“Darling,” Ian said in a gentle voice that had Tenny meeting his gaze again. “It’s nine o’clock in the morning.”
“Oh.”
Ian folded himself a little less-elegantly than usual into the chair on his right, and that was when Tenny noticed the fatigue in his face; the slow, unusually heavy movements of his body. He’d been a dancer, once, in another life, Tango had said, and he carried himself like one still, like he could burst into a jeté at any moment. Now, though, he looked as mortal and gravity-afflicted as the rest of them.
Tenny sipped more coffee. “You should go back to the hotel and get some rest.”
Ian propped an elbow on the back of his chair so he was half-turned toward him, his smile tired, but true, reaching all the way up to his eyes. “I assure you, I’m perfectly comfortable here. Where’s your better half?”
“Getting X-rays.”
“Just now? Tell me they at least gave him pain killers.”
Tenny made a face. “No. I’d already given him morphine tabs, though. He was seeing pink elephants by the time we got here.”
Ian chuckled. “Needs must.”
Silence settled over them, but a comfortable one. Tenny hadn’t felt anxious before – he hadn’t felt anything – but Ian’s presence was a balm he hadn’t known he needed. He wondered how many people he’d been that to; he didn’t think it was a high number.
In a low voice, Ian said, “I hear the two of you brought back…a souvenir, of sorts.”
Tenny drained off the rest of his coffee, stomach rolling unhappily. “Reese’s idea, not mine.” A sideways glance proved Ian was watching him, and he made a face. “He gave me this line about us having been given a second chance, and that he deserved one, too.” He wiped a hand down his face and spoke between his gapped fingers. “Fuck me, but I couldn’t say no.”
Ian chuckled. “Perhaps keep him under lock and key for a bit.”
“Mercy’s babysitting him.”
“Ah. That’ll do it.”
“There you are!”
Ian turned and Tenny sat forward to peer around him. He blinked a few times, trying to rectify what he was seeing. Three people walked toward them. Raven in the lead, with a nervous Cassandra at her heels. Toly brought up the rear, bored-faced and clearly on guard duty.
“We’ve walked all over this bloody hospital looking for you,” Raven continued, as they arrived to stand in front of them.
“I texted you,” Ian said.
Raven whipped out her phone and frowned at it. “It didn’t come through. I’ve got no reception here.” She tucked the phone away and swapped a look between the two of them. “You two look knackered.”
“We are a bit, I’m afraid,” Ian said.
Tenny said nothing.
“You,” she said, focusing on Tenny, “lookawful.”
“Same to you,” Tenny bit back. He didn’t want to deal with her right now. Or perhaps ever.
“Pfft.” She dropped down in the chair on his left, Cassandra sitting on her far side a beat later. “I always look fabulous. You, though.” She turned to him, frowning, armed with a clean handkerchief.
He leaned back away from her, shoulder bumping into Ian. “Whatare you doing?”
She gave him a stern look. “Are you enjoying sitting around with a face full of blood?”
“I meant to tell you,” Ian said, sounding like he held back laughter, the traitor.
“Hold still.” Raven dampened the cloth with water from a bottle, and Tenny decided he was too tired to fight it. Closed his eyes and let her wipe the grime and dried blood from his cheeks.
He’d die before he told her, but it felt rather nice. After the first few strokes, he found the tension that had appeared upon her arrival bleeding back out.
