::Aww, Petunius. That's what happens when you try to take on a baby. Ha, you couldn't even fight a baby. Hahaha! Anyway. The wee laddie lies after copious blood has been pumped inside him, recovering at a decent pace. Rest up for a while, but you can leave on Sunday. You're also conscious. Unless you really don't want to be. Oh, and Andrea's there too.::

::She sure is. Andrea fiddles with one of her rings and watches Petunius worriedly.::

(Really should've told Az where I was going...)

::She grimaces, but doesn't move.::

(He'll be okay.)

::Feeling uncomfortable that she doesn't really know Petunius in the slightest, Andrea sucks it up and goes to sit in the chair beside his bed, waiting.::

::Petunius opens his eyes, even though he was conscious the whole time--just waiting for the drugs and shiz to calm down a bit--, and glances slowly around the room before his gaze falls on Andrea. He frowns for a moment and tries to clear his throat. He takes a moment, trying to remember the girl's name sitting by his bedside.::

"...Andrea?"

::Andrea stirs from her reverie and her eyes connect with Petunius'.::

"Hey... how are you, sweetie?"

::She speaks in a low, soothing voice, putting a hand on his arm.::

"Are you feeling okay?"

::Petunius blinks and swallows with effort before opening his eyes and smiling wearily at Andrea, his voice still raspy.::

"I feel like I've gone ten rounds with Mike Tyson."

::He clears his throat again and slowly places his hand over hers and grasps it gently whilst looking at her with the utmost sincerity and gratitude.::

"If it wasn't for you, I'd be dead right now. Thank you for saving my life."

::Andrea smiles softly at Petunius, her voice still tender as she puts her hand on top of Petunius', which is on top of her other hand, and strokes it gently.::

"It's nothing, honey. As long as you're okay, and you get better."

(I helped someone.)

"And at least your ears are intact, right? And very nice ears they are."

::Petunius starts to laugh, then promptly stops due to the coughing which in turn aggravates his broken ribs.::

"Why thank you. I happen to be very proud of these ears too. Couldn't possibly let anything happen to them."

::He takes in a breath and exhales slowly, whilst thinking at the back of his mind about how he's never really managed to get to know Andrea, despite their having lived in the same apartment complex for the past year and a half.::

"I'll be okay. It's my pride that's wounded the most."

::His expression turns serious for a moment as he glances at a spot on the wall.::

"That baby. My crappy power didn't even stand a chance against it. I dunno how much more damage it can do. And how many more people are gonna get hurt because of it."

(It was just a freakin' baby for cryin' out loud.)

::Andrea bites the inside of her lip and sighs.::

"I saw her... through the hole in the wall. She... she looked far along."

::Wetting her lips, she bows her head, still stroking his hand.::

"It's going to have to be killed, isn't it?"

::Petunius squeezes his eyes shut at the mention of killing the baby, despite everything it had done to him. He opens them again and sighs deeply.::

"Yeah. It's getting to be really bad. It started growing within a space of a few minutes. I really can't see another way of getting rid of it without..."

::He trails off, unable to finish the sentence.::

"God..."

::Andrea shushes him and stares at their hands, not really knowing how to feel.::

"I think God knows that sometimes it has to be done."

::She moves a hand onto his chest and her thumb strokes gently.::

"Some things weren't meant to be."

::Petunius nods a couple of times, more fiercely than he intended, his mind clinging onto Andrea's words and using the reasoning behind them as a buffer against the upcoming brutal task they'd have to perform.::

"You're right. Everything does happen for a reason. Which means there's a reason for this."

::He swallows a couple of times, choking back the heavy sickness that was rapidly rising in his throat.::

"Tonight. It has to be tonight. We've waited far too long for this to end."

::He pauses suddenly.::

"I'm sorry. I keep throwing this 'we' word around at you about something you've only had the misfortune of getting caught up in."

(Although we'll need all the help we can get, if you can give it...)

"It's okay. I'm... I'm Julie's best friend. This is something I need to help with, too. Despite any moral implications it may have. From what I understand, that thing is pure evil, and it has to be rid of. I'll offer any help I can."

::Petunius smiles and takes in a deep breath, relief washing over him.::

"Thanks. To tell you the truth, we're gonna need all the help we can get."

::He pauses, deciding to change the subject slightly.::

"You know, I was just thinking about how weird it was. Us living in the same apartment complex for like the past year and a half--you have been there for that long, right?--And how we've never really run into each other."

::Andrea smiles at Petunius.::

"Heh, I know. I've not wanted to admit it, but I really don't remember your name."

::She blushes deeply at this.::

"But you remembered mine."

::Petunius grins sheepishly.::

"Um, yeah. Slight confession about that. I heard Patience and Lirie mention it a couple of times. And I think Julie did too. As for my name...you gotta promise not to laugh..."

::Pauses, then.::

"Petunius."

::Waits for the inevitable reaction of what a weird name it was.::

::Andrea frowns slightly.::

"That's a pretty odd name."

::She smiles and keeps stroking him gently.::

"Not laughing, though."

(He's a nice boy. Gentlemanly. They'd have loved me to meet a man like this.)

"..."

::Petunius cocks his head to the side and raises his eyebrows a little before smiling.::

"Well it's refreshing not to have to go into a long explanation about it."

(I like her. She's sweet.)

::He averts his gaze to the window for a little while, his thoughts drifting back to everything else that had happened back at CW. He doesn't really want to go back and deal with everything and would much rather stay here in Andrea's company, despite it being in a hospital.::

"Maybe we should give the others a call. I'd much rather stay here...but, your friend. The one with the strawberry blonde hair. She's bound to be worried about you."

::His thoughts drift back to how Azura had simply walked away from him in his hour of need and he finds himself suddenly feeling contempt for her.::

(She just...walked away. What the hell kinda person does that?)

"Azura. It's okay, she'll know where I am. I'm sorry she didn't help you out, Petunius, but she's... she has a lot of issues with a lot of things. Forgive her."

::She lets go of his hand and rises.::

"Would you like me to phone and tell everyone you're okay? Julie's back there, hopefully she's woken up by now."

::Petunius closes his eyes for a moment and takes in a breath, knowing this wasn't the time for petty grudges. He opens his eyes and nods.::

"It's...okay. She seems new to all of this. It's no big. And yeah, if you could give everyone a call that'd be great. I'm worried the baby might have caused more damage."

"Sure thing."

::Andrea makes her way out to the waiting room. She returns a second later.::

"Heh... won't be a second. The phones are out there, see?"

::She leaves again. The goof.::

::Petunius can't help smiling as Andrea leaves. That girl's so damn endearing.::

::Andrea walks in with a small smile.::

"Okay, I have one piece of good news and two pieces of bad news. The first piece of bad news is that I called a few places, and nobody picked up. The second piece is there is no good news."

::Petunius sits up in his bed and sighs a little.::

"Alright, well they do say that no news is good news. Although in this case, no news means everyone's been used as cannon fodder for Rosemary's Baby."

::He pushes down the covers and swings his feet down to the floor, wincing in pain from the effort.::

"We're gonna have to go over there."

::Andrea quickly stands and puts her hands on Petunius' chest, stopping him from getting up.::

"Get yourself lying back down, mister!"

::Her voice takes on a stern edge.::

"There is no way you're getting up while you're obviously still injured."

::Petunius falls back onto the bed before he gets up fully, offering little resistance as Andrea stops him.::

"I'm okay, Andrea. Really. It's just a dull little ache now."

::What a liar.::

"I can rest up after we do what has to be done."

"Or while you die trying. Just a while longer, okay? Let me take care of you. Me, a total stranger. Don't you feel safe?"

::She grins, and walks over to the sink, soaking a cloth and returning to daub at his face with it, cleaning him gently, and running it through his hair.::

"This is like red hair dye gone horribly, horribly wrong."

::She tries not to look sickened as she cleans a lot of blood from his hair.::

::Petunius grins back at her and makes no further attemps at getting up and just lets her take care of him.::

"I wouldn't call you a total stranger anymore. There's nothing quite like a gaping head wound to bring two people together."

::He sighs and closes his eyes, enjoying the sensation of the cloth running through his hair.::

"You know, that's twice I've almost died now within the space of a few hours. Gotta say, I don't really care for it."

"What happened to you the time before?"

::Andrea straightens the blankets back over Petunius, and tucks him in carefully, before continuing to clean his hair.::

::Knockity knock.::

"Can I come in?"

"I apparently got infected with a sin and had to do a selfless--."

::Petunius stops as he hears the knock on the door and Julie's voice. He smiles.::

"Julie, hey. Come on in. We're having a grand ol' time in here."

::Julie comes in smiling in relief to see Andrea there, nice and not cut to bits, she then turns to Pet.::

"How are you doing?"

::Andrea quickly moves away from Petunius and spins around, looking guilty for some reason. She looks at the cloth in her hand, and holds it down by her side.::

:: Azura appears in the doorway of the room, but it is clear from the look on her face as well as her body language that she is less than thrilled to be there. ::

::Petunius smiles weakly at Julie, noting Andrea's sudden change but doesn't really say anything.::

"I get to add head injury along with a buncha other stuff I didn't understand. But they say I'll be okay."

::He glances past Julie for a moment to look at Azura, more curious at what the various issues Andrea mentioned were, before glancing back at Julie.::

::Julie raises her eyebrows looking at Andrea.::

"As long as you'll be okay. I should've stayed, maybe I could've helped."

(Doubtful.)

::Andrea quickly goes and opens the window, looking at Azura in concern.::

"Are you okay with being here, Az?"

(I'm glad to see her.)

:: Azura looks at Andrea, the opening of the window helps a little. But hospital rooms are small and nasty as it is. ::

"No."

"No, it's good you weren't there. My power, the one designed to act against things like that, was absolutely useless. I couldn't let you get hurt as well."

"Abe saved me from getting fried, then Luke saved me again. Saved three times in a day, I'm starting to feel special."

::Julie smiles at Andrea, having no idea what happened in the forest but still knowing she saved her ass.::

"Azura, you can wait outside if you want."

(Guess hospitals aren't her thing.)

::Andrea looks between Azura and Petunius, torn as to what to do.::

(I should stay... but I should go. The waiting room is much bigger than this place.)

"Um..."

(But I should stay, he shouldn't be left alone. But Julie's here. But I should... Azura...)

::Looks troubled.::