Chapter 63: The Morning After

Dean awoke the next morning, forced back into the realm of the living by what little sunlight that managed to pierce through the cloud cover.

He rubbed his eyes and looked around him. His room was the same as it always was. More of a storage facility for tactical gear and rations than an actual living space.

But there was one difference today. Yuki’s sleeping face was nuzzled tightly into his chest. Her tanned arms wrapped around his pale skin in stark contrast.

She was still fast asleep, and the moment he tried to pull away, she instinctively clung closer to him. Whispering something that caused him to smile.

“Dean… don’t go…”

That was it, the simple desire to stay by his side, even if subconsciously, and the pouting expression she made in her sleep was enough to forced Dean to remain there. Laying as he petted her silky hair.

It was another hour before Yuki woke up, and when she did, she didn’t know how to respond. It was not like she had ever spent the night with a man before, let alone woke up by his side without anything to cover the two of them save for the bedsheets.

She blushed, averted her gaze, refocused on Dean who seemed almost tauntingly confident, and then averted her gaze again. All while doing her best to conceal her body with the sheet, as if Dean hadn’t gotten a good look at everything the night before.

Dean found her complete inexperience cute, enough so that he couldn’t help but taunt the young woman.

“You know you’re adorable when you pout like that, right?”

Yuki’s mouth instinctively opened to defend herself, but shut itself just as quickly. Instead, she latched on close to him and just pouted more.

“Shut up…”

Dean chuckled when he heard this, eventually convincing her to let go and stop latching onto him like a lamprey.

“You know… If we stay like this for much longer Katherine’s going to force her way in here… Who else is going to cook breakfast, her?”

Yuki giggled as she let go of Dean and got out of bed. Clambering into her clothes from the night before, while he laid back and watched with smug satisfaction.

Naturally, she knew what she was doing, but didn’t call him on it, instead she joined in on his joke before walking out of the door with a more confident strut in her stride.

“That would be a disaster… So unless we want to warm up the leftovers from that crayfish pasta I made last night. I guess I should head down there.”

Katherine was by no means a bad cook. In fact, she frequently helped Yuki with domestic chores when she had the time. But Dean absolutely preferred Yuki’s cooking.

He couldn’t explain it… But Katherine’s cooking was clinical, by the book. Whereas Yuki’s cooking seemed to be more instinctive and improvised. Her dishes were never quite the same, but also never bland as a result.

Either way, he emerged from his bedroom and found Katherine had already prepared breakfast for them while they roused from their slumber.

The woman’s eyes darted back and forth between Dean and Yuki. She obviously knew what had happened between them. And she was judging the subtle but natural differences between the way they interacted while they ate and laughed.

Yuki and Dean had always been close, at least ever since she first arrived. But after last night, they interacted far more naturally and freely, as if a giant weight or barrier had been removed.

She studied their subtle shifts, but never commented on them. Whatever thoughts she had were entirely her own. It wasn’t until Dean finally broke the silence between him and Yuki and her that she was forced back into the fold not as an observer but an active participant of the shared meal.

“Thanks, by the way, Katherine, for cooking breakfast for us. I hadn’t realized what time it was or how much we overslept.”.

“No problem! I mean… I figured… you know… you would oversleep after… So anyway ,I cooked breakfast so that Yuki wouldn’t have to. I hope it turned out alright.”

Katherine immediately felt like she had only made things worse. She had tried to subtly deflect from the “we” statement that Dean had ended on, but only ended up dragging attention to it. Something that Dean and Yuki silently communicated with their eyes and a slight laugh.

This only caused the woman to conceal her embarrassment by sipping her coffee more intensely.

She honestly was not accustomed to such dynamics. Her friendships outside of her professional life had been… sparse. Relationships? Virtually non-existent. She had been dedicated to her career and her craft. To an almost ascetic level of discipline.

Watching a couple openly interact in front of her, while she was not a detached observer. Was not something she was accustomed to, and it showed.

Dean ran out of coffee somewhere in the midst of the discussion he was having about his plans for the future. A discussion that went in one of Katherine’s ears and out the other.

And Yuki seemed to notice before he did. Reaching for the pitcher, she filled his glass with more coffee and milk, mixing it with a spin before handing it back to him.

A gesture Dean hadn’t even realized was abnormal for Yuki, and simply thanked the woman for it. Buty Katherine noticed…

The changes… they were increasingly less subtle… And for some reason, a reason she couldn’t explain… that made her feel… lonely.

But Katherine didn’t recognize it, she simply sighed and left the table, her own breakfast half finished as she carried its plate to the sink.

“I have a blood bank to fill, and bags to test. It’s going to be a long day for me, so make sure you two get me my donors. As for those two nurses, I’ll watch them closely so you don’t need to worry about them trying anything. Besides, if they do, I still have Todd down in the infirmary to keep them in line.”

“Alright, I’ll make sure it happens.” Dean simply nodded and responded half-heartedly. Which only caused Katherine to bite her lip in dissatisfaction as she walked out of the kitchen, leaving Dean and Yuki alone.

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