All the Way in Battery City

Chapter Eighteen - I'm Done

"She was... dead?"

The words come out my mouth in a weird tone. How is that possible? I mean, she just opened her eyes. She couldn't have been dead.

"Yeah... I don't know how but... Anyway, she's alive right now." The perimedic says.

"Are we gonna do anything?"

"We're gonna run some tests on her. See what's up. Then you go home."

I nod and lean back. Adren looks at me normally. I half smile and massage her hand with my thumb. She smiles and closes her eyes. Her chest rises up and down normally, so I don't worry. She's alive now. That's how I want her to be. Alive.

We arrive at the hospital and hurry through the doors. The perimedics wheel her into a room and tell me to stay out. Soon, the guys arrive. They find me and ask me questions.

"What happened? Is she okay?" Frank asks.

I nod. "Yeah. But something weird happened."

"Like what?" Gerard asks.

"When we were on the way here, she was kind of unconscious. And then she opened her eyes and talked normal."

"...So?" Liz says.

"The perimedic said she was dead before she talked."

Everyone looks at me with wide eyes. I nod and look at the door to Adren's room. Suddenly, I hear her scream. Loudly. I sprint to the door and force it open, finding the doctors injecting something into her arm. Adren clutches the sheets, and her knuckles turn white. Her scream continues as they inject the liquid.

One doctor notices me standing there and tries to push me out. I refuse. "What the fuck are they doing to her!?" I say, yelling.

"They're just injecting a liquid into her system." He says.

"What kind of liquid?"

Her screams become faint, and the EKG goes dead. I stop struggling, and push him out of the way and to her bed. "Adren! No! Adren wake up!" I turn to the doctors. "What did you do?"

"Don't worry! She's just fine!" One woman said.

I was fixing to protest when the I heard the EKG come back to regular beeps. Adren gasps as she awakes. I sigh from relief. She's alive. I fall to my knees and rest my head on the metal bar on her bed. The doctors take the needle out of her arm and half of them leave. 3 stay, and start typing things on their computers.

I look up and Adren is looking at me. "What did they do to you?" I ask.

"I'm not a BLI Agent anymore." She says slowly.

"What?"

"That chemical got rid of everything that other chemical gave me. I'm not a BLI Agent anymore."

"Is this good?" I ask slowly.

"I don't know..."

I look behind me and see everyone huddled up together. I look back at Adren and stand up. "What does this mean?"

"I'm done. I can't go back. They always check me to see if I've changed. If I go back, Korse and everyone will find out I've been a lie."

I curse under my breath. We were so close to figuring this all out.

"So what do we do." I say, sitting beside her.

Adren shrugs. "I guess we just go back to our old ways of infiltrating."

"But that'll take so long, Adren."

"I know Mikey. But I'm not taking that chemical again. It's too painful."

I nod. "I know baby. I don't want you to go through it again. And I guess we can just, take a break. Just live life. We need it."

"I know. We haven't had a conversation that's not about the BLI since I've come home."

"That needs to change."

Adren smiles and takes my hand. I smile back and look into her eyes. They show little fleck of blue in the brown. It actually looks beautiful. I look towards the door and motion for everyone to come in. Grace runs in and jumps onto Adren's bed, giving her a huge hug.

"Hey Grace." Adren says, rubbing her back.

"Are you staying home?" She asks.

Adren nods. Grace smiles huge. Liz comes in and bends to hug her. Gerard and Ray pat her shoulder and smile down at her. Frank takes her hand and kiss her cheek. I don't mind. Adren turns to me and crashes her lips against mine.

I've missed this, kissing her like this. Being happy. And I know now, her happiness isn't forced. It's real.

*Adren*

~The next day~

I'm on my way home from the hospital. We're all happy that I'm no longer apart of the BLI. Even if it was just a lie. I'm staying home, never going back. It makes me so happy that I don't have to fake anything anymore.

When we arrive at the diner, I run inside. I was here the other day, sure. But this is the first day that I'm home for good. I wait until Mikey runs inside and jump into his arms, grinning from ear to ear. He spins me around the room, laughing.

Everyone else comes inside and sees us spinning. Mikey stops and puts me down, steadying me. I wrap my arms around his neck and pull him for a long kiss. Mikey slips his tongue into my mouth and massages mine. I hear everyone get grossed out and go outside. I laugh and pull away, looking into Mikey's eyes.

"I've missed you." He whispers, looking into my eyes.

"I've missed you too." I peck him on the lips and hug him tight.

I'm home. And this time, it's for good.