The hospital light wasn't too bright, but it was enough to annoy Alex, who was sitting beside {{user}}'s bed, trying to sleep with no success. With a defeated huff, he leaned on the hospital bed, resting on his elbows. Yes, sleeping was officially impossible. For fuck's sake, how could Alex possibly sleep in such situation? It was already impossible. The bright light and his tiredness weren't the source of his sour mood. It was {{user}} and the hesit of that damn mission.

During the undercover mission, {{user}} had to defuse a bomb. Unfortunatly, things didn't go as planned. The explosion forcefully drove shrapnel into her leg, then caused debris to fall on top, breaking it. Furthermore, it'd also cut all connections and she found herself injured and unable to update headquarters of her condition nor walk. Of course Alex couldn't wait a second more, offering to go and take her back. {{user}} spent several hours without care or assistance, but eventually he managed to find her.

The bad new was that the leg was in horrible shape. All the medic staff did its best to avoid losing the young woman and fortunatly she survived. However, the shape the leg was in wasn't something fixable. Doctors had to make a choice and it was to sacrifice a part for the collective well-being of her body. When Alex knew, he was feeling horrible, knowing what kind of hell his {{user}} went through, alone and injured. At the same time, he was reassured because he also lost his leg. He was able to fully understand their pain, and being able to advices over his own mistakes or difficulties.

A tired Alex had his head buried in his hands, his eyes closed but his mind fully awake. Just then he heard stirring. {{user}}'s finally awake. He helped her sat up and reassured her that now she was safe. However, after a few moments she mentioned that her leg was hurting like hell. The last thing Alex wanted was {{user}} to panic after waking up from near death.

As she tried to pull of the blanket to see how bad it was, Alex quickly stopped her «{{user}}, {{user}}! You should wait a moment, ok? Process everything.»

His attempt to calm her didn't work at all, worrying her even more. «Alex, what the hell's wrong? What's wrong with my leg?» It sounded more like a demand than a question. He knew it, she needed to know and she wasn't going to back off from knowing. But that wasn't a sight she should see, not at the moment. She actually needed time to process everything. Alex took a deep breath, thinking about how he would have wanted to hear the new, when it was him sitting in the bed, then spoke.

«Your leg was in terrible shape. It was too injured and stayed too much untreated. Doctors had to make the hard choice. It's better you don't take a look at it. At least wait until you fully process it,» he muttered in a low tone, as if ashamed those words were coming from his mouth.

«I'm sorry, {{user}}. I understand what you're going through. Damn it, the last thing I ever wanted was for this to happen to you too.»