Ah ha! Figured out how to make my phone connect to the internet for my laptop! Update ahoy! Sorry if this one's shorter than usual, but I'm running behind.
Chapter 10.11
Choices and Sacrifices
+++
Rei opened her eyes, blurry ceiling becoming sharper after a few blinks.
"I-.... SHE'S AWAKE! REI! Are you ok?! Can you hear me?"
Rei rolled her head to the right, Asuka's unmistakable red mane coming into view just as the German girl seized her hand. "Asuka…"
"Rei!" Shinji was sitting right next to her, further down the bedside. His smile warmed Rei's heart. As did his hand on Rei's leg through the sheet.
Behind him, Kaworu nervously fidgeted by the wall. His eyes were anxious but hopeful as they met hers. "Rei?"
"Asuka, get out of the way." Doctor Akagi's voice was in full professional mode, and actually got through to the Second Child. Asuka pouted, but let go of Rei's hand and moved back enough to let the blond doctor by. Doctor Akagi flashed a penlight in Rei's eyes and examined her face. "You collapsed at school, Rei. Coincident with an… accident here. What happened? What did you feel?"
"I… felt them, Doctor. The backlash was… unpleasant."
"What about you?" Doctor Akagi's eyes searched Rei's face.
"I am physically alright. The shock has… put things in perspective for me." She held up a hand, pushing away Ritsuko's hand as she tried to take Rei's pulse. "Please, can you leave the room and loop the surveillance for about… 45 minutes?" she whispered once Ritsuko's body obscured the camera in the room's corner.
"I… what?" A firm, careful nod from Rei stilled Ritsuko's protest. "Alright... give me about five minutes to loop the feed."
"Thank you."
Ritsuko picked up her clipboard and left, casting a questioning look over her shoulder as she closed the door and locked it.
Asuka watched the older woman leave, then turned to give Rei a questioning look. "Rei, what are you d-"
A wave from Rei cut her off. "Wait. Let me tell you about something." Rei began a meandering, pointless story in a very soft voice about her days at school before Shinji's arrival.
After a few minutes of this, Asuka's frustration exceeded her patience. "Rei, this is pointless. What happened to yo-MMPH!"
Asuka's question was firmly interrupted as Rei suddenly grabbed her fellow Pilot by the collar of her blouse and pulled her in close for a very deep kiss.
Shinji and Kaworu blinked in concert. "Um…. Rei?"
Rei released a gasping, smiling Asuka with a grin of her own, and gently guided the slumping Second Child to lay next to her on the hospital bed, making sure the redhead was cuddled along her side. She then pulled Shinji in by his hand for his own thorough kiss. "Mmmm, mine," she mumbled.
"A….Ayanami? What are you do-" Kaworu started to ask, a forlorn, confused look spreading on his face.
Rei waved him to silence. She took her time breaking the kiss, likewise settling Shinji against her side, opposite Asuka. That this required her to drag Shinji bodily across the bed and her was not a downside.
Once Shinji was situated against her left side, she looked at Kaworu. She beckoned him closer. He warily did so, appearing unsure if he was about to be kissed and dragged onto the now full bed as well.
His caution was well-founded, as Rei did grab him and pull him to her once he was in range. He received his own kiss, to Shinji and Asuka's surprise. "Mmm… been wanting to do that for a bit too…" Rei murmured once she'd let him go. She sat partway up and wiggled Kaworu into laying between her legs, head resting in her lap.
"So…" Rei said, looking at them all. "I think you can all tell I kind of love you all. Yes, even you, stupid fish. I just had a shock that put things into perspective."
"Um… Rei? What the Hell is going on?" Shinji hesitantly asked from his spot. "Not that I… um… didn't like kissing you. This is just… a bit confusing?"
"Yeah," Asuka agreed. "What happened, Rei? You suddenly pass out, and when you wake up, you're the Kissing Bandit?"
"Someone destroyed the tank full of a few dozen clones of me Commander Ikari keeps in Terminal Dogma. I suspect SEELE."
A long, puzzled silence fell. At length, Kaworu said "Ah… Ayanami? Are you...feeling ok?"
"Oh, by the way, we're both half-Angel hybrids. I'm part-Lilith, he's part Adam, hence our initial antagonism. We're over that now, though. In fact, I think I'm going to show him just how much fun a Lilim body is later. After you two first, that is. You are still my first loves, after all," Rei said without missing a beat.
Rei's happy humming was the only sound in the room for a good two minutes.
Eventually, she got a perfectly in-synch response from Shinji and Asuka: "What."
"Have I mentioned I'm part space alien?" Rei said cheerfully. "I love all three of you, and intend to physically express that at length tonight. But first, Rainbow Trout and I must first go fly around the world and liquidate the top fifteen members of SEELE. That should disrupt things enough for us to have at least a good week before we have to get back to work. That sound alright to you, my hopeless fish?"
Kaworu just kind of nodded numbly. "Ah...ok?" He flicked a nervous look at Shinji and Asuka, who were still staring at Rei in shock.
Rei patted them both on the head. "They be ok. I think it's just shock. Want to make out some more while they recover?"
"......yes?"
"Good fish."
+++
A few days late... but happy April Fools, everyone!
I'm betting a few of you hoped/wanted this to be canon, too.