Unexpected Newcome
"You can put him there."
Steve lifted his head and looked wearily around the room he and Jason had just entered.
It wasn't particularly big or well furnished, with nothing but a table, a chair, a few boxes and a bed that, although it didn't look like much either, seemed more than welcome right now.
"Are you sure?" Jason asked, who had stopped and was looking around uncertainly.
Steve grimaced slightly by hearing the exhaustion in his voice.
He so, so much hated to be a burden, even though he knew Jason didn't mind.
But still, this knowledge hurt incredibly and was almost more painful than the physical pain that he was currently feeling.
"Yeah, go ahead," Alex confirmed with a smile as she went to the dresser and placed a glass and a jug of water down on the table, "I don't need to use it anyway."
"Oh okay..." Jason replied, still a little reluctant, before turning his face to Steve and smiling, "Are you looking forward to finally sleeping in a real bed again?"
Despite his pain and agonizing tiredness, Steve smiled.
"Oh please," he replied teasingly, "you know very well that I could just as well sleep on a rock..."
A sharp flare-up of pain silenced him and his face contorted as he slipped off Jason's back and he had to put weight on his legs again.
Normally he would have collapsed immediately, but fortunately Jason caught him in time and gently guided him the last few steps over to the bed, where he sat Steve gratefully sat down.
He barely noticed as Jason helped him remove his soiled and tattered T-shirt and trousers, replacing them with softer and warmer clothes, before his head fell onto the pillow and he was gently tucked in.
Despite his tiredness, he forced himself to open his eyes again and look around for Jason, who was still kneeling beside him, his blue eyes full of worry and sadness.
But before he could say anything to him, he heard footsteps and Alex appeared behind Jason's face.
"Thank you for your help," she said to him a moment later, "Would you leave me alone with him for a moment? I need to talk to him for a bit."
Jason tensed at her words and there was no mistaking that he didn't like this request at all, but he nodded anyway.
"Sure," he replied quietly, before giving Steve another longing look, still hesitant to actually leave his side, but finally, with a sigh, he stood up and walked towards the door.
"I'll wait outside until you're finished," he added curtly to Alex before disappearing outside, which made Steve's heart sink.
I hope Jason dosen't have to wait too long... he thought tiredly as Alex sat down on the bed next to him and smiled gently at him with her green eyes.
"Hey." she murmured shortly afterwards as she gently wiped the sweat and dirt from his face with a wet cloth, "How are you?"
"Never better..." Steve replied with a weak grin, which was immediately broken by a coughing fit that left him exhausted and in pain.
"Well... no," he responded in an ashamed voice, "I'm actually feeling pretty bad. But you already know that."
Alex just nodded sadly.
Steve hadn't noticed much of it when Jason and the others had told her their whole story but he was awake enough at the time to know it happend.
Something he was very grateful for because he wouldn't have had the strength to tell the whole thing himself.
"I still can't believe you all made it here alive after what you told me," Alex murmured with a slight shake of his head as she stroked his face with the cloth again, causing Steve to smile faintly.
"I can tell," he replied softly before his smile disappeared and he looked at her sadly, "But without your help, this would have been the end. I owe you so much Alex...We all do...But...But I especially..."
Alex stopped cooling his forehead and looked at him in confusion.
"Why is that?" she asked in surprise, whereupon Steve sighed deeply.
"Because of... all of this," he replied and gestured weakly around the room, "For... saving my people... For taking care of them and being there for them when they need you... For all the things that... that I should have done..."
"Oh, that," Alex replied in surprise before smiling again, "But that's nothing. It really isn't. I just did what anyone else would have done."
"Besides, I didn't do that much..." she added with a sad look before shaking her head and turning away, "There were so many I couldn't save from Null..."
"But you've done something," Steve interrupted her, "and that alone is more than I've done."
"You don't know how grateful I am for that, Alex," he whispered weakly as he felt his eyes fill with tears, "I really don't know how I'm going to repay this debt..."
Alex smiled weakly when she heard that.
"You don't have to pay anything," she clarified, "Just be glad I was in town."
Steve smiled, relieved that Alex didn't seem to mind taking on his role, before his gaze turned thoughtful again.
"But why were you here at all?" he asked, "I can't remember reading that you wanted to visit me."
"Oh, I didn't send you a letter either," she replied quickly, strangely much more nervous than before, "I just got here spontaneously, because I...I wanted to ask if...if you knew of a way...to...to talk to...Notch..."
Steve raised his eyebrows in confusion when he heard that.
"Notch?" Steve repeated in surprise, "What do you want from him?"
Alex's smile immediately disappeared when he asked this, before quickly turning away from Steve and looking down with a long stare, as if she was fighting an internal battle with herself. She suddenly shook her head and turned back to him, now with a determined look on her face.
"Oh, you know what?" she continued a moment later in a frustrated voice, "It's probably better if I just tell you. You'll find out sooner or later, even if," she continued somewhat ruefully, "it's not right for you to find out before him, but you deserve an explanation ..."
"Huh?" Steve replied, now completely confused, whereupon Alex just sighed and ran a stressed hand through her hair before looking at him again with a very serious expression.
"I'm pregnant, Steve," she replied shortly afterwards and her face and voice made it clear that she wasn't joking, "And Notch is the father."
Steve seemed to choke on air for a second and suddenly he was wide awake again!
Had he really heard that right?
"Notch?" he finally repeated after a short silence, his eyes wide and full of disbelief, "My brother? The one who is so shy and reserved that he barely steps foot out of the ether?"
Alex nodded sheepishly in response, which only made Steve stare at her even more shocked.
"H-how?" he finally demanded to know, now completely stunned, whereupon Alex just shrugged her shoulders and brushed a strand of hair behind her ear ashamed.
"Oh, it wasn't that speacial," she mumbled, averting her eyes from Steve and continuing to gently stroke her hair, lost in thought, "I just met him by chance on an adventure trip in the Overworld. I didn't know it was him at the time, though, so I treated him pretty ''normally''."
She grinned at the words.
"He seemed to like that."
"Then we traveled together for a while," she continued in a soft voice, "and...and we started to really like each other."
She sighed.
"In the end, he told me who he really was and even though I was shocked, I made him promise to meet again and...we did...again...and again and then now this happened..."
At these words she stopped playing with her hair and instead stared gloomily in front of her, while Steve was still staring at her with wide eyes and open mouth, trying to process the whole thing.
"How...how long has this been going on?" he finally managed to get out, to which Alex just sighed.
"Almost two years..." she mumbled meekly, "But I wanted to tell you!" she explained quickly when she noticed Steve's shocked look, "But Notch didn't let me. I guess he was just afraid that other people would find out if we did."
,,I see..." Steve replied thoughtfully.
It bothered him that Notch hadn't told him about it sooner, but he understood why he had made that decision.
He knew more than anyone else that there were always ears listening from somewhere.
"What do you think Notch will say when he finds out?" Alex asked uncertainly a moment later, whereupon Steve just looked away.
He couldn't help but feel a little pang in his heart when he thought about how happy Notch would be at the news.
Having a family was the one thing that he had always wanted...
It was the one thing that Hero and Steve had failed him at...
"He'll be overjoyed when he hears this," he finally replied with a smile, to which she only sighed.
"If he ever hears it..." she murmured softly and suddenly she looked very tired and desperate.
"He will," Steve replied firmly, "I promise."
But Alex just shook her head.
"Thanks but you have no idea how bad things are for us, Steve..." she replied quietly a moment later, "I know it doesn't look like it, but every day more and more of us are lost up there and the few who come back can hardly find anyone alive to bring them down with them..."
"The food and water situation is no better," she continued with another shake of her head, "The plants are growing worse no matter what we do and the water is getting dirtier every day, despite how hard we try to clean it."
"At the moment, the sewage system is still providing protection," she added sorrowfully, "but I'm afraid that with the increasing tremors that have been occurring for a few days now and are getting stronger and more frequent, we won't be able to live here any more..."
"I see," Steve murmured, looking sympathetically at Alex, who ran a hand over her eyes and took a deep breath to calm herself, "But if everything goes right,", he continued, still trying to cheer her up again ,,you don't have to worry about that anymore. We're here now and we'll make sure that Bastart Null pays for everything soon."
"I hope so," Alex sighed before turning and giving Steve a tired smile, "I'll do everything I can to help you."
"I'm counting on it," Steve replied with a grin before yawning loudly and rubbing a hand over his eyes in an attempt to ward off the crushing tiredness.
"Good." Alex replied with a grin, "Then I'll let you sleep now."
"We'll talk more when you're feeling better." she continued, now much more relaxed, as she got up from the bed and walked to the door, "A-and Steve. About Notch..."
"Don't worry." Steve interrupted her soothingly, "My lips are sealed."
"Thank you," Alex replied, relieved, before turning and closing the door.
It didn't stay closed for long, however, as Jason came rushing in a moment later and immediately sat down at Steve's side.
"How are you?" he whispered softly before taking his hand and gently stroking it with his fingers after making sure they were alone. It made Steve smile.
"Bad," he replied weakly as he opened his eyes and looked at him lovingly, "And tired. Very, very tired..."
"Yes, I thought that," Jason replied softly, before his smile suddenly broke and his eyes filled with tears, which he quickly wiped away.
"I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you from all this..." he continued ruefully a moment later, "If only I'd come with you then..."
But Steve just shook his head vehemently!
"No." he replied firmly as he gently stroked his hand, hoping to calm him down a little, "That wouldn't have changed anything. Null...Null would have just killed you and that... that would have been worse than anything I'm going through right now..."
His voice started to break with his last words but before he could say any more, Jason spoke up again.
"That's exactly what I'm afraid of..." he whispered softly before turning to Steve, his eyes again full of tears and his voice tremble with of fear and dread, "I-I can't lose you... I'm not prepared for this... I always thought that the only thing in my life that would stay forever was you..."
"Hey..." Steve replied weakly as he lifted his hand and lovingly stroked his cheek, "Hold...on a bit. I'm still here, aren't I? So please don't give up on me so quickly, okay? Please...I...I need you..."
He almost begged with the last words, knowing very well, that he couldn't continue this fight if the only thing keeping him alive stopped believing in him.
To his relief, Jason nodded as he closed his eyes and rested his head against Steve's hand, savoring this brief moment of affection.
"I'll do my best," he finally replied with a sad smile before leaning forward and kissing him gently.
"You really should get some rest now," he murmured softly a moment later to which Steve nodded weakly.
He was too tired to argue anyway.
"What are you going to do then?" he asked, to which Jason just shrugged his shoulders.
"Protecting you," he replied with a smile but Steve just shook his head.
"Jason." he protested weakly, "You can't do that...you need sleep too..."
"No!" he suddenly interrupted him sharply! "I don't need to sleep! I can sleep when all of this is over!"
This abrupt outburst seemed to surprise him just as much as Steve, because he quickly turned away and stared guiltily in front of him.
"Just... just let me do this for you, okay? Please?" he continued pleadingly a moment later, while Steve still blinked at him questioningly, unsure whether he should really give in to that request but eventually smiled.
"Fine. It's not like I can stop you from doing it anyway", he murmured devotedly before closing his eyes and surrendering to Jason's caresses just before falling asleep a moment later.
Outside the room, people went about their daily tasks as usual but despite all their precautions and the many watchful eyes, no one noticed the dark, hudded silhouette with the sea-green eyes that had quietly and skillfully crept through the place and was now looking directly at Steve's room door.