The Companions of Time

chapter 25

-Grey's Journal Entry-

It was around lunch time, and Hazel usually woke up at this time, and stayed up for a while.

She usually woke with a bit of a scream, from a nightmare, but today was different. She had a calm look on her sleeping face, and seemed at ease.

She woke with the batting of her eyelashes, and sat up on her elbows with a smile.
"Hi," she said sleepily.

"Hey, how are you feeling?" I asked returning the smile.

"A little hungry."

"Well it is almost lunch," I said with a smile "the maid should be up soon."

She nodded with a smile, and looked around the room.

"This is a new blanket," she said nodding towards the blanket across her legs.

"They came about a week ago, some of the ladies that you met at the opera came and dropped these off," I explained "and yesterday, some flowers came that didn't have a return address or anything."

I pointed to the bright sunflowers, in the tall vase.

"Strange," she said knitting her brow.

"So no nightmares?" I asked as I opened the windows letting in a breeze.

She said nothing, and I turned around to find her face red as she looked down.
"No," she paused still red "no nightmares."

"I wonder why," I said thoughtfully straightening things up around the room.

"You were there," she said softy.

I looked at her, and she looked up at me, still a little red, and a timid look on her reddened features.
She gave a small half smile with a hint of embarrassment.

"Do I make you feel safe?" I asked sitting back in my chair next to her bed.

She nodded a bit " you've been there since we met, I don't know you're just I-"

I cut her off with a kiss on the lips.
She looked up into my eyes "I didn't know you felt that way."
"Neither did I," I mumbled.

"Oh, stop mumbling and kiss me again!" She said, taking me a bit off guard, but I listened kissing her again.
I put a hand on the side of her neck, and she put a hand on the side of my neck too.
We kissed until we heard the sound of the door closing, and we broke the kiss with a bit of a jump.

"That must have been one if the maids," I said worried.

I looked at Hazel, and she looked from me to the door, then back to me, and burst out laughing.

"The look on your face!" She was laughing so hard she was tearing up, and she had to wipe a stray tear.

I chuckled a bit "I guess I should go get the food."
She nodded, her breaths easing from the laughs.

I opened the door, and looked around. I looked down, and there was a tray of food, that had enough food for both of us.
I picked up the tray carefully, and brought it into the room, not bothering to close the door, to add some circulation of air to the room.

"Here you go," I said handing Hazel the steaming bowl of soup, and a spoon.

I took the other bowl of soup and the plate.

"Do you want some meat?" I asked Hazel, after she finished praying over her food.
She shook her head "it's still a bit hard for me to swallow, my throat is still a bit raw, from whatever this sickness is."

I nodded.

"Can I have your carrots though?"

I looked up from my soup with a smile spread on my features.
She sheepishly took her spoon and scooped up a few of the cooked carrots, and put it in her mouth.

"Thanks," she said, her voice muffled by the carrots in her mouth.

"You really are a bunny," I said snorting a bit.

"What?" She asked confused.

"You're a bunny," I said laughing a bit "your hair, and your love of carrots. I think I finally found a good nickname for you."

She shrugged, still a little awkward.
She reached up and touched her hair, realizing it was pulled back. Her face turned a bright red.

"You wondered why I didn't wear my hair back!" She said pulling the comb out if her hair "those cowlicks are awful, I can't believe you saw my hair like this. That is so embarrassing, I hate it when my hair is like that."

I laughed a bit "I think your hair is fine, but I do suppose that explains why you don't wear your hair pushed back."

Her face scrunched up a bit, but she continued eating.

"So what now?" She asked swirling her spoon around in her soup.

"What do you mean? What are you asking?"

She looked down exasperated a bit, then with a sigh, pierced my green eyes with her own.
"I mean, what just happened between us, the kiss. What does that mean for our future relationship? That had to have meant something, so what does it mean?"

"Obviously it means we have something, that we both have some sort of attachment, but we are also both young and stuck here. I think we should just wait a bit before anything else happens between us," I said truthfully "just to see what happens."

"I agree," she said surprising me "we have to focus on what happened with Lucas and Elizabeth. Oh, and the bug thing that was a on your head! We need to figure out those two things, and find some way to fix this."

I had completely forgotten about the bug thing. We never really did anything with it.

She went on a rant about what the bug thing could be, and why she thought Lucas disappeared.

"I think I'm going to finish, and take a bit of a rest," she said suddenly drained from the excited little rant "I'm suddenly tired."

She had finished her soup, and began nodding off to sleep.

Putting the dishes on the tray, I smiled a bit at her curled up form.

"You know, I'm grateful for you," she said, her back facing towards me " you're always there for me. I guess what I mean to say, is that you are my best friend."

"I'm glad," I said smiling.

She placed her head on the pillow, and I waited as her breathing changed, into the sleepy long breaths.
I took the tray, and walked down to the kitchen, leaving it there.

Then I walked outside to the gardens.
The crisp air was refreshing, and I needed some time to clear my head after the kiss.

I hadn't known what brought it on, but I was sure that that was how I felt about her.

I knew she felt the same way, and a pang of excitement twanged my stomach, and I had butterflies.

My thoughts then slipped to Lucas and the bug-thing, suddenly a focus came across me.
We were going to figure out what was going on, and put an end to the confusion.

This whole experience was mind boggling, and scary. I was surprised that neither of us had experienced an emotional breakdown, or something, because we would never see our friends again.

We had no way to get back.

But that wasn't what scared me the most.

The feeling of being followed and watched was.