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“Yea.”
“Alright. Call me if it happens again. I’m logging them like we talked about. I love you. Hang in there.” John mutters he loves him too and hangs up. I see something in his eyes that makes my hackles rise. Fear.
He takes in a breath and returns to his phone. He makes a call and I tap into it.
“Hello?”
“Hi Sylvie. It’s John.”
“Oh, hi John. How are you?”
“Good, good. I, um, was wondering if you were busy right now?”
“No, not really. What’s up?”
“I think I had another one of those episodes.”
“Oh, shit. I’ll be right there.”
“Thank you.”
The call goes dead, and he sets his phone down. I turn up the audio on the room when the doorbell rings. John stands to let her in and she follows him to the living room.
“How are you feeling?”
“Drained. I’m usually energized after them, but the last few have left me exhausted.”
He stops and turns to her. She stands on her tiptoes and presses the back of her hand to his forehead. “You’re a little warm, maybe you should sit.”
He stares down at her, then wraps his arms around her, picking her off her feet in a tight embrace. Surprise flashes in her eyes before she returns the hug.
“Thank you for coming.”
Her lips purse as her eyes soften. “You’re ok, John.”
He hugs her for a long minute with his eyes closed. Turns out the beast isn’t as bulletproof as we all thought. He clears his throat and releases her, setting her gently on her feet. “Sorry, I uh—”
She puts her hand on his chest. “It’s ok. You can hug me whenever you want.” She smiles up at him and I see the affection shining out of her. He smiles at her, and a few moments pass before he steps away and sits on the couch.
“Well, you’re a lot more lucid this time.”
“Is that good?”
“Very.”
He beams up at her and she takes a seat next to him. “Why don’t I order some dinner and then we can watch a movie? Just relax tonight.”
“That sounds perfect.”
I turn the volume down and face Raven. “Does Sylvie know why he’s getting fatigued now instead of energized?”
Raven shakes his head no. “Sylvie needs more time to figure it out. Is the extraction plan ready?”
I nod. “I’ll need your help with his cover story, but I tied the back end up.”
“If Sylvie’s latest trial doesn’t show improvement, things could go to shit. We need to be ready.”
“My specialty,” I say, and Raven smirks.
“Did you just make a joke?” he asks, his lip curving up on one side.
I shrug. “Don’t get used to it.”
Raven’s lip curves up further, and he returns to his laptop. I get back to work.
