Heavy is the Head

To say that Nessa was exhausted would be a bit of an understatement. Unexpected thirteen-hour shifts could do that to a person. That was what happened when someone called out sick all of a sudden though, and those elderly patients of hers weren’t going to be able to take care of themselves. If they could, they wouldn’t be living in a rest home. Luckily her boss was able to find someone to cover the second half of the missing woman’s shift, but it meant that Nessa was walking home at an ungodly time of the night. She wasn’t terribly thrilled about that, but oh well. There were things to stress and worry about, and this was not one of them. At least she hadn’t had to work a double.

Her pace was quick as she took the shortcut through the park to get home. Only a few more blocks after that, and then she would be home. The only sad part was that she knew that she wouldn’t be able to immediately collapse into bed and fall asleep. It was never that easy for her. It would probably take her at least another hour to wind down enough to drift into unconsciousness. Maybe she’d have a glass of wine or take a bath or something. Or both. That sounded nice. A small smile grew on her face at the idea of that, but it didn’t last long. The explosion shook the ground and forced her to find cover to shield herself from falling debris. Once she figured it was safe to do so, she stood back up and stared in awe at the orange haze she knew had to be coming from the site of the blast. There was a fire. She was strongly considering running over there to see if anyone had been hurt, but her attention was drawn by a sound nearby. A groan. She was pretty sure that she’d been alone in the park before the explosion. Had someone been sent flying with the debris? It didn’t seem possible for anyone to have survived something like that. Well, not anyone normal. She knew all too well about the kinds of powers that had been cropping up all over the city.

There was a guy, and from the looks of things he’d crashed into the tree he was laying next to. In the dim light from the distant street lights it was difficult to tell just how badly he was injured, but he was obviously unconscious. Her nature wouldn’t just let her leave the guy there. Kneeling next to him, she reached over to check his pulse. There wasn’t a whole lot of time if she was going to use her powers on him. The explosion would have woken up anyone who happened to be living nearby, and soon they would all be outside to see for themselves what had happened. His heart was still beating, just a little weak. Nessa focused her energy specifically on any head injuries he might have. It was difficult to know exactly where to direct her healing power without knowing the full extent of his injuries, but at least he should be able to regain consciousness quickly and wouldn’t have a concussion. Feeling him start to stir, she backed away just slightly in case he woke with a start. “Hey… are you alright? What happened?”

Smart ass. That was what Nessa found herself thinking upon hearing the man’s first words. Most of his face was still shrouded in shadow, but the first thing she noticed were his eyes. The moment they met her own, she felt something inside her shift. Maybe it was her stomach tightening or the way her breath caught in her throat. She couldn’t put her finger on it, and it really didn’t matter. She had to focus on his words. Those syllables escaping his mouth in that great baritone did string together to form coherent sentences, after all. Keep it together, Nessa. Back track a little… Okay, he apologized for his smart aleck comment. Nice, even though in reality she didn’t mind what he’d said. If she hadn’t been so damned worried about him to start off with she probably would have laughed.

An eyebrow lifted. “That’s a pretty ballsy thing to admit to someone whose name you don’t even know…” she commented, getting distracted momentarily by the sound of sirens in the distance. “My place is only a couple blocks away. Come on…” They needed to hurry if the government was after him. Speaking of which… why was she helping him in the first place? She could get in serious trouble for harboring a fugitive. Then again, if they ever discovered what she was she would most likely be a fugitive anyway. Maybe that was why she was helping him. Eh, who was she fooling? Like she would be able to deny those blue eyes anything. Just wow. Of course, there was also the fact that she didn’t know the extent of his injuries yet and would obviously need to wait until they were in a safer place before she would be able to double-check her work and make sure he was in good shape. Well, she was sure that he was in good shape, but that was beside the point.

As fast as he could go would tell her the extent of his injuries, so she started walking quickly toward her place. Luckily her apartment was close by, so the sirens were still a small distance off by the time she was unlocking the building and they were making their way up the stairs. Once they were inside, she as able to relax a little, but she didn’t let her guard down entirely until they were inside her apartment. It wasn’t anything fancy, but it was clean. She dropped her purse on the couch and went immediately to the window. She couldn’t see the park from her place. That view would probably cost her twice the rent she was paying now. But she could faintly see the flashing red and blue of the police lights, and happened to see one cop car speeding by. Whether or not they’d stopped at the park she couldn’t be certain, but she was glad that they were off the street. That thought made her remember the man she’d brought with her. She turned toward him, able to see his handsome face much better in this lighting. “How are you feeling? You… umm… want some coffee or something?” She’d been planning to have a glass of wine and take a bath when she got home, but that would have to be put on hold for a while.

“It’s Vanessa…” she answered when he mentioned wanting to know her name as they arrived at her apartment. She didn’t know exactly what was going on with this guy, but her gut was telling her to trust him and help him. For now. She was just hoping that she wasn’t going to regret this decision later. Something told her that she wouldn’t. Just getting to see him in better light was reward enough. Were men even allowed to be that good looking? Him with a torn shirt was an image that would be burned into her mind for quite a long time. It really wasn’t fair to the normal women of the world like her. She averted her eyes quickly and headed into the kitchen to get the water he’d requested. Thank goodness she’d filled her water pitcher before she left for her shift. She would have hated to give him tap water after all that.

She poured him a glass of water, grabbed herself a beer, and made it back to the living room in time to see him covering up his bare torso with the piece of armor he’d been wearing over the torn shirt. Good. He’d probably just saved her from a heart attack. “Here you go,” she said, handing him the requested beverage. She went back to the window and looked out. There was still the sound of sirens in the distance. It would probably be a while before things calmed down outside. But her attention was soon drawn back to the man in the room as he thanked her for what she had done. Despite the fact that he’d insisted that he wasn’t trying to recruit her, it certainly sounded like that to her. She turned back to him with one eyebrow raised. “I think you’re really overestimating my contribution to all this. I just woke you up…” Noticing the fact that he was still a little unsteady on his feet, Nessa sighed and put her beer down so she could walk up to him and grab his hands. “Hold still for a sec…” She closed her eyes, able to focus a little more of her energy now that she knew they were in a safe place. A couple of cracked ribs, a few other cuts and bruises. Considering the fact that he’d been thrown in an explosion, she was surprised that the amount of damage he’d taken was so minimal. He was one tough cookie. By the time she opened her eyes again, he would be feeling more or less as good as new.

“You’ll need to take it easy for a little while. Cracked ribs are no joke. I did what I can to speed along the healing process, but broken bones still need extra time to heal themselves. Should be good as new by morning.” She smiled at him, letting go of his hands and then taking a seat on the couch. “So what is this fight of yours, exactly? Fighting against the government so they don’t get you first?” She’d heard about the robots that had gone on the rampage, and considered herself lucky that she hadn’t had one of those after her. If she had, she would probably be dead right now. Her powers were not anything that would help her against a foe of that magnitude. She grabbed her beer and took a drink. This was all very different from the direction she’d originally intended for the night to go once she got home, but she honestly didn’t have any complaints.

“Oh, well I guess it was a week or so after the alien attacks that I figured it out. My neighbor Mrs. Jordan needed help carrying her groceries up to her apartment. She was an older lady. Anyway, long story short, she invited me to have tea with her as a thank you, and by the time I came back to my apartment I felt totally drained. That spunky old lady was practically doing back flips the next day. She’d been having some back problems but suddenly felt better than she had in years. I think that was when I started to wonder…” After that she’d done some experiments on her own, trying to learn her boundaries and general control over her powers. She learned that they came with a price. The fact that it drained her energy would not be a surprise to him most likely, and usually it wasn’t really that bad. Like right now, she felt totally awake even though it was the middle of the night. It was the second side effect that she hid from everyone. She wouldn’t want anyone she’d healed to know that the process caused her physical pain to do it. It wouldn’t change anything, would only make her patients feel bad, so it was better for everyone if she kept it to herself.

Her story, at least in her own opinion wasn’t anywhere near as interesting as his. To be honest, she felt really bad for him. Her powers had come with no real price apart from the side effects. To have lost so many people, and then on top of it to have been hunted for the last five years. How had this man even survived, much less maintained a fairly positive and trusting outlook on life? She could be completely wrong about him, but she didn’t think so. It was something about his eyes that told her that he was a good person, to trust him, despite the fact that he’d already admitted to being a wanted criminal. The corner of her mind made some kind of sarcastic comment about her wanting to trust him just because she thought he was hot. While she couldn’t deny that he was probably the most attractive man she’d ever seen, she knew that wasn’t the reason she’d been so willing to bring him into her home. “I’m so sorry about your friends…” she said softly when he was done speaking.

Uh oh… it looked like it was about time for side effect number two to activate. Nessa could feel the headache coming on. She’d actually held it off for a lot longer than normal this time. Probably the adrenaline keeping it at bay. “Excuse me for a second.” She got up and walked to the bathroom, flipping on the light and closing the door just in time. The pain rolled over her like a wave. It was a lot more than she’d expected. Daeran was a seriously tough guy if he’d been hurting this much and casually shrugging it off. She just needed a moment to get used to it before she could walk back out there and ignore it. Before long, her pulse returned to normal. The pain would linger for a while longer, but at least now it was manageable. She flushed the toilet to make it seem like she’d gone into the bathroom for a perfectly normal reason, and even washed her hands before she returned to the living room. But when she came back, the first thing he said was that he felt like it was time for him to leave. “Whoa, hold on for a second. The government is after you, and you think you’re going to make it back to wherever your secret hideout is on foot? This late at night? You’ll stick out like a sore thumb.” It was likely that the cops would be patrolling this area for a while, especially if they thought there was any chance of him surviving that blast. “I can’t force you to stay here against your will, but I seriously think that you should either stay around here for a while longer, at least until we can’t hear sirens anymore. Or that you let me drive you where you need to go.” He could easily choose neither option and just walk out her door. There would be nothing she could do to stop him, and she’d probably never see him again.

Nessa didn’t see anything that was particularly amazing about her story, but she wasn’t about to contradict Daeran. Let him find it fascinating if he wanted to. Everyone was entitled to their own opinion. And at least now he wasn’t trying to leave anymore. She was surprised that he’d chosen to stay, though. She’d assumed that he would want to get back to his people as soon as possible. It was good for him to be getting the extra rest, though, so she was grateful. At least one good thing was coming out of this whole situation. He was safe for now, and would be at least until morning. Beyond that, she had no idea what would happen, but she would be able to rest easier knowing that she’d done everything that she could to help this man.

Nessa smiled when he said she wouldn’t even know he was there. Oh how wrong he was. Good thing he obviously had no clue. “I guess I should... make sure you’ll be comfortable.” She hurried off to the hallway to get him a blanket. No extra pillows, though. She didn’t normally have people crashing on her couch, so she wasn’t very well prepared. Well, luckily there was one easy solution. She took one of the pillows off her bed and brought it along with a blanket back to him, setting them both on the couch. “If you get cold there is another blanket in the closet.” She didn’t think it would be a problem. This wasn’t the cold time of year. If it was, she’d probably have all three blankets on her bed and there would be nothing left for Daeran. The idea did cross her mind that in that case he may have had to share her bed to keep warm. Ahh wishful thinking. As if a man like him would ever want such a thing anyway.

She was just trying to think about other things he might need when he spoke up again, offering to give her a massage or something. Nessa blinked in surprise and then nodded after a moment of thought. A massage was definitely an acceptable substitute for a hot bath. Especially when Nessa considered the man giving the massage. “Oh… that would be great, actually. I’m exhausted. It’s been a really long day…” She didn’t want him to think that she was using that as an excuse to hurry herself off to bed, though, so she sat near him and pulled her hair all to one side of her neck. “Just to be clear, though, you really don’t have to do this.”

It was lucky for Vanessa that she was seated facing away from Daeran in the moment that his hands made contact with her back. Grabbing hold of his hands before had been simple. It was for medical purposes, nothing more. This situation could easily be misconstrued, twisted in her mind to read much more into it than she should. She was not going to let that happen. Luckily it was easy for her to remember that Daeran was just doing this out of the kindness of his heart, as thanks for her saving his life, and not because he was trying to get closer to her.

He asked her about the old lady, wanting to know more about her story. “Oh no, that was on the other side of town. The first place I ever had all to myself…” Nessa smiled a little bit as she remembered the place. “It was a studio apartment, not much bigger than a closet.” But it had been all hers, and she’d been so proud of that place. Of course, moving out by herself had basically meant that she had no extra money to spare at the time, but she’d never had much of a social life anyway so it hadn’t made that much of a difference at the time. Daeran probably didn’t want to hear about her stupid first apartment.

“Mmm that feels good…” she said with a bit of a wince when he began to knead a particularly stiff spot of her shoulder. It hurt like hell but she knew that it really was helping. Time to change the subject now to something about him. There was so much that she wanted to know, and for now at least he seemed to trust her and be willing to talk. “So your group… it’s all people from your neighborhood?” He’d made it clear that he wasn’t trying to recruit her already, so maybe they didn’t let outsiders into the group. It would surprise her, though, if his group were the only ones being hunted. That was what those robots had been about, right? Hunting those with powers? She was damned lucky that one of those things hadn’t come after her when they attacked the city.

“Are you kidding? In a lot of ways, that was the happiest time of my life. Getting to live alone for the first time, with no parents or even roommates. It was worth living off of dehydrated noodles and the dollar menu.” That was back when she revelled in her independence. Nowadays it was just a reminder of the fact that she was single and, honestly, a little lonely. It was difficult to stay optimistic when most of her friends had already paired off. Long-term, committed relationships, if not already married and working on the whole family starting thing. Even the one or two who were still single at least got dates. They were just commitment-phobic. Nessa had no such excuse for her complete lack of any sort of love life.

Ugh, that was such a depressing train of thought. Luckily Daeran saved her from travelling too far down that rabbit hole by telling her more about his group. It sounded nice, kind of like their own little makeshift family. She guessed that they really would have to be that tight-knit in order to survive being hunted this way. Her admiration for Daeran only grew as he spoke. He was obviously a good man, just trying to help his people. If the government had left them alone in the first place, they probably would al have just gone about their lives more or less like normal. But instead they’d started this fight. Nessa wished that she could do more to help the group. ‘Saving’ their leader seemed like a pretty god start, but honestly she still felt like she hadn’t done all that much. Giving him a hiding place until morning was probably her greatest contribution. He would have woken up eventually even if she hadn’t come along, but getting back to wherever his base of operations was on his own, with people after him and all those injuries from the explosion, would have been difficult.

“Meet them? Does this mean you’re going to let me give you a ride in the morning?” she asked, turning her head a bit to look at him out of the corner of her eye. He seemed so adamant about not wanting to recruit her and wanting to keep her out of danger, but he couldn’t exactly take her to meet the rest of his group without there being some risk on her side. Hell, even her bringing him to her place was a risk if he was really being hunted. Not that she minded much. To her, she was just doing what was right, and would accept the consequences. He was more afraid for her than she was for herself.