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Zeke was on his bed Paige slipped into his room. He'd been reading(he was always reading), but this time, instead of his usual research into Halloween and it's creatures, he seemed to be half way through an old collection of Arthurian myths and legends. When the lock sounded he folded down the corner of the page he'd been on, closed the book, and set it on the bedside table just in time for Paige to crawl over him.

"Present for me? Aw, you shouldn't have." The bag she'd brought was given a curious glance, but he left it where she'd dropped it. It could wait. Instead he tucked his hands under the girl's arms and pulled, tugging her up until he could loop his arms around her.

It was still startling to him, how quickly she'd actually managed to worm her way into his affections(her and Ever, really) when it had been a damn near impossibility for the duration of his life before Deus. He wasn't sure what it was about this place, or them, but he was trying not to poke at a good thing.

"There is half a bottle of some cheap vodka, as well as a good dozen or so candy bars, in the bottom right hand drawer of my desk."

When she didn't move to retrieve either chocolate or vodka he shifted again, tucking an arm under her knees, and pulled her all the way up against his chest. She was tall, and curved, and not at all delicate, but Zeke was bigger, and he held her cradled against his chest. Her puffy eyes had not gone unnoticed, few things did, but he made no comment on them. There didn't seem much of a point in drawing attention to something that was obvious to him.

She was torn up over loosing someone important.

Ezekiel got it, he understood. So he made a small joke, smile soft, and tone light. "Hey, I thought I was your best friend." Devoid of any seriousness. He knew how close she and Cee were.

"If it's like you say, and everything was fine until all of a sudden it wasn't, I don't think you did anything." The hand on her shoulder worked in small, soothing circles. "It might not really have anything to do with you, and everything to do with her. Maybe she's freaking out?" Zeke didn't know Cee well, not really, but it seemed to him that she was every bit as independent as her two best friends. "Maybe she'd got to work through some s**t."

He frowned, looking down at her thoughtfully. "Have you been blowing her phone up?"

"I don't know, but maybe she just needs a little space, to think." He frowned, mind going back to everything he remembered Paige telling him about Cee, about them together. It had seemed to him that things had been going well, and he hadn't heard anything from Ever about Cee complaining. Not that he assumed Ever told him every conversation he shared with the girl.

He continued stroking her back, though now he was running his hand over as much as he could reach, doing what he could to be reassuring, and possibly not being much help at all. Like with Ever, when the Life had returned from a mission completely lost and out of sorts, Ezekiel just wasn't sure what to do. At least with Paige it was a little easier. Less awkward, though now he knew better how to handle things with the other blonde should the situation arise again.

"You should probably leave her alone for a bit." Which would be hard for her, he knew that. "You've already proven yourself to be very accessible, and she's still being distant. I think you should let her have her space." He pressed a kiss to the side of her temple, oddly tender. "Right now you're just coming off desperate, and that's not appealing." He kept his voice as mild as humanly possible, for him, because he wasn't trying to be insulting.

An uncharacteristic moment of insight provided a tid bit of advice tat might actually be usable in this case. "Give her time to miss you."

"I know what you mean." And he actually did. If he woke up tomorrow, and for whatever reason Ever was out of the picture, he'd miss him. He'd miss the time they spent together, in or out of the sheets. He was more than just a great ********, he was a good friend, and was turning into a fairly large part of the Mist's life.

"You can blow up my phone, instead. If you get the urge to text her, just send it my way." It would give her an outlet, let her vent her worry, her frustration, and her fear, and it would give Cee the space she needed.

A small smile was flashed down at her. "I know I'm not her, and it's not the same, but I won't let you be lonely." He'd be there, as much as he could. At the very least, he was only a call or text away.

His hand came up to rest on the back of her head, fingers moving in small, meaningless circles through short blonde hair. Closer, one way or another, would be better than this not knowing.

It made him want to seek the petite Death out himself, to ask one little question.

He wouldn't, yet. Not unless Paige asked him to, or things got worst.

"Then I'll talk to her for you, and if nothing else, we'll get you some closure." Possibly not the most comforting thing he could say, but he really wasn't great at this.

He pressed his lips against the side of her head again, frowning, before murmuring against her hair. "Don't sell yourself short, you're amazing." He thought so, and he was a picky mother ********. "And you can send as may texts as you want, I don't mind."

When she started to shift he drew his hands away, letting her get comfortable against him, then settled again, resuming the soft brush of fingertips along her scalp.

"We need to get your mind off this, at least for a little while, before you drive yourself insane." He didn't have a clue if that was actually a good idea, but it seemed like one.

So he leaned, as much as he was able with her laying on him, and snagged the bag she'd dropped on the floor. There was weight to it, not a lot, but enough. He gave the bag a little shake, then lofted a brow at the girl.

He knew what he'd find before he looked in the bag. The flush, and her rambled response, they gave her away before he saw the straps and long length they were attached to. For a long moment he stared down at it, then those pale eyes slid back down to Paige. "A joke, huh?"

The arm still wrapped around her tightened in a hug. "So?"

He had known she'd been serious before, but it was still kind of surprise seeing it. "I am here for you," he reminded her, setting the bag down on the table beside the book he'd been reading early. "Whatever you need."

He resumed the idle wander of hands along her back in soothing circles. It was something, seeing her this distraught. Upsetting, perhaps, if he cared to examine his own feelings on the matter. He didn't. Instead the Mist's focus rested on the girl laying against him.

When she spoke again his gaze slid down to her chin--the only part of her face he could see with her cuddled up against his shoulder--and tanned lips gave a small twitch. "I don't, no, but I appreciate it anyways." Considering their line of work, there was little doubt in the man's mind that eventually he would face something that would be bigger, stronger, or just awful enough to leave a stain.

He recalled Ever's vacant expression, Finn's recant of nightmarish experiences.

No, Ezekiel had no illusions that his live would just continue on smoothly.

"You're allowed to be a little useless right now," he assured her, shifting down until he was laying more comfortably with her still more or less on top of him. "I won't judge."