TH - Book 2 - Chapter 49 - Early Morning Light

Made it, but man... did that take awhile. Not going to lie, I wasn't writing that entire time, I got distracted. Despite being pretty different to most chappies, pretty happy with this one. Just a couple more chapters left to wrap everything up before the end of the book!

I woke up the next day feeling extremely well rested, I couldn’t remember the last time I had such a good sleep. 

I had no one to blame for that but myself. Skyler and I could have taken things a little easier over the last week, and not completely run ourselves ragged, but since neither of us liked to leave a job half done, we always stayed as long as was necessary. Even if it played hell on our sleep schedules.

Rolling out of bed I stretched out my sore muscles. Despite being extremely stiff, I wasn’t as crippled up as I had been the night before. Instead of the intense burning pain, I now had something closer to a pleasant post workout soreness. 

As soon as I was done stretching Lala came stumbling across the bed, meowing at me indignantly. I wasn’t sure where the tiny kitten had been hiding herself but considering how tiny she was, she was struggling to even cross the creases in the comforter on her tiny little paws, she could have been curled up almost anywhere. 

With a sigh I leaned down and swept the tiny creature into my arms. As soon as I did she went from complaining to purring, kneading my arms before curling up into a tiny ball.

“You’re easy to please, aren’t you?” I whispered, lightly scratching the top of the kitten’s head.

As I walked past Skyler’s side of the bed she shifted slightly, and mumbled something I didn’t catch, before sinking further into the covers, smacking her lips. 

“She’s probably dreaming about the chicken we had for dinner last night,” I told the kitten with a grin. “Let’s sneak out, I don’t want to wake her on our day off.”

Lala kitten didn’t reply, she was too busy purring and swatting at my fingers with her tiny paws.

After slipping out the door I made my way down to the central area. Cleo and Leah were lounging in their cat towers, basking in the soft midmorning light, so I deposited Lala in a nearby cat bed before heading towards the kitchen. She complained for about three seconds, before she realized how comfortable the little perch was. Within seconds she was laid out on her back, basking in the warm sunshine, just like the other two.

“Good morning young lady, did you want your breakfast now, or wait for lady Skyler?” Auntie Cho asked from the kitchen, as soon as she saw me. 

“I’ll wait, thanks. I would like a cup of coffee though,” I replied as I sunk into one of the dining room chairs.

“Right away,” the elderly housekeeper replied, as she disappeared from sight.

As soon as she disappeared I reached over and grabbed my tablet from the side table so I could check the local news. I could have easily pulled everything up on my augs, and skipped the tablet, but I preferred having something physical to read off of.  Even with top of the line augs I often found absorbing data directly into my brain fatiguing. Sometimes the old fashioned way was just better.

 Although there wasn’t any truely engrossing in the news, it was hard to find local politics exciting after spending the last week fighting aliens, a few articles did catch my eye. 

Skyler finally staggered out of the bedroom about the same time that Auntie Cho brought me my coffee. Her tousled hair, and disheveled oversized nightshirt, told me she’d spent about as much time getting ready as I did. We normally had a fairly regimented routine, getting cleaned up and dressing up for work long before we left the room. It was a rare day when the two of us could just let go, and have a casual morning like this.

Before I could take a single sip of coffee Skyler swooped in and snatched the cup from in front of me. She took a single sip bringing a sleepy, satisfied smile to her face, before sinking into her seat across from me.

“Why do you always steal my coffee? Auntie Cho already made a pot, it would only take a couple seconds to get you another pot,” I grumbled.

“Your coffee tastes better,” Skyler mumbled before taking another sip. “Did you sleep well?”

“I did, for once,” I replied with a smile. “How about yourself?” 

“Was nice…” Skyler slurred sleepily. 

Within moments of Skyler sitting down Auntie Cho appeared next to us with a fresh cup of coffee for me, and a couple plates full of toast, scrambled eggs and bacon. 

“How are you feeling this morning? Better?” Skyler asked as she slowly picked at her breakfast.

“Much. I’m still sore, but it’s nowhere near as bad as it was yesterday,” I replied quietly. “I’ll probably be back to normal tomorrow.”

“Mhmm… I’m glad,” Skyler mumbled between bites of egg. “You know, I was really surprised when I woke up and found that you weren’t there. It’s not very often you wake up before me.”

“Well,  I wasn’t really that tired last night, just sore. Plus, I did kind of do my best to wear you out in the shower last night. I would have been tired too after a workout like that,” I chuckled.

Skyler’s eyes narrowed at that comment, but the corner of her mouth did rise. Just a little.

“Did you want to have those discussions about our style, and plans for the future today?” Skyler asked.

“I do, but later,” I replied lazily. “I’m actually enjoying having a lazy morning for once. We have all day, there’s no point in rushing it.”

Skyler didn’t say anything more, she just smiled and nodded as she dug into her eggs.

The two of us fell into a comfortable silence as we slowly chewed through our breakfasts. It was only after the plates were removed, and our coffees were refilled, that we picked up the conversation again.

“Did you have anything you wanted to do today? You know, beyond the planned discussions?” I asked between sips of my brew.

Sklyer smiled over the edge of her mug. “Mmmmm…. No, not really. It might sound strange, but I’m actually looking forward to doing nothing for most of the day. It’s a nice change from running around non-stop over the last few days.”

 “I agree. Maybe I’ll collapse on the couch with a good book, and let Lala curl up on my stomach,” I murmured.

“Now that sounds like a good plan,” Skyler agreed. 

After we finished our coffees Skyler stood up and ran a hand through her hair. “You mind if I claim the shower first? Now that I’ve woken up a little, I’m feeling a little dirty.”

“Really? You had a shower right before bed. What could you possibly have gotten up to that made you so filthy?” I asked in mock surprise.

“You know damn well what I got up to last night,” Skyler snorted. “Once might even say, you’re responsible.”

“Maybe… And yeah, feel free to take your shower first, I’m in no rush,” I said. “Although if you’d like some company, I’d be more than happy to oblige you.”

Sklyer smirked. “I appreciate the offer, but that’s kind of how I got into this state in the first place. I’ll be back out in a couple minutes.”

I watched her strut back down the hallway before finishing my own coffee and grabbing my tablet. The late morning sun colored the entire living room in a warm, inviting, orange light, so I slipped into the room and collapsed onto the couch. I couldn’t remember the last time I just took time to do nothing but relax, and I wasn’t going to pass up my chance to do it.

As I predicted, Lala scampered over and climbed up onto the couch before curling up on my stomach. I idly pet the kitten as I swapped to the book app and opened up a trashy novel I’d started months ago and never had the time to finish. It was mind numbingly bad, and that’s exactly what I was looking for today. A low stress, low effort day.

Yeah, it was nice to take it easy once in a while.