Octavia's knee bounces anxiously. Two days have passed since Mindy was shot. She has gotten no word and hasn't seen Shard since. He has not come to eat lunch with her, either. Random people have brought her lunch. Shard's absence worries her about Mindy's condition. Boredom keeps her mind running in circles. Is Mindy dead?

  She buries her face in her hands and knees. "Please, don't be gone, Mint. You can't leave me, too." She whispers her continued pleas to no one but hopes somehow this will help.

  Clangs interrupt Octavia's whispers. Shard enters the cell.

  Octavia's heart jumps. "Is Mindy okay?"

  Shard sighs. He shoves his hands in his jacket pockets. "She's alive. Kinda awake. But weak. She lost a lotta blood. Lucky the bullet didn’t reach her brain. That eye’s a goner, though. We can't continue care for her here. We're sending her back."

  A little thrill tickles Octavia's chest. Mindy is going home and will be safe from all this mess. The thrill halts itself.

  "Did you get a payment for her?" Octavia asks.

  Shard gazes down the hall. "No."

  Octavia’s jaw and chest tighten. How bad is it that Shard is returning her without a ransom?

  Shard waves Octavia over. "C'mon. I'm taking you to see her."

  Octavia follows him out of the cell without hesitation. Following his brisk pace, Octavia realizes she has not had the chain on her ankle since she returned from the photoshoot.

  They walk to an area where the walls and ceiling are white. The floors are an odd pink color. An antiseptic smell hangs in the air. It tickles the back of Octavia's throat. Coughs tease to come out. Shard leads them through a grey door in a hall full of grey doors. Two men stand guard outside.

  The room looks like a set from a medical drama placed in the first half of the twenty-first century. A dim lamp lights the room. Devices hang on the white wall. Pink curtains matching the floor hang in a window. A shade pulled down blocks light from outside. Temptation rises in Octavia to peek out it but seeing Mindy casts the thoughts out.

  Her skin could blend into the walls. There's no color in her lips. Wires stuck around her body feed into a monitor. Octavia flashes back to the last time she saw Mindy so ill. At least she is not having delusions this time. She's resting. The bandage around the left side of Mindy’s face give Octavia a bit of sickening déjà vu.

  A woman in a pastel blue coat standing next to Mindy studies the monitor. She glances at Octavia and Shard. "She's awake if you wanna talk."

  Shard nods.

  Octavia walks up to her. "Minty?"

  Mindy's eye opens a squint. It finds Octavia. Her voice is weak. "Oc..."

  Octavia carefully sits on the edge of the bed. She takes Mindy's hand without IVs in both of her hands and squeezes it lightly. "It's me." She brushes stray hairs from Mindy's face. "Relax. I’m here. And I’m okay." There's a pause before Octavia says, "You’ll be okay soon, too. Did you know they're sending you home?"

  "What?" Mindy struggles to say.

  "Yeah. Shard told me."

  Mindy's skepticism shows through her squint. "And you believe him?"

  "You don't find me trustworthy? Hurtful," Shard says from the doorway.

  Mindy tugs on Octavia to tell her to come closer. She whispers, "You trust too easily, Octi. What did I tell you?"

  "I don't trust him. But why would he lie about this, though?" Octavia whispers in response.

  "I really don't have reason to lie about this," Shard says.

  Octavia snaps around in surprise.

  "Especially since I wanted top dollar for ya.” Shard sighs. “And now we won't get a single cent or crumb. Killing ya won't do a single thing for us. In fact, it could hinder us. Maybe. Maybe not. But we’d rather not find out. Believe it or not, we sometimes play it safe. Also I don’t like the idea of you sticking around to plant constant seeds of doubt into my little buddy’s head.” He pats Octvatia’s head. “Besides, we're due to send Lucy off soon, anyway. Timing works out well."

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  Octavia continues to wear her surprise.

  A laugh shines in Shard's eyes. "Unlike others around here, I don't have a problem with whispering."

  Mindy glares at Shard until he removes his hand from Octavia’s head.

  He crosses his arms. "Gee. You're welcome for letting your friend see you off."

  "See me off?" Mindy rasps.

  "Were you not listening to me or your friend? You're gonna be sedated to take a great nap and be brought back home, just as I told Sweet-hart before and just finished telling you. You're being sent back with Lucy and Ajax.” He sighs. “I hope we’re not wasting too much of the good painkillers on you ‘cuz you're obviously on some."

  "You're sedating her? Is that necessary?" Octavia asks.

  "Yeah. Because unlike your directionally challenged self, I believe Winters can keep better track of where she's going, even in the state she's in. Also, transport’ll be less stressful on her body. I underestimated Winters last time. I'm not doing it again. Your blondeness will not deceive me, again." Shard grins.

  Mindy would've spit fire if she had the strength to. Octavia wishes she could because she knows how much Mindy hates the old stereotype. The Blue Coat does spare an unamused glance almost on behalf of her.

  Shard chuckles. "You've always been an exception, Styx."

  "Sticks?" Octavia says at the odd name.

  "Yes. I call her Styx because she sticks you with needles and whatever she injects you with usually burns like hell. Your friend’ll see in a moment." He looks at Styx. "You can go ahead." He waves his hand outside the door and the men enter. The men enter the room with a stretcher composed of canvas and two poles.

  Octavia looks away from them when she hears Mindy gasp. She crushes Octavia's hand.

  "Octi..." Mindy mumbles. "I'm coming back for you. I'm..." Her hand goes limp in Octavia's.

  For a moment, Octavia thinks Mindy is dead. Her breath and heartbeat are sharply cut off until less than a second later she sees Mindy's breath and the line beating a steady pulse on the monitor.

  Shard slips Mindy's hand out of Octavia's and takes her shoulders. He guides Octavia away. "They gotta take her now." He motions with his head towards the men. "They won't hurt her. Or better not."

  The men give a firm nod as they work to carefully place Mindy in the stretcher. Styx guides the wires and IV out of the men’s way.

  Octavia half-heartedly fights against Shard. She doesn't want to delay Mindy going home, unless Shard is lying. Did she just move out of the way for Mindy's execution? Is the stretcher her preemptive coffin with these Chromies her pallbearers? Should she fight for Mindy? What good will it do if she does? What could she accomplish? Octavia teeters between moving towards Mindy and away from her.

  Shard takes Octavia's wrist. "Let's let them take care of her." He pulls her towards the door.

  Octavia plants her feet. "Take care of her?" Worry widens her eyes.

  "Not that kind but the legitimate kind." With a pushing hand on her back, Shard uproots her feet and leads her out of the room. "Unfortunately, you're gonna have to trust me."

  Fighting against his lead would put them all in more danger. Octavia knows Shard is always armed. More guns is the last thing Mindy needs. Octavia unwillingly lets him lead her away. They walk in the hall.

  "And if something worse happens to her?" Octavia says.

  "You'll have all rights to never trust me again, even if it's not my fault," Shard tells her.

  "I already don't trust you."

  "Fair. But if she's okay after all this, will you?"

  "No."

  "Fine..."

  "And how am I supposed to know she'll be okay?"

  "I'll show you tonight." After a pause, Shard gasps excitedly.

  The sudden noise startles Octavia.

  "We'll have a slumber party!!" Shard's voice carries too much excitement. It echoes in the hall. He claps his hands over his mouth for a second before waving them happily at his sides. He dances on his toes. "I'll spend the night with you, and we'll stay up late. Just you and me and the nightwatch guards. It'll be a blast!"

  "Oh, no," Octavia says.

  "Oh, yes!" Shard jumps and claps his hands. He retakes Octavia's wrist and swings it as he skips along. "We'll have movies, snacks. Oo! We can even have popcorn! Maybe a pillow fight, too. Oh! Oh! Can we have one like in the movies where we're in our underwear?"

  "NO!" Octavia snatches her wrist from Shard and keeps pace next to his skipping.

  "You are no fun," he says poutily.

  "You are perverted and sick in the head!" she snips back.

  Shard puts a thoughtful finger to his chin. "I can see why you think that."

  "Think? You ar-!"

  Shard cuts her off to rattle off more things they could do and have at their 'slumber party'. The only good thing she sees coming from this is potentially getting a pillow to sleep with - something she had taken for granted in the past. Waking up without cricks in her neck and with full sensation in her arms sounds nicer than she thought it would.

  Nothing else about this seems good, especially not getting a break from Shard and having to worry about him scaring her if she falls asleep.