Virgil entered the biocontainment room, dodging equipment and plastic-covered scientists as he made his way to Maria's bed. She was lying on her side, her face turned away, coughing. He placed his hand on her exposed shoulder. She startled. His gloves were probably cold against her fevered skin. She turned and her eyes behind the glasses lit up with recognition. She managed a controlled smile, taking care lest she disturb her bruised cheeks too much.
"Hey, sweetheart," he said gently. "Do you want to come warm me up or are you comfortable there?"
She sat up immediately. He grabbed the sheet he used to prevent skin-to-plastic contact, parked himself in the recliner next to the hospital bed, and then threw the sheet over himself to cover from neck to toe. Maria sat in his lap and leaned over to rest her side in the crook of his arm, which he wrapped around her back protectively. When she coughed, he could feel the gut-wrenching strain of her muscles.
"I think we overdid it with you talking for a while," he whispered. He used his free hand to smooth a few errant strands of hair out of her face. "So I'm going to talk for a bit and you don't have to say anything, okay? There will be time for talking when you're better."
She drew a deep breath and nodded against his chest, her coughing already becoming more shallow and less frequent.
"I love you, Maria."
She obviously didn't care that he'd just told her she didn't need to talk. She croaked back, "I love you too, Virgil." cough, cough.
"Shhhh," he whispered. "Then I'm a very lucky guy. I should have said it sooner, but I didn't want you to think it was just some empty platitude that I didn't think long and hard about. It's not some whim that I'm going to get over. You're not some whim I'm going to get over." He decided to reveal just how long he'd been attracted to her, but it took a little bit of explanation. "You should know that everyone back on Tracy Island knows about your singing now—"
She started to move like she was going to sit up, possibly object. He hugged her to discourage movement. "Shhh. Be still. It's okay. Last month, no one could have paid or blackmailed Gordon and Alan enough to become the Blue Dweebs and do what they did just a little while ago. If they could do that here, then you can sing and dance whenever you want at home. You don't have to hide. I'm telling you now because I also have to confess that I've been spying on you for quite a while, way before anyone else knew—well, everyone except Kayo. Security is her job, so she keeps an eye on everything.
"Anyway, you know how Captain VonTrapp fell in love with Fraulein Maria when she sat on a pine cone at the dinner table?" She would surely understand his Sound of Music reference without any explanation. "Well, I loved you from the first time I saw you dancing in the kitchen, singing some silly song about tacos raining from the sky. It was such a pure expression of joy. I can't get enough of that look on your face when you smile, so I watched you every chance I got."
He heard her sniffle and wished the plastic suit was gone so he could feel the warm tears against his skin like he did that night in the moonlight. "Shhh. Don't cry, honey."
Cough. "It's happy tears," she assured him. Cough, cough, sniffle.
"I'm glad it's happy, but we need to stop that coughing for a while and maybe get some sleep." He reclined the chair to its fullest and gently guided her down with him. Once there, he released her so she could find what was comfortable for her, apart from his need to have her close. She nuzzled in under his chin and sighed dreamily. He chose to ignore the copious medical tethers attached to her, his suit's crinkling plastic, and its annoying barrier between them and concentrated on instead on her closeness. Just like precision gears.
He enclosed her in his arms. Slowly, her coughing calmed and they both drifted off to sleep.
# # #
Maria worked very hard at getting well, although it wasn't easy. She knew once she was better that Virgil would have to go back to work, and that was both blessing and curse. She loved having him so close and she would miss him terribly, but she also felt massively guilty to be monopolising his time and talents. That was apart from the guilt she felt in leaving Sally without a nurse. She knew objectively that being sick was not her fault, but it sometimes felt like she was letting people down by not just snapping out of it. One thing was for damn sure: she wasn't going to let that bastard Alchemist win. She finally had a boyfriend who loved her and she was going to live and revel in that.
When her coughing downgraded from life-threatening to merely persistent, Scott asked if he could visit. Virgil had told her he was planning to apologise, but she was still a little afraid of talking to him. What if she said something new to set him off? How awful would it be to finally have been vindicated from espionage only to give him another reason to distrust or dislike her?
Maria got back into the hospital bed, raised the back so she could sit up, and made sure she was well-covered with blankets. She'd stopped worrying about what Virgil might see with her in that nasty clinical gown, but that didn't extend to anyone else. When the blue biosafety suit arrived in the room, Virgil greeted his brother and then promptly excused himself. She couldn't deny him a sorely needed break, but she was nervous about being mostly alone with Scott. Russian med techs didn't really count.
Scott wandered through the labyrinth of medical equipment to get right next to the bed. He didn't try to keep a distance like Alan and Gordon had. "How are you feeling?" he asked.
"I've been better," cough, "but thanks for asking."
"I came to apologise. I haven't been very welcoming to you and I'm sorry. You didn't have to protect us under torture, but you did, and as far as I'm concerned, that makes you family."
"And I'm sorry for everything," cough, "I said while I was drugged."
He shook his head. "You didn't have a choice. No harm done."
"But I told him about Thunderbird Shadow," cough, "having optical camouflage."
"You didn't tell him how it worked or how to detect it. Knowing we have stealth technology doesn't really help The Alchemist or The Hood. If anything, it will make them paranoid, thinking Kayo is flying around watching them when she's not. The Hood probably knew already anyway."
Maria felt bad about mentioning his dimples too, but bringing it up again felt like it would just make it worse. If he didn't say anything, it was best forgotten.
Scott continued, "I want you to know that I really appreciate all the things you do for us. I don't think I ever understood how much you were needed until I had 'Grandma-duty' yesterday," he rolled his eyes, which Maria barely caught behind the plastic visor of his biohazard suit, "and I didn't even cook dinner. Oh, by the way, my favourite food is that homemade French bread you make with spaghetti."
"You probably shouldn't tell me that, Scott." Cough. "I was actually trustworthy before, when you didn't trust me," cough, "but now, I don't even trust me anymore."
"What? Why not?"
"The Alchemist used a lot of," cough, "psychoactive pharmaceuticals on me, and that's just the ones he admitted." Cough. "It's possible he foisted mind control on me that I don't know about." Cough.
"Nope, not possible."
She blinked. Was he not aware of what all those drugs did? Was he just overly optimistic? How could he trust her now, when she had been compromised so thoroughly she didn't even trust herself?
"Brains checked the recording he made of your interrogation. There's no time unaccounted for and no stops or splices. We saw everything he did and said from the moment he drugged you until Kayo stopped the recording device. He never had the opportunity to try hypnotic suggestions or any other kind of mind control." He grinned. "But just to be sure, we're having Virgil keep an extra keen eye on you."
She smiled as much as she could without major pain. "Thank you for giving him your blessing." Cough. "He's so happy about that."
"Speaking of blessing," he cleared his throat, "we ran through a bunch of security footage when we were trying to figure out how to find you, and we all saw how you clean the comms projectors in our picture frames." He shot her an embarrassed cringe. "I hope you can stop praying I will be less of a jerk to you now."
Maria shook her head. "I never prayed for that, Scott." Cough. "I pray for your safety."
"So why did you take so long in front of my picture compared to the others?"
"From what little I've seen, you're too brave for my comfort level, so I worry about your safety more than the others. Plus, I usually ask for extra wisdom for you because you have the burden of leadership." Cough, cough.
"Uh, wow. That's...that's..."
"If it makes you uncomfortable, I'll stop."
"No, that's okay. I can think of a few times divine intervention probably happened and I wouldn't be here if it hadn't. It just makes me feel worse that I was so wrong about you."
She chuckled. "I can understand why The Hood and The Alchemist make you so paranoid. They're not on my 'favourite people list' right now."
"Well, Brains is planning to ask you for help now that he knows your background. Why didn't you ever tell anyone you knew anything about chemistry?"
You mean, besides the fact it probably would have made you think I was in league with the chemistry-crazed psycho? She didn't want to bring up his past distrust again. It was forgiven. "I only have a bachelor's in biochem." cough. "It seems like Brains knows more than I do about everything."
Scott shook his head. "He's a genius, for sure, but he doesn't know everything. He's really strong with physics, robotics, and engineering. He knows some chemistry, but it's not his forte. Besides, two heads are always better than one. He's smart enough to accept help when he can get it. International Rescue has always been a team effort. The GDF are supposed to be the ones catching bad guys, but if history is any indication when it comes to The Hood and his associates, the GDF can't do it without our help, and in this case, we can't do it without yours. So are you up for helping us find The Alchemist and keeping him from hurting anyone else?"
"Absolutely! As long as Sally approves, of course." cough "Her needs are my first priority."
"Oh, we wouldn't have it any other way." Scott took a step back from the bed. "I should probably go. You get better soon. You're sorely missed back at Tracy Island."
"Thank you."