Recovery

I Miss the Sunshine in Your Eyes

Tim

One minute Tim was laying between his two mates, listening to their slow breathing and steady heartbeats, the next he shifted and found himself alone. Both sides of the bed were cold, and he sat up with a jerk, breathing in the scents wafting through the air. The lingering scent of humidity told him that they were recently in the shower, and he smiled as he heard Sam walking down the hallway to the kitchen.

Where Urdu was.

He reached out tentatively to her, frowning at the struggle of warring emotions he found there. She still did not turn to their connection, she didn't even seem to notice it, so he frowned and got dressed, bracing himself for the inevitable heartbreaking one-sided conversation he was certain Sam was having with Urdu. Through his connection with Sam, he felt her sadness, though it differed from how it had been for so long.

Tim listened to their conversation as he stalked silently down the hallway, closing his eyes and leaning against the wall with relief. Urdu was actually talking. It broke his heart to hear what she was saying and her words were halted, robotic almost, in how forced they were. As if every syllable was a battle. When he couldn't stand it anymore, he used his power to jump into the next room, to hold them both.

And despite the pain she was in, despite the fact that he could tell that she would rather not be eating or going to the farm, Urdu continued stubbornly toward the breakfast table. He remembered then that she used to love coffee, that he had not seen her have a single one since she had awoken. Tim knew that certain things could trigger even more difficulty, and he had been certain he had just made a gigantic mistake when Urdu looked ready to cry while reaching out for the cup he had summoned for her.

But she didn't.

And she ate. Not just the half effort of eating that would result in his painful memories of Baltha's cautions about what it meant when a demon had no interest in food, but she ate enough that Samantha had absolutely no leftovers to put away. And they always had leftovers to put away. It may have been a struggle, but Urdu seemed to tackle it with a single-mindedness that was only interrupted by her questions about the Centre. It was forced conversation. He knew from her expression that she clearly didn't have the energy to divest interest in it, but she was trying.

He told himself that even five minutes at the place, even if they got there and it was enough for her, it would be fine. Urdu had already pushed herself far more than she had since waking up and though he knew that she was only doing it for the two of them, Tim hoped it would eventually become a battle for herself as well.

The change in Urdu was nearly instantaneous upon arriving at the centre. She still partially scowled up at the sun, a night-kin out in the day, especially when her body was weak, but other than that, she relaxed. They had not gotten four steps before Urdu had stunned everyone by pointing out something that had been a secret of Meri's. Tim didn't understand how Urdu could possibly have understood that Meri was pregnant through Daryl, nor did he get what she meant when she said they were joined. A glance to the cowboy and then to Sam told him that neither of them understood it either.

But the smirk she had when she teased him nearly shattered his heart with joy. Urdu had never been around kids, which Tim realized was odd considering how much Sam loved them. Her confusion was evident as they stood at the edge of the extensive fields where the children were running and playing games and sports. He recognized that she was searching for something, her expression reminding him of what she looked like before hunting or battle, but when Sam went off to join the younger children at play, she relaxed.

Tim relaxed as well, grinning as much as Urdu as Sammy ran around with the children, shedding all the oppressive darkness that had been weighing her down and just playing. Sensing Urdu's wistfulness as her head turned back and forth, following Sammy's movements without fail, Tim pulled her close and explained what was happening. Throughout, Daryl was an easy presence at their side, offering his own explanations at times, he himself smiling.