#daeliin

“ thank you, ” joey sighs. she’s GRATEFUL -- even if she doesn’t look it. it’s freezing outside in fall’s end at night, and her pride has kept her from walking back inside to grab her jacket or a blanket. pride. . . the word turned her stomach now, just as much as the searing pain of the tattoo on the back of her neck. she takes the blanket from dane, wrapping it tight around her shoulders. it’s ridiculous how she insists on standing out here -- but she can’t be inside. now right now. not after being trapped in john’s bunker for so long. “ i don’t. . . ” joey starts, before shaking her head. she’s never been good with words, and now? well, now, it doesn’t feel like there are any words to express how she’s feeling. “ i don’t really know how to thank you for what you did. anything i say is going to sound ridiculously stupid and lame but. . . thanks. you saved my life back there. i’m not going to forget that, ”

“That mean you’re gonna go get me another bourbon, sweetheart?” Ruth winked at the deputy, her mouth curling into an all too knowing smirk. Sure, she could be brave, but he was gonna be the one to save all of them. She wriggled her now empty glass at him, the ice cubes clinking. 

“...you’re an idiot.” And she kept picking the shrapnel out of his back with her tweezers. He’d had this shit in him for an hour without telling her. Idiot, idiot, idiot.

jett ur too kind and wonderful. thank you so much! 

    “Then let’s try it, shall we?” Two shot glasses clinked down on Staci’s table and a bottle of fireball was placed between them. One shot for Stace, one shot for Dane. Of course, with the playful expression on Staci’s face, it was obvious he had more planned than just some little shots. “Let’s make a game of it, yeah? Whoever handles their shot the best gets a prize. Whatever they want. Within reason, I mean. I can’t give you money for winning, but maybe something like I pay for dinner?”

AND YOU GET TO KEEP ME FOREVER. I’M NEVER LEAVING YOU ALONE. EVER. 

    Staci sat up in bed and reached out to hold Dane’s hand. His other hand was currently petting the head of the service dog that was also on the bed. Thor was a good boy, as always. “Wa-W-W-Was I talk-talking? I’m s-sorry.”

“So you’re that deputy I’ve heard so much about.” The words are in time with the signed equivalent. After all, he’s a lawyer, he has to know how to talk his way around the court without having the judge or jury look down their nose at him with his enunciation. But it was a lot more difficult now that his hearing aids were broken. “Did Eli send you?” Or my sister? But he didn’t want to say that last bit out loud. He wasn’t even sure she was alive since she went radio silent down in the Valley.