He led her into a darkened apartment, and she walked in slowly. It was a little hard to simply shrug off all that caution. She stood in front of him, unsure of what to do next.

"Kitchen's straight ahead and to your right." he spoke from behind, turning on the lights. He moved away to another section of the flat. "Help yourself to the food."

She made her way to his kitchen and studied each cupboard. Immediately, she opened each one, looking for something to sink her teeth into. In the third cabinet she opened, she found a small round melon. Without thinking, skin and all, she bit into it.

When he came in, he stood in the doorway of the kitchen, staring at her as the pink juice dribbled down her bloodied chin, and onto the floor. She ignored him completely and continued to make her way to the fruit's center.

"Would you...uh...like me to cut that up for you?" he offered.

She shook her head, no. Then later, through a mouthful of fruit, she muttered. "You got anything else?"

"I have some fish. Some pie – it's a week old, but – "

"I'll take it."

"Elori, you know, um...how do I put this, during your period of...uh...capture, they didn't feed you much, did they?"

Finished with the melon, she flung it into the trash. "What gave you that idea?" she asked with sarcasm.

He smiled. "What I'm trying to say, is that your stomach size is a little smaller than normal now. If you're going to stuff yourself silly – and I'm not blaming you – it's all going to come back out soon afterwards."

"Oh shut up and give me that pie."

Just as he anticipated, after consuming the pie and the badly cooked fish, she made her quickly towards his refresher. Sitting outside of it in the small corridor, he could hear her retching out her dinner. When she opened the door, she steadied herself with one arm against the door frame and regarded him silently. And then she laughed.

To be honest, he hadn't expected her to. He couldn't help but break out into a series of chuckles himself. He rose and offered her two packs of Kolto.

She took them, and looked down at herself. She gingerly fingered her bruised throat.

"Sorry about the neck," he said. "Never really meant for that to –"

"Of course you did, Atton." she said, taking the Kolto and walked towards his living room.

He stood still and mouthed his name to himself. Atton. He hadn't heard that...since...well, for a long time.

He followed her out into the living room. She had seated herself not on his sofa, but in a bare corner of the small room. She had begun to open the packs and awkwardly started to administer the healing gel on herself. He'd then noticed that she didn't move her right arm much. Had he...? Oh crap. Of course he did.

"You know, I've had some training as a medic. I can get your arm back in, no problem."

She looked up at him. No smiles this time. "No thanks. I don't think I'm quite ready for another swig of pain."

He jerked his thumb behind him. "Hey, I could give you a small dose of...something I have that will sedate you for a bit while I fix your arm."

"Sedate me?" she repeated. "No way."

"It won't hurt a bit."

"Forgive me for being blunt, but the thought of you with a needle and me at the receiving end doesn't quite sit well. Alarm bells ring. Wailing klaxons. You know."

He leaned back into the sofa and chortled. "Well. It's your arm. And if you can stand the pain, then that's fine by me."

The pack of kolto slipped from her grasp and fell to the floor. She picked it back up and stared at him curiously. "You're enjoying this, aren't you."

He shook his head, not smiling. "Not one bit."

She bit her lip. "What exactly is in that damned juice that you would, hypothetically, shoot me up with?"

"Carodazole." he said, without missing a beat.

"Side effects?"

"Slight numbness of the nerves in the spot I administer it to being its primary objective, its side effects include a little dizziness, vasodilation, and," he swallowed, "...possible hallucinations."

"You mean I'm going to get high." she said, unblinking.

He brought his hand up to his mouth, trying to conceal an oncoming grin. "Something like that, yeah."

To his surprise, she extended out her arm in a limp manner, and spoke with a steady voice. "Administer away, doctor."

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