- four months later-

Hobbins opened his eyes slowly, blinking when he was hit with bright sunlight.
" Are you awake?"
Hobbins tilted his head, and his heart soared when he saw Lillian, who was clutching his hand like a lifeline. Her hair was cropped shorter than ever, and the fitted tank top she wore revealed lightly defined muscles that had definitely not been there before.
When the two made eye contact, Lillian launched herself onto her brother, and held him as tight as she could. Hobbins winced when her nails dug through the hospital gown.
" You IDIOT! I thought... I thought I was gonna lose you!" She snapped.
Hobbins gestured to his mouth and nose, which were connected to an AutoSupport.
" He's awake?" Gabriel walked into the room, holding a tray of snacks. The dark circles that had been under his eyes had lightened, and Hobbins was relieved to see that there were no fresh track marks on his uncovered arms.
Hobbins waved with his free hand, helplessly asking for an explanation.
" You've been out for four months." Gabriel said, plopping down in an overstuffed blue arm chair in the far corner. " The ICU said that it was a combo of the concussion, the brawl, the cortisol, adrenaline, and the sedative that did you in."
" In other words, you're lucky to be alive." The new voice was unfamiliar to Hobbins, tinted with a thick southern drawl, kind yet strict.
" Hobbins, this is Bess Harding." Lillian said.
Hobbins turned to face her. She was plain, with rectangular glasses, chin length brown hair, and a lovely smile. She also appeared to be in the beginning stages of pregnancy. Her clothes were simple, functional, and suited her quite well.
Hobbins gestured to Bess's belly, and she blushed.
" Yeah.. I'm three and a half months along. The baby's dad is on deployment, so I haven't been able to tell him yet."
Hobbins gave her a weak thumbs up of support.
" You're a real hero." Bess said with a smile.
Hobbins looked confused. The AutoSupport's tubes retracted, allowing him to speak.
" Huh?"
" The guy who wanted to kill me." Lillian said.
" He's in jail now." Gabriel added unhelpfully.
Hobbins sighed deeply.
" What happened while I was out.?"
" I got pregnant." Bess said. " Gabriel's getting some rehab. Cap got a promotion." Gabriel blushed and tried to tug down his sleeves.
" Cap?" Hobbins asked.
Lillian bounced up and down, her eyes gleaming.
" I'm a Captain now!" She cheered.
" We just call her Cap for short." Gabriel said as he tore into a bag of Carbo-chips with reckless abandon.
" Jacques and Amen went to Kansas. That way, if Amen's cybernetics act up, they'll have each other. If they don't kill each other first. They got in a couple hissing matches before they left." Bess said.
" Can't wait to see how that ends." Gabriel teased, popping another chip into his mouth. .
" Alex is finally out of his last reconstruction surgery!" Lillian cheered.
" He's in recovery right now, but I'm sure that you can see him in a few days at the.." Lillian typed something into her phone. ".... At the Redwood Rosette.... next.. Tuesday."
" Did you just set me up on a date?" Hobbins asked.
" Well you weren't going to do it." Lillian said.
" What happened?" Hobbins said, trying to sit up.
Bess pushed him back down.
" Stay down big guy. Your hot date had a tango with a hellion and lost half his face."
Cap frowned.
" Plus you just came out of a coma. Might want to wait two weeks for that date."
Hobbins nodded, still trying to process what he knew.
" You stayed by me." He said, frowning when he noticed that he was slurring his words.
" We didn't have much choice." Bess snorted.
" Avery, Enisa, Yosef, and Rochelle assigned us to the same squad."
" Squad?" Hobbins asked.
" Welcome to Squad Leviathan." Gabriel said.
" Where the only objective is to survive!" The other two chimed in.
Hobbins started to tear up.
" What's wrong?" Lillian asked.
Hobbins sniffled.
" I'm alive."
Lillian hugged her brother again.
" I'm not letting you die that easily." She whispered sweetly.
" Yikes Lils." Hobbins whispered back.
Hobbins reluctantly let go of his sister, and took a deep breath.
Bess spoke up, her voice betraying her exhaustion.
" I'm going to get a doctor, and once you get cleared, I'll take you around for a walk. Ok?"
Hobbins nodded.
" That sounds nice."
" You can go see Alex." Gabriel suggested loudly.
" I'm sure he misses you."
Lillian and Bess glanced at him, and Gabriel tried his very best to vanish into the chair.
" They seemed like they'd-" Gabriel snorted in frustration and stimmed angrily when he went nonverbal mid-sentence.
" I'm gonna go find that doctor." Bess said, pushing herself out of the chair.
Hobbins relaxed, and yawned loudly, then closed his eyes and curled up into the infirmary sheets.
" That's enough excitement for now." He thought to himself.
" Five more minutes of sleep couldn't hurt."