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[toabsolution]

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[dog_eat_dog]

[She chuckles under her breath.]

Death tolling and the worst meal in memory. What a week you're having.

[toabsolution]

It's fine, Tess. The only thing I've had in a while.

[He may be feeling sick, but he knows that not eating is going to make it worse. So he tries.]

Thanks for this.

[dog_eat_dog]

‘Least I could do.

[She’s just going to hang out at his bedside, idly letting a hand rest above his knee.]

What were you going to do if I didn’t show up? Wait for Misty?

[toabsolution]

Sleep it off. Wait for Misty, yeah. She brought medicine.

[Two pills that were difficult to swallow alone. But they did make him feel much better.]

But I knew you couldn't stay away.

[dog_eat_dog]

[Cocky asshole. A correct cocky asshole, though. She snorts.]

I'm gonna hang on to that mental image, you laying here, miserable, clinging to the hope that I'm going to slide in to make you feel better.

[toabsolution]

[He smirks. This is part of the reason he likes Tess. She can take what she dishes out. For the most part.]

Romantic.

[He sets the bowl in his lap, reaching down to put his hand over hers.]

Nice to know you got my best interests at heart.

[dog_eat_dog]

Well, you'd do the same for me.

[She says it lightly enough, but there's a thread of seriousness there, too.]

[toabsolution]

Damn right I would.

[He sets aside the bowl fully, leaning back down and taking her hand in his.]

Tell me what's happened while I've been in here.

[dog_eat_dog]

[Tess winds her fingers around his.]

Nothing crazy. Some old warden named Jonathan popped up again, some people were happy about that. Pagan's being his usual chatty self. Some warden girl showed up and says she's going to run custodial with Arthur.

[Tess knows almost nothing about Leia but has immediately decided she's going to be a pain.]

[toabsolution]

[Jake scoffs at that.]

Run custodial? Ain't Arthur been doin' that since he's been here? Wonder what he thinks about all that.

[dog_eat_dog]

I haven’t asked. [She knows being immediately shirty about people doesn't always land well with Arthur.] I looked up her post to the network though. She’s practically a little girl. I know she’s a politician, too. She probably isn’t cut out for it.

[toabsolution]

[He groans. There are some things that translate from his amnesia. Politicians are bad and obnoxious is a universal truth.]

Probably not. We got some young people around here on both sides. Don't know how that works.

[dog_eat_dog]

[Tess scoffs and scoots down the bed a little so she can lay down with him, head propped up on one hand.]

Me either. What the hell does a teenager know around the world enough to teach anyone else?

[toabsolution]

[He's still miserable, but the bit of soup in his stomach seemed to do wonders. At least enough that he doesn't feel like he's actively still dying.

He lets go of her hand and drapes an arm around her instead, letting his eyes close.]

Nothin'. Can understand how they end up on the inmate side. Life's shit. But if you got mixed with a kid like that? You'd walk all over 'em.

[dog_eat_dog]

[She settles in, cozying up a little closer.]

They wouldn't even know what hit 'em. Arthur's damn near the only one here who can keep up with me, and even then, I kept him off my trail for a while.

[toabsolution]

What were you doin' that needed him off your trail?

[He knows he won't be able to stay up much longer, but he can stay up this long. He can hear her out.]

[dog_eat_dog]

In my first month here I found out there was an alcohol supply problem for inmates, so I decided to fix that. Set up a whole bootlegging chain.

[A little grin.]

Figured he wouldn't be too pleased.

[toabsolution]

That just don't make sense. That you have to set all that up just to get your hands on alcohol.

[Annoyed sigh.]

Did it work? Sill workin'?

[dog_eat_dog]

I didn't have to. I could have just gone to the lounge like half the ship. But I didn't want to.

[She's still pretty proud of that, actually.]

My guys are still keeping it going. I just retired.

[toabsolution]

[He laughs, soft and deep in his chest. It turns into a cough that he buries into the pillow.]

You did good work, then. What'd Arthur say about it?

[dog_eat_dog]

[She just idly runs a hand across his chest. Easy there, cowboy. Don’t cough up a lung.]

He was pissed.

[toabsolution]

Yeah, well, he's a more moral man than me.

[He's not sure what Arthur's argument against it would be, which is a worrying thought that he should probably never revisit.]

[dog_eat_dog]

He's got more morals than most men.

[And he may have done worse than a lot of people, but Tess knows morals don't mean shit if they're not thoroughly tested.]

First time in a long time I've had someone hold me to a higher standard than... [Is there even a word for it? She just waves a hand, idly, before returning it to his chest.] I don't know. Wherever I was when I got here.

[toabsolution]

He thinks the world of you you.

[He recalls their first meeting and settles into the pillow, feeling himself slipping into sleep, despite his efforts to stay awake.]

When we first met, he called you tough. Said you were...all over the place.

[dog_eat_dog]

[She murmurs:]

Is that so?

[It's not that she doubts him –– not wholly, anyway –– but it doesn't really matter what she says, with Jake drifting off. She just presses a kiss to his shoulder and settles in for a nap, fit right to his side.]