Defiance (Significance #3)(22)

When he finished he stood and looked at me. I leaned over and kissed his scruffy chin. He smiled as I ran my knuckles over it. He walked over to the shower and got my razor and shaving cream out and stood in front of the mirror. He wet his face and started to dab the shaving cream on and smooth it. Then he picked up the razor - my razor - and began to shave near his sideburns, then downward towards his chin. I hopped up onto the counter and watched him. Every now and then, he'd glance over my way, looking at the exact spot my eyes were as if he knew every time right where they were, and he'd hold my gaze for a few seconds before getting back to work.
When he was done, all rinsed and dried, he tilted his chin my way and finally, the smirk was there. He was waiting for me to inspect and give my approval. I pulled him to stand between my knees. He leaned forward a little and put his arms on either side of me as I kissed his chin again. I made an objective face, like I was just an unbiased spectator. Then I ran my knuckles over his jaw and nodded my head. Then I ran my cheek across his, and his chin and jaw. And finally, I kissed his top lip, just once, and leaned back.I nodded and he laughed silently. He leaned down then, wrapped his arms around my waist and pressed his head to my chest. His ear… He was listening to my heartbeat. I felt his breaths against my neck and chest through my t-shirt. I reached up and ran my fingers through his wet hair, loving the little spikes and curls it made.
"The sound of your heartbeat…is my favorite sound in the whole world," he said, his voice gruff and husky. I realized then that not a word had been spoken since we'd come into my room until now. We'd had a hundred conversations with our eyes, with our senses, with our hands and movements, with not a word spoken.
He lifted his head and looked at me before dipping his head and kissing my neck. I sucked in a startled, gaspy breath at the feel of his warm lips. He smiled against my skin. "And that is my second favorite sound."
When he looked at me this time he was still smiling slightly, but it wasn't any of his normal cockiness and playfulness.
"I didn’t say thank you for coming to save me," he said softly.
"I didn't think you would," I answered truthfully.
"I'm not mad," he said even softer, "I just hate that you had to do that. I hate that you're seeing all the bad parts of my people and none of the good."
"I've seen enough to know that they're just scared. They don't know who or what to trust and when you have not only yourself, but a family to keep safe, it's a big responsibility. I'm proud of them at least for taking that responsibility seriously. I just need to show them that I can be trusted, and that I have their interests in mind."
He smiled at me and even without our abilities, I could see the pride oozing out of him. "And you will." His smile eventually turned into a grin. "Now, unless you want to get another chance for a sneak peek, I suggest you go into the room. Now."
I practically scrambled to get out of there. I heard him laughing, but he didn't shut the door. I went and straightened the bed a little bit. Then I thought I might smell. I had been traipsing through the palace and up spiral stairs and through dungeons. Caleb had just taken a shower, so I might need another one. A quick sniff of my shirt said I was in the clear.
A minute later he emerged in all of his boxer brief glory. I covered my mouth loosely with my fingers. I watched him as he went over to the light switch and flicked off the lights. I stood in the pitch black of the windowless room and waited. Without a sound he made his way to me somehow and I didn't jump when I felt his hands on my waist. He edged us toward the bed carefully, but I still tripped over a flip flop and we laughed as we fell onto the bed edge. 
I wasn't surprised when he pushed me to lie down and leaned in to kiss my laughing mouth either. He was in a strange mood. A mood that was mature and intimate and seductive. He didn't attack me though, he just kissed me. After a while of some serious kissing and swollen lips, he pulled us up to the pillows and covered us with the duvet. I didn't explain to him that it was purely ornamental and the real blanket was underneath us, I just snuggled against him.
With every breath he took that resounded in my ears, I recognized how quiet it was. I pressed my ear to his chest and just listened to our hearts beating there. I had almost expected not to find my heartbeat there, because of the charm on the room, but I should have known that it would be. I doubted anything on this earth could take my heart from his chest, not hell itself. I imagined Satan trying to bargain for it and Caleb telling him to screw off.
"What's funny?" he asked in the quiet. I must've laughed at my daydream.
"Nothing. Just thinking."
"You know," he shifted, moving his arm out from under me so he could run his fingers through my hair as he spoke, "I know it sucks not being able to read each other's mind. I know in the morning, it'll really suck, but this is almost a gift."
I looked up at him, but couldn't see him in the dark. He explained further. "We would never have known what it was like to just be normal. I've always known how you feel about things, how far I can…push you," he told me, his voice low and husky to tell me what he was referring to. "It's totally different when I have to guess what you're thinking. When I have to decide for myself if what I'm doing is just because I want to do it, or I'd think you'd like it and want me to." I felt his head shake. "We're practically human right now."
I nodded my head. "Yeah. I feel like that, too." I ran my hand over his now smooth cheek. "You're right though. It's kind of nice…to have to guess. It's also nice knowing everything there is to know about you."
"Yeah," he replied low, "that is definitely nice."
I switched gears. "Tomorrow, I'm going to have to address everyone." I swallowed, the sound loud and almost embarrassing. "I'm going to have to tell them that the laws are what's keeping us from thriving."
Caleb sighed and I honestly couldn't tell if it was a good sigh or a bad sigh. I waited, tensed, and he seemed to know that I was confused.
"I've heard you say all day…us, our people, our kind." He rolled so that he was over me a little. "It makes me very happy that you know longer have to think about if you're one of us or not."
"I'm one of you," I told him with certainty. "For better or worse."
He kissed me again and then settled me against him protectively, and we slept in the comfort of each others' arm, just out of reach of our healing touch, but for now this was all I needed.
Fourteen
I knew it was coming; the pain, the aches, the tightness in my bones and muscles, but waking up to something I hadn't felt since I was kidnapped was a blinding shot of painful reality. I groaned as I pressed my face into Caleb's chest and used his arm as leverage as I pushed myself up. The alarm clock on the dresser said it was seven o'clock, but I could barely see it as my vision bounced making the red numbers on the face of the clock blurry and streaky.Caleb stirred under me and groaned, stopping mid-stretch as he felt the aches lance through him, too. "Gaaah…Maggie?"
"I'm awake," I said breathlessly, but my arm wouldn't hold me up anymore and I fell back to his chest lamely.
He rolled me over off of him and my jaw dropped for a split second before he hefted me up into his arms and fumbled his way to the door. He opened it and carried me in the hall. As soon as we passed the threshold into untainted air, the healing touch hit us so hard that we both fell against the wall. Caleb let my feet go to the floor, but held my face in his hands and groaned as we both felt the muscles release and even our back joints seemed to pop back into place.
And I could be in his head again. And he was pissed.
I opened my eyes to see why he was so upset and he was watching me with a scowl. "What's the matter?"
He growled his words against my forehead as he leaned there. "How could they do this to you knowing what would happen?"
"They've known you longer and they did it to you," I argued.
He sighed long which turned into a grunt as he thought that over. "I'm ready for this week to be over. I'm ready to take you home."
I wondered where home was for me. He heard my thought and I felt the slam of his thoughts as he blocked me out. He started to open his mouth to say something, but quickly shut it. "Let's go get dressed."
I looked down at him and saw that he was in his underwear still. I couldn't help but smile, but then we heard a door open. Gran came out of her room, stopping dead in her tracks at seeing her grandson in his skivvies.
I waited for her to blush, or something, anything, but she just stood there. Caleb coughed uncomfortably and pulled me in front of him. It was the first time he'd ever put me in front of him to shield him. Usually it was the other way around. And then Gran's cackle started. She laughed so hard and pointed, even doubling over as she did so.
"Gran, come on," Caleb complained to her and then bent his head to look at me when I started laughing, too.
"I'm sorry," I said, "but it's funny!"
"Caleb," Gran laughed and gasped for breath, "just tell me you didn't walk all the way from your cell that way and I'll be fine."
I stopped laughing. "You knew he was in a cell last night…but you don’t look surprised to see him here." I heard her thought, she knew that I would go and get him. She hadn't been worried for one second that we'd spend the night apart. I gawked at her as she winked and walked down the hall, still chuckling.