The Clinic, Insanely Late Thursday Night

[dark_slippy_thing]

Valentine hadn't actually had sleep since Monday night. He hadn't eaten since a run-in with a duck who had some nasty ice cream on Wednesday.

And he was liable to do neither for a while more, as Naminé was asleep in front of him, and he was bound and determined to spend the entire night watching her.

It wasn't that he was paranoid, really. It was just that he had somehow gotten the notion into his head that if he looked away for a moment, she might somehow be gone again when he looked back. Losing her once this week was more than enough. He couldn't bear to do so again.

She was, after all, his whole world.

(Locked to the girlfriend, if you please. <3)

Comments

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

Run. They'd found her. The cage. Yelling, noises, she wouldn't, she wouldn't, NO --

Naminé's eyes flew open. Breathe. Breathe. Her fingers were twined through his. She was safe. She was home. Right?

"V-valentine?"

[dark_slippy_thing]

"I'm here," Valentine breathed, giving her fingers a gentle squeeze. "Everything's alright now. We're home."

If he wasn't worried he might somehow break her, he'd lean forward to smother her with a hug.

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

Naminé nodded quickly. "R-right. Sorry."

She squeezed back. "Did I ... wake you?"

[dark_slippy_thing]

He shook his head and offered her a tired smile.

"Not at all," he said, "I wasn't asleep."

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

"You weren't?" Her eyes flickered with concern. "It can't be very comfortable, there. You could go back to the room. I'm all right."

[dark_slippy_thing]

"I'm perfectly comfortable right here," Valentine insisted, giving her hand another squeeze. "I'm just not particularly tired, really."

His years of dishonesty seemed to be showing a practical application, at long last.

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

"You look tired," she said softly, her fingers playing lightly with his. "I'm ... sorry to have worried you so."

[dark_slippy_thing]

"You can hardly be held accountable for the actions of a group of evil lunatics, you know." He wasn't going to argue with her for her apology. He really didn't have it in him to do so. So he'd simply point out the truth and leave trivialities about the words he did and did not like for later. "I'll rest when I feel inclined to do so, don't worry."

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

"Knew when I came here," she mumbled, shaking her head. "Not safe. Nowhere is safe."

[dark_slippy_thing]

"There's still no place safer," he replied, clasping both of his hands around hers. "I'll continue to stand by that."

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

"I really thought it was over." She brought his hands in towards her face, to rest her cheek against them. "How stupid of me ..."

[dark_slippy_thing]

"You're so very strong," he said softly, brushing his thumb over her cheek. "I'm proud of you, you know."

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

Her eyes welled up at that, and she bit her lip. "I'm not," she said, nearly angry. "Caught, and I had to be rescued. Again."

[dark_slippy_thing]

"We've all had to be rescued at some point," came the reply. "Some of us from nothing at all."

Nothing at all, he had learned in the past, was more terrifying than any shadow from the sky.

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

"How did you ... know where I was?" Naminé asked. "Did Riku ..."

No, he couldn't have. Their letters had been brief, and deliberately vague in case they were intercepted. She'd never even told him that Sora was here, for fear of the Organization seeking him out.

[dark_slippy_thing]

"We did a good deal of running about," he answered. "It would seem that Sora has a sixth sense about that sort of thing. He was correct regarding your whereabouts all along."

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

"How odd," Naminé said softly. "But then he's always had good instincts, for that sort of thing."

She closed her eyes again. "I'm afraid I don't even know what day it is."

[dark_slippy_thing]

"Thursday, I think. It might be Friday by now. I've gone and lost track as well."

He pulled his chair even closer to the bed and leaned forward, resting his chin on the mattress near her face. "It doesn't matter, really."

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

"It does matter," she murmured. "We've both lost days and you could have been hurt and ..."

Words just weren't coming right at all.

[dark_slippy_thing]

"I'm fine," he reassured her, offering a tired smile. "Never better. More worried about you, really. Are you feeling any better?"

[palestshadow.livejournal.com]

"Much," she said, squeezing his hand lightly. "Not sure why I'm still so tired. All I've done is sleep, it seems. And then I wake up and worry that it's all been a dream and --"