For the Love of Gav

Monday

 The night had been tough. Even if Gav wasn't actively panicking anymore, neither was he in any state to deal with the world or think about anything other than his potential absence from it. They had watched Bob Ross all night, buoyed on the life raft of his Afro. Morning found Gav asleep still sitting up, and Nina passed out on his shoulder. She wouldn't have guessed they would ever fall asleep but then perhaps mortal dread is no match for the soft swishing of Bob Ross's paintbrushes.

Nina woke first, gently sitting up and moving off of Gav. He shifted softly, but remained asleep. She rubbed her bleary eyes and took stock for the day. It was 7:30. Bob Ross was still on and she didn't turn it off, worried that the change in volume would wake Gav. As soon as Nashteth's office opened, they'd call her. Until then, she needed to keep Gav on an even keel.

Nina was only 25 years old. She had limited experience in taking care of others and it felt like not so long ago she was the one being taken care of. Still, she did have a mother who had taken good care of her, and she could surely do some of that to help Gav. Breakfast. That was a good start. And no Scooby Doo college boy sandwiches this time. A real breakfast.

There were eggs in the fridge. And cheese, a bell pepper. A few strawberries that were on their last legs. Omelets and fruit it would be. She moved as quietly as she could, cracking eggs and beating them with a fork. Bob did his part to cover the noise too. Was there anything you couldn't count on Bob for?

Nina was just putting the food on plates when Gav started to stir, rubbing rusty sleep from his eyes. He looked considerably worse for wear.

"Good morning." Nina hoped she was portraying the right balance of gentle, optimistic and determined.

"Morning." Gav rubbed his face, then found himself staring at his band aid.

"I made breakfast." Nina brought the plates over, hoping to distract him. "Thought a hot breakfast might feel good today."

Gav shook his head. "I don't feel like eating."

Nina pursed her lips. "Breakfast is important. You haven't eaten in a long time." He looked away. "Come on, you must be hungry."

"Why? Because I'm in a mortal body that needs to eat? Because this mortal body has been demanding I eat every few hours?"

"Well... yes!" Nina put the plate down in front of him. "If you must know. If you think you're mortal now then food has become more than just a way to avoid the discomfort of hunger. It's important, and more than that, it's necessary." She took a bite of strawberry to drive the point home. "Besides, not eating in protest will not accomplish anything other than making you hungry and weak. And the way I see it, we've got shit to do. So..." She shoved the plate at him. "Bon appetit, Rocky."

He looked down at the plate and sighed but began eating mechanically.

Sturm and Associate's main office was in Canada. With the time change, they didn't have long to wait before business hours. Nina was grateful for that, at least. It wasn't easy to keep Gav in a holding pattern when he seemed a few serious thoughts away from disaster at any moment.

"I'll dial the number and you can talk to her, yeah?"

Gav shook his head, slow at first and then faster. "Nope. Nope, not going to talk to her."

"What? We agreed this was the best option."

"I can't talk to her like this, Nina. I can't. She put me in the rock. That I can forgive. This... This I can't get past. I can't talk to her." His eyes were desperate.

"Come on, man..."

"I can't. I just can't."

"I get it, but isn't this more important?" He looked like she had asked him to jump off a cliff. "You know what, fuck it. Why not? I can convince her that I know everything and we need her help. Sure. Not like I'm a mortal about to tell a god that I undid something she wanted to stay done. No problem. FUCK FUCK FUCK." She dialed the number aggressively, turning away from Gav in frustration.