The Garden of Heathen

Fever Dreams

The sound of an alarm clock roused Gally from his sleep, his eyes opening to a crisp white ceiling above him. Between blares of the alarm he heard faint bird song and felt a comfortable breeze. Most of all he felt at home.
A small hand attached to a slender arm reached across him, a glimpse of Aussie's sleepy face before the alarm turned off.
"Ten more minutes," she yawned before her head hit the pillow beside him and her hand came to rest on his bare chest.

Warmth spread through his body, elation and shyness together. He dared not move lest he lose the divine feeling of skin on skin. He carefully reached up to place his hand over Aussie's on his chest, and when he did it felt odd, like there was something between her hand and his. The soft white light of the room began grow dimmer, a dingy old ceiling above his head now.

"Aussie?" He said quietly, still feeling her presence and her hand on his chest. 
"Hmm?" Came her sleepy hum.

Then he was awake. That feeling of home was stripped away from him like a warm blanket on a cold night, leaving him in the harsh reality of the Garden and everything that had happened. The one feeling he got to keep was that of a very warm hand on his skin. He glanced down with bleary eyes and a pounding headache to see Aussie had gotten her hand between the buttons of his shirt and her hot palm laid against his chest, his hand resting over hers with the fabric of his shirt between them, accounting for that strange feeling. She'd also thrown a leg over him and curled herself tightly into his side. They were both sweaty, her from her fever and him from having her against him like a giant hot water bottle. He didn't care though.
Since he was awake, he decided to take a look at her wound and check on those black veins. It was encouraging to find her still breathing and not thrashing about, but he dared not get his hopes up too high in this living hell. His hand landed on the hip of the leg thrown over his waist and he tiredly moved her shirt up, fingertips brushing the soft skin of her side till he felt the bandage. He carefully lifted his head, trying not to move too much in case he roused her enough that she'd pull her hand away. In the flickering light of the candle in the room he couldn't see any veins. He looked down at her arm, checking for them there before pulling her shirt up a little farther to confirm what he thought he was seeing. No veins. Nothing new, no spreading- in fact, what had been there had disappeared. Was he still dreaming?

"Handsy," the word was sleepily mumbled against his shoulder as her hand moved up his chest to the crook of his neck, pulling his shirt up with it a bit until a button came undone.

"Aussie?" He echoed his dream, breath hitching as her hand traveled across his skin. "You're awake?"

"Mfm," she had her face pressed into his shoulder, giving a noncommittal sound she hoped would convey the idea that she was awake but barely and probably not for long.

"Are you ok?" His voice rumbled in his body as his hand reached up and stroked her hair back.

"Tired," she sighed. "Cold and hot."

"Do you need anything?"

She did. She needed sleep because her body was fighting hard, and she needed Gally not just for his warmth and comfort, but because he was coming into her own dreams. She needed to dream some more because things were finally coming together in her fevered subconscious.
"Don't leave... please," she begged him, trying to move even more on top of him to make sure he couldn't get away, not remembering that Gally was strong enough to make earth's gravity nervous.

"I'm not going anywhere," Gally promised as he held her firmly, feeling her fingers pressing hard against him. "I'm right here."

Her body started to relax and within a minute had gone almost fully limp as she fell back into a deep sleep. Gally pulled her shirt back down, remembering how she said she was cold. He wrapped his arms around her gently to help keep her in place, the weight of her on top of him a lovely reminder that she was there, that she was real. And even though she was burning hot and he felt sweat on his lip he loved that it meant she was still alive.