"Abel," Lilith sighed softly, taking in the blood-streaked face and uniform of her mate and partner. She grabbed a cloth and gently pressed it just under his nose, ignoring the feral hiss of pain it elicited. "Was anyone else hurt?"
"No," Abel admitted softly, looking at the white washed wall just over her shoulder. "I knew you'd be upset so I let them hit me this time. And I didn't start it, they were the ones being assholes."
The woman smiled, continuing to clean his face of the blood. "You could have fought back, I won't be angry with you protecting yourself."
"I know. But I still would have hurt someone, and then you'd have more work to do." He winced as a delicate hand lifted his chin to clean a streak of blood making its way down the column of his throat.
"Well, the good news is that your nanomachines have already begun repairing the damage, but once I finish you'll need to change your uniform and have it washed immediately so it doesn't stain."
Abel blinked softly, winter eyes adjusting to look at her, taken captive by her sweet, warm golden eyes framed by a pair of golden earrings and silken strands of red. When she began to pull away, his hand reached to caress her cheek with a softness reserved for her, pale skin sharply contrasting with her heavenly bronze. He leaned close and pressed his lips to hers, ignoring the small sound of protest she made that without a doubt meant he was smearing her lipstick.
It wasn't until she lightly smacked his arm that Abel pulled back with a laugh, wipping the blue lipstick on his sleeve as Lilith regained her breath and promptly scolded him for such acts while both were still on duty and for the getting blood on her own newly cleaned uniform.
White gloved fingers skimmed the shinning surface of the photo's cover,. Really, it was a wonder that such a relic of the past, something so trivial and delicately built, had managed to survive nearly 1,000 years. With a soft smile aimed at the two females standing beside him, Abel placed the photo on his bedside table and a copy in his case, closing it with a set of soft clicks. "Wish me luck, you two."
"Father?"
"Father Abel Nightroad, the train is scheduled to depart in seventy-eight point two minutes."
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Abel heaved his case off the small bed and hauled it out of the room with him, practically tripping over his feet as he finally entered the hall and joined his partners.
In times like this, it was often unclear who was in charge and who was the babysitter. Tres was often assigned to Abel to keep him out of everyone else's hair and to maintain that nothing went wrong during the missions and that Abel didn't spend all the money and end up stranded as he usually did when on his own (even then, with Tres keeping track of him, they had both ended up stranded because of Abel's loose purse strings.) As for Esther, her presence was partially to help and gain experience with field work and dealing with her eccentric fellow AX members (as well as keep the boys in line when needed.)
After boarding and settling in, Esther turned to Abel in curiosity.
"What were you doing in your room that was taking so long?" She covered her mouth with slim fingers, giving him a skeptical look as she muttered. "You weren't doing anything gross, were you?"
Abel jumped with a start, giving her a flushed look of panic, "o-of course not! Why would you even think something like that?!"
"Pervert," Esther looked away from him, though that single word held a small hint of amusement at his reaction.
The Priest have the back of her head a look that was partially annoyed and partially amused before he looked out the window of the train and watched the scenery go by with the smile firmly in place.