EvO (Darverius, House of DaR #16)

Chapter 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

QWIN

Giggles and the sound of the door opening and closing wakes me up. Blinking , my eyes instantly search for EvO only to find myself alone. Tears instantly start flowing down my cheeks. Before I can even wipe them away, the door opens, and in he walks. For some reason, that seems to upset me even more. In what seems like two steps, EvO has me in his arms and my own wrap tightly around his waist.

“ What is wrong my, Qwin ? Are you hurting anywhere? Let me get LeX .”

I grip him tighter, “ No don’t go please.”

He pulls himself away from me slightly. “ What has caused this leaking? What has upset you so?”

“ You were not here! … I’m sorry I have never been a crier and I feel like this is all I do now, but when I woke up, you weren’t here. For some reason, I was instantly terrified, and heartbroken all at once.” He kisses the top of my head before laying his own on top of mine. It should feel weird, him holding me this close, but for the first time in my life. I feel like I am exactly where I am supposed to be.

“ Forgive me Qwin , LeX told me you would slumber for quite some time and I needed to see to your people. If it makes it any better the thought of not being here when you opened your eyes was tearing me in two. It bothered me so badly that I ended up simply walking into the Control room. Throwing out a few orders and then coming straight back here. My duties pull me one way and you another.”

“ It’s a relief that this isn’t one sided. If you need to go, I’m okay now. I may not act like it, but I really do understand that you have responsibilities other than me. I promise not to react this way again, I’m normally not this clingy. Although I would like to help when I feel better, I don’t think my body is ready yet. The slightest things seem to tire me out quickly.”

He gets quiet for a moment. “ You want to get out of here for a little while? LeX needs to monitor your healing and nutritional intake several times a rising, but that still gives us plenty of time for a little sightseeing.”

“ Sounds great, but I don’t think I can walk far, especially in all this rig. Would you help me strip out of about six of these layers?”

I can tell EvO wants to say something ornery but instead leans down and starts taking one pair of socks after another off, while I wiggle out of all these tops. I have to hold on to the top of the stretchy pants they have on me so that he can peel the others off. Instantly , I feel twenty pounds lighter.

“ My goodness, it’s a wonder I was able to breathe in all that. Thank you, now if I can just figure out how to roll the bottoms up so that I can walk without falling on my face would be nice.” I tie the string on the bottoms as tight as I can to keep them from falling off.

“ You leave the walking part up to me.” Before I can even comprehend what, he is doing, he lifts me up in one arm. While wrapping the blanket securely all around me with the other. When I am covered to suit him, we walk towards the door.

I don’t know what I was expecting to see once we stepped outside the medical chamber, but the decorated, colorful walls all around are a delightful surprise. If you didn’t know any different, you would think you were in a nice hotel instead of a ship. There is even some sort of soft music playing. EvO seems to be heading to a certain place and I try to take it all in while his huge steps eat up the distance. As short as I am, I will have to run to keep up with him.

He glances down at me and I get another of those devastating smiles that makes my heart flutter each time. “ Your coloring is already improving my Qwin . It seems like this is just what you needed.”

“ I can’t complain about my traveling conditions, but whenever I am strong enough to walk alongside you. I’m gonna get a workout.”

“ You are a tiny little thing, but I can guarantee you. I will never outpace you. If your tiny, adorable little legs can’t keep up. I will always have a strong set of arms to carry you in. I might simply refuse to let you walk on your own, as I am enjoying you being right here.” Before I can respond to that, he stops. “ Hit that green button on the wall for me. It seems that my arms are preoccupied.”

He steps back just a little and I gasp when the wall disappears and it looks like we are standing on the edge of nothing looking out. I lean out hesitantly with my hand, trying to see if there is a barrier between us and the vastness before me.

“ You are safe Qwin . The Destroyer has many viewers available such as this one.”

“ Wow , EvO . I mean I reckon seeing is believing. It’s so big. I’m not sure, I’m even comprehending what I am witnessing right now. It really puts it in perspective on just how tiny we are.”

“ Is it anything like you imagined?”

“ Never thought I would be viewing it from the inside. Throughout my life, I have always gazed into the heavens from a planet. I loved star gazing, always wanted to see the northern lights, but we didn’t live in the right region for them to appear. I always thought of the stars like little decorations in the sky. This is going to sound silly, but I assumed God was bored with the blank canvas of the night sky and decided to spruce it up a little. Now , I believe I was mistaken about that assumption.”

“ If lights are what you like to see, let me show you something else.”

EvO packs me around the ship like I weigh nothing, never even readjusting me in his arms. “ Where is everyone? I figured the halls would be full of others coming and going.”

“ On a normal rising that would be true, but most have been relieved for several rotations. Few have had any breaks while we were in the Nebula , so Rafe issued a ship-wide rest cycle. My crew is composed of many worlds that I will try to introduce to you slowly so that it’s not so overwhelming. In reference to your own kind. The Maintenance bots are already retrieving the pods, bringing the ones that are flashing first to the main docking bay as we speak. Here we are, hit that button again.”

This time, I almost fall out of his arms trying to get down. EvO lowers me to my feet slowly until I am standing, reclining back against his towering frame. His large hands wrap around my waist as I lean up against the glass, or whatever it is, keeping me from falling into the view outside.

Never could I have imagined anything so beautiful as the colors shift and swirl together constantly taking on a different shape, or dimension. “ Well , now my bucket list is complete.”

“ What is this list you speak of?”

“ It’s silly really, on Earth we would tally up things we wanted to do or see in our lifetimes. It was called the Bucket list. Your goal was to complete all those things before your time is up. I do believe this is a slightly better view than I could have ever had on Earth . Is that where you found us?”

“ It is, the Nebula likes to absorb the many things around it. Its hues are beautiful, but deadly once caught inside. It will take us several rotations to fix the damage the Destroyer obtained while there. It is beautiful, as you say, but I prefer the view from out here. I had tired of them after the first Orbital rotation. It got so bad that I was even shutting the viewer in my main cabin. Seeking out the darkness that only the dead of space can provide.”

“ How did the pods survive if the Nebula is so dangerous?”

“ We are not sure. Once we get a few inside the ship and reconnect with SCOUT , we will know more.”

Leaning back against EvO , I notice my legs trembling slightly under my own weight. I can’t stop the yawn or the grumbling of my stomach as we stand here.

“ Your body has been pushed enough this rising. If your stomach growls any louder they will be able to hear it all over the ship. Then the others will assume I am not taking care of you properly and challenge me for your favors.”

I instantly turn and lift my arms up. His laughter echoes all around us as he bends down. My own smile stretches across my face as I enjoy how easy it is to be with EvO . His bright eyes drift down to my lips as he lowers his head slowly, giving me plenty of time to stop him if I want. Instead , I use what strength I have left and lift myself up on my tiptoes, meeting his lips with mine halfway.

The kiss is exactly what I imagined it would be as EvO’s arms pull me close. Soft gentle nips have me sighing out as my whole-body tingles wanting more. I make myself let go of the back of his neck when he moves away.

“ That pressing of lips was quite pleasurable. I now understand why my brother and his mate do this so often.”

“ Was that your first kiss?”

“ It was, and I would love to participate in that activity more.”

I laugh at the expression on his face. He is like a kid who just found a new toy to play with. He swings me up into his arms before I can say another word. I actually jerk when he goes to lower me back onto the bed, as I am still reliving that kiss in my head, and don’t realize we were already back in the medical room.

LeX looks up from his iPad looking thing, then comes over. “ I was getting ready to issue a ship-wide alert. I thought someone had stolen my newest patient.”

“ If her health had not been an issue, I would have locked her in my quarters for safekeeping.” EvO’s comm unit keeps beeping, but it’s clear that he is ignoring it. I reach out, touching his arm. “ You might want to get that.”

“ All that sound means is that I will have to leave you, and I would prefer to stay.”

“ I am not going anywhere, go do your Captain stuff.”