Strength

Chapter 21 - Three Times And The One Time

Sophia was half sitting, half lying on her hospital bed. She looked to her left, at her hand. Max had a grasp on it since he had gotten there, at the hospital. Even when she hadn't come out of her unconsciousness, he had still kept her hand in a warm, comforting hold.

Then she slowly turned her sight towards the right. Tony was sitting on a stool, leaning his head back, against the wall. His eyes were shut. One could have thought he was sleeping if not for his occasionally twitching right eyebrow. Right beside him, Tyler and Parker were bickering in not not so hushed voices, to say the least. Something told Sophia that the twitching and the bickering were connected by a sacred thread of annoyance. Specially considering the fact that the bickering was about whether Tony's 'I am gonna kill everyone' mode is worse or his 'Stop talking! I am ignoring you' mode is worse.

Jake and Violet were with Sophia's doctor. Doctor Paige Miller, who is also one of their old friend. When Sophia had woken up, Doctor Miller informed her that she had a concussion and a small fracture in her right leg. Though, the doctor said that it was nothing too serious, she hadn't said anything about discharging Sophia.

Ryan, Cole and Stephen had gone out of the room some while ago. All three of them seemed in some kind of daze before they left. They never knew that having information about something can be cause of confusion. Because they knew that there was a whole group of secret agents present there, because they knew that their parents are a part of that group, because they knew that their sister could be in some kind of danger, because they knew that something big was about take place, they felt confused. They also felt confused as when they had started to so willingly think of Sophia as their sister.

Sophia felt tired, but she couldn't sleep. The moment she closed her eyes two very disturbing flashes of memory filled her head. Surprisingly, neither of them were about the previous night or the accident. One was of her life with Daniel and Lilian, her previous family. Their pretence of a perfect family. How their eyes and words always regarded her with hatred. 

The second was a reflection of nine pair of eyes, each one full of concern. The nine Wilsons. When she had woken up in the hospital that morning, the first thing she noticed was the genuine worry every one of them had had covering their features. This flash of memory contained the way Max engulfed her in a hug, leaving her hand for just that once. She remembered how everyone joined their hug, some more reluctantly than the others, but still. She remembered the lingering feeling on her forehead where both Jake and Violet had kissed her. She remembered how eight out of them nine were constantly asking her if she was okay till the nurse had to shoo them away. 

She opened her eyes when she heard a shout. "Beat it!" Tony's eyes were now wide and glaring. Tyler and Parker took that as their cue to leave, still sniggering at the same topic as earlier .

"Well, I better go with them too and bring the both of us something to eat." Said Max to Sophia.

"All of us." She narrowed her eyes at Max playfully to remind him of his other siblings in existence.

"Whatever," Max rolled his eyes. He unclenched his fingers from around Sophia's and got up. Sophia felt cold loneliness at the loss of his touch and as he exited the room. This feeling only intensified when she realised that she was left alone with the one Wilson who wasn't constantly asking her if she was okay. 

Not that she expected or wanted him to.

She avoided even looking at Tony's face for forty-five seconds. She was looking at the ceiling, her blanket, the door, the window, her hand, her cast, she might as well have seen wind but-

"Oh, come on!" Tony snapped.

She immediately shut her eyes and contemplated snoring to add better effects to her acting.