sleepswthdemons | Phoebe's Room, Blueberry Hill, Wednesday Evening (Reply)

After the events of the night, Phoebe hadn't managed to get any rest until Anders had convinced her to take some of the pain medication that the clinic had sent home with her. She might have tried to argue with him, but her physical pain coupled with all of the emotional drain caused her to give in without argument.

She had collapsed into a dreamless sleep and had only woken up once -- late afternoon when Anders left the bed, promising her that he would check in on her later but that he had a few things to do.

Now, though, it was evening and Phoebe was awake and laying on her side, staring at her busted window from the relative comfort of her bed.

Marie had noticed the broken window, knew that Sam was gone and decided that Phoebe needed to eat.

She knocked on the door, balancing a tray that contained some soup, juice and bread.

Phoebe swallowed, turning to the door. She stared at it a moment and then realized that any nightmare coming after her wouldn’t knock first.

“Come in.”

"How are you feeling?" Marie asked as she entered the room and set the tray next to Phoebe's bed.

Phoebe pulled herself into a sitting position, careful of her leg and gave Marie a wan smile.

“I’m better than I was when Anders carried me into the clinic,” she said quietly. “How did you fare?” She was telling the truth as far as the physical part went.

Marie shrugged. "I just hurt my shoulder a little. It's mostly okay now," she said. "I was wondering where you disappeared to after everything was over. I hauled Lana to the clinic and I was a little worried that I couldn't find you."

Phoebe looked abashed at that. “Sorry. I just… I guess with the head knocks and the pain and shock I got a little disoriented, and then I didn’t want Anders to find out about… all of us getting hurt by watching the news.” She sighed. “Of course, I didn’t tell him everything until we were at the clinic and they were asking about what happened and everything sort of came out…” She didn’t know if she should list the injuries for Marie or not. “I’m glad you weren’t hurt even worse.”

"I'm glad you're okay," Marie said. "Or at least mostly. I figured you probably needed to eat something though."

Phoebe bit her lip. "I can't remember when the last time I ate was," she admitted.

Marie sighed and shook her head. "I swear you and Lana are both going to end up in the clinic if you don't start taking better care of yourselves. Eat," she instructed, pointing to the tray.

Phoebe looked over at her window once more before reaching for the soup. "Lana thinks Dean won't want to be with her if the battle gave her scars." She swallowed a bite. "I told her that was silly... but that I would fix it if there were any scars left." Yes, Phoebe was mastering the fine art of Avoidance.

"Lana's an idiot when it comes to Dean. Then again, Dean's kind of an idiot when it comes to Lana, too. They'll figure it out," Marie said. "What's going on with you and Sam?"

Phoebe paled even more. "Nothing, I promise! I wouldn't trespass on you like that! It's been very chaste. I haven't tried anything and I know how you guys feel about each other and..." Well, hello there, Ms. Babbly.

And that would be Marie staring. "What are you talking about?" she asked. "Did you hit your head or something?"

Well, she had, but she didn't see what that had to do with anything. "I haven't done anything but be friendly and he told me about you two and I've been careful and I overheard what you told him and..." Phoebe looked down. "I wouldn't hurt you like that, Marie. You and Lana are my best friends. I would never..."

Marie was totally confused. "Phoebe, Sam and I are friends. That's it," she said. "What did you overhear me say?"

Phoebe felt her eyes sting with tears. "It was last week... after I got into another fight with Cally over what she did to Anders... only this time she attacked me in the park. After it was over, I snuck in the house. I was going to go hide upstairs, but I heard voices. So I came to say hello... and that's when I heard you tell him that I had better stay away from him or you'd kick my ass..." She swallowed, shaking her head. "So I left and... spent the night somewhere else..."

Marie closed her eyes and sighed. "Phoebe. Did you actually hear me say your name that night?"

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