Chapter 48

Aura ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time. How long had Reno been in the infirmary and nobody had told her? Her steps echoed up the hallway as she hurried up the corridor and then pushed the doors to the infirmary open. She spotted Reno across the room in one of the beds and she lurched toward him.

"Are you okay?" Aura came to a halt a few steps from the bed, her gaze catching on Reno's face. "… what happened?" She stared at the cut across his forehead, dark stitches holding it together, she looked then at the thinner cut across his cheekbone, surrounded by a welt that was beginning to turn black and purple at the edges as it crept up around his eye. "Reno…" She took the last few steps toward the bed and reached for his hand. "Sweet Shiva…"

"It's fine." He told her, wrapping his fingers around her hand and giving her a grin. "Some kids just got a couple lucky shots in."

"Shots…?"

"Little pricks were throwin' rocks."

"Rocks?" she sat on the edge of the bed, reaching a hand out to him and tilting his chin up so that she could have a better look at his face. There was another bruise forming along his jaw. "Where else did they get you?"

"Here and there." He smiled at her once more. Aura tried to smile back but couldn't help looking him over again.

"What else is wrong?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

"If you were fine you wouldn't be here…"

"Oh, nah…" he gave her a grin, "Zena is just checking some scans and stuff… you know how she gets about her job…" Aura glanced across the room at Zena and then back to Reno. "She told me I can go home later when everything checks out."

Aura began to feel sick to her stomach. "Is it starting again?" She asked, "The attacks…" She watched him shrug lightly.

"I dunno, yo." He squeezed her hand, "But if kids throwin rocks is the best they got…"

"It's not, though." Her voice was expressionless. "It's not."

"Aur…" he breathed, pulling her closer, "Don't worry about it…"

She shook her head, wondering how he expected her to do that. If it had been children, that meant the resentment was running deep. It wasn't just organised groups, it had become part of the psyche of the place. That was more dangerous than they'd been given credit for. There was no controlling it. Aura allowed Reno to pull her down against himself and she felt him wrap an arm around her. Looking up at him, she allowed her gaze to move across the swiftly darkening bruises marring his pale skin. "Reno…" she trailed a hand up his arm letting her fingers move over the soft fabric of his shirt.

"If you two are fine, I'm going to get some lunch…" Zena's bright voice called across to them as she strode for the doors. "I'll be back in about an hour."

Aura nodded, looking around again at the woman before the doors swung closed behind her. Reno drew her attention back to himself a moment later with his hand moving down to Aura's waist. "You tryin' to get fresh with me?" she murmured.

"Of course." Aura could hear the laugh in his voice.

"Don't know what you intend to do, a feeble invalid like yourself…" She cast a simple glance at him, trying to hide her own smirk.

"Guess I'll have to show you, yo." He tugged her down until she was lying completely beside him and then he tightened an arm around her, holding her firmly. Aura lifted a hand, trailing it gently up his arm, across his shoulder and then lightly to his cheek, her fingertips ghosting over the bruise across his cheekbone.

"That hurt?" she asked quietly.

"Not anymore." Her replied, his hand moving up her back. "It's fine…"

Aura nodded, trying to accept the relief that washed through her. When Elena had told her that Reno had returned from Patrol injured and that he was in the infirmary, she hadn't known what to expect. Images of him beaten and bloody, torn apart and unconscious had flashed through her mind as she'd raced up here. Seeing him now with a few cuts and bruises was a bit of a relief, and she couldn't stop touching him. "You might've lost an eye…" she said, looking carefully at him.

"But I didn't." He pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose. "Their aim wasn't that good."

"Reno…" she frowned.

"Aur, I've had worse." He said gently, "Way worse."

"I… I suppose you would have."

"I wouldn't have even come up here except I wanted painkillers for my killer headache." He gestured at his face. "This is nothin."

"You have stitches…"

"I'm alright." His tone was smooth and gentle, and Aura believed him.

"Okay…" Aura smiled as Reno's fingers moved up the back of her neck and into her hair. She hummed appreciatively when he kissed her a moment later.

"See…" he breathed, pulling back just enough to meet her eyes and Aura nodded. "Just fine."

"If you say so."

"You need more proof?"

"No…" she whispered, "I guess not… I'm glad you weren't killed…"

"Me too." He smiled at her, "It'll be even better if I don't have an intracranial haemorrhage."

"That's not funny." She said, her hand sliding across his shoulder. "Is that really why Zena is keeping you?"

"Mhm." He nodded and Aura felt his hand move carefully down her side once more, gliding down her leg. "She wants to keep me under observation, just to be sure." His hand began pulling the skirts of her dress up past her thigh. She looked up at him.

"If you're bleeding internally…" Aura bit her lip, "Inside your skull… You should rest…" she said, her breath catching when his hand slid beneath the dress. Her breathing quickened, and she glanced toward the door again, hoping that nobody would walk into the room. "Reno…" her voice was uncertain.

"I am resting…" he told her, and she jumped slightly when his hand moved between her legs.

"Reno!"

"This is me resting…" the mischief in his voice brought Aura's gaze back to his face.

She gasped when he suddenly pulled her over on top of himself so that she was straddling his hips in the bed and his hand slid into her underwear and went instantly back to what he had been doing moments before. Aura let out a shaky breath, her own hands clenching handfuls of Reno's shirt as she leaned into him. "This is not resting…" she panted, "And anyone could walk in…" she looked over her shoulder.

"Zena is gone for an hour…" he replied, his tone low and soothing, "and nobody else will come looking…"

"But I don't want to hurt you…" she forced the words out, wanting to give in to him. "You're in here for a reason…"

"Trust me…" he practically purred, "I'm able to do this…"

Aura's eyes closed and she couldn't help moving against him, unable to keep her hips still. Reno continued what he was doing with his fingers, while his other hand moved up and down her thigh carefully, massaging and rubbing. Aura gasped again, leaning forward over Reno until she could press her forehead into his shoulder. A knee either side of him in the bed had given him plenty of access to be able to do as he wished and Aura could hear the soft whining noise she was making now as she begged him for more, a soft litany falling from her lips. She didn't know what she expected him to do as anything too strenuous for him could have had a terrible outcome if he really was bleeding onto his brain.

Squeezing her eyes shut again, Aura groaned as she felt Reno hard beneath the blankets. They definitely shouldn't do this. Not until they knew that he really was okay. She couldn't stop moving against him however.

"How's this?" she heard him breathe, and then he'd pushed several fingers inside of her and Aura had let out a loud cry, her hips now moving of their own accord.

"Reno…" she breathed, "Someone could see… this is…" she gasped, shaking her head. "This is…"

"Nobody will see." He replied softly, his lips brushing her ear, "It's just us… Just you and me…"

"Ah…" Her fingers slid up the back of his neck and into his hair, tightening and holding fast. She groaned as Reno's other hand went to her lower back, pulling her in tighter as his fingers pushed more deeply into her, curling in a way that drew a shriek from her. Aura's head tilted back and she tried to draw a deep breath, her fingers tugging on his hair.

"Oh, like that, then?"

Aura barely heard him over the thundering of her heart. She stopped thinking about the fact that they were in the infirmary, and that anybody could come through the doors at any moment. She stopped thinking about the fact that what they were doing was highly inappropriate and that they should be somewhere more private. She stopped thinking about anything other than Reno, and the fact that he was hurt and could have been even more so. She needed to have him, feel him, know that he was alright. His fingers moved inside her, and Aura's back arched. "Reno…"

"Yeahyeah…" his lips were on her ear, whispering to her, "It's okay… don't think…" She could feel the heat of him beneath her and she began to twitch, her eyes closing and her breath catching in her throat. Aura let out a breathy cry, clutching at Reno's shoulders as he continued to use his fingers through her shuddering.

By the time Zena returned after her lunch, Aura was sitting beside Reno on his bed, her dress back in place and arranged neatly around herself. Reno had draped an arm around her shoulders, keeping her comfortably against himself, and it was as if nothing had ever happened. Aura watched as Zena went to check on her equipment.

"I need to scan you again." The doctor said, coming back to Reno's bed, "Check if anything's changed in the last hour…"

"Yeah, okay." Reno straightened slightly and Aura got up to get out of the way. Her eyes flicked back and forth between Reno and the thing in Zena's hands. She didn't notice that she was holding her breath for a few moments, but when Zena eventually lowered her hands and stepped back from Reno's bed, announcing that he was fine and that there was nothing wrong with him apart from the obvious cuts and bruises, Aura let out a relieved sigh.

"So he can go home…?"

"Yes…" Zena's eyes met Aura's. "He can go home. He's fine." That blue gaze moved back to Reno. "Stitches will come out in a week… and you'll want some more painkillers for when the meds I gave you wear off."

"Kay, Doc." Reno nodded and swing his legs around and off the bed. Aura moved closer, reaching out to take his arm. "I'm alright." He murmured, smiling down at her. Aura nodded, wrapping an arm around his waist. She felt him lean into her for a moment, testing himself before he took his own weight and stood straight again.

"Come on," she told him. "We're going home."