For two days we travel. Kyle and I with Tom and Blaze in one truck, and another behind us with , Toni, Joel, and their resident medic  called Nan.

The process is carried out like an actual mission in progress with the crew changing drivers and switching roads as we make our way to our new home. Before we'd left Kyle assured Tom we didn't need an escort, that we would be fine making the trip as we were, a small, partially bandaged together family complete with a baby and a dog. But Tom and his team wouldn't hear of it. According to Tom, abandoning a job before checking it off as complete was more than they were willing to take a gamble on.

Maddie and Buster are still tucked away with June, waiting until we've seen the place and that it not only exists, but that it's safe enough for us to fade away in. As much as I hate the fact that Maddie is snuggly cradled in arms that aren't mine, Tom makes sense. The less we put her at risk, the better off we were. Keeping her safe is everything, and doing it right meant sacrifices for all of us. She's worth it, but it doesn't make me feel any better as a parent leaving her behind.

We ride in the back of the car like teenagers, Kyle and I, and for two days his skin touching mine and mine his, a connection neither of us are willing to break. Each bump in the road causing his muscles to shoot searing pain through his torso stabs me as well, only mine was felt in the heart. On the tail end of the second long day at our third rest stop we finally get a reprieve from the nonstop car duty when Nan, the medic finally asserts her power and demands we stop for a good nights sleep and a decent place and time to clean out Kyle's wound and change the dressings which already show evidence of blood stains.

Tom grumbles, and raises his hand ready to argue again about time and safety when Nan straightens her shoulder and stomps her foot while reaching over to rip open Kyle's shirt.

"That is a necessary order. No reason to save the kid just to have him get an infection and die. We walked him right out of the hospital. You wanna argue with that?"

Tom's head turns from Kyle's reddened bandage to Nan's serious face and he finally concedes while the rest of us all take a deep breath of relief. It was dusk when Tom finally pulls off at a hotel that looks broken down but according to him, has the benefit of a good location of being off the beaten path of the highway.

Blaze is instructed to go inside and 'encourage' the clerk to open the rooms making sure they're clean before we agree to stay. I can't stop the slew of giggles that escape as he leaves the car to complete his task. There's no way anyone could say no to him. His muscles qualify for their own zip code and after two full days on the road his expression is one that says more angry biker than former soldier righting the wrongs of the world.

When he comes back to report they've passed the inspection and are clean, the entire crew including Kyle and I cheer. Everyone it seems is ready for stretching their bodies and getting a chance to use our legs and close our eyes without the hum of the road.

Tom assigns Blaze to a room with Kyle and I and when Kyle steps forward to complain- he's  instantly shot down.

"There's two beds- I'm not gonna tell you how to use them, but they'll both be filled. You have your entire lives to get your groove on, it's a minimum six hour stop and we all need a break."

With that, he grabs a set of keys from out of Blaze's hands and heads into the attached room followed by the rest of the team doing their best to stifle comments and giggles. Blaze sighs and shrugs his shoulders.

"It's me. I snore like a truck driver and he can't sleep. It has nothing to do with you guys at all. Tom gets a little cranky without sleep and when June isn't around to pamper him."

Blaze takes the leftover set of keys and opens the door of the room for us. It's small and everything is a disgusting shade of deep brown, but it's clean. The beds are big enough for two and take most of the space in the room. Kyle and I are given the bed furthest from the door by default as Blaze immediately stretches out shoes and all on the closest.

It's still early in the evening but I'm so tired I can barely move. I grab a towel and head for the shower, turning the water on hot and lathering soap from head to toe twice to wash off the layers of car sweat. When I exit the bathroom I'm still drying my hair with a towel and wishing I were the kind of person that always carries clean underclothes in their bag. I find Nan standing over Kyle removing the dirty bandages and applying some cleanser and ointment.

I can't look in his eyes, my sight is stuck on the large sewn patch of whitened skin on his chest surrounded by bright pink pulled skin. They talk together about the injury as Nan swipes a disinfectant and gets new bandages ready. Kyle tells her that he doesn't remember much about the first few days and that he was lucky, because the doctor took skin off his thigh to close off the large amount of missing skin making a quilt type discolored scar, but one that wouldn't be rejected as his own.

Silently I sit on the edge of the bed and wonder how his father could get so out of control that he'd shoot a gun in a room with a baby and hit his own son. With the technology they have, I feel like Mr. Cayle could have easily worked on something that could regenerate skin instead of chasing down my dad for the DNA of a baby that was...well, me.

When he see's me looking Kyle turns to the side and I jump up and grab him by the face.

"Don't do that. Don't turn from me. Remember when I was the lame blue lipped girl who couldn't make a walk up a hill and you pushed me?  It's my turn. That's what people who love each other do- they trade off holding each other up."

His eyes glisten and he nods before swooping me close with his good arm and planting a soft warm kiss on my lips. It warms me from the inside and reminds me of just how much better life was when he was with me.

Nan clears her throat and I step to the side only to be handed the bandages and tape.

"You're going to have to do this every day until the skin is healed up. Kyle knows the danger signs, but until he gets full movement of that arm you're gonna have to do this."

I slather a bit more salve on the would and touch the discolored pale skin that used to be on his thigh. It's soft and warm and surprisingly has sprouts of hair on it. It's fitting, he's patched right on the chest and will have a scar- eerily mirrored to my own. I place the bandage gently and run my fingers along the tape to seal it. His eyes never leave mine- and I know exactly what he's waiting for. The same thing I worried about the first time I removed my shirt for him. Repulsion, fear, avoidance. But none of that would be seen or felt from me, I finally understood what he was saying that first night. It's part of who he is, and just because of that, it's beautiful.

We lay together on the bed letting our bodies get used to the absence of motion while my head rests on his healthy shoulder. Each time we kiss Blaze breaks into another round of snores that mimic a duel of growls between a grizzly and a drowning lion.

As nice as it would be to have been alone, somehow, Blaze being a buffer is perfect. There's no pressure to do anything but exist together and it's a moment that I know I'll never forget. Kyle is finally exactly where he belongs, wrapped in my arms. Tomorrow morning we'll be home and Maddie and Buster will be on their way. No matter what Tom's concerns are - I knew my dad. If it was his go to place, it was going to be perfect.

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It's almost over ☹️. Then edits and revision and searching for a home
For it. Thanks for being along for the ride.