Lexa didn't know what to do with that answer. She didn't even know how to touch it. The weight in his words pressed down on her, nearly taking her breath away. If she'd had a hard time standing before, there was no way in hell she was managing it now. And asking him for help now after… [i]that[/i]… it was completely out of the question.

Whatever she'd expected him to say, it hadn't been [i]that[/i].

She… made him feel human? He looked at her like she was a question. Like she was the [i]answer[/i]. And what… was she supposed to be responsible for him then? His link back to humanity, to pull him back from whatever depths he'd dropped to?

Whoever Jack thought Lexa was… she wasn't that person. She could barely keep track of her own humanity, let alone someone else's.

But she didn't hate him. She knew that with shocking certainty. Lexa didn't [i]like[/i] him. But after everything… she couldn't say she hated him either. Lexa wasn't sure how that had happened. She wasn't sure how [i]any[/i] of this had happened. Care-taking and bizarre confessions and a tenuous sort of peace between them. A confused swirl of emotions churned within her, and she was too tired to pick them out and name them all. Confusion and apprehension were the only two she knew.

Lexa didn't know what to do with all of it. She looked away.

[color=crimson]"I need to rest,"[/color] Lexa finally said, breaking the silence, and any sort of moment they might've been having. She pushed herself back to her place in the center of the bed, and tried not to think on how she was laying down in his sheets, on his pillow, in his home, about to willingly sleep in front of him. Most of all, she tried not to think on how… she wasn't afraid of what he'd do when she slept. [color=crimson]"I'll be ready to leave in the morning."[/color] Well, she wasn't [i]exactly[/i] sure about that. She'd never had to recover from something like this before. Who knew how long it'd take her body to bounce back after this round of abuse? But she was leaving this damn confusing place as soon as she could do it with asking Jack for help, even if it meant she had to [i]crawl[/i] her way back to reality.

She looked up at Jack one last time, almost reluctant.

[color=crimson]"…Thanks."[/color]

Lexa was gone before dawn had even finished stretching its rose red fingers across the sky.

[hr]
A week later and Lexa hadn't put on her uniform since that night. She was fully recovered, new scar and all. But something made her hesitate when she looked at her black outfit, folded under the rest of her clothes in her drawer. 

She didn't even have her sword, Lexa tried to explain to herself. It had been buried in the rubble of that warehouse, and if not, then it was likely in police custody. She'd have to take it back, if they had it. If not… time to look for a new signature weapon.

(That sword had been a gift from her brother when she'd gotten her black belt. Well, from her parents. Her brother hadn't had that kind of money, but it'd been his idea and his name on the card. A heavy sorrow weighed her down at the idea of losing it forever.)

At least the city had been relatively quiet. Only average, petty theft and trespassing. Nothing that required her immediate attention. No news about the card deck villains, or Shirley (whether or not he'd survived the warehouse) or… Jack. That was for the best, she told herself. She didn't need that whole mess cluttering up her life.

It was ten at night when Lexa was walking back home from a closing shift at the bookstore, tired from trying to throw a couple out who just wouldn't leave. She walked slowly, hands stuffed in the pockets of her jacket and looked up at the light-polluted night sky. A pair of footsteps was trailing behind her. Following her. She knew because she'd taken four unnecessary turns, and still the steps echoed behind her. She was starting to get annoyed. Finally she stopped walking.

She turned to face the figure fully.

[color=crimson]"Wrong night, wrong girl."[/color] Her tone was decidedly unimpressed. [color=crimson]"What do you want."[/color]