Quarantine

Trust

When Kayla got into Lexi's room, she noticed Lexi was already asleep so she slowly and quietly joined her under the covers. As much as she wanted to talk with her sister about everything, she knew how much she needed her sleep when she was sick.

She reached across and lightly touched her forehead, the fever she had earlier was already going down from the medicine Yvette had given her.

Kayla breathed a sigh of relief and closed her eyes.

—————

Kayla woke up in the middle of the night to a sound in the kitchen and her heart immediately panicked. She checked on Lexi and saw that she was still sleeping and quickly left the room to go to the noise.

She was still so groggy from sleep that she hardly registered the events of the last few days and thought she was still dreaming when she saw Timothèe standing in her kitchen in the dark.

But then it all came crashing back- everything that had happened wasn't some nightmare or dream, it had been real.

"Sorry for the noise, I was looking for water and dropped a cup." He whispered to her.

Kayla's heart finally slowed down as her consciousness caught back to reality.

She just nodded sleepily and then went and sat on the couch in the living room. A few moments later, Timothèe sat down on the other side of the couch.

They sat in relative silence for a few minutes, both looking out of the living room window to the city outside.

Timothèe was the first to break the silence, "How is Lexi doing?"

Kayla didn't look back at him, kept her stare on the stars and moon outside, "She is sleeping. Her fever went down."

She heard as he began to drum his fingers on the cup of water in his hands.

"Yvette volunteered to come on this trip because she had a son who became rabid." Kayla said after a few moments.

She finally looked back at Timothèe and saw his face go white, "She told you that?"  He asked in a whisper, being that Yvette was just down the hall.

"Well she didn't tell me that was why she volunteered to come, but it has to be."

"It makes sense." He agreed and left it at that.

"She said something about Mitch having some sort of leverage over her. I don't know if we can trust her."

"I wasn't planning on trusting any of them to be honest with you." Was Timmy's answer.

"There's just something about her, she's not like the rest of them." 

Timothèe started and then immediately closed his mouth and thought before opening it again. He then gestured to the picture on the coffee table, "Was that your husband?"

Kayla knew the picture he was referencing and nodded silently, ignoring the feelings that creeped up into her heart, she had to.

"Why did he and his family get the vaccine- and not you?" Was the question he decided he could ask.

"He and my father-in-law worked at the same place and their work required it. They each got one extra vaccination to give to a family member of their choice, I told him to give it to his sister instead of me." A pang of guilt, and then with a tear filling her eye, "I didn't know, what I'd be putting her through when I told him to give it to Lexi instead of me, I didn't know...."

He reached his hand out and grabbed hers, giving it a small squeeze, "No one did, Kayla."

Despite the room being cold, she felt the warmth and electricity from this contact warming her. He was acting so different from earlier, she let go of his hand and asked a question of her own, "Why didn't you take the vaccine? Surely you could have afforded it?"

"I had been filming a movie and was on a press tour around Europe when the Vaccine first was released. It could only be administered to citizens of that country, and by the time I finally got back to the states, all the complications arose."

"Odd, the things that ended up saving our lives." Kayla said quietly, turning to look out the window again.

Timothèe studied her profile carefully, and felt an overwhelming urge to tell her. She would understand, if anyone would, Kayla would.

"Kayla, I have to tell you..." Timothèe started, but when she turned to face him, the moonlight lighting up her blonde hair and blue eyes, he stopped himself. He thought of something, anything else to say, finally with a light laugh he finished, "I don't think your sister trusts me very much."

But Kayla didn't laugh, she met his stare and unblinking asked, "Does she have a reason not to trust you?"

His heart stopped for a moment, but then decided he  would tell the truth, because even if they didn't know everything- they could still trust him, he was sure of it. "No. She doesn't," and then stopped and searched her eyes, and decided he would say what truly mattered to him, "and you don't either."

Kayla felt heat rise to her cheeks and couldn't meet his eyes for a moment, but then shyly said, "I think...you already know that I trust you."

He brought his fingers to her chin and moved it so he could look into those eyes, "I do."

She noticed him leaning in closer to her, to tell her a secret? No, he was staring at her lips and she couldn't help but lean closer too.  Her heart was beating out of her chest as he looked deeply into her eyes and the fingers on her chin adjusted to his hand on her cheek, but then she heard the door to Lexi's room open.

The two separated quickly and looked in the direction of the sound, Lexi stood in her doorway rubbing her eyes. Which she then dramatically rolled upon seeing them both on the couch.

"Dear lord." She said under her breath and then walked into the bathroom and slammed the door shut.

Kayla shot up from the couch quickly. "We should really go to bed," she said hurriedly looking at Timmy and then her eyes went wide, "Not together of course! I mean... you... Im gunna go back to bed- you stay here." Even in the moon lit room he could see the deep red in her cheeks.

Timmy couldn't stop the smile that spread across his face as she backed away from him full of embarrassment.  "Goodnight, Kayla." He smiled, and then with a laugh, "such a dork."

"Am not. Shut up." She laughed back and then closed the door behind her as she entered Lexi's room.

He couldn't stop smiling as he shook his head. He grabbed "Little Women" from his backpack and started reading it from where he had left off. The moonlight was just enough to light the page he was reading.