Accusations

As Laila looked in on one friend, Noah was looking in on their other friend. He was standing on the side of the bed and was looking down at Steve's sleeping face while talking to him as if he was awake. Going as far as making jokes about his unconscious state, which was a big contrast to how Noah was being just a few moments ago.

With a smile on his face, which did appear as if it was hiding away the sadness he was feeling inside, Noah said, "Haven't you slept enough already? One little blow and you become all dramatic. Needing to be rushed away in an ambulance, then you go and request some emergency surgery only to lie there like some sleeping beauty. Well let me tell you, you can paint your face as pale as you want but there is no way you will fool me into thinking that you are some fair maiden. If you want a kiss to wake you from your slumber, you are going to have to look elsewhere. I don't swing that way and I am quite happy with my wife. I can't have her getting weird thoughts because you are in sudden need of attention."

Laila shook her head and chuckled, while Maria appeared to be in full shock from hearing Noah talk like this. She had not expected these words from him towards Steve but her shock soon made place for a laugh as well. But the biggest surprise came from a different direction. Apparently Noah's words were so absurd, so unexpected, that his joke had been shocking enough to wake Steve up.

In a groggy voice, still sounding weak and appearing as confused as you can expect from someone just waking up from anaesthesia, Steve answered, "Who needs a kiss from you?" As everyone's face lit up and Maria jumped up from her seat to hug Steve as he was lying in the bed, Steve himself used that moment to straighten Noah's 'accusations'. But of course not before letting out an 'Auw' as Maria had hugged him with too much force, causing his wounds to hurt. As she jumped back and hid behind her hands while she said, "Oh, I'm sorry.", Steve aimed his words at Noah.

He said with a jokingly annoyed tone, using every bit of energy he had in him, "Keep dreaming mister. The one who I was waiting for is obviously Maria but you ruined my plan with your nightmare inducing words." After gathering a bit more strength and while Noah, Maria and Laila were busy laughing at his words, Steve continued to say, "However I must applaud its effectiveness and I must commend Laila for her resilience because apparently just hearing about your kisses is enough to wake an unconscious man. This proves just how powerful it is. Too powerful for a mere mortal to handle. Yet, Laila is being forced to withstand them on a regular basis. It is clear that she is the chosen one. Otherwise she would have been robbed of her ability to sleep ever again and succumb to her lack of rest or from her life energy being sucked out."

Hearing how energetic Steve was being and how witty his response was despite having just woken up, it was clear to them all that Steve would recover just fine. They all laughed at his words and after hours of worrying, feeling relief and starting to worry all over again, they finally could set their minds at ease. Now that he knew that Steve would be fine, Noah felt that it was time for him to check in with the Shadow and the bodyguard. He wanted to see what they had managed to discover in the past few hours and start taking action accordingly.

He said goodbye to Steve and Maria and got ready to leave when Laila stopped him just before he could step out of the room. While Steve was being distracted by Maria, whose full attention was on him, Laila said, "Before you leave I want you to promise me that you won't lower yourself to their level but that you will beat them in a way that breaks their spirits instead of their bones. Don't do anything stupid that will get you in trouble or jeopardize our future. Show them how a true man that should be feared will handle a situation like this and make it so they never think of coming after us again."

Noah cupped Laila's face and whispered, "I promise." before he placed a kiss on the tip of her nose, which he followed up by a kiss on her lips. After that he left and Laila watched as he disappeared in the mass of people that were going from one place to another in the the long white hall. Once Noah was no longer in sight, Laila turned around and headed back into the room, where she stayed with Maria and Steve a bit before finding an excuse to leave as well and leave the two of them to be by themselves.