Our Time Bomb

Chapter Fifty-Three ~

Very early the next morning... (Jefferson's pov)

I hear a terrible ringing in my ear and the pain kicks in like a tidal wave. I groan and open my eyes. Erika is sitting next to me motionlessly with an unwavering focused gaze. Her brown hair falls about her face, completely out of place. Her face and neck are bruised.

I feel metal on my wrists. Sure enough, I'm handcuffed, but so is she. She flinches when I shift my weight carefully because whatever I'm lying on his quite uncomfortable. "Good... morning." I say stiffly.

"morning." she says, her voice like dry ice. She shoves a dagger against my throat, "let's be quiet, got it?"

"What are we gonna do babe?" I say, not at all concerned by her threat.

"that's my decision." she says.

"What are you gonna do when someone walks in here shortly? You know my army could take yours out if it came to that." I say, trying to block out the throbbing pain in my muscles everywhere.

"quiet." she hisses.

"you still wear your wedding ring I see."

She glares at me, "What did I just say?"

I grin, feeling a little groggy and dizzy, "you're quite the woman sweetheart."

She rolls her eyes and glances about the tent.
I just stare at her with a smirk saying nothing.

After a few seconds she looks down at me with exasperation, "What?"

"Look at us... We're both being idiots."

"I can't trust you, you can't trust me." she says dryly.

"Well maybe we're gonna be forced to trust each other till we figure this gas attack issue out. You know, if there's some leak or malfunction or even an enemy trying to take us out, if we're not careful, we could all die at this rate."

Erika's pov
I sigh and frown at Jefferson, unfortunately, he's right. "So what? You want me to just release you? Nice try."

His face is bruised and he groans a little, "I'll swear to you, I was being an idiot last night. I know you don't trust me, but you're gonna need me. Why don't we just get this over with and deal with it in a civilized manner?"

"you swear it? You won't just turn on me? I mean, I knocked you unconscious." I watch his face critically.

He nods, "Yes, I swear it."

I hesitate for a moment but I decide to do it. He's my husband, I kinda know when he's telling me the truth. I slowly pull back from him, I sheath my dagger.

"I don't have the key for either of our handcuffs. You have that... Right?" I ask, a small smile playing with my lips.

He nods, "Yup, in a pouch on my belt. That one there." He gestures with his chin.

I nod and manage to awkwardly open the clasp on the pouch with my hands positioned strangely. My fingers close around a tiny metal object. The key.
After I unlock him, I step back away from. I feel a bit nervous now, he's no longer restricted. He stands and closes his eyes, looking a little dizzy, "I couldn't even fight you if I wanted to." He chuckles, "I can hardly see straight."

"Sorry about that..." I say, "could you unlock me though?"

I still have the key enclosed in my fist which I find now to be sweating.

He steps closer to me. My first instinct is to back away but I have simply have to trust him.

He looks into my eyes and touches my arm. I flinch, wanting so badly to run away. He draws me close to him and turns the key on the small lock on the handcuffs. "There you go my dear."