Gunned | SatoSere

Chapter 9 - Alike Hearts

Sawyer opens the door on Serena's side when they pull back up to the gates of the manor. He offers her a kind hand, which she takes gratefully as she's lifted out of the car.

"Miss Serena, we should tend to your wounds immediately," Sawyer says with a genuine urgency.

She pats his shoulder with the same hand of her injured arm. "It's okay. I'm fine. It's just a scratch."

His forest green eyes look at the red that saturates the fabric doubtfully and steps aside for both her and Misty as they make their way up the steps. The doors open and they're immediately greeted with the sight of Ash standing between Gary and Dawn, looking suitably annoyed over a conversation between the two that is lost on Serena's ears.

Whatever animated story is being retold immediately halts when the doors shut, their eyes falling on their damp, bloody, bruised demeanors.

Serena knows she looks like shit standing next to Misty who's suit is mostly ruffled, if anything. Ash crosses the space between them and though Serena saw him yesterday, it's like seeing a new constellation for the first time because he's wearing a look on his face that she can't trace.

She lets Ash hold her hand as he turns it over in the basin of his warm palm, his fingers coming to skim over the makeshift bandage. Serena doesn't meet the gilded color of his eyes, finding a particular point on the dark wood parquet floor to focus on. She doesn't see his frown, his hardened gaze turns to Misty, and she answers his pointed unspoken question immediately.

"Giovanni's guys tried extorting a shopkeeper in an alleyway and Serena went her way to stop them," she supplies. 

Gary, ever tactless, raises his voice with an amused timbre. "I knew she'd be perfect for the job, boss. She's great. I'd hate to be the other guy, isn't that right, Serena?"

Her lips part and her voice doesn't sound like her own when she raises her head to meet his playful dark viridian with voided amber. "Seems so. He's dead." The calmness in her voice surprises even herself and she knows it surprises Ash, the way she can feel his gaze whirl on her once again.

"Serena..."

She feels as though she'll sound like a broken record with her replies.

"I'm fine, really. Just-" Serena purses her lips and sighs. She meets Ash's gaze and it's both relieving and terrifying the way it makes her heart thrum a little harder. A relief that she still wants to kiss him having him this close despite feeling numb until this point, but scary to know that she still wants this not knowing what he wants in return. "Help me patch this up?"

He pauses and something Serena still can't name passes over his eyes before he nods, still holding onto her hand as he leads them in the direction of the infirmary. She would be lying if she said she didn't want to cling to this warmth a little longer.

From over her shoulder, she hears another voice. "Can I get you anything, Serena?"

It's Dawn and she smiles because she can see the friendly, worried look on her face without even looking at her. She stops and Ash waits for her, his thumb swiping over her cracked knuckles. Serena meets Dawn's gaze and catches Misty's eyes as well.

"Tea would be nice."

Both smile at her reply with a nod and they part ways.

They don't talk, not about what happened and certainly not about the way Serena's lungs still burn from the sound of Ash's name on her lips, or the throb in her neck that begs for his simmering touch.

Instead, she sits quietly in her familiar throne on the infirmary chair, barely wincing when Ash presses the needle of anesthetic above her wound. His hands work quickly, effectively stitching the wound in a few looping tugs. When his patchwork is done, he smooths a larger bandage across Serena's skin and lingers there, his hand trailing down to eventually rest on her forearm.