[Day After Beached Shark]
Warning: Suggestive Content, Blood.


"What, did Kate pick these out?" He questioned, turning to look back at his butt. "Mannn...I miss my shorts." he sighed and shook his legs out. "I'm gonna go look for breakfast, did you want me to stick around to help you with your marks, or should I bug Kate to make us a meal?"

"I should be fine, they'll just need some minor patching up, but not much else. You can go off and get food, I'll join you in a bit." as she spoke, she leaned down to kiss him gently, closing her eyes a bit as she did."I have some people to apologize to."

Arno stood up on his toes to meet her lips with his and still blushed a little bit. "Alright Moira...but don't be too long, alright?" He fell back on his heels and pat her butt as he walked."Those shorts...I like."he strutted out of the room, slipping the tips of his fingers into his pockets.

"I won't be too long, I hope." She chuckled, though at the patting of her butt, she couldn't help but blush a tiny bit. It had been awhile since she wore anything that showed off a lot of her skin, as she had become very aware of what she looked like after being reintroduced to mirrors. Once Arno had left, she made her way through the base, trying to find Michael. She had to apologize and thank him as he was helping them, in his own snarky way.

Michael looked up from the book his was reading and could see that a motion sensor for hallway five was tripped. "Hello? If that's you Moira." he spoke into the laptop's microphone, his finger on the ctrl key."Follow three rights, open that door.”

Looking up when she heard his voice, she followed the instructions and opened the door in question, looking a little confused.

Michael was sitting in a room that looked very much like a testing laboratory but had a hydraulic press in the center of the room and smelt of chemicals and metal. "I'm still doing research but I maintain a solid computer surveillance" he looked up at her. "I prepared a medkit for your....bite marks." He waved his hand. "I'm proficient at first aid, should you like a hand bandaging ...those."

"Oh...and that would actually be rather nice, as having one arm makes things a little difficult." She chuckled a little, "I did also want to apologize again, and, well, thank you.”

"Thank you for...? I haven't done anything yet. I've been trying to comprise a working material to replace you arm and well, I finally have some of your DNA, so now I can see what makes you so durable, on a molecular level." he got up and pulled a first aid kit out of a drawer. "I don't have a needle tough enough to break your skin like the shark...so you will have to deal with disinfectant and bandages.”

"Well, you...you uh.." She paused for a moment, trying to think of how to explain how she was thankful, "You accepted me even though I'm well...me?" Moira shrugged a bit, though when Michael mentioned a replacement arm, she just stared at him with a look of 'what???'. "uhm, yeah, disinfectant and bandages are fine."

"Alright." He opened the case and motioned for her to sit in a stool and went to work, cleaning her wounds. "Well. I'm not going to lie, I see a tactical advantage of keeping me on your good side and your particular talents. In the right spaces, you are terrifying." he applied a glob of disinfectant and spread it with his small brush for things such as this.

Moira laughed a little bit, having moved to make it easier for Michael to patch her wounds, "I still don't know about everything I can do, maybe I should try and figure it all out..but the issue is I don't know where I can try out what I could even do." She let out a slight sigh, trying to think of everything she could do in comparison to what she didn't know yet.

"Well the only thing you can do is to test your limits. A partner who can keep up works, I just.. sometimes being in a dangerous or threatening situation brings it out." He sighed and started applying bandages. "Looks like he tried more than 'eating out' huh."

"Well - do you have a sparring room?" Moira just barely go to ask before he mentioned the whole 'eating out' part, and she just started to laugh a bit more, "Yeaaaah.."

Michael laughed genuinely. "All well. It worked out. There was still blood."he motioned to the computer trying to run some algorithms "no worries....I'm not a terrible scientist. I'll make sure no one hurts you guys. As much as I can..."

"Well - I still want to be able to practice my own powers, but I don't want to go on the surface incase of anything happening.." Moira muttered, wanting to just test her own strength.

"I hear you. Your best bet will be to dig one out. I don't have much of a training room for...you specifically. You would have to give me time." He applied another bandage. "I've been using different alloys and the press to see if I can make you an arm but it looks like I'd nearly need to make it out of your bone structure by the way”

Laughing a little, she shook her head, saddened by the fact that she'd have to dig her own training room. "I guess I could dig one.....but are my bones really that strong?" she asked, looking to him. Moira knew she had a strong body, but didn't think it was that strong.

"Well based on what you can crush with your bare hands..." Michael sighed. He could hear the change in her voice. "Look, I'll laser you out a room and try to furnish it." he sighed. Still a soft spot for his team."I'm just trying to build something that would match the strength of your other arm. I have the nerve attachments ready to go.”

Moira just watched him, now more curious about the replacement arm, but more confused as to why he was still being so helpful. Her strength aside, she was just a normal Meta. Well, a normal wingless Meta, which she realized she was seeing more and more of each day. "You do a lot for people.." she said quietly.

"With one hand I lend my will to those who require it. With the other, I crush my enemies." He replied, not hesitating. "I balance my evils with good. It's the sign of someone who isn't quite evil but not a saint." He finished the last bandage and pat her on the back "besides, if I don't help, who will?"

Smiling a little, she shrugged at his last comment, "I guess that's a true mystery, of who will help if no one else does. I think the humans had a phrase for it or something, but my memory is a little hazy about things and memories from so long ago." Moira managed a soft laugh, bowing her head in thanks to him for patching her up. She could have left them as they were, open and fresh, but she would still be digging underground for a little while longer, so having them covered would help.

Michael nodded. "We are all inherently selfish, I feel." He sat back down to the computer, typing a few things into it. "If you like, you could try one of the prototypes."

"Oooh, that would be fun - but what if I accidentally break it?" She perked up a bit at the thought of trying out a prototype, but didn't want to break anything else in the base.

"I imagine it will break, but how it breaks and how long it lasts is what I'm testing for." He stepped over to a glass panel and opened it up, lifting up a sizable arm. "I measured your arm span when you were resting on the couch in the hall. I run several prosthetic shops around the country. Just never quite for a woman of your strength.”

Following him over, she looked over the prosthetic arm and couldn't help but grin. It was something she had never seen before, but damn did it look sweet. "That is SO cool."

He walked over to her and made sure the stump was cleared before tying down the straps around her shoulder. There was a clicking and what would feel like suction. "Normally I would attach it to the bone and latch it to your neurodes, but I can't quite get into your bones unless I had a needle built of your bone I fear. Adamantium is not a soft material."

Just watching him attach the arm to her, she just stared for a moment, thinking, "What if we got Arno to just..bite my arm open more?" she suggested. While it was pretty morbid, it might work, right?

"Well that could work, but would he do it now? You've shared something special and he's still a teenager technically." he shrugged. "I would need him to bite open, or grind a hole into the bone. I'll have to put you on a ton of anesthesia, which, honestly, might knock you out for the whole deal while we try to play doctor."

"He might if I ask him.." She murmured, thinking for a moment then shrugging as well, her eye still looking at the mechanical arm hooked to her stump. "Hm..." Moira just stared at it, trying to figure out how it would work. It was hooked to her, right? Thinking about just moving the fingers, she focused on that, which was odd, as it wasn't really anything she had to think about before. After a couple seconds, the fingers of the prototype started to move.

"Eureka...." he gasped, glad it as working. "I have the Wendie's correctly reading you. I had to use some strong ones to go through your skin. But it should do. Now if you want to play around with it, that's fine, but the way I see it, I need it to only break through standard operation." He smiled and pushed up his glasses.

Moira seemed to be bouncing with excitement, "This is so cool!" she was grinning wide, looking as if she were about to bolt off, "So I can go out of here with it, right?"

"I suppose, but please be sure I'm around. I'd like to be there if it breaks." He grabbed a clipboard excitedly and a pen and buttoned his coat up."science ...mmmm”

Resisting the urge to bolt out of the room, she made her way out of the room at a normal pace, heading off to find Arno.

Arno was sitting in the kitchen, tossing eggs into the air and snapping them down with his maw, chewing shell and yolk alike. Kate turned over and smacked his hand with her spatula. "I swear to tits I told you to stop eating the eggs. If you are so hungry hun, you can give me the ol sausage and eggs or you can wait for breakfast!"

Making her way into the kitchen, hearing that comment, Moira stood in the doorway and just stared at the two. "Do you want me to distract him enough so you can cook?" she asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"Yes. Yes I would." she giggled. "Unless we want to make this a three wa----oh hi Michael!" She waved, her tail going to and fro.

Michael sighed...again.

Arno then looked at Moira. "You've got a second arm?!" He spit eggshells all over the floor.

Moira awkwardly waved the prosthetic left arm, then motioned to Michael,"It's just a prototype that he's been working on.. but it might break at some point..." she shrugged, looking down at the arm again and moving the fingers again.

Arno rushed up to her and ran his hands over it. "You are like a cyborg or something now." he played with it like a child with a new toy. He ran his fingers up it, but Moira wouldn't quite feel anything but a dulled sensation. He eyed Michael. "You are alright nerd"

"you see...you say that now..."

Shivering a little, she looked down at the arm as she felt the dulled sensation, "Okay that's a little weird." Moira mumbled then glanced to Kate and winked, with a look of 'maybe later' and then looking back down to Arno who was feeling up the arm now. "I'm not sure how I should test it, though.."

"We....could fight! You could punch me really hard and if it breaks it breaks!" Arno said excitedly. "And I won't bite it." He promised, placing a hand over his heart."But I need breakfast ."

"Well, I mean, I guess it could work..."Moira turned to look at Michael, wondering if that sort of testing would be ok.

Michael shrugged.”if it doesn't break in the first punch, I'd call that a success. If it does, I may need to do some things." he wrote down on his clipboard."I'm game."

Kate finally chimed in. "Breakfast is ready. Lots of meats and eggs, also toast. You two need your carbs and Michael yes just the egg whites." she smiled.

"Thanks sis."


----------------
Having made their way into one of the tunnels that she had dug out, Moira stretched a little as she looked over to Arno, "You sure you want me to do the strongest punch I can?" she asked, wanting to make sure of this before she wound up for the punch.

He nodded."Yeah, if you crack a few ribs, I'll try to walk it off."He told her , standing firm. "Come on beefcake! Show me what you got!"

"Well... you asked for it." Moira stood up straight before running towards him, pulling her arm back and throwing a punch as hard as possible with the prosthetic arm.

Arno took the hit and literally crumpled over her arm like a sack of potatoes, letting out a whimper as he went down to a knee, and puked on the floor. "Oh God." He couldn't even see straight after the hit.

Not even realizing that the arm had crumpled like a soda can under a car tire, Moira quickly went to her knees, around the vomit, and wrapped her right arm around him. "Oh, oh god, I am so sorry." She seemed distraught, as if never really understanding how hard she could punch.

There was this ringing in his ears and he wasn't quite responsive to her, but he was definitely breathing. That hurt so bad, like getting hit by a wagon and the horses. He heaved for the moment and Michael stood back, scribbling notes. His vision was fading in and out and he was trying to suck down air. He crumpled into her arms and shook a little bit.

Whining softly, Moira pulled him closer, moving to pick him up to attempt to carry him to a healer. She was quite clearly distraught about the whole thing.

Michael continued to scribble. He eyed her. Well if she was going to run off, he'd need the shattered arm. He reached up and slipped the harness off.
"Days without injury in the workplace....0 days."

Allowing the harness to be removed, Moira eventually hosted Arno onto her shoulder before starting the long and awkward walk to whoever she could find first that could heal. "I'm so sorry, Arno..." she whispered, feeling so incredibly guilty.

Arno groaned, his hearing slowly returning."I ...asked...for ...it...you ..are...scary...strong...so....cool...." he groaned out in between labored breaths.

Struggling to keep the tears back, Moira continued walking through the halls, "But I probably almost killed you..."

"I've...bounced...back....before...I'm....tough..." he grunted. His limbs kind of flopped all over the place as she moved with him.

Realizing that those who were healers were somewhere else, Moira ended up just taking him back to their room, still trying to not cry. "But I hurt you, really badly. I...I didn't think I could actually hurt someone that badly..i..I've only actually been in one fight" she started to ramble, her emotions needing an outlet and seeing as she was refusing to cry, it got turned into words.

"Are you sure? Was I that only fight when...you got the suplex?" He was confused and dazed. "Oh...bed...bed sounds nice.”

"No, no an actual fight, not a sparring match. I've only been in one..." once she got into the bedroom, she set him down on the bed and proceeded to just sit on the floor, her head in her hand.

Arno groaned and grabbed his gut. "You are so pretty. Please don't cry." he tried to inch on the bed and groaned.”no.. I asked you to hit me. I didn't expect that though..."

Moira shook her head bringing her knees to her chest and trying to make herself as small as possible. You could have killed him... was the thought running through her head over and over. It was terrifying and she hated it, hated herself, her own strength.

Arno slowly forced himself forward, trying to get to Moira and dropped off the bed against her knees , his arms out to hug her. "Look....if you...feel that bad...you...could at least dote on me..." he chuckled, looking up at her with his steel eyes.

"I-I'm so sorry."The words came out weak and frail before she moved to pull him into a hug, the tears starting to slide down her cheeks. "I- I can't even heal you..."

"Bleh...." he nestled his head in her chest. "That's what you....think." he closed his eyes and tried to squeeze her. A lone hand rose up to rub her face. "Remember....I don't...like being touched....but...you...don't think ...this is ....healing?" He rubbed her back softly, chuckling and hurting himself, to his ire.

She sniffled, moving to pick him up again to put him back on the bed. "Touching and healing are different...my brother can heal..I can't." Moira muttered, as if ashamed that she had no ability to heal. Once she had gotten Arno back on the bed, she sat on the edge of it and just looked at the bedsheets, wiping her face with her hand to get the tears to go away.

"Moira...I'm a...big boy..." he watched her with one open eye. "I'll walk it off." he sat up, refusing to just lay down. Determined to make her feel better. He grunted and swung his legs off the bed and slowly got to his feet. "See?"

"Arno, please, just...just rest, okay?" She asked softly, now trying to reign in her emotions.

"I will...once my new favorite person stops crying." He put his hand on his hop disapprovingly. "I'm not going to die after one punch. If haven didn't kill me, I think I'm doing alright." Arno did sit back down though, unable to keep his bravado, but not wanting to seem weaker.

"I'm not crying..." she sniffled, her nose still a bit runny, though the tears had stopped. Moira had managed to get the emotions back in check, for now.

"I'm not saying you've got to be a tough guy...but..." he went to lay his head in her lap. "I hate seeing you cry. It's...devastating. cause I know I could have defended myself ..."

Moira went to gently rest her hand on his cheek, looking down at him. Her eyes were red and slightly puffy, "I..honestly...never knew how hard I could punch...I..I don't remember punching that hard when I was fighting someone before..." she closed her eyes the memory of the fight from over 20 years ago just a blur, "I'm still really sorry.."

"I already forgave you." He gave her a toothy grin. "At least you didn't go for the face. That's my bread and butter." He reached up and played with her hair. It was always so soft.

She smiled softly before leaning down to kiss him gently ,"I'd never purposely hit your face...I don't want to hurt you or anyone else that I care about.”

"That's nice." He grunted and pat her face. "Remind me to let you win arguments." he laughed and sucked in a breath. "It doesn't hurt anymore though." He lied.

"I still want you to rest up, though. I probably broke something." She let out a soft sigh and closed her eyes.

Arno sighed and there was a knock on the door.

"Room service!" Kate's sing song voice came through the door. She opened it and came in with soup "I heard a big fish got a big hit, so I whipped up some good ol'* soup! Good for the body!"

Looking up when the door opened, Moira looked away and down when she saw who it was,"Thanks, Kate."She whispered.

"I got ya darlin" she winked at her and place the tray down on the repaired night stand. "When Michael said there was a workplace accident, I worked up some healing soup for your lover." she giggled and ran a finger across Moira's face. "Don't look so glum, you are too pretty for that." She walked past, her tail flicking about.

Arno grunted and looked at the soup "that damn nerd.”

Moira smiled a little, "He's got his heart in the right place though."

"Well yeah..." Arno sighed and grabbed the soup, slowly gulping on it. He started coughing, his chest burning.. suddenly, he started to feel better. "Is this...healing soup? So weird."

Kate giggled."It's not weird , you dorky shark.”

"Considering everything we can do, healing soup is the least strange thing." She chuckled a little, just watching Arno then looking up to Kate. "Thank you."

Kate giggles again and bowed. "Tadaaa!" She continued smiling like a cutie pie, and tidied up the room while she was there. "So you two, wash your faces, wash your hands." she grabbed the doorknob to leave. "Oh, and if you need more clothes, you two darlins let me know."

"....I'll probably talk to you later about that, actually." Moira looked up at Kate as she was leaving, just now getting an idea on how to make it up to Arno. Or, at least, she'd hope it would work.

Kate looked back and nodded at her and then paused for a moment. "Oh. And Arno. Please, remember that my brother is probably one of the only reasons we can rest and eat. Do try and show some respect love."

Arno kept quiet and looked down. "O...okay...sorry." Arno got up and shook his head and then heard the door click. "I'm feeling pretty good after that soup. I uh...feel bad about the whole Michael thing. Does he really fund us?"

Moira let out a breath, one she wasn't aware that she had been holding. "I'm pretty sure he mentioned it when I talked to him earlier when he was talking about the arm..."

"Ugh..." he wiggled in place and leaned against the wall. "That...I..." he huffed and wrapped his arms over Moira's shoulders. "I feel better now. A little sore, but better. Please stop worrying about hurting me. You weren't worried last night." He teased, rubbing his face against hers.

"Well that was different, there's a different type of....satisfaction, almost, from what we did last night. This...if I could punch any harder...I feel like I could have very likely killed you." Moira closed her eyes, letting out another sigh.

"Well I could've bitten your legs off, but I'm not all worked up. Come on, you didn't kill me, I'm okay. I could have tried to defend myself but I got cocky. So I learned a lesson." he pet her head.

"I also hit you as hard as I could, so there's also that." Moira moved to lean against him.

"Which I asked for. Geez, when I become an adult I'll be even tougher because of that punch!" He chuckled, squeezing her close.

"Maybe we can spar again then...maybe." Moira whispered, just keeping her eyes closed as they continued to embrace

"Well yeah. I gotta become rough and tumble, for the Captain, and for you. I'm pretty much built to fight. " He closed his eyes, breathing in her scent. "You always smell so....peaceful.”

She opened her eyes, moving to glance at him, "I smell peaceful? What do you mean by that?" she asked, looking rather confused.

"Well, I smell things differently than you. When I smell you...You smell like a fresh summer breeze rolling across a hilltop when you are at rest. When you are angry, you smell like a landslide...and when you are sad, you smell like a lonely salty breeze. And when you're raring to go...You smell like a fresh creek-bed.”

"Also, different people smell different, I think it has to do with their powers.”

Moira just sort of stared at him for a bit before smiling and leaning on him again, "sounds like an interesting thing to be able to sense."

"It has its moments...like when Delilah was around, all I could smell was stench. That's why I stayed outside a lot." He sighed. "But I always know when dinner is ready." He nudged her and waited for a reaction.

Chuckling, she shook her head, "As well as some other things, if what you told me about how I smell is true.”

"Oh don't worry. " He grinned and got up from the bed. "I know when you are thinking dirty about me." He pat his own butt in those jeans. "Well I'm feeling better, so I'm going to get some fitness in. Hopefully I can break these jeans so Kate will get me better pants.“

"Aw, but I like these pants on you..." she frowned, not wanting him to get another pair of the awful shorts.

"But...You can literally see both of my dicks!" He complained, turning to look at her, his hands out at his sides. "And that's super embarrassing. No one else has two dicks! It's weird!"

"Hmm, well maybe I can ask her to get you pants that aren't as tight?" she asked, smiling at him.

"That's fine. Cause what if I pop a boner from looking at your super sexy short shorts? Talk about awkward dinner conversation." He threw his hands up."I don't know why you hate my shorts so much.”


"They just don't look good on you and the colors clash horribly. I had to know about fashion when I was a bouncer at a bar”

"Oh that's pretty cool. I could be a bouncer. " He grinned wide, letting his teeth show their points. "But fine, how about I not wear them as much. But they stay in my possession.”

"Fine, fine, but I'm going to get you something that will look nice with what I want Kate to get me. Ok?" she asked, hoping that what she was asking for wasn't too much.

"If it will make you happy, then I agree. You are one of the only people that's not scared, and actually cared when I was injured, so I guess, I owe it to you for giving a damn.”

"Of course I would care...and not just if it was because of me hurting you...I love you, Arno, and that isn't going to change.." she moved to lay down on the bed, the day's events more stressful than she was expecting.

Arno walked over to her and grabbed one of her feet, digging his fingers into the soles of it. "Love you too." It was weird to hear himself say that, but he was sure he meant it. "How about a good rub down? I can smell your tension."

"If you're absolutely sure that you're feeling good enough, then sure." Moira looked over to him and smiled just a tiny bit, only then realizing how much she had been smiling lately.

"Ah, there it is. The smile." He made a kissing face at her. He continued to dig his fingers into her feet, rubbing the tough spot, and then moved up to her calves. "God.. These muscles. " He shook his head. "How do you not have the men throwing themselves at you? “

Blushing a little, she closed her eyes and just tried to relax, though when he asked, she let out a sigh. "If memory serves, most men don't want a woman who has more muscle than them or one could pick them up with one hand."

"I dunno. Being thrown into battle is pretty ******** cool." He laughed. There was a time he found a way to have himself shot out of a cannon at an enemy ship. It was, so good. "Don't lose this muscle. I'm sure you were even more built when you were regularly working out, which we should, we should lift.”

Chuckling a bit, she shook her head,"I'm not sure, actually. I don't think a picture of me from back then still exists. It might at my old home, though I'm not sure if that is still around.”

"Well I don't mind it at all. You are perfect. You having your second arm was pretty exciting today." he worked up to her inner thighs, working his hands firmly into the deep tissue.

Moira let out a pleased sigh as he worked out any knots in her muscles, though the further up her thighs he went, the more bruises he'd find from last night.

He blushed as he saw then and tried to play it off. He skipped his hands up to her abs, caressing them before working his fingers in. "So uh...your thighs sore?"

"Very, why?" She asked, opening her eyes to look at him, a little confused. She wasn't used to having bruises, let alone in an area she couldn't easily see.

"I uh, bruised you a lot. I mean, I've got bruises too, but my flesh is pretty dark..." he squeezed her sides and dug his thumbs over the ridge of one set of abs.

Arching a brow, she smiled slowly, "Really? Huh, it's been a long time since I got bruises from that.."

"Well, I'm not really complaining. Let's me know we did a good job." He crawled up her body, getting his hands on the underside of her arms. "I've never been around someone so tall. It's also pretty cool."

Moira continued to let him practically crawl all over her, wondering what else he was doing aside from massaging her, was he doing it on purpose just to feel all her muscles? "I fill a lot of 'niche markets' so to speak"

"I suppose so..." he said distracted. He was hoping she hadn't really caught on that he was so fascinated with her muscles that he had disguised the massage session to feel her up.

"Enjoying yourself?" she asked, smiling a bit more as his voice seemed to wander off.

"Yeah..." he continued to rub her biceps absently, letting his fingers caress over her triceps.

"I have to admit, you're the only one who's been this fascinated with my body.."

"Is that so...wait, agh." He realized he'd been caught. "Well...I really like caressing them and I don't like dudes. So...." he gripped her wrist and rubbed gently ."Literally will not be able to sleep without you from now on ."

Moira just watched him a bit, nodding in agreement about the sleeping part, "Having someone to sleep with is nice..sleeping with you reminds me that I'm not there anymore."

Arno nodded softly and kissed her nose. "We will never be there anymore." He whispered, laying on her chest. "I promise." He reached up and stroke the gems on her face.Closing her eyes, she leaned into his hand, just happy that someone could understand her pain from that place.

Arno hummed softly that song that she always hummed softly suddenly coming to mind as he closed his eyes. It was weird how suddenly, he could just remember something that felt so small.

Hearing him hum the song caused her to tense up suddenly, her eyes snapping open before she just looked at him. She never thought that she'd ever hear someone else humming it, more so Arno, specifically as she tried to only hum and sing when she thought no one could hear her.

He opened an eye to look at her, feeling her body tense, but continued to hum it because she didn't look like she wanted him to stop, only surprised. He guessed it was a bad time to tell her that he sometimes would creep around and just watch her, because he wasn't sure how to approach her.

"H-How do you know that song...?" She asked softly, her voice just a tiny bit shaky.

"S-should I not hum it? I thought it would be nice." He pushed himself up, tilting his head at her.

"I just, that song, it..." she paused, taking in a breath, "it's just been a long time since I heard someone else hum it.”

"I...I don't wanna sound creepy, so I don't want to say." He closed his eyes tightly, feeling the heat hit his face.

She shook her head, soon closing her eyes, "it's alright, I just...I guess I could always sing it to you." Sitting up, Moira took in a breath before she started to sing, "You're a falling star, you're the getaway car, You're the line in the sand when I go too far, You're the swimming pool on an August day, And you're the perfect thing to see"

He listened, sitting in her lap and closing his eyes. The words were so beautiful coming from her. She had a pretty singing voice. He breathed deeply and tried not to fidget. "Those are the words....” He said softly, trying to put them to memory. "It's...that's nice.”

"There's more to it, but I can't remember all of it at once, at least not right now.”

"That's..okay. I mean...even that part is really nice." He wiped his eyes and looked down at the floor. "I just...I want to tell you how I knew it. I...was kind of afraid to get near you, so I watched you for a while. I used to stay a good distance from you and just listen.”

"Thank you for telling me." Moira moved to hug him, a little slowly at first.

Arno leaned into her, seeing her being gentle and wrapped his arms tight around her. "Yeah. " He was glad she wasn't put off.

Pulling him in as close as she could, she just held onto him and continued to hum the song, this time a little louder than what she would normally hum. Seeming to be content, she was definitely much more relaxed and not as on edge, though the guilt about earlier was still there.

Arno listened for a good while before snoozing out in her arms. He snored softly against her, unable to keep his eyes open as his body was naturally repairing itself on top of the soup. He was safe and content, which was a different and strange feeling. Normally he looked pretty angry in his sleep, but he looked...peaceful.

As she watched him sleep, she smiled, still humming though. It was nice, both of them being relatively peaceful for a little bit.

-------------

Michael went back to his lab with the fragments of the broken arm and sighed as he stuck it under a machine to analyze it. "Multiple impact fractures, too much force, crushed in. I need to adjust the pressure and stability of the arm to prevent serious shattering of pieces..." He made a noise and scribbled down some notes. "Hydraulic actuators...would require maintenance but probably the best option...." He chewed on the end of a pen cap and stretched his arms. "Besides, our little group will stay together a long time. But I'll leave instructions in case anything happens to me, once I get this prototype right.....”