Skyborn The Divine

14: Escape

"Good morning, friend," Christine announced when Alice opened the door for her. Alice had to haul herself out of bed to answer it. The only reason Christine didn't just let herself into Alice's apartment was because her hands were too full to manage it. She waltzed in with a cardboard box full of pots, pans, cooking utensils, and food. "I hope you told your bureaucratic slave masters that you'll be absolutely unavailable this weekend."

Alice held up the Motherboxx and waved it like she did for her mom, though she was still too drunk with sleep to respond quite so cheerfully. It was, after all, still morning. "I'm still on call," she slurred.

"A Motherboxx. They really do have you on a leash. At least I now know what you'd exchange for your soul," she smirked, and she placed the box on Alice's kitchen counter. "Today, you are mine. Now, go shower. I refuse to be seen in public with you until you look cute. Then we cook huevos rancheros."

The thought of eggs, potatoes, peppers, and cheese roused Alice from her walking coma, and she stumbled off to the shower without protest.

She'd come home the night before. The emotional shock of being back home after two months away had been overwhelming, and her mom's hug had tipped her over the edge. She'd begun to cry and talk at the same time, not being able to stop either for a long time. She'd told her mother everything, and the two of them kept talking long into the night. Alice had no idea what time she'd finally gone to bed, but by the time she'd finally awoke to hear Christine at the door, her mom was already gone, another twelve-hour shift in the NICU.

It was strange to be back, to be in her own bed and her own apartment and her own shower. It was like she'd woken up from a dream, a strange dream in which she'd tried to be a superhero, but no matter how hard she tried, she could never be one. What if it all had been a dream? Now in the familiar trappings of her own home, all that she'd experienced, the training and the cold and Athena and Clawson and Ethan, it all seemed so surreal.

"Friend," Christine said when she poked her head in through the bathroom door, "There's someone at your door. He says he knows you, and for your sake I hope it's true."

Alice dressed herself quickly, and with still-dripping hair went to see who'd come calling. She'd seen that look on Christine's face before when she'd arranged for Alice to meet a guy. She was worried for a moment it would be Thomas requesting another date of rock climbing.

Just inform my gentleman callers that I'm far too preoccupied to be courted at present, she thought to herself as she left her bedroom and opened her front door.

"Ethan?" she choked.

She was dressed as stylishly as always when he wasn't in a body glove or exercise clothes. He smiled when he saw her, that same winning grin of his with shining teeth, but he also seemed nervous. He was arching his neck, trying to see around the corner that led towards the stairs and the elevator. It was as though he expected someone to appear at any moment. In his hands were two plastic shopping bags bulging with some groceries.

"Ethan, what are you doing here?" She winced as she said it, because she knew she'd sounded too disappointed to see him. In fact, she wasn't. There seemed to be a light that turned on inside her every time he was near, but seeing him brought the memories of the last two months flooding back in a rush, something she hadn't been ready for.

"I, ah, I thought I could use a day off from work, and I decided I'd come see if I could hang out with you."

At first, she thought about telling him no. After all, if she hadn't listened to him the day before, if she'd listened instead to Levi and Athena during her rescue examination, she might not have failed, and the all the frustration and anger and tears might never have happened. Part of her wanted to be angry with him.