Chapter 32
"Simmons?" Coulson called as he knocked on Victoria's door. "Doctor Banner's here."
"Doctor Banner?" Jemma said as she jumped to her feet. Would he want to come in to see Agent Hand for himself? Maybe she ought to let him? But would the gamma radiation make him safe or….
"I'll stay out here. You're doing the right thing, keeping her isolated. I don't want to do anything that might break that. How is she?"
"Much better." Jemma smiled even though they couldn't see her. "She was awake for a bit, and we were able to get her to eat a good bit of the oatmeal and the ice cream. Fever's down to 100 now."
"She was coherent, I'm guessing?" Bruce asked her.
"Very coherent. Agent Garrett even called, and she was able to talk to him on the phone for a few minutes." Jemma said. "She's still in a good bit of pain, though, so I went ahead and gave her something for that and to help her sleep."
"That's good." Bruce said. "It looks like what the two of you are doing is working. I'm assuming you aren't seeing any issues with movement?"
"She's very weak, of course, and in pain, so she isn't moving as well as she would normally, but she can move, and I didn't see any abnormalities. Do you think you can talk to the director and let him know what's really going on? I just can't see a need to put her through testing she doesn't need."
"I'll have a talk with him." Bruce promised. "In the meantime, I would just keep doing whatever you're doing."
"And if Agent Garrett calls again, let him talk to her." Coulson said. At least if he could chatter with her on the phone, maybe it would keep John from trying to find a way into the building before the lockdown was lifted. And maybe it would make Victoria feel better to be able to complain about him. It might distract her a bit from the pain of the flu, anyway. "Oh, do you think she can have flowers? The other agents sent a few things." And surely if they made sure that all of the funeral messages were gone, and disguised the peace lilies a bit, it would be okay to give them to Victoria.
"They sent flowers? How nice! Just leave them outside the door, and we can bring them in for her. I'm sure they'll make her feel much better."
"They sent some fresh clothes, and a robe and slippers too." Bruce added. "I'm not sure if she'll want to get dressed right now, but…."
"But she definitely needs something." Jemma said. She hadn't even thought of that yet. Agent Hand's original clothes had been ruined when they had converted her jacket to wet compresses and then cut the rest of her clothes away to treat her. So unless she kept a spare outfit somewhere in the building, Jemma didn't know what she was going to wear. Thank goodness someone had thought to send fresh clothes. And having a robe and slippers to cuddle up in until she felt better would be very good as well. "Just leave everything outside the door and knock!"
"It sounds good?" Coulson didn't know why he was asking, but he did anyway as they headed back downstairs so he could show Bruce the other agents.
"It sounds very good." Coherent, movements coordinated, it was possible that she might be able to get out of this without even needing physical or occupational therapy. "Want me to have a talk with Fury?"
"Please, after I have a talk with him about the flowers." Coulson said just as May approached them.
"We have a problem." She said, one eyebrow lifting slightly at the sight of the flowers filling the hallway.
"What sort of problem?" But they had Banner there to help with anything medical, they had Stark there to help fix the building, they had Captain America there to help with anything an everything.
"My mother just called. It seems that instead of arranging for a retraction of Victoria's obituary, the eulogy Director Fury wrote for her ended up in the papers instead. I read it. It's very touching. And apparently the president read either that or the obituary Jasper wrote and was very moved as well, because he's planning to give Victoria the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously."
"That might not be so bad." John called from the door. "The award looks nice, and if they think she's dead, they won't expect her to show up at a dinner and eat possible dried chicken to collect it."
"I don't think that Victoria is going to see it that way." Coulson called as he pulled out his phone and dialed Fury's number. He had already wrote a eulogy for Victoria? And it had ended up in the paper? What was everyone else in their organization thinking? "Director?"
"Coulson, did the parts from Stark get there alright?"
The parts are here. Stark's here. Doctor Banner's here, Captain Rogers is here. A bunch of flowers that have messages saying rest in peace are here. Could I ask why you wrote a eulogy for Victoria and put it in the paper? Aren't we going to have enough trouble just getting her obituary retracted without having to get a eulogy retracted too? And they're giving her the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously? What is going on?"
"We're still trying to figure out how the paper got that eulogy." Maria was at his computer now, poking and claiming he must have attached the document with the eulogy to something, but he had no clue what or how it could have happened. "How is Victoria? Still sleeping?"
"She was awake long enough to talk to John on the phone, so I wouldn't count on her napping and not finding out about this for too much longer." Coulson told him. "What are you doing to fix this?"
"I'm working on it, but… I have no idea how this happened. I know I didn't authorize this. No one here authorized this. But Victoria's funeral is scheduled for tomorrow at nine. Half the intelligence community is planning to attend. And the president. And a few prime ministers. It's going to be a big turn-out."