Broken and Together

Chapter Seventeen: Final Night

    Longest chapter so far! Enjoy night five. >:)

    ...

    EXOTIC BUTTERS.

~~~~~~~~~~

    Charlie woke up feeling vaguely uncomfortable, since she was sitting up. At the same time, though, it felt warm and perhaps a bit cozy, after all. It took her only a few seconds to realize she was cuddled up against someone else, and the moment she did, she glanced to the side and came face-to-face with Michael who looked at her with tired blue eyes. They said nothing for a moment, merely staring, their faces inches from each other. With a leap of her heart, Charlie scrambled away.

    "Sorry, um...oops." She glanced the other way, her cheeks growing hot. "I, um, I meant to wake you up. Guess I...guess I fell asleep before I could." She laughed awkwardly and inwardly scolded herself for acting so flustered and strange. But did I seriously just sleep the whole night with him like that?

    "Ah," Michael said, sounding groggy. "Okay." She shifted her gaze back to him, then smiled fondly. He still looked half-asleep, rubbing his eyes and ruffling his messy hair. She didn't know if the thought of sleeping beside her made him embarrassed or not, but he seemed too tired to care much. Somehow, this disappointed her a little.

    "Did you sleep well?" she asked.

    "Mm?" He stopped rubbing at one of his eyes. "Uh—" he yawned openly— "yes, I...I think I..." He trailed off, eyes widening as they flicked back to her. "What are you still doing here?"

    She paused, blinking. "Um...don't you remember what just happened?"

    He narrowed his eyes, silently contemplating the situation. "Oh." He chuckled nervously. "Right, um, that was weird."

    She snickered and looked away again. "Right. Well, at least now we can plan a bit earlier. As soon as you wake up fully, anyway."

    "Yeah, and maybe it's a good thing," he said. "My car's stuck at work again. I wouldn't have transportation."

    "We can get it after our shift," said she. She thought for a moment, instinctively smoothing down her hair, which she hoped wasn't too messy. "Oh, I know! I can make you breakfast this time."

    He sent her a doubtful glance. "You sure?"

    "Definitely." She jumped to her feet. "You just let yourself wake up and do whatever you have to, and I'll cook."

    "Well—" he sent her a sleepy smile— "alright. I just have to take a shower."

    "Oh." She winced. "That could be hard with your bandages. I could always help you with them after."

    "I can manage." Michael rose, staggering as he did. "See you in a few."

    "Mhm," she said, watching concernedly as he made his way towards the bathroom. "I'll have breakfast ready when you get out." Charlie did not, in fact, have breakfast prepared when he finished his shower and emerged from his bedroom, after changing. It took longer to cook eggs and bacon than she had anticipated, but luckily, she had a little extra time to prepare it as he rebandaged his wounds. She helped with a few of them, then set the table for breakfast, where they both settled down to eat.

    "Look, it's you." She slid over a plate of eggs to him.

    He glanced down at it, then shook his head and chuckled. "Sure, it is." They began to eat, at first discussing lighter topics, but Michael soon directed the conversation towards their work that night. "We should think of a plan," he said. "We don't know everything that's in there, but I still think we should more-or-less know what we want to search for."