americas_son | Sunnydale AU: careful of the curse

He leads the way back down the hall.

As it turns out, once they have extracted the mattress, the frame comes apart quite tidily.

Cal appreciates this, as it makes the whole process go a bit faster. And he doesn't have to deal with trying to use tools.

In the end, the mattress stays. Tina may as well be comfortable before her transformation, and no one else in this house will ever be particularly keen to sleep on that thing.

There isn't much else in the room to worry about - a couple random paintings on the walls, which are easy to move, and a rug.

Eventually, they end up in their living room. Cal has a fresh soda and is pretending that project didn't take as much out of him as it did.

Sherlock is pretending to believe him.

Not, mind you, pretending very hard.

He's pretending more for his own benefit than Sherlock's, anyway. If he lets himself feel how tired he is now, he won't be awake for Tina.

He'll sleep while she's transformed, if he can.

What a sensible idea.

Tina wakes up after a long and restful sleep. She didn't dream, she doesn't feel drugged - whatever that sedative was did the trick. She almost feels normal. Then she remembers why she's here in a strange guestroom. She closes her eyes tightly against the tears.

She gets out of bed and puts her jeans back on. She's really, really hungry. When she opens the door of the guest room, she smells lingering scents of cooked food, and her stomach growls.

She also detects Cal's scent, and Sherlock's, too. They aren't far away. If it weren't horrific and embarrassing, it would be kind of neat the way she can find people now. She wipes the sleep from her eyes as she pads down the hall in her bare feet.

"Hey."

Cal looks up at the sound of her voice and smiles.

"Hey."

He gets up and goes over to her.

"How you feeling?"

Better would be a lie, as would okay.

"Rested. I needed that sleep. And, um, hungry? May I make a sandwich or something, if that's okay?"

"Of course. And if you would like anything more complicated, I and my kitchen are at your service."

"I'd, um, if it's okay, maybe something hot?"

She'd like steak. Or hamburger meat. Or... oh, god.

At least she wasn't a vegetarian or anything. Before.

"But not if it's a trouble. I've been enough trouble."

He smiles. "It's fine. I like to cook. Shall we?"

Cal reaches over to take Tina's hand.

"Let's."

She almost pulls her hand away. How can he stand to touch her? It's not like they can be... anything any longer.

But she wants his touch, and she knows there will be a day soon, probably tomorrow, when he comes to his senses.

"Okay. I'll- I'll make it up to you somehow. To both of you. For all of this I've put you through."

"Think nothing of it."

He leads them down to the kitchen.

He feels her tense up a little, for just a second, but then she seems okay again.

"He's not kidding about liking to cook," he tells her as they follow Sherlock. "He's probably excited to have someone new to cook for, he already knows everything about what me and Tony eat."

He lets the inclusion of himself in her remark slide by, because isn't this what a good boyfriend would do? How could he do anything else?

"Quite right," he contributes without turning around.

"Okay. I like pretty much anything."

She's never been that picky of an eater. She has her favorites, but right now, she's starving.

She does manage a smile for the first time since yesterday. She doesn't realize it. It just happens.

Cal notices this, and looks pleased.

"Want a soda?" he asks in the kitchen. Apparently Sherlock is doing dinner and Cal is in charge of beverages.

"That sounds good."

She's not too thirsty; she's had a couple of glasses of water. Soda sounds just right.

Sherlock busies himself assembling ingredients.

Pasta went over well with Cal; he thinks he'll try spaghetti with meatballs this time.

Mmmm, meatballs smell perfect.

"Can I help with anything? It smells so good already."

Which is a bit of a trick, since nothing's been cooked yet.

"I, um, I can smell things better now," she explains.

"I have matters well in hand, thank you."

Now is probably not the time to question her in detail about her enhanced senses, so he doesn't.

Cal gets a glass in case Tina wants it, then puts it and the can down in front of her.

"I guess I'll have to remember to shower, then," he says, studiedly light, as he takes a seat himself.

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