[dated to the week of Jan 31-Feb 4]

[poison_lipstick]

Saffron couldn't remember the last time she'd been so bad off. She'd been injured twice before on the island - once during that freak snowstorm, when she'd been rescued by Brad, and once on Halloween more than three years ago, when she'd fought Reavers with River and gotten stitched up by Simon - and neither had been as bad as this. She was stuck

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[weary_head]

You'd think a spacestation falling from the sky would have equal effect on every island resident, but you'd be wrong. Dean had heard, brow wrinkled as he took it in, eyes narrowed when he looked up to see, and then he'd gone home, back to his baby sister and his own ever spiraling worry for Neil.

He'd gone home, and it wasn't until someone brought him word that people were hurt, other people he cared about, that Dean finally woke up and took notice.

She looks like she's sleeping when he appears in the clinic doorway - sleeping, he makes himself think again, not dead despite the bruises - and he enters as quietly as he can. He doesn't want to wake her, but his hand are reaching before he knows it, wrapping gently around her own as he sinks into the chair.

[poison_lipstick]

Xander was off getting a bite to eat, and in his absence Saffron had dozed off, leaning back against pillows in the partially elevated position she needed to be in because of her lung. The act of someone taking her hands in theirs roused her, and her lashes fluttered as she pulled herself into wakefulness while attempting to move as little as possible.

When she turned her head slightly and saw that it was Dean, she smiled, unmistakably fond, but tired. "Hi, honey," Saffron said hoarsely, squeezing his hands.

[weary_head]

Dean startles, relieved that while her grip isn't as strong as it should be, neither is it as weak as he'd feared. "Hey," he says, looking up with what's got to be the biggest smile he's managed in weeks. "Figured you were out, how - " He has to stop and swallow, those bruises crinkling around her cheeks and on her throat sucking the air right back out of him. "How you feeling?"

[poison_lipstick]

"Oh, I'm all right," she replied, keeping hold of his hands. He was definitely a sight for sore eyes. "Just need to - do a little mending and I'll be - right as rain." What would definitely help was for her to once again be able to breathe properly, to not have to stop every few words and get her breath, ease up on the strain to her throat for a moment.

[weary_head]

Dean's used to seeing people suffer, god knows he is, but not her, and the sight of it is enough to drain his face of what little color's left. Drawing her hand carefully up, he presses a kiss to the center of her too cool palm, curling it after against his cheek. He only knows bits and pieces of what happened, so absorbed in his own problems that he'd decided to let the spaceship be someone else's problem, and he can't help but think, somehow, he could've been there to spare her this.

"Punctured lung?" he guesses by the sound of it, voice not holding steady even for the briefness of the question.

[poison_lipstick]

Saffron nodded, her face crumpling just a little at the sight of his anguished expression, the unevenness of his voice. It was an effort to hold herself together. "Also broken ribs and a - concussion," she added. She pressed her palm gently to Dean's cheek, her thumb rubbing lightly over his cheekbone. "Doctor says my larynx is - damaged, too, from when one of those - zombies or whatever they were - tried to strangle me. That's why I sound - like a chain smoker." She wasn't talking loud to begin with, but Saffron only got quieter, in an effort to get rid of the wavering in her tone.

[weary_head]

"Jesus," Dean exhales, and for a moment, his breathing is as ragged as hers. This shouldn't happen - zombies shouldn't happen to anyone, not here - but least of all to Helen.

"But it'll get better," he says, though it's small comfort when it hurts now, he knows. "Please tell me somebody kicked that zombie's ass."

[poison_lipstick]

"I did the best - I could, before the thing threw me against - a wall," Saffron replied, lips quirking into something approaching a wry smile, one that was gone as quickly as it came. "Lex got in some - pretty good licks too."

She paused, the hitch back in her breath, her gaze sliding to where her palm rested against Dean's cheek, his own much larger hand covering it. "I wouldn't have - gotten out if it hadn't been for him."

[weary_head]

"Remind me to send that guy some flowers," says Dean with a shaky laugh. "Or pie, does he do pie?" Hell, why is he even asking, everybody likes pie. "We'll add that to the sparring lineup, okay? How to Kick Zombie Ass."

[poison_lipstick]

"I don't think anyone - loves pie as much as you, honey," Saffron said, her fondness for him seen more in her eyes than in her smile, the latter only just barely there.

"C'mere," she all but whispered, and drew him close enough to press a slightly lingering kiss to his forehead. "I'm going - to be fine. And back to - kicking your ass in no time."

[weary_head]

"Hey, I hold my own," says Dean, going readily to avoid her putting any strain on her ribs. His eyes close at the warm press of lips, Dean tucking his face in after to place an answering kiss to her cheek. "You need anything? Water? Forbidden kitchen wares? Extra shiny painkillers?"

[poison_lipstick]

Saffron shook her head, her smile deepening a little after Dean's kiss. "No, thank you," she replied. One of the side effects of Xander being around so much was that she pretty much never wanted for anything. She definitely wasn't complaining. "Just this pretty face, coming around to visit again if you can make it back."

[weary_head]

"Hey, now that I pulled this pretty face far enough out of my ass to realize you're in here, they'll have to drag me out again," Dean promises. "Your fella comin' back soon?"

[poison_lipstick]

"Oh, I'm sure he'll be back just - as soon as he chokes down a sandwich and - sets the world record for shower speed," Saffron said, and as always, her expression changed when she talked about Xander, made it clear the depth of her feelings for him. "You go on, if you've got - somewhere you need to be. I'll be fine."