Mikaela fought with Ozzy for a while about the sleeping arrangements. She'd been in the room with Thrax for an hour or so, trying to get him to sleep and then watching him sleep (creep in the boys' locker room much? was what she told herself), then went back out to find Ozzy. She'd found her cousin in the kitchen, making dinner and talking to Leah (apparently, his girlfriend) on the phone, about the current situation. It seemed that Leah was worried about Thrax being in Ozzy's house, but Ozzy told her that he'd put the virus in his place, and that he had it under control.
After a few minutes, he hung up, but then Mikaela started in on him. She told him in no uncertain terms that she didn't care what he thought, she was sleeping on the floor in the guest room with Thrax. He looked like he was too tired to argue, but he found the strength in him somewhere apparently, because he started bitching at her. He said that wasn't safe, even though she trusted Thrax, he didn't. So Mikaela came right back swinging with the fact that she wasn't a kid anymore, she was an adult, and she could make her own decisions. Whether those decisions resulted in her unsafety or not wasn't any of his concern. And so then he started with the whole "but we're family and we're supposed to stick together and I ain't lettin' you do somethin' that might wind up killin' you!" bit.
Finally, Ozzy somehow got all argued-out and told her she won. He just rolled his eyes at her victory dance, and mumbled something about why didn't she go stick her hand in a nerve box if she wanted to find a quicker way to death by melting. Then he proceeded to look at the dinner that was burning on the stove, shouted "Son of a botulism!" and muttered something about ordering out before stalking off into the living room to begin a search for the phone.
Mikaela grinned, feeling oh so victorious indeed. She got to sleep with Thrax to make sure he was okay through the night, and she got take-out on her first night back with her cousin in Frank. Sco-o-o-o-ore.
She hurried back to the guest room; surprise, surprise, Thrax was awake again and still not resting. He'd propped himself up a little bit on the pillows, and was flipping through the channels on the TV. He didn't even have the remote in his hand; he was using that big claw to push the buttons. Lazy.
"And what do you think you're doing?" she called as she closed the door. She tried to look a little intimidating by putting her hands on her hips, but she just couldn't make an angry face at him. Not when he was like this. She grabbed the remote and held it behind her back so he couldn't get to it. "I don't think so. You were asleep when I left you. You need to be resting, not watching The Young and the Cellulose."
Thrax rolled his eyes at her, sinking down into the bed so he was lying more than sitting up. "Like I'd ever watch a soap opera. They're so stupid. I mean, what's the point of some cat saying his baby mama's name over and over in Spanish?"
She snickered. Okay, he was pretty funny, she'd give him that. "Yeah, I know. I just wanted to knock you down a peg or two, since you're supposed to be resting." She glanced at the TV. "What were you watching, anyway?"
"I was lookin' for Why Am I Still Dividing By Myself?, but I guess it ain't on right now. You ever seen it?"
"Yeah, a few times. It's okay."
"Okay? Well, what do you usually watch?"
"I like Restaurant Unflossable."
"Oh? I never seen that."
"It's on the Teeth Channel. The guy is funny, he's always yelling at the restaurant owners 'cause they don't do things right."
"Huh." He chuckled. "Might have to watch you-" He shook his head, blinking rapidly. "No, I, uh, I mean - I mean watch it with you... some... time... yeah."
She raised an eyebrow, then giggled. "Weirdo." She clicked the power button on the remote, turning the screen off. "Get your rest. You're never gonna get better if you don't give yourself a little downtime."
He shook his head and sighed, stubborn again. "You know how hard it is for me to relax, baby? For any germs to relax?" He ran his left hand through his dreads. "You always gotta worry about gettin' caught. Can't never let your guard down... 'cause if you do, you gonna be a little puddle of nastiness before ya know it."
Mikaela drew her eyebrows together, then sat down on the bed beside where his waist probably was. "Hey. You don't have to worry around here. You're safe - nobody's gonna come after you."
Thrax snorted lightly. "Yeah. Like I really feel safe in the same house as Jones. He's a cop, and he hates my sorry capsid."
"I won't let him do anything to you. He told you like it was, you got some time to prove you're not all bad-"
"And if I don't, I get my ass toasted, and there goes the possibility of a legacy." He rolled his eyes. "He ain't gonna wanna believe that I changed." He let his head fall forward, into his hand, and exhaled deeply. "I know it ain't been that long... but I changed. I used to work the streets - knew everything there was. Everyone was afraid of me. But now that I'm down, it's like... all that got shook upside down. The streets ain't my friend no more... everyone turned on me." He glanced up at her from the corner of his eye. "All I can tell ya, baby, it ain't a good place out there."
Mikaela reached over and put her hand on his shoulder, then rubbed slowly, going down his arm. "You been through a lot, Thrax... ain't you?" She leaned down and put her head against his chest, letting out a breath herself. "I don't really know what I can say other than that sucks. But it's gonna get better, you know? You're with us... you're on the right side now. You're gonna work with the force, and it's all gonna get better. You're gonna be a lot happier now, I know it."
She felt him laugh a little, but there was a slight bitter note to it. She felt his hand on her back, and thanks to that longer claw she could tell it was his left hand. "Yeah, I guess. I'm just... a little scared, you know? I can admit it. I don't wanna fall back to the old me. It ain't been that long, and I could snap back... I don't wanna."
"It'll be hard." She wrapped her arm around his waist and squeezed. "But I know you can do it. Even if nobody else does, I believe in you." She sat up, keeping a hand on his shoulder. "Hey. Later I'll put Ozzy in a headlock, and I won't let him go till he believes in you too."
That got a smile from him. "Good luck. You'll probably be there till Frank dies."
"Ohhh, don't be so negative." She shrugged. "Besides, he said something about getting Chinese food tonight, so be nice to him. You can handle eating, right? Or do you just want something to drink?"
"Nah, I think I'll be okay, baby."
"Okay. So I'll help you out there when he calls us." She saw her stuff cluttering up at the side of the bed, so she sighed and got up to move it over against the wall. "Can't believe I didn't think about this..."
"What you got over there, anyway?"
"My backpack and my giant beading case."
"Hmm." After watching her for a few more seconds, Thrax turned over onto his side, groaning as he did so. "Hope you're happy, baby, I'm sleepin'."
