"Great grumbly gruesomes!" Blinky exclaimed in shock when Jim, Claire, and NotEnrique finally made it back to camp far later than they should have. Jim looked up tiredly to see his foster father rushing toward them, his six eyes practically bugging out of his head as he took in their bedraggled and bloodied appearances. "What has happened?"
"We're fine," Jim assured, Claire clinging to his side. She kept her eyes downcast, watching their feet; NotEnrique had scurried off as soon as they had passed through the portal. "It's my blood; no one else is hurt."
"Oh, my dear boy!" Jim saw the worry in Blinky's eyes, particularly as he took in Claire's weakened demeanor. Rubbing all four of his hands together anxiously, Blinky continued, "Right... well, you two go on and get cleaned up. We'll speak later."
Jim smiled gratefully at Blinky before guiding Claire toward their little section of camp. Placing her grocery bags down on their sleeping bag, Claire quietly gathered together some clean clothes while he did the same. He watched his mate carefully as she went through her tasks; she had long since stopped crying, but was clearly still disturbed by what had happened. When Jim noticed that she had put the last of her items into their pack, he darted to her side and scooped her up. Claire gasped and flung her arms around his neck, her fingers tangling in his scruff at the sudden action. Jim immediately started running again; within minutes, they were below the cliff where they had nested only a few hours past. The river flowed through here too, and Jim carefully set Claire on her feet, a Glow Crystal already pulled out and activated.
"Hey..."
"I'm sorry for freaking out," Claire said, her eyes still downcast, her voice quiet with a strange inflection.
Jim reached forward to gently cup her face in his hands, tilting her head up to force her to look at him. "There's no reason to apologize, Claire. You're right; we protect each other, and that will never change." He sighed, leaning forward to press a slow, chaste kiss to her lips, relieved when she responded quickly. Pulling back a little, he continued, his lips brushing against hers as he spoke, "But you don't have to put yourself literally in the line of fire to protect me. If you had been—" he broke off, shuddering at the thought, but continued after taking a moment to compose himself. "If you had been the one who was shot, you would have died, and so would I. I can't lose you either. So, if I have to take a bullet or death magic or whatever to keep you safe, then I'm damn well going to do it."
"I know," Claire whispered, bringing one of her hands up to caress the almost healed wound above his heart. "That's what scares me."
"Tell me," Jim implored, realizing with irony that he was repeating the words that she had said to him only a few hours ago.
Claire hesitated, casting her gaze downward again, and she wrapped her arms around herself, her voice shaky as she replied, "It's just... here we are, starting a new life together, starting our own family, and then... if you had died... it scares me how quickly everything went from life to death."
"I will never leave you, Claire," Jim said fiercely, pressing his forehead to hers, nuzzling their noses together. "Gunmar and Morgana are gone. Obviously, there's still danger in the world, but if we can face those two and still come out on top, then I think we definitely have the upper hand. Tonight was just a freak accident."
Claire nuzzled him back, but her arms still tightened around herself protectively. Her voice was thick and breaking as she whispered, "I can't... When you were going to leave... I knew you would never ask me, that you would think that you were doing the right thing by not asking me to leave with you, even though I could see your heartbreaking... I told my parents that where you go, I go. I didn't give them a choice, because there was no choice. You're mine; I won't let you go, and I... I can't do this by myself."
