Welcome to Gaia! ::

The moment they had returned from Aria's mission Candace made a bee-line for the pod room. That yeti just was not right. She had to know, she had to know if her suspicions were correct. Was it Lance, maybe? Clarice? A random hunter Aria had just suckered into attacking the trainees? She just had to know if it was really a golem.

After asking the lab techs if anyone had been on golem duty she regretted wanting to find out. Jerry Collins, he'd been taken unconscious to the infirmary after the third golem. She ran. Sure, she could have stopped to have her head checked out by a doctor but Jerry came first. Even if he hated her, even if he wanted nothing to do with her, she needed to see him; they needed to talk like goddamn adults. It was a small island, they couldn't just avoid each other forever.

She found the room he was in and stopped in the doorway, biting down nervously on her lip as she just silently watched him. Candace took a step into the room, stopped, and took a cautious step back. Damnit...

Damnit! No! She was not going to run away!

Candace stepped into the room and quietly closed the door behind her, tiptoeing closer and closer until she could pull a chair up beside the bed and sit down. She reached out for his hand but thought better of it, simply putting her hands on her lap and linking her fingers together for now. It would hurt more if she tried to hold his hand and he pulled it away than to not hold it at all. How was she...he probably didn't even want her here. But they had to talk.

"...Jerry?" Candace spoke quietly, almost afraid to wake the man up. This was the closest she'd been to him in..almost a week? Was that how long it'd been? She frowned, scooting her chair closer. She wasn't sure what to say now...but it wasn't like it mattered. She sat there for hours and he never woke up. The only reason she left was to clean polar bear guts off herself and sleep. But she was back the next day with about the same result.

And the day after that.

Candace sighed and folded her arms on the bed, resting her head on her arms and closing her eyes. "Please wake up, Jerry." She pleaded, her voice muffled by her arms. Please wake up. Please. It'd been three days! He had to wake up! Please wake up.

There was a sharp movement that had Candace sitting up, eyes wide and heart racing. He was awake! "JERRY!" Candace cried out with joy, and without a second thought she stood from her chair and threw her arms around him in a hug, her lips pressed against his temple in several happy kisses. "You'reawakeohgodIwassoworriedohthankgodyou'reawakeohJerryI'msohappytoseeyouawake..!" He was okay! He was awake! He was alive! In her relief she still had yet to remember why hugging him was not the wisest idea.

He was pushing at her oh god why was he pushing at her no please don't she wanted to hold him some more it'd been so long and she'd been so worried and she'd missed him so much and--oh, swooning against her is nice yes she'll take that yes please! Candace sat down on the edge of his bed to let the man lean against her, quietly taking advantage of his current state to just..be able to touch him.

His words won a laugh as she fixed his hair, petting it and tidying the bedhead he'd developed the past three days. "We think you did too, honey. You did throw up all over William though." She kept her voice soft, reaching down to pull the blanket up after his sudden sitting up had thrown it partially off his person. "You gave me a bit of a concussion as well. Way to go~." Candace sighed, putting her cheek against the top of his head. She missed holding him.

He was leaning against her! He...he wasn't pushing her away! He wasn't--

Gran.

...Oh.

Candace frowned, holding him tighter. "What did you dream about?" She asked quietly, turning her head to bury her face against his hair.

He did do his best. He wasn't afraid? That's good, that's very good. Drank too much? Well, maybe a little. But that's okay! That's something that can be worked on! He had sobered up and kicked alcohol once before he could totally do it again if he really, really tried. It's okay, Jerry. It's okay.

"She hurt me, Gram..."

Candace's heart fell to her stomach as he said that. She knew exactly what he was talking about now. It hurt so bad. Why did she do this to him? Why had she let herself be so stupid? Candace pressed a kiss to the top of his head and rubbed his upper arm, fixing the man's hair as she tried to comfort him. He thought she was his grandmother...she couldn't be his grandmother but she could offer him comfort while he was still loopy with exhaustion. "People make mistakes.." The hand that had been rubbing his arm moved to rub his back in a comforting motion. "Obviously she didn't deserve you, but I'm sure she didn't want to hurt you. No one could ever want to hurt a man was wonderful as you, dear." Her voice shook a little as she tried not to push the conversation the way she would prefer it to go. Do it his way. Let him have a little bit of control for now...

Yes, he'd finished the mission. But before Candace could so much as open her mouth to speak she heard the telltale snoring of him falling asleep. She sighed, slipping her arms from around him to gently lie the man down. The blanket was pulled up comfortably to cover him, his pillows neatened and fixed. She then put the chair back in its place and left, keeping the light turned on should he wake up in the middle of the night.

She returned the next day, this time feeling a little more confident. He had woken yesterday though been very tired, mumbling incoherently with the occasional sensible phrase and sentence. He'd called her Gran. Hopefully today would be better.

Candace peeked into the room to see if he was already awake yet or not, this time walking in with a tray of food. Nothing fancy, just a few fruits, a couple sandwiches..it'd been four days since he last ate, right? He should eat something.

He was awake! Candace smiled as she stepped into the room and closed the door behind her, balancing the tray with one hand while nudging the chair closer to Jerry's bed. She didn't say a word yet, again taking advantage of the attention he was not paying her. Finally she set the tray down on the table beside his bed, plucking his glasses off so as not to put the tray on top of them, and offering them to the man.

"Are you hungry?" Yes, fantastic ice breaker.

The look he gave her and the tone did make her waver for a moment. She hated seeing him angry. "You've been here four days. I figured you'd be hungry." Candace said simply, not backing down. She stood to lean over and put his glasses on his face for him before sitting back down, her expression neutral as she picked up an apple and offered it to Jerry. "And there's also the whole you were asleep for four days I was worried thing." She shrugged. Would the aloof route get him to talk to her? Candace finally frowned, taking off her coat and draping it over the back of the chair she was sitting on. This was her silent way of saying she wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.

"And I guess there's the whole I missed you thing." Jerry had every right to be mad. She knew he did. She didn't blame him, and she was glad he was angry. Candace liked that he was angry; if he had just shrugged it off like what she had done was no big deal she would have just...no. She didn't want to think about that. Candace was quiet for a long while, picking up another apple and tossing it from hand to hand as something to do with her hands instead of trying to touch him. She wanted to touch him, to hold him and kiss him and pet his hair and cuddle up against him being held in his arms and..ugh. Just. Ugh.

"We should talk." Candace finally said in a gentle, quiet voice. She stopped tossing the apple and put it back on the tray, looking to Jerry.