Operation: Take A Bow - Awakened

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Amanda visits Mark.


Mark had never been a Boy Scout. He didn't do the whole survival in the wild thing. His idea of "wild" was Times Square on New Year's Eve. That he had escaped Ugandan military while dragging a half-dead Sofia once was nothing short of miraculous. Now being marooned in an otherworldly Siberia was something totally new.

He shivered as he walked aimlessly, just following his feet. The cuts on his chest and hip throbbed painfully, the latter still bleeding but thankfully slowed. His neck felt especially cold; the familiar weight and warmth of his headphones were gone, presumably destroyed as Amanda's spell caught him in its wake. No music, now power, no heat. Survival here would be impossible.

Mark kept walking on.

~

The bright early-spring sun shined, illuminating the off-white rooms at Mount Sinai Medical Center. To one who'd spent the past however long in the freezing dark, it was just painful. Mark screwed his eyes shut and tried to turn his back to the window, but even a slight movement had him crying out, so he settled back. After a minute, he sighed and dared to crack an eye open, slowly allowing himself to adapt. Everything was a blur, but a vague yellow-topped blob stood nearby. Mark's lips quirked upward in a smile on his still-pink half-frozen face. "Hey, you."

"Hey," came Amanda's voice from the blur as it came closer - she leaned down and pressed a very gentle kiss to his forehead. "Guess we're even with that whole 'I thought you were dead!' thing, huh?"

"I one-upped you, though," Mark replied. His voice was barely more than a whisper, but he'd certainly not lost any of his trademark humor. "I made a church fall on me. What have you done lately?"

"I had Bishop fall on me?" she suggested in the same tone, although the relief was clear in her voice. Luckily Mark couldn't see the sheen of tears in her eyes. "Well, more jumped on me, but what can I say?" She hooked a chair with her foot and dragged it closer before taking a seat. "How're you feeling?"

A much more complicated question than it ought to be. "I can't feel my hands and feet, but that might be b'cuz I'm higher than Ted Haggard." He paused. "I do still have my hands and feet, right? Nothin' got cut off?" A tinge of worry colored his tone.

"Everything's present and correct. Well, except for the hair - they had to shave that off." Amanda reassured him. "You got some nasty frostbite, but you won't lose any bits." His hands weren't up for holding, so she laid her hand gently on his forearm. "'S a bit of a miracle, all things considered."

"My hair? Fuck." He smiled faintly at the soft touch. Actually touching another human after his ordeal was indescribably good. He was home, this wasn't a dream. He opened his eyes wider, and his smile grew as Amanda came into focus. "Hardly seems like a fair trade-off."

"Maybe you can borrow one of Clarice's wigs?" she suggested with a smile of her own. "And considering we thought you were a grease stain on the floor of the church, I can live with a bald Mark for a while. Which reminds me..." She bent and rummaged around in the bag at her feet. "Brought you something." When she straightened, she was holding a shiny new iPhone, complete with a bow around it. "'S from all of us. Doug even put on some upgrades. Figured you'd feel better having it around."

Mark's smile faltered, but not because what she'd said upset him. Quite the opposite, in fact. He had to close his eyes again because he couldn't raise a hand to dry them himself. "Thank you."

She remembered a shopping trip with the younger members of the team to replace her leather jacket, and nodded, squeezing his forearm softly before reaching over to brush dampness from the corner of his eye. "You're welcome," she replied simply. Then she grinned. "Tho' you might not thank me when you find the folder of music I stuck on there - something from everyone. Even Jubilee. Sorry in advance about that."

"Everything has a price. You just take what you can get."