A Lonely Road

Sandwiches Can be Very Thought Provoking

Jace sat next to Kaelie with his throbbing head in his hands. Kaelie had yet to wake up after passing out in the foyer, and no matter how much he'd raged that they take her to a hospital, Michael refused. Eventually he'd fallen asleep, his throat raw, and his nightmares were filled with Kaelie, unconscious, bloody, her voice echoing in his skull.

"Jace. There is no way for us to take her to a hospital. Those people, those things, they'll know, and they'd come for her," Lilith had said.

He woke up, still in the chair by Kaelie's bed. He'd fallen asleep staring at the walls of her room, the photos tacked all over them. She was pale still, too pale, and she'd still not woken. She was bandaged, he could see the edge of white tape under her pulled up shirt, and her wrist was heavily casted, remembered the bustle of the day before, Sarah and Lilith working over her, he had the feeling it wasn't the first time they'd done this.

Jace put his head in his hands again and the pounding reverberated in his head. He couldn't help but be blaming himself. He hadn't run. He'd frozen, in shock, in fear, in adamant denial of just leaving her there, and she'd still saved his life. He couldn't process what was happening, he knew that she had saved him, that her friends had saved him, but he'd watched them kill others without even thinking, and Kaelie almost looked like she liked it.

Jace didn't raise his head when he heard footsteps approaching. "Jace look at me." It was Sarah's voice. He grunted at her. "Stubborn child," he heard before she grabbed his hair and yanked his face up to meet hers, her warm eyes focusing on his.

"You've got to stop. Kaelie will wake up. She's basically just sleeping it off. She took a hell of a beating," Sara said softly but firmly.

As if to prove her words, Kaelie groaned loudly. Jace just stared, all his whirling thoughts silencing themselves as he watched her. Her mismatched eyes searched wildly, darting around the room before they landed on Jace and she relaxed. "You're okay," she muttered hoarsely.

Jace snapped, his eyes wide, jaw slack, all the tension in his body popped. He started laughing, managing to choke out "I'm okay? You've been unconscious for two days and you're making sure I'm okay?"

Kaelie raised an eyebrow, and he heard her ask "Is he ok?"

"Yeah, uh... he'd been driving us up a wall about you. He thought he'd killed you, or something. He isn't very good at listening. Just shock, I think," Sarah muttered, head tilted as she observed him in wonder.

"Yeah, otherwise you now hold the record for shortest time taken to drive someone to insanity," Lilith chuckled, appearing behind Sarah.

Jace picked his head up as Kaelie pushed herself up and swung her legs out of the bed. Jace didn't really know what he was thinking, and he reached towards her, to hug her, to feel her solidly standing there, alive, and breathing. He didn't quite see Lilith reach for him, lunging across the room.

"Jace, don't touch h-" he heard her say, but it was too late because he'd wrapped Kaelie in his arms and was breathing in a strangely comforting floral scent that seemed to cling to her skin. Her body was warm, but she was rigid, unmoving, and he could hear her breathing change as she forced it to stay calm and even. He looked over her shoulder and he could see Lilith and Sarah staring at him in awe.

Kaelie's skin felt hot, it felt burned where Jace touched her, and there was a black fear, a nervousness clawing its way up her throat, and part of her wanted to hit Jace and run, and the other wanted to relax into him. She saw Michael step into the room, and Sarah and Lilith walked around to join him in the doorway. "What the?" Michael said.

"Woah there, big boy. Can't breathe, broken ribs. Slowly crushing me. Dying, again. Yeah, ok, let me go," Kaelie said, injecting her voice with calm, as she tried to push his warmth off of her.