a_littlefaith | (no subject)

Beth hears about Nate being in the hospital pretty much first thing when she wakes up and turns on the TV in her living room, flipping to the news as she eats a bowl of cereal. It's a pretty big story, a burning building, a man bursting out of the flames with a woman in his arms like some kind of superhero. A few of the reporters and camera men had gotten close enough to the scene to actually capture the face of the man coming out, coughing and covered in soot, and Beth stares for a moment, her spoon halfway to her mouth, then drops the entire bowl of cereal in the sink and heads for the door.

She's not family. She's not allowed to go in and see him. The nurses seems to take pity on her, though, seeing the worry in her face, and they tell Beth that he's fine. He's being treated for smoke inhalation and minor burns and that she can come back in a few hours. Leaving seems impossible and so instead she finds herself in the waiting room, her legs crossed, one foot bouncing, waiting to be told she's allowed to go in and see him.

Only it doesn't quite work out like that. It's a few hours later and Beth is getting up to go ask the nurse if she's allowed in yet when Nate comes walking into the waiting room himself, looking for all the world like he doesn't even see any of the other people around him. Only then does it occur to Beth that the woman he'd carried out of the building was probably Chloe. At the time she had seen the report on the news, she hadn't been paying attention to anything else, just to Nate, but she can't figure any other explanation. And it's no wonder he looks as distracted and worried as he does. When someone needs to be carried out of a building, that's generally not a good sign.

Pushing out of her chair, Beth goes to him, reaching out to gently touch his arm. She'd been so scared for him, even after having the nurses tell her he would be fine, and before she even says anything, she wraps her arms around his waist and presses herself to him in a tight hug.

Threaded | Flat

It's been hours of people asking him questions and pushing oxygen masks on him and all Nate wants to do is tell them to leave him alone so he can go and see Chloe. They won't let him though, so he's forced to spend a few hours being fussed over, people dressing the burns like he hasn't dealt with plenty worse on his own before, telling him they need to make sure he can breathe properly like he hasn't been doing it his whole damn life. Eventually though, they let him go, only the first thing they tell him is that he can't see Chloe yet.

He knows exactly how bad her injuries are but they won't tell him anything else, won't tell him if she's stable or if she's recovering or if she's woken up at all yet. Instead they tell him to come back tomorrow, which just pisses him off even more. By the time they send him back out into the waiting room he's in something of a daze, the last few hours having passed in a whirlwind that he can't make any sense of yet. He knows someone set fire to the building they were in, knows that Coop had gotten safely out and that Chloe hadn't been so lucky, but most of the rest of it is a blur.

He's barely paying attention as he staggers back into the waiting room, but then somebody touches his arm and by the time he works out who it is Beth is already wrapping her arms around him. He doesn't know how she's here or why but right now he doesn't care. He pulls her closer, buries his face in her hair and tries to focus on breathing for a moment, like the damn doctor had told him to. He's not about to fall apart at the seams, but for a minute he's absurdly glad that she's here, that somehow she knew where to find him and that he'd need her. He already knew Beth was far too good for him, or anybody, but right now he's pretty sure she's an angel.

"Where'd you come from?" he asks, pulling back enough to look at her properly. "How are you here?"