{"id":511,"date":"2014-06-03T00:00:38","date_gmt":"2014-06-03T04:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/?p=511"},"modified":"2014-06-02T19:27:06","modified_gmt":"2014-06-02T23:27:06","slug":"forty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/?p=511","title":{"rendered":"Forty"},"content":{"rendered":"

21 Decem, 5249 PD<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201c\u2019Lana? Can you hear me?\u201d<\/p>\n

Alana groaned as consciousness slowly returned. She burned and froze with each heartbeat. Even breathing hurt. Was this what Brendan had been dealing with after he\u2019d stabbed himself in the implant? If it was, she decided that she owed him a lot more credit than she\u2019d ever given him. The room\u2019s dim light felt too bright, even with the shadow hanging over her.<\/p>\n

She cracked an eye open and stared at the shadow, swallowing twice before her throat was lubricated enough to speak. \u201cLindsay?\u201d<\/p>\n

Lindsay smiled, nodding. \u201cYeah. Glad you\u2019re awake.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGlad you\u2019re alive,\u201d Alana murmured, then coughed. The movement jarred her arm, setting it to throbbing with each heartbeat. She groaned, squeezing her eyes shut. \u201cI\u2019d gotten to worrying down here.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDown here?\u201d<\/p>\n

Alana opened her eyes again, gaze drifting around the room, taking in the familiar wood paneling, the exposed dark beams of the ceiling with white plaster between them.\u00a0 \u201cWhat the hell?\u201d she whispered.\u00a0 \u201cDid I dream that?\u201d Was it fever? Something else? Did I dream that I was down in some kind of raid shelter with Ezra? How the hell did I get home?<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was getting crowded at Ezra\u2019s clinic,\u201d Lindsay said quietly. \u201cHe said that you\u2019d need some quiet. I\u2019m trying to stay out of sight with all the excitement going on, so I said I\u2019d come over and keep an eye on you while he\u2019s working. Brendan\u2019s asleep on your couch. I hope you don\u2019t mind.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the hell happened?\u201d Alana winced and tried to push herself up on her good elbow. All it did was make her bad arm hurt worse and unsettle her stomach. The room spun and she dropped flat against her pillows again with a moan.<\/p>\n

Lindsay put a mercifully cold hand on her forehead. \u201cSettle down. I\u2019ll tell you what happened if you promise to stay in bed.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBetter be a good story,\u201d Alana muttered, swallowing bile and trying to master her gut before it could betray her completely.<\/p>\n

She lay quietly in her bed as Lindsay told her about the attack two days before, about the black ships and the unknown enemy that had come with the clear intent of terrifying the population into submission\u2014and, failing that, murdering them all so they could be supplanted. It all sounded too achingly familiar to Alana, who\u2019d read the accounts of the attacks on Mimir, heard the stories. Her good hand fisted in her blankets as Lindsay spoke in low tones about the casualties and the damage done.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho was it?\u201d Alana finally whispered as Lindsay finished. \u201cDo we know yet?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one\u2019s taking credit for it,\u201d Lindsay said, only a bare trace of bitterness in her voice. \u201cNot yet, anyway. There hasn\u2019t been a return visit, though, either, so I\u2019m guessing we can count ourselves as lucky.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLucky,\u201d Alana whispered. \u201cI guess that\u2019s one way to put it.\u201d She took a deep breath, closing her eyes for a moment. \u201cThe Inspector\u2026will he make it?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cEzra\u2019s been working hard to make sure he will. That was part of the reason Brendan and I wanted to get you out of the clinic beyond the space issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

A bitter laugh escaped her lips. \u201cHe was worried about me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cToo<\/em> worried,\u201d Lindsay said. \u201cHe was distracted every time you so much as coughed. You\u2019ve got the fever from hell, but it\u2019s nothing some antivirals, painkillers, and sleep won\u2019t fix.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like hell,\u201d Alana admitted. \u201cWhen we were down in that shelter, I started to push myself too hard and I went down hard. Fever started spiking again. It\u2019s my fault.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll be okay,\u201d Lindsay said. She stretched, leaning back in the chair she\u2019d drawn up to Alana\u2019s bedside. From the other room, they could hear the faint sound of Brendan snoring. Alana\u2019s nose wrinkled.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe doesn\u2019t usually do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cToo much gunk from when that bomber crashed almost on top of him. It\u2019s better than it was a couple days ago. His sinuses are still clogged up.\u201d She smiled weakly. \u201cEzra said he\u2019d be fine and I told him that if he was telling me lies, I\u2019d tie his balls in a knot. Sorry. I\u2019m pretty sure you like those.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alana couldn\u2019t help the laughter that bubbled up from somewhere she\u2019d kept long hidden from the world. She half curled onto her side, ignoring the pain in her arm, gasping out her laughter as tears gathered in her eyes. \u201cOh god,\u201d she wheezed. \u201cLindsay, you didn\u2019t actually say that, did you?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, I absolutely did,\u201d Lindsay said, her voice thick with gravitas. \u201cBetter yet, he believed me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIs<\/em> Brendan okay?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe seems like it\u2014not any different than he was when you guys first got back from rescuing my parents, anyway, not by much. He\u2019s mobile and talking and seems pretty okay, but I know his ribs hurt like hell and he\u2019s been getting pretty nasty headaches the past couple of days. Ezra did some scans, though, and he said that his skull\u2019s not broken or anything and he doesn\u2019t show any new neurological trauma. We just have to wait it out and see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alana reached a tentative hand toward Lindsay\u2019s belly, still flat and showing no sign of her pregnancy. \u201cAnd you?\u201d<\/p>\n

Lindsay caught her fingers and squeezed. \u201cI\u2019m fine,\u201d she whispered to her cousin and longtime protector. \u201cI\u2019ll be even better when you guys are back to normal. Until then…it is what it is and I\u2019ll do what I can to help where I can. Right now, I o that by keeping an eye on the two of you and staying the hell out of the way an mostly out of sight.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat can\u2019t be easy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lindsay shrugged. \u201cIt\u2019s a lot easier than you\u2019d think it would be. There\u2019s so much going on, no one\u2019s really noticing that I\u2019m only turning up for Council meetings and checking up on things happening in Ezra\u2019s clinic.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou think everything\u2019s going to be okay?\u201d<\/p>\n

Her eyes focused on something distant at Alana\u2019s question and she seemed to consider that long and hard\u2014long enough and hard enough that Alana started to regret asking the question.<\/p>\n

\u201cEventually,\u201d Lindsay whispered. \u201cEventually, everything\u2019s going to be okay. There\u2019s a storm we\u2019ll have to make it through first, though, and that storm\u2019s still brewing.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s coming. It\u2019s just not here yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alana shivered at the certainty of the younger woman\u2019s words and not for the first time thanked her lucky stars that she didn\u2019t have to live with Ryland LeSarte\u2019s gift.<\/p>\n

She just had to safeguard the woman who did.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

21 Decem, 5249 PD \u201c\u2019Lana? Can you hear me?\u201d Alana groaned as consciousness slowly returned. She burned and froze with each heartbeat. Even breathing hurt. Was this what Brendan had been dealing with after he\u2019d stabbed himself in the implant? … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-two-ashes-to-ashes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s25yjF-forty","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=511"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":513,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511\/revisions\/513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=511"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=511"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.embklitzke.com\/e557\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=511"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}