Chapter Three.

It was more than a week and a half later that Yuri was finally allowed to leave the medical ward, after an exhausting battery of tests and the excruciatingly painful process of the blastia's acclimation to his body.

The doctors, technicians, and scientists had determined that most of the major nerves had been thickened, strengthened, and coated with a micro-thin layer of Aer-conductive metal. That explained a good deal of the initial pain, followed by acute growing pains that Yuri thought he'd never feel again after he turned eighteen. Eve had explained that his bones and muscles were basically revamping themselves with all the hormones flooding his system from the blastia's manipulation in his brain, not a very comforting thought in the least.

So, here he was being driven home by Eve, who had volunteered to look after him during his recovery. As much as he hated being babied, he really didn't have any options.

Pulling up to Yuri's apartment complex in her grey sedan and stealing the best possible parking space, Eve hopped out and took a glance at the neighborhood.

"Well, I'll admit it's got character." she mused. "You still haven't told me why the hell you stay here with a salary like yours."

"It's my hometown Eve, lived here my whole life. Saw no reason to leave." Yuri huffed tiredly. "Can we just get going already?"

"Ok ok, keep your shorts on." she quipped good naturedly, taking her luggage from the back before helping Yuri from the car. "Top floor right?"

Thanking whatever god was listening for elevators it didn't take long to get upstairs and into his apartment...

Of which thoroughly impressed the little blonde.

"Daaaammmnn Lowell! This is one nice bachelor pad!"

She was right of course. It may not have been the high-rise penthouse he could have afforded, but it was certainly an impressive suite. Big enough to comfortably house a family of five and luckily on the corner of the building, it had character practically oozing from the walls. From the entrance was the living room, decorated in rich colors from the warm cream and burgundy walls, wheat-gold carpet and crimson furniture, all with tasteful bronze accents. Off to the left was the kitchen, with black tile and counters with steel blue paint and silver appliances, leading to the blue and green themed dining room. And last were the three bedrooms, one of which had to be the guest room in dark blues with white accent, but the other two remained closed from sight.

"Where to?"

"Right."

Eve opened the dark hued door to the master bedroom and flicked on the lights. It was almost fully dark violets and rich purples, with heavy drapes blocking the large windows, creating a calming, restful atmosphere. Smiling, she set the agent down on his large bed before turning to his dresser. "You want pj's or something?"

"Second drawer down, left side."

Opening the required drawer she found a set of black pajamas and tossed them to him. "There, you need me to do anything around the place?"

Yuri shrugged, but winced at the pain the motion caused him. "Nah, just go next door and ask for Ted." he broke off, yawning. "He'll tell ya what to do."

The techie smiled. "Right, you get some sleep and I'll look after things, ok?" she said, leaving without waiting for a response. "Ok, next door, ask for Ted..."

Ringing the doorbell of the next suit over, she was answered by a middle aged woman in an apron. "May I help you?"

"Yeah...I'm a friend of Yuri's, he told me to ask someone named Ted about looking after his apartment?"

The woman's face, once skeptical, brightened. "Really, a friend of Yuri's not from this neighborhood? I never thought I'd see the day...Ted! Get over here!"

Now, Eve was expecting 'Ted' to be the woman's husband, not the ten year old kid that barreled into his mother's legs at top speed.

"What is it Mom?" he asked, big brown eyes staring up at her from under his thick brown hair. "Is Yuri home?"

Eve did a double take at the cute face that she was presented with. "Uh, you Ted?"

"Yep! Yuri let's me look after stuff when he leaves, says he trusts me."

"Right..."

"So who're you?"

"Name's Eve."

"Cool, let's go!" Ted chirped. "Just let me get the dog and we can head over to Yuri's!"

"What dog?"

The boy just smiled and whistled. At once a massive wolf-like dog with an impossibly long tail rounded the corner. It was husky patterned, with a dark blue-violet back and white belly and feet, piercing blue eyes and one with a slash of white diagonally across it, standing out against the dark fur of the dog's forehead. It wore a thick, chain adorned collar and a harness of some kind, as well as rose colored booties on it's large feet.

If it weren't for those booties the dog would have made a very intimidating animal, but the pink footwear made the sight almost laughable.

Eve raised an eyebrow. "What's with the booties?"

Ted shrugged and pulled one off. "Mom won't let him in the apartment if he doesn't wear 'em, says he scratches up the wood floors."

Seeing the dog's longer than average claws, Eve had to agree. "Right, we going yet?"

The dog trotted past her, ignoring her completely in favor of getting into Yuri's apartment. The canine raised a paw and unlatched the door without missing a beat and went inside, his whippy tail vanishing through it.

Eve was stunned, but Ted seemed unfazed. "He does that all the time, Yuri taught him to do it when he first got him, it's no biggie. So where's Yuri?"

Not waiting for an answer he shot past her into the apartment, looking for the man. He found Yuri in his bedroom, already asleep, the dog curled up next to him.

But the heavy bandaging on the man's arm made him cry out.

"What the heck is this? What did you do to him?"

Eve tried to shut the kid up, but his screeching woke Yuri.

"...wha? Whaz all the noise?" he asked, eyes blurry and words slurred. "Whazzup?"

"What the heck happened to you Yuri?"

"Don' wanna talk 'bout it..." Yuri yawned, burying his face into his pillow and cuddling Redpede to him, clearly dismissing Ted's presence.

"He'll be fine! So take it easy kiddo, he's not gonna die." Eve hissed, taking the kid by the arm and leading him out of the room. "So just let him sleep, okay?"

"But!"

"No buts, seriously. Yuri really needs to rest right now so I need you to cooperate, are we clear?"

Ted scowled at her, but nodded. "Fine, but you're telling me what's going on!"

"Deal."

The two each took a seat in the kitchen, staring each other down in a battle of wills, daring each other to speak first.

Eve broke the silence. "Okay, what do you know about Yuri's job?"

"Not much." Ted admitted. "Just that he works nights mostly and that it's kinda dangerous."

"What do you think?"

"I think he's some kind of cop, you know, the undercover kind? Yuri said once that he sometimes has to fight bad guys, so he's got a lot of guns and stuff."

"Really? I didn't know he kept any here."

Ted brightened. "Yeah! He's got a bunch of really cool stuff in that locked room! Lots of guns and spy gear and knives and stuff! He showed me once, like how to know if a guy's carrying one and stuff like that!"

"Do you realize how often you use the word 'stuff'?"

Ted simply stuck his tongue out at her.

"Fine, be that way, but listen. Yuri has a very dangerous job, and you were pretty right with the undercover cop assumption, but the thing is that I'm not really allowed to tell you much."

"That sucks."

"Tell me about it. Yuri got hurt really bad on his last assignment, so he'll have to go through a lot of rehab to get back on his feet, the doc said he's got some nerve paralysis."

The boy's eyes widened dramatically, his mouth falling slack. "You sure?"

Eve grimaced. She hated lying, especially kids, but she had to keep Yuri's cover. The dark haired agent's actual diagnosis was far more serious than even he was told, his prognosis was uncertain, possibly fatal. No one knew what total reconditioning of your spinal cord, bones, muscles, and nerves could really do to you, Yuri could very well die if he didn't adapt.

"Real sure, I was there. Boss has me under orders to look after him 'till he gets better."

"Boss?"

Inwardly, the tech flinched. "...yeah. We work together. I'm a technician."

"Oh! So you're like the person who gives spies their gadgets and tell 'em where to go right?"

"Kinda, but it's not that glamorous."

"Aww man."

Eve smiled at the kid's disappointed whine. He was a cute kid, pity she couldn't tell him any stories that she had about Yuri, he would have loved to hear them.

"So, what do you do here when Yuri's not around?" Eve asked.

Ted just beamed. "Yuri used to look after me when Mom was busy, he brings home books and stuff that he keeps in that cabinet in the living room with the TV, movies too. I still sleep over here sometimes, but only if he's home."

"Do you look after things? Like cleaning or feeding the dog?"

"Repede can feed himself, I make sure he's got food and wash his dishes every few days, he's picky about that."

"Feed himself?"

"Yeah! It's the coolest trick! He opens the cabinet and the container, gets a scoop and puts the food in his bowl and doesn't spill any! Then he puts everything away before he eats!"

"Right...I'll pretend to believe you. Seriously though, what other stuff does he have you do?"

"Yuri says that if he doesn't show up for a day or two that I need to check on Repede and make sure all the windows are locked, make sure he didn't leave anything out were it shouldn't be. He's got this habit of leaving his cooking knives out when he sharpens them."

"He cooks?"

"Yup, he's way better at meatloaf than my mom will ever be. Anyway, he keeps a list for my mom in the living room bookshelf in case I'm sick and can't come over, it's tied with red ribbons."

"Ok. I'll take a look. Go ahead and watch some TV or something, but keep it down."

Ted grinned and took off, happy to get to watch what he wanted without having to fight over it with his mom or older brother. Eve however, took a look at Yuri's list.

-xXx

Eve never expected that spending a mere three hours in Yuri's apartment would teach her more about him than the three years she had known him. Little tidbits and quirks were littered here and there, odd little nic-knacks scattered on shelves amongst a bizarre mixture of books gave hints to the man's eccentricities and tastes. His house-care booklet was especially interesting, his wry sense of humor sneaking it's way into the neatly handwritten guide.

Regardless, Eve got the basics.

Don't use the cooking knives in the silver-edged case. (Yuri's personal set).

Repede's tail knocks over stuff, no open drinks on the coffee table.

Always lock the windows and keep Repede's food hopper full.

Storeroom is to remain locked at all times, keys are hidden in master bedroom.

Cleaning supplies are kept in the hall closet.

No parties! (That was directed at Ted's mother).

Pretty simple, all common sense. Now with that taken care of and Ted having gone home, it was time to check on Yuri.

Padding softly down the hall, Eve poked her head into Yuri's room.

Unfortunately the change in light startled him awake, also waking the dog.

"What the? Eve?"

She flinched. "Sorry! I didn't mean to wake you up!" she hissed, shrinking back. The dog's unnaturally sharp blue eyes were more than a little unsettling in the half light.

"It's ok." Yuri yawned, stretching slightly. "I really need a shower anyway."

"Sorry, doc said no showers until you can up straight for longer than two minutes and aren't in any danger of cracking your skull open if you slip."

Yuri merely yawned again. "Eve, I just want to wash my hair, it feels gross."

"I'll help you, god knows I now how you feel. Long hair can be a bitch if you can't wash it regularly."

At that, Repede slunk off the bed, nosed open a basket and pulled out a large towel, a questioning look in his eyes accented by the tilt of his canine head.

"What was that?"

Yuri chuckled. "He's a damn smart dog Eve, best field partner and housemate I could ask for, knows what I need before I say anything direct about it."

"Can he read?"

"Yeah, little fuzzy on grammar and syntax and his vocabulary's a bit limited, but he's fluent enough to get by."

"Where'd you get him anyway?" Eve asked, helping Yuri stand up and walk. "There's no way that's normal."

"Found him on a mission as a puppy, he was small enough to hold in one hand. Pulled him and another pup form a research lab preforming genetic and blasita experiments. The other one died a few days later but the agency let me keep Repede." he told her, now leaning against the broad sink counter. "Had him about four years now."

Eve mock growled at him. "Longer than I've known you and still never met him, if you weren't in such bad shape I'd take that out of your skin man."

Yuri simply laughed.

Eve took a moment to look around the master bath, and another, longer moment to feel a bit jealous. The room was a girl's dream, but tempered with the same contemporary, masculine set to everything else in Yuri's apartment. Gold colored fixtures against warm, cream marble floor and countertops, black wall tiles and cabinets, a large shower stall and an even larger bathtub (and were those jacuzzi jets she saw?).

"That settles it Lowell, if you die I'm so taking this apartment."

"Is that a threat?"

"Damn strait. Now how do you work this?"

"Run it hot for a minute than adjust it from there. No jets, might rip stitches."

"You got bubbles?"

"Breathe a word of this and you're dead, you got that?"

Eve giggled. "I'll that as a yes." She felt something nudge her leg, and looked down to see Repede sitting at her feet with a bottle in his mouth. "That what he likes boy? Hyacinth?"

"Oh shut up."

Eve only just giggled harder as she worked, filling the tub, gathering things with Repede's help, and fetching a chair from the bedroom. She left for a moment to let Yuri get changed in privacy, and returned to help him into the tub.

Admittedly it was a touch embarrassing dealing with her friend in such a state of undress, having never seen him in a swimsuit before. But like how she was with his fittings and suit-ups, she could at least be professional now and giggle like mad about it later.

With a small smile she watched him settle into the hot, sudsy water with a happy sigh, draping his bandaged left arm over the side to let her unwrap it.

"Well, this is certainly looking a lot better."

And she was right. Most of the angry red marks had faded, leaving behind only the faintest of hair-thin scars, ones you would probably never notice unless Yuri got a really deep tan. The rest of his body was also riddled with the lines, but they were most concentrated on his left arm. The only red left was on his wrist next to the blastia and the spidery lines lacing criss-cross down his spine.

Needless to say that these remaining marks were very sensitive and irritable, as Eve found out when she poked them.

"Shit Eve! Don't do that!" Yuri snapped after a near yowl of pain.

"Sorry!"

The little techie helped her friend wash his long hair, a task that he couldn't do alone, as he couldn't raise his arms above his head because of shooting pains in his back, before she left him awhile to soak in the hot water.

When she came back, he had already gotten out with Repede's help and half dressed into new pajama pants. She blow-dried his hair and brushed it out, then put him back in bed.

With her friend and his dog settled down for another long nap, Eve set about making some food.

"Well," she quipped to herself, "here's to hope the long road of recovery will have us still friends in the end."