In Sickness and in Health (Kyalin)

You Promised Me

Lin walked in front of Kya on her crutches. They went into their apartment and Kya closed the door behind them. One of her hands rested on the doorknob. She took a deep breath before turning around to face her girlfriend.

"What we're you thinking?! Going after those three criminals!" Kya voice rose angrily and shook with emotion. "You could have died out there!!"

Lin turned around. A look of surprise flashed across her face before it hardened to steel. Her brow furrowed. "I have a duty to protect this city. I was just doing my job."

"Really? Is your job to go out there and get hurt?! To make me think you were dead?"

Lin didn't respond.

"All I saw was an open window and your armor was missing! I go down to the station and they say you haven't been there in days! When you finally showed up, you were so beaten up I could only assume what had happened!" Kya's voice cracked, and she felt hot tears welling up in her eyes. She fought them back.

"Lin! You promised me! You said you would rest. Now look at you!" Kya gestured to the crutches. "You can't even walk and you're covered in bandages!! You promised me, Lin."

"I couldn't just stand by and let three criminals get away right under my nose," Lin snapped.

"You could have radioed the station! Let one of the other officers handle it!"

"I told you I have a duty to this ci—"

"What about your duty to me?!" Tears flowed freely from Kya's eyes now. "You always talk about how you have a duty to the city. But what about me? Don't you care about me at all?!"

Kya didn't wait for a response. She turned on her heel and stormed out the door. She slammed it shut behind her. The frame shook from the impact.

Lin stood in stunned silence for a moment, staring at a dent in the wooden door. Welcoming the distraction, she recalled how it came to be there.

Kya had recently moved in and constantly complained about Lin's bed frame. There were multiple cracks running across the headboard and down the sides. The paint had chipped away so much that it was barely visible anymore. Lin had owned it since she moved out of her childhood home and refused to get a new one.

After months of pleading, Kya had convinced her to finally get a new one, and they bought it together, as a couple. Trying to bring the bulky box upstairs had taken them all day. When they finally got it into the apartment, Kya banged the corner of it into the door.

Lin had been so mad at her that day, shouting at Kya for her clumsiness. If she hadn't forced her to get a new bed frame, then the dent wouldn't be there. Looking back, she felt ashamed. You could barely see the dent. It was so small, only visible if you were trying to find it.

Don't you care about me at all?

Kya's last words echoed in her mind.

"I... I love you," Lin whispered.