Chapter Text
The road stretches on before her, the line of it thinning into a single point in the distance. Trees blur by on either side. Pavement rumbles beneath her, the vibration soothing in its own way.
Alex glances at Strand, sitting in the passenger seat with a heavy book in his lap. She teased him about the book earlier. He owns a tablet, something far smaller and much more convenient, but, no, Strand brought with him a large, dusty tome.
The sight of him with the book, so aesthetically Strand, tells her somewhere, underneath the madness of the last few weeks, is her familiar doctor. She smiles and turns her attention back to the road.
The further they drive from the city, the more deserted the highway becomes. Away from the traffic, Alex leans back in her seat and presses her foot to the accelerator. She hums along with the song on the radio, fingers tapping the steering wheel along to the beat.
An hour later, she yawns. Her jaw cracks with the force of it.
Strand looks up, blinking behind his glasses. He raises his brows at her in question.
Alex shakes her head.
Strand goes back to his book.
Five minutes later, she fights back another yawn. She grips hard at the steering wheel and shifts in her seat.
Her eyes burn behind heavy lids. She stretches in her seat, but her exhaustion refuses to be dislodged.
“Pull over,” Strand says, his voice a low grumble after a long silence.
“I’m fine,” Alex says. She sits straight in her seat, trying to look more alert.
His sharp blue eyes see right through her. “Pull over. Let me drive for a while.”
“You sure?”
“Positive.”
Alex opens her mouth, but another yawn emerges, losing her the argument before it can even begin. “Okay.”
She eases her foot off the gas and pulls them onto the shoulder.
Strand unbuckles and they switch places. Alex buckles her seat as Strand adjusts his own to fit his long legs.
Alex holds the book on her lap, gripping at the edges like it’s something precious. Her thumbs toy with rounded corners.
“You can put that in the back,” he says, once they’re back on the road.
“That’s okay,” Alex says. She stares at the cover, but she can’t make out the title. She looks up. “I could read it to you, if you want.”
Strand laughs, that particular breathy laughter Alex never fails to find endearing. “I appreciate the offer.” He glances at her out of he corner of his eye. “Get some rest, Alex. I’ll wake you when we get there.”
Alex leans her chair back and settles into the curve of the bucket chair. She closes her eyes. And while she doesn’t fall asleep, she does doze to the sound of the road beneath her and the low sound of Strand singing along to the radio.