Chapter 42: Marking territory

Rhys, after letting Hill hug Kellen and squeeze him, very maturely and exactly like the Captain that he was, squeezed himself in beside Kellen on his bed, glaring at the others. Daring them to comment on how he was getting as close to Kellen as physically possible without getting into trouble.

Charlie was grinning at his immature behaviour while Hill just rolled her eyes and helped the Field Guides hand out the food. Rhys had given up the role of feeding others in favour of making sure the others knew that Kellen was his, and to back off.

Kellen had to hide his small smile since that would only spur on the other man. If he thought that Kellen approved of this behaviour, he would continue to do so.

Kellen would just have to soothe him after this was all over. Alone. With more than just his words.

Kellen was so busy trying to stop himself from feeding Rhys’ behaviour that when he realised what was going on, he had the biggest plate of food in front of him on the little table while the other four had moved to the regular table and were smirking to each other. Rhys had his plate on his thighs, while Kellen had twice, if not thrice of his food.

Normally, that would be fine. However, Kellen hadn’t been actively guiding anyone for a while. Eating as much food as he was wasn’t necessary. Everyone just kept shoving food at him and Kellen would be honest, he could tell he was putting on more weight.

Kellen frowned down at the plate before him, most of it heavy protein that Rhys wouldn’t want to eat. He felt that this was intentional, meaning he couldn’t pawn any of it off to the person closest to him.

“What’s wrong, sugar?” Rhys asked, leaning in closer to Kellen’s face. Kellen continued to frown.

“This is too much food.” He protested. “I’m the least active of everyone in this room. The others should be eating more.” Kellen said. He noticed how the other Guides glanced at him, Charlie smirking, his cheeks pink as Hill gave a snort. Rhys let out a soft exhale, and Kellen turned to look at him.

“Kellen, sugar, they’re just looking out for you. You’re bedbound, and you like to eat. Why would we get you things that wouldn’t be good for you?” Rhys asked and Kellen shook his head slightly.

“That’s not what I mean. I know that they aren’t getting me things that are bad for me, I just…this is too much food for me right now.” Kellen muttered and Rhys chuckled, pressing a kiss against his cheek.

“You can just…not eat it, Kellen.” He suggested and Kellen frowned deeper. That just was not possible. Kellen was not going to waste food.

“I’m not wasting food.” Kellen told him sternly and watched as Rhys’ expression shifted. Kellen wasn’t quite sure how Rhys was looking at him since he could only see his face out of one eye, but he could tell that it had softened somehow. Rhys pressed another kiss against his cheek.

“Well then, it sounds like the patient needs to eat what’s on his plate. You can get mad at them later, and honestly? You’re perfect, Kellen. There is also more than enough food to go around for the active Guides.” Rhys said. Kellen wasn’t convinced, but the Field Guides who were remaining in his room turned and attempted to soothe Kellen with their words. Charlie was chewing a huge mouthful of food and gave Kellen a thumbs up.

Hill, seeing the younger Guide do that, quickly shoved food into her mouth and turned to give Kellen the exact same motion. The rest of the Guides followed suit.

Kellen was sat in the bed, staring at this odd situation as Taylor knocked on the door and stepped inside.

Taylor looked at the group sitting at the far too close to the bed table, Kellen and Rhys cuddled up against each other like two peas in a pod, and the obvious confusion and upset on Kellen’s face. She just shook her head, sighed, and held out a hand to Hill. Hill quickly fumbled in her pockets before fishing out a lollipop and giving it to her. Taylor opened it without a second thought before she moved towards Kellen’s bed to read his charts.

She simply ignored everything while she worked, leaving Kellen hesitantly eating the food on his plate while everyone else ate like normal. As if this situation was completely normal. While she was here, even more people showed up and Charlie and Hill’s eyes lit up. Charlie and Hill waved them over. Hill was doing it for more nefarious reasons while Charlie was just excited to have more people around.

It was about 15 minutes later when Taylor sighed and finally spoke up.

“Everything is looking good, Kellen. We were worried that something terrible would happen, and thankfully, you just crossed the line where we were worried the biggest reaction would happen. From now on, if something does happen, it will be a relatively minor reaction. Especially since other parts of your body are responding to the healing power that I injected into you when this first happened.” It was incredible news. Taylor delivered it with a lollipop in her mouth, her face stern and her eyes tired.

Kellen was worried she was joking until her shoulders started shaking as she laughed. Her eyes turned green, and watery as she held a clipboard to her chest. Kellen shifted, reading and wanting to go to her, to hug her but he was stuck to the bed because Rhys was on him and his blanket and the table was in the way.

Hill got up without a second thought, wrapping her arm around Taylor’s waist and pulling her in against her, tucking her own chin against Taylor’s shoulder.

“Hey, there’s no need to cry, alright?” She said softly. Kellen wanted to call her a hypocrite, but Kellen agreed with her words. Watching the two women, Kellen had to fight himself from getting up and going to comfort Taylor. Rhys’ soft hand on his arm paused Kellen, and he turned to look at him.

Rhys’ eyes were soft, and carefully, Rhys pushed the small table away, shifted, and within a blink of an eye Kellen was out of the bed and beside Taylor and Hill. He didn’t warn Kellen, so it was quite a shock for him and everyone else for a second. Until Taylor’s eyes began to water again and Kellen reached for her with his good arm.

Hill was on one side, Kellen was on the other and the exhausted Taylor was in between them. Kellen just held her and watched as Rhys reached a hand out and patted on her back as well. She was comforted on all sides, guided and it looked like some of her worst fears were finally coming to an end.

Kellen should be able to feel the relief that she felt, but he didn’t feel relief. He honestly was just filled with excitement that things were going to change and Kellen would be able to go back to ’normal’. He knew full well that things weren’t going to be normal again, not after a gate like that, but he would be able to do something about it.

He didn’t think it was the right time to bring up his excitement, so he just held Taylor as she fought her tears. Hill was whispering things to her that Kellen didn’t really pay attention to. Instead, he focused on the man who was pressed against his back, Taylor’s slightly shaking body, and the voices of the people still in the room with them.

After a while, Taylor indicated that she wanted to be released, and Kellen, Rhys and Hill pulled back. Hill kept her arm around her waist and Kellen kept a firm grip on her shoulder. Taylor sniffed, wiped at her eyes and looked a little embarrassed.

“My apologises. I usually save this kind of behaviour for my office.” She joked and both Kellen and Hill gave her a soft smile.

“Hey, it’s okay. You know I’m terrible with tears, but it’s okay.” Kellen said with a shrug. Taylor gave a soft, wet laugh as Hill pulled Taylor against her, giving her a squeeze.

“You can cry all you want onto my shoulder. Always. And these are happy tears, right? Not sad ones?” Hill asked softly, affectionately. Taylor sniffed, nodding.

“I’m sorry for getting so emotional. This is embarrassing as a Healer.” She admitted and Kellen couldn’t agree with her. It was clear from Hill’s darkening expression that she didn’t agree either.

“You aren’t bringing shame to anyone, Green.” Rhys told her from behind Kellen. She looked up at her Captain, sniffing. “Really. You have been working tirelessly since before everyone was brought back from the Gate to combat everything that could possibly go wrong. You and your team deserve a break, and now that you can see it on the horizon, you’re cracking. That’s okay. That’s normal. That proves you are still human.” Rhys told her.

Kellen wondered if that was actually comforting when he heard the words, but Taylor seemed to think so. Her expression brightened and she gave a nod.

“Yeah. You’re right.” Taylor said, sniffing. “I’m still human. It’s okay to crack.” She said, more to herself than to anyone else. Hill nodded, watching the other woman like a hawk. Taylor sniffed before gently pushing everyone away. Hill stepped back immediately, letting Taylor go and Rhys wrapped Kellen in his arms and pulled him back.

Taylor composed herself slowly, and even her embarrassment shifted away as she cleared her throat.

“Alright. Well, I’m sorry for interrupting your lunch with my tears. It really was just meant to be a quick check of your charts and making sure everything is where it’s supposed to be. At least, within the range that we think it should be.” Taylor said with a small, sheepish smile. Kellen smiled at her in return.

“You’re just doing your job, Taylor. You didn’t interrupt lunch. Hell, you watched more Espers enter here while you were checking everything. You’re fine.” Kellen told her and Taylor nodded seriously, but looked a little embarrassed. Hill chuckled. She leaned in and flicked the stick in her mouth carefully.

“I was planning to bring you lunch once we were done anyways. I had a feeling you wouldn’t be taking care of yourself.” Hill told her, smiling, and Taylor did flush at that.

“I can take care of myself.” Taylor grumbled, and Kellen grinned.

“Yeah. Says the woman we had to force to take care of herself earlier today. Hill was right to be worried about you.” Kellen said, knowing that she could point the finger at him, but he just gave her a pointed look and leaned back against Rhys. Showing that he was getting the care and attention he was supposed to. Taylor narrowed her gaze, but just huffed instead.

“I have too many things to do right now.” Taylor muttered, escaping and Kellen laughed.

“I’ll visit you in your office after!” Hill called after her as Taylor closed the door behind her. Kellen chuckled.

“Good luck, Hill. She’s going to push you away.” Kellen told Hill, talking about the food delivery she was planning to do.

“I know.” Hill said, and Kellen got the distinct feeling they weren’t speaking about the same thing.

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