Melissa never took her gaze from Quantum. “That’s it, now just breathe, slowly. In, out,” her voice never changed pitch, her tone soothing. She was talking to his teammate like he was a frightened baby, but for all Diggs knew, that might be where he was now. The serum could’ve completely scrambled hisbrain.
“She wants us to leave,” Audra whispered and pulled on hisarm.
Would Quantum stay like this? Was it possible for him to get better? A thousand questions sped through hismind.
Audra tugged again. Melissa flicked her hand, urging them to go. Numb with grief, Diggs allowed Audra to lead him from the room. Trigger watched them go, his one good front paw laid over Quantum’sleg.
Diggs allowed Audra to lead them down the hall into his bedroom. He stumbled to the door, barely aware of where he was. He made it to the bed and collapsed, dropping his head into his hands, no longer strong enough to stand. Quantum was awake, but he wasn’tnormal.
And Diggs didn’t know if he would ever be normalagain.
“Diggs, are you okay?” Audra dropped to the bed beside him and slid her arm around hiswaist.
Diggs stared at his hands, unable to look her in the eye. “That wasn’tQuantum.”
“He just woke from a coma, of course he’s going to act a littlestrange.”
“He didn’t recognize me.” Maybe that was a good thing, too. Would Quantum want those memories from before when they’d been held in that lab? “I’d thought that when he woke he’dbe…”
Audra jumped down from the bed and settled between his knees, putting her beautiful face in his line of sight. “You don’t know that he won’t be, it’s too soon to tell. Give him sometime.”
His hands curled into tight fists beside her arms and he stared at the carpet. Audra didn’t know what they’d been through. She didn’t know about the serum or the side effects – the migraines and seizures. The loss of control. Dawson’sdeath.
And he couldn’t tell her – not without jeopardizing the team. God, he’d been a fool to think Quantum would pull out of it and they’d get to go back to being normal. Like the team used to be before Project Mayhem had destroyedthem.
“Did you see the look in his eyes? He wasn’t inthere.”
“Diggs,” Audra spoke more firmly this time, “stop talking like you’ve given up hope on your teammate. You weren’t even sure he’d wake up – now he’s awake. Can’t you see that’s amiracle?”
“A miracle? A miracle would be if that man were my teammate – not a hollowshell.”
“And who are you to give up on him so quickly? Is that what he’d do if the situation werereversed?”
“No, of course not.” Quantum would never give up – he’d been the center of their team beforeMayhem.
Audra dipped her head so that she was directly in front of him again, forcing his gaze from the carpet to her. “Then don’t you think he deserves more than that fromyou?”
Diggs thought back to the man Quantum used to be – laughing, carefree and strong. He’d always had Diggs’ back, no matter how deadly or tenuous the situation. Audra was right, Quantum wouldn’t give up on a single man on their team. “What did I do to deserveyou?”
She smiled and lifted up on her knees to wrap her arms around his neck. “You must’ve done something reallygood.”
Diggs buried his face in her neck, inhaling her sweet cleansing scent. He couldn’t remember everything he’d done in his life, but he was pretty damn sure he’d never done anything worthy enough to deserve a woman likeAudra.
She pulled away first, her expression full of compassion. “You need to tell yourteam.”
