Bed of roses
Chapter 10
By shadows/of/flame

I think its chappie 10... and KY chappie 18 is up!
Enjoy.

He found he couldn't sleep that night, not being able to get the mechanic out of his head.

She was so polite, so keen and interested in the good things in life, and yet she was receiving death threats.

What was wrong with the world?

And yet, pure of heart though she was, she easily shut the door on him as though he were a bad Crocadog that had dribbled all over the carpet!

Maybe he acted like a Crocadog sometimes, but it wasn't his real intention...

Torn sighed, tossing and turning all night, the thoughts never leaving his head.

Had he done something to anger her? Didn't she trust strangers?

He snorted, disbelieving himself.
Who DID trust strangers? He himself, hated them.

"New faces make me nervous."

The dreadlocked ex-commander eventually got up out of bed, being unable to sleep.
The room was too small to warrant a balcony, even a chair to sit in and think, so he ventured out the door into the small hallway.

Cold chilled his bones, and he quickly seized the blanket he had used last evening to keep even slightly warm, as he walked towards the lounge.

Rain pattered noisily against the window, and lightning illuminated a figure that was lying on the couch, shaking.

"K... Miss Keira?" Torn questioned, moving closer to her.
She screamed as another bolt of lighting hit, curling up in a ball and crying.

He immediately went over to her, placing an hand on her shoulder.
"Excuse me, Miss Keira?"

"D... don't tease! OK!"

A puzzled expression crossed Torns face.
"And why would I do that?"

"I... I hate lightning! OK?"

A smirk replaced Torns confused look, and he chuckled.
"Tease you? I would never even consider teasing a lady."

A hot flush claimed Keiras face, and she glared at him angrily, pursing her lips.
"There you go already! You're teasing right now!"

He chuckled softly, wrapping her blanket more tightly around her.
"You need to sleep. Come on, theres no use in tiring yourself out over a little fear!"

She nodded slowly, closing her eyes.
"Being afraid of lightning is... pretty stupid I must admit. But staying awake because of it..." she stifled a yawn, "has made me want to go to sleep even more. Night Torn."

She quickly fell asleep, and Torn took her to her room, not disturbing her as he tucked her into bed.

"You need to apologise now for treating me like a Crocadog..." he murmured as he left the room, closing the door gently behind him and getting back into his own bed, more thoughts swarming around his head than ever before.

0o0o0o0o0

He awoke to feather light touches caressing his lips, and he bolted up suddenly, wondering who the feather light touches belonged to.

But there was no one in sight, and Torn had to admit to himself he was slightly disappointed at the lack of person in his room.

Keira was making breakfast in the kitchen as he eventually got his butt downstairs, and she smiled softly at him.

"Good morning Sleeping Beauty. Did you sleep well?" she teased.

"Whats the 'Sleeping Beauty' comment for?" he smirked.

"Well, maybe that its lunchtime."

Torns eyes widened in shock - he was so dead.
He was supposed to report to the Shadow early morning!

He slapped a hand to his forehead, and reached for his communicator, but it wasn't there.

Keira pursed her lips again as she slightly smiled.
"I already contacted your "Shadow" and he expects you to report in later this evening instead. He was amused to hear about how you slept in."

Torns eyes narrowed slightly. The Shadow would give him hell for that later, that was definitely for sure.
Not the sleeping in thing, rather the Sleeping Beauty comment.

"Have something to eat - you look like you starve yourself!"
Torn lay his head on the table as soon as he was seated, looking blearily at Keira with one eye.

"Yeah well, A) we aren't given much to eat, and B) its hard to eat when every 5 minutes your boss gives you a fricken' suicide mission to do."

"Then why don't you stand up to him? I'm sure theres a few more people that could just as well easily take over, I mean, its not a one-man Underground now is it?"

He nodded, and she shoved a large plate filled with lotsa nice goodies towards him.
"Eat as much as you like, its not like eating a lot is embarrasing or anything."

As he was about to protest, she grabbed his cheeks in her hands and gave them a little poke.

"No fun! You're supposed to have chubby cheeks!"

Torn looked at her as though she belonged in Haven Cities Insane Asylum, but she giggled.

"Do I have to spoon-feed you? I'll do whatever it takes to make you eat."

He raised a non-existant eyebrow, and began to eat.
Keira was growing on him more and more every minute, even if she had coldly shut him out last night.

She ate her own share of the bacon, eggs, hash browns, sausages, toast and noodles that were perched in bowls and on plates on the bench, occasionally refilling either her or Torns glasses with orange juice.

The ex-commander could then admit, that he hadn't had this good a meal since his mother and father had died, leaving him an orphan right for the Baron to kidnap and make a Krimzom Guard.

For that was what the Baron had done - he stole away all boy orphans and raised them until they were old enough for the Guard, and sold away the girls as slaves.

The lucky orphans, like the Kings son Mar, were lucky enough to be taken in by a caring soul before the Baron got his paws on them.

But Torn had not been one of the lucky orphans.
He closed his eyes, remembering the screams of pain as the metal heads ripped people apart, of the crying children wanting their parents, endless footsteps of the Krimzon Guard as they withdrew from what was now Dead Town, leaving hundreds of dying and wounded people lying everywhere.

A hand rested on his shoulder, and he jerked out of his flashback to see Keira peering anxiously at him.
"Torn? Is something the matter? You're crying."

Torns fingers immediately went up to his cheek, and he wiped away the tears.

The first tears he had cried in 10 years.