𝐃𝐀𝐁𝐎𝐈𝐀 - TMR, Gally ² / ³

𝟢𝟤𝟫，𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥

"Are we gonna talk about the fact that you were a clone the whole time?"

"Are we gonna talk about the fact you had to learn how to walk at eighteen?" She snaps back.

Surprised, Camil holds up his hands. "Alright, girl. I got it. No more mentioning the clone from now on."

"Good."

She doesn't want to hear it. The thought that she wasn't in her own body the whole time makes her sick. The fact that she didn't know. The way it seemed so real.

Because she can still feel the needles prick in her skin. She remembers it perfectly. She finds it as disturbing as before. Nothing has changed about her experiences.

"You good?" Vince sits down next to her. Though she hasn't had a lot of time to get to know him, she trusts him, and is pretty sure they'll make a good father-daughter duo in the future.

"Yeah." She nods, then looks at Camil. "Okay. One single thing about the clone... where did that body go?"

"The second you woke up, we destroyed it. There was a stab in the neck anyways."

"Alright. Feel free not to tell me the way you destroyed it. I don't want to know." 

The boy manages a chuckle, then returns his gaze to his food. It's better than anything she has had since the Glade. Probably because Fry cooked this, and the food they had at Lawrence wasn't top notch.

And whatever Gally cooked for her kind of sucked. He just can't cook (not that she can do it very well).

"Hey." He slides next to her, arm immediately slipping around her waist, and she melts.

Hm, slight difference between her and the clone: the real Joan is even more smitten.

Though the clone's reaction to him kidnapping Teresa was already quite.. excessive. She doesn't want to know how she would've reacted.

"Hi." She smiles. "What's up?"

"Not a lot. Just got my health checks and everything," he says.

Her eyes squint at the way he said 'and everything'. The girl can tell by the way his eyes change a slight bit that he's not telling something. "And everything?"

"Just health things," he assures. "You have to go, too. After dinner? Did you almost finish."

"Mhm." She pops the last bite in her mouth. "Alright. Let's go! What do they check?"

"Deceases. And thanks to you, also if people are immune. They give them the cure if they aren't." He gets up after her, and takes her hand as they walk to the so called Med Hut. "It won't take a very long time."

She nods, attempting to hide her grin. "I did that."

"Yeah, you did, woman."

"I saved Newt."

"You get all the honor."

"Do I get the right to tell Thomas to suck it up and just ask Newt out now that I've saved him? I can tell him I also have a way of... uncuring people."

Gally lets a laugh slip. "Maybe. But Thomas isn't that dumb either. Not in the science world, at least."

"Okay, true." She shrugs. "Also, I've been thinking."

"You think four is too much, so want three."

"No. I—"

"You wanna get four?"

"No—"

"Oh, two!"

"No, Jesus, Gally, I—"

"One kid is fine, too."

"I meant to say that I made drawings of what our house should look like."

"Ah." Slowly, he nods. "Well, I'll build you whatever you like."

"Awesome! But you for once have the right to like it, too. So you have to tell me your opinions first."

"Maybe get your health checked first," he corrects, giving her a soft push into the Med Hut.

She's instructed to sit down on a chair. She tries not to look around as she does so, afraid to see needles. She doesn't want to today. Not yet.

A woman checks her pulse, gives her a lice control (Joan nearly falls asleep during that), asks if she has any pain anywhere or has any disorders. Joan makes it clear she is immune and won't have to get an injection to check it.

"Okay. I got it." The woman finishes noting everything down. "Yet there's a vaccine we give everyone under twenty-five. The flu vaccine."

"I'm twenty-six," she says quickly.

The woman smiles. "You're not, honey. I'll be quick with it. Just relax. Can I wrap your sleeve up?"

"No," she blurts out. Panicked, her eyes search for Gally's, but they find a needle first, and freeze on that thing. And then a doctor lies one down next to it, and then her eyes flash to the needle in the woman's hands. The needle that was about to go into her skin. It seems enormous in front of her eyes.

"Joan, Joan—" Gally bends down beside the girl before she can scoot her chair away even more. "I got it, too. It doesn't hurt. It's just a quick pinch. It's nothing like the Cranks, alright? I promise. But I'd really recommend to get this vaccine. Flu will be often around here."

She shakes her head. Heavily. "I really don't want to."

He turns to the woman, not sighing, not disappointed, not dissatisfied, just questioning. "Is that possible? That she takes it later on? When she has gotten used to needles a little more?"

The woman seems to consider it. "I think so. I mean, the vaccine isn't obliged. It's just recommended."

A relieved sigh leaves her mouth. "You just saved my life. Thank you. Thank you—"

Gally manages another small smile at that. "Alright. So she's done here?"

"Yes." The woman looks at Joan for a few seconds. "You've paled. Maybe sit for a few minutes before you faint."

"I'll be okay."

❀

Thrashing around, crying, and shaking, she jolts away from a dream. It doesn't take long to realize it wasn't real, especially when she sees Gally in the hammock next to her.

She's surprised she didn't fall off the hammock she's sleeping in until their house is done. And she is surprised Gally didn't wake up by her sounds.

Then she realizes he's probably in the GGS (Gigantic Gally Sleep) that he has once a month, smiles a tiny bit, and tries to fall back asleep.

❀

"It's okay, Joan." He shakes her awake the next night, holding her close. "Just a dream. No Cranks. No more needles. It's okay."

❀

A few weeks later, one of the doctors handed a very exhausted Joan and a little tired Gally a bottle of sleeping pills. "Take it before you go to bed. I hope it helps. There's more people with night terrors. Some just get over them through the time, and for some the pills work."

❀

Her first night in which she doesn't wake up happens multiple weeks after their arrival in the Safe Haven. That night, she fell asleep on the beach, where she had been having dinner with Gally on a blanket before. Wrapped in his arms with the calming waves on the background helps.

❀

The second time she tries that method, she does wake up, but she's only panting. It's not that bad.

As the doctor said, maybe it needs time.