Sickness

~Part 12~

"You just don't understand, Gale." I say as I catch a quick glance out the tinted window.

"No Vala, I do understand." he said determined moving his chip over a space.

The train ride seemed so much longer when you weren't knocked out or loopy during 99% of it. Gale and I were passing time by playing checkers and talking. We had addressed the whole baby scenerio about 2 hours ago, but it didn't go well. It ended in yelling, so we decided to pass time with something less hostile.

"Beat that move." he says as he sits back confidently in his chair. 

I take my piece and hope over his last 5 pieces. I swipe them off the board onto my side. "I win." I say with a little grin.

Gale looked at his lap and smiled, shaking his head. He looked up with a sideways grin and ran his fingers through his hair. At that moment I swore that Gale reached maximum attractiveness. His sea green eyes looked at me knowingly. I hadn't known what was going on with us lately, and I was still on the edge on whether I wanted to know or not. Gale had kissed me in the swipe room that day, before I lost my memory. Almost as if he wanted to kiss me one last time before I was gone forever. It was sort of... adorable. 

These thoughts sounded weird even in my head. Like, hello? Get yourself together Vala! You're a warrior! No time for this mushy crap. Gale stood up and stretched, his tank top showing off his perfectly form arms and triangle cut torso. Uhmm... hello there. 

"Going to bed love." he says in a sleepy voice as he bends down and lightly kisses my cheek. 

I was almost shocked until I remembered we had to pretend to be a couple. "I guess I should too." I stand up quickly. Too quickly. I almost looked eager. 

"Okay." he smiles as a hint of light leaks through the window into the dark train cart momentarily illuminating his perfect face. He reaches out and takes my hand as we walk to the back of the long segmented train to our room. 

We go in and he flicks on a lamp that gives the room a slight glow. I go to the dresser and pull out a pair of sweatpants and a tank top, then go to the bathroom to change. I flip on the light and struggle to get changed in the tiny bathroom with only a tall, thin shower and a toilet. I pull on the pants, but they fall right back down. Ugh. After a little bit of tag reading I realized these were supplied for Gale, so I just rolled up the waistband until they stayed. I threw on my tank top and threw my red/brown hair into a big sloppy bun.

You'd think I'd want to look half way decent considering I was having these awkward thoughts about Gale tonight, but that's not exactly the case. I stepped out of the bathroom and let Gale step in after me.

When I got out the room was cold. It felt like it had dropped 10 degrees in the last two minutes. I ran and quickly did a superman jump onto the double bed immediently curling up in the puffy soft blanket feeling an odd sense of joy. I didn't know why, but I was in a good mood, and excited to be able to relax. I don't understand how I was supposed to relax though with this 'magic baby'. The weird thing was... it was actually bothering me a lot less than I wanted it to. I can't explain what the feeling was of WANTING to worry, but not being able to. I could try with all my might, but the worry didn't come to me. It's almost as if, somehow all my seriousness decided to take the night off. And I was kind of okay with that. 

I untangled myself from the covers and flattened them out nice and smooth, then gently slipped under them as I reached for the remote. It was on the desk about 2 feet from the bed. I groaned and threw my head back. But instead of getting out of bed, I planted my hand on the foor and reached with everything I had to the desk. I heard giggling and whipped my head around to see Gale standing in the doorway laughing. "What on earth are you doing?" he asked, his voice mixed with joy and laughter.

"Oh ya know." I said pointing to the remote. "Just getting the remote." I laughed as I grabbed it and used my one hand to scoot me back onto the bed. 

I set my pillows against the headboard and flipped on the TV to the weather report. "Why is it so cold?" I asked faking a shiver into my voice.

The weather man just kept talking about the weather in town. I glanced up at Gale then looked back at the TV, then back at Gale. A perfect double take. He was in identical sweatpants to mine, shaking out his wet hair with one hand. "H- How is the water here?" I ask stuttering trying to keep my eyes locked on his face. 

"Ah, ya know. Pressures pretty decent... for a train." he said widening his eyes and letting them go back to normal in a comical way. 

"Really? Surprising considering it's hard to get a decent shower in the city itself." 

Oh my gosh. So so so so so so STUPID! Change the subject! Change it now! 

''Uh- Um.." I scratch the back of my head making my sloppy bun bounce a little on the top of my head. 

Gale gets a goofy crooked smile on his face. "What are YOU smiling about?" I tease. 

"You look... cute." he admits. I feel my face begin to burn. 

I smile and start to skip back to the bed letting my good mood get the best of me. He watches me with the same stupid smile. I throw my head back and laugh. ''What is up with you?" I joke.

''You're just in a really good mood. I haven't seen you this happy since we were 14." he smiles and looks at the ground.

"Yea well ya know." I smile a big cheesy smile then snuggle deeper into the covers. 

Gale rushes over and jumps on the bed making me flop all over the place like a fish out of water. I give him a fake scowl and he just smiles at me with his eyes. 

He had a look I hadn't seen in a long while. He was really happy. I smiled, but then felt a tear go down my face. He lightly wipes it with his thumb. "Whats wrong Vala?" he looks at me concerned. "I thought you were happy." 

"I am. I don't know why I'm crying like this... I just... I guess it's just inner stress trying to break through." I say slowly. 

His eyes suddenly got sparkly which I knew meant tears. ''Don't cry." I say.

He shook his head. "I won't."

Then he bent down and kissed me. I don't know what was happening, but I found my arms around his neck and his hands on my waist. He was warm and gentle and it felt like I had exceeded being as happy as I could be. Everything seemed right.

Until the TV started beeping with latest news.