The next morning he woke up well before her.
Her head laid on his right shoulder and he could feel the weight of her right knee resting on his right thigh.
She had her right arm draped across his chest, her hand hanging over his left shoulder.
He knew she had been up once during the night, he never slept like he was dead unless it was on the plane back from a mission. And her getting up beside him was enough to wake him for a bit. She had been gone for a while, and when she came back her hot water bottles were almost too hot for him to be near and she seemed a bit less tense than when she had gotten up.
Right now she seemed a little bothered by something, even in her sleep.
He laid there studying her for a long time. One thing was for sure, she probably wasn't the kind who noticed she was being watched without knowing it already. Quite unlike most of the people he held closest. Most of his teammates for instance would wake up within a minute if you just kept looking at them. Trent was the scariest one of them all, usually he'd wake up within ten seconds flat and look directly at you.
He kept on looking at her. She had full lips, with peaked cupid's bow. Her nose was a bit wide, yet it was still a delicate button nose. Her hairline did that funny thing where it went down in a point in the middle of her forehead. Her hair and eyebrows had about the same warm brown color, he didn't know if she colored either, and frankly he didn't care. She looked great to him whatever the answer was. From the inner end of her left eyebrow, a thin scar stretched towards her right eyebrow. It was a thin and pale line, which he hadn't noticed before. But he had noticed her freckles, which was painted across her forehead, her cheeks and nose and a few on her chin.
He felt happy laying there, just watching her. Thinking he'd never run tired of it.
He almost wanted to cuss his phone out when it decided to start blaring with an incoming call, and Emily stirred beside him.
He spared a short glance at the screen before he answered. Work-Havoc. He frowned.
"Yeah? Hello?" he whispered, hoping that Emily wouldn't wake up.
"Hey Full Metal…" it was Blackburn's voice on the other end of the line, "How are you doing?"
"That really depends on why you're calling…" he yawned, playing up his tiredness, "What time is it?"
"6:48…" Blackburn answered, "I'm sorry to call you this early, especially since you're out with the injury and all…"
Metal smirked a bit, "I'm doing pretty okay… Still a long way to go before I'm even ready to think about getting back in action, though… But, there's got to be a reason for this call, right?"
"Yeah…" Blackburn admitted, "We've got an OP going live in a couple of hours. One of the regular desk riders are out with the flu… And we need more brainpower here, your skill set would make you perfect for this one."
"Brainpower?" Metal chuckled a bit, "You sure you didn't dial the wrong number?"
"You think you're up for it? We can arrange a good chair for you, and something to keep that leg of yours up on…"
"You're really that desperate to find someone?"
"…Yes."
"Dammit…" he sighed and looked down at Emily, she seemed to have slumbered off completely again, "What can you tell me over the phone?"
"Not much, but if we fail this OP…" Blackburn stalled a bit, uncharacteristic for the man, "Let's just say that WW3 would be closer than ever."
"Fucking fantastic…" he sighed, "Can you get someone to come pick me up? I'm still not driving."
"Of course. How much time do you need?"
"As slow as I am right now?" Metal calculated, "About 35 minutes, maybe longer…"
"Alright, I'll send someone. If you need more time, he'll wait."
"Yeah, good." Metal sighed, "And I'm not promising I'll be ready for inspection. Not sure my issued pants will fit."
"Don't worry about it. If anyone decides to give you hell for showing up in a pair of Hello Kitty pajama pants or whatever you decide to show up in, they'll have to answer to me."
"Damn, now I wish I had a pair of Hello Kitty pants just for the hell of it." Metal chuckled, "Alright, but I've gotta hang up to get ANYWHERE, see you at work."
"Yeah, thanks a bunch!"
Metal nodded a bit, "Alright, bye."
"Hey, uhhh…. Em…" he sighed as he shook her a bit.
"What?"
"Work called. They need me."
She pushed up on one elbow and stared at him, "What did you just say?"
"My boss called. They need me there." He swallowed, "Just in the planning part of it all, of course."
"-But, you're still…"
He nodded, "Yeah, I know. But my boss made it sound critical."
She looked him up and down, "You think you're up for it?"
"I'm gonna sit in a chair and use my head." Metal smirked, "And not for head-butting people… Yeah, I think I'll manage."
She couldn't help but smile a bit, "Okay, guess you've got a point."
He nodded, "I don't know when I'll be home, but you're more than welcome to stay while I'm gone. If you want to…"
She shrugged a bit, "Your bed IS really comfy…"
He nodded, "I've been planning to get a second key made, but with the leg and all… I haven't gotten around to it…"
She tilted her head a bit.
"Ms. Wright in apartment 64 has a spare, in case you manage to lock yourself out by accident, I've told her how you look." Metal shrugged, "And if you need to go home for whatever reason, you know the door locks automatically…"
She nodded, "Will I be able to reach you on the phone while you're at work?"
"Only if I'm not in the room where we do all the planning and stuff." He shrugged, "We have to leave our phones outside."
"Okay." She nodded, "I'll send a text then, if I decide to go home to my own apartment. That way you'll know if you can expect to find me here or not…"
He nodded, "Yeah, sounds good. But I've gotta get up now…"
She nodded and sat up so she wasn't blocking his way.
"I hope you feel better today." He said once he was seated as well, before he leaned over and placed a quick kiss.
She glanced down for a moment, before she looked back up and tilted her head, "I hope work doesn't drain you completely today."
He winked, "I'll manage."
38 minutes later he was sitting in the back of the car Blackburn had sent to pick him up.