Guarded (#2 Post-Order 66 Series)

Guarded - Part 29

A/N: Mention of panic attacks/PTSD in this chapter, so if that subject matter is upsetting for you, please proceed with caution.

Tech's eyes snapped open in the dark. It's time. He could feel Kestia's warm body next to him, her torso rising and falling evenly in the dark as she slept on. Reaching over slowly, he grabbed his datapad off the nightstand, checking the chrono. Perfect.

Carefully, he slid out of the bed, feeling around in the dark until he found his goggles and some clothes. Once he was dressed, he grabbed the datapad and slipped out of the room. Making his way to the kitchen, he brewed some tea in a thermos and grabbed a few packets of dehydrated fruit, leaving them on the table before jogging back to Kestia's quarters.

He almost felt bad waking her, but he was hopeful that it would be worth it. Tech had been racking his brain for the last few rotations about how to lift her spirits. He could easily tell that her lack of involvement in the current mission was driving her up the walls to the point where she'd finally cracked the night before, shouting about some trivial thing at Em. He'd only caught the tail end of the one-sided argument, turning the corner just as Kestia shouted something about being locked in a damn prison. Me having things to do probably hasn't been any help either. Hunter and Senna had requested his assistance compiling a three-dimensional model of Keren's defenses based on the images they were capturing each day. So far, he'd managed to pull together a fairly comprehensive layout of the city, and even though he'd had Kestia help as much as she could with it, he knew she was still feeling useless while her friends put themselves in harm's way.

Tech leaned down, gripping her shoulder gently as he placed a kiss on her temple. "Kestia, wake up."

She mumbled something from underneath her mop of hair, and he pushed some of it out of her face to see her eyes squeezed shut and her nose scrunched in frustration. "Five more minutes," she grumbled, waving him away, but he smiled, remaining insistent.

"Come on, get dressed quickly. I promise it'll be worth it." She sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes as the blankets pooled around her waist. Tech reached around on the floor to find the clothing she'd discarded before getting into bed, handing them to her as she glared at him sleepily. "Meet me in the kitchen once you're done," he said, ignoring her scowl as he placed a kiss to her forehead before exiting the room.

He dashed across the hall to his old room to grab some blankets and then made his way back to the kitchen. Kestia was standing there, her arms wrapped around herself as she watched him with a groggy, puzzled expression. He handed her the blankets before grabbing the tea and snacks he'd prepared. "Come with me."

"Tech, it's the middle of the night."

"I know," he grinned.

She muttered something else, but allowed him to lead her down the hall to the alternate exit door. "Would you care to do the honors, m'lady?" he asked teasingly. Kestia was still confused but obliged without questioning. Together, they made their way back up the stone staircase to the cavern that Senna had departed from.

"Are you going to tell me what this is all about?" Kestia asked as she followed him to the mouth of the cave. There was a roughly two meter gap between the cave wall and the falls that hid it on one side, and Tech led her to that spot. It was far enough away from the spray of the falls that they wouldn't get damp, and he set down the food and thermos before taking the blankets from her and settling one of them on the ground. Sitting with his back against the cave wall, he wrapped the other blanket around his shoulders before reaching out a hand towards her. "Come here and you'll see."

She raised her eyebrow inquisitively before slipping her hand into his and allowing him to pull her back against his chest as he wrapped them both in the second blanket. Reaching over, he poured two small cups of tea. "You haven't told me what we're doing here yet," Kestia muttered as he passed her one of the cups.