The patient dorms looked much like something Roxie’d find back on Earth. It had cream-colored walls, scuffed up white tile floors, broad windows, a pair of gurneys to each room, curtains that wrapped around each gurney, dresser drawers with a big mirror over it, and a small bathroom with a stand-in shower.
Jenna carted Roxie into one room. The other three brought Aerigo into the next doorway. They looked at each other until the walls blocked their vision. Panic seized Roxie and she felt her eyes warm with a yellow glow.
“What’s wrong?” Jenna asked.
Roxie sent her mind vision through the wall and flinched when her awareness bonked into Aerigo doing the same to her. She saw him smile in shades of blue and smiled back, but briefly. She cut off her mind vision. “Almost every time we get separated something bad seems to happen. I think I’m overreacting this time though. There’s only a wall separating us.” And no Daio dogging their every step.
“True,” Jenna said. “May I ask what happened the other times?”
Roxie hopped off the hovering piece of technology and retrieved her backpack from the back of it. The medical staff had taken the liberty to launder every last article of clothing she’d packed, which was really nice of them, so now she had a choice between a whole three Versaton outfits, and apparently one less bra to don. Oh well. If they ever got the chance, Roxie needed to take Aerigo clothes shopping in New York City so she could seriously expand his wardrobe.
“Things just seem to go wrong.” Roxie entered the bathroom and dropped her pack on the tiled floor. Everything was a shade of peach or sunset. Soothing. “It’s... bah!” She didn’t really feel like dwelling on the dangers surrounding them. She had other more important matters to sort out, and Jenna seemed like a solid, trustworthy person to discuss such things with. “Would it be okay if I talked to you about Aerigo instead? Girl talk stuff?”
Jenna swung the bathroom door to within a hand’s width of being close. “Of course. I was actually hoping to.”
Roxie peered into the shower stall. Soap, shampoo, conditioner and a washcloth awaited use below a stainless steel shower head as wide as her face. Below the cleaning paraphernalia was a display of buttons that controlled the shower. She untied her smock, then stepped in and closed the translucent glass door. The stall smelled heavily of sterile cleaners. “How come you want to talk to me about Aerigo?”
“He’s got a lot going on internally. I’m a Sensor. I read people’s energies and help heal them through what I see. I need your help healing him.”
“Ah.” Roxie pressed a button with a pictogram of a shower head pouring water, then hopped out of the stream and tested it with a hand. It was quite cold. She twisted a dial that was color-coded like the ones back home, and set the water to nice and hot so she could scald off the grime and stink. “You can come in the bathroom if you want,” Roxie yelled over the rushing water, her voice echoing. She stood with her back to the spout.
The wood door to the bathroom creaked open, and then back to a hand’s with from closed.
Roxie began to shampoo her hair with a sweet melon scented gel. “So how can I help him? I do know he’s carrying around way too much guilt, but I don’t know how to help him let go of it.”
“How long have you two been together?”
Roxie stopped with her fingers tangled in her hair. “We’re not actually together. I’d... well--”
“What we walked in on with you two and the towels says otherwise.”
“That was the first time we’d ever done anything like that.” Gosh, that had been so enjoyable. It already felt like it’d happened ages ago. “We’ve only hugged and... I guess you could call it cuddling. Ever since the ship, we just always happened to be--” Ever since the cruise ship, they’d subconsciously--or maybe even consciously--made a point of sticking real close to each other, usually brushing up against each other’s arms. They’d started hugging on Sconda and that just kind of happened. On Druconica, they’d taken turns being each other’s pillow. And now this morning... “Close,” she said, completing her spoken sentence. “I don’t know what it is, but I just feel drawn to him. We’ve known each other for less than three weeks. That’s it.” She finished lathering the shampoo, then leaned her head into the running water. “Is it possible to fall in love with someone that fast?” She thought of the moment Aerigo had fed her cake and how his fingers had brushed her chin. The memory sent fresh shivers up and down her spine.
“Of course. Do you have the phrase ‘love at first sight’ on your world?”
“Yeah, but it’s just a bunch of sappy nonsense that happens only in movies and bad books.”
“Oh, it’s very real. It happened to my parents. They’ve been married over forty years now.”
“Well, then. I stand corrected.” Roxie finished rinsing out the shampoo, then reached for the conditioner and began working that into her hair, which finally felt nice and grime-free.
“I saw a lot of love in both your auras when we walked in on you in Aerigo’s arms. Your auras intertwine like those of two people in intimate love. Last night, the connection between you two was moderately strong. Today it’s exponentially stronger, but it ebbs and returns, like the both of you are trying to resist or hold back. I’m amazed at the change in Aerigo though. I just hope it’s permanent.”
Roxie stopped working in the conditioner. Aerigo was very much changed from the last time they’d both been conscious. Heck, he was different from when he’d found his way into her nightmare. But before she addressed Aerigo, she wanted to address her own hesitation. “Well I hesitate because we honestly can’t put ourselves before the things that landed us in this hospital. That, and I’m intimidated by our age gap. He’s so much older than me. I have to look like such a child in his eyes.” She resumed working in the conditioner.
“I asked him about that. He said it doesn’t matter. If you were a thousand years old, you’d still be less than a third his age. Apparently you Aigis have quite the lifespan.”
Roxie put two-and-two together and realized that Jenna and Aerigo must have talked about some personal things last night. Maybe that’s why he’d started kissing her and whatnot. No complaints there. She finished working the conditioner into her hair. “We do,” she said humbly as she tried to picture herself being a thousand years old. What Jenna said he’d said made sense. She’d be a legal adult in just a few days anyway, but that was just a number. What really made someone a proper adult? Aerigo was treating her like one. “But still, how does my age not bother him?”
“He told me someone named Sandra had been barely twice your age when he’d married her. The few years between you and her are irrelevant. I wouldn’t let the age gap bother you.”
“I think I just need a mental adjustment period before I’d be fine with it.” Letting the conditioner sit in her hair, Roxie grabbed the washcloth and poured a generous amount of liquid soap in it, just to make sure she’d feel clean.
“There’s nothing wrong with that. There’s no rush.”
“True. Do you know what’s making Aerigo hesitate?” She lathered up the white washcloth until it was all tropical-smelling foam, then began scrubbing down.
Jenna was silent a moment, then said, “I listened to him talk for a little bit last night. He ended up working through his biggest barrier almost entirely on his own. I simply did some energy work to help reinforce letting go of what’s been holding him down for such a long time.”
“The death of his wife?” Roxie remembered him talking about it in her nightmare. All she could recall is that her death had been an absolutely awful experience. Losing a loved one was always hard, but thought of Aerigo’s violent reaction made even her wince.
“That too. But the root of it was whether he was falling in love with you, or if he was projecting his dead wife on you and falling in love with her all over again.”
“Oh.” Roxie paused in her scrubbing. A twinge of jealousy cropped up, but her gut told her it was unnecessary, especially consideri
ng how he’d been treating her all morning.
“Last night, he was finally able to let go of his wife and open himself up to you. He loves you very much.”
Roxie pressed her soapy washcloth to her chest as she let the hot water cascade down her back. She felt a need to run to Aerigo and confess her love for him, then make a point of kissing him on the lips. However, she held back her impulse. “I love him too.” The words escaped her lips before she realized she’d said them. This time she didn’t cringe or wish no one had heard. “So why else is he hesitating?”
“I don’t know. Maybe, like you, the dangers surrounding your lives are censoring his emotions. Maybe it’s more guilt. His aura shied away from yours while you underwent nerve regeneration therapy.”
Roxie began a second round of scrubbing herself down. “He feels bad for all the crap I’ve been through after I met him, but I stamped that out during breakfast. He too readily blames himself for anything that goes wrong. None of it is his fault.”
“Keep reminding him of that. And just be patient.”
“I can do both. He’s worth it.” Saying that made Roxie think back to her high school days. The memories were both sweet and stung. “When I was fourteen, I fell in love with this handsome, charming, and funny hockey player who was a grade ahead of me. We met at a pep rally and we just took to each other. We could always find something to talk about, and had so many similar interests. We clicked. All our friends were convinced we were gonna get married one day. Even my grandmother thought we might. He and I bickered like an old married couple, did everything together, I watched all his hockey games, and we spent tons of time over each other’s houses. And that’s how things went for the first two years.
“On the second anniversary of our relationship, we finally satisfied our curiosity and craving for each other on the more physical and intimate level. My grandmother was understandably furious when she found out we’d slept together. Josh and I had been together for such a long time, so we figured his parents and my guardian wouldn’t think it was a big deal, but obviously we were wrong. My grandmother stormed over to Planned Parenthood with me to make sure he and I would at least be responsible, since she couldn’t control our hormones. I’m not making you uncomfortable with this kind of information, am I?”
“No, not at all.”
“Okay, good. It’s helping me sort some things out.” Josh was the only comparison she had to what a healthy relationship was supposed to look like. She’d never really paid attention to how Josh’s parents behaved, and since her grandmother was widowed, and her parents long gone, it was all guesswork. “We stayed together for three years, and broke up shortly after he graduated from high school because he couldn’t do the whole long-distance relationship thing. It pissed me off, throwing away three years just like that. He offered to remain friends, but I couldn’t do it. I just let his existence slowly blur itself in my memory. I didn’t stop thinking about him until a few months ago, though. And now that I look at the whole relationship in retrospect, the feelings I had for him were different than what I feel for Aerigo. Way different. With Josh, it was like I’d found my best friend in the whole wide world. With Aerigo I feel... complete. I think that’s the best word for it. I feel safe with him, and at ease--at least when I’m not trying to fight how I feel. I don’t want to fight it, but I just don’t know what our situation allows. Maybe, if we survive all this craziness and things turn out alright, he and I can afford to prioritize ourselves.”
* * *
Aerigo cut off the spell that allowed him to eavesdrop on the conversation between Rox and Jenna, then began the delicate task of shaving his face with a razor that was strong enough to cut his stubble without slicing up his skin. He shaved in the shower stall with the water still flowing down his front, and conjured a disc-shaped mirror out of water. Donai, Skitt, and Arryk were waiting for him inside the dorm, all wanting to talk to him about Kismet. They’d explain after he was done showering and getting dressed.
Eavesdropping wasn’t something Aerigo normally did. He’d spied and eavesdropped in the midst of wars and whatnot, but never like this. He couldn’t get Rox out of his mind. He was just going to listen for a few seconds, then give them privacy, but when Rox asked Jenna to talk to her about him, he’d pressed his hands to the shower wall and listened intently. And when Rox had admitted her love for him, he almost broke the wall so he could march right up to her and pull her into a naked, passionate embrace. Jenna would’ve gotten the heavy hint to give them privacy. Aerigo had gone so far as to place his hands on the wall at chest height, like he was going to push it down, but he controlled himself. He stopped eavesdropping after that.
Even with the confrontation with Nexus rapidly drawing close, his thoughts kept rushing right back to Rox. She loved him. She reciprocated his love for her. The knowledge made him yearn to become intimately familiar with Roxie’s body. He hadn’t been with anyone since Sandra, having shut off that part of himself for hundreds of years. At first, depression had snuffed it out. About a hundred years after he’d left Nostrum Hospital, his body reminded him that that part of him still existed, but he pushed it away, since there was no point.
Women were wonderful creatures, but he’d rarely slept with them before Sandra. He had to be careful with his superhuman strength with any mortal that lacked the strength and durability Aigis and Druconicans had. That, and only gods could create a proper Aigis. Even if he and Rox became parents, their child wouldn’t have all the same powers, and chances were they would outlive their child. Baku had warned him of this after he’d wed Sandra. If he and Sandra had offspring, they would’ve shared Sandra’s lifespan by default. Aerigo wasn’t interested in fatherhood, much less leaving behind short-lived children all over the universe.
Right now, there wasn’t much point in making love, but his libido had woken with a vengeance. No amount of convincing himself there wasn’t time for such things would make it go away. He sent his mind vision to where Rox stood in her shower, taking in the blue outline of all her curves and contours.
His free hand bumped into the shower wall at Roxie’s chest level. He shut off his mind vision and reformed his water mirror, then worked on shaving the last section of his chin and neck, grappling with the desire to ogle at Rox’s beautiful figure. At the same time he wondered if there would be time for a little something. A hospital wasn’t the most romantic location, but at least it would save them time world-hopping and finding another location. Would she even consent, or would she bring him back to reality?
Once he finished shaving and showering, Aerigo hastily got out, toweled off, and dressed in fresh, clean clothes. Knowing there were three other men nearby was enough to get him to calm down, but he moved with haste to buy him and Rox more time, just in case. In addition to his usual black cargo pants, he donned his white shirt. He hadn’t been able to wear it since their first night on Druconica, but whoever had washed their clothes had managed to get every last stain out. He felt his neck and face one last time, just to make sure he hadn’t missed a spot while shaving, then shouldered his pack and left the bathroom.
Donai, Skitt, and Arryk were looking out the room-width window and chatting. They all turned at the sound of his footsteps. Donai beckoned him over and gestured for him to sit on a gurney as he took a seat on the other gurney, and the other two sat in guest chairs. Aerigo stood at the edge of the vacant gurney but didn’t sit. He didn’t want to invite them to get comfortable and hold a lengthy conversation. It wasn’t just for him and Rox; he wasn’t sure if Nexus had started his war yet or not. Baku would be able to tell them where the war was and hopefully get them there if Aerigo couldn’t. What was most important was that he and Rox got there and took Nexus down before the war ended. The sooner the better, though. The more time that passed, the more people who died in the war.
Arryk said, “Hun, you look quite handsome now that you’re all cleaned up. Rox is one lucky woman. I’m so jealous!” The Elf gazed at him with open admiration.<
br />
Aerigo cast his gaze towards the adjacent dorm where Rox and Jenna were. He almost cast his mind vision into the room, but controlled himself.
Skitt said, “I’d so ask her out if you two weren’t already together. She’s amazing. I still can’t get over how she did nerve regeneration therapy without any form of anesthesia.”
“Anyway, you two,” Donai said, “we have slightly more important matters than women to discuss. Aerigo,” he said firmly enough to caused Aerigo to turn in his direction, “when we were researching your species, we happened upon some information that’s both controversial and groundbreaking for Kismet. Your return visit has proved that Aigis exist, and that your kind came to Kismet thousands of years ago and saved it from annihilation. Our predominant history books left Aigis out of the story. On top of that, in one of the video files contains proof that not only does a god exist, but that there are at least several of them.” He lowered his gaze and licked his lips. “The reason I’m telling you this is because we want your permission to share specific parts of your video files with the world. The doctors from six hundred years ago wanted to do the same, but you warned them not to for Kismet’s safety.” He met Aerigo’s gaze again. “We were hoping the need for secrecy isn’t in effect anymore.”
Aerigo leaned against the gurney. He hardly remembered much of anything, much less that any part of his stay had been recorded. Daio had visited. Kara had visited. Her visit was probably where talk about gods had taken place. He’d talked with various doctors once he’d started talking again, but what about, he couldn’t recall. The negative emotions from six hundred years ago resurfaced, but he let them drift by. That wasn’t the person he wanted to be for Rox.
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