#to healing bc sometimes with infected wounds and stuff it’s like if this gets bad enough it could be necessary to amputate

[stargirlfics]

i really always find myself in the nasty infected leg wound surgeries like why is it always me scrubbing these cases broooo, todays was pretty gnarly like I’m talking skin just falling off, leg all swollen, bleeding like crazy when we cut into into, I was legit collecting giant skin flakes and tissue globs and I’m extremely happy to be home now and finally able to take a shower 🫠 howdy to y’all lmaooo

[aroace-poly-show]

follow up to my last oc rant: im gonna cover weiss and jex here since im brain rotting about them again sigh

also i tried my best with the sort of worldbuilding dont come for me if its not great this was for fun

jex’s illness specifically was inspired by this fictional disease thing i saw on pinterest and im so sad bc i didnt save it so i cant link it FUCK anyway specifically it was heavily inspired by the ink cough one. essentially jex’s body pretty much starts to slowly fail on them. throughout the life of one affected by this, they’ll slowly become weaker and weaker, getting sick much more easily (and those sicknesses tend to affect them much worse), having more and more violent coughing fits, being unable to heal very quickly/properly/more prone to infections, and blood from any injuries gets darker overtime, eventually becoming black. a lot of people often become eventually paralyzed. nearly everyone who has it has their expected lifespan cut incredibly short. those rare people that live longer spend their last days pretty much suffering. (no one really knows what causes it, theres rumors that it was a curse from an old dead god, placed upon the world in their final breath.. 👀 hehe)

stress tends to trigger jex’s cough but its not ink its like blackened blood. while they do tend to cough occasionally just in general, stressful situations will trigger a really really bad coughing fit, its worse depending how distressing it is to jex.

oh, and i forgot to mention!! weiss also has a sort of condition!! basically whenever they have an injury that draws blood, flowers will bloom from them. these flowers often help the wound to heal faster than if they weren’t there!! weiss was always fascinated by this, and (!!!possible tw: sh!!!) !!!sometimes would get hurt on purpose to draw blood and see the flowers bloom. its pretty cool having basically blood flowers that help you heal faster...until its like an internal injury then theyre an absolutely fucking pain in the ass to deal with.

so, weiss and jex were childhood best friends. they’ve been best friends foreverrr (and now romantic partners <3) since the one time jex fell out of a tree like a foot away from where weiss was messing with mechanical stuff. how fun!! jex had pretty much hopped out the window of their house after their caretaker left their room for like 2 seconds to grab their tea (which they absolutely fucking despise). before weiss can even say anything jex is just like “OOOOO WHATS THAT OMG” and just. fucking grabs the lil mechanical thing weiss was messing with.

weiss got pissed off at first bc “hey who are you why are you touching my stuff??” but then was overjoyed at the opportunity to infodump about her machines and stuff. boom now theyre besties. weiss used to help jex sneak out all the time. jex absolutely loved weiss for this, she was helping them live their childhood and god they’d do anything for her already.

weiss learned why jex had to stay inside all the time but it never really hit her until she actually witnessed one of their coughing fits. jex’s parents flipped the fuck out and weiss saw the amount of panic from them. jex had always played it off as it not being a big deal but seeing them struggle to just fucking breathe really shook weiss. the next time weiss saw them she made a promise that she’d find a way to help her, no matter what.

jex just kind of went along with that promise not thinking it was gonna be a serious thing, but weiss took that promise very seriously. she started focusing less on her interest in mechanical things and focused entirely on studying to help jex out. unfortunately…it resulted in them starting to drifting apart. jex was kept at home more especially since there wasn’t anyone to help them sneak out. eventually weiss hears about this group working towards learning more about their world, pretty much just scientists. she hears about one of their goals to help heal those illness that keep taking lives and she immediately fucking joins. goddamn shes excited!!! she can finally help her best friends!!! if only she read the fine print…sigh

so the group she joins, fucking sucks. very unethical experiments and projects but uh oh!! it seems theyre working with the shitty corrupt people that have wayyy too much power for anyone to do anything major about. so uh oh!!! no one’s coming to sue their asses!!! how sad for these (non)human lab rats :(

weiss had no idea about it at the beginning until shes offered a higher position in an important project, and she takes it bc she was told theyre working on the exact illness that jex has!! so of course shes gonna take that opportunity!! but unfortunately shes gonna be even busier, and jex wasnt happy about it. they already barely get to se weiss, and now they might not see them at all? theyre kind of hurt, and feel like shes treating them the same as their parents did. not letting them live the life they do have, just focusing on trying to extend it. it results in an argument between them, with weiss storming out. weiss didnt really get it, why would jex be upset??? shes trying to save them??? the fuck is their problem??? but she brushes it off and goes to start her new project, yay...

shes totally having a great time until she finds out just how far theyre willing to go “for research” (theyre really just pretentious fucking assholes who are basically torturing people and using “but science!!!” as an excuse). girl witnesses them recruiting fucking CHILDREN for these experiments and nopes the fuck out. and steals a child in the process. oopsies!! (she returned that kid to their parents and told them to get the fuck outta here) unfortunately!! they dont take kindly to people who know too much leaving their little group!! especially ones that also steal their lab rats!! uh oh!!

so weiss goes to see jex in the middle of the night, scares the everloving shit out of them, scares them EVEN MORE after she explains her situation, and they make up really quick and go on the run together!! how sweet!! (they make up properly later, weiss said sorry like a million times <3)

nowadays they travel around under new identities (their current names are the new identities btw i just refer to them in the past with the same name for simplicity [*cough* i didnt come up with previous names.. *cough*]). they visit bars and jex often does little perfomances and magic tricks there! if anyone's up to it, jex'll have a little spar with someone as well. they get by asking for tips for their performances. they often move from town to town, but they're fairly happy together <3 weiss is still looking around for any leads on possible solutions to jex's condition though, its how she got to know dorian. they crossed paths once and dorian was more than happy to help with her goal!! jex is here mostly to just enjoy themselves with their beloved. <3

notes:

jex fucking LOVES spicy food. doesn't matter how spicy it is, doesn't care how much they always end up coughing afterward, they will eat any kind of spicy food they'll see at any restaurant. (weiss has to beg them not to eat too much otherwise they'll be coughing for hours)

i think about them alot to "if i could ride a bike" - park bird/chevy , specifically in a modern setting. i love them dearly

i ended up writing...way more.. than i thought i had oh my god?? pls i originally did them first bc i thought they had a lot less but..jesus fucking christ man;;

[dovedrangeas]

weird rambly infodump about weird medical stuff, including medical leeches + maggots + mushrooms, im on mobile and can’t do a read more so just be prepared lol

———

basically, leeches are sometimes still used in medical situations today. their saliva has an anti coagulative in it (because it’s hard to drink blood when it keeps clotting up in ur mouth) n that can be really really useful in things like limb reattachments

blood vessels are so so small, it’s a challenge to get them all properly attached again, n a reattached limb might not get enough blood flow

so in some cases, let’s say reattaching a finger, when blood isn’t going to the finger due to collapsed blood vessels or other complications, leeches can be applied to it bc of the anti coagulation n it helps with bloodflow. their saliva also produces an anaesthetic so it’s generally not even that painful

and maggots are sometimes still used too, bc of how they only eat dead/infected tissue. they’re mostly used on non healing wounds or people who aren’t viable for surgery or who haven’t been helped by other medicines. they’ve been used for ages in field medicine, the earliest use i know of off the top of my head was during the revolutionary war but i don’t doubt that they were probably used much earlier

it’s fascinating to me bc it sounds so primitive and old timey but like. they weren’t entirely wrong about it those things? they had reason to believe it would help

there were a lot of really bad beliefs about medicine and how the body works in the past, but it’s kind of shocking how much they did understand. they just didn’t always know how to use their knowledge.

honestly that’s the case with a lot of past medicine. like medical trepanning (craniotomy) can be a really useful treatment for some problems, like swelling in the brain

one of my favourite examples of past people Knowing Things But Not Understanding Them is that they used to make tampons with opiuim and belladonna in them, bc the opium reduces pain n the belladonna makes muscles relax. it’s honestly pretty understandable logic

also i think it’s funny that some medical professionals could get to carry a box of leeches somewhere as part of their job.

(bonus infodump: there are a kind of bandages that are made partially of mushrooms, bc they contain chitosan which can help with wound healing. the other part of the bandages is made of recycled agro-industrial waste which is also pretty cool. it makes them easy to produce in large amounts. and it’s much cheaper than traditional bandages

it’s pretty neat to me bc usually chitosan is taken from shellfish, but thats pretty inefficient n could be really detrimental to the environment. but the mushroom used is way more common n can be obtained in much higher quantities, and its much cheaper and more available bc it pretty much grows everywhere, especially in rainy seasons)

old medical treatments n stuff are so interesting to learn about bc people were just working off all the knowledge they had at the time

[mallowstep]

Primrose AU Leopard AU

Prim's injuries are a bit like Cinderpelt's, except it just her left paw. She can walk on it, but what's left of it is just the large pad. Tigerstar took her toes alongside her claws. Basically, he bit them off completely, while making Misty, Feather, and Blackclaw watch. He decided to be 'generous,' and leave her dew claw on that foot, but it's Basically just the skin pad is left. (A stump, if you will.) She usually walks on three legs, but if it's rough terrain like the mountains, she uses it to keep her steady. Misty, Feather, Storm, and Stone keep her in the middle of traveling clans after Smokepaw falls. It also gets infected often, causing Moth to worry extensively during the journey, especially as the herbs they brought become low. Stormheart, Frogheart, And Feather particularly worry about Prim, and keep their eyes out for cobwebs or large leaves or moss Moth can use to cover Prim's paw during the journey. Misty usually grooms this paw, as it physically hurts Prim and causes light bleeding. If Misty is busy, Feather will groom the paw. Before the journey, and at the lake, Moth will give Prim a poppy seed before said grooming to keep the pain light, as without she will yowl with pain.

OoO

okay so me being me and knowing entirely Too much about this stuff -- i don't Think like. i can't. if it's a chronic ulcer i'd be concerned why it isn't healing? because necrosis and ohh i don't know see this is why i considered amputation.

(i also do feel compelled to comment that -- i'm not Sure what you mean in comparing her to cinderpelt? my interpretation of cinderpelt's injury is very different than this. but i think i get the idea regardless.)

apologizes if i feel nitpicky with this i'm actually Very excited cat feet and gait is something i studied for ibtwicm so. very excited for it to come up again. i don't think i am/ but like i swear i'm just excited.

so okay, the way cats feet work is -- their largest pad is actually the ball of their foot. let me...

so what's going on here is -- when humans walk, we put our weight on much of our feet. but cats are only walking on their toes. so like, if tigerstar takes off several segments of her digits,

well, this is what i used for dewclaw purposes. but. so a cat paw like -- is all digits? you can feel it in their paws if you. have very patient cats who don't mind you feeling up their toe beans. thank u jasper.

anyway, the segment that a declawing removes is the very foremost section. so it doesn't visibly affect the paw (i don't think?), because it's the part that's retracted, but it still hurts how a cat walks.

so i think -- tigerstar would prob go a bit further back? through the next segment? that would actually make sense because of how paws work and i'm getting lazy so just -- yeah.

i'm not Quite sure how well she'd be able to walk on it, pain aside. the large pad does make contact with the ground, but i imagine for running purposes, it'd be easier with only three? things to consider. either way -- it's an interesting injury. i like it.

again -- i have mixed feelings on lingering open wounds. they tend to mean bad things and. yeaH. so. apologizes but i'm going to go about it a different way. give her -- some kind of scar tissue. and -- it's not like she's putting weight on it, but it's still there. and itchy. she bites at it a lot, causing it to open, which can leave it open to infection.

local medicine cats (affectionately) yell at her for this.

on the Other Hand, feathertail is on a "no poppy seeds" list because uh. if she's not Out Fast from them, she tends to have panic attacks. half awake state no bueno.

primrosefur is not on that list. they definitely try to cover it if they can because -- sometimes having a barrier helps? like you know, if you have a bug bite and you're out of the. fuck. the stuff. that makes it. dammit. we're having a word night folks.

anyway you're out of the stuff, and you're me so you react. very strongly to bug bites. (i'm in Love with the bats who took up residence by my house because i can go outside for once.) i don't want to like. look up photos for this bc they tend to get gross. but me + bug bite = usually abt a quarter size? the width of my thumb? they're very big.

so anyway if you're me and you notice a new bug bite you really really really don't want to aggravate it so you slap a bandaid on that motherfucker and it doesn't stop you but it slows you down.

same idea.

i'm not sure how she deals with it Long Term but -- it's the biggest trouble on the journey because it's the hardest to keep it uninfected.

[bunnihearted]

i NEED to meet someone who i can speak openly and freely to. or i mean, that the two of us have that energy where we don't have to be scared of what we're saying and don'tneed to censor ourselves. i'm a strong believer of airing things out, be allowed to say things you don't really mean and let bad, mean and even "wrong" thoughts out. like a wound, you cut it open and let the puss out so it can heal - and if you don't it festers and you catch and infection. and after multiple infections you'll start to rot. i'm convinced that the reason to why the majority of the worl'd population is casually insane is because they're doing toxic positivity and never let themselves or anyone say anything but what's socially accepted, whether they agree or not. sometimes you need to just go batshit crazy and spew a bunch of nonsense!! rant!! go wild etc.

idk i just really really need someone who'll let me say stupid stuff but still know that i have a good heart and don't really mean it. and even if i do mean it on some level they'll stay. like i honestly can't stand how fascistic the climate is, how you have to say the exact right thing or a lynch mob is gonna show up outside your door. i like when the climate is open and calm, where you talk and challenge people with arguments. not this where all people do is judge and fight and where we get nowhere bc no one can talk to one another

[weed-cat]

Is using brown alcohol to disinfect better than no disinfectant? Or like should you wait it out until you can get some real stuff? Also isn't alcohol in general bad for wound care bc it dries the wound? Just curious idk

me, thrilled that my e x t e n s i v e medical knowledge is being used: “!!! :D :D !!!!!!!!!”

to answer your question though.

first off, don’t disinfect wounds with drinking alcohol, hydrogen peroxide, or rubbing alcohol. these things are meant to be used as TOPICAL DISINFECTANTS, because they’re so good at killing bacteria. so good at killing bacteria, in fact, that they also kill off your tissue and skin cells if they’re open and exposed. so while putting any sort of alcohol directly on an abrasion of any sort will kill germs, it will also kill the cells that are working to heal you. so don’t. 

actually cleaning a wound usually isn’t as hard as you think it is. the best thing you can do is to thoroughly (but gently) rinse the wound with saline solution. if that’s not available, warm water and a mild soap will also work.

unless the wound is literally infected, you have to do very little to disinfect it. get any gross stuff outta there (like dirt, splinters, etc.), wash, and then cover it with a bandage or gauze. your immune system is made to disinfect, and can handle the situation itself 90% of the time.

 if the wound IS infected, you need to gauge the wellness of the person, as well as the size of the infection. small ones can go away on their own, while large ones sometimes require intervention.

is the wound and the skin around it warm to the touch? does it look discolored (yellow or green)? is there discharge? does it smell weird? there’s a good chance it’s infected.

is the person feverish, dizzy, vomiting, getting chills, or having unexplained aches and pains? the person’s body may be losing the battle against the infection, or just be having a really hard time with it, and should be seen by a medical professional AS SOON AS POSSIBLE!!! DON’T WAIT FOR IT TO GET BETTER ON IT’S OWN BECAUSE IT PROBABLY WON’T.

if they aren’t, carefully clean the wound, put some ointment on it, and cover it, changing the dressing as needed until it’s healed.

if the person is exhibiting symptoms that i described in 6 and you have no way of reaching a medical professional, you can use alcohol as a disinfectant as a last resort IF:

A) the alcohol content is over 55%. 

B) you are positive you have sufficient supplies to dress the wound sanitarily for at least two to four weeks, depending on the size of the wound.     

C) you have access to clean water or saline to rinse the alcohol off of the wound before dressing it.

D) you dress the wound immediately after disinfecting it.

anyway yeah thanks for coming to me TED Talk sorry i kinda went off

[savetimeless]

Lucy get's severly hurt in a mission and Wyatt blames himself and freaks out for it.

anon i told you to watch this space but even i didn’t think i’d have this out so soon thereafter filling the last prompt like this one. 

nevertheless, here we are, and i hope you all enjoy. 

also send me more prompts bc my inbox is empty :( 

inspired by the 100 s2, and jamie lannister, GoT 

with my feelings on fire (guess i’m a bad liar) read on ao3!

Wyatt is halfway throughcleaning the action of his gun when Flynn sits down in the seat opposite him.

Neither speak.

Wyatt, while perhaps beingthe one who could understand Flynn’s past the most empathetically, had neverbeen able to connect with him.

Lucy had been the one topush them all to break Flynn out all those months ago, having cared enough tomastermind the entire plan herself. Rufus, God love him, had put consideredeffort into befriending the guy, after a few days of stony silence andwithering glares. Even Denise, who they had purposefully avoided telling theywere gonna spring Flynn, had somehow come around and now they could begenerally found sharing breakfast, however quiet it was.

Wyatt, however, had madeno effort what so ever to talk to him. After upending his entire stable thoughfairly miserable life, Wyatt couldn’t bring himself to befriend Flynn. Forgivehim, maybe. Protect him, well, it came with protecting Lucy, apparently. Talkto him? He didn’t want to.

So he keeps cleaning hisgun, head down, and doesn’t open his mouth.

“I know you love her.”

The gun slips from hishand as he looks up sharply.

“What?” he snaps.

“Lucy. I know you’re inlove with her.”

Wyatt grits his teeth,picks his gun back up. Not speaking. He doesn’t want to talk, especially not about this. Flynn stayssitting, silently, patiently, just waiting for Wyatt to answer, and he won’t,because he doesn’t owe this guy anything.

“No.” Wyatt slams the gundown, more forcefully than called for. “No, you know what? You don’t get to askshit like that. I helped you, you fucked life up for me, so, no, you don’t get to sit hereand ask that and expect me to talk about it like we’re five years old.”

Flynn inclines his head.“I wasn’t asking.”

Wyatt stands, his chairscraping loudly, and everyone looks over to them. Rufus looks surprised at thenoise, mostly, and Lucy is concerned, and Denise looks like she just doesn’twant to deal with a fight, but Wyatt’s angry so he doesn’t sit back down.

He does speak lowly,though, because he doesn’t want the conversation to be overheard.

“Don’t you ever, ever presume you can talk to me aboutpersonal things again.”

“Actually,” Flynn sayscasually, “it isn’t personal.”

Wyatt is so bewilderedthat he actually further engages in the conversation, which, later on, he’llregret deeply.

“How – how is that not personal?”

“I need to protect themission, and your feelings jeopardize that.”

Somehow, Wyatt has becomeso angry that he’s invested in the conversation, so he sits back down.

“And how do you figurethat?” Yeah, maybe he’s admitting its true, maybe he isn’t (it is true).

Flynn leans forward, likehe’s eager now. “Love breeds weakness, Logan. It is only going to cloud yourjudgment and you will make wrong decisions. You are emotional, are you not? Iknow what you did for your wife, going back to 1983 and killing an innocentman. What’s to say you won’t do something equally as rash to save Lucy?”

Wyatt pauses, lets that sinkin, and drums his fingers on the table while he considers his response. ThatFlynn thinks he loves Lucy the way he loved his wife is … it takes hisbreath away, honestly. He hadn’t considered what it could grow to be, had justrecognized it for what it was and let it grow. Now, in retrospect, he thinks heprobably should have tried to stop it.

Because would he go backin time, completely jeopardize the mission, just to kill an innocent guy if itmeant he could protect Lucy?

Yeah. He would.

And it’s terrifying.

Finally, he says, “A bithypocritical, considering what you do in the name of love.”

Flynn sits back, as if hehadn’t considered such a response. Wyatt knows he has, though, and perhaps that’s why he hadn’t wanted to talk tohim; because Wyatt was used to being the smartest guy in the room, but Flynnhad always been one step ahead of him. He doesn’t like feeling out of control.

“I think, Wyatt, that thatis the precise reason I know what I’m talking about.”

Wyatt raises an eyebrow.

“This love … makesmonsters of us all. Changes who we think we are, or, at least, turns us intosomething we wouldn’t be otherwise. It makes monsters. It’s a weakness.”

Wyatt thinksFlynn’s right.

Wyatt puts the conversationto the back of his mind.

It’s not until they’remid-mission and everything has gone to shit, a massive argument with Lucybehind him and Flynn glaring at him pointedly that it comes back to him.

Love is a weakness and it makes monsters of us all.

He was willing to endangerall members of the team, as well as more civilians than necessary to get thejob done, when it could be easily avoided by sending Lucy in as recon.

She had been the one tosuggest it, and it was what their fight had been about.

(“Why can’t you just letme do this? What, do you not trust me? Because I’m only a history nerd I’m notgood enough to do this?”

“No, Lucy, please just - .. . I can’t lose you too, okay?”)

It’s with that in mind,that he says, “Lucy, you need to go in for recon.”

Everyone looks a bitsurprised, because he had been so adamant before, but they agree fast enough.

As they’re prepping to goin, Lucy pulls him aside. “Are you okay with this? Someone else can –“

“It’s a Woman’s Club,Luce, only you can go in. And we all know how important this is, they’re goingto protect a lot of assault victims, so we need to do this, so Rittenhousedon’t screw it up.”

She shifts on her feet,uncomfortable. “Yeah, I know, but you said –“

“I know what I said,” heinterrupts. Over Lucy’s shoulder, Wyatt can see Flynn watching them closely,glaring pointedly. Wyatt feels his lips move, but can’t hear the words he neverthought he’d say. “I was being weak.”

Wyatt tightens his hold onFlynn’s throat. “This is your fault.”

Flynn doesn’t lookpanicked, though his grip is tight on Wyatt’s wrist, which only makes Wyattmadder and press harder.

“You, you and your love is weakness bullshit, and turns outI was right to be worried because now she’s – and you said –“

“So you’re gonna kill me?”Flynn groans out. “Monster.”

Wyatt grunts infrustration, but lets him go.

“Okay, we need to find herand –“

“She knows where she’ssupposed to meet us,” Flynn says, rubbing his neck.

“That was an hour ago!”Wyatt shouts.

Rufus puts a calming handon Wyatt’s shoulder. “We’ll find her, okay?”

They do find her. She’sbattered and bruised and sitting in a pool of her blood, but she’s alive.

She’s in a dark alley,propped up against a wall. She doesn’t move, and at first he thinks she’s deadand his heart stops. But she groans and shifts and his relief is so palpable sheopens her eyes.

“Wyatt?” she whispers.

He rushes to her side,gathers her in his arms. “Hey, hey, yeah, it’s me.”

He presses a kiss to hershoulder, then her cheek, then her hair. He cradles her face in one hand andlays his forehead against her temple.

“I thought you were deadand it was my fault,” he says hoarsely, his throat tight and tears in his eyesthat he rather wishes weren’t there but can’t do anything about. “I’m sorry.I’m sorry for what I said and – and you are not a weakness, you are my strengthand I lo –“

“Wyatt,” she interrupts,her voice weak and her breathing wheezy, “I’ve pictured this moment a thousandtimes and none of them included me bleeding in a dark alley, so can we do thiswhen we get home?”

He laughs then helps herup, slinging one of her arms around his neck while he supports her waist.

“Of course we can do it athome.”

It’s hard to get quiettime in the warehouse with six (sometimes seven, when Mason was there) peopleconstantly milling about, with little to no areas for privacy.

It’s especially hard tofind quiet time when the only ones with any type of medical training are he andDenise, with Mason sneaking in supplies when he could. It makes everyone tense,even though Lucy’s injury wasn’t as bad as it had seemed in the filed, and sohe and Lucy get about zero time alone in the next two weeks.

It’s when Denise finallysays she thinks they’re in the clear, that the wound is really starting to healand there’s no sign of infection that the others leave them alone.

Lucy announces she’s goingto shower, then inclines her head to him and winks and he’s pretty fuckingexcited. He follows her quietly, slips in after her.

The bathroom isn’t much,primarily a locker room with a few showers attached, but there are enoughlockers so everyone can store their stuff separately and there’s hot water fora few minutes a day so really, they could be doing worse for living in awarehouse.

She’s sitting on the benchthat runs through the middle of the room taking her shoes off when he gets in.

“Hey,” he says quietly. Hedoesn’t really know how to start the conversation now, it had all seemed sonatural to reveal it in the middle of danger, but now – now he has time tothink about it and he’s really nervous.

She seems to be willing towait for him to speak first, which is probably fair considering he was the onewho brought it up last time.

He realizes, all ofsudden, that he doesn’t actually need to say anything.

So he swings one leg overthe bench, so he’s straddling it, and puts a hand on her face. He leans forwardslowly, heart beating rapidly in his chest, but she’s the one that closes thedistance.

Their lips clash beautifully,teeth and tongue and heavy breathing. She slides closer, then goes up on herknees, wrapping her arms around his neck and pressing their bodies togethertightly.

He’s really starting toregret sitting like this, but he kisses up her jaw to her ear and down thecolumn of her neck with single-minded focus.

She gasps when he mouthsat her collarbone, licking and sucking while a hand slides down to squeeze herass.

He kisses back up to herlips, and presses a couple chaste kisses against them.

She sits back on herheels, and he holds her jaw in his hand, his thumb running over her bottom lip.

“I’m in love with you.”

She smiles brightly,colour spreading on the apples of her cheeks.

“I love you, too.”

They kiss again, slow andeasy.

“I really do need to shower,though,” she says against him.

Wyatt grins and pullsaway. “My, my, is that an invitation, ma’am?”

She laughs. “Oh, I wish.We’d waste the next three day’s hot water.”

“That’s a lot ofconfidence in my ability.”

“Oh, you don’t think youcan keep up with me, old man?”

“We’re pretty much thesame age,” he says mockingly, a throwback to their first meeting.

“I’ve been told I’m a bitof a goddess in bed, Master Sergeant, so you’d better not disappoint.”

“Been told by who?” hescoffs. “You’re a history nerd, when have you ever been laid?”

“Oh, okay,” Lucy laughs.“I was gonna let you stay and watch, but just for that I’m kicking you out ofhere. Go on, out!”

He stands up, and pushesher up against the row of lockers. He rocks his hips into hers, and thelaughter dies on her tongue in lieu of a deep moan. He mouths at her neck andher fingers tighten in his hair.

“So I’ve had some time toreconsider my position,” she gasps, “and I’ve come to the conclusion that youmost definitely should come for a shower with me.”

Wyatt grins against herthroat, then kisses her deeply.

“Yes, ma’am.”