The Illusion of Danger

Chapter 42

Due to the fact that it had been approximately three o'clock in the morning when Mordecai managed to put himself to bed, he made sure to pull the clock out of the nightstand drawer and set the alarm so he wouldn't accidentally oversleep.
He was usually a light sleeper and would usually wake up a few minutes before the alarm was to go off, but he couldn't take any chances.

As expected, the tuxedo's eyes pried open the next morning and found himself holding his partner close to his body in an almost protective sort of way. The events of the prior evening seemed to bring this on.
Turning his head, he looked at the clock and saw that he had fifteen minutes to spare before the alarm was set to ring, so, he turned back to Rocky and looked down at the mound of ruffled fur tightly nestled into his chest.

"Rocky, dearest..."
Mordecai purred softly to see if his lover was awake as his hand moved up to caress the back of Rocky's head, then pressed a kiss to the top of it.

When there was no reply or sign of acknowledgment, the tuxedo exhaled and let his eyes close again. As much as he would have liked to keep his brain powered down for a little while longer, a few things started nagging at him but one, in particular, was the loudest and most important.

With Rocky in the state he was in currently, Mordecai wouldn't be able to leave him alone for six to seven hours. The tabby would be up and about within five minutes of being conscious which would lead to further complications with his leg.
Mordecai couldn't take the day off of work either. If his suspicions were correct, the two had run into Marigolds given the weapon of choice. M1911s were fairly often used and Mordecai actually favored that model of a gun himself, so he damn well knew what the ammunition looked like for it.
Regardless, word likely got to Asa already about any run-ins and it might be a bit suspicious for him to call into work right after the incident- especially since Asa had seen Rocky and Mordecai out and about together.

Looking down at the tabby again, Mordecai used a gentle finger to guide Rocky's head up slightly and proceeded to pepper kisses all over his face to help ease him awake.

Rocky felt movement on the bed next to him. Suddenly he felt soft lips being placed around his face. His whiskers twitched up with his smile as he opened his eyes slowly and gave a small satisfied moan.

"Morning..."
The tabby smiled and went to unconsciously stretch his body. Once he felt the searing pain in his leg he stopped.
"Agh!"
Groaning softly after the pain subsided a bit, he looked at Mordecai with a tear in his eye.
"Well, that was a bad idea..."
He smiled nervously.

Mordecai's ears flattened and his expression turned concerned instantly.
"Are you alright?"
He muttered, holding Rocky closer now with that need to protect growing stronger.
"Please, try not to move around too much. You're hurt enough as it is..."
He added with a small sigh and a few more kisses to the top of Rocky's head.

"Yup... just fine."
Rocky squeaked out. He was a little less than fine but Mordecai didn't need to worry that much. The stretch was reflexive after all, and now that he was fully awake he was less likely to make the same mistake.
"You don't have to tell me twice."
The tabby huffed a laugh, snuggling closer and burying himself in Mordecai's fur.

"I'm sorry for waking you so early, by the way."
The tuxedo began after a couple more moments of allowing Rocky to wake up properly.
"There is something that we need to sort out for today and I wanted to get your input before I started to prepare for the day."

"Like how I'll miss you throughout the day?"
The tabby purred, rubbing his face against Mordecai's chest.
"Heh, what did you need to talk about?"

"Well, after a bit of deliberation, I've come up with a few different options. Since I know that I can't leave you alone for the majority of the day for numerous reasons; examples being bathroom breaks, food, distractions, etcetera."
Mordecai began as he rolled himself a bit so that he was laying on his back, but his arms remained around his partner.
"Option one would entail me calling into work and staying with you today. The fallout with that would be the suspicion from my employer. We have been going around together quite a lot as of late and there isn't a doubt in my mind that some of my colleagues have seen us in each other's company at one point or another; not to mention when we were interrupted by Mr. Sweet in that one instance. I suspect it was Marigolds that you had run into last night, so if I happened to call in right after that, there would be questions to follow. Does that make sense?"