What the cat dragged in.

19 Assassin's Creed

A sharp knock at the bathroom door made Kelly jump. She stopped her contortions for the moment. "What the fuck're you doin' in there?" 

"Trying to reach the scratches on my back." She stood naked in front of the wide mirror. Most of the scratches had stopped bleeding even before she got off the sofa. Still, a little peroxide was never a bad idea.

He opened the door. Kelly covered her breasts instinctively. "Why the hell didn't you say so." He put his hands on her shoulders, pushed her forward and studied her back. She braced herself with one hand on the cool countertop. "When did I give you those?"

Kelly shrugged a little. "I don't know, but I don't usually remember every single one."

He picked up a gauze pad and pressed it to the deeper part of the wounds. Kelly winced. "First time I ever heard someone say that."

"There's a point where the line between what hurts and what feels good kind of blurs." Her eyes were fixed on the matte finish faucets as she said it. "Probably means there's something wrong with me."

"Depends on who you ask and if you give a shit about what they say." He taped the gauze to her back. 

She lifted her eyes to look at his reflection. "What you think matters to me."

He smirked at her. "Means I gotta be careful not to overindulge either one of us. Go on. I'll be out in a minute to clean it up right."

Kelly brushed past him and closed the door behind herself. She picked up her discarded towel and wrapped it around herself again. He was comfortable being casually naked in front of her. Kelly wasn't sure if she would ever be that comfortable with her own body. She got a glass of orange juice and sat sideways on the sofa to wait.

"No." He got a bowl out of the kitchen, then walked over to her carrying a small bag of first aid supplies. 

"What?" 

"Take the towel off, put it on the floor and lay on it on your stomach." 

It seemed harder to move with his eyes on her, but she did what he said. She rested her head on her crossed arms and waited. She could hear him taking things out of the bag and lining them up next to her. He pulled off the hasty dressing and dabbed at the still-oozing wound. 

"Is it deep?" She winced when he tugged at the edges of the wounds. 

"Not too bad. If you stop squirming around it might even scab over. You manage to clean it out at all?"

"Just the shallower parts above it."

She could hear him open the bottle of peroxide. A moment later he pressed on her lower back and started dabbing at one of the wounds. Kelly bit back a whimper. The stinging eased and she took a deep breath. "Where did you learn to do this?"

"Why?" The question sounded even more guarded than usual. He started on the second wound.

She squirmed a little this time and he increased the pressure on her lower back just a bit. "Because you have a healing factor, it seems like you wouldn't need it for yourself."

His hand paused for a moment, then he started on the third wound. "I ever tell you how old I am?"

"No, but I guess I never really thought about it either." She turned her head a little bit, trying to catch a glimpse of his face. He made sure to turn away.

"First time I was ever involved in a battle was at Fort Sumter South Carolina." He let the words hang there. It took Kelly a moment to process what she'd just heard. When she did, she turned fully to look at him.