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She beamed at being able to make him laugh like that; having Bereck laugh out of amusement came in short supply if her memories were correct. (She also remembered getting odd looks during her visits back in the day but that was not here nor there.)

And then. Shards.

Only Bereck could make 'dreadful woman' sound like a term of endearment, especially with that tone and that smile. She smiled back, soft, warm, and completely unprepared for the touch to her cheek. Alina blinked and leaned into the soft graze of his fingers. Her hand went up, stroked along his knuckles.

"Shards. Just," She said after a short pause. "You, Ber."

Alina shifted up, not breaking their gaze, and, very attractively, adjusted her glasses. "I would really like to kiss you right now. And I'd just do it but it's been twenty years and we just decided to give this a try and you're not feeling well but I really would."

It took some maneuvering to kiss back without flopping onto him entirely. Side by side came with its own challenges, all of them defeated with physics and sheer determination.

With Bereck wounded and not in the best shape and Alina somewhat twisted, the kiss didn't last too long. The important thing was that it existed, period. She moved back after a moment, one hand petting at his hair, a smile inching itself onto her face again. "You are the only one who can call me a dreadful woman and make me want to kiss you simultaniously."

She turned again, though not to kiss him. She touched one of his flushed cheeks with the backs of her fingers much in the way he had to her earlier, just before they kissed. Bereck looked happy so even that pale wash on his skin wouldn't make her regret what just happened.

"You didn't manage to put me off," She tried to assure, a small smile still in place. "If I'm still game after twenty years of not having any snark in my life, you're pretty say on the whole 'not doing it right' bit. Don't worry about rushing me, 'm pretty sure I'm the one who just confessed at you. I'm not sorry for wanting to. Or this."

Alina grabbed hold of the headboard and bent again. Alina on the attack! For a kiss, just as soft as the first but this time without Bereck almost breaking himself.

As much as being pulled in and closer felt fabulous, she couldn't help the soft laughter with the wobble of her arm. "I swear to everything sensible that if you make me fall on top of you, we won't enjoy it." She kissed him again anyway, arm bracing on it's position on the headboard to keep a firm hold. "As much as I enjoy that particular position, you are wounded and it's rather public and 've already promised none of those public shenanagins."

Another little laugh and a third kiss, Alina doing her best to be cuddled closer at him, her free hand resting on his upper arm. It seemed to be a relatively safe place on him. He'd not mentioned any bits of his arms getting chopped to bits anyway. "And have I thanked you yet," she mumbled against his lips. "For not telling me to piss off when I first came to see you?"

She smiled against him and hung on for another second before retracting and releasing the headboard. "I don't want you to poke at your injuries more than you already have." Alina murmured, hand up to touch his cheek once last time before she sat back away from the 'can kiss now' space around Bereck.

"Interlude is good. Damaging you would be most disappointing." She chuckled, her hand touching again at his arm. Just. Guh. Her brain exploded a little in a fit of happy with his soft words of affection and the touches and just everything.

Today. Alina considered this a very, very good day. "Hopefully this isnt you dosed up on fellis either. That would be a rather awkward conversation. I'd rather like this too be real." She had too many of the good sorts of dreams or day dreams in the past to be 100%.

Her hand followed him as he moved, hand touching his arm gently with that grimace. Being unable to move period didn't occur to her, wounds to the back or front or not - Bereck always moved, even when small and thin and looking so pale, she always thought he'd be able to move around on his bed enough to change positions. "Always good," she agreed, running her other hand through her messy hair - the strands that managed to pop free at any rate. The day left her somewhat frazzled. Her eyebrows went up, expression expectant when Bereck looked to her.

"I won't leave you alone, Ber." Her eyebrows lowered and furrowed but the StarCrafter moved instinctively onto the bed next to him. She toed off her shoes before doing so, leaving drab looking brown socks in their wake. "Shoes on the bed, all of that, you know." Alina leaned into him as much as she dared, shifting on the bed to stretch out her legs and simultaniously press closer to him. One slim hand found his, fingers threading in with his again. "You know I won't be leaving you alone."

She tilted her head and kissed the top of his head. They sat shoulder to leg, Alina pressed close to him side by side, and it made holding his hand and rubbing at his knuckles with her thumb that much easier.

"Oh." She said, her hand squeezing again. "You aren't a mess. Maybe full of wounds and bleeding but not a mess. It's okay to be scared, I promise. But it doesn't make you a mess."

the Starcrafter kissed his head again, resting here so her next words pressed against his hair, all red and white and lovely still even as he aged. "Love you too, Ber. Twenty turns didn't change that."

In her own mind, she and Bereck were in a quiet, happy moment between the two of them, cuddled up close with holding hands and declaractions of love, albeit quiet ones. When he pressed his face closer, she just smiled, relaxing against him because, ******** yes, yay, things were okay. Things were going to be alright again.

She'd not expected to hear his voice go the tone he did or the apology. Her eyes went wide, head tucking down and in to look at the man against her. "Oh, no, Ber, I didn't know there was moment killing going on," Alina's voice took on a rather higher pitch, worry threading itself into her words. "I thought we were still in that wonderful moment, dear. What's wrong? What happened?"

Another squeeze of his hand and she half turned towards him. Her free hand rose, stroked along his cheek and then around to pet at his hair. "Talk to me?"