AN: -Evil giggle- I think I'm gonna have fun writing this one.

Btw, I was reading over my last chapters and noticed I failed epicly. Moses not-as -deformed side is his right side. Don't know how excatly how I failed so badly with that but I'm correcting it now.

Also, to Arktemis, -Hands you your virtual cookie-

Enjoy.

You people have to be getting tired of my ANs by now but it just feels like there's always something I feel the need to say. I'm just a babbler like that. :/

...

It was bath time...

...

Still on my heels, Moses trudged after me with only a slight pause. To be honest I was suprised to find the house still had power and running water. That meant the town was still in pretty good shape. I'd have to find some place to find food and supplies at some point and a town that still had water at least meant I had a chance of finding what I needed. I had already gone through all the canned food the house had to offer.

But, I would worry about that later. Right now I had something more... Urgent to attend to.

I was going to shower with a zombie. Perhaps I was insane, but thinking more about it I guess I really didn't care. I honestly expected to die any day. Away from their group, a lone survivor could only last so long...

I shoved those thoughts aside and looked at the bathroom door. I had to focus. Anything could happen at this point. I pushed the door open and looked around. It had obviously been worked on. It was a pretty small bathroom. Just enough room for me and Moses to stand in it with the door closed. The fancy shower/tub took up the other half of space the room had to offer. We could probably both sit down in the tub without touching eachother... As I prepaired the shower I off-handedly began to wonder when my luck would run out.

When I turned on the water flow the familiar sounds made me breathe a sigh of contentment. It didn't last long cause shortly after I heard a weezing cough from close behind me. I took a steadying breath and turned to him. In the inclosed space of the bathroom it felt like he towered even higher over me. 'Come on girl, get a grip. You've faced off infected the size of SUVs. You can handle this.'

Making myself look asserting, I puffed out my chest. Terrible habit of mine, proof that I watched too much animal planet back in the day. "Moses." His eyes met mine and all my courage drained away like an already dead battery. Off-handedly I noticed he had sucked his tongue back in. Everynow and then it would be hanging out of his mouth but if I were looking at him for any amount of extended time, the moment I would look away he would suck it back in. Odd...

My eyes shifted to the wall next to me and I returned to the present. "I uh, ... Well, you see..." I set my chin. "The shower isn't all that big. I mean, it is but not for two people... So... We'll do this one at a time alright?" I glanced up at him.

He shifted and his eyes narrowed, but he didn't look angry. I hastily added "I know I said we'd... we'd... together... But..." I could've kicked myself. Getting this flustered only showed how much of a coward I was. That thought gave me enough backbone to finish. "I'll... help you, um, you know, wash and stuff. Cause you have a hard time with doors and..." His eyes narrowed further.

"I didn't mean anything by it, it's just... Akward.." Oh, and giving him a bath wasn't? Well, this day has just been full of stupid ideas hasn't it? I turned my back to him and crossed my arms. "Anyway, that's how we're gonna do this alright?" I refused to face him.

After a long pause I heard him do what I could only describe as a sigh. I glanced around my sholder at him. When our eyes met he gave me a small nod. I blinked. I really hadn't expected him to agree with it, but I wasn't about to give him time to change his mind. Facing him, I gave him a happy smile. "Thank you. This makes my life easier." He grunted and looked away.

I turned and finished prepairing the bath, checking the temperature and adding some soap. I could feel Moses leaning in to see what I was doing. He got just a it too close for my comfort, but before I could say anything, or even turn, he let out a gargaling scream and lurched foward a bit. Being as close as he was caused him to collide his legs to my back, sending me sprawling into the bath tub.

When I finally righted myself I sat in the water coughing. Once I had air and not liquid in my lungs I glared up at Moses. Right before I said anything, however, I stopped. He was standing in a half attack stance, staring intently at the mirror. Slowly, his body relaxed, but his eyes never left his reflection for a second. He reached a hand up and touched his finger to the reflective surface, then, with the same hand, he touched his own face. His hand stayed there for a long time. I gulped. "Mo-?"

Without warning, his hand shot out and shattered the mirror. I flinched, expecting mirror bits to come flying at me. They, thankfully, stayed connect to the base. He kept his hand there for a while. His black blood began to drip down his knuckles, down the mirror, to drip into the sink below. After yet another pause he pulled his hand away and looked at it.

Eventually finding myself I stood up. The noise of the water pouring out of my soaked clothes made him look at me. Not too worried about the floor I stepped out and reached to his other side for the toilet paper. From there I took some and took his hand. As gently as I could I pressed it aganist his knuckles. He flinched slightly but didn't otherwise move. I dabbed at the flowing blood while my clothes dripped water all over the floor.

When it had finally stopped bleeding I chanced a look at him. There was no mistaking the look of pain on his face. It obviously wasn't physical suffering either... My own expression softened into one of sympathy. "Moses..." He blinked. "Did... your reflection upset you?" I asked softly.

He glanced at the broken mirror then back at me, nodding after a pause.

I tossed the toilet paper in the direction I thought the trash can was and turned back to him. With his injured hand still held in my own I took my other hand and placed it over his, giving him a smile. "Ever heard of the term 'Don't judge a book by its cover'? Well, the principle applies to you. I don't care what you look like. You helped me, so that makes us friends."

At the 'I don't care what you look like' part his eyes bore into my own. Like he was looking into my very soul, checking for the truth. I kept my smile up a bit longer and tilted my head to the side a tiny bit. "You silly smoker. That wasn't a very smart idea." He look confused. I looked down at his reddening hand. "Does it hurt? Glass cuts bleed a ton."

When I looked back up to him he had a deer in the headlights look but shook his head slowly. I pursed my lips and let his hand go. I placed my hands on my soping wet clothes and half-glared at him. "Well I'm soaked and already uncomfortable, so lets make it worse, shall we?" I stood about six inches away from him and grabbed the edges of his jacket. I met his gaze as my hands slid up it to the collar, easing it off his sholders and down his arms.

His ragged breathing picked up some but he didn't move. I bit the inside of my lip to try and ease my nervousness and I took the hem of his shirt. I raised it past his stomach but kept my eyes on him. "Lift your arms for me?" My voice cracked in what sounded like fear and I cleared my throat. Damn, I was such a nervous wreck right now..

Almost stiffly, he brought his hands above his head. I rolled the shirt up and off his head, stepping close to him to reach. As he brought his arms down it brought me face-to- chest with him. My face darkened and I gulped. "I-I'm going to get your pants now.." Not giving him time to respond I backed up and went for the belt that held his pants up. Aganist my will my eyes kept darting to his exposed body. I'd been right about his muscles. A six pack and pecks were visible under the discoloration of his skin and the scars that seemed to cover the better part of his body. I noted that the slashes the Hunter gave him yesterday were also somewhat healed as well. What really got my attention, however, was that he didn't have any bumps on his chest.

Eventually I managed to get the belt undone through fumbling fingers, but I stopped there. Moses gave off a soft weezing sound and I praticly flinched. "S-Sorry... It's just not excatly something I'm used to doing." I whispered. Feeling like I might pass out from nerves I loosened his pants and let them slide down his legs. to my great relief he wore a pair of black boxers with flames going up the legs. I had to bite my lip, hard, to stop from bursting into giggles. I quickly averted my eyes and decided to just watch the wall. "We're, um, going to keep those on, ok?" He didn't say anything so I took it as a yes and continued. "You can get in the tub now..."

The bumps... The were down his left leg, covering it just like his arm. But not his chest... How strange...

He shuffled past me and stood there watching the water for a moment. He turned to me and put his hands on my sholders. With one fluid motion he spun me around, facing the door. I stared at the door for a while in confusion then turned back to him. Before I could ask anything he garggled a scream at me and I saw he had his hands at the waist line of the boxers. My eyes widened and I jerked my head back to the door, my face flaring crimson.

'He's taking the boxers off! Fuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuckfuck!' I was on the verge of having a nervous melt down when the sound of him getting in the tub made my mind go completly blank. I stayed there, unmoving, for a long time apparently because after a while Moses let out an impatient sound. Gathering what little courage I could I turned.

Moses was sitting in the tub watching me a bit too closly. The edge of the tub hid anything below his midruff but his knees poked up above the water due to his height. Then a few seconds of staring at the tub I realized the suds from the soab hid anything below the surface. Breathing a sigh of relief I took the step that put me right beside the tub. Bending to my knees I forced a smile at him.

Ever so timidly I put my hands on the hem of my own shirt. "I, uh... I hope you don't mind... I'm going to take my shirt off. It, er.. is uncomfortable now that it's sticking to me and... stuff." Wow, as if I couldn't make myself sound like more of an idiot.

He stared at me for a while then looked at the slightly rippling water around him. I took the time and in one quick motion, slipped my shirt off, leaving me in my plain white bra. I felt somewhat exposed but not nearly as bad as I thought I would; given the current situation.

I glanced back to Moses and saw that he was watching me again. Once our eyes met he quicky turned his attention back to the water. He raised his arm and watched at water fall through his hand. A giggle slipped past my lips and he turned his head back to me.

I couldn't help it. I mean any sane person saw us they'd die of laughter... If they didn't first shoot Moses and throw me in a mental instutite. The thought made me grimace and I swipped the wash cloth I had found eariler off the sink counter and dipped it in the water somewhere by his feet. After throughly soaking the cloth I got parallel to him. "Lean foward, I'm gonna start on your back." Much to the aproval of my raging nerves I saw that he seemed just as flustered by the situation as I was. I could see it in the way his body was tense and trembling ever so slightly.

Slowly, almost as if his body didn't want him to, he shifted himself foward, exposing his back to me. His knees were even further out of the water now but I foced myself to focus on his back. 'The bumps are almost in the same place space wise as his chest...' I noted off-handedly. I raised the cloth and pressed it to his back. He immeaditly flinched.

I pulled away. "Oh. I'm sorry. Did that hurt?" I never even considered the posibility that his skin would be sore...

I couldn't see his face, but after a pause he slowly shook his head.

As gently as I could I pressed the wash cloth to his back again. To his credit he didn't flinch like last time but I could see his body tense. It wasn't long though, before his muscles relaxed and I finally began washing his back. Moving in slow circles I scrubbed the dirt out, but didn't push too hard. To my worry he bagan growling- no... It was that odd purring sound again. I continued to wash down his back but couldn't help the smile that spread across my face.

Funny, I never would have pegged him for a cat-like zombie. Then again... I guess I never would have pegged him anything but a threat. Now I was bathing the damn thing! Perhaps I was insane...

The thought made me pause and stare at the wall oppisite of me. Moses turned his head and gave a questioning weeze. I blinked, returning to reality, and gave him a weary smile. "Sorry. Just thinking." I went back to scrubbing and he went back to purring.

I moved to his upper back and sholders and began to babble. "If my brother or Aaron saw me doing this they'd probably give me a good thump on the head..."

Moses turned his head just slightly to let me know he was listening. So I assumed anyway.

I continued my babble. "I wonder how things would've been if the boys were with me... Aaron might've shot you... He's jumpy like that. Kaiden, my brother, I don't really know what he would've done to be honest... Growing up we were praticly twins. We just thought alike. So he might've given you a chance like I did."

I moved to his right arm. I was quite suppirsed that his natural skin color wasn't the dark greenish the infected seemed to all have but a more darkened skin color with only a hint of green. Outloud, I said "I'm really glad you decided not to eat me..." His purring stopped but he didn't move. "...If I really had to be in this kind of situation alone I probably wouldn't make it too long...I hate to admit it but I've become quite dependant on my group. I guess that would happen to anyone really but I'm not a very go-to kind of girl. I just don't see myself making it very long on my own."

I leaned over the tub and started on his left arm. When I began scrubbing the tumors I watched him for any kind of pain. He didn't make a sound or move in the slightest so I kept going. "This is a random question, and you don't have to answer if you don't want to, but..." I paused trying to figure the best way to word it. He turned his head but he couldn't quite look at me form the angle. "Like... Do you, I mean, like, Smokers and Hunters and the such, run in packs or anything?"

I don't know what excatly he attempted to do but either way he shifted foward and turned more. My weight, being as off balance as it was, shifted with him and my upper body fell in the tub. Me being the graceful creature I am[pfft], I flailed about as I inhaled water into my lungs. But before I could try and get my bearings a pair of rough hands grabbed me, by the arms, and pulled me up. The akward angle had my body pulled into the tub but at least my head was above the water now.

I coughed a few times and rubbed my eyes. I could hear Moses giving off what sounded like conserned whine/weezing sounds. As I sputtered I reasured him "I-I'm fine... I-" Pause for a few more lung clearing coughs "I just fell... Thanks for the help." I smilied at him, pushing the wet hair out of my face.

He contunued to watch me and I busied myself with looking around. "Well, looks like we did end up taking a bath together." I laughed but then searched for the wash cloth. I blinked as it floated in the water between us. I didn't bother to pick it up though. My brain was still overloading at this point. Freaking out at my situation, at the fact that Moses was naked in the tub with me, at the fact that it was a he in the tub with me. I was getting a headache, and my pants were extremly uncomfortable at this point.

Moses reached out and picked up the wash cloth and handed it out to me. He obviously wanted to continue his bath. Considering he was facing me now he probably wanted me to do his chest now...

I took the cloth and he leaned back ever so slightly, confirming my thoughts. Fantastic.

How was I supposed to do this?.. I glanced down, unsure how he even had his legs postioned at the moment. The added "bonus" of him being naked made it that much more dangerous if I accidently touched something. The thought of course made my face flush. I clenched the cloth.

'Come on girl! Do or die. Don't be a pussy...' I swallowed and mustered up what little courage I could and shifted to my knees. "Er... Streatch your legs out." I mummbled.

I could feel his legs slide between my parted knees and I tried to ignore how sensual this really was. I shimmied foward just a tad and leaned foward, streatching my hand out and began scrubbing his chest. My face had to be beet red at this point, I could feel the fire going through me at least.

Eventually tearing my eyes away from my "work" I looked into Moses face. And abruptly stopped. At the angle I was in it put my chest at about his head level. And he was staring right at it. "Moses?" To my horor my voice praticly squeaked. I suppose any girl would have done that in my situation I suppose..

At my voice, Moses jerked and his eyes shot to mine. His hasty movement however threw me off balance and my knees slid right out from under me.

I slammed, face first, into his chest and the rest of my body slid into him. I grabbed his arms for support just as he grabbed my elbows, bracing me.

If I though my face was hot before it was an inferno now. This close to him, nose to chest that is, I could really smell him. He smelled... like the outside world still but only faintly now. The more promanate smell was of soap and... Man. That natural musk that most guys seemed to give off. For a second my body relaxed into him and I felt my eyes slowly close... My waist brushed into something strangly stiff feeling under the water...

'BADBADBADBADBADBADBAD!'

My mind screaming at me brought me back to a somewhat aware state and I realized what was brushing my bare skin.

I shoved off him almost violently, sending water everywhere. Our eyes met for an instant. His confused gaze and my, without a doubt, deer-in-the-headlights look. A second later I scrambled out of the tub, slamming my knees aganist the side multiple times, and ran from the room; my jeans dripping water everywhere. I didn't really care about that at this point. All I knew is that I had to leave. And NOW.

I ended up in the kitched and leaned aganist a counter, panting oddly enough. I attempted to grasp everything that had happened.

He was a man, that I knew from the begining, so of course he'd have... that...

I bit my lip, hard, I could taste the blood a bit but that was the least of my worries. I could still feel the heat pumping through me, in one spot in particular...

"Calm down... Eazy..." I whispered to myself. "You're just... A little off because of all that has happened resently. Not thinking straight... Yeah, that's it.." I stared at the ceiling. "Can my life get any more complicated?"

Did I even have to ask?

...

AN: Okay so not as "fun" as I first thought but it's not my fault. My charaters do what they want, I swear. Dx

Akward enough though yeah? Yay me! -is a tard-

Why do I keep writing these things at such ungodly hours? x.x

Also, fun fact for ya: The house they're in is actually my house. lol whoot for orginality huh?