Chris dragged their backpack out from beneath the bed and began to check through it. Darting about the room, she collected all their weapons and dumped them at Tony’s feet by the time he managed to sit up. He rubbed the exhaustion from his eyes and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. “We don’t have to leave,” he told her, quiet. Bent over the backpack, Chris adjusted the strap of her rifle as if she hadn't heard him. So Tony pushed himself off the bed and walked on shaking legs towards her.

He gripped her upper arms, turning her to face him, and pinned her with a smile. “See? I’m fine. No one hurt me, I just went to sleep for a little bit,” he said, rubbing her arms. “Remember when we found a rat in the basement and I fainted? It happens all the time, just this time I was being hugged.” Albeit the hug came from a psychopath. At least he thought it was a hug, though he had not the faintest idea why Cat felt the need to wrap his arms around Tony. “I’m perfectly safe. We’re safer than we've been in weeks. But if we go outside that fence we won’t be safe any more.”

As the features of her face shifted and morphed, showing only what Tony knew as her lifelong friend, he knew his message had reached her. He felt her shoulders slump and her biceps relax, if only by a fraction, and pulled her into a hug. Reluctantly, she submitted to his logic, wrapping her arms around his waist and all but clinging to him. “I thought you were dead,” she muttered, voice steady as ever. 

Tony shook his head just slightly. He pulled back, still smiling, almost apologetic. “I know. But I’m not, see, I’m alive.” He plucked the backpack off the bed and slipped it underneath again. The weapons she could keep; he knew they made her feel secure. His mind constructed a sound plan and his body followed through with the motions before he consciously realised what he was doing. Tony took Chris’ good hand – conscious of the way she avoided using the other – and led her out of the room, through the hall and to Mercy’s door.

He rapped on the door with his knuckles. “Miss Mercy, it’s Tony. I just wanted to thank you for your help today. If you’re not too busy later, would you mind taking a look at Christina’s hand?” Ignoring the frown on Chris’ face, and the way she shook her head to shut him up, Tony continued. “Only I think she’s trying to pretend it isn’t hurting.”