AN: Okay, super short chapter, and I was going to wait
until more was done, but you all demanded more. So here it
is. Almost done...
Chapter 34: Recovery
Lexa didn't know how long she stared at the flames. However long it was, it was long enough that she had to look away at least once, lest even her eyes be burned by the bright light of the flames.
Brennan felt his eyes burning and tearing up. From the heat, of course. Jesse was fine. He had to be. He was the man of steel who could withstand a hail of bullets. But why was it taking so long?
Shalimar was conflicted. Her natural instinct was to run away from the flame. But that same instinct urged her closer, screaming at her to find the missing member of her pack. Her body compromised, standing frozen in place, eyes darting, repeatedly searching her field of vision. And that's how she found him.
A dark shadow stumbled through and from the flames over to her left, near where the back of the house had been. "Jesse!" she cried, overriding her instincts and dashing toward the flames.
She arrived just as he stumbled out to a safe distance, about 20 feet from the flames. Both her feral and human instincts had her guiding both herself and Jesse farther from the flames and as the others dashed in behind her, she took stock of Jesse's condition. He seemed to be okay. There were a couple places where his hair had been singed, and half of one eyebrow was missing. He was bent over at the waist, coughing hard, no doubt trying to clear his lungs of the smoke and ash. She caught site of several patches of embers glowing on his jacket and hesitantly tried to brush them away, finally giving up and dragging the entire jacket off his shoulders to the ground where she could stomp them out without fear of getting burned herself.
Jesse felt the jacket being dragged from his shoulders. And though he mourned the loss of one of his favorite coats, he was grateful for the protection it had provided. He'd worry about replacing it later. For now, his focus was on calming his aching lungs and soothing the burn he felt inside, though he could feel Brennan's arm around his shoulders helping to keep him upright through the hacking coughs and Lexa's smooth hands running across his face, wiping away soot and ash.
It took a few moments more for him to catch enough air to even attempt a phase so he could use his healing powers. It felt odd to use them; though he had known about them for almost four months, this was the first time he felt himself reaching for them instinctively. It was a strange experience; not unique, but not familiar either. Feeling Brennan's hand fall through his chest as he started the process by phasing, and then making sure he wasn't touching anyone else when he reversed it. After a minute more, he was able to breathe well enough that he could stand up straight. The voices of his companions, which had faded into the background of his perception as he struggled to right his body, now sharpened into focus.
"…the hell were you thinking?" Shalimar seemed to be shouting at him now that he was recovered.
"That was the stupidest thing I've ever seen you do!" Lexa admonished, slapping his shoulder.
"Dude, that rocked. I never knew you could do something like that."
Jesse decided to ignore the first two and answer the third. "To tell you the truth, Brennan, I wasn't absolutely sure I could. In theory, it seemed completely possible. It wasn't fun, but I'm glad it worked." Note to self, he added silently, coughing a couple more times. Moving while massed means I run out of air faster."
"The fact that you didn't know if you could is all of more reason while you shouldn't have tried it," Lexa said. Now satisfied that Jesse was hearty and whole, she was angry, and stood back, arms crossed, glaring at Jesse.
Jesse looked up at her tone of voice. Seeing her face, he couldn't help but chuckle, which only infuriated Lexa more. Now that she had mellowed out some (at least compared to her personality when he first met her), and given that he knew all the buttons to push to make her relax, he found it so entertaining and endearing when she was mad at him. He'd be able to make it up to her later.
Shalimar moved over and stood beside Lexa, who reached out to slap Jesse on the arm. "Don't worry," the blond said to Lexa as she shifted her weight to one hip. "I shall devise thee brave punishments for him."
Jesse was taken slightly aback at Shal's use of Shakespeare. Brennan's strange penchant for classic literature must be rubbing off on her. But he laughed harder, as Shalimar's expression now matched Lexa.
Brennan felt the need to help Jesse put down the proverbial shovel he was using to dig himself in deeper with the girls. "All right, all right. Let's take care of this place and get out of here before the police show up. I don't really want to spend hours trying to explain to them what happened.
