Someone knocked on the doorframe, light and polite. Doc stuck his head in. His hair was a mess and his T shirt looked like he had slept in it, but his eyes were clinical and sharp.
“You alive?” he asked Amanda.
“Unfortunately,” she muttered.
“Good. Go eat.”
“That’s a command, not a question.”
“Sharp as ever,” Doc said. “That’s promising. I want you in the kitchen in fifteen. Hydration, protein, simple carbs. No hacking my records.”
She blinked. “Wrecker tattled.”
Doc’s mouth quirked. “I’ve heard you saw it multiple times while drinking the electrolytes. You threaten to break into my files again and I am giving you a tetanus booster just for fun.”
She sighed, nodded once. “Fine. Fifteen.”
Doc looked at me over her head. “You on her or is Ariel taking that shift?” he asked.
“I’ve got her,” I said.
Doc nodded like that was the answer he had expected. “Watch her in the hall,” he said. “No surprises from behind. She is flinching at footsteps.”
“I noticed,” I said.
“Good. Maybe you won’t stomp like a rhino then.”
He left. Amanda stared at the doorway for a second.
“Do I get a say in this schedule?” she asked.
“No,” I said.
She snorted. “Honest. I appreciate that.”
She shuffled to the bathroom, grabbed a hair tie off the dresser on the way. It was one of Ariel’s. Bright purple. She tossed it once, caught it, then twisted her hair up into a quick knot.
Her hands shook once while she did it. She swallowed it down and finished anyway.
“Wrecker,” she said, still facing the door.
“Yeah.”
“I am not going to be this person forever,” she said. “The one who jumps at shadows and drops coffee cups because someone walked up too fast behind her.”
“I know.”
“I hate her.”
“I don’t.”
She glanced over her shoulder, like she was checking to see if I meant it.
“You’re not weak, Amanda,” I said. “You saw something that would wreck most people. You survived it. You are still here and you still want to go after them. That is not weakness.”
Her fingers tightened on the hair tie. “I don’t want to freeze again,” she said quietly.
“Then we teach you how to fight,” I said. “And I stay with you while you learn.”
