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I watchedover Silas as he dropped back into sleep. When he looked comfortable, I went and grabbed the remainder of the bandages and did what I could to wrap up the wound on his thigh. It wasn't perfect, but it wasn't spewing blood anymore either, so I hoped it would be enough.
At some point, the heat began to dissipate from the ship and a cold chill ran through me. I got up and shook out the blanket from the emergency kit, carefully laying it over Silas without waking him. Then I lowered myself beside him and wiggled my way up under the blanket to share his warmth. My fingers found his hand and I wrapped them around it, thankful for every little growl and snore that he produced.
I was so tired. As soon as I was under the covers and assured that he was really, truly still breathing, I let myself doze.
I woke to a muffled cry from Silas. Startled, I sat upright, throwing the blanket off us both and inadvertently exposing him to the cool air. The sound he made was something between shock and dismay as he clutched it and brought it back up to his chest. But that didn't stop me from seeing that he was evidently feeling better, at least down there.
"Are you okay? What's wrong? How can I help?"
I was on my feet and ready to launch into nurse mode at his slightest request. But he only grinned up at me and said, "My arm fell asleep. You had a death grip on it."
Mortified, I looked away, stammering over my words. "I, uh... it was cold."
He nodded, a short laugh escaping before he groaned and furrowed his brow from the pain. When it passed, he opened his eyes again and smiled.
"It's okay. I'm sure I'll regain feeling eventually."
I turned away before he could see the smile that was threatening to expose my inner thoughts.
Clearing my throat, I set my face into what I estimated to be a neutral expression and turned back around.
"How is your leg? Do you think you can walk?"
He gave me a mocking serious look and then lifted the blanket to look underneath, fluttering it just enough for me to see the outline of his shaft before letting it fall back down. He looked up at me innocently.
"I'm willing to try, but I'm afraid you're going to have to help me. It seems that someone absconded with my pants."
I rolled my eyes. If he didn't shut up, I might have to kill him after all.
I found the missing articles of clothing and tossed them at him with a snarky face.
"I'm going to go wait over there," I said, gesturing broadly to the whole ship. "Call me if you need help."
I stepped over him gingerly and made my way toward the front. I didn't think my stomach could handle seeing the body again, so I steered away and went to the side door, deciding that I may as well see if it could be opened. Unfortunately, the force of the impact had wrinkled the whole frame of the ship, jamming the door in place. If we were going to get out of here, it wasn't going to be through this exit.
Frustrated, I looked around for other options. Aside from crawling out through the mess of broken glass in the cockpit, we didn't have a lot to work with. I turned around, about to ask Silas if he had any other ideas, and almost ran straight into his broad chest, his muscled pecs greeting me at eye level.
"How-"
"Re'Utu's blessing," he answered with a shrug.
I looked down and noticed that his belt was secured neatly around his waist and there was only a dark stain on his pants and a rip in the fabric as evidence of the terrible wound. I was going to say something snide, but when I looked up, I saw that his face had fallen, and I knew he had spotted the pilot.
"I'm sorry," I said quietly, feeling guilty all over again.
"Let's get out of here."
I forced the lump in my throat back down and nodded, blinking away the tears. He took my hand in his, and without hesitating, led me past the body. We stopped in front of the console, covered with the crushed glass from the windows, and I paused, wondering the best way to navigate this without getting sliced to bits. But to my utter surprise, I felt Silas's hands go to my waist, and a second later, he was hoisting me up and out of the ship through the window.
When I was clear of the glass, he set me down on what remained of the ship's nose and I slid to the ground on my butt, careful to avoid anything that looked sharp.
I waited nervously, wondering if he needed help getting out of there, but I heard a crunching sound and then his head and shoulders popped through the window, covered in his armored scales. He heaved himself up and out, and slid to the ground beside me, dusting off the bits of glass that clung to him.
"Now what?"
