Disclaimer: I own nothing, nada, zip, zero, zilch.
A/N: My first Cape fic, handle with care. I am a shameless Vince/Orwell shipper.
The first kiss is on her forehead.
There is a crazed man. Palm City attracts them like flies to honey.
There is a hypodermic needle pressed to the fragile flesh of her inner arm.
It's a virus.
The world is spinning, and her stomach is heaving until she can't hold even water down, and she is hot, then cold, then hot, then cold, and everything hurts. She begs Daddy to make it all better, then bats away the cold cloth against her forehead. A woman whispers to her soothingly as men argue somewhere nearby.
"I need your help! This thing is going to kill a lot of people, and this guy does not care who gets hurt."
"It's too risky. I won't walk into ARK's willing arms, Vincent."
"Max, please, she's dying!"
Silence, then a long sigh.
"Very well."
A moment later a hand brushes her cheek, and he whispers, "Raia?"
"I'll stay with her, Vince. Go."
"Hang on, Orwell. I'll be back soon."
She feels his lips on her forehead, gone in an instant, just a brief touch before he turns away.
She lays still for Raia, and though she moans she does not cry out for Daddy anymore. Instead she waits. Vince promised her he would be back soon, and unlike Daddy, Vince has never left her behind.
The second needle is thrust into her shoulder without much finesse, but she can barely feel anything by then. It takes time for her to realize the world is settling into its proper place. Her clothes are drenched in sweat but the air is delightfully cool. She can swallow the water offered to her. She can open her eyes.
Blue eyes are hovering over her. When she focuses on him his face relaxes into a grin. He sits beside her on the couch and continues to bathe her forehead, and the warmth of his hip pressed against her leg is so comforting she doesn't tell him the fever is gone. She doesn't speak at all, and neither does he. He brushes her hair back from her forehead, and perhaps it is the way he would brush the hair of a child, but she knows he took a risk with his own life when he pressed his lips to her fevered forehead just to comfort her. Maybe she is only a little girl to him, but she is his little girl, and that is something, at least.