The Expansion of the Universe

Seven | "I punched him in the nuts."

Knocking woke Liza from her slumber, and she snapped upright in her bed with a startled squeak.

Milo was by her side in the next second, his nose in hers as he assessed her for damage.

"I'm alright," she assured him, her gaze trailing over him and down the hallway that led to the staircase.

Her bedroom was on the second floor of the condo, but she was grateful for that particular feature. The farther she was from the door, the safer she felt.

Unless, of course, Elijah was sitting on the other side of—

Elijah!

Liza scrambled out of bed, cursing under her breath at her own forgetfulness. How could it have slipped her mind?

Elijah had been gone for five days, on a longer cargo flight than normal, and Liza had actually missed him quite horribly.

She still had Milo, and she was still snuggled safely inside her condo, but things didn't appear nearly as bright as they did when Elijah was settled on the opposite side of her door, laughing at his own bad jokes and telling her stories that made the world seem a little bit less scary.

He'd told her he was meant to return that morning, and had even said he would stop by as soon as he showered, because, "I'd hate to show up and chat with a pretty girl while I smell like a shit bucket—can you imagine Mom's reaction? God, she'd lose her damn mind."

Unfortunately, the day of his return also happened to be the same day that Liza's memories had trapped her in a state of wakefulness until the wee hours of the morning, meaning she had slept in and still felt exhausted.

She tripped down the stairs just as his curious rumble of, "Liza?" traveled through the oak, followed by, "You alright, doll?"

Ignoring that strange slam-skip-slam trembling in her chest, Liza plopped down with Milo right in front of the door. "Hello."

"Ah, there's my favorite detective!" Elijah cheered, that thud bouncing off the door as he too got comfortable. "How have you been? I missed you these past few days; Austin is sucky company compared to you, let me tell you."

She highly doubted that, considering Austin could likely handle being in the same room as other people without having a panic attack, but she appreciated his gracious words, nonetheless.

"Was it . . ." Was it hard not to crash? She almost asked, before catching herself at the last second and asking instead, "Did you have any problems?"

"Problems?" He echoed, confused, before saying, "Oh! No, no problems, babe, don't worry. Austin and I have been in this business for about eight years, so we're pretty comfortable and things run smoothly."

Babe.

Her heart slam-skipped even harder, and she had to physically shake her head to clear it.

Had he broken her? What was he doing?

"And you brought Oreos?"

He laughed, and knowing the sound had been caused by her sent a zinging of something warm and unusual through her veins. "You know me pretty well, it seems. I did exactly that. He told me, as always, that I shouldn't shovel garbage into my body."

"What'd you do?"

"Flipped him off and told him to mind his damn business, of course. What he does is his problem, and what I do is mine. If I want to shovel Oreos into my mouth, balloon up to six-hundred pounds, and die next week, then that's what I'll do."