[Post Carolina-Tex match]

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[Post Carolina-Tex match]

It had been a little while since his conversation with Agent Texas. He'd been given a few things to think about. He wasn't ready to go talk to his sister about her little request, but he had gone down to the common area to take off his helmet and his gauntlets and brew up some coffee. He had a feeling he would find York in exactly the same spot when he returned.

He was pretty sure he remembered how York liked his coffee. He prepared a couple of mugs and entered the recovery room quietly, setting the mugs down to pull up another chair before giving York a good nudge on the shoulder to wake him up. "Hey, man."

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A chair gets dragged over from the side, and he gives Carolina a once-over, concerned. His fingers touch the side of her throat, double-checking the pulse just to be sure, and only then does he settle down, exhaling.

"No news might be good news," he attempted with some sort of cheer, but it fell flat and York shook his head, frustrated. "At this rate they're gonna need to hook her up to make sure she's getting fluids."

He couldn't help a frown, creasing his forehead. "They should have done that already." They'd both had field medical training. They both knew she'd been lying here getting dehydrated from the first day. Just what was it that was leading to less and less care being taken toward the agents, leaving them to fend for themselves, mentally, emotionally, now physically? None of it made any sense. It was turning into a waste of resources and if this continued...

"On the first day, I know. I tried to get someone to do something, but everyone conveniently had places to be." Every so often, someone will come in, and do something, and it's appreciated but it's not enough, not nearly enough in York's mind.

He had seen it too- the lack of care demonstrated for them, the fact that really, things were slipping-- leaving one of the best agents alone with barely anyone to care for her, except someone who volunteers? That didn't sit right with him, not at all.

He was disturbed by all this, it showed on his face, and he rested his mug against the side of his chair, nearly forgotten, as he thought this through. At least she was still ensconced in her armor. That would take care of waste removal, at any rate. Still in her armor, because she tried to fight at a time when she was far too vulnerable. And then, with one word, they had all been made vulnerable.

There was something to that whole incident, something that had very few available rational explanations. It all should have ended then. Something was terribly, terribly wrong and it needed to be investigated. At least, that was, if the leadership didn't already know what was going on.

When he spoke again, his voice was quiet, as though speaking of something that should be kept confidential. "Carolina...her real name isn't Allison. Is it." It wasn't really a question. Both of them knew it wasn't.

He was just as unsettled. The Director had at least pretended, before, damnit. Now, it was like he wasn't even paying attention, all he could focus on was Texas. Which, okay, York could understand to a point. Everyone had someone they cared about but none of them knew anything about her. He didn't hold it against her, but Carolina's given everything to the program, the least the Director could do was hold up his end and try to help her.

"--what?" York was jerked out of his thoughts, blinking up at his friend, only to frown a moment later. "No. No, it's not. Hey, I-- what did it...y'know, feel like? When the Director said her name?"

It was something that was going to be hard to put into words. He inclined his head slightly. "Like-- it was like..." He huffed out a small scoff at his inability to piece together a way to express it. "You remember when we talked about how Theta gets anxious? It was like...like that, and grief, and--and loss, all mixed together, and that...that was its name." He shook his head. That was a strange way to put it, but that was how it had felt.

He wasn't sure what he was more unsettled by- that Theta had felt the same thing ( and by default, North, too ) or the fact that either of them had felt it to begin with. Texas was brand new- the AI didn't know her, why would they feel that way?

"Heartbreak," York muttered it with a sheepish look, like he's wary of even using the word. "Yeah, it was just like that. So why the hell would D and Theta feel that way?"

Theta was emitting a small measure of sadness, even now, rolling the name over in his thoughts. But Theta didn't know what it meant any more than he did. "I don't know. It obviously has something to do with Texas. But I don't understand how it could. Because...because she's here, you know?" There was very much the sense that this was something long gone, long past, something unrecoverable.

Delta was always more reserved but even now, hell, even then, there was this intangible sort of loss that York couldn't quite understand. She was right there, half the time, and down the hall from them at night- why did it matter? He mulled it over a moment more, settling at their sides, with his hand back over Carolina's. "Maybe Tex knows."

"Tex, hm. Yeah, maybe." He was seeing more and more that in her own way she did care for the rest of the team, considered them friends. "You know, she said," here he glanced aside just to check that the Counselor wasn't sneaking up behind them or something, "she said she's been pulling Omega ever since it happened. Doesn't want the Director to know about it, either."

York gave the room a look while he was at it, frowning just a little bit at the fact that they even had to. Was this really what they had to deal with, now? "...she's pulling him?" His attention went right back to the other Freelancer, his good eye going focused on North's face, the disbelief clear and sharp in his tone. He lowered his voice after a moment, utterly startled. "But he-- why? You an' me get along just fine and, well, Wyoming's -- Wyoming. But I woulda thought they got on just fine."

His own gaze was back on Carolina, his eyes narrowed slightly in concentration, his tone musing. "She said she's not sure she wants to depend on him. She's...different without him. I pointed it out and she said that was why." There had to be something they were missing in all this, some piece of the puzzle that would make it all make sense, somehow. Something that didn't involve outright malice on the part of the leadership.

No shifting, no moving, nothing but the slow, even breathing for days now, and the more he stayed here, the more unsettled he was by it. With North standing watch, he was half tempted to go and find someone, get her hooked up to machines like she needed to be, no matter how much more unsettling that was. "She's not all bad, yeah," York agreed after a moment of hesitation, glancing at Carolina like he expected her to sit up and sock him for it. "I can understand that, anyway. Omega ain't exactly sunshine and snuggles."

"From what I've seen, no, he's not." He took a breath in through his nose, held it for a moment before letting it out. His coffee suddenly came to mind, having been neglected long enough now that he could drink a draft without needing to worry that he'd burn his tongue. He brought the mug back down with both hands and inclined his head toward York. "You know, with her still there in her armor, you could just hook your enhancement into it." It'd be more than the doctors had bothered to do.

For a moment, York just looked dumbly at the other Freelancer, the lack of decent sleep and worry and everything else not doing a single thing until he registers what he's saying. God, he feels like a moron. "Yeah, I-- you're right. Hang on a sec, I'm gonna go get it."

Sure, it needs an AI to help run it at full power, but even a little bit is something that ought to help. York takes his coffee cup with him, down the hall to his room and after a moment of fiddling, comes back with it firmly in his hands. He sets it up on the bedside table in Recovery One, settling in the faint green light as Delta monitors it. "...Y'know, sometimes I just-- wonder how we got to this. This wasn't what I thought it'd be."

"This isn't what it was." He wasn't sure when the transition had happened; it had been so slow, so insidious in a way, that he couldn't pinpoint it.

"No, no, it's not." York gave him a tired smile over the rim of his coffee cup, and it's half-empty but he feels better for it, considering he'd had real food to eat now. "Who knows, yeah? Maybe it'll get better."

He reserved his reply for a moment, swallowing back what he initially thought to say about it. "We'll see how things go for Wash," he replied with some caution. He hated being the pessimist in the room, because that wasn't his usual role, but the lack of caution being shown by the leadership in the aftermath of all this--he couldn't deny it, it had him worried.

York gave him a tired smile for his trouble, nodding. Sure, see how it went for Wash. With any luck, he'll get his, and everything will be fine. Carolina will wake up, this whole deal with Texas gets sorted, and they all go back to normal. "He's tough, he'll be fine." York flashed the other man a faint smile. "Stubborn as all hell. It's gotta do him some good, right?"

"You're sure you're thinking of the same Wash I am?" he replied with a wry chuckle. Sure, Wash could be stubborn, but he could also be naive and put his priorities in the silliest little minutia of following the rules instead of taking common sense into account. That sort of thing came with experience and with age and Wash was just a little bit short on both.

York laughs, short and soft, and gives him a shrug. Sure, Wash isn't exactly painfully soldier minded but he can handle himself a little bit. Going with the option and mentality that Wash would be just fine vastly outweighed everything else. "Better than thinking about all the ways this could go wrong, huh," York pointed out, tone as tired as he is.

"Normally, I wouldn't be." He stopped and glanced at York before letting his head drop a bit with a small sigh, his lips quirked up with embarrassment. "I suppose I ought to get out of this armor and get myself some sleep, too. Seems like these long days are making a pessimist out of me."

"Yeah, probably." York stood up, moving a little stiffly, but he circles around and curls his arm around North's shoulder with a heavy sigh, squeezing him tight for a moment. "Thanks. I mean it."

He can't really feel that, but the sentiment is there. He stands up to return the half-hug with a slap on the shoulder. "Let me know if you need me to take your place down here again. I don't have a problem with it."

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[Post Carolina-Tex match]

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GODDAMNIT TENSES

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