Invited

Sixty - Wicken

Sure enough, when I woke up again, I was in my big, comfy bed, covered in my nice soft sheets. Chevelle was lying next to me, still real. I shifted closer to her, wanting to feel her body again for proof.

"Don't move, I'll come to you," she said, and rolled over toward me. "Are you okay?"

Nodding, I exhaled slowly. "I am now, yeah. What about you?"

"I'm fine. No one has hurt me or tried to."

"What are you doing here?" I tried to not sound rough about it, but her being on Persistence wasn't necessarily a good thing.

She stroked my sweaty hair out of my face. "I came with Timber when he brought the plans Layla wanted so badly. While he was making the trade, I went looking for you, ran into that Cory guy, and he brought me to where they were keeping you."

"You should have stayed back. It's not safe here. She might hurt you."

"Don't try to tell me where I should and shouldn't be," she said, her voice terse.

I knew that tone. There was no arguing with her. She was here and that was that. I could only hope Layla didn't let her jealousy blind her better judgment. For the time being I pushed those kinds of thoughts from my mind. Chevelle was with me. I focused on that instead.

My hand touched her stomach, knowing in there somewhere was a baby we had made. It still felt surreal to me. Her abdomen was only a little rounder than before, though her skin was firm against the pressure of my hand. I wouldn't have thought anything of it if I didn't know what was really going on inside of her. Overwhelmed, my eyes misted with tears.

"This is all real, isn't it?" I asked.

She nodded, kissing my cheek. "It is. Maybe you should go back to sleep. I'm not going to go anywhere."

I wasn't so sure about that. Anything could happen between when I closed my eyes and when they opened again.

"That Cory guy said he'd make sure nothing happened to me. I believe him. He's a jerk, but I don't get the impression he's a liar," she stated, as if she could read my mind.

"I don't know why he cares all of a sudden. Seems like a nice thing to me, and he more or less hates my guts. He said he was going to eat me, and tried to live up to that promise earlier today." I closed my eyes all the same. Keeping them open hurt too much, hurt my head too much.

She laid her head close to mine. "I think he's in love with Layla. He was mumbling a lot about her infatuation with you, or whatever. Sounded a lot like a jealous ex. Pretty sure he likes me being here because he knows it will keep you away from her."

"So long as she lets me stay away," I said.

"Go to bed, and I'll keep working on nursing you back to health."

Couldn't argue with that logic.