"It's going to be difficult getting you back on schedule after all this. Especially after you insisted we delete the footage from your sneaker ad. Care to actually give me a reason for that now, or are we just going to pretend it wasn't weird?"
Amy stares out the speeding car's window, trying to keep the contents of her stomach where it's meant to be. The moment that Anna arrived, Amy recognized her from Colasa-con. She had been following Starling around and taking all her pictures with her fans. She was clearly knowledgeable about Starling's life and the goings-on of the hero world, but after her endless rambling had continued through multiple city blocks worth of driving, she had given up on paying attention.
"Starling, Starling. Are you awake?" A hand jostles Amy's shoulder, and she turns to see the woman looking at her.
"Yes! What do you need?" Amy Asks, exasperated as the ringing in her ears begins to return. She had been grumpy even when it started to fade, but its return only worsened her mood.
"I asked you a question," Anna replies patiently.
"Well, I clearly didn't hear you, so what don't you ask again." Amy snaps, falling back against her car seat's headrest with a thump.
Anna looks at Amy worriedly and speeds up the car, which had already been well over the speed limit before then.
"You really don't need to be going this fast!" Amy says, squeezing her eyes shut and grabbing her stomach as they fly through a sharp turn.
"Sorry, sorry. You're just really worrying me." Anna slows down ever so slightly but the car still hustles down the road a good twenty miles above the speed limit. The mind-numbingly early time ensures that there's no one on the road, not that Amy would feel much guilt if they hit anyone, but she really doesn't feel like dying in a car crash while on the way to the hospital. Especially not while stuck in Starling's body.
"In one mile, turn onto Ford Line to arrive at your destination." A monotone voice call's out over the car's speakers.
"Can we take this turn extra slowly, please? I almost lost my stomach at the last one."
"Of coarce, Of coarce. Sorry again." The car slows down considerably, presumably to the speed limit though Amy doesn't have the energy to lift her head and wait for a sign to pass so she can check. It crosses Amy's mind that she should probably be a little kinder to fit the role, maybe even give Anna some cheesy apology for benign so snappy. Before she can convince herself to go through with it, the woman beside her lets out a string of curses and swerves to the side of the road, parking the car behind a tree.
"What? What's wrong?" Amy sits up and looks around frantically.
"How did they even find us?" Anna mumbles under her breath before turning to Amy and speaking to her in an average volume. "The crew's here. Do you feel up for being filmed?" After a second, Amy spots a white Van with 'Catching up with the heroes' plastered on one side parked in front of a small Urgent Care-like building.
"Absolutely not!"
"Ok." Anna pulls her phone off the dashboard of her car and begins franticly scrolling and typing on it. "There's a much bigger medical center about twenty minutes down the highway from here. Do you think you can make it that long?"
"Anythings better than being filmed right now."
"You're the one who signed the five-year contract with them. I told you to go for the shorter one, but you just had to get the better-paying one." Amy mindlessly agrees with Anna trying not to think too much about her words. "Duck down in your seat." Amy complies as the car begins to crawl forward. Amy passes the time staring at the revolving LEDs on Starling's shoes till Anna announces they're in the clear. "I don't think they noticed us. They're probably still in the van getting their cameras and mics set up.
"How long do you think it will take them to realize we're not heading there anymore?"
"No Idea. I'm not even sure how they found out we were heading there in the first place. Did you call anyone else?"
"No, just you. Were you with anyone when I called you?"
"Just Linda, but she wouldn't tell them; she knows how much you hate being followed by them. Plus, I rushed out of our hotel room so quickly that I didn't even tell her what was happening."
"Right." Amy mumbles, Making a mental note to ask Starling who Linda is later.
"Did you tell anyone you were going to the junkyard?"
"Ummm..." Amy panics, unsure if Starling had or not. "I'm not sure; my memory is kind of murky. I don't think so though." Anna looks at Amy worriedly. The same worried look that had crossed her face each time she had previously sped up "You better not start speeding again."
"Right, sorry."
"How about you stop apologizing and just stop speeding!"
"Ok, Sor..." Anna stops herself and looks over at Amy. Hurt, worry, and guilt swirl through her eyes. The constant looks are beginning to get on Amy's nerves, and it only worsens as an acquired silence elapses. Every few seconds or so, Anna pulls her eyes away from the road to look at who she thinks is Starling, not helping the annoyance mounting in Amy's chest or her feeling of unease about sitting next to someone who thinks they know her, but she has no idea who is. Anna opens her mouth to say something, but the sound of her phone ringing reverberates through the car from the speakers. With a look of relief, Anna hits the button on her center console to pick up the call. Before she can say anything, the person on the other end of the call begins talking rapidly and loudly. Amy flinches away from the speaker placed next to her right ear.
"What on earth is going on, Anna!? You get a call in the middle of the night from some random person and run out of the house without a word to me! Now I'm getting calls from the director of that stupid superhero show asking what hospital you're at! How did they get my number in the first place! And why are you at a hospital?"
"I'm fine, Linda. Starling got into an accident, and she's not up to being filmed. We're heading to a hospital out of our way to avoid the filming crew. I'm sorry they're bothering you. I'll talk to them when this all blows over"
When Anna had first arrived, Amy had wondered why she was chosen to be Starling's manager because she seemed so absent-minded, constantly jumping from one thing to another as she herded Amy into the car. Hearing how easily she brushes aside the other person's (Linda) worries, it's clear to Amy why she had been chosen for the role. She had been able to ease their concerns without giving away too much information.
"Ok. Be Careful... Oh! Don't Speed!" Amy lets out a chuckle at Linda's words.
"Starling's already reprimanded me for that multiple times. You know me so well."
"That's why you love me."
"That and your cooking." Amy sinks into her chair. The conversation taking place next to her feels too personal. She almost feels guilty for listening in on it.
"Speaking of which, will you be back at the hotel for breakfast, or should I bring some for you and Starling to the hospital?" Linda says.
"I'll probably stay with Starling in the hospital overnight, so I won't be back for a while. It's not a good idea for you to come to the hospital, though. If the film crew is harassing you with calls, I wouldn't put it past them to follow you as well."
"Ok, I'll put some in the fridge for you and Starling in case you can make it back to the hotel and want something to warm up. I... they're calling me again. What should I tell them?"
"Say I ran out in the middle of the night, and you haven't seen me since. If they keep bugging you, make up an excuse about the baby."
"Ok. Love you, see you soon."
"See ya." The call cuts off as they pull into the parking lot of an actual hospital, not urgent care like last time. Anna removes her phone from the cable attached to the car's dashboard and tucks it into her coat pocket. "This is much better."
"How long do you think it will take them to figure out I'm here?" Amy asks apprehensively.
"The Crew? A day or two. I think I'll have someone drive this car to another hospital an hour or two away to throw them off course. Right now, we need to get focus on getting you inside. Do you think you can walk inside on your own while I park, or do you need help?" As much as Amy hates to admit it, she can barely sit up, let alone walk.
"I'm going to need help."
"Ok, give me a minute to find a parking spot; it's really packed." Amy tilts her head up from its slumped position. She notices an open spot next to the hospital with a blurry blue sign over it. Whether the sign is poorly printed or if her vision is just getting worse is unclear to her.
"What about that one?"
"I'm not taking an accessibility parking spot, Startling. They're reserved for a reason." Anna says as she turns to drive down another line of filled parking spots.
"So speeding is fine but taking the accessible parking spot is unbelievable," Amy says, rolling her head to look at Anna. The woman's eyes continue scanning the parking lot as she responds.
"I wasn't speeding that much, plus it's the last accessible spot."
"You were going fast enough to kill us on impact if we hit anything." Before Anna is forced to respond, someone a few feet away from them pulls out of their parking spot, and she rushes over to take it before one of the cars they had driven past during their circling could notice it.
"This is pretty far from the entrance," Amy remarks as she unbuckles her seatbelt.
"Ya, but it's in the dead middle of the parking lot. If the filming crew drives by looking for my car before I can get it moved, they'll be less likely to see it."
"I guess." As Anna presses the button to turn off the car, Amy opens her door and tips forward, tumbling out of the vehicle towards the asphalt. At the last second, she catches herself on the side of the car parked next to them. Her muscles nearly give out when she attempts to push herself up again sending her an inch closer to the pavement. She locks her elbows again and resigns herself to her current circumstance. "A little help, please!"
Anna turns to look at Amy and jumps in her seat. "Oh my gosh, I'm coming!" When Anna jumps out of the car, she slams her door. The impact rocks the car and sends Amy sliding closer to the ground. Amy's shout mixes with the sound of her hands screeching down the shiny side of the car she's leaning on, leaving oily hand prints in their wake.
"I gotch ya." Strong arms wrap around her from behind and lift her up. Her arms flail in the air as her body is rotated to be vertical. Her head continues to spin even once her feet are solidly placed on the ground, so she leans on Anna. She takes a shaky breath to fill her lungs; she hadn't even realized she's been holding her breath "Are you ok?'
"Mhm." Amy lets out a strangled response as she stares at the blurry image of her smeared handprints on the other car. Amy tries to regain some of her independence; she moves to lean on Anna's car instead of the woman. Her eyes widen when she begins falling through the door frame. She had forgotten she left it open. She barely catches herself on the outer edge of the door. Her vision is so clouded that when Anna reaches down to pull her up again, all she can see of the older woman is a blurry outline. Amy tenses up, realizing how truly vulnerable she is.
"It's ok, Starling. Give me your arm. I'll walk you to the door and then grab you a wheelchair.
Amy allows her left arm to go limp so that Anna can throw it over her shoulder and take most of her weight off her weak legs. "If you were just going to stick me in a wheelchair, why didn't we just use the wheelchair parking spot?" Amy quips to distract herself as they begin moving toward the front door of the hospital.
"Ha, ha. Very funny. Let's get you inside." Amy's feet drag on the ground as Anna shoulders eighty percent of her weight as they begin the long trek towards the entrance to the hospital. Amy's vision gets clearer with each step, but her head and shoulder start to ack.
A harsh red glow acoustics Amy's eyes, and she looks up to see the hospital in front of them. She's about to let her head fall back against her chest when she notices that the final accessible parking spot she had bugged Anna about taking has been filled. Guilt washes over her when she sees a wheelchair sliding down a ramp on the side of the car, taking up the spot. A person standing next to the vehicle, likely helping the person in the wheelchair, looks up and gasps.
"Oh my gosh! Do you two need help?" Before Amy's head lulls to the side, she sees the person in the wheelchair looking up at her.
"Yes, please." A strangled call comes from Anna.
"Will you be ok for a second? I'll call Nurse Joyce to come to help you the rest of the way inside once I've helped these people." The woman says to the one in the wheelchair. After a second, the sound of feet smacking against the ground reverberates against the side of the hospital.
"I'm nurse Melony. How can I help you?" Amy's right arm is lifted up, and some of her weight is transferred onto it, reducing the pain in her left, if only minusculely. She looks at the figure on her right side and sees a pair of dark green scrubs.
"I got a call from her about an hour and a half ago asking me to pick her up and bring her to the hospital. She says she has a concussion."
"Ok," The cool breeze of a pair of sliding doors rushes past Amy chilling a sheen of sweat she hadn't even realized had developed on her brow, bringing her some comfort as fluorescent lightbulbs burn her retinas despite her closed eyelids.
"Joyce, Mr. Yang needs your help getting in. Lily, get me a wheelchair. Natalie, which rooms are open for a patient? Rick call DR. Bennet and tell her to quickly finish her rounds and then head to whichever room I put this patient in. Amy cringes away from the shouting on her right side and focuses on the quieter voices around her.
"Is That Starling?"
"What on earth happened to her?"
"Do you think it's safe around here?"
"Do you think theirs a supper villain nearby?" Amy chuckles at the final comment and opens her eyes to see who made it but quickly closes them again.
"Rooms J32 and C18 have unoccupied beds. J is a shared quarters room, and C is completely empty."
"Ok, Perfect. Tell DR. Bennett that we'll be in J32. I have a feeling this is going to need a little privacy." As Anna muttered a thank you, whether it be for the private room or for the wheelchair, Amy feels herself being lowered into is unclear.
"Do you know what happened?" Nurse Melony asks as Amy feels another breeze on her skin as she is wheeled down a hallway.
"She said something about investigating an explosion."
"Starling, can you tell me what happened to you?" A firm hand grips Amy's shoulder, and she squeezes her eyes open to look at Nurse Melony.
"I got hit by some kind of blast and then fell backward and hit my head. I passed out, but I don't know for how long." Despite Amy's blurry vision, the look of worry is evident on Nurse Melony's face. Amy closes her eyes and lets her head fall onto her chest again as they make a stomach-churning turn.
"Starling, I need you to stay awake right now!" The hand on her shoulder lightly shakes her, and she reluctantly lifts her head.
"I'm awake. My head just feels really heavy."
"Ok. Has she had any other symptoms?"
"Her memory seems to be a bit wonky; she keeps complaining about her head hurting, she's more irritable than usual, and she can't hold her own weight. She's taking longer to answer questions, and she can't stand on her own... I guess that last one's pretty obvious, though."
"Can you think of anything else, Starling?" The hand on her shoulder tightens in a quick squeeze, and Amy tries to pull away from it.
"My head's killing me, My ears keep ringing on and off, I'm super tired, the lights hurt, and my vision keeps wigging out. Basically, everything sucks." As Amy finishes talking, the wheelchair turns to the left and then screeches to a stop. The quick turn and sudden stop send her stomach and head spinning and almost thrones her to the ground, the hand on her shoulder the only thing keeping her in place. Melony Eases her back into the chair, and Amy slumps down.
"I'm sorry about the quick turn. We're in your room now. We need to move you out of the wheelchair and into the bed. Is that ok?"
"Give me a second. I have a feeling you two don't want to be cleaning up my vomit." Amy pushes her arm against the wheelchair's armrest to ground herself and takes a few deep breaths to push down the bile rising in her throught.
"So you're feeling nauseous too?"
"Ya, I guess."
"Ok, are you ready?"
"For what?" Amy asks, forcing her eyes to open and stay open so she can look at Nurse Melony skeptically.
"To be moved to the bed." Anna and Melony Joyce share a concerned look, but Amy can't figure out why.
"Shur. Just be careful."
"Of course." Nurse Melony looks over Amy's shoulder to Anna. "Can you help me move her?" Amy doesn't hear a reply from Anna, but Nurse Melony nods as if she had. "Ok. I'll take her arms, and you take her legs." Nurse Melony and Anna move into position. "1...2...3." Amy's hauled out of the wheelchair, and all her weight is shifted back to her already aching shoulders. "Be careful, don't step onto that cord." Panic courses through Amy as she dangles helplessly in the air until her back sinks into a surprisingly soft hospital bed.
"Nurse Melony," A new voice calls from the doorway, "Rick paged me and said I needed to head here to check on a 'special' patient. What on earth could he mean by... Oh my gosh." Amy looks over to see a woman with grayed hair standing frozen in the doorframe of her new room. "Is that..."
"Yes!" Anna cuts the woman off. "We're trying to keep this on the down low, so we don't have people swarming this place. I can't imagine that would be optimal for the hospital."
"Of course, Mam." The woman composes herself, straightens her coat, and closes the door behind her as she walks into the room. "My name's Doctor Bennet. Why don't you tell me what happened to get you in here?"
After Amy doesn't respond for a second, Nurse Melony cuts in. "She hit her head. Her symptoms are nausea, dizziness, drowsiness, headaches, irritability, weakness, ringing ears, sensitive eyes, blurry vision, and mental sluggishness. She also says she was unconscious for an unknown amount of time after the initial impact."
"Ok. Why don't you Page Natalie and ask her to pull up this young lady's medical history? Tell her to send down any previous sports physicals and concussion screenings she finds as soon as possible."
"Yes, DR." Nurse Melony jogs over to the corner of the room and pulls a device similar to a flip phone out of her belt.
"Get settled in, sweetheart." The Doctor says as she walks over to Amy's side, grabbing a clipboard from the side of her bed as she goes. "I'm going to shine a light in your eyes to check your pupal dilation; try to keep them open for me." Amy slightly flinches away from the light but keeps her eyes open as the Doctor told her to. After a second, the Doctor clicks off the light and tucks it into a belt just like nurse melony's. "I'm going to ask you some questions. Is that ok?"
"Ya." Amy mumbles.
The Doctor steps back to stand at the foot of the beg again. "Alright, What's your full name?" Amy freezes. Even with a concussion, she feels like most people could remember their own names. She can remember her own, but she has no idea what Starling's real name is. If she can't answer the questions, it could skew the results.
"Could we maybe skip or modify this question? Secret identity and all." Amy looks over at Anna, relieved.
"Oh," A look of surprise passes over the Doctor's face again before she composes herself. "Of course." She pauses for a second and writes something on her clipboard. "Ok, how about this one: What is your superhero Alias?" The Doctor looks at her expectantly. Amy roams her eyes back and forth, trying to find any clues to fill the blank her brain is pulling up. She has no idea what alias means or is.
"My Alias?" Amy asks to search for context clues. Had the Doctor moved on to the next question on changed the original?
"Yes." The Doctor deadpans, giving Amy nothing else to work with. After another moment of silence, Amy relents.
"Could you use smaller words?"
"Sorry, yes... What is your superhero name?" The Doctor makes another note on her clipboard.
"Starling."
"Perfect. What's your address?"
"Could we..." Anna stands, presumably asking the Doctor to make a substitution for this question as well, but Amy interrupts her.
"No idea." If Amy couldn't remember her address, it makes sense that Starling would have forgotten hers as well if they had not swapped.
"Ok." The Doctor scribbles yet another note on her clipboard and moves on to another question, "What's the date?" Amy confidently opens her mouth to answer but draws a blank. She should definitely know this one.
"Can I use my phone?'
"No." The Doctor jots down another note, not giving Amy any more time to think. The repetition of asking questions and writing notes begins to bore Amy, so she starts looking around the room to entertain herself. "Can you at least tell me what day of the week it is?"
"Wend..." Amy begins but stops and looks at the clock in the corner. She had left the house at eleven o'clock on Wednesday, but the clock had already turned over to indicate another day. "Wait. It's already Thursday."
The Doctor sends Amy a kind, warm smile. "Yes, great job. Now can you tell me the days of the week backward, starting with today?"
"Thursday, Wednesday, Tuesday, Monday..." Amy blanks for a second but quickly starts again. "Sunday, Saturday, Friday." As the Doctor pauses to write more on her clipboard, Amy inspects a poster on the wall with anthropomorphized food reminding patients to stay healthy.
"Alright, one more question: What's 28746 backward.?" Amy looks over to the Doctor, only hearing the last bit of her question.
"Sorry, could you repeat that I wasn't paying attention?"
"What's 34786 backward?" Amy swears the original list of numbers was different but answers the Doctor anyway.
"68473."
"Ok, let's move on to physical tests." Amy slumps even further into her bed. When the Doctor said she had only one more question, Amy assumed she meant they were done with everything. Not just one section.
"I want you to hold your arms at your sides like so..." The Doctor waits for Amy to copy her before continuing. "And alternate each one touching your nose while still looking at me." Amy obliges, missing most of her attempts. After about thirty seconds, the Doctor motions for her to stop, and she lowers her arms to her side. Despite the short duration of the exercise, they are already exhausted. "Thank you. Normally I would conduct a few more physical tests, but from what I've heard, you are not super stable on your feet. I might do a few more once I get a previous concussion screening, but for now, you can get some sleep. Nurse Melony will be in this hall and come to check on you every hour or so." Amy nods at her, not wanting to use any unnecessary energy speaking.
"Thank you so much, Dr. Bennet!" Anna says, stepping forward and reaching out to shake Doctor Bennet's hand. "I'm sorry for all the commotion."
"Nothing we're not used to; you don't go into the medical field for a slow-paced life." Anna chuckles along with the Doctor and follows her toward the door.
"I'm really sorry to have to take even more of your time, but could we talk about some of the logistics of her stay here?"
"Of course," Doctor Bennett ushers Anna outside, and nurse Melony follows them, waving to Amy as she closes the door behind her.
As soon as the door clicks shut, Amy slumps all the way down in her bed and lets out a tired sigh. She had had plenty of concussions before she was a supervillain; it came with the job, but this was worse than she had ever felt. After a second, she pulls out Starling's phone. She had registered the sound of a text coming through a couple of times in the last hour but had ignored it.
When she clicks the phone open, the screen's bright light attacks her eyes, and she slams the phone down onto the bed face down. She blinks her eyes a couple of times to clear the white blobs from her vision before shakily lifting the phone again and clicking it on while angling the screen away from her face. She turns the phone's brightness all the way down and switches to dark mode before tentatively lifting it to face her again.
A text message from the message she had added earlier pears up at her from the lock screen of the phone, reminding her of Starling's password. Amy rolls her eyes and swipes to the password screen without thoroughly reading the text. She might have a concussion, but she's not stupid. She can remember a simple string of numbers. She types in the password confidently, but the phone buzzes at her. Amy furrows her brows and tries again.
4 2 8 6
Amy pauses halfway through entering the password when she realizes the problem: She's typing her password, not Starlings. She thinks for a moment, trying to remember the unnecessarily long password Starling had told her. After a moment, she admits defeat and clicks over to look at the text Starling had sent her containing the password. The lock screen slides up to reveal the messaging app when her thumb comes into contact with the home button. Amy chuckles at the solution that feels obvious now.
Amy scans the dark green bubbles on the screen to see what Starling had sent her. After a second, she taps the bar on the bottom of the screen to allow her to send a message back.
[Surge=Eva]
[Kraniac=Vic]
[Jake and I ride bus #12]
[My class schedule should be in my binder]
[Celia is our landlady and Hartley's grandmother]
As she hits send on the last text, the door swings open, and Anna enters the room. "I got everything arranged with nurse Melony and Docter Bennet. You won't have to worry about the filming crew finding out, so just get some rest." The door clicks shut behind Anna, and the lights click off. For a second, Amy tries to stay awake but relents and allows herself to fall into a deep sleep.
A/N:
I ended up doing a lot of research for this chapter. I looked into the layout of Valley View Texas. It's pretty clear the show isn't accurate to the real Valley View, but I still wanted to get as close as I could to the real thing. I also did a bit of research on concussions (I looked at the Mayo Clinic's page on them) so hopefully, this is accurate but I'm not a doctor and I've never had a diagnosed one so who knows?
I've also been rewatching the show and taking notes on the things I notice and I'm going to try and include them in the fic.