Astrid always hated hospitals. She didn’t know what it was that she hated about them. Too many visits seeing her friends in them or maybe it was the pristinely clean environment. White walls and everything. The scent of antiseptic.

“How are you feeling?” asked the Nurse.

“Uhm… okay,” said Astrid. “Who brought me here?”

“Nightfall,” said the Nurse. “My name is Diana Evans. Your doctor, Dr. Daniels, will be in to see you shortly.”

Astrid relaxed onto her pillow. The first of her visitors was Ben. He walked into the room with casual clothing and a stern expression. She often looked to him as an older brother.

“What did you do to get into this mess of a situation?” said Ben as he sat on the chair next to the bed.

“No physical injuries, I swear,” said Astrid and then lowered her voice. “I might have completely depleted my light energy which means we can’t use our powers and it’s like depleting our life energy… I mean, we can live without it… ugh, it’s too complicated to go into. It basically shortens our lifespan by a quarter.”

“And let me guess, you are not supposed to do that,” said Ben.

“We are supposed to keep an eye on our levels,” said Astrid as she cleared her throat. “It’s the same way a diabetic has to watch their insulin levels. Though, in our case, higher levels only happen at the right time… if forced it can be fatal or even deadly.”

“Ben?” said Dr. Daniels.

“Wait a minute, my doctor is your dad?” asked Astrid.

“How long has my dad been your doctor in the hospital?” asked Ben.

“Uhm… since I was fourteen,” said Astrid.

“And you didn’t tell me?!” exclaimed Ben.

“Why would I?” Astrid deadpanned.

Ben rolled his eyes. “Well, now you have explained your condition to the best of your ability. How are you feeling? Your partner…”

“He’s my superhero partner,” said Astrid. “He’s not replacing you… anyway, continue.”

“He called me upset about you passing out. He was the one who dropped you off at the hospital and if you are supposed to be watching your levels,” said Ben.

“I know… I should have taken time to rest,” said Astrid. “Or at least, refuel… but with everything going on.”

“And that is always her excuse,” said Caleb as he leaned against the doorway. “Or more specifically, in her own words: ‘there is too much going on for me to lay back and rest.’ Despite, the fact, that she is a part of a team. And you do have me and as much as I hate to admit it, Nightfall to take care of things if you ever need the rest.”

Ben sends her a glance and Astrid let out an exasperated sigh. She let out a pout. She knew she was cornered. There was no way for her to get out of bed rest.

“Alright, alright… I will take a couple of days off,” said Astrid.

“Good… so I don’t have to tell her,” said Dr. Daniels. “And son, you have a lot of explaining to do.”

“Just tell me how she is,” said Ben.

“Astrid is fine. She has a clean bill of health. No physical injuries… it seems to be more of a case of over exhaustion and over exertion. Her health though seems be a little effected. She has sprained wrist and broken ankle… she seemed to be treated,” said Dr. Daniels. “Otherwise, she has no need to stay in the hospital but which one of you can I trust to make sure she gets her rest and her medicine."

“No need,” said Astrid. “I promise to take them this time.”

“This time?!” exclaimed Ben.

“Let’s get you out of here,” said Caleb. “Your mom is signing your release papers outside and Ben looks like he is about to blow.”

“Yeah… I don’t want to be around for Ben’s wrath,” said Astrid. “Can you hand me my crutches?”

“Here,” said Caleb.

* * * * * * * * *

Ben glared at the door in anger and turned back around to his foster father’s expectant face. He let out a sigh. Most of the stuff about Astrid was classified information. Her whole history and life were classified.

“I used to be her handler and then I became her partner,” said Ben. “She didn’t have many people in her life before she finally met her mother and other than me and her soon-to-be stepfather, there weren’t that many people who believed in her or looked out for her. She is really talented though.”

“I know about your job with the agency, son… but the way you two interacted. It was so close,” said Matthew.

Ben chucked and ran a hand through his hair. Astrid was probably home by now, hopefully resting on her own couch.

“In the field, there aren’t that many people you can trust, and she outright refused to go see a therapist. So, she turned to me for comfort,” said Ben. “Honestly, I am more than glad that she decided to stop being a spy for now.”

“Me too,” said Matthew. “The girl has been through a lot. Make sure she stays in one piece, son. I don’t want to one day come into the hospital seeing her broken in so many ways."

“I know, Dad. I know,” said Ben. “I feel the same way.”

* * * * * * * * *

Bed rest ended up being more boring than ever. She knew she needed it and her friends visits every other day. Her friends would come over with snacks or to talk.

“I brought donuts,” said Lia. “You do still like donuts?”

Astrid looked up from the couch. She was holding a bowl of baked mac and cheese made by her mother. Lia was also known as Sparrow.

“Are those my favorite jelly filled donuts?” asked Astrid.

“I don’t even get a ‘thank you’, wow…” said Lia.

“Thank you,” said Astrid.

“No… don’t get up,” said Lia. “I saw the images of your sprained ankle. It was close to a break. I will bring you the bag of donuts. I know you hate bed rest. I do too. I always have to be doing something too.”

“I needed it,” said Astrid as she yawned. “So, I did not argue with the doctor this time.”

“You should not be arguing with the doctor, period.”

Astrid dug her good hand into the bag and pulled out a donut and took a bite.

“Do you want me to tell you what is going on out there?” asked Lia.

“No… don’t because then I will be tempted to go back out there,” said Astrid. “Tell me about something else, please. It has taken every ounce of self-control that I have not to turn on the news.”

“Really, is that all it takes,” said Ben. He had bags of grocery and he was currently taking in his partners comfortable appearance as she talked to her best friend. “And you are allowed to eat food on the couch.”

“Sure,” said Astrid. She finished eating the donut. “There are no strict rules in the house that you can’t eat on the couch. At least, not as far as I know.”

“You want to finish these later?” asked Lia.

“Yeah… I shouldn’t splurge on these donuts today,” said Astrid. “I really wish I could do something. Now, I can’t even see my mom’s wedding dress or help her pick it out.”

“You are the one that drained yourself,” said Ben.

Astrid frowned. “Not helping.”

“Shouldn’t you be napping or something,” said Ben. “You know, if you used up most of your energy.”

“That’s not how it works, smart ass,” said Astrid. “And I don’t want to explain it to you.”

The door opened to the house and my mom entered with two three pizza boxes.

“Uh.. uh… no junk food for you,” said Katherine. “I am making you homemade food. Anything you want in particular?”

“No…” said Astrid.

“Thanks for the help, Ben,” said Katherine.

The ring on her hand was a stark reminder that everyone else in her family was moving on. They had dealt with the grief of her birth father’s death years ago and moved on. She was the only one stuck in the past.

“Lasagna?” asked Astrid hopefully. “Could you make lasagna?”

“Sure, honey,” said Katherine.

Cameron helped her up to her room that night. Her mother came up the stairs with the lasagna in a plate.

“We need to talk,” said Katherine.

“What about?” asked Astrid. She took the fork and dug into the lasagna.

“First of all, you haven’t talked to me since you barged into the house injured. You have quite literally made yourself busy with a conflict that I know more about than anything…” said Katherine. “I only want to know that you are alright.”

“I guess you are right,” said Astrid.

“I don’t know I guess I am not handling your new engagement with my mentor as well as I should be,” said Astrid as she rested her foot on the pillow. “I mean, I only found out about our family a year ago… am pulled into conflict and when I come back it seems like everyone is moving on.”

“I loved your dad, sweetie,” said Katherine. “I always will no matter what. You remind me so much of your dad, you have so much of him in you. I am not moving on though. Your dad would want me to be happy again and I know he would be proud of all that you have accomplished too.”

“Would he?” asked Astrid. “It seems that all I am good at is messing things up.”

“Sweetie!”

“It’s true… first, in Gatlon and now… I mean, if I hadn’t left than things probably would not have gotten so screwed up so fast and so bad,” said Astrid with tears in her eyes.

“Let me let you in something your father taught me,” said Katherine. “As painful as it is to experience it, failure is part of what makes us successful because the best way to achieve true success is to learn from and be strengthened by our mistakes. Astrid, I trust you and your instincts. Now, you need to.”

“Thanks, mom,” said Astrid.

“No problem, sweetie,” said Katherine. “Everyone has their doubts once in a while.”

The lasagna was the best she had in a while considering she had only been having takeout food for the past three months. Not that she didn’t love takeout, but she had forgotten what homemade food tasted like.

“Were you listening in on the private conversation?” asked Astrid as she turned to look at Ben.

“A little…” said Ben. He sat down in her bean bag. “You know, back when you were an agent. I felt so lucky that I got to work with you. You were one of the best agents and not because you had creative combat skills or because you had one of the best track records. It was because you genuinely wanted to keep people safe.”

“I always wanted to help keep the world spinning,” said Astrid. “And you really think all of those things about me.”

“The first mission I was with you on my mission was to protect you,” said Ben.

“Wait, they asked you to protect me?” asked Astrid.

“No… I asked to join you, but I was the one who wanted to protect you. I asked to be your partner,” said Ben. “And I am glad I stayed because you are downright reckless sometimes.”

“Not anymore,” said Astrid as she pointed her fork in his direction. “And not as reckless as Nightfall. He, at least, gives me a heart attack every other night we go out on patrol.”

“You and him… is there something between you two?” asked Ben as he looked over at her. “You know, more than being partners I mean…”

“I know what you mean… we’re just really, really great friends, like the best of friends… and even though fact we know each other so well that we can know what the other is thinking without the other saying it, but still not knowing the other’s actual identity. It’s like we have a blind trust in each other, but we are just best friends,” said Astrid.

“Astrid… you know, I am a spy, right?”

“Yeah…” said Astrid.

“Then you know you can’t hide anything from me,” said Ben with a knowing smile. “So, you might as well tell me.”

“Okay. He has romantic feelings for me, and I sort of do… and it is kind of complicated,” said Astrid. “He’s complicated. I know I am completely happy when I am around Luis but at least there is no risk there.

“What about love is not complicated?” asked Ben. “I am getting married in two months and before I happened to have taken a huge romantic risk recently.”

“I know… I know,” said Astrid. “I think I understand what you are saying. I-I don’t think I am ready yet.”

“Good,” said Ben. “Now, enough serious talk. Want to go have some ice cream downstairs? I brought some rocky road and dark chocolate mint ice cream that I bought with the groceries.”

“Yes… that would be great.”

She tiptoed down the stairs. She found her brothers were waiting for her downstairs.

“So… this was your partner?” asked Frank.

“Are you eating my donuts?” asked Astrid as she snatched the paper bag away from them. “And yes, this is Ben Daniels, my former partner and handler.”

“We still have a sort of friendly-sibling like relationship even though I quit,” said Astrid. She took the ice cream out of the fridge. “We wanted to give you these files that we finished figuring things out with our notes but seeing as you got injured again.”

“You can give them to me,” said Ben. “She’s not working until she gets a good amount of rest.”

“Oh… I like this guy,” said Cole. “But no need, we’ll keep them at our house until she’s all rested up. We know she can get stubborn sometimes.”

Astrid rolled her eyes. “He is right. I do need the rest and I should probably stay away from work for the time being.”

After eating ice cream and talking about other things, Ben left after he helped Astrid to her room. She laid down on her bed. She tried to go to sleep but three hours passed, and she couldn’t go to sleep.

“Couldn’t sleep?” asked Nightfall.

“How did you even know I was here on this rooftop?” asked Astrid.

“You do know that we are linked,” said Nightfall. “I feel what you feel. Even if I didn’t know what your thoughts were, I could tell you were overwhelmed by them.”

She was on a rooftop leaning against the door for support. In the moonlight, she could see his green eyes and messy blonde hair and his glowing green eyes.

“It’s nothing… the usual that keeps me up at night,” said Astrid.

“Have you tried talking to your family about it?” asked Nightfall as he walked over to her. He gently reached out and offered his hand and she took it and they sat down against a wall of the building. He pushed a strand of her hair away. “About what is bothering you?”

“It’s the usual nightmares, Night… nothing overly special,” said Astrid.

“You and I both know that we don’t get usual nightmare, Feu…” said Nightfall. “Our nightmares are always on the intense side.”

“I dream of the world ending,” said Astrid. “Always have since I was ten… most of the times it’s the same dream. The world in flames and I am the only survivor and some of the times it changes.”

“You think it is a vision of the future?” asked Nightfall.

Her silence was spoke millions. He reached over and squeezed her hand.

“Hey… look at me,” said Nightfall. “That’s only one possible future. There could be hundreds of possibilities of what could happen in the future. And I promise you, we won’t let that future happen.”

“But…” said Astrid.

“No buts… now, if you can’t go back to your house and sleep there,” said Nightfall.

“No… I can,” said Astrid. “Thanks for the talk. I really needed to hear that.”

“No problem… just tell someone the next time you are struggling with something like this. Your family will always be there for you,” said Nightfall.

“I know…” said Astrid quietly. “Thanks again. I should actually get some sleep if I mean to recover.”

She slipped through the window when she got back to the house and fell into a restless sleep. It wasn’t until late next morning she woke to the sound of breakfast being made.

“You weren’t in bed last night… I won’t tell mom if you tell me where you went,” said Cammie.

“I had a nightmare,” said Astrid. “It’s complicated… but I couldn’t sleep after it. So… I decided to spend some time outside and ran into a friend and he calmed me down.”

“Rooftop and Nightfall,” said Cammie. “Okay.”

“What… how did you know?” asked Astrid.

“He’s a good friend and you usually go to the rooftops to calm down if you have too much on your mind,” said Cammie. “I won’t tell mom… you didn’t agitate your injury.”

“The rooftop was next to our house. So… not really,” said Astrid. “And thanks… for having my back.”

“No problem. Now, let’s go eat some breakfast,” said Cammie as she handed her sister the crutches. “I can smell bacon and eggs. I also smell pancakes, must mean someone other than mom cooked breakfast.”