Page 39 of A Dragon's Miracle (Fires of Fate)
Ryan
When I woke up again, Finn was indeed still there. He'd fallen asleep in the chair, his upper body resting on my bed. All in all, he looked about as exhausted as I felt. I suppose that wasn't surprising. It had been a difficult day for him. All because of me. Because for some reason, the silly idiot loved me. I ran my hand into his hair and played with the short strands, wishing I didn't have to cause him any pain, but I feared it was too late for that.
Slowly, he raised his head to look at me.
“You're up,” he mumbled.
“Yeah. But you don't have to be.” I made as much room for him as I could and lifted the covers in an invitation for him to join me. It was a small bed, but I was positive we could make it work. Especially if we cuddled close together.
When Finn crawled under the covers with me, it seemed he had the same idea, because he didn't waste any time before pulling me into his arms. His embrace warmed my body, and his presence my heart. He'd said we were in this together, and if I knew anything about him, he'd meant that.
Of course, I still had to tell him what Jin had made me do. But that could wait until we were both rested. For now, I nuzzled the crook of Finn's neck and let myself be lulled back to sleep by the sound of his breathing. Right then, it didn't matter that I had cancer cells growing in my lungs. In Finn's arms, I felt safe.
* * *
Ileftthe hospital the next day. The staff there wanted to run some more tests on me, but I already knew all they could tell me anyway. I'd spent enough time in hospitals, and I'd exhausted all their options before seeking out Jin. I knew conventional medicine couldn't help me, and I did not want to spend my last days hooked up to machines in a hospital room.
Finn didn't like that I was leaving early--I could tell by the way he looked at me. But he didn't argue. Not until he'd taken me back to my place anyway.
As soon as he closed the door behind us, he started in with the questions. “Are you sure you know what you're doing?”
“I'm sure.”
“But you didn't even let them examine you properly. Why wouldn't you let them help you?”
I took a deep breath, knowing it was time to tell him the whole story. He deserved to hear it. And then he could decide whether he still wanted to bother with me or not. “Sit please.” I gestured to my kitchen table. “I'm going to make us some coffee, and then we'll talk.”
“No, let me.” Finn was in my kitchenette before I could stop him.
I sighed, but let him prepare the coffee. If he needed to do this to feel useful... I sat at the table and waited for him to get everything ready.
“I've tried the sketchbook,” I told him to fill the silence while he rattled around in my small kitchen area. “It's nice.”
“Yeah? I'm glad. You'll have to show me what you drew.”
“Just one of the ships in the harbor. There's lots of them recently.”
“Really? I guess we're importing more and more things.” Finn started the microwave to heat up some water. “You know, when I was a kid, I tried to stowaway on one of those boats.”
“Did you really?” The image of a tiny Finn trying to make it as a stowaway made me laugh. “How far did you get?”
“Not very. I tried to hide with the goods and managed to get some pepper in my face. I had to sneeze so hard I almost set the boat on fire.”
“Oh God.” I had to wipe my eyes I was laughing so hard. “That's so like you.”
Finn laughed too. “Yeah, maybe.” He set a steaming mug in front of me. “I got grounded for a month. And then my mom made me do all the dishes for the rest of the year. Even though we hadstafffor that.” He sat across from me at the table.
“Where did you want to go anyway? On that boat.”
“Honestly? I don’t know. I wasn’t even sure where it was headed.” He shrugged. “I had this dream of seeing the world. Do you know how hard that is as a dragon? Visas are a pain to get. It’s kind of funny how we have these giant wings and we can’t use them togoanywhere.”
“Is it hard to get on the mainland?”
“Nah.” He waved me off. “US soil is alright. Crossing borders is where it gets difficult. It’s like every country has their own set of weird regulations concerning dragons.”
“I see.” I stirred some milk into my coffee, wishing I could just draw the current conversation out endlessly. It was nice to talk to Finn like this. “It must be difficult,” I said. “To not be able to go where you want.”
Finn stilled for a moment, regarding his coffee with a thoughtful expression. Then, looking up at me, he said, “There's things more difficult than that.”
