Makkari feels him before she feels him. Better put, she’d always been a light sleeper, and his heavy footsteps across the wood of the floor leading up to the bed resonate in her. Only moments later she feels the back of his hand touch her cheek so lightly it’s barely there. Before she can stop it, a heat rushes to her face at the contact. She opens her eyes quickly and already knows the smug expression awaiting her.
Good morning, Druig signs to her, his smirk almost violently annoying.
She puts her hand over his face to silence him and closes her eyes again. But one betrays her and opens when he lets out a low laugh.
What?
I have something for you, He signs back, and she looks at his hands then down at the ground below him for a present of some kind.
Druig shakes his head.
Outside.
Makkari turns around to squint at the window and tell the time.
At 5:30 in the morning, Druig? Can you at least wait until the sun rises to bother me?
Despite her words, Makkari sits up as she signs, and Druig stands so he towers over her. The imbalance makes her scrunch her nose as she looks up at him, and he knows he’s won.
You’re lucky I was having a bad dream.
It’s a joke, of course, but Druig has learned Makkari, studied her even. And there’s a layer of authenticity in her eyes when she signs it. Her eyebrows don’t raise at the beginning of her sentence and the corners of her smile don't spread as wide.
He holds out his right hand and she fills it with her own instinctively. Immediately, a comfort warms her against the subtle cold of the house. He leads her out of the room at a pace so agonizing she would simply run them to their destination if she knew where they were headed. They creep past where Sersi sleeps on the couch as well as Thena muttering in her sleep from a chair by the back door.
Finally, within walking distance but nearly out of sight of the group’s South Dakotan home for the night, they reach a checkered blanket laid out on the grass. A couple woven baskets lie in the middle. It’s a scene from a novel, Makkari thinks.
She turns back to Druig with eyes full of awe and appreciation. Without even having to move her hands, her face asks “For me?”
Druig just shrugs and Makkari gifts him with a smile, a real one bright enough to replace the slowly rising sun. Then, as expected,
You’re such a cornball.
“For you.” He looks right at her when he says it, unabashed and now confident in his decision to get up before dawn.
Makkari grins.
Not long after, a spread of fruits and several different types of sandwiches are spread out in front of them. It’s what he could find in Ajak’s home and it’s not bad, but a now fully awake Makkari has a raging appetite.
You get an A for effort, I think, She tells him.
I never liked that little grading system they invented, He defends himself.
Makkari laughs a little then looks over at him with a familiar glint in her eye.
Makkari-, But it’s the only word he can finish before she’s gone, leaving a corner of the blanket flying up in her wake. He can only release half a sigh before she’s returned and several different types of pasta sit on porcelain plates.
Feel like Italian? Her cockiness doesn’t annoy him, somehow. It never has.
He glances around at the assortment, noting everything from fettuccine alfredo to salmon tortellini. Every plate steaming hot and releasing a delicious aroma. It reminds him, for a fleeting moment, of late nights in a version of Venice long gone. He spots a fork in one of the plates and raises an eyebrow at her.
My little thief.
Makkari feigns offense, dropping her jaw and putting her hand over her heart. She’d gotten each of them from the kitchen of a different restaurant to minimize the damage. They’d remake the food and barely even question it.
I could have just made them give it to me. She mocks his mind control powers with wide eyes and a teasing smirk.
They eat together in a comfortable silence, both of them grateful for the peace after the insanity they’d just experienced. The sudden yet tragic family reunion had come with an emotional toll. Fighting against family, losing them in more ways than one, it can make even an Eternal feel small. But here, now, Makkari and Druig find themselves completely at peace with one another, the company a comfort all on its own. They’ve always had this playful connection. Centuries passed and it had only grown.
Have I ever told you you’re beautiful? The movement of his hands causes Makkari to look up from her food, and she realizes then that he’d been staring.
No, I don’t think so. Fully pushing the innocent act, she shrugs her shoulders to top it off.
You are. And it’s so genuine the beat of her heart slows for just a moment. How does he do that?
You too.
He laughs at her, and she’s so brightened by it that the emotion overwhelms her. A matching laugh reverberates through her and there they are giggling together like it was a typical day in a typical life. And that is why Makkari begins to cry. Not violently or all at once, just a single tear sliding down her cheek. But it cuts Druig off completely and he reaches out to wipe it off with his thumb, and when she warms under his touch he raises her chin with the rest of his fingers.
What was your dream? He signs one-handed.
She ducks away, cutting off their contact and focusing intensely on a white square in the blanket’s pattern.
He follows her gaze and draws an invisible heart in the square. It works, earning the smallest grin from Makkari. He runs with it.
This is me. He emphasizes the “me” in hopes of reminding her they’ve always been open with each other.
When she finally meets his eyes Druig physically feels the pang in his heart at the guilt she’s carrying. She’d always taken their losses with stride. When they’d witnessed the worst of humanity’s downfalls and fought every instinct in them to help, she’d been the one to uplift the group. The light of their dysfunctional family. This time was different.
I thought you were dead.
Druig raises his eyebrows.
When Ikaris… Her hands freeze in the air like she can't even bring herself to finish the retelling. I have never been without you.
The guilt settles in him this time, as if he’d done this to her.
Even in the years when we were apart, she continues, you were still here. I could get to you in moments. But when he hurt you, I couldn’t save you. It didn’t matter how fast I ran. You were gone. I was terrified.
Druig takes her hands, still outstretched in front of her from the last sign, into his own and holds them tightly.
“I’m right here. You can’t get rid of me that easy.”
And the words make her smile through the tears.