Finding Beauty in the Darkness *Obi x OC*(COMPLETE)

Decontamination

Obi POV

We make it back to the cottage a short while later and Aeri beats us to the door where she cheers that there are a lot of new orders to fill. Ryanne sighs and quietly asks me to kill her. The young brunette skips over with her hands full of different slips of paper in a small metal box. Ryanne steps forward to unlock the door and I bring up my foot to stop Herron from knocking her over in the mean time. She asks Aeri to sort the orders for her while she starts to dig around in one of the cabinets.

"Is there anything I can do to help, Miss?" I ask as I watch them work.

"Oh, no you've already done so much for us. Thank you though." She answers. "I'd hate to keep you from your duties at the castle any longer than I have already."

"Actually, Master told me that I have three days until I'm needed again and that if you allowed me I was welcome to help you get things back in order."

"Oh, that's really nice of him. Well, if you would like to stay you are welcome to it but I will not force you. Just keep in mind that Garak will try to make something of it if you do." She chuckles as she pulls out a few wooden buckets, sets of gloves, masks, goggles, and rags.

"I'd be glad to help however you need it Miss."

"I need you to call me Ryanne."

"Sorry Miss Ryanne." I smirk and watch her expression fall.

She sighs and turns from me to check on Aeri. She tells her that we'd be busy cleaning her room and to stay away from it so she won't be affected. She sets Aeri on straightening up the rest of the cottage in the meantime.

After putting on all of the protective gear she thinks we'll need, she opens the door to her room and we quickly step inside and close it again. I cross the room and open the windows as far as they'll go and the door to the outside I missed the first time while she grabs a darkly colored plant from one of the desks and throws it into a sealed jar before lightly tossing the jar into the yard.

"Step one, get the poison plant out of the cottage..." She mumbles. "Step two, jump off a cliff to avoid the tedious effort it's going to take to decontaminate literally everything inside this room..."

I laugh and pat her head, telling her that it's going to be alright. Thankfully she doesn't appear to be the type to have a lot of small knicknack items so that will make things a bit easier on us.

"So Miss, where do we start?"

She looks around the room before sighing. "I guess we pull everything off the furniture and bring them out to the yard to get wiped down. The bed can be stripped down and the mattresses brought out to the side yard. I have a cleaning solution I've made to use on fabrics that should get it out."

I let her start on clearing the desks as I pull the sheets and pillows off her bed and drag the mattresses out onto the grass. When I come back in, she hands me glass jars and asks me to make sure that they say fabric solution on them before telling me to sprinkle half a jar onto each mattress and in the morning it'll get cleaned off and flipped over to do the other sides.

By the time that we stop for lunch we got all of the furniture out into the yard along with boxes of her belongings, leaving the room completely empty. Our next step is to wipe down the walls and ceiling, then the floors will be scrubbed. She thanks me for helping her while quietly grumbling that it would have taken her forever to even get the furniture out without me.

"Uh, Miss, I just thought about something. Our clothing is contaminated so what do we do when we're done for the night?"

"Have you ever bathed in a creek? I have some random clothing items stored in my pantry that I'll have Aeri bring out to the back steps. Something in there should be able to fit you for the time being until we can get your clothes washed tomorrow. For now, I'll have Aeri make some sandwiches and we can wash our hands and faces in the creek, just don't touch anything but your food for the time being."

"Sounds like a plan. Also, I lived in the forests until I came to work at the castle, so yes, creek bathing was normal for me."

"Good, then it'll be just like old times." She chirps as we walk around to the front of the cottage. Aeri steps outside but keeps her distance as Ryanne tells her of our plan.

Ryanne and I give up for the night shortly after midnight once the room itself has been thoroughly scrubbed down. All that's left to do is to clean everything we brought outside and wash all of the fabrics. Aeri did bring out the box of clothing to the back steps and from what I'd seen there really is a bit of everything. Ryanne explained that she'd done that because some patients came to her injured and their clothes would be ruined so she would give them something to wear home.

"Would you like to bathe first?" She asks. "I don't mind waiting."

"No, no you go first. I'll stay and wait. Will you be alright in the dark?"

"I prefer the dark. Now, I know you got an eyeful earlier but I'd appreciate it if you don't peek at me this time." She smirks as she turns to leave and I feel my face warm.