Sofa, Terrence and I have been hashing this out for the past few days, now it's ready for public consumption.
---------
Gamma Emission:
Pair Production (pt 4)
The three of us crashed back at my apartment after our trip to the bloody bay. Not that I expected any celebratory action. I was worn out and, if the way
Terrence and Rhea looked was any clue, so were they. A backpack with three Shivan skulls clinking around inside was left by the door as we trudged to the
laundry room. I didn't even bother attempting to salvage my clothing, it went straight into the hazardous waste container. I was liberally covered in
shivan goo. Terrence only looked better because his armor offered better skin coverage, though his hair was still a mess. Terrence's armor was stacked in a
corner, to slowly drip goo onto the tile floor. Rhea had actually been the smart one and stayed out of melee range. Though her clothing couldn't be
considered clean in any sense of the word, it was at least salvageable.
The walk from the laundry room to the bedroom would normally have been enough to get my libido to sit up and take notice, but now I didn't have the energy
to even make a playful quip. And the exhausted silence was mirrored by Rhea and Terrence as well. Terrence was pushed into the shower first, by virtue of being
the quickest to get clean. I would have joined him, or goaded Rhea into trying to fit in with him, but I didn't have the energy for it. While the shower
was a tight fit for two, three wasn't even close to possible. And I wasn't about to leave Rhea out of the fun, or sit on the carpet myself while they
used all the hot water. I just wanted to get clean and go to sleep as quickly as possible. So I sat against the wall near the bathroom and tried not to fall
asleep.
My metabolism had been going on the equivalent of a bender for the past four days. Multiple times each day I was pushing myself either in how much radiation I
could take, or how much I could give off. And after the battle today it had decided enough was enough. Curling up and not doing anything strenuous for the next
thirty six hours sounded like a wonderful idea.
I don't remember much of the fight itself. I remember getting woken up around six by Rhea. She had made sure that any harm the couch had done to my lower
back wasn't a problem, and sent me stumbling towards the shower. Fifteen minutes later I was clean, awake, dressed, and sitting down to another excellent
breakfast courtesy of Terrence. Breakfast conversation revolved around what the plan was, and what do when it went wrong. I at least remember enough to know
that it didn't go wrong in the ways that we planned for.
We arrived via helicopter and after a brief talk with local warzone agent we headed off to the nearest meteor. Upon reaching it, the shivans seemed to coalesce
themselves out of the ground. I used to scoff at the idea that they had a central intelligence behind their actions. But after seeing them rise out the cracks
around the meteor, pulling bones and rock fragments together to form their bodies, I'm no longer so sure. Things went well with the first group, despite
the fact that most of my attacks did little to hurt the shivans. It seems like their radioactive nature made them naturally resistant to my powers, though I
was able to disorient them if I concentrated on one at time. Their attacks were about as effective, as the most theirs managed to do was raise my pulse.
The battle was a little slower than I'm used to, as the most I could do was distract them from Rhea and disorient the ones Terrence was pounding on. Rhea
was able to heal any cuts or bruises that the shivan's concrete claws delivered, but her attacks seemed to be as useful as my own. Terrence was able to
beat them into submission, and when they lost cohesion we were met with our first setback. I seems like their hasty construction meant that the skeletons they
were built around dissolved with the rest of them. We took shelter in one of the surrounding buildings, discussing various ideas on how to get the skulls out
the shivans without damaging them, when the meteor decided that we hadn't left fast enough. The shivan that crawled out of the ground was easily twice the
size of the preceding ones, and contained a much more complete skeleton in addition to a chunk of the meteor itself in it's chest. I remember hitting it
with as much radiation I could force into a coherent stream. My attack did force it back a step, but the shivan decided to return the favor. It raised one
concrete claw glowing with energy and all I saw was green light. It felt like someone had stuck my head in the Terra Volta reactor. Things get kinda fuzzy
after that.
I remember that the skeleton of the large shivan stuck around after we defeated it. And that more shivans failed to materialize. So I guess we moved onto two
more meteors, judging by the number of skulls we collected, though I can't remember any specifics. I do know that we weren't harassed by any of the
villains. I'm not sure if that was due to the early hour, or the generous green glow the three of us acquired by the end.
Rhea poked me in my shoulder, rousing me from my musings. She had sat next to me with Mr Whiskers in her lap, seemingly more concerned with my addled state
than our total lack of clothing. "Lisa, you ok?" She asked after I looked at her.
"Yeah, I guess so." I said as I rested my head on her shoulder. "I'm just worn out. Let's avoid doing that in future. They pack more of
a punch than I realized at first."
"Deceptive piles of space goo." Rhea agreed after a moment. "But hey, your new sheets are going to be worth it right?"
"Definitely. Actually being able to sleep in bed is something I will no longer take for granted." I took a minute to sleepily study the rest of the
furniture. "I wonder if I need more than a new bed." The carpet looked ok, mainly because it was shielded from the heavy radiation by the bed itself.
but most things above above the level of the bed probably needed to be replaced. The walls definitely needed to be stripped down and repainted, but getting on
the hazmat style gear to strip and apply three layers of paint (lead based, bright red sealant, and normal) would have to wait.
"I kind of like it." Rhea said. "The bed is a bit bright, but the walls are neat."
I nodded my head as much as I could while snuggled up to her side. "Repainting the walls will be put off as long as possible." I heard Terrence shut
the water off, but right now I wasn't in any hurry to move.
"Couldn't you put up some wards to help?"
"I don't know, I don't get magic. I'm not sure I'll ever be conformable around magic the way some other people are. Besides, big glowing
wards kinda freak me out." I said, trying not to remember my first few days after discovering my powers. Rhea decided she knew the best way to take my
mind off of those unhappy memories. Her hand, which had been resting on my knee, began to make it's way up my thigh. At any other time I would have happily
crawled into her lap, but now the thought of emitting and absorbing the amount of radiation this would lead to didn't sit well. My protest of
"Can't you wait five minutes? I want to get clean before I get sticky again." was half hearted at best.
"Can't we do both? Yesterday was fun." She said as her hands started to glow softly. Rhea's glowing hands between my thighs would normally
make me a happy camper, but all they did now was give me a sour clench in my gut.
"No! Just, not now. Ok?" I snapped at her. I didn't mean to, but I was exhausted and Rhea's insistence was rubbing me the wrong way.
As soon the words left my mouth I felt Rhea tense besides me. I turned to see what was wrong. She was smiling, but it didn't reach her eyes. The smile
looked strained, nothing like the happy expression that she normally wore.
"Oh. Ok." Rhea's voice was thick with something I couldn't identify. "You can have the next shower. I'll just -I'll ..."
Her voice trailed off as she tried to get up. I grabbed on to one of her hands, struck with the sudden fear that if I let go I wouldn't be seeing her
again. Some small part of my mind recognized the sound of the bathroom door opening, but that wasn't important right now.
"Don't leave. I couldn't take it." I curled around the hand I had grabbed hold of. I had to make her listen, had to make her understand.
"I don't know if we can make it work out, the three of us. But I want to try. I NEED to try. Because I don't think I could be happy without both
of you." I took a shuddering breath and looked at Rhea "I know I messed up somewhere, planning isn't something I'm used to doing. I'm
just asking for a second chance. This is best thing that's happened to me. I love you guys."
Rhea made a strange little gasp and she tugged on her arm lightly. I couldn't stand to look at her, I'd come on to strong and scared her. I let go of
her hand and just stayed curled up on the floor. I'd tried to catch a butterfly and ended up with a bloody mess on my hands, only the mess felt a lot like
my heart.
"No one is leaving." Terrence said. His voice rumbled in my chest. A small part of me felt better already, he would save us. Even from my own
screw-ups. "Not until I understand why both of you are crying." The bed squeaked a bit as someone sat down on it. I uncurled a bit to look at where
his voice was coming from. He stood just outside the bathroom, hair a half-dry mess, and a towel around his waist. His face was a mixture of concern and
insistence, he wasn't going to let this topic drop until he was sure that no one misunderstood anyone else.
I figured since it was all my fault I may as well start. "It's my fault. I shouldn't have been so selfish." I said while staring at me feet.
I couldn't stand to see Rhea reject me. "I should have had an idea about how this all was going to work before letting my hormones get in the way. I
was the one that brought Rhea into this relationship, I should be ok with whatever commitment she wants to make." I paused to wipe the tears from my eyes.
"I'll be ok if she doesn't love me back." There was silence for a few seconds and I hugged my knees, waiting for the recriminations.
*****
I couldn't believe my ears. Lisa was the confident one, the one who knew what to do and when to do it and never, ever hesitated. To see her so unsure...
... I couldn't believe it.
It must have been the blow to the head in Bloody Bay. I was a trained medic, I knew how much that could affect the mind. She --
(Stop it, Rhea.)
I blinked. "Stop what?" I said, holding Mr. Whiskers up in front of my face. He stared back at me.
(You're overthinking it again.)
"Rhea, what's wrong?" Terrence asked softly from the bathroom door. I shook my head and squeezed Mr. Whiskers to my chest, closing my eyes.
"But it won't work, furball. You know that."
(Did you hear what Lisa said?) Mr. Whiskers demanded. He sounded angry. He never sounded angry. (Did you HEAR her?!)
I thought back on it. She had said for me to stop, and then I... I must have let it show too much, obviously, because Lisa had started to try to smooth it
over. She didn't need to do that, I'd still be her friend, but --
(I've never called you crazy before, Rhea, but I will if you keep thinking that way.)
My eyes widened and I stared at Mr. Whiskers in shock. Dimly, I was aware of Terrence moving closer to the bed, but that wasn't important right now.
(She said she -loves- you, Rhea. She doesn't want you to leave. Neither of them do.)
"You.. you love me?" I asked Lisa. She tensed, then nodded, without raising her eyes from the floor.
"You shouldn't love me," I said. It was like I was watching it happen from outside, like I was hovering in the corner and not really
participating. My voice was hollow and I was petting Mr. Whiskers. He really needed a good brushing. Lint was starting to form another layer of fur.
"People who love me go away. I'm like a curse."
"Rhea, no!" Terrence said.
"I didn't want to mess you guys up too," I added. I really needed to work on my composure, because I was crying all over the place and getting
spots on Mr. Whiskers' fur. He's a cat, they don't like water.
"Do you love us?" Terrence asked softly from beside me. I blinked at him and shook my head. Didn't he get it?
"That's not important," I said reasonably.
"Do. You. Love. Us?" Terrence repeated, his voice deeper, more commanding.
(Answer him, Rhea. Answer him honestly. -Please-.)
I stared at the floor, at the wall, at anywhere but Terrence's face... and finally my gaze came to rest on Lisa. She was still hunched against the wall,
knees drawn up, head tucked, ever-so-slightly rocking back and forth. I looked at her for what seemed like a long time.
Then I closed my eyes and lowered my head. "I... I do. I love you guys... and I shouldn't. I don't want to lose you too...."
Terrence picked me up -- even in my current state I enjoyed it, I never got tired of his affectionate strength -- and carried me over to Lisa. He settled back
against the wall, cradling me in his lap, and pulled Lisa into a hug against both of us.
"You won't, Rhea. I won't let you. We're not going anywhere, and neither are you."
My hand crept towards Lisa's of its own accord; she let me fold my fingers into hers. I squeezed her hand tightly.
"Promise?" I asked.
"Promise."
I closed my eyes and hoped that this time, it would be true.
*****
I'm not sure how long we stayed curled up on the floor together. I know it was long enough for my tears to dry and the shivan slime on my back and legs to
dry and itch terribly. I tried to scratch at it discretely, but Terrence must have felt me move. His hand gently squeezed my shoulder. I turned my head to look
at him over Rhea's shoulder, his expression was a mix concern and puzzlement. Instead of breaking the comfortable silence that had enveloped us with a
complaint about itchy skin, I figured a gesture of acceptance would be better.
"Rhea?" I asked while giving her hand a light squeeze. "You still up for that shower together?"
"Huh?" She answered drowsily. "But I thought you said no?"
"My libido isn't up for what happened yesterday, but getting clean would be an improvement." I said. "I'll wash your back if you wash
mine?"
"Oh, ok." Her voice wasn't quite back to the happy playful tones she had before this whole mess, but it was a vast improvement from before.
Terrence waited in the bathroom, holding Mr Whiskers, while Rhea and I got each other cleaned up. I'm not sure if he thought he would somehow fit in the
shower should something go wrong, or if he was just enjoying the view. But I appreciated his presence anyway. He had towels ready for us when we stepped out,
and the giggle that escaped Rheas lips when she noticed the bulge in the one around his waist was music to my ears. He blushed and muttered something about a
'perfectly natural reaction'. I was in too good of a mood to bother teasing him about it. It was a short trip to the bed and the three of us collapsed
in a happy, semi-damp pile. No more than five minutes had gone by before Rhea was curled up at Terrence's side softly snoring.
I poked Terrence in the ribs to get his attention before he joined Rhea in unconsciousness. "I still need to drop the skulls and the rest of the salvage
off at the hospital today before my contact leaves, so make sure she doesn't worry if you guys wake up and I'm not here." He gave me a solemn nod
before closing his eyes again. A glance at the clock told me I had about three hours before I needed to make my delivery at the hospital. Even if I
couldn't fall asleep, I intended to lie here and be happy until then.
----------
ETA: Minor grammar fixes that I missed the first time round
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy
---------
Gamma Emission:
Pair Production (pt 4)
The three of us crashed back at my apartment after our trip to the bloody bay. Not that I expected any celebratory action. I was worn out and, if the way
Terrence and Rhea looked was any clue, so were they. A backpack with three Shivan skulls clinking around inside was left by the door as we trudged to the
laundry room. I didn't even bother attempting to salvage my clothing, it went straight into the hazardous waste container. I was liberally covered in
shivan goo. Terrence only looked better because his armor offered better skin coverage, though his hair was still a mess. Terrence's armor was stacked in a
corner, to slowly drip goo onto the tile floor. Rhea had actually been the smart one and stayed out of melee range. Though her clothing couldn't be
considered clean in any sense of the word, it was at least salvageable.
The walk from the laundry room to the bedroom would normally have been enough to get my libido to sit up and take notice, but now I didn't have the energy
to even make a playful quip. And the exhausted silence was mirrored by Rhea and Terrence as well. Terrence was pushed into the shower first, by virtue of being
the quickest to get clean. I would have joined him, or goaded Rhea into trying to fit in with him, but I didn't have the energy for it. While the shower
was a tight fit for two, three wasn't even close to possible. And I wasn't about to leave Rhea out of the fun, or sit on the carpet myself while they
used all the hot water. I just wanted to get clean and go to sleep as quickly as possible. So I sat against the wall near the bathroom and tried not to fall
asleep.
My metabolism had been going on the equivalent of a bender for the past four days. Multiple times each day I was pushing myself either in how much radiation I
could take, or how much I could give off. And after the battle today it had decided enough was enough. Curling up and not doing anything strenuous for the next
thirty six hours sounded like a wonderful idea.
I don't remember much of the fight itself. I remember getting woken up around six by Rhea. She had made sure that any harm the couch had done to my lower
back wasn't a problem, and sent me stumbling towards the shower. Fifteen minutes later I was clean, awake, dressed, and sitting down to another excellent
breakfast courtesy of Terrence. Breakfast conversation revolved around what the plan was, and what do when it went wrong. I at least remember enough to know
that it didn't go wrong in the ways that we planned for.
We arrived via helicopter and after a brief talk with local warzone agent we headed off to the nearest meteor. Upon reaching it, the shivans seemed to coalesce
themselves out of the ground. I used to scoff at the idea that they had a central intelligence behind their actions. But after seeing them rise out the cracks
around the meteor, pulling bones and rock fragments together to form their bodies, I'm no longer so sure. Things went well with the first group, despite
the fact that most of my attacks did little to hurt the shivans. It seems like their radioactive nature made them naturally resistant to my powers, though I
was able to disorient them if I concentrated on one at time. Their attacks were about as effective, as the most theirs managed to do was raise my pulse.
The battle was a little slower than I'm used to, as the most I could do was distract them from Rhea and disorient the ones Terrence was pounding on. Rhea
was able to heal any cuts or bruises that the shivan's concrete claws delivered, but her attacks seemed to be as useful as my own. Terrence was able to
beat them into submission, and when they lost cohesion we were met with our first setback. I seems like their hasty construction meant that the skeletons they
were built around dissolved with the rest of them. We took shelter in one of the surrounding buildings, discussing various ideas on how to get the skulls out
the shivans without damaging them, when the meteor decided that we hadn't left fast enough. The shivan that crawled out of the ground was easily twice the
size of the preceding ones, and contained a much more complete skeleton in addition to a chunk of the meteor itself in it's chest. I remember hitting it
with as much radiation I could force into a coherent stream. My attack did force it back a step, but the shivan decided to return the favor. It raised one
concrete claw glowing with energy and all I saw was green light. It felt like someone had stuck my head in the Terra Volta reactor. Things get kinda fuzzy
after that.
I remember that the skeleton of the large shivan stuck around after we defeated it. And that more shivans failed to materialize. So I guess we moved onto two
more meteors, judging by the number of skulls we collected, though I can't remember any specifics. I do know that we weren't harassed by any of the
villains. I'm not sure if that was due to the early hour, or the generous green glow the three of us acquired by the end.
Rhea poked me in my shoulder, rousing me from my musings. She had sat next to me with Mr Whiskers in her lap, seemingly more concerned with my addled state
than our total lack of clothing. "Lisa, you ok?" She asked after I looked at her.
"Yeah, I guess so." I said as I rested my head on her shoulder. "I'm just worn out. Let's avoid doing that in future. They pack more of
a punch than I realized at first."
"Deceptive piles of space goo." Rhea agreed after a moment. "But hey, your new sheets are going to be worth it right?"
"Definitely. Actually being able to sleep in bed is something I will no longer take for granted." I took a minute to sleepily study the rest of the
furniture. "I wonder if I need more than a new bed." The carpet looked ok, mainly because it was shielded from the heavy radiation by the bed itself.
but most things above above the level of the bed probably needed to be replaced. The walls definitely needed to be stripped down and repainted, but getting on
the hazmat style gear to strip and apply three layers of paint (lead based, bright red sealant, and normal) would have to wait.
"I kind of like it." Rhea said. "The bed is a bit bright, but the walls are neat."
I nodded my head as much as I could while snuggled up to her side. "Repainting the walls will be put off as long as possible." I heard Terrence shut
the water off, but right now I wasn't in any hurry to move.
"Couldn't you put up some wards to help?"
"I don't know, I don't get magic. I'm not sure I'll ever be conformable around magic the way some other people are. Besides, big glowing
wards kinda freak me out." I said, trying not to remember my first few days after discovering my powers. Rhea decided she knew the best way to take my
mind off of those unhappy memories. Her hand, which had been resting on my knee, began to make it's way up my thigh. At any other time I would have happily
crawled into her lap, but now the thought of emitting and absorbing the amount of radiation this would lead to didn't sit well. My protest of
"Can't you wait five minutes? I want to get clean before I get sticky again." was half hearted at best.
"Can't we do both? Yesterday was fun." She said as her hands started to glow softly. Rhea's glowing hands between my thighs would normally
make me a happy camper, but all they did now was give me a sour clench in my gut.
"No! Just, not now. Ok?" I snapped at her. I didn't mean to, but I was exhausted and Rhea's insistence was rubbing me the wrong way.
As soon the words left my mouth I felt Rhea tense besides me. I turned to see what was wrong. She was smiling, but it didn't reach her eyes. The smile
looked strained, nothing like the happy expression that she normally wore.
"Oh. Ok." Rhea's voice was thick with something I couldn't identify. "You can have the next shower. I'll just -I'll ..."
Her voice trailed off as she tried to get up. I grabbed on to one of her hands, struck with the sudden fear that if I let go I wouldn't be seeing her
again. Some small part of my mind recognized the sound of the bathroom door opening, but that wasn't important right now.
"Don't leave. I couldn't take it." I curled around the hand I had grabbed hold of. I had to make her listen, had to make her understand.
"I don't know if we can make it work out, the three of us. But I want to try. I NEED to try. Because I don't think I could be happy without both
of you." I took a shuddering breath and looked at Rhea "I know I messed up somewhere, planning isn't something I'm used to doing. I'm
just asking for a second chance. This is best thing that's happened to me. I love you guys."
Rhea made a strange little gasp and she tugged on her arm lightly. I couldn't stand to look at her, I'd come on to strong and scared her. I let go of
her hand and just stayed curled up on the floor. I'd tried to catch a butterfly and ended up with a bloody mess on my hands, only the mess felt a lot like
my heart.
"No one is leaving." Terrence said. His voice rumbled in my chest. A small part of me felt better already, he would save us. Even from my own
screw-ups. "Not until I understand why both of you are crying." The bed squeaked a bit as someone sat down on it. I uncurled a bit to look at where
his voice was coming from. He stood just outside the bathroom, hair a half-dry mess, and a towel around his waist. His face was a mixture of concern and
insistence, he wasn't going to let this topic drop until he was sure that no one misunderstood anyone else.
I figured since it was all my fault I may as well start. "It's my fault. I shouldn't have been so selfish." I said while staring at me feet.
I couldn't stand to see Rhea reject me. "I should have had an idea about how this all was going to work before letting my hormones get in the way. I
was the one that brought Rhea into this relationship, I should be ok with whatever commitment she wants to make." I paused to wipe the tears from my eyes.
"I'll be ok if she doesn't love me back." There was silence for a few seconds and I hugged my knees, waiting for the recriminations.
*****
I couldn't believe my ears. Lisa was the confident one, the one who knew what to do and when to do it and never, ever hesitated. To see her so unsure...
... I couldn't believe it.
It must have been the blow to the head in Bloody Bay. I was a trained medic, I knew how much that could affect the mind. She --
(Stop it, Rhea.)
I blinked. "Stop what?" I said, holding Mr. Whiskers up in front of my face. He stared back at me.
(You're overthinking it again.)
"Rhea, what's wrong?" Terrence asked softly from the bathroom door. I shook my head and squeezed Mr. Whiskers to my chest, closing my eyes.
"But it won't work, furball. You know that."
(Did you hear what Lisa said?) Mr. Whiskers demanded. He sounded angry. He never sounded angry. (Did you HEAR her?!)
I thought back on it. She had said for me to stop, and then I... I must have let it show too much, obviously, because Lisa had started to try to smooth it
over. She didn't need to do that, I'd still be her friend, but --
(I've never called you crazy before, Rhea, but I will if you keep thinking that way.)
My eyes widened and I stared at Mr. Whiskers in shock. Dimly, I was aware of Terrence moving closer to the bed, but that wasn't important right now.
(She said she -loves- you, Rhea. She doesn't want you to leave. Neither of them do.)
"You.. you love me?" I asked Lisa. She tensed, then nodded, without raising her eyes from the floor.
"You shouldn't love me," I said. It was like I was watching it happen from outside, like I was hovering in the corner and not really
participating. My voice was hollow and I was petting Mr. Whiskers. He really needed a good brushing. Lint was starting to form another layer of fur.
"People who love me go away. I'm like a curse."
"Rhea, no!" Terrence said.
"I didn't want to mess you guys up too," I added. I really needed to work on my composure, because I was crying all over the place and getting
spots on Mr. Whiskers' fur. He's a cat, they don't like water.
"Do you love us?" Terrence asked softly from beside me. I blinked at him and shook my head. Didn't he get it?
"That's not important," I said reasonably.
"Do. You. Love. Us?" Terrence repeated, his voice deeper, more commanding.
(Answer him, Rhea. Answer him honestly. -Please-.)
I stared at the floor, at the wall, at anywhere but Terrence's face... and finally my gaze came to rest on Lisa. She was still hunched against the wall,
knees drawn up, head tucked, ever-so-slightly rocking back and forth. I looked at her for what seemed like a long time.
Then I closed my eyes and lowered my head. "I... I do. I love you guys... and I shouldn't. I don't want to lose you too...."
Terrence picked me up -- even in my current state I enjoyed it, I never got tired of his affectionate strength -- and carried me over to Lisa. He settled back
against the wall, cradling me in his lap, and pulled Lisa into a hug against both of us.
"You won't, Rhea. I won't let you. We're not going anywhere, and neither are you."
My hand crept towards Lisa's of its own accord; she let me fold my fingers into hers. I squeezed her hand tightly.
"Promise?" I asked.
"Promise."
I closed my eyes and hoped that this time, it would be true.
*****
I'm not sure how long we stayed curled up on the floor together. I know it was long enough for my tears to dry and the shivan slime on my back and legs to
dry and itch terribly. I tried to scratch at it discretely, but Terrence must have felt me move. His hand gently squeezed my shoulder. I turned my head to look
at him over Rhea's shoulder, his expression was a mix concern and puzzlement. Instead of breaking the comfortable silence that had enveloped us with a
complaint about itchy skin, I figured a gesture of acceptance would be better.
"Rhea?" I asked while giving her hand a light squeeze. "You still up for that shower together?"
"Huh?" She answered drowsily. "But I thought you said no?"
"My libido isn't up for what happened yesterday, but getting clean would be an improvement." I said. "I'll wash your back if you wash
mine?"
"Oh, ok." Her voice wasn't quite back to the happy playful tones she had before this whole mess, but it was a vast improvement from before.
Terrence waited in the bathroom, holding Mr Whiskers, while Rhea and I got each other cleaned up. I'm not sure if he thought he would somehow fit in the
shower should something go wrong, or if he was just enjoying the view. But I appreciated his presence anyway. He had towels ready for us when we stepped out,
and the giggle that escaped Rheas lips when she noticed the bulge in the one around his waist was music to my ears. He blushed and muttered something about a
'perfectly natural reaction'. I was in too good of a mood to bother teasing him about it. It was a short trip to the bed and the three of us collapsed
in a happy, semi-damp pile. No more than five minutes had gone by before Rhea was curled up at Terrence's side softly snoring.
I poked Terrence in the ribs to get his attention before he joined Rhea in unconsciousness. "I still need to drop the skulls and the rest of the salvage
off at the hospital today before my contact leaves, so make sure she doesn't worry if you guys wake up and I'm not here." He gave me a solemn nod
before closing his eyes again. A glance at the clock told me I had about three hours before I needed to make my delivery at the hospital. Even if I
couldn't fall asleep, I intended to lie here and be happy until then.
----------
ETA: Minor grammar fixes that I missed the first time round
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy