In the Grasp Of the Enemy W/Icystorm

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"Oh Mr. Seth you have to go out. You can't get Seaman Kovac sick. Please go out and put the gown, mask, and gloves on before you come back." The nurse hurriedly instructing when she glanced behind her and saw Seth walk in. She pointed to a container that hung on the door that had box of masks, a package of gowns, and three boxes of gloves ranging from small to large. The nurse pushed Seth out and close the door,

"You may knock to come back in after you put on the safety gear." she told him.

The nurse then turned to her confused yet more alert looking patient. Eddie had been frowning and watching Seth and the nurses interaction. She smiled slightly recognizing Seth, but went back to frowning when he was pushed out.

"What happened? Why is my leg gone?" Eddie asked looking at the nurse, "Where am I? How long?" she added pausing to cough. Her throat was so dry! The nurse smiled sadly at Eddie,

"You're in Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. You've been here about three weeks now. They had to amputate your leg upon arrival because it was badly infected and it was making your blood infection worse. " the nurse explaine dgently making Eddie lay back down. She pushed some buttons so the bed sat up, but she didn't want Eddie doing too much that could mess with her wires and tubes right now.

"I'll talk to the doctor we can see if you're ready to take water to help you're throat. For now just relax and rest. Your body is exhausted from fighting the infection and you need to rest." the nurse instructed pulling the blanket around Eddie's waist again not wanting her to fixate on her leg or mess with the stitching.

"Just ring if you need anything, sweetie." the nurse finished as she turned to leave and fetch the doctor

"Can Seth come back?" Eddie asked,

"If he's put the protective gear on." the nurse promised opening the door and stepping out.
 
Seth didn't argue as he forced out the door, and he went without putting up any sort of a fight. It had been a relief to see Eddie awake and ok. He had been worried about her, and was not sure what he would have done if she had died. He probably would have been dead right now also, because being stuck in a strange place without his friend would have been too much.

Watching the door close in front of him, he first took out a gown and put it on. He wasn't sure why he had to wear a gown since he was wearing clothes the hospital gave him. There were some thing he would never understand and didn't care enough to try to understand. Next he put on a mask, the one thing he wished he didn't need, and lastly he put on a pair of large gloves, the action making him miss the 'glove' he used to have as a teenager.

As he finished with the last glove, he saw the nurse walk out. Figuring the need to knock only applied if she was still there, Seth slipped into the room and, after moving the chair in the room, he sat down next to Eddie's bed. "Hey. How you feeling?"
 
"I'm OK. How are you?" Eddie responded tiredly glad the nurse had made her lean back because she knew she didn't have much energy. She reached out to him and touched his gloved hand. He looked weird in his mask and gown, she didn't like it. Eddie guess why he had to wear it because they didn't want him breathing on her too much and giving her more of a chance to get another infection.

She traced his palm with her fingers tiredly just moving her fingers in circles on his hand. It was nice to see him again. She felt safer around Seth and less panicked about everything.

"Have you found out..." she coughed her throat rough, "Anything about Adrian?" she finished Seth looking up at him. At the same moment she asked the question she remembered her own family. Did they know she was OK? Did they even know she was safe now? It'd been what almost 2 years since she'd actually seen them she guessed. he missed her brothers and father a lot and suddenly felt sadder.
 
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Seth stared down at the hand that was touching his, or he tried to. His hair had grown out since the two of them escaped, so he reached up with his free hand to brush the black strands out of his eyes. Now he could see better, and his eyes watched the circles Eddie's fingers made against his palm. The simple touch wasn't something he was used to, and it had him wondering why she was doing it.

The question hung on his tongue, but he opted for answering her questions instead of asking his own. "I'm alright. I'm pretty sure the only reason the medical staff has not kicked me out yet is because they are still keeping an eye on my kidney." He almost felt bad for the staff having to put up with him, but it still caused him to give a small smile behind the mask.

"Adrian is in America, along with my parents. I don't know where they are, but I have a number to get a hold of them." He could have called them by now but chose not to. He wanted everything to go good here before he took another step forward, plus he had no idea what his plans were going to be once he got to America with Eddie. His eyes looked away from the hands to instead look at Eddie. "You will be back with your family soon. I promise." Seeing her back with her family would at least at one good thing to his life.
 
Eddie wasn't so sure she'd be with her family soon. After all they had to decide she was well enough to travel back to America and then she would probably go to Bethesda as they gave her therapies and either fitted her with a chair, crutches, or a new leg. It seemed like it'd be a long time before she got to really be with her family again.

The young sailor quietly traced Seth's Palm her thoughts were wandering and oddly were mostly sad. The nurse came in with the doctor.

"Nice to see you awake, Miss Kovac. " the doctor greeted.

"We are going to see if you can keep down some water and take some blood to run tests on and see where you're at in your recovery." The doctor explained. The nurse handed Eddie a glass of water. Eddie stopped tracing Seth's hand and took the glass of water shakily.

While the nurse was prepping her arm Eddie took some tiny sips of the water nervous about making herself ill again.

The nurse left with the blood and the doctor turned to Eddie,

"Since I'm here I'm going to look you over. If you want Mr. Seth to leave he can go out to the hall. If you want him to stay that's fine too." The doctor offered

"He can stay." Eddie responded her voice smoother now that she'd had some water.

The doctor first pulled the blanket up and started to check her stitches and then continued up the body checking on her muscle tone and making note on that and checking her other injuries. Finally he started to leave.

"Doc, can I call my Dad?" Eddie asked. Her hand that had been holding the cup had fallen back into Seth's hand. She wasn't really holding his hand just resting hers in his.

"The nurse will be back with the phone." The doctor promised. He left and a couple minutes later the nurse came in and handed Eddie a phone. Eddie anxiously dialed her father's number and waited.
 
Seth could see that Eddie had other, less agreeable thoughts on the subject of seeing her family soon, so he dropped the topic and stayed quiet, unsure what else to say at the moment. It felt like there should be a lot to speak of and talk about, and he almost felt bad for staying quiet, but the doctor and nurse saved him by walking into the room.

His eyes instantly shot over to watch the doctor and make sure he did nothing that Eddie did not like. It was overprotective of him, really, since the doctor had done fine so far and was helping her get better. He still could not shake off what had become so ingrained, though. His sudden alertness made it so he did not realize her hand had moved from him, at least not until he gave her a quick glance and saw she held a cup of water.

While the doctor was looking Eddie over, Seth made sure to keep his eyes on the doctor and to not stare at her leg, and he felt relieved when the doctor left, but his eyes were instantly drawn to her hand once again touching his. He wanted so badly to ask about it, yet could not bring himself to yet. Even he had to admit to himself he was acting odd. It was as if, in a way, he feared to be touch. That saddened him, as he used to enjoy the touch of others and being pampered.

He forced his mind to relax as he trusted Eddie, and he couldn't even imagine how she was feeling at getting to be able to talk to her dad. With that in mind, he managed to give her fingers a light squeeze as the nurse walked in with the phone.
 
Eddie waited nervously and impatient for her father to pick up.

"This is Miroslav Kovac, how may I help you?"

Eddie paused after she heard her dad's voice for a few moments her throat felt tight,

"Hello?" her dad asked suspiciously,

"Hey Pa..." Eddie finally said her voice caught slightly,

"Teodora!" her dad greeted, "How are you doing, baby girl? We missed you..." Miroslav asked worriedly.

"I'm OK. I missed you and the boys too." Eddie responded. She could feel her eyes burn. This was pathetic...she couldn't cry! She sniffed slightly,

"I love you, Eddie." her dad told her. His voice was also catching, "I'm glad you're safe we were really worried. Remember we had that rule about coming home and not wandering off without permission?" her dad scolded jokingly though Eddie could tell he was very emotional. It was different for her. Her father was normally very stoic and strong.

"I know, Pa...not very good at this rule thing still, sorry." Eddie apologized. Even though she she was smiling she could feel tears running down her cheeks. She squeezed Seth's hand gently. She realized she'd have to introduce the subject of Seth to her dad first,

"I'm gonna be bringing someone home with me..." She told her father.

"Oh, who?" her father asked curiously. His voice was tight, but Eddie changing the subject was giving him time to regain his compusre.
 
As much as he had been trying to avoid it, Seth kept his focus on his and Eddie's hands. Even though he could only hear half of what was being said, he felt like he was intruding on a personal conversation, one he should not listen in on. Being in the same room and sitting right next to her though, not listening was impossible. It still felt wrong for him to be in the room, especially when he gave a quick glance over and saw that she was crying.

He had been preparing to get up and leave when she gave his hand a squeeze, and then brought up the topic of him. Seth looked into Eddie's eyes before quickly dropping his head. Now he felt like it was ok to stay in the room, but he was worried about how her father would take the news of him coming with her. Her father didn't know him, so the guy wouldn't have to let him come with her to her home. He always hated to admit he was scared, but right now, he was.
 
"Um his name is Seth. He helped me." Eddie explained. She decided to leave out the whole Seth was a Russian interrogator part. It didn't seem like an appropriate time to bring that up right away.

"Is he a Marine?" Her dad asked.

"No...no he's Russian, but he's one of the good ones. I think you'll like him when you get to know him." Eddie explained saying the truth, but not the whole truth. She sounded almost pleading. She really wanted her dad to like Seth. Her dad was silent for a few moments,

"He cute?" He finally asked in a jokingly serious dad-voice. Eddie could tell he was trying to lighten the mood, but was still nervous that her father wouldn't like Seth.

"Pa!" She cried indignantly though she was smiling still. She glanced over at Seth and looked him up and down as if inspecting him

"I guess is a stray puppy kind of way." She admitted squeezing his hand again though her palms were sweating which made Seth's gloves a bit slick.

"Are the boys home?" Eddie asked. She was losing energy pretty quickly and wanted to talk to her brothers before she became to tired to talk.

"Yeah I'll get them." Her dad answered and Eddie could here him walking through the house.
 
Seth felt himself grow tense as Eddie began to speak to her father about him, holding his breath as she mentioned him being Russian while also trying to explain he was good. He wasn't so sure about that as good was not one of the words he would use to label himself. He had done some good things, sure, but that didn't make a person as a whole good. He supposed it didn't matter what he was, so long as her dad accepted him.

The loud 'Pa' she gave caused him to look up as fear ran through him, but when he saw that she was looking him over the fear was replaced by confusion, which only grew at her next words. A stray puppy kind of way? What was that suppose to mean? Now he wished he could hear the other side of the conversation.

When it seemed like there was a pause in the conversation, he raised an eyebrow and spoke loud enough for her to hear. "What was that about?" He didn't care if she answered right away or not, just so long as she knew he wanted to know what was going on.
 
'I'll tell you later.' Eddie mouthed. Suddenly the voices of some boys came on,

"Eddie!" a young boy shouted into the reciever. Eddie winced slightly and pulled the phone away from her ear,

"Hey Luka." she greeted. There was some muffled fighting on the other end and then the sound changed,

"You're on speaker now." another voice boomed.

"OK thanks..is that Matayas?" Eddie asked sounding slightly shocked.

"Yeah." the young man responded. For a 13 year old boy he had a very deep voice.

"How's it going, dudes?" Eddie asked tiredly happy to hear her brothers.

"I joined a soccer team!" Luka said eagerly, "I'm the goalie." he added proudly.

"High school sucks." another voice about the same depth as Matayas said. Eddie laughed,

"Great job on soccer, little man. And Emil it's just what three? four? more years if you don't screw up." She told her brothers,

"Elek and I helped build some bunk beds. Since Pa bought the house we're gonna get to do some painting and stuff too" A young boy piped up,

"Oh Pa bought the house? That's great!" Eddie responded. She was surprised her father had bought a house. The nomad lifestyle was what he and the kids had always known and Eddie thought it would be hard for him to settle down. He'd been renting the house, but Eddie hadn't actually thought he'd buy it.

"Hey Eddie! I hav-haven't done m-m-much reall-lly...I'm I'm l-learning to re-read alot-ot b-b-better now! H-How are y-you?" A little boy's voice stuttered,

"I'm OK, Mickey. Good job on reading, buddy!" Eddie encouraged smiling,

"OK boys you all said your peice. Tell you sister you love her and let her get some rest. " Her dad broke in.

"BYE EDDIE! LOVE YOU!" the boys yelled. Her dad took the phone and flipped it off speaker,

"Love you, baby girl, get some rest OK?" he told his daughter,

"Alright, Pa, love you too." Eddie siad. Her dad hung up and Eddie put down the phone. She wiped her face off because it was still wet. She sniffed her eyes suddenly burned more. She missed her family so much! She lay back and hid her face in the coork of her elbow while holding Seth's hand with the other as she tried to compose herself.
 
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Seth nodded his head and then stayed silent, turning his head away so he wasn't staring at Eddie. He somewhat listened to her side of the conversation, noting how happy she was to hear from her brothers and felt a stab of guilt at knowing he had never felt that way, at least not towards his family. Depending on how things went after getting to America, he might one day feel that way, but that was a big 'might' as he still did not want to get overly close to his family. It still scared them in a way, and he didn't want his parents to know the things he had done.

Seeing her put the phone down out of the corner of his eye, he looked at her and saw her attempts at not breaking down. His heart broke for her, and he gripped her hand a little tighter as his thumb ran stroked her hand lightly. "It's ok. You can cry if you need to." He rest his head on the side of the bed. "The hardest part is over."

As he spoke those words, unlike telling her she would be home soon, he fully believed them to be true. She had escaped a POW camp and survived long enough to get to safety. That had to have been the hardest part. Compared to that, he believed the rest to be easy.
 
Eddie felt Seth hold her hand tighter and run his thumb over the top of her hand. She didn't want to cry, she hated crying in general even less in front of people. Though at the moment she was having a hard time controlling her emotions. Between all the emotions that came with the talking with her family again after so long and being tired her self control wasn't really there.

Eddie felt her chest start to heave as her attempts to not cry became unsuccessful. She started full on sobbing she was relived she was safe, but she was also terrified of what was to come. Her military career was done for and she had no idea what she was going to do with her life. Could she get a job? What would her recovery look like? What if her brain was all screwed up now? What if she changed and her family didn't like her anymore? Eddie hated to admit it, but she was scared.

"I'm sorry." She mumbled feeling embarressed about crying in front of Seth. It was stupid she was safe now why should she worry? Why should she be scared? She tried to calm herself down by taking deep breaths she kept her arm flung over her face and slowly clasped and unclasped her fist.
 
Seth closed his eyes when Eddie began to cry, the sobs filling his ears. By keeping his eyes closed, he was giving her what little privacy was possible while still being in the room. He also stayed silent, just being there physically for comfort. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing and it was something he was able to do. He wasn't good at comforting people, so he hoped what he was doing was enough.

When she spoke, he lifted his head and looked at her. They had been through a lot, and he had seen her in horrible condition, but that didn't make this any harder to see. He thought for a moment and then stood up, leaning over and giving her a quick hug then sitting back down.

"Nothing to be sorry for." He had already told her it was ok to cry since crying was suppose to help, not that he ever followed that advice. "You should get some rest, but first what was that stray puppy comment all about?" He spoke with a hint of humor and curiosity in his voice, trying to get her to feel a bit better.
 
Eddie sniffled as she calmed down trying to take deep breaths to steady herself. She held her breath when Seth hugged her surprised and strangely happy. She felt a little sad when he let go. He'd been warm...this room despite her thin blanket was cold and she had very little body fat to keep her warm right now. He also smelt good....it sounded weird, but he did. He'd managed to not take on the sterile hospital smell that she hated.

The young sailor wiped her hand across her face roughly brushing the tears away and took a couple more deep yet shaky breath,

"Oh yeah...Pa asked if you were cute..." Eddie admitted her cheeks turning slightly pink. She stared over at him her blue eyes watery, but there was a slight twinkle in them. She smiled at him still hanging onto his hand with hers. She wondered if the doctor was going to tell her today if her blood was OK now or how long she'd have to wait. She could feel her body tell her it was time to go back to sleep, but she ignored it for now.
 
Seth raised an eyebrow upon hearing that and gave a quick glance at the door, not that he would be able to see if anyone were about to come in, but at least there was no turning of the knob. Looking back towards Eddie, he moved the mask to the side so she could see his smile and not the horrid mask. If someone were to come in about now, he would no doubt get in trouble, but he had never cared about that. It was doubtful that a minute without it would make her worse anyway.

"So I'm stray puppy cute, huh?" He gave a small laugh, surprised at how genuine it sounded. It had been forever since he laughed like that, and he didn't think it would ever happen again. If he was completely honest, a month ago he figured he would have been dead by now, but he tried not to let that thought ruin the moment.

"That must be one ugly puppy. I imagine a bald Saint Bernard is cuter than me." His looks were something he used to be confident in because he knew he had looked good, but now was another story. He had looked in a mirror at least once since getting here and his face had quite a few scars.
 
"Like a pug and chihuahua got mixed." Eddie joked. She liked Seth's laugh it was rumbly and deep. Rumbly laughs were always the best. She smiled back when he moved the mask. She too hated that he had to wear it. Hospitals had always unsettled her and the mask wasn't helping that at all. She ran her hand through her hair and yawned slightly and rubbed her eyes. She had been 'awake' for a good amount of time now and her eye lids were drooping. It was frustrating how quickly her energy had left her and Eddie didn't want to have Seth go. Maybe if the test came back OK they'd let him stay with her...

Her eyes fully closed, but she forced them open again. She wanted to see if the nurse was coming back with her results before she went to sleep! Eddie kept nodding off and eventually figured she wasn't going to be able to stay awake,

"Wake me if the nurse comes back..." she mumbled as she drifted to sleep still holding Seth's hand.
 
Seth cringed in a joking way, the skin around his eyes crinkling a bit, and whispered out a small 'ouch'. He wasn't much of a dog person, always preferred cats, but he knew what a pug and chihuahua looked like and a mix of those two was not a pretty image. Even so, she probably hit the nail on the head with that one. It didn't matter what he looked like, he was just glad that she was joking along with him. He wished things could stay like this, happy and carefree.

He could see how tired she was getting, so he was not surprised when spoke and then fell asleep. Even though she probably wouldn't hear, he spoke anyway. "Alright. I will, and I won't be going anywhere." That was a promise. He would be sure to wake her up if the nurse came, and he would not leave the room without letting her know. Once he was ordered to leave, he would also be right outside the door, so when that time came all she would have to do is call out.

Shifting a bit in the chair, he got comfortable and closed his eyes. He wasn't planning on falling asleep, but even if he did he would wake up as soon as the door opened. It was something he had taught himself while on the streets since it was never good to get caught off guard, especially at night.
 
Eddie was excited and nervous. After another week in Germany she'd finally been given the OK to travel and was currently in another plane. They were about to land in Bethesda Maryland. She was sitting up in a wheelchair that was locked to the ground. Eddie was still very weak from her time in Germany, but had decided to take the chair over the hospital style bed.

Eddie reached over and grabbed Seth's hand squeezing it. She'd gotten closer to him over the past week because since she hadn't been able to do anything even when awake they'd pretty much just talked or played cards games. The plane bumped it's way down to the run way and started to taxi to where it needed to be. Their families would meet them at the airport. They get to say hi, hug, and then Eddie would be taken to Bethesda.

Her dad, who'd called every single day, was staying at one of the Fisher houses on Bethesda with her younger brothers. Her older brothers were coming to see her, but were going back to their homes after wards. They'd come down when work allowed. Her dad had talked to his boss and gotten some time off. It wouldn't be her full recovery time, but he'd be there for the beginnng at least.

"You ready?" Eddie asked Seth as the plane came to a halt and the crew started to prep for lowering the back ramp. Eddie didn't have much in the way of things. She had a plastic bag that held everything she'd been wearing when she'd been found, but that was it so she didn't have to pack anything up.
 
Seth smiled at Eddie when his hand was squeezed. He had enjoyed spending time with her, the talking and card games had made his life feel normal, something he had never experienced before. Even though they had been at a hospital, because of that experience he had been reluctant to leave, but he kept that information to himself. The change was not something he wanted, but it was needed, especially for Eddie.

He took in a breath before answering her question, unsure of the best way to answer it but deciding on complete honesty. "Not really. I'm nervous, scared I guess." This would be his first time meeting any of her family, and eventually they would have to learn who he was, that he could have tortured information out of Eddie but for some crazy reason had chose to turn against his country and stand by her side. It was good he had done that, but he had still tortured a soldier before her.

There was also his family. He was not sure what was all going on with them since he only ever half listened when he spoke to them, but he knew they were being helped out and would be there to meet them at the airport. He wasn't as nervous to meet his own family as he was Eddie's, but he was still nervous. On the phone, it had been hard to tell what his father thought of him.

He stood up after the plane landed, stretching out his limbs. His jeans had been too shredded to keep after getting to the hospital, so he had no belongings with him, having given Adrian anything he might have had before reaching safety. His blue eyes moved back over to Eddie, repeating the question she had asked him. "Are you ready?"
 
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