There was nothing but an aching pain in McArthy's side and back. He coughed as he woke up, a burst of pain surging through his body as the cough made him curl. With a cry, he slowly moved back onto the ground, taking deep breaths as he shifted his head.

While he was in deep pain, his focus was quickly turned to the cute and humorous scene of Mim snoozing on the chair, her head hanging back as her long tongue was hanging out. He let out a small chuckle, which only sent another surge of pain through him, making him grunt and grip at his side.

That grunt woke Mim from her sleep, McArthy watching her eyes flutter open and her beak opening wide to yawn. Her attention quickly snapped down to him, then he let out a croon, jumping off the chair and lowering herself to him, then said, "McArthy!"

McArthy softly smiled, holding back any groans from the pain. What happened next caught him completely off guard as Mim stooped next to him. With a trill, she placed the side of her face against his, quickly nuzzling him, then moved back and said, "You are hurt!"

It took a few seconds for McArthy to break himself off the trance from her nuzzling him, then softly nodded and said, "Yeah, I… uh… noticed."

His armor was not helping the wounds, but he was too hurt to move enough to remove it. He was stuck on the ground, then he grinned and said, "I told you to jump."

Mim shook her head with a chuff, then rested her hands against his chest and said, "No moving. I'll take care."

With a sigh, McArthy moved his hand up, giving the three-fingered hands on his chest a gentle pat, and said, "Thanks. I would argue, but I'm… well, I don't think I've felt worse."

The t'vaoan released an amused huff, then she tilted her head and asked, "Not comfortable, hm?"

McArthy forced himself to chuckle, then said, "Especially now. The ground has never been comfy."

Mim raised a clawed finger, then moved to the table. He watched her grab her shotgun, placing it on her back, before putting her plasma pistol on her thigh. She turned back to him and stated, "I will s-s-scavenge. Find… b-bedding."

McArthy was about to question her, but she quickly hushed him with a chirp and said, "No moving. Stay… safe."

Any fight he had dissipated as Mim said that then he lightly nodded his head and completely laid his head back with a soft groan. Shutting his eyes and steadying his breathing, McArthy had no intentions of moving. Moving his eyes to gaze at Mim, he watched as she shuffled her fingers in the small pouch that contained her 8-gauge ammunition. Though her fingers were counting her shells, her eyes were staring at him.

Once she was done with checking her resources, she moved towards the door and said, "I will be back."

She pressed the button, watching the door open, then McArtrhy grunted as he searched his aching body and called, "Wait! You need…"

He trailed off as his hands searched his armor's pockets, finding nothing, then watched as Mim chuckled and held up the yellow card. With a sigh, he laid his head back down with a grunt and said, "Alright, I'm gonna try and get more sleep. You do… what you gotta do."

Mim watched as her human shut his eyes with a long sigh, then she walked out of the base and quietly said, "Take care of you…"

Her eyes gazed to her right arm as she lifted it, brushing the gauze she had yet to remove, "... like you have me."

With the press of the button, the door shut behind her, a sudden gust of wind sending chills down her spine. The cold was getting worse, and she was not handling it as well as her human. He was cold, but his shivering hadn't gotten much worse, unlike her.

Shaking her body with a squawk, she swiftly bolted to the fence around the base. Once she jumped through the broken fencing, the T'vaoan sped off into the forest, heading for the frigate wreckage they had searched.

Snow kicked into the air as she expertly weaved through the trees, her senses taking control of her body. Mim was never the fastest of her kind, she was actually quite short, the same height as her human. And he seemed a bit tall for his kind. Mim let out a small snort as she thought about that.

It was only 50 minutes of sprinting until she reached the small hill overlooking the wreckage. Without pause she moved down the hill, snaking around the debris towards the ship's corpse. As she approached it, the sight of a lump in the snow caught her attention. With a swipe of her arm, she cleared the snow and revealed the top of a helmet. Once she brushed more snow off, she recognized it as the one McArthy was holding before. It was one of his teammates, one of his family. She recognized the look in his eyes when he talked about what happened, how it wrenched him to see them this way. If what he's said and done means anything, he must have nothing left that was close to him.

"Nothing except me…" she thought to herself.

Not interested in disturbing the helmet and further, Mim continued forward to the ship. She's rummaged through the ship a few times, a conclusion McArthy came to quite quickly. Despite this, she has only ventured to a few specific spots, and places with bedding were not one of them. The only worries on her mind as she slowly walked through the dark ship were whether there were more loose ruuhtian prisoners and whether something happens to McArthy while she was gone. One was certainly concerning her more, especially with how few of those ruuhtians should be left after their last few encounters. She only let so many escape.

Her pace had slowed as she stalked through more unknown halls of the ship, her shotgun now grasped in her hands. Many of the human bodies appeared untouched, which was a sign that the scattered ruuhtians were nowhere near. With one worry out of mind, she hurried her pace through the dark halls, poking her head through every open doorway.

She was starting to grow impatient as she continued to search, not finding anything. The more time she spent finding nothing made her want to turn back and go back to her human more. On the verge of leaving the ship to care for McArthy, she poked her head into one last room and saw a pair of bunk beds. With a trill, she raced into the room and put the shotgun on her back.

Placing her hand down on one of the nests, she felt how thin and uncomfortable the mattress was. With a grunt of distaste, she took a step back and looked at them. She would need to take two just to make it comfortable. Not that it would be any trouble on its own, but if she ran into any Covenant patrols it would become an issue.

With a grunt, she grabbed both of the bottom mattresses off the bunks and tucked them both under her arms. The idea that these could be called nests in the first place was ridiculous. But they were better than the ground, maybe she would even come back for the other two.

All in good time, but right now her human needs comfort and company. With the two mattresses under her arms, she carefully moved out of the room and made her way out of the ship. The mattresses definitely slowed her down to an annoying degree, but she chuffed through it and continued forward.

As she walked outside, she raised her head to the bright sky to see more clouds slowly rolling in. Mim let out a small whine at the sight. That just meant the snow would get higher and the air would get colder. If the winter just kept getting worse, they might get locked into that base for some time, and she didn't want to be stuck in there without the supposed heaters working.

She hissed as she thought about fixing the power again, shaking it out of her mind. She wasn't going to fix anything until McArthy was okay. He needed her attention more than the power did.

In a hurried pace, she moved through the short snow and winded back the way she came. It wasn't long until it began lightly snowing, but by the look of the incoming clouds, it wouldn't be light for long. The last thing she wanted was to get stuck somewhere, snowed in alone.

Alone.

Her mind wandered back to that idea, of being alone. While she could say she was alone before, when she was still a part of the Covenant, that wouldn't be the truth. She had some people to talk to, a mentor figure, someone she could trust. Despite these people she had this idea that she was still alone, that she was the only person she could count on. So much so that when she was put on the run, she thought she would be fine. Yet after a month of surviving all on her own, having someone became something she yearned for, so much so that she was willing to befriend an alien that had fallen from the sky.

While originally the idea of befriending the human was one of desperation, it was very evident early into that relationship that, despite being alien, she had grown quite appreciative of him. He was going to need her if he wanted to last very long, though as it turned out in their ventures to survive, she needed him too. He saved her from a needle, from those ruuhtians who managed to get the upper hand, then the ghost. In an attempt to improve their communication, he had been teaching her his very intriguing language. His patience and kindness with her during the process was something she hadn't experienced since her childhood, and she grew to really enjoy learning with him.

Very quickly her reasoning for being with him changed from desperation from being socially deprived, to deeply caring for this human. Her human. His constant commitment to her well-being held no doubt in her heart that he was going to be hers. So confident in that idea, she knew it would not take much to accomplish such a feat. The wild stunt he had pulled had won her over, and though she could not pull off a display such as that; For their safety, of course, she had an idea, one stuck far in the back of her mind as she scurried her way back to their hideout.

The journey took over an hour, but luckily she didn't run into any Covenant on the way. With some excitement, she maneuvered the two mattresses through the broken fence and jogged back to the building's front. She set one down and swiped the card from her waist and pressed it against the panel. When nothing happened, she gave the panel a wack with the back of her hand and tried again, sighing as she heard the door slowly creak open.

Gripping the mattress, she lifted it up and raced into the building, shaking the cold and small flakes of snow off her body as she pressed the button, listening as the door closed shut. She turned her head to look at McArthy, who seemed to be stirring from the sound of the creaking door.

Crooning, she sat one mattress on top of the other, pressing her hands against it to test its' give. She looked forward to see McArthy softly groan and roll over to look at her. With a squawk, she pushed the stacked mattresses against the wall beside McArthy and sat next to him.

"Hey, you're back. If you want an update, I'm not feeling any better."

Mim huffed with amusement, then she leaned forward and raised a hand. Before McArthy could ask, she ran her hand down his hair and held the back of his head. His face immediately burned red, making her tilt her head with a chirp. Deciding not to ask, she ran her other arm under his legs and carefully lifted him up. His grunts of pain made her want to put him down immediately, but if she did that she'd just have to start the process over again. With a puff of air, she lifted him off the ground and moved him onto the nest she set up for him.

She softly laid him against the mattress, listening as his groans of pain turned to a sigh of relief. She moved her arm away from his legs, but kept her hand on the back of his head, very gently moving her clawed fingers through his hair.

With a light cough, which turned to a wheeze of pain, McArthy turned to her and asked, "Hey, uh, whatcha doin'?"

Her hand and face froze as he asked that, then she drew back and quietly hissed at herself. She quickly faced away from him, running her hands through her feathers. Mim immediately presumed he was mad in some way, but to her relief, he let out a soft chuckle from her reaction and laid his head back.

Though, she continued running her fingers through her feathers, trying to smooth them out and get any kind of snow or debris out of them. Once she was done she lightly nipped at her arm feathers, brushing them down with her talons as well.

A silence settled on the two as McArthy rested on the mattress stack. The silence was interrupted however as McArthy's stomach loudly rumbled. Mim perked her head up to look at him, seeing a small grimace of discomfort on his face.

McArthy sighed and asked, "Hey, did we lose breakfast, by chance?"

Her eyes lit up when he mentioned food, then she shot up, shaking her head, then raced away from McArthy. He watched her run over to one of the doors leading to the neighboring rooms, listening as the door creaked open and watched her disappear through the doorway. Grunting, he turned his head and laid it back on the bedding.

A few seconds later, he heard the sound of soft grunting followed by something being dragged. McArthy's eyes widened a bit as he watched Mim drag the headless corpse into the middle of the room, promptly dropping it on the ground with a pant. Her eyes lifted from the corpse and looked up at McArthy, then walked towards him.

McArthy chuckled at the sight of the corpse and said, "I'm not sure I'm in the best condition to cut and cook that-"

He was cut off as Mim shot her hand to the knife on his side, pulling it from the sheath and huffing. She turned the knife over in her hand, then looked back up at McArthy. With a grin, he asked, "You know what to do, right?"

With a nod, Mim said, "How hard can be, hm?"

He only lightly laughed in reply, then turned his head to look straight up and said, "Hey, can I say something?"

Tilting her head, Mim nodded, "Yes?"

"Just… thanks, for everything."

Caught off guard, Mim ducked her head away and crooned, feeling herself heat up. She looked back at him and gave a simple nod of her head, then turned back and approached the corpse. She had watched him carefully cut into the animal before and knew exactly what parts he could eat. Though, as she slowly started, she realized it would take her a bit longer to cut it up than it would McArthy. But that didn't matter, she would get the job done.

The cuts were a lot less clean than what McArthy was able to do, but she didn't care. She pulled the lamp close and turned it on, quickly turning up the heat to cook the meat.

Smelling the cooking meat, McArthy turned his head to look, only to see Mim's backside facing him as she squatted over the lamp, carefully prodding the meat with the knife. Redness quickly swelled in his cheeks at the sight, then he turned away, feeling rude.

Mim hoped she didn't ruin the food as she cooked it for McArthy, not completely sure how long to keep it on the lamp. She could only go off of what the meat looked like, and remember back to when McArthy had cooked it himself.

After some time, she took the slab of meat from the lamp and looked it over, making sure its surface was at least an even texture across, then looked back at McArthy and waved it. She watched a smile grown on his face, then turned the lamp off and sat the meat back down. She stabbed the knife down into the meat, then pushed the lamp in front of the bedding.

With a grunt, McArthy put his hands to the bed and asked, "Can you… help me sit up. I don't wanna lay down all day."

Mim tilted her head, letting out a croon of concern, "You sure?"

Softly chuckling, he nodded and said, "Yeah, I am. Just put one of these mattresses against the wall."

At first, she was hesitant to disturb him in fear of hurting him, but nodded with a sigh, and grabbed the bottom mattress. She slowly pulled it out from the other one, McArthy only quietly grunting to himself in the process, then she sat it behind the remaining mattress against the wall.

Moving her body over the laying McArthy, she carefully helped him slowly slide himself up, listening as his breathing became faster and he grit his teeth. He let out a long sigh as she settled him against the mattress, then sat down across from him with a tilted head.

With a small chirp, she asked, "Better?"

Once again, a soft smile spread across his lips as he nodded, "Much better. Thanks."

A small shiver ran down her body as she looked at his smile. It wasn't a reaction to the cold, but just looking at that alien smile made her feel many different things. The one thing she knew for sure was that she wanted to see it, for a very long time.

He grunted again, sleeping his front armor off his chest and sliding it against the ground, then asked, "Can you help me with this armor? It'll be a literal pain to get off."

With a nodding chirp, Mim leaned close to him and held onto his armor, carefully helping him remove it. She knew little of how his armor worked, but he patiently guided her and helped her where he could without hurting himself as she undid the armor and pulled it off of him, piece by piece. Once it was all off, she was caught off guard by his armorless torso. She's seen it before, but never so close. His clothing seemed to press against his chest, revealing his toned chest muscles. She was about to reach out and touch them when McArthy cleared his throat.

Mim whipped her head back up to face him. He had a small grin on his lips, though his face seemed reddened, then he asked, "Hey, uh, before I get to the food, can you help check me for any… serious wounds?"

Tilting her head, she asked, "How so?"

He lightly chuckled as he looked away from her for a moment, then he placed his hands on the top of the shirt and said, "Just… help me take this off and look me over, will ya'? Tell me if you see something a little worse than the terrible bruising I know I have."

Mim silently nodded, then carefully grabbed the bottom of the shirt. With a grip on the cloth, she looked back up at McArthy with a slight tilt. He reddened more, then said, "Up and over my head, okay? Don't stop when I groan like a bitch."

Nodding, Mim said, "Okay."

With that, he raised his arms with a loud grunt and let her slowly slip the shirt up his body. Mim couldn't help but pull the shirt off slowly as her eyes locked onto and gazed at his lightly skinned, but heavily bruised, torso. His groaning and grunts grew louder as the shirt pulled his arms up, making her turn back to the shirt and slip it off him. McArthy slowly lowered his arms back down with a long sigh of relief, then laid back against the mattress and took in a few breaths.

Concerned, Mim crooned as she leaned closer and asked, "Are you okay?"

He waited a moment as he took in a few more breaths, then nodded and said, "Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Now, take a look at the mess that is my body right now, huh?"

Mim nodded, first taking a moment to look at his front. His muscles were very toned, covered with the many marks and scars of battle, though none of it took away from the sight. There was very heavy bruising covering his entire left side from where the ghost hit him, and she knew it would only look worse on his back.

With a little hesitation, she planted her hand against his shoulder and began to peer at his back. She took a moment to revel in the feeling of his soft skin against her fingers, then shook her focus away from it and looked at his back. There was an obvious large mark of bruising running from his left side across his backside, but from the look of it, he avoided any fatal injuries.

She let out a sigh of relief from the conclusion, then moved back in front of him. With a grin, McArthy asked, "Alright, give it to me straight, doc."

Huffing in amusement, Mim shook her head and said, "You are fine."

McArthy sighed in relief as well, then gestured to his shirt and said, "Thanks for that. I know you probably weren't planning on looking at alien abs today, but hey, life's full of surprises."

The two lightly chuckled as Mim raised the shirt up, slowly lowering it back down over his arms. His chuckling turned into more grunting, though he tried to hold them in as she lowered the shirt over him. Once it was tucked over his body, he let out a sigh and leaned against the mattress.

Mim's hands were still lightly holding the shirt, then she slowly let go of it and lightly brushed her hand across his chest. When she looked back up to his eyes, he either didn't notice or tried his best not to, despite the sole purpose of it was to make him notice.

With that out of the way, Mim stepped back and pushed the meat in front of him, watching as he very slowly lifted his arms and took a hold of the knife. Luckily most of the injuries he had were located to his torso, so he could still at least use his limbs, though with some obvious discomfort.

As she watched him cut into the meat, he let out a soft groan and said, "My side… feels like it's been pummeled by a brute."

Despite her concerns over his injuries, she couldn't help but release an amused chuff from his comment. She watched as her chuff put a grin on his face, then he turned back to the meat and began slowly eating. Sometimes there were moments where she wished she could say some kind of witty remark with him, but her currently limited grasp on English made it annoyingly impossible. That was the same for almost everything, though. So many things she wished she could say, but she just didn't know the words, and it would be impossible for her to figure those words out properly through him.

As she thought about it, she hasn't even spoken in her own language in quite a bit. Though that one made sense to her. She's been alone for a while now, she had no one to talk to, so why waste the breath. Even with him here, she knew he had no knowledge of her language, though he seemed to have more knowledge on Covenant species than the average human, so speaking sangheili was still pointless. Plus, there was no way she could have taught him it, seeing as they had no materials to help them. Fortunately, he was able to find material to help him teach her his language, and it's been going quite well, though she still had some learning to do.

Content that her human was okay at the moment, she picked herself up and roamed over to the counter. She peered over it for a moment, still seeing the shattered and broken monitors she had pushed off, then back down to the counter. Sitting on it were the two crates with beam rifles, her shotgun, and McArthy's backpack. Grabbing the backpack, she unzipped it and looked inside, her eyes lighting up as she saw the book and pen within. She grabbed both of them, swiftly pushing the backpack back onto the counter, then turned to look at McArthy. He was still eating his food, so she decided she could try and practice her writing while he finished eating.

Strolling over to the chair and taking a seat, she flipped the book open to where they left off, tapping the end of the pen against her beak as she stared at the page. All these different human words were very strange, along with how the language works in itself. The language was very adaptive and vibrant, though that just made it that much harder to learn. Still, McArthy said she was making good progress, and it no longer took her much time to figure out what he means when he speaks.

She was about to write something when she shifted her legs, only for her leg armor to smack into each other and stop her from getting comfortable. With a grunt of discomfort, she set the book aside on the counter and stood up. Mim knew she wasn't going anywhere else today, so she might as well take the armor off.

As she started removing her chestplate, she froze, an idea popping into her head. Grinning to herself as she slowly turned her head to look at McArthy still eating, she turned the chair and presented herself in the open as she removed the armor. She purposely let her chest and back armor fall onto the ground with a bang, ripping McArthy's attention away from the food and up to her backside. With that, she bent over to remove her leg armor, slowly pulling it off her body and setting it aside.

Glancing back at McArthy, he had turned his attention back to his food, but his face was burning red. Though she would've hoped for something more, this was a start. She then finished taking her armor off and threw herself back on the chair, dangling her legs under it far sultrier than usual as she took a hold of the book once again.

At this point she was only half paying attention to what she was doing in the book as she constantly glanced at McArthy, hoping to see him eyeing her. All he ever did was take a quick glance, then move his head away again. One thing she knew nothing of was what human's found enticing, she's been going off the assumption that the redness on his face meant she was doing something right; Evidently not right enough, however.

Once McArthy had finished eating, he lightly pushed the lamp away with a grunt, flipping it on to give him some heat from the cold. Seeing he was done, Mim rose from the chair, a tinge of excitement in her eyes, then stared at him as she wiggled the book in the air.

She watched him chuckle, then he waved her over and said, "Yeah, I can teach ya' some more. Not much else I can really do right now."

Letting out a squawk of joy, Mim raced at him, only stopping mere units from the edge of his nest, making him shut his eyes and reflexively shoot his hands up to stop her. With a small grunt from his quick movements, he opened his eyes again and looked at Mim, who was standing over him.

The discomfort on his face disappeared, replaced by a grin, then he lowered his arms to his side with a relieved sigh, "Jesus, that was a close one. Sometimes you look like you're moving as fast as a bullet, scares the shit outta me."

Mim quickly ducked her head, slightly embarrassed herself. She let her excitement get a hold of her and almost crashed into her injured human.

With a croon, she gently sat next to him and softly said, "Sorry, McArthy."

He chuckled softly, then said, "Don't be, I like the excitement. Seeing you like that just might be worth the risk of injury."

Unable to give him a proper reply, she only quietly chirped and held the book out. As he took a hold of the book, Mim carefully scooted closer, getting herself shoulder to shoulder with him. While he tried his best to hide it, she could tell he noticed, seeing a new tenseness in his body. To try and ease his tenseness, she softly crooned and gestured to the book with her head.

She watched as he slowly nodded and opened the book. He flipped to her most recent page, then smiled and said, "Hey, look at you! You got better penmanship than me now!"

Mim replied with an excited squawk, making him chuckle and say, "Yeah, now let's see if we can get you to speak better than me. Maybe, in a week or two, you can finally tell me the story of why the Covenant wants you dead."

Bobbing her head, she crooned and said, "It is… compl...plicated."

Nodding his head with a grin, he chuckled and said, "I'm sure it is. I mean, if you don't want to talk about it that's fine too. I'm just curious, ya' know, an enemy alien befriending a human isn't exactly a common occurrence."

Trilling, Mim moved her head a little closer to his and softly said, "I will tell. Just need… more."

"Well, more I shall give. Now, let's get started so you can share sooner."

As the two went through the lesson, Mim would very slowly inch her head closer to his. At a point, her feathers were brushing against McArthy's head, though she knew not to put weight on him. Over time, when he was showing her a specific word in the book, she'd take the chance and lightly brush the side of her face against his in an attempt to "see the book better".

Through this entire lesson, she was surprised her human didn't say anything about the closeness. But, as the light outside slowly disappeared and night began, she realized why. It was cold, and he probably thought she was just getting close for warmth.

About an hour later, McArthy was writing a new word down that he planned on teaching her when a rumbling stomach interrupted him. This time, it was Mim's stomach, and it struck her that she hadn't eaten all day. She slowly turned to see what was left of the creature laying on the tarp she had rolled it in, then turned back to McArthy.

With a chuckle, he shut the book and said, "We can continue later. You go and enjoy the fruits of your labor."

Nodding, gave his shoulder a small rub with her own, then stood up and walked over to the cut up carcass. At first she was hesitant to simply dive into it like she usually would, but McArthy did say that what she did didn't bother him. Whether it was true or if it was him just being polite, a trait she was ever grateful for, she decided to oblige his words. Opening her maw, she clamped down on the largest chunk and tore a piece off, taking the moment to glance at McArthy. He didn't seem too put off, which was a good sign .

It didn't take her long to eat what was left, then turned back to McArthy as a rib she was holding in her beak poked out sideways. She slid the bone out, licking any left over meat off of it as she did so, keeping her eyes trained on her human. She watched as he slowly turned his gaze from the book to her, making her toss the bone away and stroll back towards him.

As she planted herself beside him again, leaning her shoulder into his a little more than last time, he tapped the pen against the page and said, "You know, I've been going through all the notes on here out of boredom, and I think I found a few interesting things."

Mim trilled and tilted her head, "Like what?"

There was no grin on his lips as he placed the end of the pen under some words, then said, "This scientist was working on communication systems for Mjolnir armor, that I knew. But upon reading everything else, I realized they were prototype system as it was could've been used as a long distance communicator, given enough power. Most suits wouldn't have long distance coms, and when I say long distance I mean long distance. It goes on about how once finalized and implemented into the suits they probably would've been less powerful, but as a separate piece it could make contact from out of system."

McArthy just said a lot, Mim surprised she was able to keep up as well as she did, then she asked, "What does that mean?"

He tapped the page of the book again and said, "That means, if we can somehow find this prototype, and find a way to route enough power into it, we could make contact outside the system to the UNSC for…"

She watched as he slowly trailed off, his slightly excited expression turning to a straight one. He sighed, slumping back against the mattress, then said, "No, that wouldn't matter. We already lost here, no way in hell they'd come back for one guy."

Mim crooned, then lightly pressed the end of her snout against his cheek and said, "It will be fine. What pro...pro-to-type look like?"

The slightest sign of a smile formed on his lips, then he turned a page and showed off a small sketch. Mim remembered looking at the sketch before, never knowing what it was. Tapping on it, McArthy said, "This is it. A little big for plugging into a suit, but it is only a prototype. I don't know what we could use coms for though, I think we're gonna be stuck here forever."

Pressing her snout more firmly against his cheek, she chirped, "We will be fine."

She watched as he placed the pen in the middle of the book, then he raised his hand and softly planted it on the top of her beak. Chuckling, he rubbed it and said, "I learned to trust you and your instincts, so I'll trust you now too. But I'll hold it against you if you're wrong."

Chuckling, Mim lowered her head a bit, pushing slightly into his hand, and said, "Fine by me."

Mim melted at his touch, feeling his soft fingers rub into her hard beak. Never before had someone touched her in such a gentle and caring way, it was enough to make her throat vibrate with a long trill. The only thing that held back this moment for Mim was her knowing how McArthy viewed this. To him, this was nothing more than friendly, maybe a little cozier than normal, but still friendly.

Despite this, the two stayed that way for a while, Mim uninterested in breaking the contact. But, his movements did begin to slow, until soon his hand was simply laying limply on her. Her eyes flicked open to see what happened, a quick flurry of concern raced through her for a moment, but it immediately subsided as she saw he simply fell asleep.

Her eyes fluttered as she dipped her snout, letting his hand slide off and fall to his side. Knowing he wouldn't feel very well in the morning sleeping in this position, she picked herself up from the mattress and carefully moved his body. She put him down on the mattress, holding her breath and hoping he didn't stir. Fortunately he stayed fast asleep as she moved him, leaving her to sigh in relief as she released him and watched him soundly slumber.

A sudden shiver ran down her body as the cold slowly settled back in now that she wasn't sitting against her human's warm body. With a quick chatter of her beak, she grabbed the second mattress and laid it next to her human's. She placed the heat lamp over their heads, switching it on and relishing in the warmth for a moment. With a sigh, she lowered herself onto the second mattress and turned her body towards McArthy. Though she wanted to get closer, tonight she couldn't.

But I can't control my own body at night. She chuckled at this thought, then scooted her body slightly closer to her human and settled in for the night.

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Mim woke up shivering that morning, shivering harder than ever before. It was so bad she didn't want to move and simply pushed her face into the mattress, growling as her body shook. After a few minutes of painful shaking, she finally lifted her head to see the lamp had shut off, it's power obviously gone.

Hissing, she rolled herself across the mattress onto the cold floor. She gripped both of her arms as she slowly strolled over to the lamp, giving it a light kick towards the counter holding the crates.

Her beak chattered from the cold as she grabbed the crates, her hands shaking as she pried one open, revealing the beam rifle. As she worked with the rifle trying to disassemble it, she almost dropped it multiple times, making her hiss at herself.

After ten minutes of cold fumbling with the rifle, she finally got the power source out of the rifle and threw the taken apart weapon back onto the counter. Crouching low to the lamp, Mim tilted it and grabbed the dead battery, carefully removing it from the lamp, then lazily tossing it onto the counter. It clattered with the beam rifle parts, making her head whip over to McArthy's slumbering form, hoping he didn't wake. Fortunately he didn't stir, only a silent grumble coming from him as he shifted.

Letting out a breath of relief, she turned back to the lamp and plugged in the new battery, watching the light return and heat radiate from it. She wrapped the lamp into a close hug for a moment, savoring the warmth, then walked back over to the nest. She placed the lamp over the head of the mattresses, turning it a bit higher, then grunted as she lightly fell into the mattress.

As she fell into it, her shoulder bumped into McArthy's, making her freeze and hope she didn't hurt him. She stayed like that for a moment, hoping she didn't stir him, then he grunted and she felt his arm softly slide over her side. She chirped with surprise as he pulled her slightly closer to his body, her arm shooting out to pull his arm off her. However, she paused before she touched his arm, staring at the human she was suddenly close to.

'This is what I want.' she thought to herself, moving her arm back down and quietly crooning as she tilted her body into his warmth.

Hey ya. I highly appreciate all the feedback I got, I love reviews of any kind. I see it's clear, you want a lemon. Good, I was planning on having once since the beginning, just wanted your feedback. Plus, as you can tell by reading this chapter, this wasn't the lemon. It was never gonna be. I asked cuz I wanted to know in general, it wasn't a warning for the next chapter, though I appreciate the advice.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, leave your feedback, and goodbye til' next chapter my feathery comrades!