Chapter 7 - The Aftermath
The hospital corridor was filled with the hum of heavy industrial fans clearing the remaining haze. Firefighters were packing up their gear, and hospital administrators were frantically taking notes, praising the swift containment of what could have been a catastrophic fire.
Dr. Rener walked over to Ashlin, who was sitting on a bench near the nurses' station, holding a paper cup of water with hands that still shook slightly.
"You shut the main valve off," Rener said, his voice filled with a mixture of awe and disbelief. "The fire department said if that solvent had reached the oxygen tanks, half the wing would have been leveled. Carver... you saved this entire hospital."
Ashlin didn't look up immediately. She took a slow sip of water, then looked across the hallway.
Wade was standing near the elevators, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, watching her with a quiet, knowing smile. He wasn't sneering about rank anymore. He wasn't demanding someone superior. He was looking at her as an equal.
"I just did my job, Doctor," Ashlin said quietly.
"That was a hell of a lot more than a nursing shift," Rener said, shaking his head before walking away to coordinate with the fire chief.
Wade pushed off the wall and walked over to her, stopping a few feet away. He looked down at her arm. The heavy wool of her scrub top had torn during the scramble in the pharmacy, exposing the faded combat mark and the burn scar on her forearm completely to the open air.
Ashlin looked down at her arm, then slowly reached up to button her sleeve. But this time, she stopped.
She didn't pull the fabric down.
She left it exposed.
Wade noticed. A faint, respectful smile touched the corners of his mouth.
"You don't have to hide it anymore, Ashlin," he said softly. "The ghosts only have power as long as you pretend they aren't part of you."
Ashlin looked up, her dark eyes meeting his. For the first time in six years, the fear inside her chest felt like it was finally losing its grip.
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"It's hard," she whispered, her voice barely audible over the hum of the ventilation fans. "When you've spent years trying to be invisible... remembering how to take up space is terrifying."
"You were never invisible to people who mattered," Wade replied. "And you sure as hell aren't invisible to me."
