Chapter Text
As the day passed Dale stirred, rubbing at his eyes as he struggled to figure out where he was right at that moment. Noting the office chair he sighed, the last memory he had was of Megan lying unconscious on a hospital bed. Pushing himself a little straighter he stretched his arms above his head, wondering if he could sneak past Harry and Albert. Pushing himself to his feet he slowly made his way to the door only to freeze as Harry stepped into view, blocking the doorway with one eyebrow narrowed at the FBI agent.
“Where exactly do you think you’re sneaking off to, Coop?” Harry asked and Dale opened his mouth, trying to hurriedly think of something that wouldn’t let the sheriff know that he was intending on staying beside Megan’s bedside. Finding himself struggling Harry fixed his friend with a tiny smile, nodding past his shoulder. “You want to see Megan don’t know? I guess it can’t hurt but just until Albert gets back.” He answered, chuckling softly as Dale let out a breath stepping forward once Harry stepped away from the doorway.
“Thank you, Harry. I know she’s in good hands, but I can’t stop myself.” Dale explained as they headed toward Megan’s room. They walked the rest of the way in silence when Dale couldn’t think of anything else to talk about, his mind too busy giving him more than enough to think about though as they reached Megan’s room he stared as Albert waited beside the closed door.
“Dale, I believe you promised you would rest and not bother Megan while she is recovering.” Albert sighed and Dale blinked at him slowly, staring at Albert in silence. “Coop, you’re not getting hard of hearing, are you? You did hear me right.”
“Coop, he said that Megan’s recovering,” Harry responded, and Dale blinked, glancing at his friend before he headed for the door his hands trembling as Albert opened the door. Once Dale stepped through, he saw me lying there, my eyes focused on the ceiling above me. As soon as I heard faint footsteps, I turned my head enough to focus on Dale standing a few feet from the sheet covering my bed.
“Dale?” I coughed and his eyes widened as I stared at him, watching on confused as he continued to stare at me silently. “You...can get closer. I don’t bite.”
Giving me a slow nod he shifted closer to my bed as I struggled to push myself up, giving up when I saw spots in front of my eyes. “Megan? How….do you feel?” Dale whispered and I coughed again, looking at the sheet still blocking me from touching Dale’s hand. Not that that stopped me from placing my palm onto the plastic and Dale grinned at me, touching the sheet at the same spot.
“Probably look as bad as you do.” I teased and Dale chuckled, coughing slightly. “Feel it too. Dale, did I do something…. crazy?”
“Don’t worry about what happened, Megan. Just focus on getting better.” Dale replied, still staring down at me. An awkward silence filled the room and when I swallowed, my throat dry and itchy Dale gave me what he hoped was a reassuring smile. “Promise me?”
“Okay…. I’ll stay here. For you.” I whispered, closing my eyes as the urge to sleep overwhelmed me. Even as I did, I almost missed Dale’s sharp intake of breath or Harry’s quick footsteps, his voice the last thing I heard.
“Coop!” Harry called out, barely catching his friend as the FBI agent stumbled. Barely catching himself, Dale leaned against the wall breathing fast as Harry steadied him, looking at Albert who shook his head.
“I did warn you this would happen, Cooper. Now sit in this chair and don’t move.” Albert calmly spoke, glancing over at Megan who had fallen asleep during the agent’s near collapse. “Like our patient is doing.”
“Sorry...just got a little worked up, Albert.” Dale apologized, panting softly with his head slightly lowered. Sucking in several deep breaths he finally lifted his head, wiping at the sweat that had built up on his forehead. “I thought that Megan was going to…. that she wouldn’t…”
“Hey, you know how tough Megan is, Coop. She survived….” Harry caught himself when Albert fixed him with two slightly narrowed eyes, “a nuclear accident.” He added, not liking the way Albert kept staring at him. At least until the only other FBI agent in the room sighed.
“Right now, Megan needs her rest and so do you. No arguments or I might just have to sedate you. Which I already warned you about.” Albert warned and Dale chuckled softly, thinking his friend was joking until Albert raised an eyebrow staring directly at Dale who finally cleared his throat.
Still leaning heavily on Harry, Dale let the sheriff lead him back to his chair. Once he was seated Dale took his time catching his breath, leaning back slightly while his friends watched on silently.
“Stay put and don’t move from this spot,” Albert told him and Dale nodded, too exhausted to argue for once. It took him a few minutes to find a comfortable spot in the office chair, resting his head back and as he crossed his arms Dale could feel his eyes growing very heavy.