a/n: Case tells bedtime stories to a friend.
Swears, but you know Frye doesn't mean anything by it.
All the good things belong to Monolith Soft, and Case is now recruitable, currently level 10/assault/knife.
Case moved silently, but the door made the standard hissing sound as it closed behind her. She froze, looking anxiously towards the bed where Gwin was stretched out under the covers. Thankfully, his eyes remained shut and his breathing stayed quiet. He seemed unaware of Case. More surprisingly, he seemed unaware of the larger Interceptor squeezed next to him. Frye was lounging against a backrest built from most of the bed's pillows, his legs angled enough to keep his boots off the blanket. He had been staring at his comm device but he swiveled a casual glance at Case.
Case waited to see if Gwin stirred, but he could have been carved out of miranium. "He's still asleep. I'm glad," whispered Case.
"Not exactly 'still'," Frye growled back at her. He looked back at his screen and swiped it absently before tossing it onto the desk. "We had some excitement while you were gone."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, he woke up and I tried to cram a smoothie down his throat. Bad move. It came straight back up." He noticed Case's distress and flapped a hand at her. "Relax. It was as good an excuse as any to chuck him into the shower and wash him off. I even made the bed up all nice and new and tucked him back in. He settled pretty fast afterwards."
"Thanks." She looked around the room, finally noticing the lack of mess. No heaps of used gear, no trash from ammunition, everything up to regulation. She stared inquiringly at Frye.
"Yeah, I had a little time on my hands while he was busy shivering afterwards. Bagged up the laundry, sent it off. On his own bill, mind you, and it'll be a big one, poor bastard. Cleaning the floor and walls was gratis, so you're welcome. What took you so long anyway? You said you'd only be gone for an hour."
"It took longer to get help," Case muttered. "He has an appointment with Solan at the Mim Maintenance Center at 1320."
"Nice. The big man himself. You aren't taking chances."
Case didn't mention that Lila had been the one to make the appointment. She hadn't asked Case. Then she'd made an appointment for Case as well. When Case had protested, the other woman had gestured to her own neck and stared grimly at Case. Oh, that. Case had forgotten about the scratches already.
"So what do you think his deal is?" Frye nodded down towards the unconscious young man.
Case paused. This was a chance to practice what Lila had drilled into her. 1) Start with ignorance. 2) Stick to the truth as much as possible. 3) Give the other person a chance to jump to the wrong idea. 4) When all else fails, blame Mira. She sat carefully at the foot of the bed.
"I'm not sure," she started hesitantly. "We were on a mission a while ago. That bad one, in Sylvalum."
Frye whistled in appreciation. "The one against the army?"
"Yeah. It's sort of a blur, honestly. I got hurt pretty bad, so it's kind of vague until I got back to NLA. He saw me go down. I think he thought I was dead."
"You sure look dead to me," grinned Frye.
"Yes, but he really thinks he saw me ... uh ... " Case drew a finger across her neck.
"You've got to be kidding me."
Case shrugged. "I think that's what's going on, at least. He wasn't exactly coherent last night. I was hoping that some sleep might help but..." She traced the pattern on the blanket. Lila had told her not to bother with eye contact, since Case was bad at it to begin with.
"Naw, probably a good idea to run him by the Center, for sure."
"Uh huh, right. Anyway, I know he saw me go down."
"What was it that got you?"
Case was quietly grateful to be asked details. Talking shop was easy. "Milsaadi. They dropped behind my team. Probably didn't want to go after our skells, so they aimed for a softer target. We were pretty soft, all right, stuck in the middle of reloading. One of them flattened me. After that, I'm not so sure. I kinda remember being helped into a skell, but I don't know what happened to Gwin."
"But you say he thinks your head got, what, lopped off?"
"I think so. It really wasn't easy to understand him, you know?"
"Yeah, same this morning. He was rattling about stuff but it made no sense at all. It just sounded uncomfortable."
Case nodded. "So maybe he kinda freaked out about it and lost his grip?"
"Huh." Frye looked skeptical. "Look, baby girl, he may be weak as wet cardboard, but he's seen some crap. I mean, he saw Earth go, and the Whale, okay?"
"And remembers it," said Case weakly. She concentrated on the bedspread some more.
"Exactly. And he's seen friends from way back get blown up right in his face. So why'd he lose it now?"
"You're right. It doesn't make sense. When I made the appointment, I think they were worried that maybe something else was going on," she added carefully.
"Like what?"
"I don't know." She shrugged again.
Frye was silent for a minute. "Well, no question the Ganglion have pulled some weird stuff on us. Those Definians, for example. They can look like whoever the hell they want. Maybe they got a new trick going."
"Maybe," Case agreed hesitantly.
"In which case, the sooner they open up his noggin and see what's going wrong, the better for all of us. You tell them everything when you take him in, okay? All of it. No good hiding things."
"Okay."
"I mean it. We gotta protect each other, and lying won't do jack."
"Okay. I will." She took an unsteady breath. "I'm more worried he's gonna try it out himself."
"Try what out?"
"Getting himself killed and expecting the Center to fix it."
Frye snorted. "Sounds just like the dumbass thing he would do."
"Yeah, but he could get really hurt. It doesn't work that way for ... uh ... for anyone."
Frye considered this, then he smiled. "No problemo. If the Center doesn't handle it, I will. I promise. I'll learn him not to do anything stupid." His eyes glinted sharply. "I could probably get Irina to help."
Case smiled back at Frye. "Thanks." She looked over at Gwin, still asleep and blissfully unaware of future kindnesses. "And thanks for babysitting." She yawned hugely.
"Rough night?"
"He kept waking up. I didn't get a lot of sleep."
"Why don't you go catch some zz's? I'll get him to the Center on time."
"No, you've done enough. Besides, I don't want him to worry about where I am. I can take over."
Frye rolled onto his hip and placed his hands on Gwin's back. He gave the sleeping BLADE a solid shove, pushing him right up against the wall. Then he rolled back and patted the sliver of new real estate between them. "Hop in. I'll wake you both up in plenty of time."
Case hesitated. "Are you sure?"
"I still got most of this word search to go," said Frye, picking up his comm device. "Some of those indigen names are real buggers to find when they're written backwards."
Case crawled carefully between the two men and settled her head on the edge of a pillow. She was asleep, cuddled against Gwin, before Frye had circled "SIVO".
a/n: Word jumble thanks to Squad Dad Draco, because one should never miss an opportunity to tease Frye. This story ate the promised Case/Lila Liar Duet Part 2, but if you need more Lila being a creep/being a good friend, I can drop you as many notes as you'd like. Please, let me tell you ALLLLLLL about Lila.
Next up: A little extra, a little later, and possibly the last. Note: It may be delayed due to LIFE AND ALL THAT IT ENTAILS.