TWENTY-FIVE

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TWENTY- FIVE

I would have taken credit over a few things but the biggest meal was prepared by Link. It was delicious, with his fried vegetables, potatoes and meat. I didn't know what to call it, nor did he but he promised us all that it was a frequent recipe at his household.

Palmer and myself were chatting away happily, with Link cutting in occasionally to provide an opinion that was not asked for. I did well to ignore his every word but there were a handful of moments where I found myself bickering with him over stupid things such as baths or showers. And to my dismay, his argument of a spraying shower being more suitable won.

After that, I decided to pretend he wasn't sitting opposite me at all. I would feel his gaze burning into the side of my head and there were a few times where I was tremendously close to look up at him and meet his gaze.

"Thank you for the lovely dinner," Palmer thanked us, stifling a yawn. I pushed out my chair and quickly grabbed her hand.

"We'll clean up," I assured her, already steering her in the direction of the stairs. There was nothing more I wanted than to see Palmer recover steadily and fully. Even if that meant I had to spend another hour or so cleaning up with Link still in the same room as me. "Let's get you to bed." I said in a soft voice. I met her warm eyes with a small smile as I carefully helped her up the stairs.

She allowed me to help her change into her night gown but ended her cooperation when it came to the bathroom duty.

"I can take it from here," she said as she disappeared into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. I waited outside the door since it didn't go unnoticed by my ears that she didn't lock the door behind her.

A few minutes later, she emerged out from the toilet and I was quick once again to grab her hand. I helped her into her bed, and although her protest were audible, I still went above and beyond to make sure she was fully comfortable.

"Did you take your medicine?" I asked her although I knew she did at the dinner table. She nodded in reply, her head laying down on her silk pillows.

"Are you warm enough?" I asked, reaching for the spare covers without waiting for an answer.

Palmer stopped me mid way. "Orianna please sit down."

I obeyed almost instantly, dropping my ass down beside her on the bed. She grabbed my hand in hers and gave it a tight squeeze and from previous experience with Palmer, I knew she was going to say something I did not like.

"Do you like Link?" She questioned, catching me completely off guard.

I was quick to answer, almost too quickly. "No."

Palmer arched one eyebrow of hers, berating the word that I sputtered out. I didn't know what else to tell her other than that simple yet stern no.

"Then what do you call the tension between you two?" She asked me. I inwardly punched myself for not putting in more effort to seem decent in front of Palmer. I tried to look at ease and made sure Link eating opposite me was as normal as anything else.

"We just have unresolved business," I told her, jumping around the truth. I could never possibly tell Palmer the true reason behind everything.

Palmer nodded slowly, like she just realised something. "Ah," she said absentmindedly. I watched her quietly as she started to get comfortable in bed, her eyes fluttering shut. But she didn't fully fall asleep before muttering one final order. "Go downstairs and resolve your unresolved business."

I wanted to protest and tell her I wasn't going to that at all. Not anytime soon. But she was already dozing away and I didn't have it in me to disrupt her. I got off the bed and walked out her bedroom, shutting the door behind me and turning off the lights.

I crept down the hallway until I came down the stairs. I froze at the platform and stayed brutally silent. I couldn't hear anything from downstairs and I hoped Link had miraculously disappeared. I wouldn't even hate him if he left the dishes for me - as long as he left I would be cool.

I slowly took the steps down, making sure I made enough noise to signal Link I was coming down. That was, if he was still here.

Walking inside the kitchen, my heart sputtered for a quick second at the sight of Link perched against the counter. He was on his phone, texting furiously away, and sporting a grim expression. It wasn't until I cleared my throat that he jolted his head up, finally aware of the other person in the room.

"Tough night?" I asked him, walking towards the sink. I knew there wasn't anything in it and that Link had already loaded the dishwasher. He also wiped the dining table since I caught a glance from it as I walked by.

"Sometimes I really think I'm the only fucking sane person around here," he muttered, following a string of profanities after it.

I held back my snort, wanting to ask him if he seriously thought he was sane. But I kept my smart remark to myself.

"Everything okay?" I asked him instead. Which was incredulous to ask at all since all I wanted was to be rid of him.

Link suddenly threw his phone on the counter, making me jump from the chattering sound it made as it slid across the counter. He must have cracked his screen from that throw but by the grimace on his face, he seemed less than bothered.

"No."

I pulled my lips back into my mouth, clasping my hands together in front of me. He dropped his head into one hand and shook it. "What's so hard to just do one simple thing? It's just looking-"

He cuts short abruptly and snapped his head up to look at me with worrisome eyes. He looked like he just realised who he was venting to and he was not going to continue.

I wasn't bothered by it. Nor was I insulted that he didn't deem me fit enough to rant to. I simply shrugged and moved past it.

"Well whatever it is, since you clearly don't want to talk about," I said bitterly. I just fooled myself into thinking that I wasn't bothered when I clearly was. "Hope everything works out for you and keep in mind everything happens for a reason." I ended the conversation there and walked out the kitchen.

There was no point in lingering in there since Link managed to clean up in under thirty minutes. I walked inside the living room and plummeted down on the soft couch. I picked up the fluffy throw and got comfortable.

Palmer had a great tv system which let me watch all the seasons of Revenge. Since I always stopped at random places, I decided to start from season one and I had around five episodes left of the season.

"You watch this show?" Link asked from above me.

I didn't look at him when I replied. "It's good."

"Didn't say it wasn't." He countered back.

I turned my attention back on the show and tried to tune out Link's presence from above me. It got to a point where I knew he was engrossed and that he wasn't leaving since he still didn't put on his jacket.

I sighed heavily.

"Are you going to sit and watch with me or stand behind me like a troll?"

I heard him snicker from behind me before I felt a rush of wind and then he was suddenly sitting next to me. I nearly flew off the couch, what with Link jumping from the back and everything.

"Next time sit down normally." I berated him.

Link's attention was back to the show. So he didn't say anything when I quickly grabbed the edge of the fluffy throw and put it across himself. It was big enough to cover us both and the image of the cold looking Link covered in a pastel pink throw nearly had me in fits of giggles.

"Thanks for trying to make me warm," Link commented sarcastically which sent for a laugh to come out of me.

We watched the show in silence, with Link's occasional comment here and there. This show was bullshit but entertaining still. This tv system was programmed to start the next episode as soon as the latest one finished. We ended up finishing the whole of season one.

And it was past two in the morning.

I turned to him slowly, still astonished to realise that we sat for a long while together without bumping heads. "Wow." I breathed out. This show was intense.

Link stayed silent for a while, and I could tell he was gathering his thoughts. Probably because the show had also left him speechless. "I don't think I want to watch season two." Link surprised me by saying.

I gaped at him. "Really?"

He shook his head. "Nah." He grabbed the remote off the coffee table and searched around the other shows. He stopped at one show and I nearly groaned when I saw what it was.

The Walking Dead.

"We are not going to watch that." I told his straight up.

I kept shaking my head, but he carried on switching between the seasons, deciding which one he wanted to start watching from.

"Have you seen any episodes before?" He turned to me. I shook my head a no, and hoped that he could see the clear fear painted on my face. I was not a fan of zombies, not a fan of gore when it was coming out of zombies and most definitely not fan of the idea of being alone fighting zombies. And this show practically gave me nightmares and I never watched one mere episode.

"I've watched all of them," I lied as it was my only way out. So this way, he wouldn't turn it on. "And it's boring as heck."

Link shot me a look of disbelief. "Oh really?"

I nodded at him. "Yup."

Link seemed to believe me as he put down the remote. He fully turned to me and I watched him with questioning eyes.

"It's just that," he started to say. "There was one episode I really wanted to see but I forget which one."

I nodded, pretending to know what he meant. "Oh I hate when that happens," I waved my hand in front of me carelessly. "Just that one episode you keep replaying over and over again because it's that good."

Link straightened up, his face lightning up right before me. "Yes!" He exclaimed, snapping his fingers in front of my face. "Is that episode where everyone else is under some tree, it's like daylight and Rick's wife- where she- ugh, what's her name again?"

He seemed so into whatever the hell he was saying that he had managed to suck me right in and I ended up blurting out some random name. All so he could move on.

"Hannah!"

Link snapped his fingers in front of my face again, this time bouncing slightly on his seat. "Yes Hannah!" He said too loud. I couldn't hide the stunned expression that crossed my face at his jumpy, carefree persona.

"And what were her daughter's names again?"

He was far too into this so I carried on with my facade. "Poppy and Lisa." I blurted out. "They are so cute."

"It's a shame how they died." Link sighed, his head dropping low for a minute. "Who went out first?"

"I think it was Poppy, but I can't really remember." I told him.

Link picked up his head and directed his hard gaze on my face. And just like that, gone was the carefree person I was interacting with just mere seconds ago. It nearly chilled my bones how quickly he could snap from one mood to another.

"All of that was bullshit." Link said slowly, his voice coming out so low I nearly didn't catch it.

"What was that?"

Link shook his head and exhaled deeply. "Rick hasn't got a fucking wife called Hannah. And he had hasn't got two fucking daughters called Poppy and Lisa."

It took everything in me to not throw myself to the ground and will it to open. I felt my face heat up and I flicked my head away from his unwavering gaze. "Fuck off." I muttered under my breath but loud enough so he could still hear it.

"Where the hell did you even get those names from?"

My head snapped back to Link and I moved it so quickly that I feared I cracked my own bloody neck. But I had to turn because I had heard a strange sound.

Link's laughter.

It was clear behind his words, the humour swirling around them very thick but when I came directly opposite his face, he looked like the usual Link - which was being stone faced.

My eyes fell down to his lips because I sensed some sort of movement. If I didn't have a strong gaze on them, or if I so much as blinked, I wouldn't have seen the small twitch in his lips.

I couldn't help as my own smile stretched across my face and soon enough Link caught it. And for the first time ever, I watched Link laugh and not seem to give a shit about anything else.

My smile was so wide that my own cheeks started complaining. "Glad you found my dismay of watching zombies hilarious." I told him, fighting my own laugh.

Link's laugh, a deep throaty laugh that caused the shaking of his shoulders slowly died out. He quickly picked up the remote and selected the first episode of the first season.

"We're watching this." He said, the finality clear to my ears.

I debated to shoot some attitude his way and just storm upstairs to bed. Yet, strangely, the idea of siting on the same couch with Link whilst sharing a fluffy blanket sounded far more appealing.

***

I woke up to someone shaking my shoulders. I blinked my eyes open slowly and they weren't focusing so I decided to keep them shut.

"Hey sleepyhead," I heard a far away voice in my head. They were prying me away from my own dreams and I let out a grunt to show my disapproval of them.

"You can carry on sleeping in your bed," the voice continued to speak. "Just get up so I can help you get there."

I shook my head and blindly grabbed the blanket. I cuddled into it, a nice sleep already starting to take over me.

"Orianna, if you don't wake up now I'll have to undress you." As soon as that one deviant word registered in my ears, my eyes flicked open.

Link was staring right at me, a faint smirk on his face. "And I know we both don't want that."

I frowned at him. He was damn right.

"What's the time?" I asked groggily, pushing myself up to my elbows.

"It's nearly four in the morning." Link told me.

My eyes widened. "Really?" I questioned in disbelief. I tried to swim through the night in my head but the only thing I could remember was watching a bit of a police man waking up in a hospital. And I ended up imagining how it would feel to sleep in a hospital bed and everything after that was blank.

"Please tell me I was awake for at least one episode," I groaned because I already knew the answer.

Link shook his head. "You didn't last one episode." He told me ruefully.

I let out a disappointed sigh. "I'm just going to head off to bed."

I stood up, nearly losing balance on my feet. Link was quick to react, his hands clamping down on my arms and keeping me steady. I heard him say something under his breath but I was too tired to ask for a repeat.

I allowed myself to fall into him, slamming against his chest. It was either that, or lose any footing I had because I was so freaking tired.

I was half way out of it already when Link somehow managed to hustle me inside my room, the distant feel of his arm around my waist causing faint flutters in my stomach. I was awake fully to appreciate the fact that Link was carrying me to my room and essentially tucking me in bed.

When I rested my head on my own pillows, my heavy lids finally decided to give out on me and they firmly closed. But I wasn't all the way gone, so I felt Link still hovering around the bed.

With great strength, I popped one eye open and stared at Link. He shuffled on his feet, unsure of what to do next. I wasn't quite so sure myself because what was he expecting?

"Do you want to-" I trailed off, leaving it for him to figure out what I was trying to say because I'd be damned if I said it out loud.

Thankfully, Link shook his head at me. "I'm heading home now." He said in a soft voice.

I frowned at him, both eyes wide open now. "Let's not be silly," I scoffed. "It's far too late so just sleep here today." I told him.

I saw the uncertainty cross his face but he wasn't a fool. It was late, and by the time he got to his house the sun would be up and with how his eyes were dropping, he wouldn't make it past the door without falling to the ground.

He walked back, slowing stepping away from the bed until his back was against the door frame. His face, slightly hidden by the shadows that danced from the hallway gave nothing away.

"I'll take the couch." He said after a long while. I let out a small breath and dropped my head back on the pillow.

"Goodnight." I whispered, my eyes already closed.

"Goodnight Ori."

I heard him shuffle out the room and slowly close the door behind him. It was when my mind was already pulling me back into my endless thoughts and dreams. I wasn't aware of much anymore so when I softly mumbled his name, calling him back to the room I asked him a question.

"Who came inside my room?" I mumbled in a small voice, my words coming out jumbled and inchorent. But he still made out what I said.

And he said who it was.

But I was already gone, succumbed to the pleasant darkness.

****

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