9 June 1989, Morning

( Meg feels like she’s been at the hospital in Winchester for a week. )

9 June 1989, Afternoon

( It’s something . . . but it’s not enough )

OOM-But-Not, Waking Up In Milliways

Her eyelids feel heavy, like opening them would be too much work and it's a better idea to just lie here with them closed and listen to things.

And the sounds are . . . not unfamiliar, but not anything she usually hears with her eyes closed.

Meg is reasonably certain that she has been sleeping, there seems to be a pillow under her head, and she's under some kind of blanket, though she doesn't remember making a decision to lie down. Or to go to sleep. In fact . . .

In fact she remembers deciding to stay awake. Because . . .

Because Alain is . . .

Meg's eyes snap open and she sits up.

9 June 1989, Evening

Meg needed to be away, just for a little while.

But, things being what they are, she doesn't want to be far away. She needs to be where people can still find her if they need to. For whatever reason.

So Meg has gone to find the hospital chapel.

It's quiet, removed from main hustle and bustle.

No one else is there, at the moment.

Meg takes a seat away from the door, and folds her hands in front of her.

And, rather than a conversational sort of prayer, Meg tries to just be still and wait to see what comes to her.

9 June 1989, Night to 10 June 1989, Morning

They're only allowed to see Alain briefly, before doctors need to examine him and run tests and generally make sure that he was, in fact, all right.

And then visiting hours end, and the hospital puts its collective foot down and suggests none too uncertainly that everyone should leave until tomorrow morning.

And, with the exception of Meg (who had slept at the end of the universe), everyone had been up for more than twenty-four hours, or traveled hundreds of kilometres since last they slept, or both. (Kim has the added bonus of being five time zones away from where she last woke up.) When John Ford quietly suggests that the find a quick dinner and then the nearest hotel again, there isn't a lot of argument. Or, indeed, any at all.

Dinner is fast food hamburgers and french fries, and it would probably have been at least a little awkward if everyone hadn't been so tired. Adrenaline is a glorious thing, but when it wears off . . . well, conversation is minimal, really.

"I'll share with Meg," Kim says, "if she'd like," as John Ford asks about rooms at the hotel he's found.

Meg nods. "Yes, thank you." She'd rather not be in a room by herself.

Kim gives Meg her suitcase with instructions to borrow anything she likes, and then, with a short glance over to Dave, says that she'll be up to their room in a few minutes.

(That it winds up being slightly longer than a few minutes is not much of a surprise.)

Kim asks again if she wants to talk about it. "In the morning, maybe," Meg says. "Right now I just want to go to bed."

(And it's about equal parts wanting Kim to be able to go to bed -- since it's something like two in the morning on her internal clock right now -- and Meg's knowing that she's going to need some time to let everything process and settle before she can discuss it.)

Kim studies her face for a moment, then tells Meg to wake her up if she needs anything.

Meg stares at the ceiling for a long time. She doesn't quite expect to fall asleep at all, but she must have.

It's the only way she could have just woken up.