"Jou're avake! How do jou feel?" Medic asked, visibly switching into doctor mode while quickly walking towards you in that uptight way of his.

"Heh, I'm feeling much better now thanks to you, Medic," you moved to get up. As you stood, your vision became black and fuzzy and you stumbled slightly. You felt hands grab the sides of your arms and sit you back down on the bed as your vision cleared.

"Strategist, jou are dehydrated. Try not to move vhile I get jou vater." He briskly walked away and you nodded.

"What time is it?" You called while he walked to other side of the MedBay. He didn't answer and instead came back with a small bottle of water.

"It's about 3:30," he answered, grabbing his chart and handing you the bottle. Your eyes widened.

"I was out for that long?" How could I've been asleep for so long? Medic sighed as if he was growing more impatient. He didn't look up from the chart.

"Zhat's vhat I said. Jou had an irregular sleep pattern over zhe last few days. Jour body was fatigued and jour mind vas in shambles. Put zhat on top of dehydration and everyzhing zhat's happened, quite simply, I'm surprised jou didn't sleep any longer." He flipped a page up and jotted some notes down with a pen. You had already finished your bottle of water and nodded.

"That would explain everything."

"Hm, yes it vould." The pen moved back and forth across the page. You watched the top of it bounce up and down as the doctor wrote something. After a few moments in silence, he sat the chart back down by the bed. Then he pulled up a chair and sat down in front of you. "Did jou sleep vell?" A smile couldn't help but form when you thought about your dream. Medic's brows furrowed.

"Yes, I did. It was the best sleep I've had in a long time if I'm perfectly honest." Medic nodded.

"Vhat vas jour dream about?" Suddenly, much to your surprise, you felt a blush rush to your cheeks. I shouldn't be like this, but it's hard to ignore the fact the person I was talking to in my dream looked like Medic.

"Oh, y'know... It wasn't something I really remember. I just liked the rest." Medic didn't move and uncomfortable silence followed. He simply stared past you at the wall behind your head. His gaze was stern and he seemed to stare with the intensity to make a hole in the wall. He didn't move at all, the only thing that distinguished him from a statue was the air conditioning moving wisps of his hair. After what felt like an eternity, his eyes flicked to the unopened water bottle in your hands.

"I need jou to drink zhe vater Strategist," he ordered calmly. You nodded and tried to quickly open the bottle, but your hands were fidgety and it just made you more embarrassed. Medic didn't say anything and just stared at you while you finished the bottle. When it was empty, you screwed the cap back on and made eye contact with Medic. It was awkward for you, and you knew that it showed in your expression slightly. He reached out a hand and took the bottle from you. He stood up and adjusted his glasses. "Vell, if jou are feeling better, we should get started on jour training soon. However, I know some people vanted to talk to jou, so jou should go to jour room now."

"Ahm, right, sure. Got it. No problem." For some reason you couldn't form a full sentence and just rambled. I'm such an idiot. Medic raised an eyebrow at you, but otherwise said nothing. You stood up, the black fuzz clouding your vision a bit. You stumbled again slightly, but quickly shook it off before Medic could move in. You waved goodbye to him over your shoulder and walked down the hallway and into your room.

I really need a shower. My personal hygiene isn't doing so good right now. I hope I have time. Hurriedly, you rushed a shower and finished it in around five minutes. It was short, but it got the job done, and you felt much more refreshed. You didn't have a headache anymore, your joints were much more relaxed, and you weren't nearly as tired as you were before. Of course, you were still fatigued and you could do with more sleep, but it was as if you had properly woken up for the first time that day. You brushed your teeth and combed out your hair at the sink, relieved that the brush went through your hair much more smoothly. Then, you got dressed in fresh clothes and put the old ones in your hamper. You looked around your room, noticing more mess than you would have liked to admit you created. After stretching for a second, you smiled to yourself and started picking up random tissues and pieces of used, unneeded paper left around your desk. It felt nice to smile. You didn't seem to have any worries.

You tossed them all into the trash can and made your bed. You then observed your desk and cringed. It looked like a madman frantically used it. Pencils were scattered and there were random notes scrawled on the desk itself. Not to mention your computer had moved and your notebooks were spread out as if you threw them on there. Your binder was halfway falling off the edge and onto the floor. You glanced down at your notes, they were sloppy and almost illegible. It was if you could see and feel how tired you were while you read it. Aw man... at least I can read it I suppose. It's a miracle I remember any of this at all. You picked up the pages, gingerly set them into your binder, and organized them. Then, you picked up the pencils and other supplies and set them back into your pencil pouch. You grabbed your notebooks and stacked them back beside your desk alongside your binder. You dropped the pouch into your desk drawer and plopped yourself onto your desk chair. It's weird no one's come like Medic said they would. Heh, knowing him, he would've just said that to get me away from him.

You unplugged your phone and saw no notifications for text messages. You were disappointed, but maybe it was better they didn't talk to you. Maybe it's better I'm not distracted. Still, it hurts that Jack of all people wouldn't reach out to me. Though, he never texts too often anyway. Maybe I wasn't close enough to them. Y'know, maybe I slowly pushed myself apart from them and then when I left, it wasn't too much different. That's the only thing I can seem to do with people, can I? No, that's stupid. We were close friends... right? Whatever, it doesn't matter to me. I hope they're having fun with whoever replaced me. You sighed while scrolling through old conversations. It felt off. It was nostalgic for you, but there was something else there. Regret? Betrayal? Jealousy? It was a rift between you and your old friends. It's only been a couple of days, and they moved on so fast. You felt tears form the more you read your past messages with Jack. He was always so supportive of you and called you "Queen" really often. It made you laugh, but now it seemed really stupid and childish. Am I growing up too fast? The thought of talking like this to anyone makes me want to cringe. I really want to talk to my Medic, but if he's my soul, how would he know the answer? How is he not just some fever dream? You wiped your eyes clean. Whatever.

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You turned it off, your old logic games and social media didn't seem too interesting anymore. So much for connection to the outside world Ms. Pauling. This hunk of junk is practically useless to me. I feel like listening to sad songs right now, but I know that would make this worse. I miss feeling relaxed, the minute I think about any of my problems, stress just overwhelms me. It weighs down on me, like a boulder slowly crushing me.

I don't really want to talk about this to anyone. Now, it's really not because of fear or distrust, though that's still there, but now it's just more of "What can they say?" Engineer said it himself, he's not good with this. Still, he'd be my best bet anyway. Heavy's intelligent, but I feel pretty intimidated to talk to him in all honesty. It's not the same intimidation as I have with Medic, because Medic just..well... it's as if I can outsmart him or stand up to his bullshit. Heavy's kind, but to try to butt heads with him seems like a complete death wish, and I don't know if that would happen in a conversation with him. Sniper can be fun, but he's goal-oriented and can be seen as if he has tunnel vision. He just likes to get the job done, and that's hard for me learn from. Yeah sure, he has his moments, but I don't know. Honestly I don't know what Scout can give me. I'm sure if I try hard enough I can have a serious talk with him, but I really doubt that'd happen any time soon. Demo's intelligent, but almost always drunk. Spy might not give me a true answer, or he'd get annoyed with me. I don't see myself having too much heart-to-heart with him at all. I can't understand Pyro at all, but maybe talking to him can be like a "talk to your pillow" kind of thing for when I want to tell somebody who can't tell the others. Wait, no, he can talk to Engie. I don't know, maybe it could still work some days. Soldier's kind of in the same boat as Scout, except he's louder. Medic would ridicule me like he always does. Maybe there might be no one I could talk to at all. No, I can't just bottle this up anymore, but does talking to them make me seem like a baby? I already look like a crybaby. I'm just a childish brat who needs to grow up. You know what? Whatever, I don't ca-

There was a knock on the door that jolted you out of your tired thoughts. You set the phone down and went to get the door. You opened it in kind of a nervous way, only to find the duo Heavy and Engie. Hey it rhymed. Why do you two care so much about me? Your Engineer had his thumb hooked on a strap of his overalls. Neither of them had a distinguishable expression, but it still unnerved you. You couldn't tell if that was a good thing or not. In response, you opened the door wide and left as a way to invite them in. No words needed to be spoken. You shuffled to sit on the edge of your bed beside your pillow, and they follow you in. You watched as Engie scanned your desk and sat down in your desk chair. His hands were together with his fingers intertwined and he leaned forward as he sat. Heavy took a seat on your bed, but was wasn't nearly as close as last time they both came in here. They both seemed more distant. Heavy had a hand out and pressed into the mattress and another on his knee. They both looked relaxed, but it was obvious something was bothering them. You turned to face them, and they did the same with you. They seemed to wait for you to say something, so you didn't waste any time in starting the conversation.

"So... Medic told me you wanted you talk to me?" You asked, tilting your head as you spoke. They both nodded curtly and neither of them moved to speak. You shifted in your position on the bed. "What did you want to discuss?" It was clear they didn't expect to make this conversation short, because Engie took his time to speak.

"Look, Strategist. Heavy 'n I have been talkin', and we both agree that you...need ta, well..," Engie kept moving his hands trying to make the words come.

"Leetle girl needs to trust us and stop pushing us away. We are a team, not enemies," Heavy put it bluntly, finishing Engie's sentence. You nodded slowly.

"Ah, right. Wh-what we're tryin' to say here is that we need ya to put a little faith in us. We need ta be a team, and when ya push us away like ya did last night, well, darlin', yer scarin' us. Yer scarin' me 'n Heavy! I hate ta see ya is such a mess like last night." Heavy nodded, gesturing for Engie to continue. Engie noticed and kept talking. "It's just, we talked it over with the rest of the team an' I can confirm that we all care fer ya. Even Doc an' Spah, though I don't know how much, but that point is that they do. No one like to see ya hurt." That's nice that Medic and Spy care... I guess. I doubt it's very much to be honest. However, that'll be hard for you all then in a couple of days when the fighting starts and I get fatally wounded.

"Yeah, I've been thinking about it too. Though I still find it unsettling to be in the position I'm in, I haven't been active in trying to bridge the gap. I haven't been trying to make you all more than just strangers, and I'm sorry." You looked them both in the eye. "Not to mention letting my own pride get in the way of getting something done. There's no reason for me to have denied the help of a genius for math." Engie smiled and you laughed slightly. Like I should care anymore. Just say what they want me to say, even if I agree with it. Having this conversation is wasting time.

"Well I'm glad you learned on yer own, that shows a lot ta us." Heavy nodded. "Well anyway, I'd love ta talk more, but Doc told us before we came in ta let ya know he wants you to have dinner with us. He also said he wanted to let ya know that he wants ta let you get more sleep afterwards, which is why we'll be havin' dinner slightly early tonight."

"Wait, we're moving the dinner schedule just for this?" That's a mistake.

"Ye-up! It won't be no trouble, Spah's already workin' on the food. He should about done now. Besides, it's not like any of us are complainin' about an early meal!" They both laughed heartily and you felt relieved enough to smile. Engie stood up and you followed with Heavy. Heavy left first, and you left with Engie placing a hand on your shoulder. I think he's better at this than he realizes, but... I can't even explain how I feel about it. Engie closed the door behind you and you both walked in a leisurely way down the hallway on your way to the kitchen. I want to be hopeful. I really want these people to be like a family for me, but I also feel the need to separate myself from them. A side of me just wants to forget about this and get through each day. I don't want to care about it anymore, but I know how important it is for me to care. I just, can't make myself feel that way. Suddenly, your ears perked at the sound of quick footsteps. Glancing behind you, you saw Medic hastily make his way to catch up to you and your little group. Engie and Heavy turned to look at him. Engie waved and Medic nodded, now walking right behind you.

The four of you made your way into the kitchen and into your seats. The plates were already set and Pyro was help Spy serve the food. After Spy finally sat down, conversations picked up and people dug in. As you watched everyone joke around with each other, you felt troubled... and extremely hungry. It wasn't until you ate your first bite that you realized just how much you were starving. After all, you hadn't eaten at all that day. Needless to say, as everyone talked about previous battles and their excitement for the ones to come, you finished your plate and drink very quickly. It didn't go unnoticed by Medic, as he looked at you for a few seconds before continuing his conversation with Heavy. Though you didn't talk to anybody by the end of the meal, you didn't feel as if you were obligated to. It felt alright to just eat in silence.

After everybody put their plates in the dishwasher and most left to their own respective plans for the day, you lingered for a bit in the living room. Medic approached you after saying goodbye to Heavy. You gave him kind of a half-smile. That's really awkward. Good job (Y/n).

"Did zhe Engineer and Heavy tell jou vhat I vanted jou to do?" He asked, looking down at you with his hands behind his back.

"They sure did," you answered. "Does this mean the training will just be moved tomorrow?" Medic nodded.

"Yes, now please get some rest. By tomorrow jou should be feeling much better."

"Got it, I guess this is goodnight huh?" You laughed. In typical Medic fashion, he just nodded in response. You made your way past him to your room, feelings his eyes on your back all the way down the hall. You gave a breath of relief to close the door behind you. Medic will never fail to unnerve you. You changed into pajamas and settled into bed. Surprisingly, it didn't take you long to fall asleep.

-+-+-

You woke up in your bed with a familiar face sitting next to you.