Lightning Seeker

Reunion

Dash walked past Vale and crossed his arms as he stared at Sky, who stared back with the same look of rage. "Always so stubborn. Get back in bed."

You have no authority over me, Sky signed. His ice-blue eyes transformed into blizzards, cold, and angry.

"That plate on your chest says otherwise," Dash said poking it lightly with each new word he said. "It says... I. SAVED. YOU."

Sky pushed his hand away. My tech did, he responded.

Dash rolled his eyes. "Right... And how was that going? You had the knowledge but you didn't have the materials or the right person to do it." Dash ran his fingers through his hair. "Stop being a stubborn ass and lay down. Unless you want to have another heart problem."

Sky's eyes grew a shade darker. Is that a threat?

"No!" Dash looked between Sky and Vale, with a bewildered expression. "What is up with you two? Thinking that I am out to hurt! I saved both of your lives!"

Sky's eyes narrowed. Then we are even.

Vale stepped between them, not liking the way Dash's hands rolled into fists or the sudden tightening in Sky's jaw. They were one comment away from ripping each other apart. She forced Dash back a few steps, pressing his chest gently until he moved.

"Okay, let's skip over the fact that you didn't care to mention that you knew Sky the ENTIRE time we've been here and move right to the 'saving my life' part," Vale said giving Dash air quotes. She turned to look at Sky. "Sit down. You aren't running off anywhere right now."

Sky looked at her, startled, forgetting in his moment of anger that she was there. He swallowed and collapsed back on the bed, his face slightly pale.

Then Vale turned to glare up at Dash, doing her best to not look devastated. "You promised me." She crossed her arms, rage radiating off of her. "You promised you would save my leg. You said that was the best move. That it was my choice. So what the hell is this!"

Dash looked at her, startled by the way her body shook with fury, the way her eyes glistened with angry, unshed tears. He looked from her face down to her leg and inexplicably started laughing. "Are you serious? What do you take me for, some deranged person? What do you think that is?"

"Some stump for a leg!" Vale shouted at him, surprised by his reaction.

Dash continued laughing. "No wonder you are pissed! That ugly thing isn't your leg."

Vale's face burned red with confusion and embarrassment. Why is he laughing? "Obviously. You took my leg and traded it in for this monstrosity that I can't even walk on. I have been dragging it around! Do you have any idea how heavy it is?"

Dash placed his hands on his knees, laughing so hard that tears came to his eyes. After a few long deep breaths, he looked up at her, barely able to contain his laughter. "Yeah. That's not a leg. It's a healing cast. Your actual human, flesh, and blood leg is inside. The cast is healing it. Or at least trying to. You dragging the cast all over the place will seriously slow your process." He snorted. "Why do you think I kept trying to get you back to bed?"

"Oh," Vale stuttered out, her anger waining slightly, leaving her feeling foolish. It was the only word she seemed capable of saying. She looked down at the cast with understanding. He hadn't lied. He hadn't done anything at all besides save Sky and heal her. But she couldn't just apologize. Not yet, she was still too angry. "What was with that item you threatened me within the hallway."

WHAT? Sky signed, his movements angry as he stared up at them.

Dashed stared at Sky, his voice irritated. "It was pain medication." Then he looked back at Vale. "We can talk about this later. Arguing isn't helping him." Vale narrowed her eyes and then turned back to Sky.

"Try to get some sleep. We can talk about all of this later." She cupped his cheek, stroking along his jaw with her thumb.

Are you okay? Sky signed, concern filling his eyes as he placed his hand on top of hers.

"I'm fine. Just a misunderstanding. Everything is okay."

Sky looked past her and towards Dash who watched them with an unreadable expression. Don't do anything stupid.

Dash rolled his eyes. "I'll leave that to you."

Vale waddled over to Dash and yanked him towards the door. "Okay, time to go."

Once through the door, Vale closed it behind her gently before whirling to look at Dash. "So what? You were just going to drug me in the middle of the hallway?" Vale leaned against the door to help her balance.

Dash tilted his head, staring down at her as he placed his hip against the door next to her. "Okay... so we are going RIGHT back to the conversation about the nonthreat that I was." He fought off a grin. "I figured if you were going to be walking around on a broken leg you might need an extra dose of pain medication, but you knocked it out of my hand."

"Oh," Vale replied again, clearly needing to work on her vocabulary. Her ability to argue was rusty. "Then why did you fight back?" she asked, grasping at the last straws of her anger.

Dash shrugged. "Well, you did have a sword to my throat," he said, smirking. "Self defense. Didn't want to add myself to the list of people I have to save without getting a thank you."

"Oh," Vale replied before she could stop herself.

Raising his brow, his green eyes flashed with amusement as he appraised her leg cast. "Any other things that you want to accuse me of, or can we get back to you dragging this behemoth all over my ship?"

Vale crossed her arms. "How do you know Sky?"

Dash gave her an uneasy smile. "I called him cousin didn't I?"

"So you grew up together?"

"No more questions until we check that leg of yours. What did you call it? A stump of a leg?" He chuckled. "Come on. You can ask me questions while I examine it."

"I don't want you to carry me," she glared.

"Relax. Haven't I already proven I'm not the crazy doctor you thought I was?"

"Doesn't mean I trust you."

He gave her a dangerous grin. "Smart. But I'm still taking you down to get checked. You can try and fight, but with that leg of yours in the shape that it is in, the end result will be the same. Should have thought of an escape plan before you snuck up here." He hoisted her up into his arms. "I don't have all day to wait for you."