Book 2 - Chapter 48 - Soreness, Showers and...

“Looks like someone’s already been by to pick up your car,” Skyler said as we slowly made our way into the garage.

“I’ll have to thank Agnes and my mother later,” I replied as I propped myself up to see out the window. “Right now I’m just glad I don’t have to walk the extra distance from the upstairs garage to our apartment.”

“Are you really in that much pain?”

“No, I’m not really in pain. It’s more just a low level soreness, all over my body, and a feeling of weakness,” I admitted. “It feels like I’ve been exercising for a month straight, and I’m getting all the post workout soreness all at once.”

“Uncomfortable, but not completely crippled,” Skyler replied, nodding. “Got it.”

She effortlessly maneuvered the truck over to my spot and set it down. It was so smooth that I didn’t even know we’d touched down until she turned off the engine. 

“You think we should unload the truck tonight?” I asked as I fumbled with the door handle.

“There’s no need. It’s not like we had a place to store Morty and the others inside our apartment, I just left them floating about, out of reach of the cats. If, for some strange reason, we need them in the apartment later I can always release the hatches remotely and summon them,” Skyler replied. 

She slipped out of the driver's seat and came around to my side of the truck before I managed to open the door. “Come on now, out you get.”

I smiled sheepishly before throwing an arm around her shoulder and sliding out. Despite my embarrassment I couldn’t do much more than hobble up the stairs and through the door into our condo.

As soon as the pair of us stumbled into the main area Auntie Cho came shooting out of the kitchen.

“My lady, are you alright? Are you injured? I will call the doctor immediately!” she exclaimed.

“That won’t be necessary. I’m not actually hurt, I’m just extremely worn out,” I explained as I limped to the table. 

“If you’re sure…” she said skeptically.

“I am. You can even ask Skyler if you don’t believe me.”

She glanced at Skyler, who nodded, before she relaxed. “That’s good! I was worried, the last time you were that crippled up it was because you fell out of that tree in the mistress's atrium. You didn’t want to admit you were hurt back then either, despite the broken arm.”

My ears heated up at both the memory, and Skyler’s crooked grin. I’d forgotten about that one, and it was something I hadn’t shared with her before, I was probably going to have to explain myself later.

“Well, I’m not suffering any major injuries this time, but I am starving. Do you think you could cook us up an early dinner tonight? Nothing fancy, maybe something we could eat with our hands,” I suggested, gently lowering myself into a chair.

“I don’t think I could hold utensils properly right now,” I added under my breath.

Auntie Cho eyed me up suspiciously, then finally nodded. “Would you like appetizers, or something more simple?”

Skyler’s eyes lit up. “Do we have any chicken? I’d love a chicken burger with real meat, none of that fake fowl stuff. It’s been awhile, and I think we deserve a treat.”

“I think there’s some in the freezer, and if not I know there are a couple breasts upstairs. I’ll prepare some for you,” Auntie Cho replied, smiling at Skyler’s excitement. “It’ll probably take about an hour, if that’s alright.”

“That’ll be fine. I’m getting hungry, but I can wait,” I told her.

As Auntie Cho wandered back towards the kitchen Skyler wandered over and stood at my side. “You know, it wouldn’t hurt for us to get cleaned up before dinner. It’s no wonder that Auntie Cho thought you were injured, based upon the state of our clothing.”

Wincing slightly, I looked down at myself. My previously black outfit was now caked in a layer of dirt, slime and antithesis guts. Since the SV-Seventeen had pretty much self-destructed on me just mere minutes before my muscles gave out, I really hadn’t thought about my appearance that much. Now that it had been brought to my attention I was painfully aware of the trail of grime that I’d been leaving in my wake.

“You should have said something sooner. I would have at least taken my shoes off,” I groaned.

“Please, you’re so crippled up right now I doubt you’d be able to bend over far enough to take off your shoes,” Skyler countered. “And if you did, I doubt you’d be able to stand up straight again afterwards."

“Hold still for a minute,” she exclaimed as she crouched down in front of me and began to unlace my boots.

“You don’t have to do that, I’m not an invalid,” I protested.

“Do you want to do it?” She asked with a smirk.

My pride drove me to say yes, but my body strongly protested. In the end, my body won out. 

“No,” I finally admitted quietly.

“Then there you go,” Skyler chuckled as she quickly finished de-booting me. “I’m going to take these back to the front, and lock up the weapons away from enquiring paws. Do you think you can get to the shower on your own, or do you want to wait until I get back?”

“I can make it,” I said, doing my best not to pout.

“Good. Then pass me your bow and Rending Wave,” Skyler said, holding out her hand.

I slowly slipped the bow off my shoulder, then disconnected my scabbard and quiver from my belt. As soon as I was done Skyler grabbed it all and practically skipped away. I couldn’t help but feel jealous of her seeming boundless energy when I was crippled up like this.

Once she was gone I managed to struggle to my feet and stumble towards the bedroom. Half way down the halfway I was met by the cats. Leah and Cleo first, tearing down the hallway like their lives depended on it, followed by Lala, galloping awkwardly after them, looking like she was having the time of her life.

Thankfully the kitten didn’t stop and demand attention like usual. I didn’t really want to cover her in antithesis parts, and whatever toxins I’d been wading through in the Canal area. 

I hurried into the bedroom, closing the door behind me so the Cats couldn’t get in until I’d cleaned up. Stumbling into the bathroom I shucked my clothes and tossed them into the bathtub. I’d already made a mess of the front area, I wasn’t going to make the same mistake in our bedroom. Plus, we could close off the bathroom to keep the cats out until we managed to clean the gunk off our gear.

After slipping into the shower enclosure I cranked both the temperature and pressure and let the water wash over me. The multiple shower heads massaged my sore muscles, and swept the grime away. It felt good, really good.

I’m not sure how long I stood in the shower, but when I finally stepped out of the bathroom Skyler was sitting there on the bed. 

“Better?” she asked.

“So much better,” I admitted.

“Good, then sit your butt down, so I can dry your hair.” 

As I slipped down on the bed in front of her Skyler snatched the towel out of my hands and slowly began to working on my hair.

“I was thinking, since you’re going to be down for the next day or so, we should have a couple of those discussions that we’ve been putting off. If we plan to have a theme, where we want to take our kit, that sort of stuff,” Skyler declared.

“You’ll get no arguments from me. It’s not like I’ve intentionally been putting them off, we’ve just been so busy the last week we just haven’t found the time.”

“I know. I guess this forced downtime is a blessing in disguise,” Skyler continued.

“Uh-huh,” I mumbled, as I enjoyed the sensation of her slowly running the towel through my hair.

“But not tonight! Tonight we’re going to sit on the couch, enjoy some popcorn, and watch scary movies!” Skyler suddenly declared.

I twisted about, and looked her in the face. “What about the discussions?”

“They can happen tomorrow,” Skyler replied. “Besides,I know you’re not really disappointed about putting off the discussions, you just don’t want to watch scary movies.”

“That’s because you choose the ones with the cheapest jumpscares,” I pouted.

“They’re the best ones to make you cling to me!” she replied cheekily before dropping the towel into my hands. “I’d really like to jump all over you right now, but I’m still filthy, and I need to clean up before dinner.”

“You know… I just got out of the shower, but I don’t mind helping you with that,” I said suggestively.

Skyler’s face lit up, and she leaned down to grab my hand before wandering towards the bathroom. “You know, that’s the best idea I’ve heard all day.”