Aarmau: Remember Me, Remember Us, Just Remember

Chapter 196

Aaron finally hears her yelling out to him and can sense her fear as she pounds against the door. "Ok Aph, I'm here now. I can't get the door to open. What happened?"

Aph can't hold back the sob that bubbles up from her chest. "The door handle came off in here. I knew there was something wrong with it the last time we were here but I figured it was my imagination."

He hears her heartbeat speed up and knows she's moments away from a panic attack. "Alright Aph, I repositioned the handle on my side. Line yours back up and we'll try turning together. Do you understand?"

Aph dumbly nods and then acknowledges him out loud so he can hear her. She inserts the handle back into the hole and feels him start to turn his side.

The door pops open and as it swings toward him she stumbles out into the basement and straight into his arms. Aaron instinctively wraps his arms around her and swears at how cold she is.

He lifts her up into his arms, carries her back upstairs, grabs the throw from the floor, and sets her on his lap as he sits down on the couch. She starts shaking so hard he's afraid something will break from the vibration.

She burrows her face against his chest and mumbles against him. "I'm sorry if I'm making you cold Aaron."

Aaron wraps his arms tighter around her and growls. "How long were you down there?"

She lifts her head long enough to glance at the time and stares dumbly at the clock. "Forty-five minutes."

Aaron swears under his breath and starts rubbing every bit of exposed skin he can easily reach. It takes several minutes to get the shaking under control before she feels she can speak again. "I'm sorry for worrying you, Aaron. I was going to heat up the lasagna and have it ready when you woke up. And I'm sorry about earlier, I know you worry about my health and I haven't exactly been careful lately."

Aaron sighs and then kisses the top of her head, "I do worry but I know a lot of the things that have happened are beyond your control. But flying off like that and pushing yourself when you should be healing have to stop. We are here to take it easy and heal and that is exactly what we're going to do. We can still play and have fun but no more marathons."

Aph quietly nods and after another minute and the worst of the chill is gone Aaron slides out from under her and pulls the cover tighter around her. "I"m going to go get the lasagna so we can start heating it up. Stay here and finish warming up."

As he heads for the door Aph calls out to him and tries to hide her smile, "Um Aaron, be careful. The handle is broken."

He blinks a couple of times and shakes his head, "Yeah thanks, I'll watch out for that."