Risk: Chapter Twelve

When Rose landed, she found herself on top of Levi, who found himself groaning from his own crash-landing. She pushed herself off and away, looking around to observe just where they'd ended up.

Her living room.

Wasn't she leaving to get food on a Tuesday afternoon when she'd traveled to their timeline what felt like weeks ago? Getting her bearings, she went to the television and went to the nearest news channel. It was still Tuesday, it was just a couple of hours later. The portal had come about a week ago, and she'd pushed her backpack through at that time.

Did it make it?

She searched around for it, finding it just underneath Levi. Her laptop might be crushed, but otherwise the rest of her homework would be intact.

A few more tips, she could get a new laptop. Those books were another story.

"Are you okay?" she finally asked him, bending down to help him up. "I know that can be… jarring."

"You do that all the time?" he said with a grunt, grabbing hold of her hand and allowing her to assist him to his feet. No doubt he felt as sick as she did the first time she'd done that, but he was doing a good job at hiding it.

"I've become quite the expert," she joked, a smile at the corner of her lips. It took a moment for her to realize that she was still holding his hand, and she quickly let go, placing her hands behind her back as if to refrain from touching him again. "Do you need, I don't know, Dramamine or something?"

"Drama-what?" He didn't seem to like the sound of that.

"It's anti-nausea medicine." She tilted her head so she would meet his eyes; she was just a couple of inches shorter than him, but still. "I didn't feel so good after the first time I did that."

"I'm fine just – what the hell."

Just then, the door jingled and opened up, and her Uncle Charles came through, only to stop dead in his tracks when he saw the man standing in the middle of his living room. "Rose…"

"Ah… Hi, Uncle Charles," Rose began, moving to stand between Levi and Charles, as if she would serve as a shield for either man. "This is my friend, Ca- Levi. Levi, this is my Uncle Charles." She had almost called him 'Captain', and that would have been an even larger explanation that she didn't feel like getting into.

"Hello, sir." Levi didn't extend his hand to shake, but did regard her uncle with a nod. Her uncle did the same.

"Uh huh. Friend?" He confirmed, eyes narrowed in disbelief.

"Yes," Rose said, exasperated. "He's… Bunni's cousin. Don't you see the resemblance?"

"Kind of. Why isn't he at Bunni's house?"

"That house is full of people, you know that." It was true. Bunni was the youngest of four siblings, and they also had two adopted children. It truly was a full house. "So she just asked me to… keep an eye on him while he's here. You don't mind, do you? For Bunni?"

Uncle Charles was hesitant a little bit, then finally relented. "He sleeps out here, is that clear."

"Right," she said with a relieved smile. She would need to get ahold of Bunni at some point and relay the lie to her so she could follow along; that would also mean she would have to charge her long-dead phone.

That poor thing had been used and abused by Hange.

"Thank you, Uncle Charles."

"Right, right," said the older man, still not looking completely convinced, but going about his business by heading to his bedroom anyway, closing the door behind him.

Once he was gone, Levi asked with a small – almost non-existent – sneer, "You have a friend named Bunni?"

"It's a long story. Anyway, I have to get ahold of her and fill her in on… on you before my uncle does."

Levi nodded, also not seeming convinced this plan would work out. But it had to – because if Uncle Charles didn't allow Levi to stay with them while Levi was where, where the heck else was he supposed to go?


As soon as her phone had reached ten percent, it turned on and allowed her to make a call. Thankfully, her uncle hadn't talked to Bunni yet, and in a hushed tone Rose relayed as much information as she quickly could, promising that yes, she would go into more detail later and yes she would let her meet him later that day.

Levi stayed in the living room, playing with the television remote, fascinated that it controlled the various pictures on the screen – though he didn't admit as much out loud, Rose could just tell. While he was distracted, she changed into a more twenty-first century appropriate clothing. White skirt, matching white shirt with a red vest and a small red bow, red headband to adorn her hair. And since it had been braided so long, her waves were now accentuated. Pulling on a pair of black tennis shoes, she bound out the door, grabbing her purse before leaving.

"We're out of here, uncle!" she called, but he didn't answer back; she assumed he was sleeping. She would be back to make dinner for him, or at least bring it home.

"Where are we going?" Levi asked, setting the television remote down on the couch, and walking – slowly, so as to not irritate his ankle – over to his now-host.

"You're going to meet your cousin."


"He's cute," Bunni whispered, leaning close to Rose so she could hear her over the crowd of the coffee shop.

"Remember, you're related," Rose reminded her with an eye roll. "Also, you have a boyfriend."

"Did – broke up with him yesterday." Bunni shrugged. "You know he was coocoo bananas."

Bunni really did know how to pick them. Her last boyfriend turned out to be a Klan member, and she only found out because he tried to recruit her after three months of dating her. This last one, he believed in the Columbine shooters – and expressed as much within the last week. Rose had pleaded with Bunni to break up with him right then and there, but rightfully, Bunni believed her safety was at stake. Now she was tucked away in the college dorms, and hopefully he didn't know where she had been placed.

But he was, indeed, crazy, so Rose wouldn't put it past him.

"The tea here is… lackluster," Levi said, glaring at his cup as if it had offended him.

"Don't you like just plain black tea?" Rose asked, leaning forward to speak to him.

"Good black tea. Not… this watered down shit."

Rose couldn't help but smile. "We'll get you the real stuff on the way home," she promised.

"Oh, you have the real stuff, huh? I doubt it."

Bunni nudged Rose's side, and when the shorter woman turned to look at her friend, the taller woman raised her eyebrows knowingly. Rose just shook her head at her friend.

Rose was always mildly jealous of Bunni; she was taller than herself, which already earned her some brownie points with people, but she was also very slender. Her hair was naturally brown but she dyed pink highlights in it, which made the brown really pop and her brown eyes even brighter. She also was brave enough to get piercings up her ears and on her nose, as well as a couple of tattoos – and the only color she seemed to wear was black. She truly was the goth girlfriend dream, and Rose sometimes wished she was edgy enough to pull something like Bunni's style off.

"He's got a gun!" someone yelled from further in the store, and the whole shop tore into panic.

"Wait, what—" Rose stood up and looked around, just as the glass window behind them shattered into a million pieces. She felt someone grab hold of her and pull her away – it was Levi, grabbing her close, eyes glued to the window.

"We got to get out of here."

He was holding onto Bunni as well, using himself as a shield between the assailant, whoever it happened to be. After a few seconds, it was revealed to be Malcolm, Bunni's ex-boyfriend.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding. He found me?"

"Let's go," Levi commanded, grabbing both of their hands and leading them toward the back. They went into the kitchen, and though the kitchen staff protested, he didn't stop, only led them through until they finally found the back door. While they were winding through the kitchen, however, a few more shots were fired, and the kitchen staff seemed to understand what they were doing, and a couple led the way to the back kitchen door.

Once outside, Levi released his hold on the girls, gesturing to Rose to lead the way to her car. Nodding, she rushed through the growing crowd of panicked people to cross the road until they finally made it to her beat up little VW Beetle. They piled inside, Bunni visibly shaking and crying, but Rose couldn't think to comfort her friend right now. Just to get her safely home, then herself.


"How was the coffee shop?"

Levi and Rose had just walked in the door when her uncle had asked the question. They looked at each other, then Rose said with a small sigh, "Fine. Catching up with family and all that."

"That's nice. What's for dinner?"

"I'll.. DoorDash tonight, uncle." Both individuals crashed onto the couch, and Rose turned her head to Levi, obviously with very little energy left in her, and asked, "Want Mexican?"

"I don't know what that means," he admitted, a dull expression on his face. He also looked tired; she could probably witness him sleep, for once. Something about that seemed a little… exciting to the young woman. She wouldn't say so aloud, though, lest he push off sleep out of spite.

Dinner went off without a hitch. Her uncle didn't suspect a thing, that the two were wired and probably going off of being awake for almost twenty-four hours. Once he was done eating, he left them alone in the apartment, stating that he had some business to take care of.

"What kind of business does he have to take care of at nine o'clock at night?" Levi inquired suspiciously.

"He's… He deals in pharmaceuticals." Pills, lots of pills. It was a successful business, as long as one wasn't caught. But she didn't want to get into all that with him. "I'm going to take a shower."

She threw away the plastic silverware and bowls, cleaning any actual dishes they'd dirtied, before going to her room for her nightgown and heading to the bathroom.

She stared at herself in the mirror. She looked like she'd literally seen war – and she kind of had. She wondered what Levi saw when he looked in the mirror. Lily? Hange?

Shaking her head, she continued with the task at hand, basking in the warm water and sudsy soap, feeling refreshed by the time she'd exited the tub. She put on her nightgown and then went to the living room, inviting Levi to take a shower when she noticed –

He was asleep.

Truly asleep.

His hands were crossed over his chest, and his face was scrunched like he was thinking about something sour, but she could tell: he was actually sleeping.

She left him long enough to get a blanket, returning to place it over him. Imagine her surprise when he opened his eyes to meet hers.

"Rosemary," he said, his voice just above a whisper.

Her face flushed at the sound of her name, and she couldn't bring herself to move from her place, her arms on either side of him. For a few moments, they were frozen, but then he finally asked, "Who takes care of you?"

Swallowing, she retorted, "Who takes care of you, Captain?"

His lip twitched, as if he found that funny, but he didn't answer. Instead, he burrowed deeper into the couch, saying, "I'm not sleeping, by the way."

That was when she realized she was still holding the blanket on either side of him; she released her hold on him, standing up straight and placing her hands, folded, before her. "Well, I am. So, goodnight."

"Right, goodnight."

With that, she turned and left him, shutting the door to her bedroom softly, leaning against it as if she needed to get her balance. The sound of her name from his lips sounded like a bell in her head, and she knew it would be a sort of lullaby to get her to sleep.

How embarrassing.