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"Hey. I - uh. I wanted to check on you. I know I don't really have any business being in your business, but - "
He'd still kind of needed to do it. Which feels a little selfish now, which is why he digs in a pocket and produces a pair of wrapped chocolate bars. Hopefully she likes chocolate. "I figured some extra calories might not go too terribly amiss."
But she takes it.
"Thanks," she replies, leaning her good shoulder against the doorframe. "Arthur's been bringing by food but yeah, never hurts. You alright? That shit is always rough on first contact."
He shifts forward, either to hold her back down or to just show her he's there. This is better than the eerie stillness, and much better than the cordyceps-infected mess, but it's still difficult to see her struggling to breathe.
"It's alright," he says, in his low, rumbling voice. "You're alright, Tess, it's me. Arthur."
He huffs something almost like a laugh, staying put and trying not to crowd her. "Feels like that should be my line," he admits. "I'm good. I've dealt with... not exactly that. But I've dealt with other things. Doesn't seem like it could've been any better from the inside."
He won't ask outright, knows she doesn't owe him anything, and maybe won't want to admit if it was bad. He wouldn't. "I'm glad you've got people to take care of you. Have you - uh. Have you talked to Ellie?"
He lets go of her, carefully, hands held up. But he doesn't move too far away.
"She's alright. She's alive."
"It got three people after her," she says. "Did someone get them?"
She moves to sit up properly and abruptly reaches to grab his wrist to steady herself. She's not sure what part of this is having her body back and what part is death toll, but it all sucks.
"Misty got two," he rumbles - and then focuses on steadying her, first of all, and guides her down.
"Lie back down, woman, that's the death toll. Here - "
He gives her a glass of water, then tells her: "I got the last one."
"It's over?"
Since when has anyone kept this under control?
"Who did you get?"
"Yeah, I've talked with her," she replies. "She explain any of this to you? The infection, and all?"
How it spreads through bites, how she's immune. How she wants to use her deal to put an end to it.
"I - sorry," he finally adds, after a beat. "If you would've preferred to be put down. First thing. I didn't know if that's what you would have wanted. We didn't know what was going on."
He won't throw Ellie under the bus, necessarily, for telling him to put Tess in Zero. He'd agreed with that call, because they really hadn't known what was going on. But clearly, other people hadn't thought it was the right thing to do, and Tess hadn't been able to say, at the time.
"It's over. When Steve got you, we was takin' care of the people you got. I got June. Misty got William and that new guy. Takeshi-somethin'."
She has no idea how many days it's been. At least a few, if there was time for them to turn, but if they got caught sooner, before turning –– who knows?
"Yeah. I'm sure. Misty rallied a couple people, and we been makin' the rounds. We - I - "
He takes a breath. "How much you remember, Tess?"
“Pretty much everything,” she replies.
She pauses, turning the candy bar over between her fingers idly.
"We all got very lucky."
He swallows thickly and looks down at her hands. "That's what William said would happen. You remember me? At the end?"
"I'm not going to hold it against you," she tells him. "I would've asked someone else to do it, but you did the right thing."
"Couldn't put it on someone else. I knew it's what you woulda done if it was me in that situation."
Once someone's bit, they're already dead.
She leans into him, bumping her forehead against his shoulder. Tired but clear-headed.
"Yeah," she says. "It's what you gotta do."
He wraps an arm around her shoulders, then puts his hand on her head, cradling her to him. He doesn't love anyone on this boat the way he loves her - he'd do anything for her.
"We gotta get you outta here, Tess. This - I reckon it's the worst thing the Barge has done to us."
Us catches her.
"I want out of here," she says, finally. "But I'm fine. Twenty years, what's one more outbreak for me, right? But you haven't done this before."
An unavoidable thought: she has to get him out of here.
He rubs a hand over his own eyes, still holding onto her. When he speaks, the bone-deep exhaustion he feels isn't even close to being masked.
"You ain't ever turned like this. Everyone else is runnin' around looking like animals, and you get this? Reliving the worst parts of your life?"
She's sure it'll hit harder later, when she's had time to process, but right now it feels impossible to dig into –– no one's survived this before. No one's ever come back, no one has hoped for it for a long time. It's uncharted territory.
She closes her eyes, murmurs:
"Surviving's hard. You have to do it again and again, and it doesn't get easier... but you get used to it."
"I know, Tess. And you survive with the best of 'em. But I wish the Barge wouldn't force you to survive this shit here, either."
He rests his chin on top of her head, his own eyes closed. God, he's so fucking relieved she doesn't hate him for what he had to do. For what he chose to do.
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