Chapter 35: A towel can help any situation

Kellen must have dozed off at some point since when he woke up, he felt fresher and cleaned up, and Rhys wasn’t in sight.

He panicked at first until he heard the tap go in the bathroom connected to his room and the bathroom door opened soon after. Rhys gave him a soft smile as he noticed Kellen was awake.

“Sorry sugar. Didn’t mean to wake you. I was just getting up to pee and take off my jacket so that we could sleep more comfortably.” Rhys told him and Kellen nodded. He was still sleepy, and thus, reached out with his arms open for Rhys. It had to look a little strange since one of his arms was still in a sling while he was lying down, but Rhys said nothing about it.

He made quick work of his Captain’s jacket, tossing it on a chair nearby before climbing back onto the hospital bed with Kellen. He wrapped himself around the other man, sighing contently as he nestled into him.

“I hate being in the Medical Bay, but I like the beds.” Rhys admitted and Kellen chuckled.

“Because I can’t wiggle away from you?” Kellen said sleepily and Rhys chuckled.

“Exactly.” Rhys said. “We are like two sardines on this thing. It’s great.” He said and Kellen chuckled, patting him warmly where he could reach him.

“You’re a silly man. I like you.” Kellen told him and Rhys tensed, before he melted into Kellen.

“I like you too, Kellen.” Get some sleep. I’m right here.” Rhys told him and Kellen sighed. His eye fluttered closed.

“I’m here too.” He mumbled to Rhys before he fell back asleep.

~

“Kellen Woods, you damn pervert. Wake up.” Was Kellen surprised to hear Taylor’s voice? No. Was he surprised by her calling him a pervert? Yes. That was surprising.

Kellen blinked, his eyes full of crusties as he woke up. At least, one of them was as he stared up into the disapproving face of the woman who was taking care of him. Well, her voice was harsher than her expression was. She actually looked a little happy to see him, but that didn’t hide the fact that she was angry at him.

“What’s this about me being a pervert?” Kellen asked, his voice heavy with sleep. She glared at him.

“You might have cleaned up the physical evidence, but you are hooked up to monitoring machines. I can’t believe you.” She accused. Kellen could tell that she wasn’t actually that angry. She was angry though, just not as mad as she was putting on.

“How else do you think I was going to convince him that this was a good idea?” Kellen said, yawning and Taylor snorted, shaking her head before she sighed.

“Alright. I can’t even argue with that since I know Guides who do far more to convince their Espers to do things for them. You two were safe? No kissing?” She confirmed and Kellen flushed. He didn’t think he would ever have to share these kinds of details with his friend, but here he was.

“No kissing. No penetration. He wouldn’t let me get away with that. He cares about me too much.” Kellen muttered, a little upset. Taylor’s gaze was sharp, before she sighed. She shook her head again.

“You’re lucky it was me who caught this. Carlos would have ripped a strip off of you. The Captain is off dealing with the footage right now. You’ve turned over a new damn leaf. I guess I should be thankful you weren’t sleeping your way through the front lines as well. You’re keeping it to one man.” Taylor muttered and Kellen gave a snort.

“I had no interest in anyone but him. I would have been ’sleeping my way’ across the front lines with him.” Kellen told her and Taylor’s face flushed before she scowled.

“Don’t give him any ideas, alright? I know you two are going to go to the front lines again, and I do not need to walk in on you two in some kind of compromising position. Ugh. I’m upset even imagining it.” She was putting on a good show, but she was smiling under it all.

“Hey, I wouldn’t get ill if I walked in on you doing something inappropriate. I’d just throw you a towel and tell you to make sure you cleaned up after.” Kellen said, a smile creasing his cheeks as Taylor flushed.

“You-ugh, I’m going to tear a strip off of Brent when I see him again. I can’t believe he taught you such naughty things. That has Brent all over it, not the Captain!” She accused and Kellen laughed. She was right. Kellen had watched Brent do that to someone before, which was why he said it. Kellen hadn’t even known someone was in there when Brent had stopped him from entering.

The thought of the man made Kellen’s chest feel tight, but it was good to hear Taylor talking about him like he wasn’t lost, just momentarily displaced. They all knew that they were going to get him back.

Kellen was glad that they were all behaving that way.

The door opened and Carlos strolled in, his head down as he looked over some files.

“Is he awake yet?” He asked and Taylor chuckled.

“One could argue he’s too awake.” Taylor said and Kellen felt his face warm. That asshole was making fun of him! Carlos raised his head, looking a little confused before he glanced at Kellen.

“What? How can someone be too awake, Taylor? You’re being ridiculous.” Carlos told her and Taylor chuckled to herself. She winked at Kellen, moving out of the way for Carlos to check the machines. He clearly didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary and nodded.

“We found enough blood to match your blood type and secured it without setting off any alarms. We’ll be quietly sourcing enough for everyone else over the next week. Thankfully, the Captain agreed to do some good cover story antics to make it make sense that we need all of this blood. We don’t want those who want to harm us to catch onto what we are doing. In case they mess with the blood.” Taylor said.

Kellen would have said she was over-reacting if the whole reason he had ended up here wasn’t because he saw the E.A.G. assassinating his parents. He just nodded in agreement to her words.

“Fighting?” He asked and Taylor nodded.

“Yeah. He’s called it ’team training’ but he’s training the older, more experienced A Classes. They are going to make a show of it all over town. A true blood bath. We’ll be able to sneak in a few extra litres of blood because of it.” She said and Kellen nodded before he paused.

“Wouldn’t they question it because of your powers?” Kellen asked and Taylor gave a slow, menacing grin.

“Kellen, how much do you think the general public, hell, how much do you know about my powers?” Kellen blinked at her question.

“You’re able to heal wounds up to a certain level.” Kellen said and Taylor nodded.

“Yeah, but I can’t create blood. I can rebuild limbs, bones, reattach limbs if I get them in good condition, but I can’t make blood. I’m not a full god, only a partial one.” She said with a laugh.

Kellen wasn’t sure if that was a good or a bad thing, but it was good to have more information about her powers.

“I see. So blood is something that you will always need. What about the artificial stuff?” Kellen asked and she shook her head.

“For some reason my powers do not react well to the artificial blood. So we leave that for the general public and keep the fresh blood for the Guilds and Centers. Even the terrorists know that, which is why we are being so careful. Carlos made me aware that we should keep this solution hush hush until we complete it on you and everyone else. Once that is done, we can let the D.E.C. know and everyone else.” She said and Carlos nodded along with her words beside her.

“Better to be safe now, than sorry later.” He said. Kellen couldn’t help but agree. If he was saying it, then Kellen really did trust it. He had a better understanding of the E.A.G. out of everyone here.

“Okay. So, what time do you want to get this started? Or, do you want to do the monitored guiding session with Rhys and Charlie first?” Kellen asked and Taylor froze.

“Oh! I had almost forgotten about that! Carlos, can we hold off while we get that done first? It would be best if Kellen was there the first time for everyone’s peace of mind.” Carlos grumbled, sounding like a crotchety old man, but he agreed in the end.

“Fine. Appease that damn Captain of yours first. You let him control you too much.” He complained and Kellen grinned.

“And you give Sakura nothing to work with.” Kellen accused and Carlos frowned.

“She doesn’t need it. She has everyone else to worry about. I can, at the very least, manage myself.” He complained and Kellen grinned. Uh huh. That’s exactly what was going on. It was cute that he thought that he was being kind to her when he was, in fact, causing her more trouble because he wasn’t giving her enough information to work with.

Kellen was fairly certain that Carlos plagued her dreams. Making them nightmares.

Kellen grinned at them as Taylor pulled out her phone and called someone. It became clear who when she spoke.

“Hello Henry. Is Charlie with you? He is? Perfect. Can you ask him to come down to the Medical Bay? It’s about what he agreed to do yesterday.” Taylor said and Kellen watched as she spoke to his Dad calmly. “You’ll find out later. Promise it’s nothing too dangerous. Kellen suggested it.” Another pause and Taylor’s expression shifted to one of a smile. “Haha. You know Kellen wouldn’t put him at risk if it wasn’t important. I’m also sure Kellen explained all of the dangers to him. Alright. Thanks, Henry. Talk to you later.” She hung up with a sigh.

“Charlie hadn’t told him?” Kellen suggested and Taylor shook her head with a slight smile.

“Your Dad sounded angry. Charlie will probably be delayed explaining himself, if I know your parents.” She said and Kellen chuckled. Yeah, she might be right about that. Kellen laid back, closing his eyes for a moment more. He was feeling a little tired, so he would take a moment to close his eyes for a little longer.

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