she put the shirt on.
"Don't make me put you on those IV nutrients my sister lives on." Truth be told, Rose didn't want to go home. The crime scene tape was still up across what was left Jack's door(and the what was left of the house in general), and she hadn't mentioned how Jimmy and John were awake already after being murdered in their own home. "Sarah, sweetie... Jack should be awake soon. Let's get up there. I'll summon the car."
Sarah nodded slowly as she pulled a pair of pants and shoes out of the bag and slipped them on. Rose gave a warm, reassuring smile as she offered Sarah a hand up. The movement pulled at her shoulder, and she spared the red splotch on her shirt a glance. A quick note to self covered that the stab wound felt better than seeing Sarah this dejected. She couldn't allow herself to get caught up in the emotions just yet. Not if she wanted to take care of her love.
It only took a few moments of Rose guiding Sarah, a quick elevator ride, and a question to an orderly to find Jack's room in the ICU. Granted, the whole ward smelled like death, and ar a certain point, it would be easier to ST jack and place him in a new body for the time being, letting the broken one heal until it was ready to go into cryogenic storage. But Rose's thoughts could wait. "I've put in the paperwork to put us both on crisis leave. Neither of us is going back to work until a shrink thinks we're okay. Maybe even convinces Jack of it.."
Sarah followed as her fiance lead her to the medical floors a few floors down. As they approached the room a doctor was exiting, the sound of a crying woman inside for the few moments the pneumatic door was open. He stepped forward as the door slid closed, "Miss Ironhart, Miss Pine, I would strongly suggest keeping it brief. Mr. Pine has been stabilized, but he will need extensive recovery, possibly even physical therapy. I would suggest physiological therapy even, but he has made it clear in his medical file not to do so. He has suffered several puncture wounds to his right side, one puncturing his lung. His hand on the same side has received a very deep stab wound from glass. Two .455 caliber bullet wounds, through the left shoulder and left thigh, two approximately 12 guaged sized slugs to his abdomen, all went clean through. Several fractures, lacerations, and bruises. Surgery was successfully performed, taking care of the internal bleeding, and sealed up his open wounds. Meds have been administered, and he is currently not conscious." The doctor read off from his pad, showing x-rays and photos as he went.
Sarah's breath caught in her throat as the list of injuries went on.
Rose simply felt her eyes narrow as she put her arm around Sarah's waist. "Thank you, Doctor. He's a tough bastard. I trust that with your help, he'll be back on his feet in no time. May we see him?"
"Yes, be aware that Mrs. Pine is currently in there as well. Feel free to enter when ready."the doctor answered as he walked passed and away.
"You ready, Sarah? We can come back, later." Grabbing the door handle, Rose wasn't entirely sure she was ready to see her boss that badly wounded.
"No I need to see, I've had refused to see him most of my life, and I am not about to restart now." Sarah said putting a hand atop Rose's, urging her to activate the pneumatic door.
With a small motion, Rose triggered the door. "Please tell me we're still on for Love Day. I could really use some good news with this shitstorm."
Sarah perked up slightly, "definitely."
