Hannah's night was not going nearly as quietly as Jake's. Night almost always reached a fever pitch of work between the people who decided to get behind the wheel after a night out and the long term patients who needed to be checked on before they tried to get a few precious hours of sleep. After a long day, most people knew that they'd find Hannah hiding out on the roof between waves of work. That was where the other nurses directed Claudia when she showed up with a hot meal.

The short haired woman kicked open the roof access door and stood there triumphantly. "I brought you dinner and you are going to eat it. Jake texted me earlier that you hadn't packed anything."

"Seriously? Are the two of you trying to fill in for my parents?" Hannah groaned but took the food. Soup?" she guessed.

"And bread. You may praise me," Claudia declared. She lowered herself to sit next to Hannah, leaning against the low wall that encompassed the roof. A strong wind pulled her hair free from the clip that held it out of her face. Dark black strands plastered themselves to her cheek and she pulled her hood up to shield herself.

Hannah nudged her with her elbow. "Thought you'd be on duty tonight. Wednesdays are normally slow, just like you like them."

Claudia rolled her eyes and checked her phone. It was just after eleven now but the city seemed to show no signs of winding down even in the middle of the week. "There are no slow days, and I'm taking a breather to make sure the guardian of Merifield gets some sustenance."

"Who else is on?" Hannah mumbled around a mouthful of garlic bread.

"Black Star and some new guy who's supposed to be shadowing Solar Flare. She keeps ditching him during the day because he can't fly." Claudia scoffed and kicked at a cigarette butt left on the roof. "If she keeps this up we'll lose another trainee."

"Who was the last one?" Hannah wrinkled her nose trying to think back. As one of the centers for heroes, Merifield saw its fair share of new faces before they went searching for their permanent city to defend. Trainees were assigned to more senior supers to learn the ins and outs of when to interfere and when to leave it to local law enforcement.

Solar Flare was a natural fit thanks to the way her tragic backstory made her look like someone selfless but she'd scared off three new recruits that Hannah could remember. One had become a vigilante halfway across the world and was doing noticeably better without her influence. Another transferred to one of The Aerie's sister headquarters in Alaska called the Harbor Stronghold. Normally people had to be sent there for more intense training when their abilities weren't as easily controlled.

The third had given up entirely and they often had to check in to make sure they hadn't decided their powers were better used for improving their own lives over the lives of others. Hannah was grateful she'd had a much calmer mentor who'd done nothing but encourage her to follow her instincts. She owed everything to her.

"The last one was that guy who could warp sound or something like that," Claudia finally answered after thinking about it for a few minutes. "She could make that ukulele sound like the weirdest shit. Plus there was that time she made Solar think she was deaf. Beautiful memories."

"You're psychotic," Hannah joked. She crumpled the paper bag and tugged her coat closer around herself. "We should get back to work, you especially. Don't subject that kid to Star's stowaway all night after he had to deal with Solar."

Claudia checked her phone for the time again. "I guess you're right." As they headed down the stairs, she pulled off her sweater and stretched her arms over her head to get her muscles warmed up. Brightly colored tattoos wound up her left arm in interlocking geometric shapes from wrist to shoulder. The right showed a similar design but everything was more rounded and color was distinctly absent.

More tattoos peeked over the edges of her shirt, but it was the flicking tongue of a snake on the back of her neck that stood out the most. When Claudia lowered her arms it seemed to wriggle along her skin. "Do you want me to swing by later and walk you home?"

"Me?" Hannah asked incredulously. "Are you asking for my safety or the safety of anyone who tries to mug me?"

"Maybe I just want an excuse to see you again," Claudia joked.

"I'll be fine, don't worry about me," Hannah insisted. They both snapped to attention when the sirens started. They were moving away for now but it was only a matter of time before they swung back towards the hospital. "Looks like we've got work to do. Stay safe out there."

Claudia was gone without so much as a backwards glance and Hannah was dashing back inside to throw her jacket into its normal bunched up spot under the desk. Her wild auburn curls went back into a tight bun where they wouldn't tickle her nose at precisely the wrong time. It did not help when she was trying to console someone between sneezes.

The first patient came in ten minutes later, carried in the arms of a tall man dressed in worn jeans and a shirt that was most definitely not enough to keep him warm. His heavy jacket was tucked around a child clinging to his neck. Doctors swarmed him with questions and his wide eyes looked around in panicked desperation. They locked on Hannah and she hurried to his side as if summoned. "Sir, are you hurt?"

"No," he mumbled. "I"m alright. She needs help." He lifted the girl towards the closest doctor. She whimpered and tried to cling to him tighter. It took some convincing by both the man and the doctors before she allowed herself to be carried away.

"Is she your daughter?" Hannah asked softly, escorting him to a seat to look him over despite his protests that he was alright. His skin was cold to the touch but a blanket snagged from a nearby supply closet would fix that soon enough. Besides that she couldn't find much else wrong with him except the fading marks where the girl had dug her fingers into him.

"Oh I don't have any children," he answered bashfully. "I was nearby and I saw her in the street, just standing there, screaming. I managed to grab her before anything could hit her. There were these people, Ravens I think I heard someone say, and people were shooting."

Hannah winced and glanced at the tv in the lobby for confirmation. "Southside Ravens," she told him. "Probably having a fight with the Grim Brotherhood. It's a good thing you got her out of there before anything else happened. I wouldn't be surprised if she thought you were her hero."

"I'm no hero, just trying to do what's right," he said.

"Do what's right for you too and get home soon. I'd hate for the city to reward your good deed with an injury from a stray bullet." Hannah squeezed his shoulder gently and ran to meet the first ambulance as it pulled in, keeping a mental list of everything the paramedics and doctors spewed out in the transfer of the patient.

It felt like days before Hannah was back in her own clothes and shuffling towards the hospital exit. She'd filled in her replacement on everything she could think to but there was no doubt her sleep deprived brain had missed something that they'd find scribbled down somewhere."Alright, I'm out. Gonna go eat my weight in pasta and sleep til someone breaks down my door for a wellness check."

""Hey, are you sure there was nothing wrong with that guy? He hasn't left that seat since he got here," Judy asked. She pointed to the heroic jeaned wonder from earlier who was indeed exactly where Hannah had left him. The faded green blanket was still tucked around his shoulders and his chin kept dropping to hit his chest.

For just a moment, Hannah saw another night superimposed over this one. She saw herself in the hard plastic chair while Jake paced back and forth in front of her. His eyes locked on every doctor, nurse, and orderly that happened to pass by anywhere in his sight. No one stopped for him.

Hannah had found him there after she'd been given a thorough check up to ensure she hadn't been injured in the commotion. There wasn't a scratch on her and she attributed it to getting out of the building before anything too serious happened. No proof existed to discount her story and the lack of injury only supported it.

At first, she'd planned to walk out and leave the man she didn't know to pace on his own until he worked a new fault line into the floor. He had no way of knowing she'd been there at all, though he might have registered her hair in his subconscious. She'd stayed despite her gut telling her to get as far away as possible. That was the night they'd met and the night she'd reluctantly accepted the small business card directing her to a meeting at The Aerie.

Hannah crouched down in front of him and touched his knee gently. "Sir? Are you sure you're alright? Can I call someone to get you home?" He felt warm under her hand now and as far as she could tell he was alert and aware even through the obvious exhaustion.

"Actually, I was hoping someone could tell me how the little girl is doing. I know I'm not family but I feel somewhat responsible for her," he explained hesitantly. The corner of his mouth tipped into a bashful smile.

"Let me see what I can do," Hannah said. There wasn't much she could do since she'd never been on the girl's case to begin with, but there was always someone willing to cooperate. It took some time but she finally returned and matched the man's hopeful smile. "All I can say is that she's completely fine, not a scratch on her and her parents have taken her home."

The relief he must have felt was practically palpable. "That's good, that's so good." His body sagged back into the chair and he threw an arm over his face. "I can only imagine how bad it could have gone if she'd been caught in the crossfire."

"We're lucky you were there. I've never known the Ravens to come to Merifield just to pick a fight. They're normally content to stay in Southside." Hannah glanced at her watch, mentally tracing the route to The Aerie and how long it would take to pry the information of whoever was on duty. People were much less inclined to make an exception where secret identities were the bread and butter of their operation.

"It wasn't the shooting that worried me, it was that fool in the cape. I was sure he was going to bring a building down," the man corrected her. The chair creaked under him as he stood and dusted his pants off. "I should get going, the last thing I need is to be late on my first day of work."

"Right, of course," Hannah murmured. "Good luck." If he said anything else she didn't hear it. The fluorescent lights of the hospital gave way to dark skies that stretched overhead like an empty void. From down on the street it felt like the lights had blotted out the stars entirely.