Dax and May in their room

[_dax]

Dax finished up his letter he was writing, it had come out ok he supposed, it was the best he could do, he only hoped May liked it and didn't get upset with him for sharing so much in writing, for not being man enough to say it to her face. He was almost ready to chicken out on her getting the letter at all, and he knew if he was ever going to give

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[tribal_may]

May headed to her room, thinking about what clothes she had to wear. If it was a party she'd find something a little special. Wasn't every day you had a Hen Party. And how long had they been waiting for Amber and Bray to get married? This was an event. She thought she had just the outfit...

She opened the door and froze. Dax was sitting on the bed, facing away from her. What in the world was he doing in their room at this time of day? Wasn't he supposed to be somewhere doing something important...or atleast sweeping? "Hi, there." she forced a smile onto her face, very aware of not only the gauze wrap for her hands hidden in the jacket, but also the T-Gun, blue bandana, and necklace she had bought for him. "Didn't expect to see you in here." She went and set her shoes down and placed her jacket on the chair near the dresser. Great. she thought. The last place I expected to find him was here. And here I am, my hair dripping wet, in nothing but a towel, and my hands and shoulder are killing me. The questions she'd been trying so hard to

[_dax]

Dax didn't hear the door open, he was lost in thoughts, imagining every scenario that could happen after she saw the letter, and when he heard her voice he thought it was just his imagination running away with him, but she spoke again and he jumped, standing up quickly, the folded letter in his hand. He quickly jammed it in his pocket and gulped, blushing and fumbling for words. "May, I didn't expect to see you either," he blinked a few times and tried to catch his breath. It was like she read his mind or something and reappeared to catch him in the act. Dax blinked a few more times and then frowned, she was wrapped in a towel, so it had been her in the showers, and her hair was different, but something else stood out. Her hands were wrapped in gauze and she looked a little beat up. Dax opened his mouth to speak, watching her, and he walked towards her, "You changed your hair," he commented softly, reaching out to touch the end of one of the wet strands, "looks nice," he added. His eyes landed on her shoulder and he frowned again, "

[tribal_may]

May's hands clasped and unclasped nervously on the back of the chair. "Just an accident." She gave a small shrug and winced. Her mind was racing. How much to tell him? "I got knocked back into some of those old steel barrels. And they kind of fell on top of me. Well, not really, I managed to avoid most of them." She gave him a small smile, trying to brush the incident aside. Of anyone in the Mall she didn't wasn't about to tell Dax what had happened.

"Amber's going to be having a party tonight." She walked around him, but continued to face him till she got to the dresser. "Seems she and Bray are finally tying the knot." She opened the drawer, going through some of her clothes. "Strictly girls only." There was only a slim chance he was going to fall for this distraction, but she might as well try.

[_dax]

"Oh I see," he replied quietly, but continued to frown. Someone had knocked her back into steel barrels? Over her entertainment poll? That didn't sound very likely. He picked up her jacket, straightening it out, intending to hang it on the coat rack in the corner of their room, nervously fidgeting for something to do, but something silver fell out from the jacket and landed on the floor, and he scowled. He bent down and picked it up, examining it. It was very clearly a mans necklace, but why did May have it? His mind told him what his heart refused to believe, and he closed his eyes to force the thoughts down, swallowing hard, he felt like he was going to be sick, like he was going deaf. "What's this?" his voice was slow and calculated, trying to control himself, there had to be a logical explaination for it, there just had to be. He slowly hung the coat on the rack, and he was about to turn back to May to ask again, but something caught his eye like a flash of light, and he stared in disbelief, pulling the blue cloth from the pocket

[_dax]

Her words hit him and he felt relief, and he had to close his eyes to stop from actually breaking down, thanking whatever was out there that she didn't want him to go, he'd gotten lucky. He ran a hand down her cheek, "I am so sorry," he said softly, almost in a whisper. "I don't want to leave, ever. I just want to do what you need me to, whatever you want May," he wanted to grab her and hold her and kiss her, take care of her, and clean her up. "I want to protect you, I can't believe someone did this to you," his eyes trailed over her shoulder under the knit sweater top, "tell me what's going on really? Please? So I can help you?" He frowned again, he knew she thought he was too slow, maybe too stupid to get mixed up in whatever this was, but he wasn't. He was a trained fighter, a bodyguard, he could walk in the shadows, and he was good for brute force. "I can help, you may not think so, but I am good at some things, and protection and stealth are two of my best qualities," his eyes searched her face, and he knew she wouldn't, but he

[tribal_may]

May laughed, but it almost came out as a sob as she hid her face in her hand again. "Have I told you before, you talk too much." Not everything that had been said in the past few minutes could be wiped away with an "I'm sorry." or an offer of help. No. What he had said had hurt, and disturbingly had brought forth the memories of what the technos had put her through. "I did play the Game before, Dax. But not under the circumstances you're probably thinking." She placed her hand against his chest. She was tired of reliving through it and telling herself she was through with it. She had thought she had dealt with all of that weeks ago. She shoved it back down inside her again. He was looking so darn sincere. "But what I'm...up to...I am using what I learned in the Game...to avoid it this time. I don't ever want to get involved in that again. And you can't help me. You don't have that knowledge, thank god." She dropped her hand and took a step back. "I really do not want to talk about it right now." She took a deep breath in and let it

[_dax]

Dax listened and let her move away, he wasn't going to force her to talk about anything, she'd only regret it, but he knew, in the future, he wanted to know more. "When you're ready to talk about it, know that I'm here, and I want to listen, I want to understand," he didn't know what to do, where to go, so he moved past her to the necklace, picking it up, then the bandanna. He walked back to her and handed the bandanna to her, then the necklace. "I don't deserve it now, you should keep it, give it to me when I've earned it," he said simply, looking down then back up. He licked his lips and stood there, fidgeting, the anticipation of her reading the letter was getting to him, but now he wanted to take it back, it was embarrassing after all he'd said and done now, he was an idiot and reading that letter would only prove to make him look like a bigger moron, he was sure of this. He pointed nervously to her hand, "You ah, you don't have to read that, I'll just take it back, it's really not anything important," he reached out and touched

[tribal_may]

But May wasn't giving up the piece of paper in her hand now. He had said he had written it after lunch. Whatever was said in it would not be tinged with what had just happened. She wanted to read it. Firmly she pulled it away from him. She met his eyes briefly before, moving past him, rolling up the bandana and putting it back into her jacket pocket. She looked at the necklace in her hand. She didn't want to hold onto it. She had bought it for him.

She walked back over to him, undoing the clasp. She stood up on tiptoes to reach her hands behind his neck, locking the clasp so the necklace sat around his neck, hanging just below the collar of his shirt. "I'd rather you keep it." She said quietly.