practicality

He sighed, the noise frustrated. "Elena, I'm sorry, but my head still hurts - you're going to have to be a little clearer."

"Well, I'm not much of a collector, but the thought is appreciated." He was glad Aeris' spell had taken care of the bruising, and that the mess his knee had become was hidden under the splint and bandages - on the whole, he looked better off than the last few times she'd visited. He flipped through the book, and pulled out the green ribbon bookmark with a smile. "You really thought of everything."

He waved dismissively. "Don't worry about it. As you said, its been a difficult few days, and things were not the same as they are now."

"We do have an ice machine on the freezer, you know. But swelling means blood flow is getting there - they didn't actually cast me to leave room for it. And I'm sure the cookies will be appreciated." He glanced down at her question - he didn't really want to recap the whole story, but not doing so would probably worry her more. "I'm not sure if you're aware of this already, but some of us have been experiencing...alternate timelines, I suppose. I believed the Turks were hunting me, and was in the process of doing something rash when Reno stopped me. Perhaps with a little more force than strictly necessary, but in his defense, I shot him first."

And of course, he was right about the worrying, but to her credit, she didn't dissolve into flailing concern all over him. Instead she just lost all of the blush color and a little extra and stared at him a moment getting her thoughts back in a coherent line. Finally she said slowly, "I hadn't been paying that much attention to the Network, but I did gather there was something odd going on. And you were acting strangely, but I figured whatever it was would wear off, and you wouldn't tell me where you were going. He, um, cornered you, I suppose, and you overreacted, thinking he was after you in a quite different way?"

Her forehead furrowed at the mention of an electro-mag rod, and she shot an alarmed and suspicious look at his thigh. When she next spoke, her voice was flat. Probably hiding a distinct fear for him. "He shot you twice."

Sheska took a deep breath and for a moment, she wasn't sure if she was going to cry, yell, or do something completely different. As it was, she removed her glasses, rubbed her hands over her face, and exhaled a slow, shaky breath. She had promised him no lectures. If she just kept repeating that to herself, maybe it would make it true. She couldn't pretend everything was ok with this, though, and wound up keeping her hands over her face when she next spoke. "Um... How long are you going to be healing?"

She nodded with a small noise of acknowledgment and looked at him through her fingers. "You two aren't going to try and hurt each other as soon as you're back on your feet, are you?"

She nodded understanding, keenly aware of his hands on hers but carefully not looking (or squinting, as there was no way she could bring herself to separate right now) at them. "I should hope so. I don't blame him for being angry at this Desai person, but if she really is who they say she is, there is going to be more security around her... You won't let him go after her, will you?" She wasn't feeling particularly charitable toward Reno at the moment, but she didn't want to think about the repercussions of a failed assassination attempt. As it was, with him announcing his enmity on the Network like that there were probably already agents set to keep an eye on the Turks.

She returned the smile with a wry, "So says the man with two wounds, rather than one. Maybe you should ask Aeris-san to do that." She could have kicked herself. Here she was supposed to be keeping him cheerfully a-bed, and he was reassuring her.

She curled her hand loosely, slipping her glasses back on with the other hand. "I haven't heard from Elena in a while... Is she all right? She and Reno seemed to be getting along well at the breakfast the other day." For a moment she had the insane notion of never washing that hand again, but dismissed it as silly and ridiculously childish. ... But she did cup the one hand in the other as though it were a precious, breakable object, and watched his face.

She looked at him, puzzled. What was it with people being intentionally vague the last few days? "Well... I'm glad she's all right. I think she had been a bit lonely, when she was living with me. Though this was, perhaps, more excitement than she really wanted."

"Perhaps...she was always closer to the other two Turks, and not having them around..." He shrugged slightly. "And I think this was a little more excitement than any of us wanted." He glanced at the clock, and, seeing that enough time had passed, reached over for the glass of water and bottle of painkillers.