This is a book-length work, so not every chapter will involve sex. If you're just looking for a quick wank, this may not be your story.
Thanks for reading!
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There's ugly crying and then there's what I did in that bathroom. Tears, snot, spit - it all flowed freely. Quite frankly, I was a mess. Burying my face in a towel, I tried to muffle the worst of it in a futile effort to keep Rusty from hearing me completely go to pieces. The storm passed eventually and I managed to get myself under control, blow my nose, splash some water on my face, and once more attempt to keep it together.
"I look that bad, do I?" he joked when I reemerged. Biting my lip, I shook my head, taking a deep breath, and then another, before I was confident I could speak.
"You're the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," I whispered.
"You need to get your eyes checked, Cap," Rusty said with a smirk. I shook my head again. His usually pale skin had a tinge of greenish-gray and the flesh around his eyes looked bruised, but I'd been telling the truth. Even with his chest swaddled in thick bandages, he looked wonderful.
"C'mere, you," the engineer mumbled, beckoning with his good hand. "I'm glad you're here. Will you stay?"
"Of course!" I grasped his hand in both of mine.
"Good, cuz I gotta sleep more now." The last word ended in a soft snore. I let go of him long enough to pull a chair up to the bed and then sat holding his hand and waiting for him to wake up again. Nurses came in to check his fluid levels and read his vitals, but otherwise we were undisturbed. The first two smiled gently at me and by the third I had finally regained enough sense to request that he pass my sincere gratitude on to Cleo for taking me in hand when I was a wreck. He assured me that he would and slipped out quietly.
Our next visitor would prove to be more of an irritation, though that was not my initial assumption when the tall, dark-skinned man entered the room and introduced himself as the doctor. I shook his hand and expressed my thanks - perhaps a tad enthusiastically - for everything he had done. Dr. Kwedhi responded by bluntly ordering me from the room. My refusal was not as courteous as it might have been. We argued back and forth until Rusty surprised me by squeezing my hand. "It's fine, Matt. Just don't go far, okay?"
"I'll be right outside," I replied, glaring at the doctor as I passed. He ignored me, turning to check on his patient, my existence no longer registering as soon as things had gone his way.
"Mac!" Strong arms squeezed my ribs until they creaked. I stifled a yelp - it
hurt
- and returned the embrace, embarrassed to find myself once again close to tears. Alix had been my best friend for over half my life, though, and I didn't realize I'd felt the lack of her beside me until she was there once again. She asked about Rusty and I told her what I knew, which wasn't much.
"There was so much blood, Leelee," I whispered, staring at my fingernails, remembering how I'd been unable to get them clean. "So much. I was sure he was dead."
"I know, Mac." She cupped my face in her hands, waiting until I met her gaze. "But he's not. He's alive." I swallowed and gave a tiny nod. "He is alive," she repeated, emphasizing each syllable with pressure from her fingers. I nodded again and she searched my eyes, watching the panic recede.
"Anyway, what are you wearing?" she demanded, moving back a step and looking me up and down. I followed suit and really saw the scrubs for the first time. Hospital blue definitely wasn't my best color. We leaned against the wall, arms brushing, as I gave her the story of how Crispin Phillips had rescued us from a lift checkpoint only to hand me off to Cleo, who had mothered the crap out of me, even down to combing my hair. My XO sniffed my head and said she thought maybe the fragrance was supposed to be kiwi but was more like some chemist's idea of what a kiwi might smell like having only seen a picture. I laughed for the first time in what felt like a cycle.
After I'd talked myself out, Li ran down the steps she'd taken since we last spoke, including making sure Adrenaline had not murdered Lissa (nor she him) and that he got home okay. "The crew is all buttoned up on the
Marzi
," she said, "waiting for news about Rusty and what our next steps will be. The Enforcers came by and I let them know you'd drop in to make a statement tomorrow. Oh, and it turns out that boy of yours really knows how to build things to last. Two of the cameras were destroyed and his pack had some surface damage, but the internals are good. The team is putting the finishing touches on the broadcast now. The Enforcers requested a raw copy of the footage as well, but I told the creatives that ours takes precedence."
Leelee took a deep breath and let it out in a sigh. "I have to tell you, Mac, it's not easy to watch."
"It wasn't easy to experience, either."
"Fair point." There was a moment of uncomfortable silence. "Did he - I mean the bomber - did he say - "
"Yeah." It was something I had been trying not to think about. Geeta May was one of the highest profile celebrities I'd covered and it was widely known that a scary percentage of her legion of adoring fans consisted of those who were obsessed with the star and refused to respect boundaries. Geeta herself traveled with a dozen or so security personnel at all times. "I guess he thought this would get her to notice him or something, though I don't know why it would matter since he blew himself up, too."
Alix bit her lip. "A few of the more awful tabloids framed your video as an explicit rejection of her, probably so they could trade on her name in searches." That I had not known. Once it became clear my "leaked" video was going to have the intended effect, I made a point to ignore all coverage of it. That I'd been scheduled to do another piece on Geeta next quarter had slipped my mind until the hours I spent alone with my thoughts while Rusty slept. "We sent out the usual objections about false reports," my XO continued, "but you know how those places operate. I suppose it's possible your attacker believed he was defending her honor or something."
"Fuck." I looked bleakly at the door to Rusty's room. "This is my fault, Leelee. He's lying in that bed, he almost died, because of me."
"No." Alix took me by my shoulders and turned us so my back was to the door. "This is all on the piece of shit who decided detonating an explosive in a crowded area next to a children's hospital
on a fucking space station
would be a good plan."
