Hands rose up to clutch at her temples for a second. There should have been damage but the skin was smooth. Uninterrupted. Later, theyâd explain to her that theyâd used Dr. Helen Choâs cradle technology and Amadeus himself had expedited getting his late mothers work. In that moment it was just another thing that didnât make sense. Sam had the ice and Nadia let her hands fall. She looked at them resting on top of the white starchy hospital blanket and the way the bracelet was cinched too tightly on her wrist. The plastic hung dully from the knob. She had always been small, but had her wrist always looked like that?
Emma Frost. Emma Frost. Emma Frost.
âBut why would Emmaââ The question froze on her lips. The Phoenix Force. The fight. A blink. A breath. Repeat. âEmma made you do this? Why you? Why me?â
 And then, against her own volition, Nadia began to cry. She shriveled up in the sheets and folded in on herself. All her mind wanted to do was once again give in to the black void of sleep, but she kept her eyes open. She looked at Sam.
âYou tried to kill me. I know it was not your fault, she made you do it. But Iâm just â it is a lot right now. пОдавНŃŃŃиК. I donât know how to forgive.â
Sam was speechless. It was all happening so fast and his worst nightmare was coming true. Seeing Nadia so afraid, so broken, made Sam sick -- and filled him with such unbridled rage for a certain blonde telepath that Sam didnât know what to do with himself. But he did know what not to do. And that was to show anything other than compassion in the face of his injured teammate, his best friend, his hopefully still girlfriend.
So he swallowed the anger, but all that came rushing back was a surge of sadness. Deep regret for ever even encountering Emma in the first place. But Sam knew it was unrealistic to blame himself for the encounter. He had been at the wrong place at the wrong time. Simple as that.
Right? There was no way Emma had chosen the two of them ( of all people ) to torture. What threat did two seventeen-year-olds pose to her master plan?
âI donât know, Nadia. I donât know,â Tears were brimming in his eyes, as well as Nadiaâs, and when the latter finally broke down, Sam clung to her for dear life, both hands latched onto Nadiaâs free hand ( the one not currently containing an IV ) in a desperate attempt to ground her.
âYou donât have to, I-- I donât know if I deserve it.â