Derek didn't listen to her, and pulled her to her feet. She whimpered.
"You are such a girl," he told her. After a moment he softened, and suggested, "We'll steal the Hummer. It's not too busted up."
In the end, that's what they went with. Derek dropped Nell off at his home, and then abandoned the car a few miles away next to a bus station so it would appear he and The Fixer had left that way. Jogging home wasn't such an issue--he kept himself covered in shadow.
To her credit, Nell had managed not to bleed on the furniture in his absence. She'd put her things in a corner and was using a scrap of cloth to catch the blood from her nose.
"You aren't a hemophiliac or anything are you?" The Afterdark half-joked. He was stricken by the amount of blood Nell was losing.
She shook her head no. "It's drying up." She removed the rag experimentally, and no more blood gushed out. The stain on the lower half of her face gave her the look of a little girl who had discovered her mother's lipstick. The girl's swollen, black eyes looked like they'd been painted with black and purple mascara.
She pointed to the gashes on Derek's side where he'd been grazed by bullets. "You okay?"
"Eh, I've been worse. They aren't really bleeding, though they do sting like a--"
"That's what you get for leaving me there."
"First, I got these before I went to get the Hummer. Second, I may have left you, but I also saved your ass. Show some damn respect." He felt flustered.
"You are such a girl," he told her. After a moment he softened, and suggested, "We'll steal the Hummer. It's not too busted up."
In the end, that's what they went with. Derek dropped Nell off at his home, and then abandoned the car a few miles away next to a bus station so it would appear he and The Fixer had left that way. Jogging home wasn't such an issue--he kept himself covered in shadow.
To her credit, Nell had managed not to bleed on the furniture in his absence. She'd put her things in a corner and was using a scrap of cloth to catch the blood from her nose.
"You aren't a hemophiliac or anything are you?" The Afterdark half-joked. He was stricken by the amount of blood Nell was losing.
She shook her head no. "It's drying up." She removed the rag experimentally, and no more blood gushed out. The stain on the lower half of her face gave her the look of a little girl who had discovered her mother's lipstick. The girl's swollen, black eyes looked like they'd been painted with black and purple mascara.
She pointed to the gashes on Derek's side where he'd been grazed by bullets. "You okay?"
"Eh, I've been worse. They aren't really bleeding, though they do sting like a--"
"That's what you get for leaving me there."
"First, I got these before I went to get the Hummer. Second, I may have left you, but I also saved your ass. Show some damn respect." He felt flustered.
