Laura wakes up late the next day and rolls over to look at Carmilla's bed, which is empty. Footsteps come from the bathroom and the vampire walks out, yawning.
"Oh, you're up, creampuff." She stretches. "How are you feeling?"
Laura blinks groggily. "Kinda out of it?" Carmilla laughs and sits on Laura's bed. "Have you slept?"
"Not yet," she says, placing a hand on Laura's shoulder. "Had to make sure someone didn't try jumping out our third story window while high on painkillers."
Laura giggles. "Was I that bad?" Her eyes widen. "Wait, did I run across a highway yesterday?"
Carmilla nods. "Yes, you did. I mean, I knew you were stupidly fearless, but this was a whole new level, babe."
Laura blushes and looks sheepish.
"And then last night after you 'went to sleep,' you woke up and declared that you had actually turned into a cupcake and had to infiltrate an army of creampuffs."
Laura swatted her girlfriend. "I did not."
"You did. You asked me to lick off your frosting and fill you with cream so you could start your mission!" Carmilla chuckles. "And then later last night you woke up and started reciting some lines from Veronica Mars at me. Something about our love being epic and spanning years and continents and ruining lives and shedding blood."
Laura smacks herself in the forehead. "Oh my God, I thought that was a dream."
"As much a dream as you waking up right before the sunrise to tell me that the Doctor's TARDIS was parked outside and you had to go out to return his sonic screwdriver, cutie."
Laura laughs too hard, and she winces and her hand shoots up to her face. Carmilla clicks her tongue. "Careful, buttercup."
Laura nods and shimmies over so Carmilla can lie down next to her, which she does.
"How did you know what I was saying was from Veronica Mars?" Laura asks, leaning her head on Carmilla's shoulder but avoiding contact with her jaw and cheek.
She can actually feel Carmilla roll her eyes. "I may have been griping about watching shows with you for the past couple weeks, but that doesn't mean I haven't been paying attention."
Laura chuckles. "You think you're sneaky, Carm." Her voice suddenly sounds more tired. "You're a softie. You may have everyone fooled. Except for meeeeee..."
Carmilla laughs dryly and pats her girlfriend gently. "Go to sleep, Laura."
"Only if you do," Laura murmurs.
"There's nowhere else I'd rather be."
"You're staring," Carmilla grumbles sleepily without opening her eyes. She is vaguely aware that she's snuggled up against the tiny girl's shoulder.
Laura giggles. "And you drool when you sleep."
Carmilla cracks open one eye to glare at her. "I do not."
"Do, too! You drooled all over my shirt."
Carmilla sits up to look and sure enough Laura's shoulder has a small drool spot. There's a vague look of shame as she stands up from the bed and walks to the fridge. "Sorry about that, hon."
Laura scoffs with a smile and waves her hand dismissively. "Don't worry about it." She gets off the bed, slower than usual, and suddenly the room spins on her and she sits back on the bed.
Carmilla is at her side, holding her up. "Are you okay?"
Laura gives Carmilla a quick peck on the cheek. "Yeah. I think I've just been lying down for too long. Can we go for a walk?"
Carmilla smiles and buries a kiss in her human's hair. "Well, aren't you a fast healer." Laura giggles. "Fine. First you take your meds. Then we get some mashed potatoes and ice cream in you. And then we can go for a walk. Sound good?"
Laura nods.
Carmilla leads Laura into a small path off the campus. It's narrow enough that most people pass by it every day and never notice it.
"It took me a few stays at Silas to even find it," Carmilla says, holding Laura's hand as she walks in front of her. "But it leads through the forest to this nice little clearing that you can't really get to otherwise."
They continue walking for a few minutes before Laura is noticeably walking slower.
Carmilla stops and turns to face her. It's well into nighttime now, but she can see Laura just fine, and Laura's eyes have adjusted well enough. "Do you need a break?"
Laura looks slightly ashamed and nods.
"Hey," Carmilla says quietly, giving her a slight nudge. "You had four wisdom teeth removed yesterday. You're still recovering, and pushing yourself won't solve anything."
"I know." Laura shrugs. "It's just... I don't want to waste time I could be spending with you, y'know?"
Carmilla chuckles. "I understand the sentiment. I just don't want to be reckless about it and––"
The ground begins shaking and they look around them. Suddenly Carmilla grabs Laura by the shoulders and pushes her against a nearby tree, just as another tree falls down and lands on the path right where they were standing.
"What the hell is going on?" Laura grunts.
Carmilla realizes she's pinned Laura a bit too hard and lets her go. "Sorry." She begins scanning around them as the ground continues shaking.
"Are you okay?" Laura asks.
Carmilla nods, but another tree nearby is pushed over, narrowly missing them. In the new clearing stands a beast, taller than the average person, and much more muscular than any human.
"It's a troll," Carmilla identifies in a whisper.
The ground is still shaking.
"Or, a bunch of trolls," Laura replies, hushed. "Can you teleport us out of here?"
Before Carmilla can answer, there's a roar behind Laura, and a thick arm grabs her by the back of her neck and flings her sideways into another tree.
"Laura!" Carmilla rushes over to her unconscious girlfriend and goes to lift her up, when two trolls approach. One grabs the vampire and goes to throw her, but she ground herself and snaps her wrist up into the creature's face. It reels back and roars, and the other troll hits Carmilla square in the chest, sending her flying and landing on her back.
Another troll is nearby and picks Carmilla up by the throat and squeezes, growling in her face. Carmilla gasps and struggles but can't break free.
There's a loud thwack and the troll drops Carmilla to the ground. She scrambles to her feet and realizes Laura is standing there, branch in hand. Did this girl just hit a troll over the head with a tree branch?
"We gotta go!" Laura yells.
Carmilla starts to reach out for her, but she sees a blur of movement in her periphery, and instead pushes Laura out of the way of a falling tree.
"Carm!" Laura kneels down next to her.
The vampire manages to push the tree off her, but her leg is definitely broken and won't be healing any time soon. She already feels all her vampiric energy being diverted to healing the leg, though, and that doesn't leave enough energy for her to teleport them out of the forest.
"No teleporting right now, cutie," Carmilla groans.
Laura wastes no time in lifting the other girl off the ground, struggling to support her weight, but managing nonetheless. She starts walking with Carmilla, who's doing her best to move on one foot.
"Cupcake, we're going the wrong way," Carmilla points out, wincing.
"Can you just trust me right now?"
Carmilla relents and lets Laura lead her away from campus. They walk for a while before finally finding a large, flat rock, and sitting down for a rest.
"Why didn't they follow us?" Carmilla asks. She glances down at her leg, which is almost done healing.
"They weren't after us," Laura says, breathing heavily and gasping for air. "I think they were looking for something and we were just in their way."
Carmilla raises an eyebrow. "How do you figure?"
"I dunno. It was kind of a hunch? And it seemed like going the way they were coming would work better than just trying to run ahead of them in our condition."
Carmilla laughs wryly and shakes her head. "You ran towards a bunch of trolls on a hunch?"
Laura's breathing is still labored as she tries to smile at her girlfriend.
Carmilla furrows her eyebrows in concern. "Are you okay? You hit that tree pretty hard."
She gingerly lifts Laura's shirt, and the side that hit the tree is bruised.
Carmilla resists the urge to gasp. "I think you've got at least a broken rib, Laura."
Laura chuckles lightly. "Yeah, I know."
Carmilla's eyes widen. "You knew you had a broken rib, and you still went all Mickey Mantle on a troll, and then carried me through the forest?"
"'Mickey Mantle?' Gosh, you are old," Laura snickers.
Carmilla rolls her eyes. "And you are stupidly fearless."
Laura shrugs. "Love makes you do the wacky."
The vampire narrows her eyes but smirks. "If quoting Buffy the Vampire Slayer was your way of saying you wanted to watch more episodes when I get the strength to teleport us back to the room..."
Laura beams at Carmilla.
"...then I guess that's what we'll do."