"I have an idea."

Within the next half hour, you and Medic managed to tie Engineer up to a chair in the Medbay. You even added duct tape for good measure. With all of the commotion, everyone was up except Scout. You and Medic told them exactly what had happened. You expected some kind of shock, but not everyone was surprised. To be honest, you had to admit it didn't seem too crazy, but Engineer was usually considered the most sane if anything. Spy offered up the fact he was acting strange for a fair bit, and the others agreed.

They each offered to interrogate him for you, but you only accepted Spy's help. You had a feeling they would get a bit too rough after hearing what happened to you, especially Demo. Instead, you let everyone go to sleep, but Soldier took a lot of convincing, so much so that you agreed to let him guard the Medbay. You weren't sure why, but it made him happy.

Here you were. Spy, Medic, and you all sat around Engineer wondering when he'd wake back up. Periodically, Medic would check his pulse to make sure he hadn't died and would respawn. Eventually, though, Spy got fed up.

"Zis is pointless!" He angrily muttered and stood up. Without even hesitating, he slapped Engineer across the face. He didn't respond to it, so assuming he was still knocked out, Spy went to fill a cup of water. You heard Medic sigh heavily through his nose. You turned to your right and looked at him with concern. He had his chin in his hand and was hunched over resting his elbow in his knee. He was looking at Engineer worriedly, but his mind also seemed to be elsewhere. Beneath the worried look in his eye seemed to be anger and confusion. You weren't sure how to address it, but you didn't have the time to. Engineer groaned in pain and lifted his head slightly.

"What in tha Sam hill?" He mumbled, grimacing. You watched Medic study him under a scrutinizing gaze. Then, Spy came back and dunked the water over him, dropping the metal cup onto him.

"Oops. I slipped."

"Ah was already awake!" You could see Spy's smirk despite not seeing his face. Spy went back to his seat, but refused to sit down. You watched Engineer struggle against the restraints and scowl. "Let me outta this!"

"Let me think.. No." Angered, Engie fought harder, but then cried out in pain. He seemed to agitate the wound still in his stomach. Medic refused to heal it. His wails made you wince slightly, but when you looked at Medic, he had a small, sadistic grin. You should have known he would enjoy that.

"Whah won't ya just let me out or at least patch me up!"

"Well, after hearing what 'ou did to our Strategist, zat will not be possible." Engie suddenly became quiet and still. "Glad to know 'ou understand what you did. Now, we 'ave a few questions for you."

"And what if Ah don't talk?"

"We 'ave time to wait. I thought 'ou would talk when you had ze chance. How unfortunate." With that, Spy walked towards his room while Engineer grumbled to himself. Medic moved to the desk to do... something. You were afraid of having to sit alone in front of him, but Spy thankfully came back with a book. As he sat back down in the chair to start reading, you decided it would just be best to do something productive.

After a quick trip to your room, you retrieved your laptop to catch up on some school. You felt Engineer's eyes on you, making you a bit more self conscious than you would have preferred. Still, you didn't let it stop you while you sat down in your chair. You signed into Peak Learning. You had an essay on censorship and a math test due a lot sooner than you thought. I guess I have time... Even half an hour later, you could still feel Engineer looking at you. What effect would censorship have on college-aged people like me...? Every so often you'd hear Medic shuffle papers around or hear the fabric of Spy's suit rub against each other while he'd recross his legs. Without even realizing it, another hour had passed and you were finishing up the essay. Then, you finally turned it in. Good riddance. You really didn't want to do math right now. I'll do it tomorrow then. Instead, you clicked to look at your school year and noticed a language class was coming up. Interested, you decided to investigate what they offered.

"Tired?" Spy asked, giving you the side eye as he continued to face his book. You chuckled slightly.

"What gave it away?" Of course I'm tired. We're up in the middle of the night!

"Ze light for 'our screen highlighted ze bags under your eyez."

"Makes sense actually. Good eye." You chose to ignore Engineer's gaze.

"But of course. Aside ze matter, what I noticed was on your screen. A language class?"

"Yep."

"What do 'ou plan on taking?"

"I don't know. Let's see the options." You clicked into the course selections to see what they offered and turned your screen to Spy. "Looks like it's between French-"

"You can stop right zhere. Zhat's the best option for 'ou." You help but suppress a giggle.

"What do you mean? I should at least look at the other options first."

"No need. French iz simply ze best language to learn for a fille brillante such as yourself."

"Uh, thanks?" You couldn't help but laugh.

"Vhat's so funny?" Medic walked over with his arms loosely crossed.

"Nothing of 'our-" Spy started.

"I'm trying to choose a language to take and Spy is insisting on French."

"Of course he vould." Medic rolled his eyes. "What else is zhere?"

"Zhat iz not necessary!" Spy proclaimed. Did he read the options before you?

"Come on Spy! What harm could reading them out loud do?" Medic nodded at your response. "Alright, other than French, the school apparently offers Mandarin, Spanish, Russian, and German."

"Perfect!" Medic clapped his hands together and beamed. Spy ran a hand over his face and groaned.

"I did not want 'ou to see zhat," Spy grumbled.

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"Of course you wouldn't, dummkopf." Medic smirked.

"Imbécile!" Spy fired back.

"Pompöses Schwein, and besides-" Medic continued while cutting off Spy. "It's up to Strategist what she decides. I'm sure she'll make zhe right decision." He leaned into you and winked while smirking. You could feel yourself starting to get nervous as you saw Spy return Medic's smirk. Oh God what have I done?

"But of course she will! After all, French would be easy for 'er to pick up, and with me as a teacher, she'd be fluent in no time at all! We'd 'ave a secret language to ourselves in a matter of months!"

"She could do zhe same zhing vith me. German is zhe überlegene Sprache, and it vould be easier for her because of how close zhe languages are!"

"Then what's ze point of learning it? Learning French iz much more practical an-"

"WOULD YOU TWO CUT IT OUT?" Engineer shouted over Spy and Medic's bickering.

"Non. We are 'aving an important conversation here!" Spy gestured with a hand while sticking crossing his arms.

"Ah'll tell ya what's important! It's the darn water filter that needs fixin' still! Without it, we'll all be as dumb as tha town!" Medic narrowed his eyebrows.

"Zhe filter iz broken? Why didn't you say anyzhing?"

"Ah-" Engineer's face morphed into a look that seemed as if he was relieving a painful memory. He shook his head. "Doesn't matter! Ah need ta fix it, and Ah'm almost done! Ah could lose mah progress if Ah don't keep workin' on it."

"But how are you testing it without my equipment?"

"Ah can tell ya Ah'm drinkin' it, if that's what yer implyin'."

"Of course not! Zhat vould be stupid of jou, but I need you to answer my question."

"Ah borrowed some of yer equipment ahlright? Ya don't seem to be missing it."

"Augh. Fine, but have jou been drinking it at all?"

"Not that Ah remember, but that's the thing. Ah've been so doggone tired that Ah don't remember what Ah do most nights."

"Describe jour symptoms for me, please."

"Now why would Ah do that?"

"Do. It. Now." Medic's voice and expression turned stern. Engineer didn't respond for a moment. You could imagine him rolling his eyes under the goggles.

"Ahlright, fine. Ah've been tired as all hell, irritable, and Ah've been gettin' abdominal pains."

"Not to mention zhe aggressive behavior." Engineer growled under his breath. "My point made. Well, it seems zhat you are suffering from lead poisoning. I'll need to put jou through chelation therapy."

"How could Ah have let this happen?" Medic shrugged, passive to Engineer's feelings.

"Look. We've vaited long enough. Ve need jou to explain jour behavior before zhe lead fiasco."

"...Ah'm only talkin' to one of you. Alone."

"Very well, but it won't be me," Spy chimed in. "I've lost too much sleep as it is, and I 'ave a lot of planning to do." He started walking away out of the Medbay.

"Planning to convince Strategist to learn jour silly language?" Medic called after him. Spy waved without looking back in a playful manner. You giggle slightly at Medic groan of slight frustration. "Vell. I'm going to start preparing zhe medication, so zhat leaves you Strategist. I'll be in zhe kitchen to give jou two space." With that, Medic gathered his supplies and swiftly left the Medbay. That left you and... Engineer. You suddenly felt much more awkward.

"...Well?" You asked, not sure how to start the conversation. You shifted uncomfortably in your chair.

"Well what?" Engineer threw back at you.

"You know what I mean. I thought I could trust you. Why did you do those things to me? To everyone? What changed all of the sudden?" Engineer looked down and fell silent. You sighed and leaned back in your chair. How do I get him to talk? You looked around the room, expecting to find a weapon or something to make him talk, but that just didn't feel right. He'd prefer to just respawn at that point. Something must be better. Your eyes scanned the room and settled on the Medigun. Maybe I can get him to talk to me by doing something nice to him.

With that in mind, you stood up and went to grab the Medigun. Engineer followed you with his eyes. You could feel them on your back as you lifted it up and strapped on the backpack contraption. You walked with purpose over to him and powered it on. After a few seconds, the wounds were healed from his fight with Medic.

"Uh.. thank ya."

"No problem." You put it back and sat back down.

"Don't suppose you can undo the restraint?"

"No can do. Not until you talk to me."

"...Fine. Ya wanna know?"

"Yes."

"Ah don't like ya spendin' so much time with Medic."

"Engineer, that can't be it."

"Why not?"

"Everyone was fine when I told them about Medic and I making up!"

"What other people think isn't an indicator of how Ah feel."

"Then fine! Why don't you like me being friends with Medic? Shouldn't it be a good thing?"

"Not when yer forgettin' me in tha process."

"What?" Engineer scowled and shook his head.

"What am Ah sayin'? That's so stupid of me."

"No. I mean, well, yes it's the brightest thing you could have believed, but... what made you think I was forgetting you?" You spoke quickly, fumbling over your words. Engineer sighed.

"Ah'm real sorry darlin'. It was stupid ta feel that way just because you were spending time with everyone. Ah can't hog ya." He chuckled awkwardly.

"I'm sorry to hear you felt that way and I didn't notice."

"Ah didn't tell ya."

"So... you were jealous?" Engineer made a sound in his throat that seemed like he didn't want to hear the word.

"Uh... yes- Ah suppose so."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because! Who wants ta admit their jealous of a friend being around other people when it's just a stupid thing to be mad about?"

"I feel like it's smarter than bottling it up." You tried to joke, but Engineer hung his head. "I-uh. Um, Engineer, you helped teach me not to do the same thing. You made me feel comfortable enough around you to confess what I had been afraid of admitting. You don't have to feel scared to do that with me either."

"Ah'm awfully sorry..."

"And I forgive you." Engineer looked up at you and smiled at you like he did before this all happened. "Besides, I learned that there was a garage! How did I miss that?" You laughed and Engineer joined you.

"If Ah'm bein' honest, Ah tried to let you back in that night, but Ah jammed the door when I slammed it shut."

"I mean, yeah it sucks that you did that, but I can let it go if you won't do it again."

"Never in a million years." You both smiled at each other.

"How's the circulation to your wrists and feet."

"Ah can't feel them."

"That seems to be a good enough reason for me to let you go. I'm sure Medic and Spy will understand later." You both laughed as you moved to untie him. You struggled with the duct tape, but managed to set Engineer free. He repeatedly clenched his fists to get blood circulating through them again and nearly stumbled, but soon steadied himself. As soon as he was stable, you rushed to hug him.

"Woah! Now hold on!" Engineer chuckled as he nearly fell over. Thankfully, he didn't and you were both able to hug it out. After a long time, you both separated and you led him over to a bed in the Medbay.

"Is it alright if you sleep here tonight? I want to be sure you sleep as well as you can and you won't drink any more gross water." You smiled.

"Ah would, but Ah should still-"

"Can it hold for a night?"

"...Ah think so."

"Then sleep here."

"Ahlright, you've convinced me. It just doesn't sit right with me."

"What?"

"How tha filter broke in the first place. It shouldn't have worn out that fast like it did."

"Do you think it was...foul play?"

"Ah can't say it wasn't."

"Well, we should deal with it tomorrow. You need to sleep. I'll tell Medic you'll be in here for a night. It'd be easier on him anyway." Engineer nodded and climbed into the bed. "By the way, I'm really sorry about the crossbow."

"Don't be. Ya did what you had ta do, and Ah'm proud of ya for it."

"Well, uhm, thanks, Engie." His head perked up at the sound of his nickname and smiled.

"No problem darlin'." You waved sheepishly and went to go inform Medic about the progress you made with Engie. You met up with him in the kitchen after grabbing your computer.

"So, vhat did jou get out of him?"

"It turns out he was a bit jealous of us being friends and didn't know how to express it. He's alright now, though, and he's sleeping away from the lead water tonight in the Medbay." Medic had a small smile on his face and nodded.

"Vell, I almost haff zhis prepared, so jou're free to go to bed."

"Thanks Medic. It sucks we can't talk at night anymore."

"Yes, but maybe it's for zhe best." You nodded.

"Good night."

"Sweet dreams or whatever they say." You giggled and waved as you made your way to your room. He waved back, and you entered your room. There, you collapsed onto your bed after putting your computer away.