Room 324, Sunday Evening

[vanillajello]

Kate felt weird. As if she... was supposed to feel kind of dizzy, but everything was completely clear instead. With a vague buzzing, somewhere in the background. It was probably shock.

She was just going to run with it, for as long as it lasted. Then collapse. Maybe cry. She wasn't thinking about any of that right now. Someone else was her priority.

And that someone was Bod, who'd been using her as a walking aid on their way up from the lobby.

"So, what do you need?" she asked when they'd made it to her room.

[ooc: For the poor, poor boyfriend.]

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[vanillajello]

"Yeah, that too," she replied, glancing at him and his feet before shaking her head and concentrating on herself again. She shucked her jeans the rest of the way off and rolled them up.

Then those, too, joined the other pieces of clothing in the bag.

[therewaslife]

Bod stood up slowly, rolling his pants up and offering them to her so they could join the other garments. They'd managed to get their clothes off, at least. It hadn't taken that long even.

[vanillajello]

Well, she still had her underwear on, but that wouldn't take long to get off.

They would have to wait, though, because after disposing of his pants, she went to her dresser to dig up some towels for them to use.

She felt like she should've kept talking, but she was tired. And somehow it was enough to know he was there.

[therewaslife]

Bod didn't mind the lack of talking though he found himself rubbing his eyes. That turned into keeping his hand over his eyes while his mind whirred, providing him with a rewind of what he'd seen. He breathed a little harshly.

He knew he was back on the island, back in Kate's room but it was going to take time to get things out of his mind.

[vanillajello]

Kate had started the day unsure about... everything, really. So she could understand the need to adjust and take time. It had been a nightmarish few days for everyone, and sadly, she knew how the aftermath of something like that worked.

And the shock hadn't even really hit her yet.

She set the towels down on her bed while she took off the last of her clothes, then picked them up again once she was done.

[therewaslife]

Bod kept still, eventually moving his hand from his eyes. His shoulders sagged again and he glanced over at her, trying to get her image in his head instead of little girls on fire. It wasn't exactly going well and he, almost angrily, swiped at his eyes again.

[vanillajello]

Holding the towels against her chest, she dropped her balled up underwear in the plastic bag on the desk, then pulled her hair loose from the ponytail they'd been in since... She wasn't even sure when.

And then she tried a faint smile on for size. "Right. Shower?"

There were other things to say, probably ( since it wasn't as if she hadn't seen him do that) but she couldn't come up with them right now.

[therewaslife]

"Yes," he said, nodding and limping closer to her. Water was going to hurt the open cuts on his feet but it would be beneficial in the end. He hoped. "Yes, we should shower. Yes."

[vanillajello]

When she got closer, she reached for his hand and leaned in to kiss his cheek. If that meant she'd get ash on her lips or whatever, she didn't care.

Having done that, she tugged him gently along with her to the bathroom.

[therewaslife]

Bod was going to be moving slower than usual for awhile because of his feet and his leg and everything else but he followed behind her dutifully, keeping a tight hold on her hand as he did.

He really did not want to disappear.

[vanillajello]

She didn't want that either, and was completely prepared to do horrible things to the island if it pulled a stunt like that again.

But right now it just meant she wasn't going to let go of his hand before she abolsutley had to.

The towels got dumped in the sink for now, since it was as good a place as any for them. Kate was more interested in getting the shower started, making sure the water was just the right kind of warm, not too hot or cold.

[therewaslife]

"You've a bruise," he said, frowning at that spot on her shoulder now. He hadn't seen it before but now, while standing behind her and waiting for the shower to be warmed, he did. "What happened?"

[vanillajello]

"I ran to the manor with Ariel," she replied, fiddling with the shower. "We got company on the way."

A few times, even. And it wasn't the nice kind of company.

[therewaslife]

"Does it hurt much?" he asked, reaching out slowly to cover that bruise with his hand. "I'm really sorry I wasn't here. I'm sorry."

[vanillajello]

"It doesn't hurt much." Well, it didn't anymore. "You look worse than I do."

Which was a lame way of saying he shouldn't be sorry for stupid things like that. She still wasn't looking at him. Still holding her hand under the shower, still waiting for it to be perfect.

[therewaslife]

"All right," he said, slowly pulling his hand away and letting it drop to his side. He knew he looked bad, he'd seen himself but he was trying not to think about it.

[vanillajello]

Kate sighed, and rubbed at her eyes.

"I think the water's good now," she said then, giving him a quick glance over her shoulder. "Think your skin can take soap and shampoo?"

[therewaslife]

"I don't know but I'm willing to risk it," he replied, looking down at his gray, ash tinted skin. "I need to feel clean even if it hurts. I need to - I - I just need to."

[vanillajello]

At that, she quirked another one of those half smiles at him. There was something sad about it, as hard as she tried.

"We'll get you clean," she promised, turning to face him more as she stepped backwards, under the water, tugging him towards her since she was still holding his hand. "Do you wanna smell girly or... stolen?"

She was pretty sure Bobby would not get pissy if they borrowed some of his stuff.

[therewaslife]

"I don't care," he said, feeling immediate relief and pain when he stepped into the shower. His poor, battered feet started stinging horribly but the water sluicing over him felt unbelievably good.

The bandages around his knee were getting wet but they were staying wrapped for the moment. "I just need to get the ash off me. I'm covered in it."

[vanillajello]

The water did feel kind of divine. And it was doing a good job of washing away the traces of dried blood around the radroach bites on her legs.

"I noticed." She let go of his hand to reach for her bottle of shampoo, first. "Pale and ashy is not a good look. The ash has got to go."

[therewaslife]

"It was raining ash there," he shared, turning his face up towards the spray and letting it splash over his face. The look of pain stayed there because of so many things and he didn't try to hide it.

"The air was dirty," he said, willing to share slightly about things that were easy. "That's why my eyes look like they do."

If he ended up crying (which he thought he'd do when his emotions overwhelmed him again), at least his eyes wouldn't look that differently.

[vanillajello]

"I figured," Kate said as she poured shampoo into the palm of her hand. "Had to be something like that."

Without all the ash on him, she would've thought he'd already been crying. And that would've been understandable too.

"Watch out, I'm gonna shampoo your hair."

She'd probably boggle at herself later for how she was acting, but right now she felt this was clearly what she had to be doing.

[therewaslife]

"All right," he said, tilting his head forward again and opening his eyes. He'd never had someone else shampoo his hair and he took a moment to swipe some of it out of his eyes.

For some reason, he looked down and spent a moment morbidly fascinated by the combination of ash and blood in the water. He wondered how much was his.

[vanillajello]

Yeah, Kate had glanced down for a few seconds a moment ago and promptly decided she didn't want to deal with thoughts like that.

And right now she didn't have to, because she was watching what she was doing, biting on her lower lip while she applied the shampoo to his hair, gently massaging his scalp in the process.

After a moment of that, she announced, "Done."