Chapter 53:

As he got cleaned up, I changed the bedding so it was clean for him to lie back down, and Nova had all but forced Bane into the bathroom shortly after Xavier had started the shower up to clean up as well. After he was done, he did in fact come back and almost instantly go back to sleep, but this time I was very happily curled back against his chest, absently rubbing over Bane's chest scales as I was all but squished between the two of them. I'd be lying if I had said that I didn't like it, though.

Between the comforting weight of Xavier's arm over my side, the feel of his breath as it stirred the hair on top of my head, and the warmth of him pressed against my back, I hadn't even realized I had drifted off to sleep myself until a sharp knock on the door had me jumping awake. Xavier let out a soft groan in his sleep, but his grip on me only tightened, pulling me further back against his chest. As much as I liked the fact that even in sleep, he was unwilling to let go of me, I really needed to go check that.

I carefully tried to wiggle out of his hold, but every time I squirmed to get out, he only curled in further around me. With a sigh of defeat, I finally gave up and changed tactics. Rather than trying to pull away, I burrowed in closer to him as I turned in his hold to where I was facing him. Maybe I could wake him up just long enough to get him to let go of me so I could go see what they had sent for him, and probably go get us some dinner, considering the time that the clock on the wall was displaying. 

Slowly, I started pressing soft kisses along his collar bones, being extra careful of the bruises along his side as I ran my hands over the carved lines of his chest. Slowly, he opened those eyes, looking down at me with a soft grin as I smiled at him. "Sorry, I wasn't going to wake you up yet, but someone wouldn't let me up." I whispered to him before pressing a kiss to his jaw. 

"And what made you think you had any better chances of that when I was awake?" He questioned in a low husky tone before leaning down to kiss me. It was slow and entirely unhurried as he pulled back only to trail soft kisses over my jaw, making me smile once more. 

"I'm glad that you're feeling better, but someone was just here, and I'm pretty sure they slipped another missive in here for you. It's also dinner time, so if you want food, then you'll have to let me up." I whispered, but couldn't help but smile a little wider as he continued to press soft kisses anywhere he could reach before taking my lips once more, then finally allowing me to get up. 

"What are you doing?" I asked, giving him a pointed look as he started to get up as well, stretching as I stood at the edge of the bed. 

"Princess, as much as I appreciate it. I'm not capable of spending an entire day in bed. I need to move around at least a little bit." I raised an eyebrow at him, but just sighed as he continued to give me absolutely no room to argue with him. 

"Fine, but when we get back, you're lying back down with me," I warned, poking him in the center of his chest as he just grinned at me. 

"You act like that's a threat rather than an incentive, but either way, I'll gladly do that as long as this isn't another night mission." He told me as he walked past me, only stopping to brush another kiss across my cheek as he went. He picked up the envelope that they had slid under the door for him, and I just went to get dressed as I left him to read over it.

By the time I had come out of the bathroom, he was already dressed and waiting for me by the door. 

"Do you have to go back out tonight?" I asked as I walked over to him. 

"No, this one isn't for tonight, and as long as it's the only one I get, then we at least have the weekend to relax, but we will have to go check your room." 

"Why?" I asked, but rather than actually answering, he just handed me the missive. The only thing it said was that he was teaming up with me and leaving on Monday for my graded mission. "But I thought they weren't handing out graded missions until closer to the midyear break." 

"While that is normal procedure, sometimes they will hand out missions early, or if you're one of the higher ranking students, which you are, they will hand them out sporadically through the year. It's a good way to test recruits to see if they have what it takes to handle the various missions that they might be handed later on." I looked up at him for a moment before he moved, wrapping an arm around my waist as he pulled me in against his chest. "Due to our situation, there are only a select few missions that you would be eligible for to begin with, so they are going to hand them out if they receive them. For just about any mission that you would be going on, I will have to go with you; they know that, meaning that you're not going to be getting any easy missions like anyone else will be." 

"And the commander just finished running you into the ground so that you wouldn't be as much help on said mission. Especially since two days of rest isn't nearly enough to recover." I whispered, finishing it for him as I carefully leaned into his hold, wrapping my arms around his waist as I lay my cheek against his chest. 

"Exactly, he's betting on the fact that after that last mission, both of us would be far too exhausted to take care of ourselves and actually be able to regain much strength during the two days before the mission. He knows we spend a lot of time together, but he thinks it's just because of Bane and Nova. He wasn't betting on a single person in this place giving a fuck about me." That had me taking a breath as I held him a little tighter. I knew he wasn't really close with everyone around here, but to hear that no one else would have even noticed or cared if he had been passed out for two days had me leaning into him a little further. 

"Speaking of taking care of you, how's your side feeling?" I asked, and he just grinned at me. 

"It's fine, princess. I'm used to dealing with far worse." 

"That sounds like a good way of trying to dodge my question, but if you keep going, then I'm going to leave your ass here and take Bane with me instead," I warned, raising an eyebrow at him while giving him an innocent smile just because I couldn't help myself. "If you're coming with me, then you're going to let me ice your side when we get back with zero complaints, Xavier." I told him as I stood up on my tiptoes, wrapping my arms up around his neck so I could pull him down for another kiss. "You take care of me all the time. The least you could do is let me do the same for you," I whispered as I pulled back from him. 

"Fine, but that means that you're staying with me tonight." 

"You drive a hard bargain," I teased, pulling him in for one more kiss before actually pulling away this time and heading back over towards the bed. Nova happily jumped up onto my shoulders, but Bane took a moment, looking between Xavier and me. 

'Come on, we both know that he could use a bit more of a break after everything. I don't mind carrying you.' I told Bane as he looked up at me, and apparently, that was all the push he needed, considering he leaped into my arms even as Xavier came up beside me.