Red Rocket Exchange

Denouement

She felt her body shifting. Her bone-deep weariness was so pervasive, though, that she could do no more than scarcely acknowledge the feeling of movement. Her consciousness floated in a dark void, barely aware of outside stimuli as she fought to wake up, to open her eyes. She was so exhausted. It was so much easier just to stay here, in the sable embrace of deep sleep. No pain, no threat, just safe trance-like slumber. Her mind drifted, sliding slowly back into the abyss of lethargy until a thread of sound echoed into the edge of her awareness. Voices. She passively rode the rise and fall of tones and syllables, the meanings lost for the moment.

"Finally back from your walk, MacCready? You seem, hmmm, happier somehow, but I can't seem to put my finger on the reason why."

"Very funny, Hancock. Why are you still awake?"

"I don't sleep much at night. I do my best work after dark. Need a hand up the stairs?"

"No, thank you. I've got her."

"Yes. Yes, you sure do, heh heh heh heh..."

Careful movement jostled her, and her consciousness clawed at the velvet blackness in her mind. She desperately needed to sleep, but she wanted to find out what was going on. She felt her body being set gently on her bed in Red Rocket, the one in the corner of the shared sleeping room upstairs, and relaxed into the mattress....until she felt the jostle of another body joining hers on the bed. Strong, limber arms cradled her, pulling her close into a warm torso, legs twining with hers. With an immense effort of will, she pushed through the wall of enervating fatigue.

"M-mac?" she managed sleepily, fighting to maintain her hard-won moment of consciousness.

"Shhh..." A kiss brushed the back of her head. "I've got you."

"But," she breathed, "...others..." a slight twitch of her leg was all the energy she had left.

"Nu-uh," the beloved voice murmured with the barest hint of a chuckle. "I'm keeping you close." He wiggled into a more comfortable position, settling in to stay. "Whatever happens next, we'll handle it....together."

Reassured, her mind spiraled back down into the deep well of sleep, her last thought lingering – I will... We will deal with it... tomorrow.