Wildlands (rskde & BurningWillows)

[BurningWillows]

When they reached their new base, everyone unloads before a few reccomend making a trip back to the hotel, just to collect important things like the girl's armor, weaponry, and the radio equipment. With Serena in her condition she refuses to let Alex leave, overwhelmed from the past 48 hours and adrenaline coursing through her.

"Can we go somewhere quiet?" she whispered, her head still pounding, "Please."

"I'll set up a section for my medbay," Arya called over to Shrake, "Set Kat up. She'll be okay though. Tough woman."

 

[Risky]

Alex nods before taking her hand, walking into a mattress store, which still has all of its merchandise mostly in tact. He leads her to a secluded corner, which looks like its been made into a fort by the mattresses around it. He sits down against the wall and hugs her tightly, his eyes clenched shut as his forehead rests against hers.

"I'm so sorry I let them take you, Serena." He whispers to her, hoping that she can hear him with her impaired hearing.

 

[BurningWillows]

Her adrenaline pounding heart was hard to hear over, not to mention the ringing that was still in her ears but dying out. His voice sounded like it came through a tunnel, but she could just hear it.

"We had no idea," she murmured, resting her head on his chest, "I...I couldn't do anything. I'm...I'm sorry Alex."

She didn't know why, but she felt bad for the things that had happened. In truth she'd done nothing, but she felt like she hadn't tried hard enough when one of the men had groped her breasts, or when the other tried to sneak his hand up her skirt.

"You rescued me again," she sighed, "I held onto my necklace and prayed you'd find me."

 

[Risky]

"I told you that I'd never leave you." He says to her quietly before kissing her lightly on the top of her head. "I love you, and I'm never letting you go, I'm never going to let you out of my sight." He says to her.

"You've done nothing wrong.. You should rest, you've had a helluva last three days." He whispers to her, the dark mattress store is almost inviting for sleep as he begins to stroke her hair softly.

 

[BurningWillows]

Serena relaxed in his arms, her eyes closing slowly.

"I love you too. Thank you for being the badass hero I know you are."

 

[Risky]

He continues stroking her hair, a smile growing on his face as she speaks to him.

"Sleep tight Serena." He mutters to her before falling asleep, his back pressed against a mattress next to them.

 

[BurningWillows]

Katerina woke in the morning, her shoulder and hip on fire, but otherwise alive.

"Kevin?" she called, peering around for the man she loved.

After making sure Katerina was comfortable, Arya spent most of the evening talking to Kyle as they sat against one of the walls in the cleared store she'd chosen. All they did was chat, but at one point in the night she'd fallen asleep leaning on his shoulder, her hand resting on Max's head.

As morning came and Kat woke, it woke Arya too, making her head snap up and look around before relaxing.

"It's okay Kat," she replied, "He was one of the volunteers to collect stuff from the hotel. They got back late last night, and I think they all went to bed except a patrol. Don't worry, he'll come visit soon."

 

[Risky]

The two women speaking to each other doesn't wake Kyle, as he continues to rest his head against Arya's. He seems to be content, almost as if he didn't want to be woken up at all.

Max pants happily, having the woman next to him pet him all night long had been good for him, his tail continuing to wag back and forth all through the night.

 

[BurningWillows]

Without Kevin to talk to, she turns to Arya for conversation, knowing its going to be a long day stuck in the bed as she heals. They chat about nothing important as the rest of the team slowly wakes.

"Do you think we'll ever be done here?" Kat finally asks, looking up at the cieling, "Like...do you ever hope we can be done with this cartel once and for all and just go home? Spend a week or two as average people."

"I've hoped for it back when my parents knew I was alive," Arya replied, "Now I'd just like to see the cartel burn. But for a regular life...I don't know. I'm not sure with all we've seen we can be regular folk."

"If this all ends and we move back to the states, Kevin and I are buying a house together."

"That serious huh?"

"Yeah," her head turned to look at the doc, "I'd give my life for this team, but I'd just as quickly lay my life down for him. He's all I got."

"I know how you feel," she murmured, her eyes turning to look at Kyle, "Having someone at your side -someone who believes in you- makes a lot of difference on how hard you fight out here. Everyone needs that hope. Hope that we can wake up one day and they'll be safe, and so will we. Whether its our family, or loved ones, or friends."

 

[Risky]

Max yaps happily as they talk, the dog gets up before circling around to Arya's lap, laying down on his belly with his head rested in her lap.

Kyle's eyes open and he looks at the doctor for a moment before moving his head off of hers. "Morning Arya, good morning Kat." He says groggily, moving his arms above his head as he stretches with a groan.

 

[BurningWillows]

"Morning Kyle," she breathed, scratching Max behind his ears.

"Morning dog whisperer," Katerina chirped, seeming in a better mood now than when she had woken up.

Max was still apprehensive to the rest of the team, tolerate of them being around but defensive if they got too close. Kat had almost gotten her hand bit off the first time she had tried to meet Max. It made Arya feel special that the canine had taken such a liking to her.

"So once Snowy gets here for Kat, you and me can go grab some breakfast," Arya explained as he stretched, "maybe we can take a gander around too, see if there is anything worth exploring in this place."

 

[Risky]

He leans forward and begins to whisper into her ear, his hand over hers. "I'd like to explore you before anything else." He whispers before going back to leaning against the wall, a big grin on his face, waiting to see her reaction.

Winters walks into the store silently, seeing his girlfriend as he rushes over, swooping down and pressing his lips to hers, as if trying to say 'I missed you.'

 

[BurningWillows]

Arya grin widened but she said nothing, watching Snowy come in and beeline to Katerina.

"And that's our cue," Arya whispered then added louder, "Are you okay watching her today? She's bedridden at least for the next 48 hours so those wounds can heal a little. But she can sit up and there's a board game store across the way so maybe you'll find a game or two not stolen. Kyle and I want to...explore a bit."

"Have fun," Kat motioned them away, keen on spending the day with him without interruptions, "We have a radio if we need you."

"C'mon," she got up, patting her side for Max to follow and holding her other hand out for Kyle.

 

[Risky]

He takes her hand and gets up, walking with her out of the medical area. "So, are we gonna head to somewhere quiet?" He asks her. "Or are we gonna do some exploring of this giant super mall that we have just claimed as ours?" He raises his eyebrows at her.

 

[BurningWillows]

Her fingers intertwine with his since no one is looking, as they slip into one of the smaller halls.

"I know most of the team set up camp in the main area there, which means some of the second floor and more over this way is empty, and seclusive," she murmured, her doe-like eyes looking up at him, "I guess I should tell you now I'm new to this. I had a boyfriend or two when I was in high school, but academics were always a priority, and uh...waiting till marriage was a big value in my family."

She looked down, blushing fiercly, "After high school life got so busy that I never had time for relationships. I went through med school, into military then here..."

She hoped he'd understand, unable to say it out loud. She was 29 for pete sake's, most her age had slept with men, or at least had more than two boyfriends that never past the kissing stage.

 

[Risky]

He raises his eyebrows. "I took my career a little seriously, so I never really made time for women." He explains. "Not that I never kissed them or anything, but like you said, I never found time to have my first time.. So if you don't want to, I can understand." He says to her quietly as they continue to walk.

 

[BurningWillows]

She was stuck at a crossroads between her desires and her family values. She wanted to say "yes, I want this" but at the same time she also wanted to follow what she'd been raised on and wait till marriage.

"I..." she frowned, unsure, "I guess I should have told you this before but I was embarrassed. Its probably why I never realized you even liked me. I'm not good at, well this."

She squeezed his hand, "I know you better than anyone here Kyle. The last few months we've had a lot of time to grow close. I want to be with you. I just...tell me what would you do in my shoes?"

 

[Risky]

"If I were in your shoes, I would wait.. Honestly, I could turn out to be some scumbag you never wanna be with again and then you've wasted one of the most pure things you posses, so wait until marriage, or until you believe you're ready." He says to her.

"I'm perfectly fine with having a relationship where we get to know eachother and kiss and all of that stuff."

 

[BurningWillows]

Her feet stopped moving as she turned and hugged him hard, burying her face into his chest.

"Thank you," she murmured, "Thank you for understanding."

She took his hand again, "Let's spend the day together. We can wander the mall and see what there is. We all need a day to recuperate anyways."

 

[Risky]

He just nods while hugging her back, closing his eyes, wanting to enjoy the momenf with her.

When she begins to move away he listens to what she had to say, a grin finding itself on his face. "Agreed, we should explore the mall, there might even be a movie theater or something in here." He says. "Or a hardware store with a working video player."

 

[BurningWillows]

The doc nodded in agreement, "Maybe we'll score some food too, or at least something entertaining. Oh hey look, a pet store!"

She dragged him and Max in, looking at the the mostly empty shelves in the front, the small animal and cat sections picked clean. Around the back was the dog section and Arya slipped back there alone, grinning happily at what she found.

"Max never got a Christmas," she called out, coming back to the front with her hands behind her back, "I think he deserves one too, don't you?"

 

[Risky]

Kyle wanders around the store, completely losing track of Arya as he does so. He looks around before he hears her speaking, he turns to her and raises his eyebrows.

"No, I guess he didn't, I don't know if you're offering." He asks her with the raise of his eyebrows in her direction, curious of what she was talking about.

 

[BurningWillows]

She pulls out her right hand first, revealing a new black leather collar in great condition with shiny metal spikes as well as an army bandana.

"To make him look more badass," she giggled, watching for Max and Kyle's reaction, "Want to try it on? There's also one more gift after this."

 

[Risky]

"Max doesn't like bandanas, but I'll take the collar and when we get home, I'll write his name on it or something, and then he can be like.. The family dog.. That also detects bombs and drugs." He says with a laugh.

"What's the other gift?" He asks, his eyebrows raised.

 

[BurningWillows]

Arya stuck her bottom lip out, pouting, "Awwww, c'mon Max. I find you something and you don't even like it?"

Shrugging her shoulders she lets it go, knowing some dogs were picky.

"Oh the other thing?"

Grinning she pulled out a toy ball, tossing it in the air at Max laughing, "Catch boy!"