Lifeline (Sebastian Vettel)

Chapter 49: A New Face

What more could she possibly promise him at this moment. She could barely control her moods and reactions at the best of times.

"Okay." Seb replied softly, flashing her a forced smile and nodding, "I can live with that for now."

"And thank you... for what you did today. Getting me out of that fucking hospital."

"I think it was time." Seb replied, standing up with a subtle wince courtesy of his stiffened leg. It still had quite a ways to go to being fully healed.

He walked over to Tully and extended his hand down to her, "Come on. Enough forcing you into D&M's for one day. Let's get some food."

---

An hour's adventure later, Tully and Seb found themselves back at the lodge, in a large, modern kitchen with timber trimmings and brushed steel everywhere else. It was a truly gorgeous house.

Tully prepared the vegetables while Seb heated brown rice and seared some chicken fillet.

They worked majoritively in silence, but it was at the very least not an awkward silence. She was starting to find his presence easier to manage, less stressful, less pressured. Perhaps it was because it was just the two of them now.

As everything finished cooking, Tully collected two plates and began to serve. Seb cleared some of the pots and pans away until he realised Tully was standing dead still, staring down at the second plate she hadn't yet put any food on.

"Tul, you okay?" he asked curiously as he walked over to her. Completely out of habit, he slipped one arm around her waist to look over her shoulder.

Immediately, he regretted it as she flinched out of her stupor and shied away from his touch.

"Yeah, fine," she spluttered, trying not to sound as surprised as she really was. What the hell was that? Did he think they were magically back together after having a vague talk... where, as far as she was aware, she'd said she'd try to handle things better. In her mind, that meant, to try not to avoid him at all costs, which was a far cry from PDA in the kitchen.

"Sorry. I just... forgot," he mumbled. He sounded embarrassed, whether from forgetting or feeling rejected, Tully did not know. Either way, he sounded sad enough to make her feel guilty. And this is why he's so incredibly hard to be around. He expects the before version out of habit, but I can only be the after version. She tried to bottle her frustration for later. Yet another marker on the tally for being someone's reason for disappointment.

"Yeah." she replied lamely, not knowing what else to say and quickly wanting to change the subject, "Here."

She handed him a plate which he took from her before they both headed into the lounge area where the TV was buzzing away with the Norwegian news channel.

As Seb took his seat, he inspected his plate. He had to do a quick double take.

No carrots.

Yet on Tully's plate, there they were. Those evil little orange sticks of poison - as far as he was concerned. He'd hated them his entire life. Tully was always good at remembering this before the crash.

"I'll be back in a sec." he said quietly, standing up and wandering back into the kitchen. He checked the last few pots containing leftover vegetables. There they were. More of them. So there had definitely been enough for two. She'd deliberately left them off his plate.

Had she seen a memory of it? Was she consciously aware she'd done it? He had so many questions. If something so small had come back to her, what else did she know, how quickly were the memories returning? How frequently?