Racing Hearts

by Lazzari

Please...

Soarin's eyes slowly fluttered open. In his immediate sight was a leg in a full cast. He blinked rapidly, trying to readjust his eyes to the bright light of Rainbow Dashs' hospital room. He lifted his head and looked towards Dash first. The sight of her made his heart feel like it would shatter, and his stomach turned in knots. Her face was badly bruised, a few cuts from what appeared to be caused by glass, and a black eye. Her nose was covered with a cast and had an oxygen tube on. She had a lot of other things hooked up to her, and he didn't know what any of them were besides the oxygen and I.V. drip. He looked towards her wing, he couldn't help but feel tears welling up in his eyes a bit. Her wing was wrapped up in bandages and had stiff pieces around some parts of her wing. There was a bloodstain closer to the base of her wing, it looked like that was where the worst of the damage was.

Suddenly he felt really dizzy. He quickly laid his head back down on the bed beside Dashs' hand. Right, he had just given two pints of blood, for sure he would be feeling a bit out of it for the next few hours. What confused him more was why he was still in Rainbows' room. Surely they would have moved him to a recovery room by now... but he wasn't complaining about it. He wanted to be by Dashs' side, and he wasn't going to protest if they were letting him.

Soarin then slowly guided his head back up and sat up against the back of the chair he was sitting on. He looked towards Dash and then to the heart rate monitor. Seeing and hearing it beep steadily put him at ease. At least this way he knew she was alive. He looked down again noticing he had at some point grabbed Dashs' hand and was holding it very gently in his own. He smiled a bit as he saw once again just how big his hands were compared to hers. Dash was always complaining about how others made short jokes about her and how small she was. Slowly a memory started to play in his head.

***

"SOOOOARIIIIIIN, STOOOOP." Dash was kicking and yelling as Soarin held her in his arms, cradling her as he walked. He smiled and chuckled.

"Sorry Dashie, but I'm not putting you down till your not dizzy any more. That fall you took was fast and you spun the whole time, I'm sure you'd be puking your guts out if I set you down and let you try to find your equilibrium on your own. Besides, you're too small and cute to not carry around anyway." Soarin puffed his cheeks out and tried to stifle a laugh as he looked down at Dash, who was trying and failing to give him an angry pout. "Ok, that's just adorable."

Dash blushed, her pale tan skin turning a bright shade of red as she pouted more. "Soooooariiin." She whined.

"No whining Dashie, you can't deny how adorable you are," Soarin said, giving her a kiss on the forehead. Dash blushed redder, using the hood of her flight suit to cover her face to try and conceal how red her face was. Soarin chuckled, he always enjoyed seeing this cute embarrassed side of Dash, because secretly he knew she loved to be carried like this by him.

"God, you two are so cute, I might just have to go puke up a rainbow if this keeps up." A new voice met Soarin's ears. Soarin smiled smugly and turned his head to meet Fleetfoots gaze.

"I don't know Fleet, you and lightning are pretty cute too. You always cover your face whenever he talks to you all lovie dovie like." Soarin shot back.

"At least I don't throw fits whenever he picks me up in front of others, haha," Fleetfoot said, shooting a cocky grin at Dash.

Dash pouted angrily again. "Oh, shove it, Fleet," Dash said in a sarcastically angry tone. Fleetfoot giggled and walked over to the two of them.

"Now that Mr. Freaks-out-if-his-girl-trips is done overreacting about your tumble, how are you feeling?" Fleetfoot asked changing her tone to serious.

Dash blinked and shifted a bit in Soarins arms. She held her hand out in front of her face and waved it a bit. Soarin recognized this as the self-test they are trained to give themselves when they fall on their head. "I feel really dizzy and I'm seeing my hand move, but it's really, like, blurry and stuff." She finished. Fleetfoot gave dash a concerned look.

"Soarin, you are taking her to the trainers, right?" Fleetfoot asked, getting a nod from Soarin in return.

"Yeah, I'm gonna have them run a concussion test on her after she sits down for a bit and has some water," Soarin said, readjusting his arms a bit to get a better hold of Dash.

"Ok then, well I'll leave her to you then, and don't hit your head on the way into the trainer room." Before Soarin could retort, Fleetfoot had sped off down the hall.

Soarin grumbled to himself as he continued walking with Dash in his arms. He could hear her trying not to laugh as they walked. He looked down at her and pouted. "Oh, not you too. I get enough shit from Spitfire and Fleet about being the tallest guy on the force."

Dash giggled and wrapped her arms around Soarin's neck carefully. "Sorry Soar, I just find it pretty funny, us two being a couple. Your the freakishly tall guy that hits his head on almost everything in the compound, and I'm the ridiculously short girl that cant reach more than half the shit around here without using my wings." Dash said, giving Soarin a light nuzzle as he held her.

"And I find it adorable every time you try to reach something without your wings," Soarin said planting a kiss on her cheek, making her blush again, but she didn't try to hide it this time.

"You know, if it were anybody else, I'd punch you for calling me adorable. But because it's you I think I can let it slide." Dash smiled and let her head rest on his chest. Soarin smiled at this. He knew she always felt comfortable around him, she never seemed to have her guard up with him around. It touched him deeper than most emotions could when she finally opened up to him.

***

Soarin smiled at the memory. Dash had spun out of control and had hit her head on the flag pole outside the compound moments before hitting the ground. He had initially freaked out when he saw her come flying past him out of control, but was quickly relieved when he saw she was mostly unhurt. She hadn't gotten a concussion either, which amazed him.

He flinched as he heard the sound of a door opening. He looked to the end of the room and saw a nurse walk in. She smiled at him and walked over at a quicker pace.

"Oh, good your awake. How do you feel?" The nurse asked in a soft tone. She began doing some physical tests on him, checking his pulse, listening to his heartbeat, and breathing.

"A little dizzy, but otherwise I feel fine," Soarin answered. He suddenly realized he had a question that he sort of wanted the answer to. "If you don't mind me asking though, why am I still here?" He asked as the nurse finished running checks on him. She smiled and giggled a bit.

"Well, you had insisted on staying by her side while you had your blood drawn. We didn't have any problems with it, so we let you. But we didn't expect you to be so squeamish about seeing your own blood. After we finished up getting the second pint of blood out of you, you passed out with your head on her bed. It would have taken five of us to move you, so we decided to just leave you there, and come make periodic checks on you every few minutes while we ran tests on her." She explained while pointing her pen at Dash.

"How long was I out?" He asked, not really knowing how long he had been asleep.

"19 hours." She quickly answered, not missing a beat. Soarin's eyes widened.

"Wait, 19 hours?" He asked again in shock. The nurse nodded in response as she walked over to Dash, writing a few things down on her papers as she did tests on her. Soarin watched as she did this, quickly discarding the fact he had been out for so long. "How... how is she doing?" He asked hesitantly, not knowing if he would like her answer. The nurse smiled at him softly.

"She's actually been doing great. If she keeps this up then she will be awake in no time. I estimate around a week before she wakes up." She said, smiling at him. "I suggest you go home and get some rest and recover from donating. We have this under control."

Soarin gave dash another glance. He didn't want to leave her side, but he had to trust that the doctors and nurses taking care of her would do everything to help her. "Ok then..." Soarin trailed off. The nurse smiled and lent him her hands and arms to help him stand. As he regained his equilibrium, he looked back at Dash. He grabbed her hand gently again, holding it softly and rubbing his thumb against the top of her hand. He stared at her for a few moments before leaning down slowly and planting a soft, long kiss on her forehead.

"Please... get better for us Dashie. We need you... I need you..."

Comments

[starthecringe]

The fact that soarin hits his head on a lot of stuff in the compound reminds me of a scene in the first uncharted game where Nathan Drake says "Im always careful" and immediately hits his head

[Lazzari]

10761497
HA yes gold!

[Lazzari]

10780319
yes he does, I'm soooo into writing all the mushy stuff