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Peyton hadn't left the infirmary for days, save to change her clothing or grab a portable bite to eat from the cafeteria. She'd barely slept, and had been slouched down and dozing when Otto found her, one arm stretched out towards the bed, small hand resting over Noah's much larger one. When Otto spoke she startled, jerking up in her chair with wide eyes that searched the room almost frantically until they landed on the taller blonde. She blinked at him, and the heavy shadows forming under pale eyes were very obvious. Strained, sleep deprived.

She wouldn't have admitted it, but part of what kept her there was the fear of being on her own with her own thoughts. She'd broken down when they'd returned, before the quarantined hunters had been brought back. Another break down was likely inevitable, but she was going to put it of as long as possible.

It took a couple of seconds for Otto's words to sink in. The initial shock had worn off, but she still looked surprised, and why not? Otto had never sought her out before. Features closing down into something more guarded, she dipped her chin in a small nod. "Sure." Getting to her feet, she glanced down at the sleeping trainee in the bed before moving towards the door and into the hall.

Peyton blinked up at him, features flat and unperturbed by his observation of her current physical state. She felt like hell, it only made since that she looked it as well. Lips pursing, she drawled out a sarcastic, but empty 'Thanks'.

She continued to look up at him with tired eyes as he rubbed at the back of his neck and struggled over his own thoughts before Melvin's name and the recounting of her violent encounter with him fell into the awkward silence. It had her lifting a brow, surprise evident for a split second before those delicate features seemed to close off.

On the one hand. this was the sort of thing she wanted from her cousin. A connection, mutual concern. They didn't have to be attached at the hop, but she tried damn hard to show him she cared, and it'd be nice to get a little in return.

On the other hand, she had to wonder if he was only here, asking, because Melvin had pushed him to it. Something that was even more believable after her last run in with the Lifer only the day before. "I'm fine," she lied, watching his eyes narrowing down at her, then gave a sharp exhale before amending. "Okay, I'm not fine."

Her own hands retreated into the pockets of her jumper, shoulders inching upward as she dropped her gaze from his and stared unhappily at the tiles below their feet. "There was a mission, Titan clean up. We ended up in the Sahara, gotten eaten alive by this giant sand worm thing. There was blood and dead things up to our ankles, bugs were raining down on us from over head, biting us. We couldn't see a damn thing." Warmth had leaked into her voice. "Mark got us out, but some of our allies got flagged for quarantine. Whatever was infecting them, they burned it out." She looked up then, and there was a fine rage in that pretty little face. "I understand the necessity, but I'm still furious. I'm furious that they hurt my friends, my boyfriend. But more than that, I'm ******** terrified."

The words stopped abruptly there, and she had to swallow before she could go on, eyes a touch wide now. "I'm terrified of happens next, when they're all up on their feet again, and I don't have them to worry about, and all those sensory memories come roaring back in."

There were times when pretty lies were appreciated, and times when they would have just pissed her off. Now was the latter, and she was grateful that he hadn't tried to spoon feed her any false comfort. Instead he was honest, he related to her, and even if the reality was hard to swallow, she appreciated it all the same. He'd been there, he'd seen it.

He knew how she felt.

Mention of Noah and breathing had her looking back through the door at the sleeping figure on the bed, and she had had to keep her eyes wide against the sudden warmth that threatened to spill from them.

"I feel it, little legs creeping over my skin and through my hair." She shuddered, lifting a hand to drag through her curls as if to rid herself of the memory of tiny feet. "When I close my eyes I can smell the stink of decay and blood. It makes my skin crawl, like it's trying to leave my body"

Her head snapped back around, eyes raising again to her cousin's. "I fell in it. I was covered from head to foot. Something stung me. How the hell did I make it out of there with a few scrapes and scratches, and they were infected?" They'd barely been bloody, it didn't make sense to her.

Luck. Luck was all that had kept her from sharing the same fate as the others. Her head dipped in a nod, but it was a little too quick. She did agonize over it, because thinking about that so so much better than where her mind would go if left to wander.

At the mention of showers she looked up again, and there was a flinching to pale eyes as she recalled just how helpful her shower had been when she'd come back from the dessert. It didn't matter how much she had scrubbed, she had still left dirty, and she'd damn near cooked her own skin off just to feel clean again.

Her tongue moved in a quick lick across dry lips. She was not going to fall in to hysterics again in the hall of the infirmary at her cousin's feet. No way, no how. He didn't really want to be there, it was obvious from his body language. Otto didn't care, not really. He was checking up on her, giving advice, but he didn't really want to be there. It should have made her happy that he was trying, regardless of why, but in that moment it just bothered her.

She drew in a steadying breath, straightening from that slight anxious hunch until she was standing normally again with her arms wrapped forcibly loose around her own abdomen. The tension was still there, but she hide it away behind a faux calm.

"I don't think there's a bath easily accessible to anyone intermediate or under."

Lilac eyes widened a touch at the offer, and she wasn't entirely sure what to say in response. It was a very unexpected kindness from her cousin, very out of the blue. It picked away at that layer of indifference she'd tried to pull around herself like a shield where Otto was concerned. It had taken a while, but eventually she'd gotten the hints that they were not going to have the same relationship that they had in that dream.

They were different here, but she'd still hoped.

"Thank you." Because it was kindness, and she did appreciate it. Even more so when he made it clear it didn't have to be now.

"Noah," she filled in for him, gaze sliding towards the bandaged Lifer on the bad. "His names Noah."

There was a small part of her that really wanted to ask him why he was really here, checking up on her. Whether Melvin had just gotten under his skin, or he genuinely cared, if only a little bit. But she held her tongue, because she might not like the answer.

Something in the small blond's expression showed how out of the blue this all seemed to her, but she wasn't about to poke at it. Regardless of the reason, he was reaching out, and she didn't appreciate it. "Thank you."

She kept to herself how bad she felt about having busted Melvin's glasses. Maybe she should have felt bad about the black eye, but he'd been relentless in his questions, and she'd told him more than once to leave her alone, and he hadn't.

Instead she lit a small smile peek through that somber expression, pale eyes dropping down and to the side. "Felt pretty good at the time."

"I haven't had any broken bones, or broken any on anyone else. I did almost have my arm torn off though." Her right hand lifted to rub at her left shoulder and the long scar that ran over it. "Or cleaved, rather," she amended thoughtfully.

Any silences with Otto as of late always felt incredibly awkward, so the smaller blonde hunted about for something to say. Something that proved to be a lot harder than it should have been. She was tired, bodily and emotionally, it meant sifting about for easy small talk just wasn't in the cards for the night.

Finally she came to something. "Thank you, again. I really appreciate the offer. Both offers."