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Claire throws the door open. "Where is she?" she demands to know.
"Hello to you too," Jody chuckles and puts the stack of plates on the table. Claire gapes at her for a moment, then nods.
"Right. Sorry. I came as fast as I could."
"No sleep?" Jody asks, cocking an eyebrow.
"Who needs sleep when someone returns from the dead?" she chuckles and hugs Jody tightly. "You okay?" Claire asks.
"Better than in a long while," Jody replies and nods towards the stairs. "She asked for you. Wanna wake her and tell her dinner's ready in five?"
Claire smiles at her and nods, then flies up the stairs. She knocks quietly at the only closed door. When there is no answer, she pushes it quietly open.
She holds in the sob that presses into her mouth when she sees her. So long, and it's as if it had been yesterday that she last saw her, just with a load of guilt piled up on top of it. Still, her heart leaps in her chest, happiness and sadness mixing in weird ways. She steps to the bedside and watches Kaia's chest rise and fall for a long minute. She kneels down next to the bed and brushes a stray strand of hair out of her face.
Kaia wakes up with a start, but before Claire can apologise, she's already pulled into Kaia's arms, being crushed by the petite woman below her.
Claire chuckles in surprise. "I didn't know you were the hugging type," she laughs.
"You don't know a lot of things about me," Kaia smirks.
"Touché," Claire replies and sits down on the edge of the bed.
"You look good. Better than I feared."
Kaia nods and sits up, crossing her legs, her eyes jumping through the room.
"I had someone to hold on to. In my thoughts," she croaks.
Claire's lips move without a word coming over them. Kaia smiles shyly at her.
"Thank you for coming," she whispers.
Claire huffs a laugh and takes her hand. "I wouldn't wanna be anywhere else. I missed you. I thought I'd… I'm so sorry, Kaia."
"You couldn't know. Without this other version of me, I'd be dead. But I'm not. I guess this saving people thing always goes in circles, huh?"
Claire snorts a laugh. "You don't know the half of it," she says, wiping away the tears falling unbidden.
"Hey," Kaia says and brushes the following drops away, Claire's skin burning at the gentle touch. "No reason to cry. Unless you fear not getting rid of me anymore," she jokes.
Claire puts her hands on top of Kaia's cupping her face. "As if. You said you'd go with me, right? I'll hold you to that."
Kaia presses her mouth into a close-lipped smile and nods, pulling her hands into her lap.
"You don't have to, of course," Claire croaks, missing the point of contact between them.
"No. I want to," Kaia says, lips curling up into a soft smile. "I wanna learn everything about hunting. And maybe how not to be killed doing it," she chuckles.
"Sounds like a plan," Claire snickers. "But first, we stay a little, huh? For basic training. Also, no road food is as good as Jody's cooking," she adds and gets up. She walks to the door, turning when Kaia's feet hit the floor.
"They're my family, you know?"
"Who?"
"Jody, Donna, Patience, and Alex. Even the boys, kinda. It's complicated but they are good people," Claire says.
"I wanna learn all about them," Kaia replies, looking at her with shining eyes.
"I guess we'll have many miles on the road ahead to cover the shitshow that's been my life," Claire grins and stretches out her hand.
Kaia looks at it for a long moment before she closes the space between them and intertwines their fingers, a smile playing on her face. Warmth crawls into Claire's cheeks when she tightens the grip on her hand.
"And yours," Claire croaks.
"With you, I'd share it," Kaia says.
"You still trust me?" Claire asks, guilt pulling her stomach tight.
"I never stopped trusting you. I—"
"Girls? Dinner is ready," Jody calls from downstairs.
"We shouldn't let her wait," Claire says and pulls Kaia into the hallway. They giggle all the way down the stairs.