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He obeyed as commanded, only really paying attention to what she was doing once she'd started shimmying the underwear up over his knees. Now he smiled, though since he was laying back she might not have seen it. That rakish, overly pleased spread of lips that meant his attention was gliding back to her her and away from the broken totem. It took a moment for him to recall her original question. "Yes, usually." The logic she presented made sense, but Zeke wasn't at all sure what properties carried over during weaponization.

It was the offer that brought him the most comfort. Speculation and guessing did little to calm his worries over Lagertha's well being, but the promise of distraction? That would make all the difference. "You really think you'll be able to chatter away indefinitely, if she doesn't?"

It was a good thing he knew nothing about Nevada, or her fate. The broken weapon, the months of suffering, and her final demise.

"Because I'll hold you to that," he continued, grinning in full as he let the pendant fall to his chest. "I would much rather listen to your sweet voice, than the inside of my own head."

Harley was a little more optimistic than Zeke was, though he didn't say as much. He was a realist, tending to look at both the best, and worst case scenarios before forming his own opinion on a matter. He hoped Lagertha recovered quickly, but he did not expect it. Over the course of the last two weeks he'd been mentally trying to prepare himself for the worst. Or at least attempting to, between doing his damnedest not to think about it at all.

He didn't have the heart to tell her that the brunt of his injuries were linked completely with the broken weapon.

Again, he moved as directed, making it easy on her as she drew the soft pants up over his hips. All the while making good on her offer to fill his days with idle chatter. He had to laugh at the handsome devil comment, softly though, so as not to jar his ribs too badly. "Devil?" Tanned features crinkled in amusement. It certainly wasn't inaccurate.

"I do realize this," he answered, chuckling under his breath. All the more amused by the notion of anyone else he might spend time with getting jealous. It was the first time a topic of that notion had ever been broached, and he abandoned the pendant on his chest to reach down, fingers sliding over the backs of her hands. He tried to imagine a jealous Ever, and it didn't work. The other man had, in no uncertain tones, suggested Zeke go find a girl to sleep with. ******** around. Exclusive, was not a term that could be applied to what he had with Ever, nor had it ever been, nor ever would be. What they did have worked. "No." The answer was simple, and it came with thumbs smoothing back and forth across her knuckles.

When his pants were safely in place he tucked his fingers within the crook of her own, drawing them away from his hips and towards him, trying to get her to crawl up onto the bed once again.

He really couldn't argue against the Devil thing, so he didn't even try. Merely smiled at her as she crawled up onto the bed to hover over him, a knee to either side of his hips. For a moment, looking up at her, he was tempted to pull her down into a kiss, strong arms wrapping around her to hold her against his chest. Then he remembered the still tender ribs, and thought better of it. The urge was still there, and maybe it'd be worth it, but surely he could come up with a better way to catch those soft lips than causing himself bodily harm.

The out was appreciated, and he very nearly took it, but he owed it to her to tell her, at least as much as she wanted to know. That didn't mean he set immediately into the explanation of what had happened. Zeke returned that soft squeeze, thumbs brushing over the back of her fingers as he just looked up at her, drinking in the sight of her. As dim as his emotional range might have been, he had missed her, a great deal.

So he gave her hands another gentle tug, brought his legs up to rest his heels on the edge of the bed so he could slid himself back a little more fully. "I want you to lay with me," he'd admit, letting go of of one pale hand so he could tuck a curl behind the shell of her ear, fingers slipping back into warm waves at the back of her neck. "And I'll tell you anything you want to know. As much or as little as you want."

Melon and citrus was infinitely better than the antiseptic that had filled the air in the infirmary. Her curls fell around them, closing them in, and Zeke drew in a deep breath, pulling in the sweet familiarity as pale eyes closed. Opening them again only as he felt the soft brush of lips against his nose. It had her rubbing fingers against the back of her neck, massaging lightly as the softness of her hair slid along his hand.

She settled beside him, a leg sliding up across his thighs, and he released her hand so he could tuck his behind her knee, holding her against him. If she wanted to know everything, he would tell her everything. But first, before things got too serious, he cupped his hand against the back of her head to draw her in, stealing a kiss from so-soft lips before laying back comfortably again. Ar as comfortable as he could be with his legs still half hanging off the bed.

And he noted the careful placement of her hand, the hesitation. "I'm not gunna break," he assured her, smiling. "Left shoulders one big ache, and my ribs are still tender, but nothing else is damaged."

Lagertha's pendent was still resting on his chest, but he wasn't paying any attention to it now. "There was eight of us to start, but I only knew three of the other 7. Cee, Paige, and Ever." His lips twitched. "Besides you, they're the only other people on this island I actually care about." It had, at the time, a relief having them with him. "There was also a Sun hunter, this gril that was crazy obsessed with Paige, a tech guy, and one more trainee I never did get to know. They kept to themselves."

At some point he was going to have to move them, lay properly on the bed, but for now, with her curled up against his side, he was comfortable enough not to want to move. She was warmth, and so very alive, it was incredibly comfortable having her there. He traced the fingers at the back of her neck along her throat, over the curve of her shoulder and down along the arm she had draped across him, until he could circle that thin wrist, feeling the beat of her pulse against his palm.

He chuckled at that soft keen, lips pulling in a brief smile before he'd continue. "Everything was fine at first, but within the first few nights we started finding strange markings in the sand outside the hatch. One morning Paige found me sleep walking, apparently trying to get outside. I never sleep walk." He kept his tone clinical and detached, as if it hadn't happened to him or his friends. Just a story, just reciting something he'd heard, not something he'd lived through. "It was strange, but it only happened the once. Everything was normal again for a couple of days. Then the power went out, the network, everything, in the middle of a sandstorm. We were congregating in the mess hall, playing poker, just trying to keep entertained while we waited for our tech guy to get things up and running again." He should have remembered his name. Why couldn't he remember his name?

"At some point Cee got up and left the table, we thought to use the bathroom, but she never came back." The more he spoke, the more he realized just how quickly things had gone from fine to ******** up. The story was surprisingly short for how very long they'd been away. "We searched the entire base from top to bottom for hours, but she wasn't inside. So, despite better judgement, we suited up head out into the storm to search for her."

He stroked the pad of his thumb along the side of her wrist. "Couldn't see a damn thing out there, it was a stupid idea. It's a wonder we didn't all get lost. It's a bigger wonder we actually found what we were looking for. Or rather, I found it. Fell through a bunch of rotted planks into the entry way of some underground lair."

Hazel eyes had rolled up to settle on the ceiling, but that wasn't what he was seeing. He was seeing the rush of sand and wind across a sky through the dark mouth of the hole, the figures around it looking down at him. "No," he answered easily, voice soft and carrying just a touch of ironic humor. "Wouldn't that have been wonderful though.

"The others came down, and we split up to search. At this point we didn't know where we were or if Cee was even there, but it was all we'd found." Zeke didn't much believe in hope, not really, but he understood it's importance. He'd kept any doubts to himself, let Paige hang onto the hope that Cee was alive and there, just waiting for a rescue.

"I don't know what happened to all the others, Paige and I ran into a none violent horsewoman that seemed to like leading us around in circles. Ever and the guy he was with found a stash of ancient scrolls and papers before falling through a hole in the ground. One of the others we eve saw again. The other three we found when we found Cee." All dead, all sucked dry.

This was the part that bothered him most. "The thing that had Cee. I'm told she was a horsewoman, but she was powerful. We didn't stand a chance. It blasted us into the wall, shattered one of Lagertha's blades. I don't know exactly what happened after that. More bugs, everywhere, and we couldn't breath." He shuddered, righting inch his hold on her leg and wrist. "Everything went black. Two months later we woke up here.

"I don't know how we made it out of there. I don't know why she didn't kill is, or if something stopped her." Aside from his weapon, that bothered him most.

He'd left out the moths. The thousands upon thousands of moths that had flooded their mouths, crawled down their throats, choking the life from them. They had been what had lead to the quarantine, but Zeke was doing a really good job of not thinking about them. The fluttery scars on his shoulder were enough of a reminder, but since they were on his back he didn't have to see them.

He didn't usually make a habit of lying to himself, but he was going to hold onto his denial on this one. At least for now.

So he didn't mention it. Instead he'd let her comforting words roll over him--smile at the kiss, give a soft hum of agreement as she cuddled in even tighter against his side. The story was over, they didn't have to talk about it anymore if she didn't have any questions about it. They could return to that light, easy flirtation. The soft press of her warmth and the pulse of her body beside him. he wanted to wrap his arms around her, drag her in against him , and bury his face in against the back of her neck so he could draw in that sweet, citric scent that clung to here.

He gave her a puzzled look as she rose up, and it only grew at the question. "They did, why do you..." She settled on his lap, reaching for something, and the combined force of her slight weight and the colored trim on his coat had him trailing off. Lips twisting to one side, he reached up for it, taking it gently from her hands. "Good to know I got something out of all that."