Author's Note: Chapter 24 stumbled upon chapter 25 on its way to the finale.
"Red, can you focus on my voice? Can you do that for me?" she spoke in a voice gentle enough to soothe both hummingbirds and serial killers alike. He was a fine mixture of the two anyway. "Red?" she tried again because, if perseverance could grant her the gift of Red's life, it could grant her a response from him too. And he did hum a confirmation a second later. It marked the first sound he'd produced since his return. He even lifted his eyebrows and attempted a nod. To her, it was a milestone and a miraculous proof his mind and body still worked.
The progress they made from the patio all the way to her bathroom was an act of labor for them both. She wanted to approach the pressing matter of undressing him with some caution. She didn't care for things as ordinary as shame or boundaries; not one bit. But she had to think about all of him. He'd lost enough for one day. His dignity was was not parting ways with him too.
"Red, we need to get you cleaned up, okay? Mr. Kaplan said what they'd drugged you with will wear off slowly. Is okay for me to help you?" she asked him once they found themselves centimeters away from her shower. She looked up at him to find him in what she interpreted as deep concentration. His eyes were open. They were focused on his shoes or on the floor, she'd assumed. He wasn't looking at her, that was all she knew.
"Alright," he said. An entire word, short but certain. He was coherent. He'd given her his consent.
She'd never seen him naked before. Or physically vulnerable, for that matter.
There was a first time for everything, they said. And today, she was basing her decisions on an overly-exploited cliche.
TBC