I have no excuse for my laziness

If someone told her Serana she was going to be tending to the wounds on Alrek's naked back, she would've thought them crazy.

Yet here she is, needle in one hand, thread in the other

"Honestly, Did you have to rush at it?" She said, pressing the cloth to his scarred back, attempting to maintain her composure.

Alrek shrugged then growled in pain "Sorry...Force of habit" Serana shook her head.

"How did you make it this far without me"

"Luck I guess"

Serana could only shake her head before she thought about what lead them to this.

5 hours earlier

"And you're sure its tasty?" Serana was hesitant.

Alrek shrugged. "Its tasty for me, But our palettes might be different."

Serana looked at the orange bottle filled with the liquid. She shrugged and tipped her head back, drinking the contents, she made a face of disgust.

"Yuck...It taste bitter" Serana handed him back the mead as they walked, Alrek finished it off then threw away the bottle.

They set up camp on the side of the road, With Serana doing the cooking while Alrek waited.

It had gotten hot so Alrek took off his armor leaving him in his tunic, showing off his toned muscles. He was against it at first, being the paranoid Nord that he is. But finally took it off after almost passing out from overheating.

They found a pot earlier and decided to use it to make Rabbit stew. Of course it was hard for her to concentrate when Alrek was practically showing off his muscles.

She shook her head, When did she become like this? Daughter of a vampire lord, yet swooning over a man like some drunk maiden.

Serana stopped looking at Alrek when she heard the buses rustle rather violently, Alrek heard it to and grabbed his sword, he walked towards it.

She wish he hadn't.

Serana could see Alrek was a bit scared after sniffing the air before investigating, he was part dog.

Alrek barely pushed aside the bush before a giant werewolf leaped at him and shoved its claws into Alrek's abdomen lifting him up, it growled at him then threw against a tree, Serana quickly got up and shot an Ice spike at it running at it with her dagger, The spike didn't do much, it just annoyed it and it turned away and knocked her aside, It turned its attention back to Alrek who was crawling towards his sword.

It dug its claws into his back and dragged him along the ground, it turned him around and Alrek kicked him back, he ran towards his sword but the werewolf regained its balance and tackled him from behind, it clawed at his back repeatedly, Serana climbed on the werewolf's back but it tossed her off, she landed next to Alrek's golden sword, she grabbed but screamed in pain. It burned her!

She shook her head after dropping it, she grabbed her dagger and climbed back in the werewolf again, shoving her dagger through its skull

"Alrek! Alrek are you okay!?"

He didn't respond, instead he just groaned in pain, Serana dragged him back to the fire she dumped the pot with the stew out and ran towards a nearby lake, she came back with a pot full of water. Alrek was still bleeding, the grass around him coated in blood.

She dipped the cloth in the water and sat him up, she took off his bloody tunic and wiped away the blood, it didn't help it continued bleeding.

She didn't know what to do, she never had to heal anyone before, she started panicking, She could hear Alrek's breathing get slower.

She wanted to cry.

Alrek stirred and groaned, Serana looked up and walked in front of him.

"Alrek? Are you okay?"

Alrek nodded "Yeah..." He pointed to his bag. Serana nodded and walked towards, she grabbed some potions and came back to him.

Present

She wish she knew some healing spells so Alrek wouldn't have to waste gold on healing potions. Maybe she should buy a tome next time they visit a city.

Alrek growled "Watch where you're stitching"

"Sorry!" Serana said and begin to focus her work. She didn't want to have do this, But they ran out of healing potions.

But focusing on his back was probably worse.

He had many scars and a toned muscular back, these new wounds would join his collection of scars.

"Serana...What are you doing?"

She snapped back to reality, she was tracing his shoulder blades

"S-Sorry...I was just looking at one of your wounds."

Alrek nodded "Thanks for saving me back there, I didn't expect him to jump at me"

Serana tilted her head.

"Him? Are you talking about the werewolf?" Alrek nodded

"That was a man, probably lost himself to the curse...I don't blame him, There were many times I just wanted to stay a werewolf"

"Why didn't you?"

Alrek shrugged "I don't know, I figured being a werewolf all the time would get boring after awhile"

Serana listened as she stitched his wounds, this was the first time she had seen his bare back. She tried her best not to get distracted.

"that golden sword of yours...Dawnbreaker was it?" Serana said, Alrek nodded

"What about it?" He asked "i picked it up, but it burned me. What kind of sword is it?"

"Ah, its a gift from Merida, it harms any undead very much. I should have told you about it"

Once she had finished up stitching all of his wounds Alrek put his tunic back on.

"Thanks, I don't think I would have survived without you" He held up his pack "Unfortunately, we ran out of health potions, We can stop by Riften on our way back to the fortress."

Serana nodded and looked at the pot "So much for dinner..." She said "Sorry..." Alrek unwrapped some bread and handed it to her.

"This will have to do for now, we can get some dinner back at the fortress" Alrek said. Serana nodded and started eating.

Night was upon them, But Serana couldn't sleep, She suddenly found herself in front of Alrek's sleeping figure, He was still in his tunic, she reached out her hand and rested it on his muscular arms, it was solid. Alrek turned in his sleep and she jerked her hand back, what was she doing? She shook her head and turned to go back to her sleeping bag

Serana woke up but Alrek was nowhere to be found, she heard rustling behind her. She grabbed her dagger and readied her spell, she approached the bush, raised her dagger and pushed aside the branch's she found a scrawny male.

"Wait! Please I'm just trying to survive, I've gone days without food and i have no money" He said

Serana was skeptical. "I have some left over food you can have, as for gold. We're tight on gold ourselves" She said, the man looked behind her.

"You have someone else here with you?" He asked, Serana shook her head "He must be off hunting for food" She thought she saw the man smile

"Good, this is easier" he said, Serana raised her eyebrow, she heard a branch crack behind her and she turned around to be met with a blunt object, knocking her out.

Eh...This chapter was alright...