Page 61 of Agent Zero
Not to mention pleasantly sore and languorous.Apparently sex still felt good while you were dying.Holly was achy all over, but no wonder.He was damn patient when he put his mind to it, and that little thing he did with his tongue was just about?—
“Hey, Sleeping Beauty.”Reese loomed above her, a broad smile on his no-longer-nondescript face.Dark hair wildly mussed, the thermal shirt clinging to his broad chest, he looked very morning-after indeed.He also held a blue enamel mug of what had to be coffee.“Breakfast soon, coffee now.I require a kiss before I’ll surrender the caffeine.”
Holly rubbed at grainy eyes.Her fingers felt sausage-swollen.Her stomach didn’t hurt, and her back wasn’t too painful.The curative powers of nooky, maybe.“Are you kidding?I have dragon breath.”
“Mmh.”He bent down, and before she knew it his mouth was on hers.He didn’t seem to care, and by the time he finished she’d forgotten morning breath was even a consideration.“Nice.You feeling okay?”
“I might have a cold.All that stress.”Her head throbbed.How ironic was that?Just when she’d found...what, precisely?
That was the trouble.She liked him, even though she was deadweight.He’d be better off without her.
Pretty much everyone would; that was why she kept the world at arm’s length.No point in getting cozy if she knew she didn’t have long.It was what her father had done all through chemo.Mom had packed her bags and left right after Holly was born, so it had fallen to Holly to nurse Dad through the hell of poison dripped into his veins and the long slow fall into choking out his last in hospice.
Don’t think about that.
So she put on a smile and reached for the coffee.
He nodded, thoughtfully, holding the mug handle out and steadying her as she struggled to sit up.Cooler air felt wonderful on her bare back, the fire was merrily crackling away; she got the blankets settled and accepted the coffee.If the hot mug burned his fingers, he gave no indication.
“Little bit of a fever, tastes like.”He felt at her damp forehead.“I think you should stay in bed today.”
“Only if you stay with me.”One last really final hurrah?Maybe?Now I’m getting greedy.
“I’d like that.”A boyish, open smile.“Breakfast, though.And we need more wood.”
She was about to make a snarky euphemistic comment, but decided against it.Now that she was upright, with the headache twisting another fraction inside her skull, caffeine was more important.It was even good java, not a boiled, pale commercial shadow.
Holly watched him move around the postage stamp of a kitchen.The headache mounted another few notches, and it was warming up quickly in here.He must have built up the fire.
The coffee smelled divine, but her stomach cramped, a bolt of hot pain.Had she pulled a muscle?Not likely.It was the same old nausea, the too-enthusiastic cells grown around her digestive system like tangled tree roots, squeezing.She managed a few sips of scalding liquid before her stomach closed and the rest of her demanded a toothbrushing and maybe a shower, not necessarily in that order.She had to cast around for at least her pajama top, found it tangled on the floor, and spent a few wriggling moments trying not to spill hot liquid while she got herself a little decent.As long as she could manage, she wanted to be clean.
What will happen when I can’t, though?
The pajama bottoms were a little torn around the waistband, but not bad.The top was long enough for decency while she shuffled to the bathroom.She got her legs out from under the covers, planted her feet and stood up—or tried to.
A rushing sound filled her head, her knees buckled, and she found herself on the floor, the coffee spilling from her nerveless hand.Have to clean that up, she thought hazily before Reese arrived.
“Christ.Holly?Holly!”His arm under her shoulders, he didn’t so much lift her as just stand up and carry her with him, that strange muscular fluidity of his a little unsettling.
Her head throbbed, as if the sudden change in altitude had horse-kicked her skull.“I don’t feel so good,” she managed.“Sorry.”
“Shh.”He got her back on the couch, pressed the back of his hand against her forehead.“You’re burning up.You weren’t a minute ago.”
“I...”Her tongue felt funny.The cotton inside her head was thickening.All of a sudden just rolling over and passing out seemed like a good idea.I guess last night was the last hurrah after all.Good for me.“I told you, I’m sick.”I’m sorry.I thought I had a little longer.
“Lie back.Here.”He got the covers up over her, though she feebly tried to push them away.It was so hot, maybe the fire was bigger now?
I am not thinking quite right.
Reese was saying something, but the words were lost in the roaring filling her skull.Lassitude swamped her, with a crazy sideways slipping sensation.I’m here, but my body’s not.How strange.
Reese cursed.She wanted to tell him that it was all right, she’d get up in a second and clean up the coffee, get Doug calmed down and wipe the boards, maybe have a talk with Ginny about her behavior, and...
Is this how it ends?I wanted...wanted to...
The world drew away, smearing like ink on a spinning, oiled plate, and a terribly ironic memory occurred just as she plunged into semiconsciousness.
Casualty rate for that is about ninety percent...you think they’d let me walk around if I was contagious?
