Waiting in the infirmary for most of the morning, Nina read through one of the articles Doctor Ardus had assigned to her during her at-home recuperation. Athe had come by to visit earlier, showing her a stack of books and notes she would have to review before she and Doctor Ardus could begin planning for her first round of field work. The article had come with a note attached instructing her to familiarize herself with the general terrain and climate of the area so she could begin preparing for the trip. She kept shoving down other ideas about what might happen as they occurred, relegating them to a part of her mind she would not explore until after they returned.
After his visit yesterday, her thoughts had been almost as scattered as the first few hours after she woke from paralysis. Fortunately reading distracted her long enough to stop thinking about his forearms, their size and shape and how much bigger they were than she'd realized. The morning dragged on, Nina assuming that Dean Reda was wrapping up the inquiry into the incident, and she wondered how Doctor Ardus was faring. She'd only met Dean Reda once, and briefly, but the russet-skinned and red-eyed Dreen woman had a formidable, inviolable presence that made even the huge, dark, severe Doctor Ardus seem as gentle and silly as a kitten. She flicked through the pages of one of the books, I kind of feel bad for him, amusing herself with the mental image of him cowering behind his desk. It's not his fault, I hope Reda goes easy on him.
Nia checked in with her, as did Doctor O'Connell. Martin O'Connell had come to Dreenai some months before to work with Nia's team on some of the medical research projects Nina had heard about before the sand-skimmer bit her – her foggy brain had cleared up to the point where she remembered feeling the cool, slimy skimmer mucus seep into her glove. Doctor O'Connell, being the closest thing Dreenai had to a human physician, checked Nina for lasting signs of paralysis or nerve damage. He had her stand flat-footed and on her toes, bend and touch her fingertips to the floor, raise her hands to the ceiling and walk forwards and backwards along a straight line. "Any weakness? Vertigo?" he asked in accented Dreen, holding Nina's hand as she stood on one foot and touched her nose.
"A little weakness, but it's more like what you'd feel the day after a hard workout."
Doctor O'Connell nodded. "Understandable. How about dizziness?"
"No, not at all."
"All right," he gripped her hand. "Give me a good squeeze." Nina squeezed as hard as she could, her knuckles whitening. "Good! I'd say you're all right. Nia," he turned to the Dreen, "if you don't mind, I'd like to see the data you gathered while Doctor Ma'atanoa was down. If that's all right with you, of course." He flashed Nina a friendly smile, only once giving her Dreen clothes a second glance.
"Sure, tell me if you find anything interesting."
It would be another hour before Doctor Ardus showed and Nina worked hard to keep herself occupied until she heard his voice outside the infirmary door. "I see you have begun the reading." Nina looked up, the heavy thump in her chest freezing her hands around the open book. For a moment her mouth and brain didn't cooperate, and for one second too long she stared at him. After refreshing her memory of what a human man looked like, Doctor Ardus seemed sixteen feet tall instead of eight and a half. "Um...yes?" Oh god, you moron.
"Good, that should save us some time when it comes to deciding what necessities we will be bringing with us." He crossed to her and brought a chair with him. "Doctor O'Connell tells me you can stand on your own."
"Y-yes, and walk too." She watched him sit and couldn't understand why the cool infirmary suddenly felt twenty degrees warmer. Sweat crept up her back and chest.
"He also told me he agrees with Nia in that you should not walk long distances for a few days. That is fairly common advice for sand-skimmer bites, at least for Dreen. Since you will be spending the next few days in your apartment, I trust you will not be doing much traveling. I have asked Athe to check in with you and bring you anything you may need, whether that should be materials for work or otherwise." He smiled, his eyes squeezing narrow like a contented cat.
Nina's tongue felt thick and she struggled with words. "Thank you."
"And of course, should you need me for any reason, I will come as well."
Nina had to remember how to breathe. Athe in her apartment she could handle, even enjoy the company, but him? She imagined him sitting on her couch, poking around in her kitchen, wandering into her bedroom... "I-I don't think that will be necessary."
He shrugged. "If you think so. Now, do you think you are ready to go home? I have already cleared it with Nia and Doctor O'Connell."
She nodded even with her fluttering stomach. "Yes, definitely." Get me out of here! She turned and slid one leg off the side of the bench. Doctor Ardus lurched from the chair, a huge hand opening before her. "What are you doing?"
Nina froze. He'd moved so fast and so close that his hand was nearly on her knee. Now he stared at her with wide blue eyes and an expression that would have been funny if Nina hadn't been so unsettled by the feelings in her stomach. "Um, I... I'm leaving?"
"You are not supposed to walk yet."
"I can walk!" Nina protested.
"I am sure you can, but Doctor O'Connell said you should not walk long distances."
"It's just to my apartment," she inched away from that massive hand. "It's not that far."
"Still, you should not push yourself too hard yet." Doctor Ardus pulled back some, but not nearly enough. Even sitting he was taller than her by at least a foot, and he'd pulled the chair close enough that Nina could feel how much bigger he was than herself, like swimming next to a basking shark. Too close! "How am I supposed to get home if I can't walk?"
"Nia is bringing a transport chair."
"You're going to push me home in a wheelchair?" Nina's face burned. Sea gods, no.
"Unless you can think of a better way."
Nina shook her head violently. "No, no, it's just..." She stopped, and he watched her expectantly. His eyes... "It's just...I'm bored here." She looked at the book she'd been reading and tried to calm down and not think about how his eyes made her feel. "I want to get home as soon as possible."
Doctor Ardus took his hand away, setting it on his own knee. He didn't take his eyes off her, however. "I understand that, but you should not be in such a hurry. You will be home in less than an hour, I assure you that." This time when he smiled, Nina felt more relief than fluttery anxiety. She smiled back, feeling more in control of her steadily thudding pulse.
"Thanks."
Ardus nodded. "Certainly. So, are you enjoying the reading? I know you would prefer fieldwork, but considering the circumstances..." The corner of his mouth curled slightly.
"Yes, yes, historical context, I know." Nina fought the urge to roll her eyes. "And I am enjoying it, now that I know we'll be starting sooner. Actually, I started with one of your papers on the area." She watched his eyes widen. "I...um, I wanted to see what you thought about it. You seem to know the place really well." She picked up the book and opened it to the map index, to make him look anywhere besides at her. "I didn't realize it was so close, though." She showed him the map and pointed to the spot, about sixty miles north and west of the university. "It looks like a short trip."
Ardus nodded over the page. "It is, in fact. It should not take more than an hour or two."
"So what are we looking at, traveling in the early morning and spending the day there and coming back?"
He shook his head, wires and beads clinking. "Oh no, we will be spending three days there."
"Three days?" Nina snapped the book closed.
Ardus looked up at her. "Is there a problem?"
"No, no, of course not..." Except that I'll have to spend three days with you. There had been no mention of other team members, and Athe had told her he would be staying behind to take correspondence and do some light cleaning. It would be just the two of them. A jumble of thoughts rolled through her mind, all of them equally ridiculous and unlikely. "I...I wasn't expecting three days."
"If you think it is too much, I can-"
"No, not at all! I...um..." She floundered. "It's fine."
He gave her a long, strange look. The longer he looked, the hotter Nina's cheeks and neck flamed. "Doctor," he said slowly and quietly, "you are...red."
Oh god, no. "I, um, it's warm in here." Nina reached for the glass on the stand. She downed half of it in a gulp, half-melted ice and all. "That's better," she said lightly, trying to pass off a smile while the ice in her belly gave her brain-freeze. It didn't look like he was buying it. "Mm-hmm. Perhaps we should save the planning discussions for when you return to work." He sat back, away from the bench, crossing his arms again. Nina stared into the bottom of the half-empty glass, trying to pretend she hadn't noticed the enormous swell of bicep under a sleeve – the damned thing was bigger than her thigh. Fortunately she didn't have to pretend for long, as Tura and Nia returned with a transport chair and Ardus stood to make way for it. But the chair was designed for Dreen, and as such it was almost three times the size of any wheelchair Nina had ever seen. Doctor Ardus took one look at it and immediately rejected it. "What is this? No, no, that will not do. It is too big."
"Ardus, this is all we can find at the moment. If we called a local hospital, they might get a smaller one to us in a few hours. Perhaps not even until tomorrow."
Nina spoke up, "Doctor, it's fine, I'd rather it be too big than too small."
He rounded on her and she wondered at the look he gave her. "Doctor Ma'atanoa, I will not have you looking ridiculous," he said, oddly stern.
"It's just a chair. You said I'm not allowed to walk yet, this will work just fine."
"What if you fall out?"
"I'm not going to fall out," Nina argued, "I could fall over in that thing and not hit the ground." What's your deal?
"That is not the point." He said, his jaw set. "Nia, forget it. I will take her home myself." He turned to Nina, looking down at her with an unreadable expression. "Doctor Nina, I am sorry about this."
"Sorry about what-"
Before she could finish, Doctor Ardus bent over her and scooped her into his arms. One arm slid behind her back and his hand gripped her outward shoulder, the other under her legs with his fingers around her lower thigh just above her knee. Nina stared in silent panic as he lifted her smoothly, easily, with as much difficulty as she would have picked up a cat-sized blueback. As he straightened, she rocked sideways and her arm pinned itself between her side and what felt like a warm brick wall. As she slid towards him she put a hand out to steady herself and touched an enormous chest as broad and hard as her desk. He adjusted his arm behind her back and Nina tensed, feeling his shoulder move against hers and realizing that his loose tunic sleeve hid an arm that was roughly the thickness of her thigh and solid as driftwood. She turned her head and found herself staring directly into his eyes, blue on black and looking back at her with the intensity of a clear sky. Oh, shit...
"Doctor, that's not necessary," Nia stepped forward, reaching out for Nina.
"It is all right, I have her," he said, returning her undeviating gaze. A sudden bloom of heat started in Nina's belly, joined shortly by more from the places where his hands, arms and chest touched her body. Over her clothes his palms were warm and he handled her firmly but gently. Even seven feet off the ground, Nina felt secure. Nina blinked, her mind blank except for the sound of his voice, I have her.
"See? She is fine." Doctor Ardus gave her a half-smile that caused more warmth to rise in her cheeks. Her hand was still on his chest, and without thinking she curled her fingers into his tunic, into the heat of his huge body. Nina could feel the vibration of his voice in her hand and arm and even where her hip rested against his hard, flat stomach. She thought she would say something, but when she opened her mouth she managed little more than a weak "Uh-huh..." Sea gods, he's so big!
"Right, well, if you do drop her make sure you do it off campus grounds," Nia said, watching the interaction between them with an odd expression. "I don't want another meeting with Reda for at least a year. My heart can't take that kind of strain."
The half-smile expanded, his eyes squeezing half closed. "Do not listen to her, I am not going to drop you." There was no way he was going to, not with arms bigger around than most parts of her and hands large enough to completely circle her thigh above the knee. He glanced at her hand where it gripped his tunic and met her eyes again, but he said nothing. Nina ducked, suddenly shy, tucking her chin down and staring at her hand. What am I doing? I can't let him do this! I can't... She gave an experimental twist, turning her shoulder away from him, but that was useless as Ardus simply adjusted his grip. He's so strong, I couldn't get away if I wanted to! She realized that he was moving now, passing between Nia and the privacy curtain and giving Nia and Tura his thanks. "I will look into getting some human-sized appliances for the infirmary, in case something like this happens again."
Nia called after him, "Don't you harm a single hair on her, do you hear me? I'll drown you myself!"
"Yes, yes, I will not let anything happen to her," Ardus tossed back over his shoulder. Walking slowly so as not to jostle her too much, the Dreen carried the tiny human woman out into the main corridor connecting the infirmary and medical wing to the main university. Nina cowered when they passed several Dreen dressed in simple student garb, pressing her cheek against his chest and trying to hide what she was sure was her burning-red face. Humiliation and anxiety threatened to burst through and she tugged on his tunic. "Stop, please."
Doctor Ardus came to a stop. He twisted and angled his head until he could look between her hand and his tunic. "What is it?"
"You don't have to do this," she said, peeking up at him. "I can walk."
"I am sure you can," he said in a surprisingly gentle tone, "but this is a necessary precaution. If you fell, or were stepped on, I would never forgive myself."
"But...it's embarrassing. Just go get the stupid chair."
"Too late. When I make a decision, I follow through. Besides, this is not the first time I have carried you."
"It's not?" Nina tried to remember what might have constituted as carrying, her stomach knotting. Catching her as she fell? Leading her to a restaurant with higher quality food than she would have picked? Bringing her to Dreenai in the first place? "When?"
"How do you think you got to the infirmary?"
"Oh gods..." she groaned. If her face got any redder, she would be able to cook her dinner on it. "I wish you hadn't told me." She turned her face back to its hiding place against Ardus's shoulder, realized what she was doing, and instead released his tunic and covered her face with her hands. "Aku, Omi, somebody, just kill me now". As she pressed her hands to her burning cheeks, she felt Ardus move on again. She heard a low, soft chuckle resonating in his chest and her breath caught when she felt the vibration in her bones.
"Doctor Nina, I cannot believe what I am hearing. You have been knocked over, had your dinner kicked into the sand, been knocked off of Athe's shoulders, bitten and paralyzed by a sand-skimmer so small it would not even affect a Dreen child your size. You have had more accidents in the few weeks I have known you than I can count on one hand." He flexed the hand on her arm, probably instinctively, and Nina felt his fingers press into her skin from her shoulder almost to her elbow. "I should hardly think that being carried would be the most embarrassing thing that has happened to you so far."
"It's the worst," she said, peeking between her fingers.
Ardus glanced down at her, meeting her in the corner of his eye. From this angle she could see the pale blue-grey underside of his chin and the long, thick muscle from the base of his neck at roughly her forehead to just below his frilled ear several inches higher. "You did not seem to mind sitting on Athe's shoulders," he said, his tone quiet and strangely cold. Nina dropped her fingers from her eyes, curling them below her nose and watching his expression carefully. He didn't seem angry, but there was a set to his jaw, a hardness in his eye that told her he was feeling something. Is he...jealous? Why would he be jealous?
"That's different, we were playing Jump and I'm too small to play by myself with people your size. I needed a boost."
Ardus's eyebrows knitted together. "How is this different?"
"How? Because Athe asked first!" Nina brought her hands down beneath her chin, curling them into fists. "You can't just go around picking people up because they're smaller than you! Especially not women. Have some...some restraint."
That made him miss a step. Nina watched him look down at her and thought she could see the realization hit. "Ah..." he finally said, and he looked embarrassed. He gave a pained smile. "I...I have overstepped a personal boundary." He recovered and kept walking, a little faster now. Serves you right, you big dumb blue idiot.
"Yeah. Now do you get it?"
"...Yes. I am sorry, Doctor. But I feel...I am responsible for what happened."
Nina's hands relaxed. "Look, I don't blame you for it. And I know you're trying to be nice after I said you were weird to me, but..." Nina gestured with her free hand to her position. "I appreciate you looking out for me, but this is..."
"Too much?"
"Yeah, a bit." She tucked her hands in, curling up on herself.
"I am sorry Doctor, it will not happen again." Ardus fell silent. He walked on for a while, leaving the university buildings and crossing into the sunlight. His pace was steady, his arms strong and secure and almost completely encompassing her. In the sun the warmth coming off of him grew – because he's so dark, he attracts heat – and Nina found herself swaying against him in a regular, soothing rock. His warmth was so relaxing, and she felt safe up here, away from clawed Dreen feet. Being carried wasn't so bad, she decided. "Hey."
"Hmm?"
Nina put her hand up against her ear and leaned against his shoulder. "I'll let you off the hook for picking me up without asking this time." She yawned. "You're just trying to help." He's so strong. And warm. This is okay, I can live with this.
Ardus nodded and said nothing. He adjusted his shoulder behind her and Nina felt a huge forearm press into her side, pinning her between it and his broad chest. She couldn't fall if she wanted to. When was the last time anyone had carried her even remotely like this? Even though she felt small, Nina felt herself growing drowsy. Such gentleness, for such huge people who could move so fast and with so much power. This was a perfect example. There must be so much more beneath that dark face, more kindness than he'd let on. Nice Ardus isn't so bad, I can tell he's really trying. I bet under all that dark, broody, serious bullshit, Doctor Ardus is really sweet. Nina fell asleep to the soft thump of his feet on the path and the hiss and whisper of waves.