Drone

XIX

XIX

Phoebe fully intended on going to bed the moment she entered her room. Even if she had to pretend to be to sleep when Wasp came around she would. She just wasn’t ready to talk to him yet.

So she was surprised, when she walked into her room, to see Wasp laying out on the bed, sleeping himself. He hadn't even bothered to lift his legs up onto the mattress.

She felt the sudden and powerful urge to tuck him in.

It was easier to ignore than the urge to climb in with him. That desire was so powerful she had to remind herself why it wasn't a good idea and look away.

Instead, she walked around and sat at the seat by her window. She brought her legs up and curled into the comfortable chair. She resisted laying down with him but she couldn't keep herself from watching him while he slept.

His face was calmer, somehow more closed off than when he was awake. He wasn't trying to please and lead while he was asleep. He got to be himself. He looked surprisingly like a normal man.

Phoebe found herself glad that he was asleep. She didn't want him to see her right now anyway. Her face was a mess, her eyes puffy, from crying.

Then she realized that her face was a mess and jumped to her feet, reaching up for it quickly. She couldn't let him see her like that! She had to have some pride in her appearance. If she was going to face him after what he had done she needed to do it looking at least descent.

She took a quick look at him and raced from the room as quietly as she could. There was no way she was going to look like a slob in front of him. She refused to allow it.

She was halfway to her bathroom when she had to stop and remind herself that he had killed someone. She shouldn't be dressing up to face him. She shouldn't care how he saw her.

But she lifted a hand to her face and could only imagine how bad she looked and she knew that she did. She didn't hesitate again.

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Wasp woke up slowly. He could feel the warmth of the sun on his face as well as the soft splash of water from Phoebe's mini-waterfall. They were very soothing, almost hypnotic and for a moment Wasp forgot why he was sleeping in Phoebe's bed at all.

The he cursed at himself. He was supposed to have talked to her and worked on her memory last night. He didn't like that he had fallen asleep before fulfilling that promise.

Grumbling he sat up and yawned. His clothing and body were stiff from the position he had fallen asleep in. He hadn't moved at all, he must have slept really deeply.

He stood up, stretching when he did so. He was already going down his mental checklist of things to do today. The first thing on the list was to see to Phoebe. He had to make sure she was okay as well as ease whatever had made her angry. Then he had to finish reading and taking notes from the scrolls he had received from Bao Yu. He might be close to figuring out what Phoebe and Jean were, what they could do. The faster he did that, the sooner he could remove the seals on their energy. Already he was receiving requests to use Jean's energy for various things. Until he could unseal her, he would continue using his personal energy. He just didn't think it fair to take from the hive collective.

So he was probably going to end up going over various plans with people for their homes or businesses today because of that. He also needed to check on Second Point, without Phoebe of course. Despite Ratel not being able to reach her within his barriers, he wasn't letting her out of Nest. He didn't want to risk it.