Aisell walked round the market back towards the canteen not really watching where she was going. She was watching Luke lying on his back in her palm, his chest slowly rising and falling as he slept. His face was no longer pale and he had a bit more colour about his cheeks. She reached her finger down to try to rouse him but decided against it. Luke would need to rest, he had nearly died twice this evening and it wasn’t something you got over easily. Besides, she hadn’t even started her work. She wanted to get him home safely so she could take care of him.

When she arrived at the cleaning supplies cupboard she carefully adjusted some cloth in her deep pocket and lowered Luke into it, placing him into a well of cloth so he would be safe and comfortable. She didn’t want him to wake up until she got home. He probably would be scared and confused and more than unhappy to find himself in her pocket. She wanted to get her work done as quickly as possible and get back to her small quarters.

“It’s going to be a long night…” she sighed.

Aisell went about her usual routine, only much faster than normal. Instead of dancing down the aisles with the decon unit, carefully sweeping under each table, she rushed back and forth only covering the obvious grime and food. She moved on up the market, cleaning down windows, light fittings, guard rails and floors, watering the various flora and checking for potential hazardous substances with a hand scanner. She was usually very thorough each night but not tonight.

“If you’re going to do a job do it properly, young lady!” her mother always told her.

As a result the market was already quite clean, cleaner than when she has started her job. The previous cleaner was nowhere near as diligent and thorough as she was. She checked in on Luke regularly but he did not change. He barely even moved. Occasionally she would find him sleeping in another position but she never saw him move so she assumed it had been caused by her own movements. After fifteen hours rather than the usual twenty Aisell decided that her job was done. It wasn’t up to her usual standards but it was still better than the previous cleaner’s attempts.

Aisell washed her hands and dried them off before carefully slipping one into the pocket that contained Luke and cupping her hand underneath the cloth he was resting on. She really didn’t feel he was safe unless she was protecting him. The station was mostly deserted after hours but she did not want to risk one small bump potentially harming her tiny passenger. Aisell walked through the sprawling corridors of the station towards the low ranked staff quarters. As a cleaning girl who’s accommodations were paid for out of her wages she could not afford much and had opted for the cheapest possible to make for the shortest stay on Titan Station.

She walked down the dreary, low lit corridor as she approached her quarters. This area of the station wasn’t the most pleasant. Poorly lit, poorly maintained and partially underground with no natural light. The better quarters were reserved for the military staff on the station and those with enough money to pay. She arrived at her room and punched in the access code and the door slowly hissed open.

Aisell walked inside and the two ceiling lights automatically turned on lighting the small room. It was not the most glamorous of quarters. It was comprised of one room with off white walls that needed a new coat of paint, the odd stain from leaking pipes here and there. It was not much longer than the single bed that was pressed tightly against the wall. Beside the bed was a rickety, old table with a pad sitting on top of it. There was also a metal chest of drawers, a sink with a mirror and a sliding door into a shower closet that sat just off the square room.

Aisell sighed at the sight of her dull room. She missed her own large bedroom with all the comforts of home. It used to feel like a prison during her last few years at school. Staring at the same four walls as she studied for her final exams just itching to break out and see the galaxy. How she longed to see those same four walls again. She crossed the room and lifted her hand from her pocket and placed Luke on top of the thin covers of her bed. She studied him briefly. His fever was definitely gone but he was still unconscious and not moving. She stroked his chest softly with the back of her finger and he shifted slightly causing Aisell to smile warmly. For the first time since she had gotten here, her room felt a bit less miserable.

The tired girl crossed the room to her chest of drawers and opened the top one, removing a white, silk nightie. She quickly removed her dirty work t-shirt, leggings and underwear and pulled on her nightie before walking over to the sink and washing her hands, lower arms and face, removing the grime she had collected cleaning. She crossed back to her bed and removed Luke from the cloth and held him in her hand. She was torn; she wanted to try waking him but she knew if he was still unconscious it was for a reason. Aisell sat down against the cool wall at the top of the bed, her thin nightie did little to stop the cold of the wall chilling her skin. She crossed her legs and placed Luke into the soft well of the white nightie between her legs and picked up her pad to read.

“Guess I’m still on my own for now…” she sighed down towards the unconscious Human in her lap.

Luke groaned and shifted in his bed. He blinked a few times but decided to keep his eyes closed. His head was killing him and the light only made it worse. At least his bed was warm and soft. He couldn’t remember the last time he had slept in sheets this soft.

“Wait…my bed isn’t this soft!” His mind suddenly snapped alert. “Where am I?”

Luke rolled on to his back and slowly opened his eyes. He covered his eyes as he slowly let them adjust to the light.

“Eugh…what the hell happned?” He thought back the last thing he remembered. “A white wall…that monster…what the hell?”

The ground below him was soft and warm. There was a white light coming from above, the floor was white and he looked up a shining white wall, bigger than the one he had seen before he blacked out. “Am I dead?” he muttered.

He kept looking up and quickly realised he wasn’t dead. He was looking up at Aisell. He was sitting in her lap. He felt his instincts clawing at his mind telling him to run, to get away from her to somewhere safe. A memory came back to him. The white wall was Aisell’s shoe. He remembered looking up and seeing her face looking down on him just before he passed out.

“Aisell…” he tried to speak loud enough for her to hear him but his throat was hoarse. His mouth was incredibly dry. He started to crawl along the soft cloth underneath him towards her body, his hands pressing in to its delicate surface.

Aisell had been reading for hours. She usually went straight to sleep after work but her mind wouldn’t switch off. The events of the evening were playing over and over again in her head, nearly getting arrested and nearly losing Luke had scared her. She glanced down as she felt movement and smiled broadly as she saw Luke slowly crawling along her silk nightie.

“You’re awake!” Luke heard a sweet voice cry above him. He stopped and looked up to see Aisell’s beautiful face smiling down above him.

A long, thin hand dropped to his side and pressed into the nightie’s surface causing the material to incline and Luke to slide down the slippery slope. He tried to fight it but he was just too weak and he quickly dropped onto the soft, sweet smelling surface of her palm. He stayed flat on his stomach and he supressed panic as the world started to drop around him. Aisell’s huge, smiling face dominated Luke’s vision. He swallowed his fear trying to consciously remind himself that not only had she been very kind to him but she had saved his life.

“Calm Luke…it’s ok…she won’t hurt you…” Luke told himself as he felt his pulse start to race.

“How do you feel!?” Aisell said softly aware that Luke might be frightened and confused. “I nearly lost you there.”

Luke didn’t know what she meant. He just remembered getting stabbed and passing out at Aisell’s feet. “I…I…don’t know. What happened?”

“You got attacked by a Scilith, they’re nasty, poisonous insects. You nearly died, I had to get the antidote from the clinic…” Aisell said her blue eyes shone with concern.

“Thank you…guess that explains why I feel like I nearly died huh?” Luke said with his hoarse voice.

Aisell’s lips pressed together and formed a thin smile of concern. She was happy Luke was ok but she didn’t want to appear to be happy when he felt so bad. “Can I get you anything?”

“Water…please” Luke muttered barely audible.

“Oh! You must be parched! You had a really bad fever.” Aisell turned and started to lower Luke to her pillow. “You rest up here, I’ll get you water.”

Luke lay back on the pillow. It was warm from where she had been sitting on it. He watched as Aisell darted around the room at 100 miles an hour looking for something suitable for Luke to drink from.

“Relax buddy…” Luke told himself “She’s nice, she saved you, she’s not going to do anything bad. Just lie down and enjoy being warm and safe.”

Aisell returned and carefully set a metal spoon down in the pillow beside Luke. “Sorry…I didn’t have anything better for you to drink from.” Aisell said kneeling down on the floor her eyes focused on Luke as he slurped water straight from the spoon. He just kept drinking and drinking, trying to recover some of the fluids he had lost over the last sixteen or so hours.

“Oh that’s good!” Luke said sitting back after he had drunk his fill.

Aisell smiled happy to see him looking a bit more relaxed. “Can I get you anything else? Are you hungry?”

Luke thought while Aisell watched him expectantly, ready to get him whatever he wanted. “No, no I’m ok. I’m just exhausted.”

“Awww ok. You poor thing, c’mere…” Aisell said leaning forwards and reaching out with both hands towards Luke.

Luke tried to crawl backwards away from the two approaching hands. “Aisell wait!” he cried before he found himself cupped in their warm embrace and then lifted into the air. The hands jolted as he felt her move. One hand peeled away leaving him backed up against a finger looking up at her caring face.

“You can rest here with me if you like. I’ll find you somewhere safer before I go to sleep.” She said to the finger sized man in her hand.

Luke did not reply. She noticed he looked paler and a lot more nervous than he had done a second ago.

“Luke, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I ehhh I just don’t like this…” he said looking along the expansive palm down to her tree length forearm.

“Don’t like what?”

He looked up at her realising he really didn’t have a choice here. She had him, quite literally, in the palm of her hand and could do whatever she liked with him. “Being picked up. Being held in your hand. It makes me feel closed in…”

“Oh Luke, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to. I thought you’d be alright with it…I’ve pretty much had you with me all night.” Aisell spoke softly trying to reassure Luke.

She lowered her hand to the mattress and laid it flat for Luke to step off. He looked at his benign captor from his new perspective. He was standing not far from her nightie clad hip. On his right extended her incredibly long legs and on his left her large torso rose at a forty five degree angle as she slouched against the wall behind her.

“I think if you’re going to stay with me you’re going to have to get used to me…” Aisell said before Luke cut her off.

“Stay with you?!”

“You’re not well! It’ll take a day or two until you’re better. Stay with me until then and when you’re well I’ll take you back to the canteen. Is that ok?” Aisell asked her eyes pleading with him to stay.

“Do I have a choice?” he asked bluntly.

Aisell bit her lower lip and closed her eyes for a second. “Yes…if you want to go now I’ll take you. But I would really rather you stay here.”

Luke thought about his two options; feeling unwell in a hole in the floor, cold, alone and with no food or anyone to look after him. Or stay here with someone to look after him, warmth, comfort, safety and all the food he could eat. It was a no brainer really.

“Ok, just promise when I’m well you’ll take me back?” He asked.

“Promise!” Aisell smiled and extended a finger towards Luke to pet him causing him to back away.

“Ok, I’m just going to sit down here and read for a bit. “ She said leaning back. “You need to get used to me, so walk up and down me, practice being around me, whatever you like and I’ll leave you be. I just want you to know you can trust me ok?”

“O…k…” Luke said both nervous but quite curious about the idea.

“Good!” she said settling back and picking up her pad to read.