Chapter Ten

Gifts

The next week passed quickly for Kaetus. Every day was a routine, other than the days Sasha went to the port to find parts and replenish supplies. On those days, he spent his time with Kira and the other animals, either playing fetch or trying to learn to command them. At this point he seemed to think they were never going to listen to him. They usually just stared at him or tried to sleep on him.

On the days Sasha stayed in, they worked on the vehicle, sometimes he would catch Sasha singing as she concentrated. This made him flare a smile, which made her blush. Kaetus also began helping her cook their meals, feed the animals and do other chores and no longer needed his crutch. He still had a slight limp, but it was manageable. Most importantly though, the swelling in his face was nearly nonexistent. The crack in his brow plate would always be there and there still was some discoloration to his skin, but he could see and that was what he was most thankful for. His chest was still scarred and tender in places, but for the most part, he was healed.

The cave had now become his home. He even would call it that when Sasha returned from the port and he would greet her with, "Welcome home." Sasha helped him build a raised bed on some metal boxes and found another mat to place on top of his old one for extra comfort. They even strung a makeshift curtain around it to offer him privacy, plus it helped in keeping away unwanted cuddles from Kira.

Nights were spent eating dinner, cleaning and sorting scrap or sometimes Sasha would pull up a vid to watch on her omni-tool and project it on a cave wall. When it was time to retire to bed, Kaetus retreated to his little curtained area, while Sasha slept in her same bed across the cave chamber. Some nights Kaetus would lie awake thinking about Sloane, sometimes he would think about his father, or Aeven, or Lania, but mostly, he found his mind sneakily wandering onto thoughts of Sasha. Though he still felt bad for the night he had her up against the wall, he couldn't get the memory of her soft body against his out of his head. Each passing night, he thought less and less of Sloane and more of Sasha.

On the day they finished their repairs to the vehicle, Sasha made a trip to Kadara Port to purchase some fuel. Her trips usually took most of the day. It took her two hours to walk there, plus the time it took to get what she needed, then two hours to walk back, sometimes longer depending on her load. Kaetus had always requested she take him with her, but due to the injuries and the Collective's hold on the port, she did not think it was a good idea. He hated the thought of her walking the wilds by herself, but one thing he could give her and did give her, was gun training. She kept a pistol under her bed for when she trekked to the port and she wasn't a bad shot, but Kaetus showed her how to be better. He set up targets outside the cave and taught her how to shoot, but even though he trusted his training and trusted her to utilize it, he still hated when she ventured out alone.

After about six hours since her departure, Kaetus decided to wait for her at the mouth of the cave. Kira and the others joined him, scuffling and playing, Fuff always being the one to bite too hard or play too rough. Luckily, the younger ones were getting big enough to bite back.

Kaetus kept his eye on the horizon as he thought about all the trouble Sasha had gone through for him the past few weeks. He wished he could do something for her, maybe give her a token of his appreciation. He wasn't even sure what women liked. He knew of typical human things like chocolates or jewelry and the typical turian things like guns and ammo, but where would he even get any of that? He looked down at the ground and saw a small bush of weeds that sprouted between two rock formations. There were small pink flowers that blossomed all over it.

He wondered if it was a little too cliché as he found all different types of flowers in the area and picked an entire handful of them, but then he figured it was the best he could do in his situation. He took the flowers inside and placed them in a cup he filled with clean water, then set it on the crate-table. There was a glob of pinks, a few spots of purple and a couple of blue blooms that stuck awkwardly out of the cup like the frayed ends of an old broom. Now that he looked really hard at it, he realized it looked stupid and he reached to just throw them all away, but he stopped when he heard Sasha's voice.

"What are you up to in here?"

He spun around to see her turning off the engine to her hover-crate and said, "Oh, nothing."

She glanced at the table. "Are those flowers?"

He shrugged. "Well, yeah, I guess so. I was bored and thought the place needed some sprucing up."

She smirked at him. "You got me flowers?"

"Well… yeah, I mean, of course they are for you, they're not for the animals."

She giggled and Kaetus flared a smile. "Thank you, they're lovely. And I actually have something for you too."

His brow plates bent forward and he crossed his arms as he let out a huffing breath. "Doesn't that kind of take away from me getting you something?"

She rolled her eyes. "Fine, think of it as replacement effort."

"A what?"

She reached into the hover-crate and pulled out something fairly big. "I actually sold that life systems regulator for the vehicle. It was actually worth quite a lot. The vehicle turns on, but for us to really test it, we need to go on a scrap run."

"We?"

She placed the thing on the crate-table, carefully so not to knock the flowers, and replied, "Yes, we. You had your armor and weapons taken from you, so I spent a little of that extra money getting you replacements."

He realized what she had put on the table was a turian armor chest piece. It was obviously used, but it was in pretty decent condition minus a few dents and scuffs. It was a metallic green with silver trim. "You got me a chest piece?"

She held up a finger. "Not just a chest piece." She began pulling other items out of the crate. "This set is complete with gloves, boots, a new body suit and an assault rifle. Unfortunately the gloves do not match and the pants were missing, but it was the best I could afford without burning a hole in my pockets."

He grazed his fingers over the armor. Damn, he thought, this definitely beats my flowers.

"I, uh… don't know what to say," he murmured.

"Say you'll go on a scrap run tomorrow!" She said excitedly, playfully shoving his arm.

His mandibles flared. "Yes, of course I will."

"Great," she said with a wide grin, "we can get this armor cleaned up tonight and tomorrow, we're going to hit up some scrap!" She moved to pull the container of fuel out of the crate, but paused and turned back. "Oh, and Kaetus, I really do love the flowers."

To be continued...