When Dave awakes, the first thing he notices is that it's very warm. He shifts a little, still not quite conscious, and he feels fingers threading through his hair.
"Did you have a good sleep?"
"Chickie?" Dave rubs his eyes and slowly straightens up. Save for the dim table lamp at Rose's side, the room is dark.
"Yes?" Another absent smooth of his fringe and already Dave catches himself being lulled back into the soft promise of security.
"You...you don't have to stay if you're bored," he mutters.
"I am alright." The hand that's on his head travels down to his back, gently thumbing the mark beneath his shirt. She turns the page of the tome she's reading and all Dave can think of is how peaceful this is, how lucky he is that Rose is still Rose. He didn't lose her. She's still his chickie.
Dave falters a little. "You don't have to."
"I daresay I can manage something as small as this, Dave."
"That doesn't mean you have to-"
"Hush, Dave. Just rest."
"No, I'm...I'm alright. I don't need sleep." Dave runs his own fingers through his hair, making the ends stick up in funny directions, and Rose withdraws her hand.
"I think you might need it more than you seem to think," she replies lightly.
"Only when I'm hurt." Yes. Yes, that's right. That's the only time he really sleeps, if it can be called that. Of course.
"Perhaps," says Rose. "Perhaps not. You looked a little different this time around. Less...unconscious, more exhausted."
"You're seeing things." Dave isn't so sure, though. It felt different, today. Softer around the edges, all-encompassing and warm; it definitely wasn't the cold sleep of the dead.
"Am I?"
No, he's imagining things and Rose is imagining things, too. "Years later and you're still reading into shit too much." Dave slides his legs over the side of the bed and stands up. He sways a little, then steadies himself. He feels so warm and sluggish, it's difficult to perform even the smallest of actions. He can't succumb to this, though, it's too easy. It's not real. Dave doesn't sleep.
"Dave, you're going to fall down the stairs if you keep this up," Rose calls as he exits the room. He has to get outside. He doesn't know why, really, but he thinks it will wake him up. He doesn't even know what time it is. He could be bursting out at the pitch of night and it wouldn't matter.
"No, I'm not."
"Dave-"
And then he does.
"Jesus fuck!" Dave yelps, now little more than a heap of orange at the bottom of the stairs.
"Dave!" In an instant, Rose is beside him. "I didn't think you would actually-what are you thinking!"
"Outside," says Dave, still not quite working right. He keeps expecting a broken "I told you so", but nothing ever comes. "I wanted to go outside," he corrects lamely.
"Can you stand?"
Dave isn't really sure, but he tries anyway. With help from Rose, he makes it to his feet, sore but otherwise alright. She helps him to the front door and sets him down on the front steps.
"There," she says, closing the door and sitting beside him. "I hope you aren't planning to climb any trees like this."
"No." Dave doesn't feel like rising to the remark, so he closes his eyes and breathes in the fresh air. It looks like it's about evening now, and the breeze is nice and cool on his skin. It pulls away the overwhelming warmth of the indoors and he's starting to legitimately wake up at last.
"Did you hurt yourself?" Rose asks.
"No, I'm fine," he replies, glancing at her. "Bones strong as iron rods, chickie. You don't have to worry about me."
"I'm going to worry about you."
"Yeah, well, you don't have to." He twiddles his thumbs in his lap, glancing at the sky. Rose purses her lips, but she doesn't pursue an argument.
They fall into silence for a while, staring off into their respective directions.
"Dave?" Rose says at last.
"Yeah."
"Would you like to go to college?"
The question takes him so off guard that all he can do is stare at her, gaping like a fool. "I. What." What the hell? Where the fuck did that come from? He's pretty sure his complete bafflement is palpable, regardless of the shades shielding half his expression.
"Would you like to go to college?"
His mind snaps forward and he spiels, "Well, see, chickie, there's this thing in between called high school and I didn't exactly go t-"
"That isn't what I'm asking," says Rose. "Do you want to go to college?"
"It's not a matter of want, it's a matter of possibility. I don't think many places let in a dude with no-"
"Do you want to go?"
"Jesus, Lalonde, you've got a goddamn one track mind, even when you're wrong."
"I'm never wrong," says Rose. "Do you want to go?"
"Fuck, yes, I want to go. Of course I want to go! That doesn't mean I fucking can go, though, does it? That sort of shit requires one hundred percent things I don't have, like, I dunno, money, education, connections-"
"John and I have been talking."
"You can talk all you want, it's not going to happen." Dave is starting to get annoyed because how the fuck can someone so smart be spewing such bullshit? There's no way in hell Dave would ever get in. Ever.
"After we talked, we contacted your brother."
Suddenly, the night feels a lot colder. Dave feels the blood drain from his face and he barely manages to croak, "You did what?"
"He agrees with us. He would like to see you in a nice school."
"For fuck's sake, Lalonde, listen to me! It doesn't matter what I want, or what anyone wants, because it's not going to happen! I am a goddamn hobo-I am not going to get into even the lowest of the low shitty-ass bottom feeding schools!"
"That's funny," Rose says quietly, still not looking at him. "Because we've already worked everything out."
"You worked ever-how the fuck did you do that? Please, Lalonde, tell these needy ears because they'd really fucking like to know."
"Oh, Dave." Rose sighs, finally tearing her eyes from the line of trees in the distance and resting them on his face. "As much as we tease, you are intelligent. You really can't figure this out on your own?"
"Why don't you enlighten me," Dave snarls back.
Gently, Rose reaches up and trails her fingertips across his cheek. "For the first time, I would think, it has suddenly become very useful for us that you are not the only 'Dave Strider' we know."
Dave suddenly becomes very aware of the fact that there is no air in his lungs, and all he's left with is a vaguely horrified feeling of emptiness. No. This can't be happening.
No.
