Love Me Tender (A Kaimelia - Kai Bartley/Amelia Shepherd - fanfiction)

Part 4

Something has changed now. I'm not naive enough to think that me talking about my loss somehow brought us closer together. But something is different and I can't quite put my finger on it.

I find Kai looking at me more, their glances lingering when they think I don't notice. We talk less about work and more about ourselves. In these past few days I've learned more about them than I have in the past two months that I've been travelling to Minnesota.

I've even seen pictures of their brother and heard stories about their childhood. I know that they prefer rain to sun and snow to rain. How they decided on studying medicine and what they wanted to do before that. That they play the piano and claim to be bad at it, but I don't believe them.

And everything I find out, I like.

And then there are the accidental touches here and there. The leaning in close to point out something on a paper or screen. The hand on my back when they're shuffling past me. The graze of their fingers over mine as they take their morning coffee from my hands.

Just enough to make my heart beat faster and to keep me wanting more. I can't explain it and I've long given up on trying. Something about Kai keeps pulling me in closer and it's not just simple attraction. It feels like being homesick for a person.

I try to focus my attention back on what Kai is saying about the test group, but half of it has already gone over my head. Doesn't help that I have a massive headache again.

As usual, Kai notices things without me having to tell them, so I'm not surprised when they stop talking and hand me a bottle of cold water.

I take it, grateful for the small break my brain is getting from processing all of this information, and gulp down a third of the bottle.

"Are you sure you don't want any painkillers? I think I'm developing a headache from watching you suffer," they say, a small smile playing on their lips but worry reflecting in their eyes.

I know that Advil doesn't really count as a relapse but it still feels like a slippery slope so I shake my head, regretting the motion immediately. I close my eyes and let my head rest against the back of the chair. I'm useless like this, but these headaches usually don't last for too long so I'm hoping to just ride this one out and get back to work.

It takes me a moment to register Kai moving around the room, closing the distance between us. I can sense them behind me and as proof, I hear their low and smooth voice.

"I'm going to touch you now, don't be startled," Kai warns me and I feel my face flush a few tones redder at that statement.

I'm too afraid to open my eyes, not knowing what they mean by that. And then I feel it. The divine sensation, making my spine tingle.

Their hands are in my hair, fingers massaging my scalp gently and yet just firmly enough. And it feels amazing.

I'm left to wonder how on earth they know how to do this as Kai presses all the right spots, making my headache dissipate into a quiet hum in the background.

This is way better than any pill they could've given me and I feel myself relax and sink into the chair. I don't even know how long the massage goes on for and I honestly couldn't care less. Kai uses different techniques and varying pressure and when they finally tug on my hair a bit, making my skin tingle, I can't help but imagine them pulling my hair in a very different situation.

I feel my cheeks flush again but luckily Kai doesn't seem to notice as they're wrapping up with the massage and smoothing my hair back down.

The air feels thick and I realize just how intimate this actually was so of course I'm much too awkward to say anything at first.

"Feel better?" Kai asks, taking a seat again.

I slide my fingers through my hair, feeling the scar from my surgery under my fingers. Surely they felt it too but didn't ask a thing. The respect they have for others is truly unmatched.

"I feel like I was reborn in a world without headaches," I answer with laughter, turning my head from side to side to sort of test it out.

Kai laughs as well and nods approvingly. "Glad that it helped." They look at me with something in their eyes that I haven't seen there before.

I notice now that our chairs are closer to each other than they were before. I prefer it this way, though part of me is terrified of being this seen.

We're both quiet for a few seconds, or is it minutes. I can't really tell because the silence isn't awkward, it's comfortable. I feel like we're saying everything that needs to be said through our eyes only and I don't want to look away.

They do first, only because the door to the lab opens and an intern notifies us of the latest results arriving.

Kai smiles and thanks them before turning their gaze back at me. But the moment is gone and so is that mysterious something in their eyes.

"You okay to get back to work?" they simply ask and I nod, turning my focus back to my computer screen.