Page 104 of Sidhe
Sasha took Nathan’s hand and pressed the palm to his cheek, so Nathan could feel the warmth, thelifeflowing through him. “I’m real, Nate,” he said, his voice low and gentle, caressing the words and Nathan’s name like no one else could.
Nathan lifted his other hand so he could hold Sasha’s face. “How? Even if Puck switched us…reversed what he did, you…you were already gone.”
“True,” Walter said, “but not so much gone that I could not, with Dave’s permission and assistance, of course…help things along a little. His incubus body did the rest. It was only lead, after all.”
Nathan laughed,laughedand pulled Sasha’s head toward his own until their foreheads touched. “Hey,” he said in a shaky voice that he didn’t feel the least self-conscious about, “you’re like a big Crayola crayon straight from the box again,” he chuckled, allowing his hands on either side of Sasha’s face to push up into the soft strands of hair, silky and red and perfect.
Sasha laughed too, eyes closing blissfully and then opening again to glow at Nathan surreally the way he remembered from when they first met. “Yeah, full-on sex demon,” Sasha said. “Put back together and everything. But what about you, Nate? Are you alright?” he added with concern, one hand reached out to touch Nathan’s chest where the bullet had gone through.
“Youdied,” Nathan said like it must not have sunk in enough for Sasha to really get it. “Died as in dead, baby, gone for good, and you’re asking ifI’mokay?”
A crooked, shameful smile responded, Sasha’s eyes lowering, his lashes fluttering, and then they flicked back up to Nathan’sface. “I’m good, Nate,” his hand on Nathan’s chest clutched and twisted into his shirt, “you have no idea how good.”
Nathan knew there was something important left unsaid. He could tell by the way Sasha glanced past him to Walter, as if asking permission. Nathan looked back over his shoulder too, even though it meant his hands had to slip from Sasha’s face to his shoulders.
“Sashawasdead, Nathan,” Walter said, “I merely gave a small push after Puck’s work was done, what little I was capable of to help Sasha’s incubus healing save him. But he was still dead. And you should know thatdeathis the final payment of any deal.” His head tilted just so, hinting rather than curious.Hintingat what those words really meant.
Heat flushed to Nathan’s face as he came to understand, his throat tightening, head whipping back around to see Sasha grinning madly at him with damp eyes.
“Malak can’t hold power over a dead man,” Sasha said. The hand he still had twisted in Nathan’s shirt tugged him back in close, their foreheads pressing tight again. “I’m free.”
Nathan kissed Sasha so sudden and firm, they fell back onto the bed, toppling sideways. Sasha giggled up into Nathan’s mouth before sucking him in, tongues tangling like it was life, this moment together, Nathan half on top of Sasha and pressing him into the pillows.
They stayed like that probably longer than they should have considering they weren’t alone.
“Damn, Walt, why didn’t you tell me about this loophole?” Nathan spoke into Sasha’s mouth, unable to stop nibbling on those soft, full lips. “If you woulda told me, I wouldn’t have even had tothinkabout Malak’s offer.”
“You considered it?” Sasha pulled back enough to avoid Nathan’s continued succession of kisses, gaping up at him.
“You weredead,” Nathan said plainly. “Let’s think back to when I was taken from you, and then ask me if I considered making a deal.”
Even though it was a fair argument, and a bit of a low blow, Nathan smiled as he said it so that Sasha was soon smiling again too.
“Shit.” Nathan pulled fully away and sat up, memory assaulting him of the rapidly approaching apocalypse. “Everyone went nuts and took off. How many people do we have left?”
“First of all,” Walter stood from his chair, looking, Nathan thought, a little flustered from their mini-makeout session right in front of him, “had I told you that Sasha coming back like this would reset the deal he made, Puck and I never would have had the power to switch the two of you and help bring him back. You gave us that power, Nathan, through unknowing, selfless sacrifice. As for those you had enlisted…” He looked to Sasha, making Nathan turn back to the incubus as well.
Incubus.Theincubus.
Nathan’sincubus.
“Everyone came back, Nathan. Everyone,” Sasha said. “Every last person who ditched, human or otherwise, is back in the Gatehouse. The ones who saw what happened, who saw Walter and Malak and…what happened to me, tous…they called the ones that left and got them to come back. It’s tense still, yeah, but…they believe in us, Nathan, inyou. You still have your army waiting for you to lead them.”
And holy shit, was that a sobering, frightening thought—Nathan’s army. “Guess seeing is believing, eh, Walt?” Nathan chuckled as he glanced back at the Spirit Guide.
“Faith is preferable,” Walter said rather seriously, “but to believe after learning fact is still believing. Please understand, Nathan, it was your sacrifice that swayed them, not me, and notMalak’s presence either, much as they could all feel, even the humans, what he was. That dark fae spy was only the first sign of Malak’s army drawing closer. We may not be able to hold them back. More will get through. You must be watchful.”
“Walt,” Nathan scooted towards the edge of the bed so he could smack him good-naturedly on the shoulder and get him to stop looking so pensive, “I have everything to live for. I’m gonna be watchful like you’ve never seen, cling so damn hard to life to make sure this works out and that we win that your head’ll spin.” He looked back at Sasha and smiled so wide his cheeks hurt.
The sudden feel of cool skin on his hand almost made Nathan jump, his head flinching back to Walter, who lifted his right hand palm-up. Nathan was confused at first but more transfixed than anything as Walter brought his hand all the way up to his lips and pressed a kiss to the center of his palm. Then Walter leaned forward, still holding Nathan’s hand, and pressed another kiss to his forehead.
Nathan didn’t say a word the whole time, understanding somehow that this meant more than gratitude or a sign for luck, it was benediction.
“You, Nathan,” Walter whispered into the top of his hair, “are a good man. You finally learned the lesson you were forgetting, that for all your selflessness when thinking of those you care about, this is bigger than you, bigger than your happiness or the happiness of those you love… Thank you. But never doubt that your happiness is still the dearest thing to me.” Then he pulled away, smiled, and headed for the door.
Nathan stared a minute after him once he had left them alone.
“Don’t make me jealous now, I just came back to life,” Sasha said with a mock-pout in his tone. He crawled across the bed to be right up against Nathan’s back, settling in with his legs straddling Nathan and hanging off the edge of the mattress.
