Crisis Of War

{ LXI }

I burst through the front door, needing to see her face.

I need to know if she's okay, if she got here safe and sound.

And just as I rush into the hall, she comes running down the stairs, jumping straight into my arms.

She's still wearing her dress, but her hair and makeup are all ruined by everything that went down.

North appears on top of the stairs, running down, almost tripping as she gets to the last steps.

'You're okay, god, don't ever do that again!' Valentina says, taking me all in. 'Hunter?' 

'He escaped.' Again... 

She looks at me, checking if I'm okay, which I am.

Apart from the cut on my shoulder, I'm fine.

'Where's Tiago?' North asks when she realizes I'm fine as well.

'We couldn't find him.' Marco mumbles, looking at the ground.

Her eyes fill with panic and pain, but I won't let her collapse.

'He's out there.' I know he is. 

She looks at me, a little flash of hope and anger filling her eyes.

'He's not dead.' I say, feeling Valentina's hands reaching for the buttons of my shirt.

'You're bleeding- we should-' She's panicking, making something inside me warm up, but at the same time break.

She shouldn't be panicking right now.

Because I'm okay.

I'll be fine.

'Valentina...' I quickly look at Marco, waiting for him to take North out of here and talk to her about what happened when they left.

I don't want to deal with that and I need to calm down Valentina.

Her hands brush against my warm skin, making me shiver as she quickly takes off my shirt.

'Valentina, stop.' She ignores me, trying to see if there's something else. 'You're hurt!' She shouts, making me roll my eyes.

I press her against the wall, locking her between my arms, and take a deep breath, trying to calm down myself.

'Calm. Down.'

She takes a trembling breath and leans in, pressing her head against my chest.

'I thought you were dead.'

'I know, but I'm alive,' I whisper, rubbing some hair out of her face, 'I'm here.'

'Don't ever do that to me again!' She sneers, shoving me a little, making me wince because her hand goes right on my cut, 'We are supposed to be a team! You can't just tell me to go when shit goes down!'